On the shoulders of giants: Empower, enact, impact

(Adapted from On the shoulders of giants: Empower, enact, impact (Talbot & Korodaj, 2022). Presented at the National Education Summit, Melbourne and Brisbane).

For the majority of my career, I have had a number of mentors who provided guidance to shape and progress my TL practice. Both local (ACT) and national “giants” gave me the confidence to try new things and step into roles I never thought I could managed. They provided those strong shoulders for me to stand on to see into my TL future.

But when did I become the giant upon whose shoulders others now stand?

Let’s start at the beginning. Mentoring brings together those who have the knowledge and those seeking it. It’s “using the wisdom of others to inform and shape the future” (Talbot & Korodaj, 2022). Why keep reinventing the wheel when someone can stand alongside you and share what they already know?

Mentor and mentee working together

Imagine this scenario: first day at work, brand new. You get the usual “here’s the loo, there’s the printer, coffee machine is here, WHS protocols”. But then, the person showing you around turns to you and asks “What gets you excited? What passion brings you to this job?”. From this first interaction, this person keeps an eye on your practice, suggests readings and PL to extend you, and might even stand alongside you as you present at your first conference (shout out to Holly G here!). Before you know it, you’ve found your niche, added to your skillset, and start looking for new challenges. You are happy in what you do and you have a clear path to progress.

Without a mentor…

Now, imagine the same scenario, but after the initial interaction when you start in the job, nobody speaks to you again other than in passing or as part of your everyday work. You are not stimulated, you are finding it hard to access PL and readings to extend your practice, and you become bored. Before you know it, you’ve handed in your resignation to find something else. And you might feel like this…

As you can see, there is a magic to mentoring and being mentored. Read on to find out how:

• This relationship transforms your work practice and knowledge
• The relationship transforms your mentee’s experience in the workplace for the better
• Mentoring and being mentored builds capacity and longevity in the workplace, along with diversity and inclusion
• This leads to both “leading from the middle”

Let this post be food for thought or a call to action!

EMPOWER

The start of the relationship is here: Set folks up for best practice and networking for ongoing support. At this point, consider what you may already know about mentoring. What benefits could it have in your workplace? What experiences have you already had? Have a read of what others have shared at recent workshops as stimulus.

What is mentoring and what are the possible benefits and outcomes?

A mentor is a trusted, seasoned advisor who supports and guides someone through their personal and/or professional journey. They do so by getting to know their mentee, providing resources tailored to their specific needs, and brainstorming solutions to challenges.

(Bretous, 2022).

It can mean staff can diversify their skill set in a safe environment. It provides support through new and complex scenarios. Retention becomes the norm as we support our new staff members via our PLNs and like minded folk. Mentoring can be peer to peer; experienced to inexperienced; younger to older; and encompasses all roles. Library assistants and technicians are a wealth of knowledge for the new TL as they start developing their practice and collection knowledge.

Mentoring is ongoing – as your practice changes over your career, you might start mentoring others, but will always need a mentor to stretch you. As I mentioned, I have had many as I’ve explored new avenues of my TL career (high school to senior secondary; moving to leadership within the profession; becoming a lecturer!).

“A thriving culture, economy, environment and democracy requires the free flow of information and ideas”

Australian Library and Information Association, 2016

Mentoring builds community and connects people within and beyond their own school setting. Innovation is fostered and assists in strategic planning navigation. ALIA’s core values statement outlines exactly what is valuable about mentoring and its support of leading from the middle.

ENACT

Mentoring reduces inequality in the GLARM world. Looking at the United Nations Sustainability Goals, mentoring touches on Goal 4: Quality Education and Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Goal 4: Mentoring continues quality education after formal education through shared knowledge and experience.  Learning from new career and mature career builds knowledge, specialty and strives to continue quality education beyond. 

Goal 10: Mentoring bridges the gap that comes from the level of experience.  A new graduate or colleague doesn’t have the same experience or knowledge (corporate or otherwise) – mentoring breaks down the inequality of the chasm of knowledge and builds collaborative relationships in the workplace.

Something to keep in mind is that “with great power, comes great responsibility” (attributed to so many, but recently to Uncle Ben in Spiderman – I’m a Marvel fan from way back!). Mentoring means leading, and having responsibility for shaping someone and their direction. It also means stepping up within your school community to demonstrate your middle leadership, official or not. I’ve found that the confidence you have in mentoring another leads to new and fresh ideas – and the courage to try and share new things yourself.

IMPACT

Here we explore the impact of mentoring and being mentored. I come back to my original question from the start of this post: when did I become a giant?

It was with the support of my mentors (particularly the wonderful Judy O’Connell, Jennie Bales, and Lyn Hay) and my amazing colleague, Holly Godfree, that I was able to step up and present at my first national conference (it was an ASLA conference in Sydney, if you were wondering :)). Judy, Jennie, and Lyn encouraged me to recognise my knowledge and years of experience had value, and Holly said “I’ve done this before – let me do this alongside you”. The room was packed and I was gobsmacked. People wanted to hear what we had to share!

Fast forward to my first National Education Summit (thanks, Karen!), and I was able to step up and share our work on my own. After I had presented, someone came up to me and said “I’ve always wanted to meet you. Can I have my photo taken with you?”. Wow.

And that was the moment. My mentors’ impact meant I could share my work, and in turn, I made an impact on someone else’s practice.

After this, I’ve gone on to mentor other new TLs and library assistants (at my own school and at other schools). I really enjoy it and love seeing how my mentees grow and “fly the nest” after a while. And they are going on to support others.

At this point, I would particularly like to thank my colleague and friend, Kathy Talbot, for helping me shape the information I have shared with you here. This is an adaptation of the presentation we have shared over three conferences this year and is a collaborative effort.

TOP TEN TIPS FOR MENTORING

Here’s a fab infographic that Kathy (Talbot, 2022) pulled together to support others in their mentoring practice. Please note that this has a Creative Commons License: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). We hope you find it useful.

talbot_korodaj_top-ten-tips-for-mentoringDownload

I’m hoping this post has awakened an excitement in you to become a mentor – or seek a mentor!

