Time Management??? Who has Time to Manage????

Time Management??? Who has Time to Manage????


I have to have a laugh at my self here. At the moment I feel like the worst time manager around! With a full on new role in my teaching job, a family x 2 children + large dog (who needs daily walking), a house to run, renovations happening, a husband who travels for work, trying to get my head around studying again,madly trying to complete the last assignment, and now I have to write a job application as our school is becoming an IPS next year.....all before the end of the week! I feel like I am hanging off a cliff by my fingernails!


I will have to read the suggested literature  about time management again, WHEN I HAVE TIME!!!!
I seem to have way to many zones!
Zone 1- Work
Zone 2- Study
Zone 3- Mothering Duties
Zone 4- Household Duties
Zone 5- Wife Duties


I think I have a little too much on my plate as the zones all over- lap into each other and there doesn't seem to be a Zone 6- ME TIME!

Library Management

Library Management

I found it interesting that library management was left to the end of the unit and that it wasn’t  a very large module. I always thought the management of the library was one of the main roles of the TL. Perhaps it is time to rethink!

I was very interested to read in Gary Hartzell’s (2003) Building Influence for the School Librarian; Tenets, Targets, & Tactics, the parallels he draws between the principal’s job of school admin and the TLs job of library admin. He sees it as a valuable contact point. I’ll have to file that away for the future.

     

I found the recommended sites and articles Karen Bonanno's site, Pappas' guide & Spence’s to be very informative and worth saving to the Favourites. I particularly liked Spence’s short and to the point article. I found I could easily relate to her 5 elements of management:

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1. Knowing your learning community
2. Professional knowledge
3. Initiative and proactivity
4. People skills and pragmatism
5. Attention to detail & documentation
She is an author I will continue to follow as I find her style easy to read her ideas are very practical and I particularly like her idea for the documentation strategy, the "team statement" that she has used successfully to fight proposed staffing cuts. Well worth saving for future reference! http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/rblonline/librarymanagement/libmanage.htm

  
  

How to Measure Information Literacy?

Measuring Information Literacy

In my readings I came across Jamie Mckenzie's check list for an Information Literate School. I found this very interesting and more than a little daunting! Thought it might be useful in the future.
Pasted from <http://www.fno.org/sept98/infolit.html>

How does a school know when it deserves to be called an information literate school community? When the following characteristics are abundantly evident, the phrase is well deserved . . .

How can we tell that our school is approaching a mature level of information literacy? We assess the Traits of an Information Literate School, rewarding between zero and four stars for each trait according to where our school has progressed on what is for most a five year journey.

 • Zero stars = Not an explicit goal. No journey started.

• One star = Starting out on the journey with good intentions.

• Two stars = Making good progress with observable results.

• Three stars = Highly developed and effective

• Four stars = World class. Not much room for growth or improvement

Trait	The Traits of an Information Literate School Description	Rating
Invention	Much of the school program is dedicated to problem-solving, decision-making, exploration and the creation of new ideas.	.
Fluency	Teachers are becoming comfortable with the need to move back and forth between an array of instructional roles and strategies.	.
Support	The school provides rich and frequent ongoing support for all learners to develop thinking and information skills.	.
Navigation	Learners have the navigation skills to find their way through the new information landscape (as well as the old) with little lost time.	.
Searching	Learners apply Boolean Logic. They search with appropriate syntax. They employ powerful search engine features to locate pertinent information.	.
Selection	Learners know how to separate the reliable from the unreliable source. They recognize propaganda, bias and distortion.	.
Questioning	Learners know how and when to employ dozens of different types of questions in the search for understanding and meaning.	.
Planning	Learners possess planning and organizational skills. They sort, sift and store findings to enhance later questioning. They make wise choices from a toolkit of research strategies and resources.	.
Interpretation	Learners convert primary sources and raw data into information, and then they proceed further (beyond information) to insight. They translate, infer and apply what they have gathered to the issue at hand.	.
Deep Thinking	Learners combine deep thinking and reading with a wide ranging search for relevant information. This quest for information is but the prelude to the more important work . . . solving a problem, creating a new idea, inventing a product or composing a symphony.	.
Commitment	All curriculum documents include clear statements regarding the information literacy expectations that are developmentally appropriate for each grade level. The school community persists with the literacy goal over time.

Pasted from <http://www.fno.org/sept98/infolit.html>

Collaboration????

