Final Reflection - Assignment 1

This course has presented both interesting and unexpected challenges for me.  It is number eight out of number 10 towards my teacher-librarian diploma. Additionally,  I had a number of stresses both personal and job related during the semester.  Consequently, as I reflect back over the semester I recall having less motivation and energy towards my coursework.  Although, I am deeply committed to my ongoing personal education, I believe I can also recognize that my personal energy has been pulled in several directions.  Therefore, I recognize my level of concentration and focus specifically on my course work lacked at points over the past few months.  Additionally, due to the nature of the content of some of the first lessons relating to the introduction to the concept of cataloguing I found myself very disengaged. Although, I do very much recognize the need as teacher librarians to understand the nitty gritty of the records, I also know that in my situation so much of the control over the records has been taken away it is really hard to put any energy into that aspect of the responsibilities of the job.

After stating all of that, I also recognize I have grown throughout the course and I recognize I put a great deal of energy and effort  into the two very tangible and practical major assignments as well as the majority of the lessons.  The most useful and tangible aspects of the course for me were the major assignments.  I literally spent countless hours on both of them.

Assignment 2 provided me with a ‘forced’ opportunity to figure out how to create a webpage.  I had made a few attempts before using the district based web program through the communication software First Class, but I ran into hurdles being at two sites.  However, I believe I developed skills and confidence as I worked through the creation of the digital resource library.  These skills will directly translate into practical applications as I continue to work with a new library page.  The discussion in Lesson 12 affirmed the importance of an informative library website.  In addition to learning about the creation of the website a big learning curve for me was cataloguing the electronic resources.  I had to really think about different access points in an electronic resource versus the traditionally paper or other in hand resources.  I struggled with determining statement of responsibility, lack of publisher information and the new tags I was not familiar with.  However, it gave me an opportunity to catalogue these resources as I think we will be increasingly facing the electronic medium and we need to provide adequate access to the resources. 

The project for Assignment 3 again provided a tangible learning experience.  Although I spent hours of time thinking about and planning the reorganization as well as the presentation, I believe it was all well worth it.  My work on the assignment, samples of previous projects as well as all of the discussion posts in Lesson 13 made me think about access to resources from a completely different perspective. The library, students and staff will greatly benefit from this assignment.  I really look like a mover and a shaker having decided to reorganize the library in my first six months at the school.

Several lessons in Module 2 provided an excellent opportunity to check out all of the different tools available to cataloguers.  I found myself thinking about my ‘old days’ as a cataloguer and what limited access the manual way provided for users.  I think I would create a maximum of three subject headings and typically, I would very rarely create added entries, unless it was really beneficial.  The main reason was filing, we would produce hundreds of card sets out at the schools and wonder if the cards would ever be filed.  Additionally, in all the years of working at the schools during the day of the card catalogue I could count on one hand the number of times I actually saw a student independently using the card catalogue.  I have so much appreciation for the access the online catalogue has created.

The lesson in Module 2 addressing the Dewey Decimal System was extremely useful.  The posts sharing ideas about how to teach Dewey were great.  Trying to teach the basics of Dewey is challenging as it seems to be a very dry topic for the students.  They often don’t get that a basic understanding is the key to unlocking the mystery of those numbers on the shelf.  Again, it is all about independent access, therefore making the Dewey lessons interesting and engaging will hopefully facilitate intrinsic motivation to gain a basic knowledge.  Before the access to the course is closed I plan on making notes on the lessons people shared.

Overall, the course provided me with an opportunity to really consider the variety of ways we can create access to the resources available to staff and students.  I recognize the importance of information literacy and I continually address those skills in my lessons.  However, it is almost a mute issue if the students cannot find material and resources.  Therefore, I believe now I have a greater appreciation and understanding regarding the starting point, which is actually accessing the materials.  I look forward to applying my learning to my daily practice and I am looking forward to the continued changes in our library space to create greater access to resources.

Lesson 12 - Reflection - Using credible websites

Encouraging the students to use reliable websites is an ongoing challenge.  The students simply want to ‘google’ the information they are seeking. Our district has purchased a number of site licenses for online resources.  I spend a number of lessons with intermediate groups outlining the ways to navigate the different online resources.  We even have at home access for these sites for the students.  For example the district has a site license for World Book Online in both French and English. Educating the teachers regarding the value of these sites is ongoing.  Our district has had the licenses for a number of years yet I always come across teachers who are not aware of them.

