Part C
Critical Synthesis
I was full of confidence and vim and vigour when I started this ETL 401 course just weeks after starting my first TL position where I teach two infants classes once a week. After the first few readings however, my lack of knowledge raised feelings of overwhelming doubt and there went my confidence. So began my travels on the road of transformation of my view of the role of teacher librarian. Who knew there would be so many potholes on this road? And then I learn that there is no final destination anyway! Thank you Mr Senge (2007).
Reflecting on whether I should have known more about the role of TL before starting this course, I answer no. It would have taken a much longer time to learn about these than by just learning on the TL job. This course has taught me so much – from the fact that TLs in some countries refer to themselves as Library Media Specialists to learning about all the roles of a TL (Herring, 2007, Lamb & Johnson, 2008 and Purcell, 2010). My 7th March blog entry
http://http//thecarmichael.blogspot.com/2011/03/topic-2-role-of-teacher-librarian.html reveals my shock about the list of roles for TLs. How confused and frustrated I would be juggling lots of duties/jobs/tasks within the library now if I could not classify each one into a role. Admittedly, I am stuck in a pothole of having trouble classifying each task as many them fit into more than one role. My naivety is evident in my blog post http://http://thecarmichael.blogspot.com/2011/03/principal-support.html where I wondered if I would have to divide every library lesson of fifty minutes into ten minutes sections to fulfil every role. To be fair though, no work place, no classroom, no staff room or yard duty discussion, no professional development over the last twenty years of my career in teaching, have provided me with much opportunity to learn just what it is that teacher librarians do. This seems very wrong.
I have asked myself if I should have known more about the roles of a TL before I was hired as a one. Definitely, but then I might not have been confident enough to apply for the job. I was asked during my interview what I believed was the role of the TL. I answered confidently (see para 1) that I saw the role of the TL being part teacher and part instructional partner (IP). Though limited, I have had some positive experience working collaboratively on a class project with a TL so I could at least name the IP role. Obviously, the interview panel, which was made up of the three executive members of the school, liked my response enough and offered me the job with the proviso that I start my study in TL. Today, armed with some TL experience and information from literature from this subject’s modules and readings from the forum, I now question whether school principals should be more aware of what the TL does and thus their expectations for my job been higher? (/2011/03/principal-support.html. Hiring me, a good teacher with twenty years of classroom experience but without TL qualifications implies not a great deal of expectations. Has it become my job to educate the executive about what I do? Shouldn’t this be an executive’s responsibility as leader to know what I do or is it mine as teacher librarian in the role of leader?
The TL’s role of leadership has caused the most anxieties for me- big pothole in this road of transformation. Before this course, I associated the term leadership with administration and I have never wanted to be or hold an administrative/executive position. Reading Purcell (2010) and Stripling (2010) and reflecting on the standards of professional excellence for TLs (ALIA/ASLA, 2002) have certainly helped me to better understand the TL’s role of leadership. With time and experience, I will be more confident in using instructional leadership to guide administrators, my fellow teachers, and my students to a 21st-century style of learning. Yet this leadership role still proves daunting. Perhaps I am being too critical of my anxieties…it’s a new job and a new area of study for me. These feelings are surely part of the transformation process. It has been reassuring to read such forum posts as Maticevski (24th March 1:43pm) who cites Herring (2007) that we need to remember that no TL could possibly fulfil all roles at the same time.
Powerful readings from Warlick (2007), Senge (2007) and Dickinson (2009) have led to some serious reflection on my learning this past few months. I have learned so much but as I posted in a forum for Topic 5, 1 May, I am still very aware of my own ignorance with the more I learn about teacher librarianship. I feel stronger knowing that life long learning is about practicing a discipline. We will never arrive at our destination but will spend our lives mastering disciplines (Senge, 2007). And so this road of TL learning continues with no finish line or destination point in sight. More potholes to swerve but surely some fine driving in sight.