Collaboration

After copious amounts of reading about collaboration my head is spinning. All research points to the fact that student achievement increases when evidence of collaboration between TLs and teachers take place. Why then are TLs fighting for their jobs? Is this a good thing as hinted at by Doug Johnson in his article The Seven Most Critical Challenges Facing Our Profession? (Teacher Librarian, 14811782, Jun2002, Vol. 29, Issue 5)
What is collaboration? There seems to be many different degrees of collaboration. After reading Shared Vision: A Key to Successful Collaboration? (Williamson, K., Archibald, A., & McGregor, J. (2010). School Libraries Worldwide, 16(2), 16-30.) This definition stood out;

Definition of Collaboration

Collaboration is a trusting, working relationship between two or more equal participants

involved in shared thinking, shared planning and shared creation of integrated instruction.

Through a shared vision and shared objectives, student learning opportunities are

created that integrate subject content and information literacy by co-planning, co-implementing,

and co-evaluating students’ progress throughout the instructional

process in order to improve student learning in all areas of the curriculum. (Montiel-

Overall, 2005, Section A, para. 9)

Sounds wonderful! In a perfect world….. Reality bites!

Introducing the restrictions to effective collaboration:

·         Limited Funding

·         Conflicting visions/goals

·         Personality conflict

·         Stringent time-table ling

·         Time constraints

·         Lack of understanding of TLs expertise/role

·         Lack of support from principal

And so on………

How much collaboration actually goes on in schools? Is it a myth or does it really happen? Reading Ross Todd’s article Collaboration: From Myth to Reality: Let’s Get Gown to Business. Just Do It! ( School Library Media Activities Monthly Vol. XXIV, No 7/March) was very interesting. He cites studies that show limited collaboration actually happens; as little as 48% in high schools, 44% in middle schools and 25% in primary schools. (Callison 2005 as cited in Todd’s article)
Is it all too hard? Teaching is such a stressful job and the pressures of curriculum and national testing programs just add to it.

On a side note….public schools are fighting for their lives as more and more parents move their children into private schooling. The publication of national testing results has seen more funding moving too these schools as government schools lose their students. Schools are developing the culture of ‘teaching to the test.’ Scary, I say! Are we moving towards an elitist society where only those with money can afford a decent education? I believe the government needs to come to the party and ensure our public schools are as well-equipped as the private sector. Aren’t we going backwards in time by re-adapting the ‘teach to the test’ learning culture? What happened to teaching students to be life-long learners? What has happened to the inquire approach?

In all the doom and gloom I did find some light and inspiration. Joyce Valenza’s article (2010) Manifesto for 21st century school librarians. (October, VOYA Magazine: Kurdyla Publishing. http://www.voya.com/2010/09/15/tag-team-tech-october-2010/) was inspiring and scary! She is so motivated and seems to have so much energy to have accomplished so much. She is amazing and I got some great ideas from her.

I also was inspired and got lots of ideas from other articles I found while surfing the net;

Spence, S. The teacher librarian toolkit for an information literate school community

(http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/rblonline/Library/TLconferences/islandjourney.doc) accessed 9/09/11

Milbury, P. (2005) Collaboration: Ten important reasons to take it seriously, Knowledge Quest 33 no 5 30-2 My/Je

Lamb A, Lamb's Latitudes. Information Age Inquiry. http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/inquiry0.htm accessed 22/09/11

Johnson D., (2004) Proactivity and Reflection: Tools to improve Collaborative experiences. Minnesota Media.

 Braxton B., (2008) The teacher librarian as literacy leader. Teacher Librarian. 14811782, Feb2008 Vol. 35, Issue 3

 Buzzeo, T. (2002) Disciples of Collaboration. School Library Journal Sept p34-35

These articles are easy to read, written by mainly TL’s in plain language. They contain numerous helpful ideas to get you on the road to collaboration. They have certainly been saved in my favourites!  I particularly liked Toni Buzzeo’s style of writing; concise, to the point and full of useful ideas. I have even put in an order for one of her books: The Collaboration Handbook 2008 Linworth Books ISBN: 1586830236. Looking forward to its arrival!

Life-Long Learners

Life- Long Learners

Still working on information process models. There are so many! Will I ever decide on two and get this part of the assignment done???

In his article Information Literacy: Essential Skills for the Information Age (2008) Eisenberg refers to IL as a set of skills and knowledge that allows us to find, evaluate and use the information we need. He sees IL skills as necessary for us to successfully navigate the present and future landscape of information we are being faced with. Eisenberg believes that information and technology affects every person in every possible setting including work, education and recreation.

