Professional+Practice

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=__ Professional Practice __=

Excellent teacher librarians ...

2.1 engage and challenge learners within a supportive, information rich learning environment.

2.2 collaboratively plan and resource curriculum programs which incorporate transferable information literacy and literature outcomes.

2.3 provide exemplary library and information services consistent with national standards.

2.4 evaluate student learning and library programs and services to inform professional practice.

(ASLA, 2004)

**__Grant to build a new library (2.1, 2.3)__ **

"Schools need to make a conscious effort to re-engineer their libraries as dynamic and flexible learning labs to support the demands placed on students as information and ICT users, both at school and when they're independently working at home". (Hay, 2006)

My school has been fortunate enough to have received a large sum of money from the federal government to build new infrastructure. The school has decided to spend a great deal of the money on building a new library. At October 2009, the school is still in the planning stages for the new library. It is envisaged that during the Christmas school holidays the toilet blocks for all year levels will be removed and relocated to make way for the new, larger library. The new library will not begin its construction until early 2010. The teacher-librarian has had a great deal of input when planning the new library. After speaking with her about the possible new library layout (that I'm unable, at this stage, to include in this portfolio) I discussed with her many of her considerations when planning the layout. She referred to the text, 'Learning for the Future' as it was this book she used as a guide to assist her in the design.

Learning for the Future outlines several design and layout considerations:

 As a member of staff at the school, no input from staff was asked with regards to the new library design. Had there been an offer by the school administration team for teacher's to put forward their ideas in the planning of the new library I certainly would have offered my ideas. I did however offer my sugestions to the teacher-librarian. I think that to effectively teach two classes in the large open area will require the furniture to be set up in such a way that the classes aren't disturbed by each other. Perhaps an area of floor space and a section with desks to cater for another class to work. I would also hope that there would be small, private study areas for students to either study or read quietly without interruption. A courtyard area would also be lovely giving the library a serene place for students and staff to read.
 * Learning and teaching - "Space and appropriate furniture and equipment are required for large and small groups." (Curriculum Corporation, 2001, p44) The library has been designed to create a large open area, large enough to accomodate two classes. The open area will have surrounding shelving areas with designated sections for fiction and non-fiction. There is a discussion or meeting room that is large enough for a class of students. This will allow for a total of three classes to be using the library at the one time. There will be a section specifically for teacher resources and a room where the digtial media will be stored. Both the teacher-librarian and library officer will have an office. Five large desks/tables that were purchased in 2005 were designed for groups of up to six students.These will be used in the new library as the budget does not stretch far enough to provide much new furniture for the library. This will most certainly be an issue to be addressed in the near future as more desks and furniture will be required to ensure the library makes good use of all available space.
 * Access to information - Much of the shelving in the current library will be used in the new library as again the budget doesn't allow for much new shelving. Some new shelving will be purchased. The number of shelves that will be bought is still under discussion. It will be chosen to specifically meet two high priority requirements. They have to be of a height easily accessible to all students, including those in wheelchairs and they also have to be up off the floor to meet workplace health and safety requirements for library staff. The four computers in our current library will be relocated to the new library. It is hoped that up to 10 laptops will be housed in the library as resources for students to use.
 * Consulting and planning / Teacher preparation and meeting areas - "Collaborative curriculum planning requires a quiet planning area and facilities for previewing resources, designing learning activities and teacher professional development as required." (Curriculum Corporation, 2001, p44) Within the teacher resource section there will be a work space for group planning allowing the use of a data projector and screen, with direct access to teacher reference and curriculum documents, as well as internet access.

__Reader's Cup, Reader's and Writer's Club (2.1, 2.2)__  **

"Excellent teacher librarians foster an environment where learners are encouraged and empowered to read, view, listen and respond for understanding and enjoyment." (ASLA, 2004)

The teacher-librarian at my school advocates reading by encouraging students in years 6-7 to participate in Reader's Cup. Reader's Cup is a competition where teams of four students together read a set of books, and then compete with other school teams to answer quiz questions from the books. Reader's Cup competitions challenge students to read widely, work collaboratively in a team and continue developing a love of reading. It allows readers to compete at a regional and state level similar to sporting competitions and to meet other students with an equal passion for books (Interview, 2009).

