Upon reading the ASLA standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians, I realise that although I've been doing (what I think) is a great job of managing my school library, there are many roles that I have been underperforming, or not performing at all. This is not due to lack of care or interest, but more due to lack of awareness that these are roles that are vital to the TL's function and also perhaps because I teach 20 classes on fixed schedule each week, manage two libraries on two different sites, one resource room and one reading books room AND I try to make contact with all 850 pupils every week. (These past 3 weeks, since I began ETL401, have been a very steep learning curve for me).
One area that I feel that I should address immediately when school resumes is my lack of collaboration with class teachers. Occasionally I have attended planning meetings, but looking back now I feel that my purpose or intention was misdirected as I was only involved from a resourcing point of view, not really focusing on the teaching and learning taking place. I realise now that I need to get involved in the nitty gritty of their planning and look for meaningful ways that I can support them and the learning outcomes and experiences we want for the children.
I'm glad what we are learning is helping you to be better in your role!! You'll be a blessing to those teachers once you start collaborating! I'm excited to be doing what you are doing one day!
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