Essential Learning Achievements & Collaboration

After working on the first two parts of Assignment 2, I thought I would relate some of the learnings that are specific to me as a teacher in the ACT.

When looking at student learning outcomes, The Essential Learning Achievement (ELA) for information literacy in the ACT is: the student understands and applies the inquiry process. It became obvious that without collaboration occuring - the student learning outcomes are not being met. SO, how do Teachers meet the needs of the students, when the libary lesson is completely separate from classroom learnings??? This was the case in my pevious school - library was offered as RFF to the classroom teachers - the students were walked off into the abyss and I had no idea about what they actually did!

Every chance to learn clearly states that this ELA develops students’ capacities to use the inquiry process to seek information and use it to draw conclusions and generate new knowledge. Students develop their understanding of and capacity to apply the inquiry process as they use it in authentic situations as part of the topics they study within and across disciplines (Every Chance to Learn. p32). If this is to occur, collaboration is a central element in the achievement of this ELA.

Teachers must have a detailed knowledge of information literacy theory and practice if they are to develop the student as a lifelong learner. The teacher must have a high level of knowledge regarding pedagogy and repertoire of strategies including Guided Inquiry (Kuhlthau, 1989). The purpose “is to develop each student as a learner....The core business that distinguishes school as a social institution is the development of children and young people as learners. Curriculum develops the understandings, skills and attitudes for lifelong learning that are vital to the success of students in school, in further education and training and in the workplace”(Every Chance to Learn,p8). When a teacher has a good understanding of teaching, learning and the best information literacy models then they are able to utilise their knowledge and experience to maximise student learning outcomes in collaboration with the classrom teachers (CT).

Collaboration

This week I have been planning for term four before the school holidays . I have begun planning and restructuring the way in which we operate to create an ILSC at my school. This year has been a great opportunity for me to find my feet in this new role as Teacher Librarian, in a new school. There are only three classes at our school so far – and we are growing rapidly with 8 classes next year! I have found this to be an ideal time to learn about the role of the Teacher Librarian through completing this course and to discuss the structure and philosophy of the Library as the heart of the school with the Teachers and Principal. My goal is to adopt the information skills process put out by the DET to embed IL skills into our curriculum

It was nice to see the look of excitement on the teachers faces when I explained what I intended to do. I was able to show teachers that my job is to assist them in extending on the class learning, not to make their job any harder. I explained that I see my role teaching children in context to the learning already happening in the classroom. The look of both excitement and relief was observed on their faces –as I feel teachers are faced with the common problem of teaching in an overcrowded curriculum – assisting teachers in this way was received positively by making their job less burdened yet providing greater learning outcomes for the students!

My Life Expeience relating to Kuhlthau

MY LIFE =
• Being a Mum to 2 year old Son
• Being a Wife to a busy Husband
• Working full time in a brand new school
• Working as a Teacher-Librarian, Learning Support Teacher and ICT Coordinator
• Preparing documents for our school Registration (in three weeks)
• Busily adjusting the way in which the school Library operates (as I have been learning more about the role of Teacher Librarian and the various models – this has informed and changed the way in which I operate.
• Working my way though this very helpful and informative course, completing the readings and attempting to tackle the second assignment.
• Working my way through Assignment 2


As I tackle the business of life and prioritise my tasks, work through the assignments and try to unpack the information, I feel an overwhelming array of emotions, Kuhlthau reminds me this is OK! The process of information literacy is very real for me and I feel as though I am living through Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process. I am very aware of the information process I am taking and the real link this has influenced with my emotions.

As I begin the process of tackling the Assignment questions – I remind myself of how I best learn .... To read, think and reflect, read some more, think some more and reflect a whole lot more..... etc. I firmly believe that in order to really absorb and transform the knowledge and information, you need the time to learn about it, relate it to what you already know, and to think and reflect upon it. This process, adds to the richness of the initial information, and allows the learner to transform this knowledge into a new form of knowledge that is personal to them, when given time to THINK, LINK and REFLECT upon it.

Information Literacy Development

As I work at a brand new school, we are still developing policies and an information literacy policy is certainly one which I am keen to develop. I believe that the development of this policy will certainly provide direction for teachers to ensure students are well equipped to become information literate. This is the perfect time to really get things moving in the right direction from the beginning. I feel very fortunate to be in a position where everything is new and undefined, and it is up to us as the leaders in the school to really shape the way in which we develop information literacy!

LIFE

Well, it has now been three weeks since I have submitted assignment one - Three intense weeks! During this time I have found that I have been stretched to my limits as I have had a number of things impact upon my normal timetable and schedule- both at home and at work. I feel as though I have had to prioritise tasks and unfortunately keeping up with the uni schedule has not been number one on my priority list!. This is such an EXTREMELY stressful time for me as I have been operating on very little amounts of sleep, so that I could get the pressing things out of the way and re-focus on my uni work this week. I guess the readings from Covey have helped in this area, however I feel completely behind now and are super eager to get back into the content again!