I can't believe it, I knew all of the answers, I had even rehearsed all weekend, but when I actually had to tell the panel everything just flew out of my head.
Then you should have heard the crap I did say, most of it wasn't even relevant to the job, even as I was hearing myself saying it I knew it was all wrong.
Oh well, just as well I love the school I'm at because I have a feeling I am going to be there for some time to come.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Interact down....or is it?
Well today has been a frustrating day for me so I thought I would blog it.
I have tried to get onto the ETL401 site to look up the readings, modules and resources as I haven't done much all week. But alas there must be a problem because my screen keeps coming up blank. After posting my dilemma onto the forum I discovered lots of others are experiencing the same problem so I am now feeling slightly relieved.
Unfortunately it means I haven't been able to do any course work today which is disappointing.
I even suggested maybe Roy could give us all an extension. This was met with the suggestion that maybe we should have a plan B.
Oops, didn't think of that.
I guess I will just go on with preparing for my job interview on Monday. At least that will make me feel like I am using my time wisely.
I have tried to get onto the ETL401 site to look up the readings, modules and resources as I haven't done much all week. But alas there must be a problem because my screen keeps coming up blank. After posting my dilemma onto the forum I discovered lots of others are experiencing the same problem so I am now feeling slightly relieved.
Unfortunately it means I haven't been able to do any course work today which is disappointing.
I even suggested maybe Roy could give us all an extension. This was met with the suggestion that maybe we should have a plan B.
Oops, didn't think of that.
I guess I will just go on with preparing for my job interview on Monday. At least that will make me feel like I am using my time wisely.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
I have finally admitted defeat!!!
Well today I finally admitted defeat and pulled out of ETL503.
It was a decision that I didn't take lightly but so much else is happening in my life and I didn't think it was fair to my family to be all consumed with Uni work and constantly cranky because I felt I was always behind.
Too many things have come up to take away from my uni time so I figured this was probably the best option.
Now over the holidays I will be able to spend time with the kids and do some fun things with them which will be nice.
It will be good to be able to totally devote all of my time to one subject. I'm actually really enjoying all of the reading and gaining of information.
I have my job interview on Monday so that is consuming me at the moment. Also on Monday I am attending the Tournament of the Minds facilitator workshop which is going to prove a huge challenge to me. I have never seen TOM operating and I have never had to be a facilitator. It's going to be huge.
Over the weekend I will post more about the reading I have been doing. It really is very interesting and thought provoking.
It was a decision that I didn't take lightly but so much else is happening in my life and I didn't think it was fair to my family to be all consumed with Uni work and constantly cranky because I felt I was always behind.
Too many things have come up to take away from my uni time so I figured this was probably the best option.
Now over the holidays I will be able to spend time with the kids and do some fun things with them which will be nice.
It will be good to be able to totally devote all of my time to one subject. I'm actually really enjoying all of the reading and gaining of information.
I have my job interview on Monday so that is consuming me at the moment. Also on Monday I am attending the Tournament of the Minds facilitator workshop which is going to prove a huge challenge to me. I have never seen TOM operating and I have never had to be a facilitator. It's going to be huge.
Over the weekend I will post more about the reading I have been doing. It really is very interesting and thought provoking.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
fostering collaboration
Haycock, K. (1999). Fostering collaboration, leadership and information literacy: Common behaviours of uncommon principals and faculties. NASSP Bulletin, 83(605), 82-87.
I felt this article stated the obvious on many occasions. The first was when it said that "Teaching partnerships and collaborative programs occur more readily where the school itself reflects a collaborative work culture." well duh! I guess it holds more currency when a professional writes it, instead of me saying it to a friend.
It also says that the Principal is the key factor in developing an effective integrated school library program. Unfortunately many schools don't work this way and library is used for release time because of budget restraints and time tabling issues. Most of the time library is just a 'drop and shop' time where teachers drop their kids for a 30minute lesson and then come back to collect them at the end of the time not really caring what has occurred in the 30 minutes except to make sure that the students have borrowed reading level appropriate books to take home from school until next week. Hmm not really conducive for an integrated library program. If the lessons are longer then the 'research' work you do with the class is only an add on to the classroom work and not considered very important! ( Maybe that's just my experience....)
The article goes on to say that the Principal should hire the best to ensure that this occurs. As I have a job interview for a teacher librarian position next week I am hoping that the principal and panel think that I am the best TL for the job. Oh well fingers crossed and hopefully I will be able to put some of this stuff into practice.
According to this article Principals mostly operate within a framework of their personal experience, as do most teachers I have encountered.
Oh well quite an interesting read and it means I can't keep blaming principals for not having collaborative planning/teaching as the responsibility falls onto me to make changes too....
I felt this article stated the obvious on many occasions. The first was when it said that "Teaching partnerships and collaborative programs occur more readily where the school itself reflects a collaborative work culture." well duh! I guess it holds more currency when a professional writes it, instead of me saying it to a friend.
It also says that the Principal is the key factor in developing an effective integrated school library program. Unfortunately many schools don't work this way and library is used for release time because of budget restraints and time tabling issues. Most of the time library is just a 'drop and shop' time where teachers drop their kids for a 30minute lesson and then come back to collect them at the end of the time not really caring what has occurred in the 30 minutes except to make sure that the students have borrowed reading level appropriate books to take home from school until next week. Hmm not really conducive for an integrated library program. If the lessons are longer then the 'research' work you do with the class is only an add on to the classroom work and not considered very important! ( Maybe that's just my experience....)
