A pothole in my learning road

Having family come to stay for the last two weeks has really put a dent in my study time. Going to work every day, coming home to cook dinner and then entertaining our visitors has meant that trying to find a chunk of time to sit down and read articles and undertake research has been really difficult. It was lovely to see them and have them stay, but it was also a great relief to wave goodbye yesterday. Now I can knuckle down and get Assignment 2 finished. Really didn't need this distraction - I'm already an expert at procrastination and now I feel that I've "lost" two weeks of valuable learning time. Hmmm.

Topic 5 and the beginnings of an ILSC

This week I have started the ball rolling into beginning to create an ILSC in my workplace. My principal and the senior management team have given their support to the adoption of the NSW ISP and for most teachers (including me), this will be the first time a model has been used seriously to guide the research tasks undertaken by our pupils.

There was a look of bewilderment on many teachers' faces when I gave them each a copy of the ISP. I explained that this year we will working together to embed IL skills into our curriculum and I will be supporting them as we plan units of study together. In the short term, I think that I will need to tread gently as I look for these opportunities and to show teachers that my job is to assist them in providing the best possible learning outcomes for our pupils and not to make their job any harder.

From the Topic 5 readings, I especially like Senge's (2007) comments about building learning organizations "where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together." I think I will be referring to this statement regularly to keep me focused and to inspire me as I work with my school community to create an ILSC.

Information Literacy as an evolving state

In Langford's (1998) article she refers to literacy as being an evolving state that "mirrors the expanding information needs of society" (Breivik & Gee), thus meaning that it has become a "dynamic concept". This is so true.

The number of websites, online tools, games, etc. available to society is limitless. It seems that every day a new "must have/must use" technology is promoted to us. Just this morning I read that Google is soon going to release a Facebook competitor. My first response was 'Why? Do we really need another FB?' And then I thought, 'Why not?' It's just another avenue for people to express themselves and connect with each other.

This is the nature of our love affair with technology, and with progress in general. We are attracted to the newest, fastest, coolest that are on offer.

Nobody is forced to use these new technologies. I have many friends who refuse to sign up for FB accounts. However, the children we teach ARE participating in 21st Century technologies and they need to be taught the skills to be able to confidently and competently use these technologies in a responsible way. TLs need to ensure that the curriculum taught in their school supports the information needs of the learners.

One of the statements in Warlick (2007) resonated with me. He says that "We can no longer be the gatekeepers. We must, instead, teach children how to be their own gatekeepers, and this is an ethical imperative." Having heard of a number of students in my school using social networking sites inappropriately, this reinforces the importance of learners being taught the IL skills to manage their expanding information needs in an ethical manner.

Need more hours in the day!

It's been two weeks since I last blogged. Going back to work to begin a new school year certainly reduced the time I could put into my ETL401 studies. I'm a week behind in my readings, which I am really not happy about. At least I've got a few public holidays coming up soon, so hopefully I can catch up then. If only there were more hours in the day. If only I could exist on less sleep. If only I could get out of work earlier so that I didn't come home exhausted each day. If only ...

Maybe I need to re-read Covey's reading from Topic 6. There's an idea!

I met with all the teachers last week and explained how my role would be changing this year. With me working on a flex. schedule for the first time, I am looking forward to collaborating with all year groups with their planning.

This change seemed to be received well, so here's hoping for a fun, productive year of collaboration!

Assignment 1 finished!

Yes, my first assignment is finished, so I thought it would be a good idea for me to reflect on what I have learnt during the process of researching and writing it.

From this experience I have learnt that although I knew that teaching information literacy skills to children was important, I really didn't know how to go about creating an Information Literacy School Community. From the readings I have learnt the value of collaboration and that this is something I need to encourage in my school if we are to enrich the learning opportunities we offer to our pupils. I realise that there may be some reluctance from a couple of teachers, but I feel that in the main, most teachers will be happy to have my input into designing, teaching and assessing our curriculum.

I look forward to a challenging year ahead and hope the rewards we reap as a teaching community will make it all worthwhile.

Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory. -- George S. Patton

Referencing

I have learnt a very valuable lesson this week. I found that organising my references in the APA style is a mammoth task. It's taken me nearly as long to get the referencing right as it did to write the assignment! Not really, but I can't believe how long it took me to get every date, bracket, full stop, italic, page no., etc. in the right place.

Gee, I will never, ever leave it to the end again. From now on, I will make sure I do my referencing correctly as I use each quote in my writing.

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. ~Eartha Kitt

A breakthrough ...

I met with my principal yesterday and presented my case for moving from my fixed schedule to a flexible schedule so that I can begin my journey of creating an ILSC. Funnily enough, he said that he always thought that I should be working on a flexible schedule, but he wasn't really sure why. After presenting my case, he understands why we need to do this and is in full support. Yay! There's one obstacle out of the way. How many more left?