Toondoo

A cool site that allows you to easily make cartoon strips and cartoon story boards. Very fun!

Topic 1

The Canadian article is a text that is looking back over the last 25 years in Canada’s education history. It shows the decline in funding for teacher librarians and the effect it is having on their schools. It is a persuasive text that is trying to encourage educators to see the benefits of having trained library specialist in schools. It clearly outlines the positive outcome for students, school communities and staff in having an active and capable teacher librarian. It states a range of research to show the positive impact this can have on academic results in schools. It outlines the essential role of the librarian and the need for collaboration in the school environment. It is primarily written to communicate this decline and to encourage a change in this country’s school system.

Herring’s article on the whole is a more positive outlook. Herring outlines the role of the teacher librarian and library in the school. It communicates what is happening internationally in terms of the role, mission of the school, information literacy, collection development, standards and technology. The article is looking forward to the future and I found it to be a good overview of where this course is going, giving me a small taste of a range of topics that influence school libraries.

Both articles acknowledge the important role libraries play, Herring uses the language that the library is a vital part of the school and the Canadian article acknowledges the library as the heart of the school.

Future Career?I am not a teacher librarian but a classroom teacher working towards the role. I found the Herring article to be an excellent introduction to the teacher librarian role. It clearly shows the positive impact teacher librarians can have and what a dynamic role it is. The Canadian article is a window into what can happen in any school system that dismisses the teacher librarian role as tokenistic or out of date. It shows it is important that the teacher librarians work hard to make their role an essential component in the school. Essential for both student learning and collaboration with classroom teachers to enhance teaching programs. If the role is being done well it will be seen as a vital part of the school community.

School Libraries In Australia

Hazell,A. (1990).School library and information services in Australia. In M.Nimo, & A.Hazell (Eds) Promoting learning:challenges in teacher librarianship (pp.17-22). Adelaide: Auslib Press.

I have just finished my second article. The first I needed match sticks to keep awake during so I will make no comment about that one. The second was not too bad.

What are the key concerns in school library services during this decade?
My thought are funding. It seems that all too often the library is the easy area in a school to pull funding from when times are lean. It is therefore essential for teacherlibrarians to be working in partnership with the other areas of the school to ensure learning is enriched across the curriculum for both students and colleagues. Again in some schools I have taught in Library time has been seen as a tack on to the curriculum or RFF rather than an essential element to the learning journey.

I really loved two ideas which were expressed in this reading. The first being that the teacherlibrarian is a partner in students learning. This statement seems exciting and full of possibilities. Could it be that library teaching isn't just one lesson a week but instead may involve the teacherlibrarian working alongside other teachers to plan and implement rich learning experiences. Could it be whole days spent with a year group exploring and delving into new ideas. Could it be working with small groups to enrich their learning. It would be really exciting to have other staff see that the teacher librarian role could be so much richer and deeper than just being a buyer of resources or teaching of RFF.

The other idea I liked reading about was on p.19 where the author discusses students who are aware of the power of information and who know how to find and use it. If we do this well then our roles as teacherlibrarians will be seen as valuable.

I could just keep going on and on and on. But maybe I will stop as I have a feeling I'm the only one reading this and that is probably a good thing.

Getting Started

I finally decided to start looking seriously at what was expected of me in this course on Sunday. I felt completely overwhelmed (probably trying to do this while recovering from food posioning due to a trip to the golden arches was not a good idea). After spending hours fooling around I finally worked out the site and how to start the course. I think I might just get started and see how I travel.

It is now Monday night and I have made my way throught the introduction reading and listening. I am now off to try and find the books at my local uni library (fingers crossed they're there).

Tomorrow I will adventure into topic 1. Although I am unsure if it will be an adventure or a chore.

Helen's First Blog

This is my first test blog for the university course I am studying. This year I will endeavor to balance work full-time, look after my family and study. Sounds a little crazy!

I am currently a primary teacher. I have been teaching for fourteen years across k to 6. This year I have a great year 1 and 2 composite class. I love teaching and would like to be able to try a new role within the school system and that is why I have decided to study this course.

Looking forward to future blogs.