As a SLANSW member, I’ve been part of the pilot for the Mentoring Special Interest Group (SIG) in 2022. I’ve really enjoyed mentoring a colleague who lives in a regional area two hours from me, and we hope to catch up in person soon (rather than rely on our Google Meets). The Mentoring SIG meets once a term online, and it’s a very collegial and casual conversation each time. Those leading the SIG have a targeted topic for each session, but usually, we find ourselves sharing experiences and best practice beyond this, mentors and mentees alike. If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of, keep an eye out for calls for mentors and mentees in 2023.

References

Australian Library and Information Association. (2014). ALIA core values policy statement. https://read.alia.org.au/alia-core-values-policy-statement

Bretous, M. (2022). How to Be an Amazing Mentor in 10 Ways, according to HubSpot Managers. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/mentor-tips-positive-impact

Talbot, K. (2022). Top ten tips for mentoring [Infographic].

Talbot, K, & Korodaj, L. (2022, August 5-6). On the shoulders of giants: Empower, enact, impact [Conference session]. National Education Summit, Melbourne, Australia. https://nationaleducationsummit.com.au/melbourne/capacity-building-school-libraries

Riddle me this, Lori…

In our last online meeting for ETL401, I threw the floor open to our students. What burning questions did they have for me as a practitioner that I could answer in a blog post for them?

It can be tricky coming up with fresh ideas to marry theory to practice for our students in a session (without seeming as though I’m repeating myself from year to year!). And our students sometimes just don’t have the opportunity to ask a practitioner about the “bigger picture” parts of a TL role. So this is a chance to do that.

Thanks to Chelsea, Melissa, and our two “Anon” contributors for today’s questions/conundrums. They’re pretty fulsome – I may not have enough room in my blog to go really in depth! I accept the challenge, so here goes…

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How do we prioritise the many roles we have and tasks that we have the freedom to do? Are we obligated to promote literacy, for example, over student wellbeing or is it acceptable to spend time promoting wellbeing and facilitating student clubs/safe space within the library as our main goal, and IL/ICT/Critical thinking somewhat secondary (though not neglected)?

These questions really resonate with me as a TL. I feel that you have to prioritise your role and the many “hats” that you wear according to the needs of your school community. It is not possible to be able to do EVERYTHING all of the time (see my post ‘All things to all people’). In particular, I think it’s one of our challenges to push back against “we only do books” perspective people have of our role, and you raise what is an important but often hidden aspect of the role of the library, the TL and the library staff in a school community: wellbeing.

It is actually possible to prioritise wellbeing alongside IL/ICT/Critical Thinking if you examine the needs of your community. Have a read of my ‘Library as Third Space: Supporting academic and emotional wellbeing in the school community‘ article. There are examples of what we do at my school from the library and how that’s supported by leadership.

What are some strategies to use with classroom teachers to develop their valuing of the library space and TL role for collaborative practice? I’m thinking particularly of my last high school where the majority of high school teachers viewed the library as unrelated to their subject areas.

I will be perfectly honest with you: I don’t think it is possible to convince EVERY subject area in your school to engage with the library or see its value in their space. It is key to analyse the curriculum, particularly the General Capabilities, find where you fit with each subject area, and then approach those who will be keen to jump on board. Go from there!

The other way to get an ‘in’ to start with is to be part of your school’s curriculum team and assessment team. Yes, it may add to your workload initially, but then you get input into how you can effectively support and influence ACROSS the curriculum. This demonstrates your whole of school lens as a teacher AND an information specialist to the heads of faculty/senior leadership who may be part of these teams, and give you another opportunity in each subject area.

I’ve also discussed how we’ve jumped into ‘non-traditional’ subject areas at my school in my ‘Value Adding‘ post. Well worth heading over to that to get more ideas of your possible influence.

What is the best advice you have for new TL’s? How on EARTH do you fit everything in? What did your BEST ever lesson look like?

1. Have a look at the ‘All things to all people‘ post I’ve suggested under the first question. Some great hints and tips there.
2. Tap into all the PLNs (professional learning networks) that you can and join your professional associations (ASLA and state/territory groups). Professional associations sometimes have mentoring programs that will connect you with more experienced TLs.
3. Watch and observe your school community to see how it operates. What is working well? What could benefit from your expertise in IL/ICT/ collection management/resource provision for classes/wellbeing support? Find your ‘in’.
4. Make time to go to morning teas, social events, faculty meetings, and have corridor ‘chats’. KNOW your staff and listen to what they might need from you (even if they’re not quite sure themselves yet!).
5. Make a connection with a broad range of students in the school population. Say hi when walking around the school, in the library etc. Ask them what they’d like to see from their school library.
6. Publicise library services and events in your school newsletter/blog/social media presence to connect to the wider parent community.
7. Find the strategic plan for your school and read it. Take note of system wide goals (ie for your state/territory education department) and understand how these influence your school’s strategic plan. Figure out where you and the services you provide fit in. Then make an appointment with your principal and share your ideas and plans with them, outlining how you can support and implement goals and actions from these documents.

Looks like a lot, yes? Don’t forget, this can be done over time, even over a whole year or two! Don’t rush in and burn yourself out or overcommit. I think finding your supports first and people connections are important and the rest will come.

Finally, my own mantra, which I developed after having an MEd (Teach Lib) student on prac 3 years ago. It’s simple but is something I come back to time and again. It only took almost 30 years of being a TL to come up with it. 🙂

When applying/looking for TL jobs, how do you get a genuine sense of the school so you know you’ll be a good fit with their values and expectations (besides reading their online school plan)? Do you have any tips on getting “inside information” on a school or whether a visit is worthwhile? What kind of questions would you suggest we ask the panel at an interview or on the phone, to really find out their beliefs?

I love the way you are approaching your TL job hunting. It is quite important that your values and expectations fit those of the school you hope to work for eventually. It is partly because you want to love where you work but also so you aren’t frustrated that your way of thinking (around curriculum, resource management etc) isn’t diametrically opposed to the school’s way of thinking.