I agree with all that he says. As educators of children, the future contributors of our society, teacher librarians need to keep these thought in the forefront of their minds when considering information literacy needs and learning programs in our 21^st century schools. In order to provide a balanced and relevant learning program all facets of the literacy spectrum (Stern 2002) need to be catered for.

(An interesting web page I came across. Stern C. (2002) Information literacy unplugged: teaching information literacy without technology. (White paper prepared for UNESCO, the US NCLIS and National Forum for Information Literacy. http://www.nclis.gov/libinter/)

Today’s information comes at us in so many different forms. We are bombarded with information through TV, movies, print, radio, electronic and digital forms as well as being able to access the World Wide Web with computer technology.  Successful people today are those that focus on meaningful use of information and technology. Successful people are those who are able to apply technology and information to a range of situations. (Eisenburg 2008)

Christine Bruce (2003) sees IL as being strongly connected with critical and reflective thinking. She believes a key characteristic of the life- long learner is having the ability to access, evaluate, organize and use information in order to learn, problem solve, make decisions in formal and informal contexts, at work, at home and in educational settings.

 Reading Bruce’s views and hearing the term ‘life-long learner’ on many other occasions lead to a search to discover just what the term meant. The following found on http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/inquiry0.htm (accessed 17/09/11) provided a valuable insight.

Life-long learning can be describe as the process of acquiring and expanding knowledge, skills, and dispositions throughout one’s life to foster well-being. It's much more than taking an adult pottery class or reading a nonfiction book occasionally. It's about the decisions you make and the problems you solve in everyday life. From enrolling in a structured, formal education program to considering whether to believe an infomercial's gimmick, lifelong learning takes many forms. Life-long learners choose to seek out new ideas and alternative perspectives. They embrace our changing, dynamic, information-rich society by keeping their senses active and their minds full of ideas. Much of this learning is self-directed. To be successful, the child or adult must have basic information inquiry knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Therefore, if we are to foster the development of children as life-long learners then IL must not be seen as merely developing a set of skills, but also as cultivating attitudes and critical thinking behaviors that encourage students to become life-long learners and worthwhile contributors of today’s society.

Mmmmm......very interesting.

Information Process Models

Information Process Models


Interesting, the number of information process models there are out there. After examining a few I have realized that as a classroom teacher, I have my own information processing model that I automatically use with my students. I always keep it in mind particularly when designing research projects for my students. I have recently discovered that not all teachers do this.


Upon seeing a project I was working on with some year 6/7 students, another teacher asked me how I had developed this particular project. I spent some time going over my process with her and she asked if I minded if she adopted it to use with her class. I was surprised as this particular teacher is much younger (second year out) and more techno savvy than me. Perhaps my use of the information process is something I have developed through my years of teaching?????


I have enjoyed going over the details included in some of the models I have looked at. Kuhlthau's is interesting in that it includes how the user is feeling at each stage of the process. Food for thought when developing my next research project............

Information Literacy

Information Literacy

Wow! There are so many different definitions of Information Literacy. In my view it seems many have been written with the academic or tertiary student in mind. I have found most of these definitions overly wordy, full of technical terms and difficult to understand. Many seem to loose sight of the fact that the world isn't only full of academics! In today's information rich world, there are many of us 'ordinary, every day' folks out there who also need to be information literate.

As educators of children we need to keep this thought in the forefront of our minds when considering information literacy needs and learning programs. People from all walks of life need to be able to access and use information to suit their many different needs.

I found I really liked the simplicity of the The UK's Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) definition.

"Information literacy is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner. " 2005

http://www.cilip.org.uk/professionalguidance/informationliteracy/definition/

This definition implies several skills or competencies. CLIP believe that the competencies that are required to be information literate require an understanding of:

• A need for information
• The resources available
• How to find information
• The need to evaluate results
• How to work with or exploit results
• Ethics and responsibility of use
• How to communicate or share your findings
• How to manage your findings

Broken down into these simple terms I feel these points capture the essence of being information literate.

In the course of my searches I came across a useful web site called The Information Literacy Place, http://dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/default.htm
produced by Sheila Webber (Sheffield University) and Bill Johnston (Strathclyde University)

One Principal's View

Food for thought.........

After reading so much about the role of the teacher librarian, I thought I would like to actually talk to some principals about their views on the role and see if they thought it a valuable position.