In addition to encouraging use of the district online sites I do mini-lessons with grade groups explaining the meaning of the URL’s in web addresses.  As I do the mini-lesson I explain the importance of using reputable sites.

Another way to encourage the students to use credible web sites would be to work with the teachers to create Delicious or Diego accounts.  The teachers could the pre-search the sites for the students.

As is the focus of our lesson, a great way to encourage the use of credible sites would be through the library home page.  I plan to link the digital resource library I created in Assignment 2 to the library home page.  As time permits a digital resource library could be created for any of the popular curriculum topics.  These digital libraries could be co-created.  The teacher teaching the subject could also be responsible for the ongoing checking of links, adding or deleting links.

When I first started thinking about the challenge of working with electronic resources I felt like this was just one more thing to do in my already long list of tasks.  However, in the long run the digital resources may be easier to maintain than the print resources.  It is a lot easier to incorporate a website on to a webpage compared to cataloguing a print resource. 

I believe as students see the benefits of using recommended resources they will become increasingly accustomed to using them.

Becoming a digital learning imprasario

In addition to my course work and crazy life I took on a new challenge and I am glad I did.  Our district has recently launched a huge opportunity for teacher librarians to become tech leaders within our schools.
There was an invitation sent out to teacher librarians to voluteer as digital coaches.  As a digital coach we would each recieve an ipad.  I volunteered and was selected.  Twenty five of us were invited to an ipad boot camp at the Apple headquarters in Richmond and given ipads.  We were to go off with our ipads and learn as much as we could in order to be a support person.  The next phase was an invitation to all teacher librarians to attend a dinner session about ipads and they too would also recieve ipads.  The digital coaches were there to support the new recruits.
This has been a huge learning curve in using the technology but also has been a tremendous door opening opportunity.  I am now on the 'techie committee' at school as I am now deemed to be in the know.  The tech. facilitator in the school suggested the big re-org in the library to facilitate greater use of the ipad. Additionally, I now have teachers coming to me to seek advice regarding the technology.  I am amazed how one little piece of technology has changed my role.
I truly applaud my district leaders for recognizing the power of this tool and the impact it will have on the way students and staff will be seeking information.  I feel fortunate to be in on the ground floor as we navigate our way into one of the new trends in the techie world.

Independent use of the online catalogue

My school population is just over 600 students, there are 32 teachers and 10 special ed. Assistants… and 1 of me.  Consequently, I encourage and attempt to facilitate as much independent use of the online catalogue and the collection as I can.  I believe all students in Grade 3 and up as well as the adults in the school should be able to independently use an online catalogue.  I believe Destiny, our school library program can readily support independent use if the users are properly equipped.  I think a program is only as powerful as the user.

Independence in anything does not come without some training or support.  I spend quite time going over the components of the online catalogue.  I explain the search screens, result pages and records.  Teachers as well as students need information about what the records mean.

For students I bring in laptops during a few of the library lessons.  Therefore, each student has an opportunity to search independently for items and navigated the catalogue.  For teachers, I do demonstrations at staff meetings (that has not happened this year :o) therefore I do not know about the teachers level of knowledge at this school) Most teachers appreciate the refresher when I have done it twice.

I explain to the students once they have mastered how to use an online catalogue it is a skill they will use all their school years. 

Once they have an understanding of the catalogue the interface for Destiny seems to be quite user friendly.  The students are keen to try searching and typically have success locating records for what they want. (The next challenge is actually finding the item in the library :o) The catalogue searches can be refined quite easily. The keyword searching is quite extensive.  Additionally, Destiny can be set up to offer results that include pre-viewed age appropriate web pages.  We had that option for a while and now we do not.

One drawback to the system is the lack of forgiveness regarding spelling as one classmate previously mentioned in a post.  This is a real problem for several students.  In my sessions with students I do mention and explain the necessity for correct spelling.  I combat that by offering to print out correct spelling when a student is having trouble finding something.  It takes me a few seconds to print out a word and then let them go search.  For example, a student came up to me and said she could not find anything on owls. For a topic like this, my first question is how did you spell it. She replied, “owells”,  I quickly wrote out the correct spelling and she was away.

One feature our district has offered is the remote access to the district school catalogues, ie from home.  I really promote this feature with all students particularly the Gr. 7’s.  I think this opportunity truly facilitates independent use of the catalogue.  I explain if they are working at home beginning their research they can look up the topic they are seeking.  They can readily determine if we have anything or they are going to need to set up an outing to the public library.  I explain the importance of this feature when they get to high school and have several projects on the go.

