It's hard to believe that 10 weeks have passed since my last post - but what a full 10 weeks it has been! I am now working full time (Also add a 6 1/2 year old, 4 year old and husband!)
My 5 days consists of - 3 days as TL, 1 day as Reading Support Teacher, and 1 day as IT Coordinator.( My support staff member hasalso been away sick since last December and so have also been doing this role as well!)
Anyway, my many hats overlap, the edges between the roles blur, and the workload just gets heavier. I think you can sum it up as trying to be all things to all people - an impossible feat, but one that I strive to achieve. As a result, I am trying to catch up on my uni in one hit in my holidays.
Thoughts from Module 1:
It is interesting to reread the systems thinking gear again. The article by Tribus was from a while ago was obviously written at the start of David Langford's journey. I attended the QLA training with David Langford back in 2003 (I think!). I really enjoyed the training and must say that I frequently go back to thePDSA and related tools when working on problems/issues - both as a classroom teacher, and now as teacher librarian.(It's interesting that DECD (as the SA ED Dept. is now called),used this model back in 2005 with their own tools (essentially just Langford tools with other names, but not surprisingly, that improvement initiative disappeared.)
Anyway, I'll give one example of how I have used the PDSA improvement cycle and tools in my teacher librarian role when undertaking my Library Management Project for UniSA.
PROBLEM
How to increase access to resources within the library.
INITIAL SITUATION
To find out about the situation, I gathered staff views using the Langford's ForceField Diagram and Imagineering Tools, and student views from a PMF, and library staff/volunteers through interviews. This gave me a lot of perception data to analyse. I also used the library cataloguing system for data regarding borrowing statistics etc. I then used an Interrelationship Digraph to identify the root causes.
PLAN, DO, STUDY, ACT
Once root causes were established , possible solutions were determined. I then went about establishing an improvement plan which I have been implementing, reviewing and modifying ever since.
OUTCOMES
The absolute benefits of addressing this problem in this analytical way was that it achieved positive results -our library is becoming increasingly more organised, resources are accessed far more easily, and most importantly, students are reading more, the library is being used more, and resources are being used more by teachers! It also gave all stakeholders the opportunity to have their say, become involved but without personal feelings getting in the way. It was a really objective way of looking at the problem and some of the soloutions would perhaps not have been thought of had I not looked at the situation using systems thinking.
I've attached a picture of my poster that I had to do for my subject - it is a broad outline of the process. (I had to put two snipping tool snapshots together and they don't quite line up! Sorry!)
This is just a small example of systems thinking in action.
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