Contacting the school directly for a tour and a chat is a great idea and puts a ‘name to a face’ when you eventually submit your application. Chat with the principal about the role of the TL, visit the library and have a chat to the staff, see how the staff and students interact with each other.

You can also “suss out” a school by being part of your local TL network and meeting staff who may work at the school already. Take care not to be swayed by those who have “heard things” but have no direct experience at the school.

Congrats if you get to interview when applying for a job!

1. If invited for an interview, ask at that stage if you will be provided the questions beforehand (either via email or given reading time 15 mins prior to the interview).
2. If this isn’t an opportunity that is invited, consider what you’ve learned about the school, and then what your personal philosophies are around curriculum, pedagogy, working with staff and students, connecting with the wider community, and have real life examples ready to go. If you’ve not worked as a TL, consider how your classroom teaching/other work might provide an insight into how you’ll work as a TL.
3. Always project yourself into the role and think WHEN, not IF. For example, as you answer questions: “When I am TL at your school, I will…”. It’s that confidence we’ve just discussed in Module 6 forums!
4. Questions you might like to ask (if not already made explicit in the job description, from the school website, or from your visit):
   • Are there opportunities to contribute at a whole school level to curriculum, assessment….?
   • What are your perceptions and thoughts about the role of the TL in the school community? What are your ideas around the place of the school library in the school community, and in teaching and learning?
   • Will I have a teaching load alongside my TL role?
   • What sort of admin support will I have?
   • What extracurricular expectations are there from me outside of core teaching and learning?

I hope my post is of interest and relevance to you as you leave ETL401 behind and continue on your TL journey. Join in the conversation below in the Comments section! If you’ve had an opportunity to work as or apply for a TL role, what advice do you have for your fellow students and their questions?

Well, hello there!: Banishing the invisibility

At my school, we make a point of reaching out to new staff members and pre-service/prac teachers – in person or via email before their arrival – to invite them for a library orientation. This is usually a 1/2hr-1 hr chat with all the members of our team, depending on the day they have their appointment (you may remember that our team members – TLs and support staff – are all part time). We introduce them to our services, our physical site, and also sneak in some ninja-like advocacy about the importance of school libraries and the role of the TL. They also have the chance to pick up resources for their use to support their subject delivery.

In the last month, our school was sad to see our amazing Julie (regular followers of this blog will know my great admiration and deep respect for our principal) move on to a secondment in our Education Department for a few months. *I’m not crying, you’re crying!*

But behold! An acting principal appeared (hi, T)! And, you won’t be surprised to know that when an acting principal (new to the school) appears on the horizon, they too are expected to meet with us. Everyone needs to know about the amazingness of the school library, the TL and the library team, especially those staff members that have a key decision making role around our existence in the school community.

Holly and I had the great pleasure of spending Monday afternoon with T. It also helped he came bearing Cadbury easter eggs. We like chocolate. It’s well known amongst our staff.

Rather than launching into our usual “patter”, we asked T what he already knew about school libraries, teacher librarians, and library staff, so we could tailor our session with him accordingly. It was a lovely surprise to know that T, like Julie, really values the role of the TL in the school community to support teaching and learning. He had already heard about the work that we do and has had great experiences with TLs in school libraries at his previous schools (shout out to my colleagues at those schools – WOO HOO!).

T was keen to know more about how we operated at LTC in the classroom, as part of assessment design, providing a safe space for students, and in our roles on the PL and Pedagogy committees. He had already perused our LTC Library site before arriving and was familiar with our offerings via this portal. It was a very robust conversation and as with Julie, T was happy to continue our termly LTC Library catch ups with the principal while he was with us. T then had the opportunity to chat with our library tech, Glenys, about the important role she and our library assistant play in our LTC Library team. Holly and I finished up our session with T feeling valued in our work and excited about working with a school leader who really “got” us.

In a typical new staff member orientation, we supply them with an electronic “goodie bag” of resources that demonstrate how we can embed in a program of learning in the classroom, what an assessment design revamp looks like, and some extra reading about why school libraries matter and “what a TL can do for you”.

We also have a ‘For Teachers’ tab on our LTC Library site, where we promote the Staff Professional Reading collection, the Board of Senior Secondary Studies Academic Integrity guidelines for teachers, and how TLs can help them.

So, why tell you about this? In Module 3, you will read about the importance of the role of the TL and the multiple hats we wear. Many of you also commented in your Assessment 1 blog posts (yes, I’ve read quite a few of them!) about your observations on how “invisible” the TL was in your school community (except at Book Week parades and the occasional staff meeting presentation). I wanted to show you how simple it was to start making yourself an integral part of your school community with these simple actions, make yourself VISIBLE.

Want more? Visit my Connection – local, social, global post (commentary on Module 3, ETL401, 2020) about the positive effects of the diversity (think “many hats”) and visibility of our role in the school community. It was written not long after moving to remote learning (thank goodness we’re all still on site this year!).

Connection through information: TL as link

Yesterday, when musing over content for today’s blog post, I procrastinated by checking Twitter. I can get lost there for hours. So many great conversations going on about the latest in the TL landscape, in Australia and overseas. There is also lots to distract me around current affairs, movies, and my favourite bands. Some tweets I dismiss out of hand, some I click through to access the article/information etc, and eventually I close this and move on.

Now imagine that you are a young person, not just distracted by Insta and Snapchat, but also TikTok, your DM feed, and what’s happening on Discord. All. At. One.Time. And your knowledge base is often dictated by what you come across on these social media feeds. But then your teachers want you to find information to support your learning and it’s all too much! Google just doesn’t cut it and you don’t know where else to turn.

And then…”what do you mean I can’t just take what I want from online? What is this copyright thing? But it’s right there!”.

Now consider where you are right now in your studies. Juggling work, family, new systems, ICT, blogging, modules, Interact2, discussion forums. Where do you start? Who do you turn to? What are seemingly simple information needs seem to be overwhelming and “infowhelming” you. For many returning to study after a very long period of time, even having an account on a social media or blogging platform is new. So there is technical information and the skills related to this that are required.

I think Seth Godin captures it best in one of his most recent blog posts, The Sixth Layer. Information, knowledge and access to this has developed and morphed over thousands of years, changing format and finding a way to move quickly across countries. What is it? What does it look like? How do we govern it? What does that information landscape look like now? How do we contribute to it?

