Module 3 - Change Process

One thing that I believe is absolutely essential for successful and long term change within a school is time. This is identified and taken into account in CBAM but is so often overlooked by our departments where new programs are imposed at a rapid rate. Another aspect that is also very important is that the training is seen to be useful and relevant to the needs of the individual or school.

The following example of training that I have attended very much incorporates these elements. Lisa Burman, an educational consultant, ran a series of sessions in the area of reading comprehension.
http://lisaburman.com.au/ 

What made this PD so worthwhile were the following:
* our own staff identified the need for the training;
* through consultation with Lisa, the PD program was established;
* the structure of the PD - 1 full day training followed by 1/2 day training in year level teams which involved discussion and a modelled lesson with classes from our own school, a follow up after school session for each year level team on the specific area identified by the group;
* time was given to teams during and after the training sessions to work together, identify future needs;
* whole school commitment to the initiative.

Lisa also provided very practical sessions, had realistic expectations of staff and empathy for what it is like to work in a school. She also had credibility as she was able to implement her work into our classes.

This initiative was not imposed by our department, was self-directed, and the learning that was gained is still strongly implemented in our school and is having positive results on student outcomes. I discuss how I have described my role in this in a previous post. http://sakepuss.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/tl-and-curriculum-my-thoughts.html

Module 2 - Leadership styles

In my assignment I referred to pacesetters and affiliative leaders because in the last 12 years, with 3 Principal changes (not including the acting ones), I have experienced both - pacesetter, then affiliative, and now pacesetter again. Interestingly, both pacesetters are female (and others I have observed) - I'm not sure if there is a connection. Maybe, to make it in the Principal realm, you have to be seen to be doing a lot in your tenure, proving how skilled you are, how many innovations you have initiated, etc etc.

When working with an affiliative leader, the length of discussions and the decision making process was sometimes frustrating. Also, during some of this time, the school had "pockets of excellence" but lacked a common theme or direction, particularly during our school's major redevelopment. The thinking behind this was that there was enough going on for teachers without adding extra pressure. I agree but the lack of common directions was sometimes difficult and it is lucky that most of the teachers I work with are highly professional and self-motivated.

Now I'm back to the Pacesetter . . . It is amazing how quickly the pacesetting approach has negatively affected our school. Within one term, our communication structures were either abolished or no longer had any power, people felt undervalued, and staff morale dropped significantly. (I have never had a Principal who, on their first day, having just met the staff and without knowing the school, its culture, and the people, felt it necessary to tell staff that we had to be at school between 8 and 4! - mouths dropped open and you could have heard a pin drop!!)


The most difficult thing for me with a pacesetting leader is not so much about having to work closely with her (I can't just stay in my classroom and shut the door), it has been watching the affect it is having on students, parents, my friends and colleagues. The lack of trust, lack of opportunities to collaborate, lack of vision, lack of understanding for the people who are actually doing the work is incredibly frustrating because, despite pretending to listen when I, and others, raised and continue to raise these issues, nothing changes. The other thing I find absolutely amazing is the fact that this leadership style is based on everything an effective teacher knows is bad teaching!! All of this made the writing of my assignment sometimes challenging as I had to work through the emotions of anger, frustration and helplessness that sometimes arose. Let me just say that this style of leadership makes going to work really difficult some days and the fact I otherwise work with a fantastic group of people, makes it bearable. (which is a good thing because we have another 3 1/2 years to go!!!)

Systems Thinking Poster

Here is the poster again, as it wasn't really big enough to see in the original post and I couldn't work out how to delete it and place it in again!! I couldn't delete, cut or anything in edit mode - if you know how, please let me know.

Take 2

Teacher Librarian as Leader - Module 1 - Systems Thinking

I'm back!
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.

PS. . .

Re Assignment 2 - Parts A and B
I have realised that I have put the incorrect word count on my assignment cover sheet but didn't want to resubmit as then it would be late. Sorry.

Task C - A critical Reflection

In this reflection I am asked to describe how my view of the role of teacher librarian has changed as a result of reading, writing assignments processing new ideas and chatting with others. Unfortunately I haven’t taken full advantage of blogging and the forums due to trying to balance study, work and home responsibilities. To be honest, I also still prefer to bounce ideas and clarify my thinking in ‘live’ chats with family and friends, though I know this is also possible in a Web 2.0 environment.

So has my view changed?

When I look back at my first blog in this area http://sakepuss.blogspot.com/2011/12/assessment-2-pre-thoughts-on-role-of.html I feel that my view of what a teacher librarian has not changed significantly, but there have been some changes, or at least fine-tuning.

For example, in my earlier blog, I discussed the role of supporting students to become lifelong learners. The example that I gave was purely in relation to information skills – that of defining, locating and using information. As I explained in my later blog, http://sakepuss.blogspot.com/2012/01/teacher-librarian-and-information.html, I have taught guided inquiry units that focused on critical thinking, or collaborative skills, but I hadn’t explicitly linked those other essential skills, values, dispositions within the concept of “Information Literacy”. I think that this more broad term is very important in our current digital environment, particularly critical literacy and online responsibilities and safety. When teaching, I have been amazed by some students’ acceptance and lack of critical evaluation of websites or information, and sites becoming increasingly more polished and professional looking, this is going to become more and more difficult.

