Learning to facilitate Professional Development

The Teacher Learning Network (TLN) has delivered quality professional development courses for a number of years. I came across it recently as I was seeking providers that can provide on-demand professional learning. You can either attend a live or recorded course, complete an evaluation and you will receive a certificate.

One area of interest has been their courses focusing on the delivery of professional development to colleagues.

In my practice, there have been several occassions where I have presented professional development workshops, whether it may be a ten minute session in a whole school staff meeting or spending an hour with colleagues guiding them through the application of a resource in their teaching or learning.

But there is scope to further develop and refine my knowledge and skills in the delivery of professional development and do an even better job. The feedback that I receive has been good, but I aspire to do better.

So far I have done one course on presenting profssional development to colleagues. While it might be targeted to those who may want to be a provider of professional development, the knowledge presented is applicable to conducting it with fellow colleagues at school level such as planning the session itself, persuading the school executive to allow the presentation, organising time to prepare and undertaking the presentation. 

I also have completed a course on how to present professional development online. I learnt how to structure a presentation or course that engages with the audience i.e. encourage attendees to undertake short activities. This is based on the structure that the TLN follows.

I would recommend that teacher librarians sign up to TLN. It usually costs around $350 for 12 months but I think there are benefits to be gained. There are also courses relating to leadership which I intend on doing to brush up on my leadership skills. 

Ideas for Collaboration

Last year,  I took some time to reflect on how I collaborate with my colleagues as a Teacher Librarian and to seek possible ideas on how I could better collaborate in my practice.

Softlink consulted Teacher Librarians on this topic and published their results online.

It is a resource that I would recommend for new teacher librarians who may not be sure about how they can collaborate. Even for the experienced, it might stimulate some new ideas or in my situation, reflect on our practice.

Nick Earls article on importance of Teacher Librarians in schools

I was speaking to two friends that live in Victoria and work in primary schools, and asked them recently about Teacher Librarians working in their schools.

They told me that neither of their schools had one but had libraries. Budgetary issues were identified as one reason.

And then a colleague emailed me an article written by Nick Earls that got me thinking about the problems that not having a teacher librarian could have for schools, even schools that have an unqualified teacher librarian managing it.

The first problem is that the collection is more likely to become mismanaged. Collections are more likely to be poorly maintained like outdated resources or items easily disappear. I can testify that from experience at one school and while fixable, the time to fix it will be a long one.

There was one matter that affects even us qualified teacher librarians - The self checkout. Yes the public libraries have them but does self checkout help students pick the right books? Experienced school library staff have a broad knowledge of literature and can make a recommendation based on what they know to each student. Without that guidance, it can create problems. A parent could ring up the school and complain if their child has borrowed a book that may have objectionable material. A student may not be able to utilise or use a book effectively e.g. Borrow a book that is above their reading level.

But what else does a school lose from not having a teacher librarian?

• An advocate for reading - Teacher Librarians love to read and they want others to read as well. The ultimate role model for reading. I can see from my practice how I have encouraged others to read. There are kids for instance who are doing the NSW Premiers Reading Challenge, who might have not done so in the first place. I am even reading books and seeing if I can read 20 books from the PRC list. Will be handy for making book reviews. 
• Less opportunities for innovation in teaching and learning. It has been reported that ICT skills amongst school students in Australia is on the decline.  A Teacher Librarian is able to collaborate with colleagues to provide teaching and learning experiences that not only incorporate ICT skills, but also educate students on how to use them effectively.
• Students will engage less with literature - The internet is not a one stop shop for information. Through a Teacher Librarian, they will be exposed to information in differing formats including print. Even in this digital age, youngsters love their printed material. Think wide reading. Would students and teachers know whats even there?
• The library is not valued as a centre for learning. The library more or less becomes a storage area for books; a bit like a museum. Books are not used for what they are intended for. 
• Developing skills in critical and creative thinking. In this globalised society, we need to make the right choices and in order to do that, we need to think through critically. In countries like Australia, we lack innovation, and if Australia wants to compete with the world and remain a leading society, we need to have skills in creative thinking. Libraries with their wealth of information can give one the ideas needed to engage in that think, but also be guided in how to express their thinking, not just creatively, but critically. 

BOSTES Accreditation - Some reflections

A big step for me professionally has taken place in the past few weeks in relation to seeking accreditation in NSW as a teacher at Proficient Level. I have submitted my samples to my current school for the writing up of the accreditation report.