Quick aside: Have a closer look at Godin’s blog and posts. See how quick and easy it can be to write a blog post? It’s like a “thought of the day” format or a “quick snack” of info from his head. Does this resonate with you? How will you share your information?

That’s where the role of the teacher librarian is so valuable in our schools. We are aware of multiple sources of information, create networks of reliable sources, engage with others to access valid and useful knowledge – print and electronic. This might be available over the phone from an expert, via our library cards to access databases, or discerning skills to enable us to effectively locate reliable information for our use. We connect staff and students to the information that is reliable, challenging, accessible, and useful.

There is also a need to share and support skill building in finding and recognising the information required. “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” (generally attributed to Lao Tzu) is a saying that is equally relevant to the work of a teacher librarian.

We have so much available literally at our fingertips (computers and phones), on the TV (free to air, streaming services), over the radio, and so do our school communities. This is where we shine!

How might this look in a school library? Here are some examples (from my workplace and from my wider practice):

• Information, communication, outreach to staff, students via varying delivery modes:
  • corridor chats,
  • emails,
  • Instagram,
  • playground chats,
  • TV screens around school,
  • LTC Library website
  • Visiting classrooms for targeted research skill sessions (after planning and discussion with the classroom teacher).
• Face to face regional school library meetings to share info alongside a mailing list and Facebook group.  After 2020’s remote learning experience, face to face is valued more (sometimes there’s just too much technology!)
• Connection to PLNs (professional learning networks)
• I used Google Meet at home yesterday to continue communication with work after a recent injury kept me at home for the day – planning meeting with a teacher for a class in Term 2, a student appointment to address some referencing concerns, and my start of year Professional Discussion with my Head of Faculty.
• Critical and creative thinking via our LTC Library Keys to Success program
• In an evolving information landscape, finding new ways of reaching students and families:
  • Making TL appointments on study lines with students that are face to face OR online (using Google Meet), particularly after 2020’s experience of teaching and learning
  • A school blog with weekly posts replacing school newsletters (once a week highlights)
  • Instagram specifically to capture students’ attention on upcoming events, workshops, and other important information
  • Student Services team uses texts to contact students to come in when required as they don’t answer phone calls!

Over to you. Consider the content of Module 2. How might you interpret what you’ve read and translate it into your practice? What do you already incorporate to corral and employ effective and relevant information in your school and for your own learning? Maybe take some time to blog about this if you are inspired!

New beginnings – ETL401 202130

Well, here I am again, thinking and writing and connecting and…

I did promise to continue blogging regularly after the last session I taught for CSU last year but that never happened. I think as a practitioner, I’m spending all my time DOING and so I’m not reflecting. But now I have the perfect excuse to do both – that is the wonderful thing about teaching up and coming TLs!

My blog posts each fortnight will connect the theory from your modules about teacher librarianship to the practical examples of this theory. It might come from readings I’ve encountered, professional learning I’ve undertaken, but it’s mostly from my day to day work as a teacher librarian.

I’ll tag my posts with ETL401 so you can find them easily for your own future blog posts or if you want to go back to something when you start another subject later in your degree. This will bring up posts from ETL401 sessions past as well, not just from this current session.

Sometimes, I like to throw out to the crowd for suggestions of blog post topics! They have to be related to teacher librarianship, of course, and preferably to the content we cover in ETL401. You’ll see an announcement from me in the Discussion Forum if I decide to do this.

Something that I’m mindful of when writing posts is that you may all use my work as an exemplar when crafting your own. I do keep to CSU referencing conventions when writing posts for classes but sometimes (well, most times!) I deviate from formal academic writing and keep it casual and first person. So it’s important to remember that my work shouldn’t be used as an example of how to write formally for an assessment piece (like Assessments 2 and 3 that you have coming your way this session).

Take some time in the run up to submitting Assessment 1 – your first blog post – to explore blogs by others that Liz has suggested. You don’t have to read through each and every post in these blogs, just enough to get a “feel” for different styles if you’re new to this space.

Writing a blog post is like baring your soul. You share opinions that are yours, but may not necessarily be shared by others. You may be scared about sharing your past experiences with school libraries and teacher librarians, thinking you may be judged. But consider the fact that blogs are online for a reason: to share, to stimulate discussion of all points of view, and to excite and enthuse others.

So, a challenge to you: keep your blog PUBLIC. Yes, you may then agonise over every word you post, and every image you include, and every opinion you share at first (I certainly did!). But as TLs we need to be open and participatory in our conversations to bring others on board with the way we think and to share quality information, and a blog is an easy way to do so. Locking everything away behind a password is really a form of self-censorship, if you think about it. Just consider how much learning you may have to share that others will miss out on if they can’t access it! Your writing could be someone else’s “A-ha” moment!

That leads me on to visiting other students’ blog posts and providing comments. Factor in 15 mins here and there to read what others are learning about and sharing. I know you are all kind and supportive folk and in what can be an isolating role in a school, TLs are pretty awesome at sharing learning and being the cheer squad for others. The first time someone else comments on your blog post is a pretty exciting moment too!

Be bold, be brave, go forth and write! I’m looking forward to reading your work!

Reflection: on role, on education, on self

Walrus on beach

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ETL401 students: this post kinda relates to Module 7.1: The Reflective Practitioner

INF530 students: this post kinda relates to Module 6.1: Learning Futures

I write this in the last week of Session 1.  It’s certainly been a roller coaster for all of our wonderful uni students – juggling study with family commitments, remote learning transition as teachers, and supervising remote learning for their own children alongside caring for their students in many cases.

I think the first six months has been a time, in amongst the turmoil/uncertainty/scariness, for us all to reflect on many things (I immediately thought of that line from Lewis Carroll’s poem, The Walrus and the Carpenter, when I wrote that – sorry, short aside and easily sidetracked!).

