Another attempt at Bennett

Having looked at Bennett again it starting to make more sense.

Here's an attempt at a summary

School effectiveness research and School Improvement Research are lacking - Organisational Theory (the author's bias) takes into account Power exchanges within a school which will result in greater effectiveness when looking at how to change a school.

Structures

• Mechanistic views of organisations see structures as fixed and static, changeable only by decisions of those that control them.


• Organic Views see structures as capable of developing and changing. This is because Membership of organisations change, Purposes can change, What is externally defined as legitimate can change.

Structures can be seen as dynamic reflecting the distribution of power.

There are 3 types of structures:

1. Physical - eg. buildings


2. Work - decisions taken that reflect how the work is done eg. Division into faculties etc


3. Task - What the people within the organisation do

Structures might look rigid but their meaning to individuals within the organisation lies in the way these structures define relationships with colleagues and the areas within which the individual can make decisions. A crucial part of these relations is the power that each individual brings to relationships within the structure.

Power depends on 2 things:

1. How Central the individual is to the issue being considered


2. How much freedom the individual has in deciding how to act in response to decisions that are taken

Young describes what he calls an "assumptive world" - In assessing a situation we come to an understanding of it based on our cognitive knowledge of it, our feelings about it, a sense of being required to take some action. This is another Dynamic element within a structure,

Organisational Culture:
Can be "Differentiated" ( usually has a loosely coupled structure), or "Integrative" ( with stronger lines of accountability and control and more emphasis on uniformity)

Cultures shape how individuals act within a structure, ie) what is seen as legitimate action in a given setting

POWER - Hegemony and Discipline

Hegemony - Domination and control rest on both coercion and consent.
Discipline (Foucault) Power is derived from the idea that the person in power has the potential to observe and thus has the ability discipline and punish. Power is not seen as a negative

It is through the day to day working out of little power relations that an individual's 'assumptive world' is formed

POWER AND THE CREATION OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

Schein (1992) says that the norms and rules that govern one's behaviours in an organisation is created initially by the fonder who gathers together like minded people. Culture is the pattern of rules and norms that come from the basic understanding of the work that is done,. 'cultural players' deploy power resources in order to maintain and create the organisational culture.

The greater the difference in resources between the two parties to an exchange, the more likely it is that one will be able to influence the other to act in a certain way.

Resources can be:

• Physical - ie force
• Economic eg) Salary or the means of doing a job.
• Knowledge - administrative or technical
• Normative - access to values, ideas, friendship, reputation

When there is a disparity in resources, one person can achieve compliance from the other. It is easier to achieve compliance when the disparity is great.

Cognitive compliance - persuading the person that what you are requiring is correct

Instrumental Compliance - calculation of benefits and advantages.

Organisations are collections of individual members. How individuals relate within these organisations will depend on, the power resources each party has and the degree to which these are seen as valid. Economic resources are legitimised by structural factors whilst other forms are legitimised by cultural factors.

IF YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE CHANGE IN A SCHOOL YOU MUST LOOK BEYOND STRUCTURE INTO ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE. THE POWER DIMENSION PROVIDES A WAY TO DO THIS. The question that needs to be asked is: What sort of power resources will get staff to commit themselves to reforms, rather than merely complying. *** Note this is important for assignment 1

Thank god thats over!!!!

A big Job!

Its becoming increasingly clear to me that the job of teacher librarian is huge!

First Meeting for Assignment 1

We had our first meeting for assignment 1, via the chat room. I thought it went quite well. I was worried that with the clunky nature of the chat room that it might be difficult to come up with consensus, but we did agree on a starting idea, so that is great. Now I need to do some research, so we can come up with a proposal for Roy. I will need to use the journal data base which I find daunting, but if I am going to be a librarian I had better learn quick!

I have managed to get some volunteer work at Santa Sabina, I'm looking forward to this as I am hoping it will give me some experience that I can use when applying for a job.

I have found the reading on Power Structure and Culture (Bennet), virtually unreadable - why be so abstract, when we are talking about a very real thing - a school and its teachers and students? I've only got into the first 10 pages. Maybe it will get better.

Reading 1 504 Donham Summary

I wont be summarising all the readings like this but I thought I'd get on the right track by doing this one this way
TRAITS OF LEADERS

• Technical Competence
• Conceptual Skill
• People Skills
• Judgement
• Character

Leaders act from an internal focus. ie) What do I have control over. NOT What control do others have over me and the situation.