I think it's fantastic to promote reading and would endeavour to continue the promotion of reading as a teacher-librarian and certainly continue to participate in the Reader's Cup. I do believe however, that //all// students should be encouraged to read in similar programs like the Reader's Cup. As other programs don't occur at my school I have conversed with various teacher-librarians and participated in the OZTL_NET and BCE teacher-librarian emails to gain further ideas for the promotion of reading and literature. I really love the idea of the Reader's Club. Reader's Club students collect a reading card from the library and then must read 10 books to receive a certificate on assembly. The students in Prep to Year 3 only have to read 10 library books, the Year 4 to 7 students are guided in their reading by picking a topic or author and then having to use the library enquiry system to find a suitable book. They are expected to read 15 books before they are awarded a certificate on assembly.

To cater for students who prefer writing, I would also offer a Writer's Club when working as the teacher-librarian. Writer's Club requires students to write in class, edit and publish their work. Published works are submitted to the library and displayed for others to read. Certificates are awarded at 3, 6 and 9 pieces of work, with a special award once 10 items have been submitted.

To ensure the success of these programs and enthuse students to participate, staff would need to be informed of these programs through staff meetings and handouts. I would ask class teachers to promote the program in class. Furthermore, I would create a display in the library and on our school information board. I would announce the programs in the newsletter, on the school website and on assembly.


 * __Promotion of Literature (2.1, 2.2)__ **

Literature at my school is promoted through the Bilby Awards (Books I Love Best Yearly), Book Week and a Book Fair. In regards to the Bilby Awards, the children are read stories that have been nominated for the Bilby Awards during their library lesson. They then vote on their favourite book and on assembly have the chance to see if they voted on the winning book. The children do enjoy this and it's certainly great to promote the literature. I do feel however, that when I'm in the role of teacher-librarian, I would ask the teacher's to read the books to their classes. The reason I say this is that the children in Prep to Year 2 at my school, who only have a 30 minute session in the library that includes their borrowing time, are only read the story or stories during their library lesson as that is all time will allow. With such a wonderful resource as the library, the children should be taught lessons and engage with the resources the library has to offer rather than just be read to. I feel that the teacher-librarian is not planning lessons but rather simply picking a book to read. This could be done by the classroom teacher in any location or really by anyone who can read. I don't feel the skills of the teacher-librarian or the library as a resource centre are being fully utilised.

Book Week is a big week at my school where guest authors, performers and storytellers are invited to the school. The students really enjoy their interactions with the visitors and seeing it has such a great response and the students, from my observations, increase their willingness to read, I would most definitely continue putting a great deal of effort into Book Week. My teacher-librarian really does a wonderful job.

In 2009 'Book Safari' was the theme for Book Week. The teacher-librarian seemed to make the library come to life by transforming it into a jungle and safari the students loved to explore. It contained learning centres, books, activity and computer programs based around the safari theme. It truly made the library an exciting place to be and many students chose to spend many lunchtimes there.

The Book Fair is set up in the library and occurs once a year normally during the fourth term. The library becomes a store that students enjoy browsing in. It is advertised on assembly, in the school newsletter and on our school website. I have not had much to do with the Book Fair and it is something I will need to question my teacher-librarian about as it is very popular with all staff and students. I do know the teacher-librarian seeks out suppliers of books to sell their books in the library at a reduced price. I am unsure as to how many books are gathered for the Book Fair, how many suppliers the teacher-librarian deals with and just how much time and effort goes into the Book Fair but I intend to find out this information as I develop as a teacher-librarian through my situated professional practice.