We’re looking back at (amongst other things):

• Pre-COVID times: how simple they seemed in comparison to the way we are living now.
• Remote learning: the scramble to prepare and the juggernaut that was delivery of said learning
• What we’ve learned during this session:  Was it new?  Was it mind blowing?  Was it perfect for what you needed in your professional life at the time?
• How we learned this session: How on earth did we juggle our study alongside everything else and make it to the end?
• Our priorities in life: Decisions about career direction, family life, home renos, study…

Many of us are and have rethought the practice in our workplaces since remote learning.  For some, there will be further investigation into blended learning, gamification, and harnessing greater affordances in delivery (some INF530 students have certainly embraced this).  For others, it is more about how they will change the way their role is embedded in their school communities.  ETL401 students are already closely considering traits of the TL who embraces chaos and adversity and transforms it into day to day, just in time, support of teachers and students.

Others are using this opportunity to seek greater advocacy and support for their roles in the school community, on the back of remote learning.  The event allowed them to shine where they hadn’t before, and want to keep this going! They have been empowered to undertake greater advocacy of the school library and the TL.

Many students discovered just how passionate they were for the content of their study: the timeliness of new ideas of global connection and open educational resources; alongside  being “all in this together”. PLNs were more valuable than gold during remote learning – drawing on experiences from around our country and internationally from those slightly ahead of us in the experience.  Discussion forums were lively as students shared ideas, day to day, hour to hour.

(I also acknowledge the timely reminder of the truth of “In this together” in another context beyond a shared experience of COVID, at the end of National Reconciliation Week today, and world events unfolding – grand scale protests taking place with a sombre focus on ‘Black Lives Matter‘.)

I want you all to take time in this last week of session, now that the final assessment task is in, and really understand what you have achieved.  You’ve reflected on your current role, projected forward to a (possible) new role, made adjustments along the way to your work practice – and kept up being a friend, a family member, and your good self along the way.

What have you decided to look back on and change?

I have also taken time this session to reflect on my practice, my passions, and my true loves – my husband and two kiddos.  I have realised that while remote teaching, while we weren’t running around like crazy things, while I wasn’t zooming (ha!) off interstate to the next PL or conference to present, I needed to stop and take a break.

I am removing the FOMO from my professional life that drives me relentlessly onto the next opportunity! So, I’m going to concentrate on my TL practice and the projects and new pedagogies that I want to embed more deeply at my school after remote learning.  There will be a little presenting online once or twice, a blog post occasionally (you may get to see me nut out stuff from school!), finishing that article that’s due ASAP – and no CSU teaching until 2021.

I’m keen to reclaim my part time status and continue to make that time I found during iso to plan and cook nourishing meals, get some extra exercise in, hang out more with my kiddos after school, catch up with friends, and just relax life a little.

Now, like the image above, it’s time for all of us to rest our weary heads.  Here’s cheers to all of you!   Thank you for your contributions and hard work.  Don’t read anything remotely related to your studies until next session!

PS:  Don’t forget to do your Subject Evaluations while in your reflective mood!  Then you can rest. 😀

 

Connection – local, social, global

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This is week 4 learning/work at home for our family (though 3 of us are now on school holidays for 2 weeks).  We’re only getting out for groceries, exercise, and putting out the bin.

The teens in our home are finding the social distancing most difficult – how do you keep connected with your mates when you’re used to seeing them on the bus, walking to school, hanging out at the mall?  Family dinners and afternoon teas are now via Skype/Whatsapp/Messenger – making room in front of the desktop computer to eat and chat, using our phones, or bringing the laptop to the table means that we can all be part of each others’ lives as we have been monthly/weekly in the recent past.

Today’s post is about connection. You may have guessed from the images I’ve chosen this time.  Never before have we needed to keep connected – for school, for work, for mental health – than now.  How does this look locally, socially, globally right now?

Content for this post woke me at 11pm one night recently, and I couldn’t get back to sleep until I wrote it all down, ready to move it to my blog and share it with you! Keeping that in mind, it may read more as a ‘stream of consciousness’ rather than a traditional post.

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ETL401: read this post in relation to Module 3: Role of the TL and consider how this role is crucial at a time where quality information is required to keep us healthy, educated, and informed.

INF530: this post strikes at the heart of your Module 3 readings –  Social and participatory media; Information Fluency; Creativity and Copyright; Curation; Open Educational Resources; and metadata.

BOTH SUBJECTS:  How can you lead your school community in our current space of “together apart”?  This can be leading from the front but also leading from the middle – having influence in small ways to contribute to the whole.

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Local/National Connection – School Experience

• Preparation for online learning:
  • Frantic!
  • Doubling and tripling our workload – learning new platforms, pedagogy (online learning is NOT the same as f-2-f!), ways of resourcing.
  • Ensuring we keep our students as a focus in the transition: the stress of caring for our more vulnerable students as we lose that face to face time with them
  • Dealing with and being caught in the middle of commentary about schools closing; opening; teachers doing a great job; teachers not doing their job; parents fearful of needing to be the teacher while working from home as well (while fearing for the health of their families)
  • The strain of juggling teaching from home with caring for toddlers and babies; keeping our own children’s education going.
• Connecting as a team remotely to deliver to others at home:
  • our PL committee has become the “brains trust” in the transition to online learning: finding expertise within our staff and sharing what works with others.  Local experts on staff – invaluable!
• LOTS more email – because there are no longer random chats in corridors, lunch times, after class, on playground duty, before/after staff meetings.
• TLs supporting the principal and leadership team: Lori and Holly on the professional learning committee; resources for staff and student sites developed; bulking up of LTC Library website; provision of staff PL.
• Principal connects with us: daily updates regarding school site, Departmental updates, and social connection and wellbeing (“quotable quotes”).
• Connecting with colleagues at other colleges regarding resourcing, policy for online learning etc
• Our Director-General of our Education Department writing to us weekly to keep us going; share updates re working conditions and how they will be supporting students.
• The Board of Senior Secondary Studies (who monitors Year 11 and 12 learning in the ACT) keeping us in the loop with requirements related to learning hours, assessment tasks and so on.
• PLNs via professional colleagues and professional associations: Australian School Library Association, Australian Library and Information Association, International Association of School Librarianship, (National and International), SLANSW, QSLA, WASLA, SLAV, SLASA (State/Territory school library associations).
• Charles Sturt University: the university has been sending daily updates to staff; regular updates to students; reaching out via social media; providing health and wellbeing options to staff.