Another key issue for me in relation to teaching information literacy is the way Google influences searches. I had previously become aware of this from a conference with Joyce Valenza (http://sakepuss.blogspot.com/2012/01/teacher-librarian-and-information.html). When I was reading for my assignment 2, however, I came across some other ideas about this by Debbie Abilock https://plus.google.com/u/0/111751601883348841865/posts/1ckvWNCLbmB. I also found Jann Carroll’s (2011, p.32) discussion about the ‘Eurocentric slant’ of Google and Wikipedia interesting as it really made me think about how I need to help my students become more aware of this.

One important area that this subject has raised for me has been the importance of good time-management (and not just in relation to my completing the uni tasks.) As I have said previously, my personal focus as a teacher librarian is very much about teaching and collaborating with teachers. This means that there are times when I have felt frustrated and even hopeless because I am not getting all of the managerial things done or they are taking a long time. (I still haven’t completed labelling my series boxes from last year!).I think I should display Cooper and Bray’s advice in my office to keep me realistic and prevent me from becoming disheartened. http://sakepuss.blogspot.com/2012/01/time-management-and-negotiation-and.html

I feel this subject has confirmed my belief that the teacher librarian role is an extremely complex one with firstly many aspects and secondly the way that the various roles overlap and entwine. It is no wonder that at times I feel overwhelmed with the enormity of it. It is in these moments however that I am reminded of an analogy that Joyce Valenza gave at a conference last year – it essentially went like this – the possibilities of what we as teacher librarians can achieve are huge but we need to think of it as a menu – we need to select an appropriately sized takeaway container and only select the bits that we can cope with immediately. We know where the menu is though so when we are ready, we can come back to it and choose again.

This subject has been helpful as it has shown me that I am on the right track in what I am trying to achieve as teacher librarian. As I started this role as a teacher, without the librarian qualification, I have often questioned if I was going about things in the right way, and so this subject has been affirming. It has also highlighted some areas I can improve. So to conclude my reflections, I will identify and describe the items that I am placing in my takeaway container . . .

1. Website developer and creator of a virtual space for the library – This was a key area that Joyce Valenza talked about and that I really have done nothing about. While there are several reasons for this – issues with DECD filtering etc – this really is something that I need to do.
2. IT Leader - While I have begun to learn about Web 2.0 tools through this course, and the How 2 of Web 2.0 from last year. (Syba Signs runs this online course). I know that these have lots of potential but I really haven’t explored these in relation to my colleagues or the classes that I teach.

L

References

Carroll, J. (2011). From Encyclopaedias to Search Engines: Technological Change and Its Impact on Literacy Learning. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 19(2), 27-34

Cooper, O.P. & Bray, M. (2011). School Library Media Specialist-Teacher Collaboration: Characteristics, Challenges, Opportunities. TechTrends, 55(4), 48-54.

Time Management and Negotiation and Collaborative Practice

I feel I can completely sympathise with others about time management. I must admit it wasn't so much about not managing the activities so much as being overly ambitious about what I could achieve. Really, this is very like my life as a teacher librarian.

The teacher librarian role as Herring stated is multi-faceted and if I tried to do all areas all the time, I'd sink. I have to keep reminding myself to, 'prioritise roles according to the current needs of the students, staff' (Herring, 2007, p. 31). Cooper and Bray also refer to the importance of being able to prioritise. They talk about the reality that 'there will be some tasks that just don't get cone, others that are done only minimally . . . [and that ] efforts remain on things that most directly involve instruction' (Cooper & Bray, 2011, p.53). While this is certainly my focus as I collaboratively taught 3 1/2 days out of 4 last year, it is frustrating and demoralising to see some things not being done or taking forever. It is all very well to state that it is important to negotiate - and yes I have done this because teachers now take their own borrowing and I have a 1/2 day stretch of admin time - it is far easier said than done. Money is really one key factor - but so is my desire to improve the learning outcomes of students. A library is really not any good if it looks wonderfully organised and 'pretty', but it is not used by teachers and students. I guess what I am trying to say is . . .
1. 'Don't sweat the small stuff'.
2. Work out what is most important and focus on that - use time efficiently and focus on one thing at a time.
3. If you don't ask, you never get - so don't be afraid to ask.
4. Accept help when it is offered - particularly for making signs, or shelving books etc. This may mean that sometimes things are not done exactly how you would like, but they are done.
5. Make step by step notes, records so that if you have to ask someone else to do something, you know that they will follow the procedures and do it properly - particularly important when cataloguing or doing things with the library system
6. Be kind to yourself and remember work-life balance.

(All great things in theory, but not always easy in practice!)