I started with my own school principal Wayne Press. We have a brand new library, compliments of the government building project, staffed with a part-time library officer but no teacher librarian. He was interested to hear that I was studying with the view to being a teacher librarian. Wayne explained that he had suggested the position to the staff when they were  looking at the specialist positions, however the staff were more interested in having music, art, sport and IT covered. The general view was that the classroom teachers could cover their own library lessons because all teacher librarians really do is read books and try to encourage children to read. Mr Press did say that he believed the role to be much more than that and felt it leaned more towards information literacy these days although he wasn't really sure about how this would be carried out. It was an interesting conversation.


I am new to the school this year and have taken on support roles in both the junior and senior primary areas. I have been working with the year 6/7 class on a research project. It has been interesting to experience their lack of research and information skills and their naive approach to Internet research. If they found it on the web it must be right! They have no interest in the library, books or other information sources. I can see plenty of room for a Teacher Librarian in this school!


I have recently returned from the USA where I had spent some time with my aunt, Dr. Camille Shirah. Camille has recently retired as the principal of C.B. Greer Elementary School in Brunswick, Georgia. We had discussed this topic while I was there as I had just started my Master's of Education in Teacher Librarianship. I asked Camille to write down her thoughts on the role for me. It makes for interesting reading. What an inspiring teacher librarian! I decided to post it (with Dr. Shirah's permission) for others to read.

One Principal’s View: The Role of the Media Specialist

Dr. Camille Shirah

If I had to select one person in a school who is central to student success, without hesitation, I would name the media specialist. Having recently retired as the principal of C.B. Greer Elementary School, an International Baccalaureate World School, in Brunswick, Georgia, USA, I had the pleasure of working with Mrs. Judi Teston, our school’s media specialist. She demonstrated an expertise and imagination matched by few. During the four years I worked with Mrs. Teston, I gained an even higher standard for all media specialists, because her work was impeccable and invaluable to our school.

I watched as Mrs. Teston engaged students and teachers in books, interactive technology, story telling, research, drama, reading clubs, games, daily student-led newscasts, and her own magical enthusiasm for the world of reading. She might be found acting like Annie Oakley as she tells the story of this American cowgirl or jumping up and down in a student assembly as she awards students and teachers with life-size reading posters. Excitement follows Mrs. Teston and her energy for reading pulls students, staff, and parents into literacy.

Because she understands how students learn, and she dedicates herself to her craft, Mrs. Teston plays a significant part in increasing reading achievement as indicated by students’ high scores on the state tests (mandated by No Child Left Behind). She utilizes various methods and strategies while engaging students in the lessons she teaches in the media center. She pays close attention to the Georgia Performance Standards for learning and gears her lessons to these academic expectations. She utilizes student data and is a master at reviewing the standards considered to be the most important.

Along with students, she also guides teachers into a greater understanding of how to integrate reading and research into content areas of study. She has helped all grade levels expand their thinking by selecting appropriate books used in Literature Circles and International Baccalaureate transdisciplinary units of study. Additionally, Mrs. Teston designed a highly successful reading program to encourage students to read on their reading levels, increase metacognition, and most importantly, read for pleasure. Her dedication to keeping reading and writing at the forefront of learning has inspired teachers to do the same within their classrooms.

Additionally, Mrs. Teston is the webmaster for Greer’s website. Having a school website is a county requirement and a huge job. Admittedly, she spends many extra hours making sure the information on the website is up-to-date and represents the school both creatively and accurately. Many accolades have come her way because she expects only the best from herself and projects Greer’s students and staff in an exciting and meaningful format.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the media specialist must be willing to build strong relationships with students. Sidorkin says in his book Learning Relations (2002) that “students can only learn to love something from someone they love”. The role of the media specialist is one of special significance and requires an extremely dedicated person, like Mrs. Teston, who loves her work and the lives she touches. Students must be led into an appreciation of reading, and it is a love of literacy that builds solid students. Teachers also must feel comfortable asking for help and confident the information given to them is accurate and relevant.

I have witnessed an amazing media specialist at work, and she has proven to me her job is not only vital to students, but to teachers and parents. Truly the media center can be the heart of learning in a school. A highly effective media specialist changes the lives of students every day and greatly enhances learning in ways that increase understanding and higher levels of thinking. An awesome media specialist, like Mrs. Teston, makes a lasting difference in a school and greatly increases the likelihood that her school, like her, will be remarkable.