Social Connection

• Messenger chats with colleagues once a week (in lieu of the weekly ‘coffee walk’ at recess!)
• Cuppa chats with mates
• Connection through social media: photos, funny memes, news articles
• PLNs on social media:
  • Teachers’ wellbeing group has started on FB
  • Connected  Educators of the ACT: Google Suite updates, best practice shared etc
  • SLNet (School Library Network – ACT school library and regional): email list and Facebook
  • Teacher Librarianship@CSU: FB group
  • Twitter
• Students: Discord, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, gaming platforms (including Steam, Nintendo Switch)
  • eSafety more important now
  • Social/emotional wellbeing: great to keep in touch with mates, but also open to misinterpretations and social ostracism
• Live streaming via YouTube and Instagram: my son has a social media presence on multiple platforms to share his electronic music compositions.  He wanted to share some of his music and how he works, so he live streamed for 15 minutes.

Global connection

• Connection to education in the classroom right now, real time.  Synchronous learning looks different online than it does in the classroom.
  • Getting to the crux of what students ACTUALLY need, rather than what we think they might need.
• Exploration of asynchronous options:
  • To allow learning to happen around family life, student jobs, parent work hours, student concentration levels
  • To protect the learning of those who have minimal to no option for Internet access
• Global sharing of learning experiences in isolation from educators ahead of us at this time: learning from their practice and their students’ reactions.  We are learning all the time from our colleagues in Italy, China, the UK…  They are sharing resources, good/bad/ugly of online learning.
• Use what is happening right now to make learning REAL for our students. When I was studying World History in Year 12, it was the era of glasnost/perestroika/ending of Communism and the fall of the USSR/Berlin Wall!  We didn’t have the Internet, but the news articles daily and Time Magazine added a freshness and challenged everything we were learning about.  Our students today have the opportunity to track new information almost to the minute as events change. Examples:
  • Year 10 Maths: exponential curves – track COVID-19’s development and movement within a society and across the globe; what does “flattening the curve” look like?
  • Year 10 Science: genetic diseases and viruses – up close and personal experience; related viruses such as SARS – MERS – COVID-19.
  • English/Sociology/Economics/Legal Studies/ Business Studies/History:
    • Keeping a journal of lockdown/iso thoughts: the National Library of Australia is calling for these items in the near future as a social history of this pandemic in Australia.
    • What changes are happening within society right now?  Equity and inequality between those who have a job and don’t/have Internet access and don’t/those that are homeless?
    • What effect is this having on national and global economies?  What theories are coming into play?  Recession vs depression?  A call for more Australian manufacturing to be supported as our need to rely on the globalisation of resources is made very evident.
    • How are our state/territory governments able to create laws related to COVID-19 conditions temporarily?  What safeguards are in place to ensure they don’t become permanent if not needed?
• PLNs – valuable now more than ever!

I’ve always been a fan of technology in teaching and in communication.  I am pleased now more than ever that I’m willing to embrace changes in this space so that I can support others to whom this is a huge shock!

My greatest recommendation right now is for all of you to find and read Julie Lindsay’s book, The Global Educator: Leveraging Technology for Collaborative Learning and Teaching.  It is a treasure trove and guide for all educators at this pivotal point in education.

Finally, I urge you (if you haven’t already done so) to find a way to connect with your colleagues locally, socially and globally.  Make use of the social media apps at your fingertips.  It’s not just from a professional point of view but it’s also to keep that social connection with colleagues as well.  Our isolation of practice shrinks if we can be connected and continue to support each other through this.  Remember – it’s PHYSICAL distancing, NOT social distancing.

Stay safe, stay home, keep well.

Informing, provoking, alarming, or “infowhelm”ing?

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Welcome to my blog to those who have not visited before!  It’s my first post of 2020 and my first post for both INF530 and ETL401.  I’ve been busy writing articles and preparing for conference presentations, alongside my full load at school, and have sorely neglected my reflection space.  Time to get back into it – how can I ask my students to reflect as practitioners on an ongoing basis if I don’t do it myself?

Today’s post covers many aspects of your learning:

• Something topical in the news (news content always influences your work and practice in some way)
• Your module content in Weeks 1 and 2 of this session
• Example of a blog post and how to use the affordances of a blogging environment in the lead up to submission of your first blog post.  You might notice that the images that I include at the top of each of my posts reflects the title of the post or the content.

At my weekly brekkie catch up with friends, we were discussing the dearth of information moving around via social media and other formats about COVID-19.  It inevitably led to comments on panic buying of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and other products people believed they needed to stockpile.

We also had a good laugh about the Coronavirus-related memes doing the rounds on social media, including the infographics showing how to wash your hands along to songs such as The Cat Empire’s ‘The Wine Song’, Toto’s ‘Africa‘, and even Lady Macbeth’s famous ‘Out, out damn spot’ monologue from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.  I find Australians tend to use humour to reduce or dispel anxiety in times of crisis.

It led me to wonder (specifically given the content of INF530) why some were reacting the way they were to announcements of a pandemic; why some shared valid information based on research, and others resorted to belief in stories of “toilet paper shortages because of manufacturing shutdowns in China”.  What sort of information was being promulgated out in the information landscape?  Why were some online platforms and news agencies being factual and others being deliberately provocative?

What has interested me in particular is the sudden focus on pedagogies related to online and flexible learning in schools, as school closures begin to happen within Australia. I have been heartened by the sharing and generosity of my PLNs – teacher librarians and classroom educators alike – in providing resources, educational supports, and infographics to deliver online learning, and even a wonderful, calming checklist to work through as your school prepares for possible school closure (follow @kathleen_morris on Twitter – I love her work and her blog).  NESCA (Neuropsychology and Educational Service for Children and Adolescents) in the US has gone as far as to provide a suggested routine for children during a time of prolonged school closure and the benefits this routine may give (see below).