**__Collection Development and Collection Management (2.3) __**
 My teacher-librarian seeks to ensure that the school community “//has access to an organised collection of teaching and learning resources and services designed to meet their educational, recreational and cultural needs//.” (Curriculum Corporation, 2001, p. 56) According to my teacher-librarian, her reasoning behind wanting to become a teacher-librarian was because of the literature. One of her favourite jobs is managing the library collection as she enjoys sourcing new resources, purchasing quality literature, appraising the current collection and ensuring that all existing resources remain relevant to the teaching and learning at the school (Interview, 2009). >  At the beginning of each term, each year level is given a curriculum/module box that contains the teaching resources and titles suited for the module that will be taught that term. These boxes have been a great way of ensuring easy access of resources for teachers. One of the drawbacks of this system is the decreasing amount of time teachers spend in the library searching for titles and consequently the number of items teachers borrow from the remaining library collection. During my situated professional practice the teacher-librarian made reference to the fact that teachers unfortunately rarely visit the teacher resource centre. "There are so many valuable resources that are simply gathering dust," said the teacher-librarian at one stage. She is a little bit at a loss as to how to encourage teachers to use the resources. I discussed with her some of the ways we could lure teachers back into the library to encourage them to explore the library collection. Some of the ways we could do this could include:
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Sharing about new resources at staff meetings, the staff intranet and via a library newsletter.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Displays/posters of great resources in the staff room.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Offering morning tea 'resource sharing' in the library.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Holding some staff meetings in the library to encourage teachers to get in near all the wonderful resources.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Holding the planning sessions for each term in the teacher resource area of the library.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Another consideration is that some of the resources that are housed in the resource centre are no longer seen as relevant to the teaching staff. The teacher-librarian briefly discussed with me that 'weeding' at our school over the years has occurred but never comprehensively or systematically. I have not been personally involved in the process of 'weeding' the collection of resources in our school library however it is certainly another area I need to learn about throughout this course. Dillon (2005, p.241) define weeding as ‘the process of removing material from the open shelves and reassessing its value.’ The reasons for this include maintaining the collection at a certain manageable size, lack of space, keeping the collection current and relevant and replacing worn items that are still of educational value (Dillon, 2005). > <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">**__ Library lessons (2.2) __** > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">The teacher-librarian schedules 30 minute classes for Prep to Year 2 students that includes their borrowing time. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in the promotion of literature, the teacher-librarian reads the students a story and then assists them to borrow. I don't think that storysharing is the best way for the teacher-librarian to spend each classes library time. I know that students in the lower primary classes are read to each day by their classroom teacher. I think that if I was the teacher-librarian I would be using the library as the wonderful resource that it is. For example if I were to begin teaching a Prep/Year 1 lesson I would involve the students being introduced to the concept of fiction. Knowing that they're focusing on learning the letters of the alphabet and their initial sounds, I would begin with teaching that 'books in the fiction area are in alphabetical order according to the author'. I would choose a letter such as 'f' and ask a student to choose a book from the 'f' section. A mem Fox book for example, may be identified. Another student may be chosen to find another book in the 'f' section and so on. I would then further develop lessons based on the modules being taught in the classroom. i would begin teaching fiction but also allow them to become familiar with the non-fiction section. I would hope the younger school students would then realise what wonderful information they can find in the library through books and other media, not just listen to stories. > <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">The students in Years 3 to 7 are involved in what I would consider to be library lessons. They have a 45 minute lesson where both the classroom teacher and teacher-librarian work with the students. A brief outline of some of the lessons that either the teacher-librarian discussed with me or I observed and assisted with include; <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Year 3: >> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Year 4/5:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">They begin with where/how to find things using Oliver. This age group use OLLY the junior version of Oliver.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">How to read diagrams.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">A module 'Believe It or Not' allowed for great teaching of the difference between fact and fiction.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Introduction to Microsoft Word. Students were expected to locate, name and save a folder.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Teaching research skills. The students had to define their topic, locate information, select the appropriate information, organise the information into a presentation of their choice (for example a poster, brochure or Powerpoint Presentation) and then evaluate their work through an evaluation checklist.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Rotating learning centres on the module topic 'natural disasters'.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Defining what is an authentic web address when searching for educational material.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Teaching how to write a book report.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Looking at simple machines and drawing and labelling them.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Year 6/7: >> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">I really think the library lessons for the years 3 to 7 are great as they link in so much with what the students are doing in their classroom modules whilst developing fantastic ICT and library skills. I really saw the valuable result of planning sessions with the teacher-librarian. When the teacher-librarian is aware of what the students are learning about the lessons seem so successful. It would be interesting to compare my teacher-librarian's lessons to lessons from another teacher-librarian who does not collaboratively plan with the classroom teachers to see if there is a great deal of difference between the students desire to learn and what they do actually learn. > <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">When I am a teacher-librarian I will take many of the wonderful ideas for lessons and activities I have observed and am sure to see in the future with me and use them with my own students. As they related to what the students had been learning in class, the students showed an eagerness, enthusiasm and real desire to particpate in all lessons and remained on task. As a future teacher-librarian I will ensure to find time (even if it's not in the budget) to plan with the classroom teachers to ensure that what I teach in the library is relevant to the students and link with their classroom module. Observing and discussing the library lessons really has inspired me more to want to be a teacher-librarian! It is working with the students and seeing their love of literature, ICT and enjoyment in the library that made me want to do this course in th first place!
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">How to construct an itinerary. This involved the students planning their Sydney/Canberra trip.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Extending the research skills using the context of 'parliament' that students had been learning about in their classroom module.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Authography .... in depth study of an author of their choice.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Storyboards and creating picture books to be read to younger students at the school.