Good to Great (Collins 2000) -

• Understand what your strengths are and play to these while aiming to be as good as you can be in other areas.
• Pursue what you are passionate about (for me at the moment this is info literacy)

Fullan (1996) Vision should have 3 attributes:

• sharedness - everyone shares the same vision
• concreteness -the degree to which people can really see what the vision will look like
• clarity -the degree to which people are skilled at carrying it out

LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE

TL leads through influence rather than from a position of control. To have influence the TL must:

• establish one's expertise
• work collegially
• maintain a good "say/do" ratio
• establish a process for continual assessment and reflection

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

Key steps are:

• anticipating what needs to happen,
• devise a plan to set a course of action
• organise resources to carry out the plan for success

Strategic Leadership requires

1. setting standards for performance and measuring performance against those standards
   Involve teachers, students parents etc in setting the direction for the vision.
2. Opportunism - seize opportunities as they arise

REFLECTION

Effective leaders reflect at least once a year on:

• what they can do differently next year
• What will I stop doing that I did last year
• How and when will I know I am making progress

Let the learning begin - 501

Well here I am starting another Semester's reading. I'm going to put notes up for both courses here in the hope that I'll remember more, and the little plant struggling through the cracks ( which definitely represents the sum of my knowledge of ICT ) will grow into a lovely big tree.


Summary of Reading of Herring Chapter 2
Search Engines

- Single Search Engines - eg. Google,Yahoo etc
-Meta Search Engines - apply search key words to a number of search engines eg. Dogpile

Different search engines have different features

Features include:
Boolean logic terms - AND, OR, NOT Default - Most default to AND
Truncation - eg acid*
etc (on p29)

Effective searches

Looked at Noodletools - http://www.noodletools.com/ very helpful for a newby like me.
Based on the purpose of the search

Ask Jeeves – uses everyday language - can put in questions

Librarians need to keep on top of updates in search engines – go to: http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
Search Engine Showdown – http://www.notess.com/
The Deep web – 500 times larger than the surface web
Much of the material here is in the form of databases and is specialist info, but school can still profit from sources such as those on p40

Homework
Went to Noodle tools - “find the best search for your information need”. Looked at “librarians Internet index search and only got 1 hit - not very helpful
Virtual LRC.com – 4 hits – none looked good
NSDL.org – 139 hits – many very relevant to this age group – yay!!!!

After doing all this and stressing because I was trying to get through all of Part 1 on the modules I have had a look at the timetable - what a relief - I don't have to do all this this week! I am used to 401 where you had to read half a library every week.

start of ETL 504 -communication, organisational theory, and strategic planning.

Well, here we go. Another semester begins.
For ETL 504, which is on leadership, Roy suggested we write about what we know about the following topics - communication, organisational theory, and strategic planning.

I might know a lot about them, but I must say at the moment, not having done any reading - I am just guessing about what they might be about.

Communication: I have done a bit of reading about this in the past, including Crucial Conversations by Patterson and Grenny,which gives strategies for how to communicate clearly in work and personal situations. Much of the work is based on creating a 'shared pool of meaning' and looks at patterns we might go into that inhibit communication. Its a great theory and has had success in increasing productivity in many workplaces. I think good communication is crucial to creating a good workplace, and I know there were a lot of problems with communication at my previous school. As a leader you need to be able to listen to others without controlling them. You don't have to do what they want, but everyone wants to be payed the respect of being really listened to. I know I personally can find this difficult to do, particularly if I have an agenda.

Organisational Theory: Not really sure what this is about. Is it about how organisations are structured - hierarchical etc? Could also encompass how change can be achieved within organisations. We will see!

Strategic Planning: Again, not quite sure. How to set goals and achieve them? How to organise change? Creating long term plans?

Well, as I read I'm sure all will become clearer.

OZTL and learning more about Wikis

Having joined OZTL at the end of my first semester, I am regretting not having done so earlier. I am finding that just seeing what TL's out there are talking about is giving me a clearer picture of what the job involves.
This link to a Wiki that encourages reading was recently sent.

http://slav.globalteacher.org.au/2009/07/13/feature-wiki-whitefriars-college-reading-active-and-engaging/

Wow! There are some amazing people out there doing great stuff in education.
I am starting to see how technology can provide an opportunity for creative expression, and am excited about this possibility.

Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson

This guy makes so much sense when he talks about our school system.
He talks about how our schooling system discourages creativity by placing assessment as its priority and this has absolutely been my experience. As head of department I had to create assessment tasks that were uniform across all classes and teachers (they had to be fair), but in so doing I put students in little boxes. They can't go off and explore what is interesting to them, because it does not fit within the assessment rubric. Teachers can't go off on their own interesting tangents, because it might interfere with the fairness of assessment across the year. There must be a way around this. But I fear that while our govt insists on a standardised assessment like the HSC, schools will be forced to teach to an exam, rather than educate their students. Why can't we use an external exam such as the SAT C's in the US?