COVID-19 Schedule, as suggested by NESCA.  Shared on FB by The Rite Journey with Andrew Lines

 

And now, some content specific considerations for INF530 and ETL401…

INF530

Module 1.3 –  Information technology has led to a participatory nature of knowledge acquisition and how we engage with it to learn.   In our era of “fake news”, “alternate facts”, and scare mongering, consider the “ubiquity of information” and use of social media being prevalent.  How does this relate to Thomas and Seely Brown’s concept of a ‘new culture of learning’? How specifically does this look around dissemination of information and reaction to information around COVID-19?

Module 1.4 – Global connectedness: has this helped or hindered what is happening right now?  Has it improved our interaction with information for better or worse? Are we informed or are we alarmed?  Social media and online searches continue to feed the beast within – with algorithms learning how we search.  Your Google search on COVID-19 using a specific set of search terms could be quite different to your friend’s exact same Google search – one can have factual info and one can feed the panicked mind!

Module 1.5: How many of you are digitally literate and can navigate through the myriad of tools out there safely? Are you consulting reliable, fact based news sources like the ABC and The Guardian; agencies such as your health organisation; or are you relying on updates from Reddit?

Considering all of this, how is this information landscape in your own working environments having an impact?

ETL401

Module 2.1:  How are people sharing information?  In the usual way, humour is being used to share information related to COVID-19, hygiene, and ways to understand how the virus is spreading.

Module 2.2: Floridi’s ‘information landscape’: how has this contributed to our knowledge of the COVID-19 virus in comparison to what people knew and how they knew it during the Spanish Flu pandemic?  Is getting information faster and easier via the multiple delivery modes available more efficient or just adding to the “infowhelm” and panic mongering?

Module 2.3: The information environment: Will this be an advantage as some move to self-isolation?  Can we harness the information environment to work for us as we try to minimise contact with others and work from home? How is this affordance helping us to continue to study and teach?  What sort of culture is developing from the information environment we are living in?  How as a TL can YOU be part of this?

Module 2.5:  As new teacher librarians, you need to consider why it is important that you have an understanding of the broader information landscape.  How do you feel it will affect your role as the TL?  And how do you as a teacher instil calm amongst your school community (especially students) in a time of possible infowhelm and anxiety?

Consider what I have posed here.  Share your ideas with me in the Comments section below to participate in the conversation!

References

Floridi, L. (2007). A look into the future impact of ICT on our lives. The Information Society, 23, 59-64. DOI: 10.1080/01972240601059094

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change (Vol. 219). Lexington, KY: CreateSpace.

Aaaaand that’s a wrap!

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Cheers!  You’re at the end of ETL504!  Congratulations!

ETL504 was always going to challenge you.  We’re pretty upfront about it from the beginning. So each and every one of you still here at the end took that challenge, wrestled with it, stuck it out and here you are – confident in the fact that you have the tools to lead from the middle.

Many of you mentioned that the scenarios don’t reflect your “real life” ie the lone TL with little to no support.  There is a reason for this. Our job in this degree is to present best practice and by the end of the degree, present you with a toolbox stocked with the very best tools for any situation.  It does, however, have some spaces for you to add what you find along the way as well.

Do you always use every tool in your toolbox that’s out in the garage for every job?  No.  But if you know you have a well rounded range of tools, you should be prepared for any situation you find yourself in.

Something to remember is that some of these come from the experience you have and can’t be provided just from study. Many of these will come from dipping your toe in and having a go.  The TL that I am today is NOT the TL I was when I first finished uni 27 years ago and this is because I’ve modified my practice to suit the school, or from learning through experience.

Getting in and learning everything about a school library from working as the lone, newbie TL with a library assistant in a school of 700 students then went on to inform my work as a TL in a college, teaching in the classroom part time and working with a TL colleague and two library assistants.  This experience then informed my work in an overseas middle school, where my base TL knowledge allowed me to navigate a new curriculum in another country, and change the practice of many teachers to move beyond the “book box” and working with me to create online resources, pathfinders, and to team teach.

I eventually found myself back in a lone TL with library assistant situation in a P-10 school with 900 students – but had so many experiences upon which to draw, that I was able to use these to do a far better job in connecting with staff to assist and work closely with my library assistant to get the job done.

Somewhere in there I went back to uni (twice!) to update my TL knowledge with some extra subjects because I felt my toolbox was getting a little stale (if that’s not an example to colleagues and students that learning is lifelong, nothing is!).

Along the way attending conferences, connecting with my PLN, joining my professional associations, choosing mentors to guide me, and stepping up to leadership roles – all of these added to and enhanced the tiny toolbox I started with all those years ago.  And I keep learning each and every day from these connections and my wonderful colleagues.  I also learn from you when you present your new and unique lens on our profession and point me to some inspiring readings while marking your work.

You CAN do this and you WILL do this.  Just take your time to select the appropriate tools to add to your toolbox and never be afraid to ask for help: from other TLs, your classroom colleagues, your leadership team, and your administrative staff.

Jennie and I so proud of the blood, sweat and tears poured into this subject by each and every one of you.  There was almost 100% participation in the case study tutorial tasks since their inception in the subject.  Many of you delved deeper into the concept of TL as leader and found that yes, you can and will lead into the future.

For those of you who are finishing and graduating at the end of this subject, congratulations on completing the juggle of work, study and family!  Some of you have jokingly discussed what you will find to fill the time that study took.  Don’t find anything else.  Use the extra time to put back into your family, yourself, and to be the best TL you can be.

It’s been a pleasure to be your lecturer this session.  I wish you all the best in your ongoing study, and for those of you graduating, life beyond CSU.

When it all gets too much: the TL and self care

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Think about your first teaching position.  What was it like to walk into the classroom and see all those faces in front of you?  Did you feel confident? Did you seek advice?

For those of you in TL positions: what was the first day like?  Did you feel overwhelmed? Did you feel like you “knew it all”? Did you come in after someone who had not perhaps been as proactive as they could have been – and the pressure was on you?

Now think about where you are in your leadership pathway at this end of ETL504.  Have you taken a small step toward leading from the middle?  Do you feel confident? Are you feeling overwhelmed?  Are you asking for help…and realising that you can’t do it all?