The article goes on to say that the Principal should hire the best to ensure that this occurs. As I have a job interview for a teacher librarian position next week I am hoping that the principal and panel think that I am the best TL for the job. Oh well fingers crossed and hopefully I will be able to put some of this stuff into practice.
According to this article Principals mostly operate within a framework of their personal experience, as do most teachers I have encountered.
Oh well quite an interesting read and it means I can't keep blaming principals for not having collaborative planning/teaching as the responsibility falls onto me to make changes too....
Monday, March 22, 2010
Why should principals support school libraries?
Hartzell, G. (2002). Why should principals support school libraries? ERIC Digest, November (EDO-IR-2002-06)
This article was fabulous to read. It supported a lot of my views, not to mention one the obstacles I am going to discuss in my assignment.
I thought that it was interesting that many principals overlook librarians as powerful allies as they are not usually written about in administrator journals. Who would have thought?
It was good that Hartzell made me aware of the 11 characteristics displayed by excellent librarians.
I loved the way he gave suggestions for ways principals can support libraries, and money wasn't listed as the only form of support.
NB. Principal support must be broad-based and multi-dimensional.
This article was fabulous to read. It supported a lot of my views, not to mention one the obstacles I am going to discuss in my assignment.
I thought that it was interesting that many principals overlook librarians as powerful allies as they are not usually written about in administrator journals. Who would have thought?
It was good that Hartzell made me aware of the 11 characteristics displayed by excellent librarians.
I loved the way he gave suggestions for ways principals can support libraries, and money wasn't listed as the only form of support.
NB. Principal support must be broad-based and multi-dimensional.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Information literate school community
This blog will be the death of me.
I'm finding it harder to keep this up to date than I am at keeping up to date with my readings.
I'm not really sure how I will be able to reflect on my growth at the end of this subject because I am so confused at the moment and everything is such a jumble I am not sure I am making any real progress.
Henri, J. 2005, 'Understanding the information literate school Community', in The Information literate school community 2, J Henri and M Asselin (eds.), Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, Australia, pp.135-145.
As I reflected on the schools I have worked in while I was reading this I found it interesting that none of the schools could be described as information literate schools.
I think it would be possible though for my current school to work at building a learning community as they are part way there already and they are very open to change as is reflected in the way that they appear to be leading all of the other schools in the area in technology.
I believe that they are already operating within the 6 actions that Watkins and Marsick (1993) suggest. However, even though the principal encourages collaboration and team learning there is still a number of staff who are reluctant to fully collaborate in all areas and try to be better than their colleagues in many areas.
I guess with these actions already occurring within the school it should make it a fairly easy transition to becoming an information literate community.
Unfortunately this is where things get a bit tricky because library lessons are seen as an add on to the classroom by the teachers and not fully integrated into the classroom curriculum. The school also has fixed-length timetables which are not conducive to change according to Rosenholtz (1989). He also goes on to suggest that Characteristics of information literate schools include: emphasis on policy development, authentic process-driven assessment, integrated and flexible curriculum, and a strong role for specialists such as the curriculum coordinator and the teacher librarian.
I'm not really sure how any NSW school can have process driven assessment when the whole focus in schools is on the NAPLAN results, especially now that all schools are rated against each other.
I love the way that Henri has given suggestions for how the TL can be a catalyst for change. Mind you at the moment while I am doing this study, working in the library and running my family, I'm not really sure that I have the energy to try and make those changes within my school which I guess is like many other schools, extremely busy and reluctant to add too many more new things to their already busy schedules.
Oh well it's food for thought and gives me something to aim for.
I'm not really sure how I will be able to reflect on my growth at the end of this subject because I am so confused at the moment and everything is such a jumble I am not sure I am making any real progress.
Henri, J. 2005, 'Understanding the information literate school Community', in The Information literate school community 2, J Henri and M Asselin (eds.), Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, Australia, pp.135-145.
As I reflected on the schools I have worked in while I was reading this I found it interesting that none of the schools could be described as information literate schools.
I think it would be possible though for my current school to work at building a learning community as they are part way there already and they are very open to change as is reflected in the way that they appear to be leading all of the other schools in the area in technology.
I believe that they are already operating within the 6 actions that Watkins and Marsick (1993) suggest. However, even though the principal encourages collaboration and team learning there is still a number of staff who are reluctant to fully collaborate in all areas and try to be better than their colleagues in many areas.
I guess with these actions already occurring within the school it should make it a fairly easy transition to becoming an information literate community.
Unfortunately this is where things get a bit tricky because library lessons are seen as an add on to the classroom by the teachers and not fully integrated into the classroom curriculum. The school also has fixed-length timetables which are not conducive to change according to Rosenholtz (1989). He also goes on to suggest that Characteristics of information literate schools include: emphasis on policy development, authentic process-driven assessment, integrated and flexible curriculum, and a strong role for specialists such as the curriculum coordinator and the teacher librarian.
I'm not really sure how any NSW school can have process driven assessment when the whole focus in schools is on the NAPLAN results, especially now that all schools are rated against each other.
I love the way that Henri has given suggestions for how the TL can be a catalyst for change. Mind you at the moment while I am doing this study, working in the library and running my family, I'm not really sure that I have the energy to try and make those changes within my school which I guess is like many other schools, extremely busy and reluctant to add too many more new things to their already busy schedules.
Oh well it's food for thought and gives me something to aim for.
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