Being a reflective practitioner is at the pedagogical core of the teaching profession. Interesting, reflection has been inherently linked to the concept of inquiry, where “reflective practitioners take an inquiry stance in that they actively search for understanding, and are always open to further investigation” (NSW DoE, 2021, para 4). Pondering my ETL401 learnings, it…
Influential teachers have developed good relationships with other members of staff. This is often established through meaningful and genuine conversations, shows of respect towards others, willingness to offer help and support, as well as refined leadership skills that seek to allow others to grow and flourish in their own right, without themselves feeling ‘threatened’. These…
The readings and learnings from Module 5 provided some interesting takeaways, regarding the need for an Information Literacy model in schools. It has allowed me the opportunity to explore various models I was previously unaware of including Guided Inquiry Design, FOSIL, the Big6 and iLEARN). As a practitioner in a NSW Department of Education school,…
I am really excited about the Guided Inquiry Design model. When understanding the various stages of the process and connecting the affective stages, it felt like a light bulb moment that reflected true to form, my own way of unconsciously approaching a research task. In so much of my past teaching (primarily in a school…
The reflection prompt invites consideration of the following three questions: How might the teacher librarian help the school move towards integrated information literacy instruction? What challenges lie in the way of such instruction? How might teacher librarians and teachers encourage students to transfer information literacy skills and practices from one subject to another? Firstly, it…
I feel that armed with documents such as Bonanno and FitzGerald’s (2014) F-10 Inquiry Skills Scope and Sequence and F-10 Core Skills and Tools, we are in a unique position as expert teacher librarians to be able to map and authentically embed into teaching and learning programs, information literacy skills to assist time-poor classroom teachers.…
The National Literacy Trust (n.d.) defines literacy as “the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world”. Furthermore, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) suggest that becoming literate is to “develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to use language confidently”…
Adding to the ideas already generated in this discussion thread, I also think that the principal is pivotal in providing opportunities for allowing the TL to be able to deliver relevant and specialised professional development (PD) to the whole staff. This will assist in positioning the TL as an ‘expert’ in the field. In particular,…
The teacher librarian has a relevant and significant role to play in curriculum development. They can be involved in collaborative planning of units across all stages, which can assist in ensuring continuity of skills development (ie. General Capabilities) are uniformly and consistently implemented as a whole school priority and focus. This can be achieved through…
As highlighted by O’Connell et al. (2021), when it comes to evidence gathering for professional accreditation maintenance, it can be ‘tricky’ at times for the teacher librarian as they do not have a set ‘subject’ to teach. However, as discussed in a previous post, exemplars of practice have been developed by the Australian Library and…