Being a leader, whether it’s something that sees you out front or working behind the scenes, is hard work.  Decisions have to be made, people have to be spoken with, and you are usually expected to find the time to “do it all” (look at our poor Director of Information Services from our case study scenarios!).

As a TL practitioner working as a lecturer, I want the examples that I share with you to be meaningful and true to life.  From your blog posts and forum responses, many of you feel jaded and frustrated by the sheer fact that this is NOT your reality.  Who is writing about your day, where you are the only TL in a large school?  Who is going to give you that wonderful, supportive principal, when your reality is a transactional principal who can’t see the value of the library and the TL?  How will you find the time to be the TL that you read about in the articles, blog posts, and hear about at school library network meetings?

In the specialised part of the teaching profession that we occupy, we so often put pressure on ourselves to get #allthethingsdone because we THINK it’s expected of us.  It happens because we never know when that great principal we have will move on and your support will disappear with them.  Or, like me, you keep having ideas to improve the services you provide or to enhance your own professional practice and want to implement them all at once.  And the reality is that a lot of the time – this comes at a cost.

The images accompanying this blog post reflect the experience that I had during this year.  From “trying to do it all”, to my health suffering, on to figuring out what is important and what is not, and finally making sure I take time to nourish myself (while pink is a colour I dislike, I do really enjoy reading the magazine pictured in the photo, so that’s why it made the cut).

I’m at a point in my career where many of my cohort are aiming for identified leadership positions – head of faculty, deputy principal, principal and others.  I like being in the classroom too much to move in that direction, so I look for opportunities to extend myself and lead in other ways.  This comes in the form of teaching with CSU, presenting at conferences, and publishing.

2019 was the year to get this done!  Everything was humming along nicely at my school, Holly and I were invited to speak at the National Education Summit (first time this had happened for both of us!), and we were also scheduled to present at the ASLA Conference.  I had been made Adjunct Lecturer at the end of 2018 with CSU and looked forward to doing more teaching in this capacity.  Opportunities were also made to write up presentations as articles.

Holly and I started the year being the busiest we have been with teaching, preparation, co-operative planning, student appointments and Keys to Success.  We were both caught up in preparation and delivery of our conference offerings.  It was all still under control, because we had our super team behind us.

And then…

The support we relied on in our library team was suddenly not there:  One of our team members had a sudden situation that saw them off work for a few weeks (and impacted us emotionally), and our other team member was on long service leave at that same time.  I needed to have some surgery.  Suddenly, everything that was achievable – wasn’t.  

Our school was amazing.  They understood what we were trying to do for them and supported us in every way they could.  But the enormous amount of pressure I then put on myself to ensure that nothing “fell over”, alongside the uni teaching, presentations, and home life all came to a head.

One morning, after all the presentations were given, the travel was over and the pressure eased, I woke up to go to work. And couldn’t.  So I took the day off.  That then led to taking a whole week off and doing nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  I had to speak with my colleagues and tell them that I was mentally and physically burned out.  Being the personality type that I am, I felt like I was “slacking off”, letting the team down, and not doing the best job I could do.  Maybe that was the “servant leader” in me.

After that time off, I reflected on what I was doing.  I realised that I can’t do it all and act on all the great ideas I have.  And I started to factor in time to look after myself (time with my family, less hours at work, time for walks and the gym).

With these things in place, I have been able to work more efficiently, take time for myself and my family, and was able to deal with events that rocked our team again in Term 3 in a healthier way.   Sharing this story with you is also part of the reality of my world as a TL practitioner and a cautionary tale to you as new TLs.

So, to finish up, I’m here to tell you…do what you can and don’t overextend yourself.  We provide “best practice scenario” examples throughout ETL504 so you know what may be possible.  But the reality is that you are probably the only TL in the school, with minimal to no support from a library assistant, and so you do what is achievable.

Ideas:

• Think strategically and choose one or two things to concentrate on in a year in partnership with your principal and head of faculty (maybe something from your discussion paper!).
• Talk to staff and students anecdotally and find that one driving thing they want to see from you and the library to help them and go with that.
• It may be just concentrating on getting the profile of the library lifted via the newsletter and social media and in staff rooms, alongside changing your library display once a month.
• It may be that you just want to have one teacher working with you during the year – make that connection, get them on board, and aim to be team teaching with them/resourcing for them once a term.
• Share an idea you want to implement with your professional learning network (PLN) and see what they’re doing in their schools.  Don’t reinvent the wheel!  The “hive mind” has provided me with many wonderful tricks and tips over my years as a TL.  If you haven’t already connected with a wider PLN, have a look at my Keeping up with all things library post for connections you can make.   It’s also a great way to expand your “team” if you’re feeling isolated.
• If it’s all getting too much – speak with someone.  A trusted colleague, a TL at another school, someone in your family, your GP.  Sometimes the problem is not so big if you share it with another person.

Take time to disconnect, even if it’s 15 minutes eating your lunch AWAY from the library and your desk.  I used to think that stopping would put me behind, in fact, it increased my productivity.  During this holiday break, I took some days away from the computer and just enjoyed the space I was in.  Looking back to April this year, I actually tried to do this.

It’s also time for me to step back and reflect, take my own advice!  Holly and I don’t offer Keys to Success in Term 4 because our students are only in classes for 6 weeks, so we’ll be using the extra time to do a workflow analysis and finding out what services we can STOP offering.  Weird, eh? This will be more focused than the environmental scan I’ve mentioned in previous posts, as we will be examining one step down from the whole school and looking specifically at our practice within our team (ie faculty).

John, our deputy principal (who is our Head of Faculty for our library), is new to our school and so brings fresh eyes to our practice.  He has challenged us this year with “But WHY?” (it can be exhausting!).  His latest challenges at our recent faculty meeting to end the term were:

• WHY do we do what we do?
• What can we NOT do now?
• How will this look in 2020?

Once Holly and I have figured this out for our TL workflow, we’ll be taking this to our Library Planning Day in December (a whole day as a team to plan without interruption!) and discussing the impact across our whole team and the school community.

Take care of yourself.  You are important!