It has been a year since I looked at my progress and since then, really was in a sense just about ready to present that evidence to a school, and just noting that I had found. I think that time last year came to be really handy because it has made everything much easier. I was able to approach my school, show the samples (and that they had signed off) and it was fixed.

I was able to provide some additional samples of evidence in recent months and also have my practice observed by an experienced teacher.

Hopefully the next entry on this topic will be about gaining the proficient level and giving credit to those involved in my journey there. So far a big thankyou to each and everyone of them.

Some Teacher Librarians may be finding it daunting to collect evidence, but really it is easy to collect. If you teach a lesson (especially primary school), keep a lesson plan, keep copies of sheets or handouts, newsletter articles (communication with the school community), professional learning diaries or samples of student work. Even minutes of a meeting you might have with your library team, faculty or colleague will count. Ideas are endless.

What about classroom management or student discipline? Create a discipline policy that you apply for the library that you work in. Casual or temp? Make a generic one and mention that it is adapted to all schools that you work at. Your teacher observation will also be handy here too like it has been done with me.

Make sure that you look at the standards and make sure that the samples will allow you to meet them all.

A big tip from me is to annotate your samples which you can do with Adobe Acrobat where you can show where the standards have been met and will guide your mentor or TAA in finalising your report.

With your annotations with your samples, go to some detail because it will make a difference as well. It will help you too in determining whether or not you have met the standards.

If you are stuck on doing it from a Teacher Librarians perspective, feel free to get in touch with me or  speak to your TAA.

Are Teacher Librarians on Borrowed Time?

An article was published in The Age Newspaper in Melbourne last year that questions the relevance of the Teacher Librarian to the learning process.

But at the same time it looks at the threat that the profession is facing as some schools opt for specialist teachers in other subject areas instead or in some instances closing libraries and replacing them with IT Centres.

I have to say "well done" to the paper for highlighting the challenges that the profession is facing.

But there was one thing that I felt that was missing from the comments provided by Dianne Ruffles (Teacher Librarian - Melbourne Grammar) and Alison Lester (Author); the importance of communicating information.

As a Teacher Librarian, I believe that providing students with skills in the effective communication of information is important to the learning process. It is one of the most important life skills that one can possess as it allows us to share and transfer information from person to person, whether it may be in a written form, visually or verbally.  Through that new knowledge can be created.

But are we on borrowed time? I'd say no. Jobs are under threat from budgetary but as the research indicates, Teacher Librarians are gaining an ever more important role in the learning process. For me, just continue to advocate the role and show to everyone how wonderful Teacher Librarians are.

Study Ties College Success to Students’ Exposure to a High School Librarian (Article from the School Library Journal)

An article recently landed in my inbox (hence the title of the post) about the three way relationship between the Teacher-Librarian, teacher and student in shaping the success of students in their studies at tertiary level.

Research has found that the development of information literacy skills is shaped during a student's schooling. Students that were exposed to the expertise and skills of a teacher librarian are more likely to result in better academic achievement at university. Also collaboration with teacher made it even more likely.

I found from my own experience as a student, that we were not necessarily prepared for the requirements to engage in learning effectively at university level. For example, I did not know what a database was and how to use it, nor to reference effectively.

These experiences have helped me as a teacher librarian. I encourage students to make use of databases that may be available to them, either through the school library, their local library or the State Library of NSW. I have found them to be amazed at what they do end up finding.

Or teaching students where to locate books on a certain topic e.g. Music in the 700's.

Also I have encouraged students to not just focus on websites, but also on printed, electronic and audio visual materials through Resource Based Learning.

And finally I have been an advocate of Guided Inquiry because it allows for that reflection on the learning process, right from start to finish. I have guided senior students in writing up a research question/s, recommending resources (as mentioned) or reflecting on the usefulness of a resource.

What is a Teacher Librarian? First Impressions

As I start my course, I feel I should take the opportunity to define what I see as the role of teacher-librarian. I hope to use this as a means to explain my changing views as we go further into the study of the ETL401 unit but also the course.

To me the role of teacher-librarian is to manage the learning resources of a school. This includes the following:

• School Library - including the collection of books, audio visual and Internet based material.
• Provide access to learning resources to students, staff and the wider community.
• Develop research skills in each student.
• Ensure that resources are relevant to the learning needs of students.
• Provide access to the latest resources for students and staff.
• Identify strategies to further enhance student learning.
• Provide regular opportunities for students and staff to utilise the library for learning and teaching.