The Destiny program is a very expensive program particularly in the implementation stage.  When our district moved to Destiny it was a huge budget item. I am sure there are some other programs that may have more powerful features.  However, for the most part Destiny does meet the needs to facilitating independent use once the students have some education.

Reflection - Lesson 3

Having a sophisticated understanding of the workings of search engines could be helpful as an end user as well as web creator.

By mastering the workings of a search engine a teacher librarian would be able to explain to the students and colleagues the ranking of web pages in their search lists.  We would be better able to assist students in understanding how the data can be manipulated and essentially forced upon the information seeker. I don't believe any of the students really think about why a particular web page shows up at the top of their list.  In fact, I believed it was only based on previous number of visitors to the site. That is how I justified why Wikipedia sites seem to always end up a the top of the list.  I am still not sure if I completely understand the ranking system, however it is worth more exploring.

Students or colleagues who are potential site creators could also benefit from understanding the workings of search engines.  It is the ultimate desire for a web page designer to have their site visited even if it is not for profit.  By understanding how sites are ranked could help them be more likely to gets hits on their site.

The 'anatomy of a search engine' sounds like a very dry topic.  I am wondering how I would approach this topic with my students and I am wondering how other teacher librarians would approach this topic with students.

Lesson 2 - Reflection - Support for digital media

The beauty of the teacher-librarians position is the opportunity to see all of the various uses of digital media.  In the elementary school the primary users are the intermediate students.

Promoting effective use of internet resources is one of the key ways I provide ongoing support for digital media. I provide mini-lessons for the grade 6/7 classes regarding what to look for in a credible website.  I discuss working smarter not harder.  By paying attention to the URL's in the initial search result list a student can eliminate looking at useless webpages.  I explain the clues in the URL's that can indicate the origin and potential credibility of a website.

Our district has a number of site licences for online encyclopedias and research resources.  I have spent a number of lessons promoting and encouraging their use.  However, despite my efforts I do not believe students use them to their greatest potential.  Rather, I believe the student continue to randomly search the web. I should do a promo talk for our teachers as well as the parents to make them more aware of the readily accessible resources.  The online resources are available for home use as well with a district password.  Perhaps the sites might see more action from my students.

This year we brought in the District Helping Teaching for Info. Tech. to come and provide an educational talk for our Gr. 6/7's regarding the potential risks of Facebook. Several students have  Facebook accounts despite the recommended age restrictions.  Consequently, I believe it is really important for them to be aware of the potential risks.

I have recently acquired a Twitter account.  I am learning and navigating my way through this amazing networking tool.  Some staff are curious about the benefits of the tool.  Most just see Twitter as something stars use rather than a beneficial tool. I currently follow a number of reviewing journals and find them extremely useful.  I share how I am using Twitter which seems to peak some interest.

I believe it is increasingly important to provide support in the digital realm.  However, it is challenging to stay in the know and be a support person.  I think it is important to be open to all of the new media and not only be a support but a model of life long learning.  We need to model that even if we don't know all the answers we can work together to find the answer and learn from the challenge of finding the answer.

I have re

Lesson 1 Reflection - Commitment to Organization

After reviewing the two competencies within the CASL webpage as well as the entire document I am once again overwhelmed by the expectation of a teacher librarian is expected to be capable of.  I always feel inadequate after reading descriptions like these.  Although I realize I fulfill much of the criteria and I do find areas where I am lacking. I can only strive for greater attainment.

The majority of the underlying expectations of the role definitely do require a level of organizational knowledge and commitment to good organization.  Often I think how grateful I am for my extensive background knowledge of the organizational systems for libraries.  I often wonder how new t-l's manage to figure the systems out particularly those who have not taken any of the courses.

In the introduction of the CASL webpage one of the points states there is a significant body of research claiming that a t-l can have a positive impact and contribute to the overall development of information literacy if several key criteria are met.  One of the key criteria states that the 'district insist on flexible scheduling and the teacher librarian is not a prep. teacher.  In our district the primary function is to provide prep. relief. Consequently, leaving very little time for collaborative work focusing on information literacy development.  This presents a challenge in attempting to fill any of the other expectations.  Never the less, this is why an efficient and organized space is of utmost importance to capitalize on the little time left after all the prep. is covered.