"In time the beginner becomes a veteran"(Reference Skills p.22 Katz)

I am not surprised by the depth of responsibility that my TL position requires.  I have been forging the way, joyfully, for the past five years, grateful for the continual support shown to me by colleagues past and present.  There are feelings of success and times when I feel overwhelmed.  

It is my intent to respond to the first third of the course by including examples of how my work connects to the topics of research, resource evaluation, problems relating to the evaluation process and the use of digital reference resources.

Our Library program is, providing an “acceptable”(p.47 AIL) means of supporting student information literacy.  We are creating different kinds of experiences that encourage students to wonder and explore.  We used a picture book to learn about Ivan the gorilla and discussed how his needs were being met and neglected.  

The grade one’s created a touching response with paint and letter writing to reflect their thoughts on the matter. It led to many interesting discussions.

We “view every learning opportunity as a place for student engagement in inquiry”(p.13 POI)  I have been teaching research skills using the lessons from Comprehension & Collaboration: Inquiry Circles. With the grade four’s who are about to launch a project on biodiversity, we looked at wolves as a topic to explore the importance of one animal in a food chain. I like this model because it shows students that they already have knowledge on so many things and it teaches them that "learning is more important than knowing".(p.116 C&C)  By finding out which parts of their background knowledge are accurate and which parts are misconceptions it helps them "connect their new learning to their background knowledge to better understand it". 

We are providing access to information and communication technologies (P.111 Reidling) I am thankful for the digital resources that our district has made available, especially in regards to reading level and options to translate for ELLs. We try to balance the use of digital and print resources, engaging students in the creation of multi-media projects.  Students created an interactive e-book after researching the planets from print resources.

We work collaboratively as a staff to further learning opportunities by doing activities that extend classroom learning during library prep time as well as schedule team teaching blocks to further research opportunities. Teaching information skills to help students navigate the library and locate what they need has helped them get to work more efficiently.  We conduct reference interviews and find various forms of resources to support teachers in the new curriculum.  I have been working closely with the grade 3 and 4 teachers to use their library time in this way. We have been using the digital resource World Book Kids.

Although our program is adequate, it is clear that it needs to be better. I compare our Library to others I have visited or follow in hopes of slowly transforming it into a program that meets all the informational needs of all our students.  We are falling short in some areas.

I need to be working more with intermediate grades 5,6 and 7 students and teachers to learn which research models they are using and see how I can assist them in their research process. I can appreciate the more linear approaches to conducting research, but tend to align myself with the inquiry model being a TL.   I suppose its because the varied activities that we do are intended to be a spark that hopefully creates interest for students to pursue further. I recognize that doing research is a cyclical process and has multiple points in which to engage student interest.

Research Flow diagram (Sara Hennessy) which I modified to show possible directional changes during research

I need to find ways digitally to help students share projects with a larger audience.  The majority of our school has chosen CSL as their method of reporting so there are fewer ways to showcase student work.  I suppose my blog would be one way of accomplishing this.  

We need to recruit technical/clerical support to assist me with the work that unnecessarily occupies precious time. I need to make critical decisions about our collection that has been neglected over the last number of years, and a helper could do things such as repair, catalogue and order books.  Those are the activities that I struggle to find the time to do.  I am even guilty of purchasing an old Guinness Record book at Value Village because it was in excellent condition and thought it would circulate well due to the popularity of those items rather than thinking of the relevant, current material that I could have been purchasing to circulate.

Moving forward I have my work cut out for me, but at least I think am asking the right questions now.  What needs to be removed, replaced, planned for, learned and shared.

I found this quote accurately represents my situation and feelings of our school Library.

“When the school Library has adequate teacher librarian and clerical/technical staffing, is well supplied with information and communication technologies and is connected to the school and district networks and to the internet, then the school library program increases students’ opportunities to become information literate.” (AIL p.46)

I am looking forward to growing my knowledge over the next 9 courses in order to be much better.

Bibliography

Hennesy, Sara. “Teaching approaches: Inquiry,” Deputy Director of Research University of Cambridge

www.oer.educ.cam.ac.uk

Asselin, M., Branch, J.L., & Oberg, D. (2003). “Achieving Information Literacy: Standards for School Librarian Programs in Canada.” Ottawa: Canadian School Library Association: Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada. P.46,47

Reidling, A.M. (2005). “Reference Skills for the School Library Media Specialist: Tools and Tips,” 2nd ed.

BCTLA (2003). “Points of Inquiry: A Framework for Information Literacy and 21^st Century Learners.” p.13

Daniels, H. & Harvey, S.  (2009). “Comprehension & Collaboration: Inquiry Circles” Activate and Build Background Knowledge p.116

Sukhkaran & Ekam “Jupiter” e-book (Grade 2/3 students I taught from Beaver Creek Elementary School)

Division 13 & 14 (Grade 1’s I teach from Morgan Elementary School) Critical thinking response

Division 7 (Grade 4 students I teach from Morgan Elementary School) using Comprehension Lesson from Comprehension & Collaboration- Daniels & Harvey