My brain is swollen

What a whopper Topic 2 turned out to be. I have spent more than a week trying to do all the readings, trying to absorb as much advice from the professionals about how I can be a first class TL. Now my brain feels swollen - there are so many thoughts, ideas, directions I want to take on board. Realistically, I know that I have to start small, so I'll need to make a plan. First thing to do is to meet with my principal to share with him some of my learning and to convince him to move the library onto a flexible schedule. This will free me up to meet and plan with all the year groups and enable me to find resources to support theirs and the children's learning. Small steps.

This worm now needs to find a nice, quiet, cool hole somewhere to wriggle into and ponder all my recent learning.

Understanding the ILSC - Henri 2005

Having read Henri (2005), my understanding is that the core business of a TL is to lead their school in developing the context or culture for learning for all: principals, teachers and students. He refers to Senge's (1996) argument that "leadership cannot force meaningful change but it can create the ingredients for a dynamic learning culture". TLs are fortunate in that they are usually one of the few professionals in the school who interact with every student and teacher on a weekly basis. By getting in at the grass roots level, TLs can try to influence their school community into wanting to create an environment where everyone is a learner. Henri tells us that school leaders must model what matters and they must "create an environment in which people are open to new ideas, responsive to change, and eager to develop new skills and capabilities" Senge (1996). Because the TL is in a central position, they can open the door to a variety of learning possibilities and can help to make "something personally understandable from a range of information sources" (Henri 2005). They can foster the notion that learning need not take place just in classrooms, but should take place in and around the school community.

Role of TL - ASLA Standards

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.

What a relief!

Aaaahh - that's me breathing a sigh of relief. I've just finished reading a very enlightening paragraph in Skrzeczynski's "Breaking the barriers: sculpturing an information literate school community" (1999).
After reading all the roles and responsibilities of excellent TLs over this past week, I was beginning to think that I would need to be cloned in order to fulfill all of these expectations. How can one TL possibly juggle their time well enough to be involved in so many important areas of the school? I sort of felt like I was drowning under this weight of responsibility, thinking that I would have to be involved in the teaching of every one of the 850 kids in my school every week. I already work 50+ hours a week - how can I possibly take on any more work?
Skrzexczynski explains that TLs don't have to be "engaged in the face-to-face teaching of students", it's the expertise they bring to the "planning, organising and management" of the curriculum that is important.
I'll sleep well tonight knowing that yes, I will still be involved in face-to-face teaching, but not expected to teach every lesson. My worth will be guaged by the contributions I make during the planning process, not in the actual execution of every lesson.
Now I realise that I won't have to move a camp bed into my library and take up permanent residence there.

Ghosts of libraries past (with apologies to Dickens)

After reading a couple of other posts made about childhood memories of libraries, I thought I'd reminisce to see if any libraries had left their mark on me. Having attended about eight Primary schools (my mother had itchy feet - still does even though she's 73!) in three different states, I had to really think hard to figure out which library went with which school.

Anyway, one of the ones that stands out was in Adelaide. The school was very progressive (for 1977) and in Years 6 & 7 much of our work was conducted by contract, so if our work was completed early, we were given passes to go to the library to use the listening post. How I lived for the times I could sit and listen to stories about Helen Keller, Louis Braille and other notable people. I remember there being a great range of books to borrow so my thirst for reading was easily quenched.

At times we performed research tasks, but I can't remember whether the librarian assisted us or not. Thinking about this library brings back pleasant memories for me, so I can only assume that it was a safe, welcoming place to kick back.

In contrast, the library in my Secondary school in Townsville most definitely did not have a "welcome" mat at its front door. Staffed by a couple of 90 year old nuns and a very stern male librarian, we knew in no uncertain terms that upon entering the library silence was the order of the day, every day to be precise. Giggling and gossiping teenage girls were most certainly not the type of clientele they were looking for. I remember visiting the library only when I needed information for homework tasks, getting in and out as quickly as I could. The eagle-eyed staff and the physical environment of the library did not encourage us to linger any longer than necessary.

Delving back through my memories has been a good experience for me. It has made me realise that even though the resources available in the library from 1977 would be vastly different (dinosaur-like in comparison) to a library in 2010, that the staff in that library were obviously offering a facility which children were excited and eager to visit. Somehow they created an environment which encouraged children to want to visit time and time again. This is the type of library I have tried to create in my school, where children are not forced to remain silent, a place where they can read, play board games, undertake research, complete homework, draw pictures - a place where they know they are welcome. My vision is for the library to be a learning hub, a trellis to support and nurture our seedlings' learning until it takes root and blossoms independently (fits nicely given the fact that the word "garden" makes up part of my school's name).