Sir Ken Robinson also talks about the down grading of creative subjects and the humanities in favour of Maths and Science. He makes the point that schools should be encouraging student's passions and strengths, what ever they are, rather than trying to make them conform and fit into boxes. In that way we will end up with a society of people, who are doing what they love and contributing excellence and passion - what a wonderful vision.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/stories/2009/2598512.htm

Mike Eisenberg on Information Literacy

A really inspiring presentation. Would be good to present to staff.

http://uweoconnect.extn.washington.edu/publicmbeinfolit/

Tania Sheko’s English wiki

Tania Sheko’s English wiki

Shared via AddThis

This is my attempt to become more ICT savy.
Found out what a Wiki is:
Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.
Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself.
Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.

The Journey So Far

I began my studies of Teacher Librarianship with very little understanding of what a teacher librarian was. At my previous school, I had come into contact with our excellent Head of Information Studies - Helen, who had a great passion for information literacy (IL). My old school was attempting to introduce a constructivist approach to learning. I knew Helen saw IL as a key component of this but I must admit that I did not really know what IL was.

On entering the course my perceptions about the role of the teacher librarian (TL) focused on a love of literature, use of information communication technology (ICT), the collaborative nature of the role and what I termed ‘student centred learning’ (Hi!, March 7). It is developing an understanding of ‘student centred learning’ that has been central to my developing understanding of the role of the teacher librarian. Much of my discovery about the role of the TL has also been bound up with my quest to discover why my previous school had become so stuck in its endeavour to change the way its students learned.

My initial readings of Skilbeck and Frith (2001) were exciting. I recognised the constructivist model that Loreto had been trying to implement. Skrzeczynski, (1999), was also an eye opener. Here was a school working collaboratively with their TL, to create student centred learning - in the last century!

Readings for my first assignment helped me understand the role of the TL and the situation at my old school more clearly. I was particularly excited by Henri’s (2005pp1 -4) description of an information literate community and the role of the TL within this community. Key learnings included the role of the TL as a leader and an agent for change and the need for the TL to see the teachers as the primary client group. He described the characteristics of a stuck school and I recognised my old school. But why, with such a strong, articulate TL had they gone wrong? The answer was provided by Haycock (1999), who describes the essential role of the principal in creating an information literate community. Henri discusses the need to create credibility in your role as a TL and to foster a strong relationship with the principal (Henri, p12), but it is clear to me that you can do all these things but if the principal still won’t 'come on board' your impact as a TL will be limited.

Another key point on my journey was reading Campbell, Flageolle, Griffith and Wojcik (2008) on resource based learning (RBL). Having gone to school in the eighties, I had no experience of RBL. This article clearly explained what it looked like and I could see how I could facilitate this type of learning as a TL. My forum readings confirmed that my ignorance is not unique (Ehmann, 2009) and I found this reassuring. I think it is important as a TL, never to forget, that the wider teaching community may not understand terms such as ‘resource based learning’ and even ‘information literacy’ and we must not alienate our clients with terminology that was once just as foreign to us as it is now to them.

My readings on IL models finally put everything in place. I realised that this was the ‘backbone’ that was missing at my old school and it is the teaching of IL that is, for me, the most exciting thing about being a librarian. I responded to Kuhlthau’s model particularly (IL, May 20). I believe her description of the affective domain and the uncertainty principal is very important (Kuhlthau, 2008), because, if we as TL’s can explain to students that feelings of unease are normal they are more likely to continue with their task. I also found her descriptions of the zones of intervention to be very helpful. Knowing when to help a student and when to leave them alone is an essential skill. This time it was discovering points of disagreement with forum posts that sparked ideas. Pugliese, (2009) said she felt Kuhlthau’s Stage 2 'Topic selection' suggests tasks which are essentially free-wheeling research tasks’. Ultimately I disagreed, but reading the forum made me examine my own understanding of the model more closely.

I found the other course I was doing “Collection Management’ to be much more of a struggle than Teacher Librarianship, due mostly I think to my inexperience in library work. However I was able to put what I had learned from both courses together when I looked closely at Hughes Hassell and Mancell ( 2005). A light went on when I realized that the learner centered collection that they advocate goes hand in hand with the teaching strategies we are learning in ETL 401. I could see how the dual role of the TL could be unified by an overarching goal to empower students and make them the drivers of their learning.

I know I have a long way to go. As I continue my study, I suspect I will find the Librarianship side of the role more challenging than the teaching side. I also think my inexperience with ICT will provide challenges. But the chance to work in a field that has the potential to have such a positive impact keeps me motivated.

I finished the draft of my collection development policy about a week ago. This was an assignment I have been dreading. One of the posts on the forum suggested looking at "Collection Management for Youth" in regards to goals for the collection, and this switched a light bulb on for me. I could see how my growing passion for IL could be mirrored in the library management side of the job.
Collection Management for Youth is all about developing a user centred collection which goes hand in hand with information literacy - simple when you see it, but hay I'm only a beginner!

Still working on ETL 401 assignment. Trying to be critical of the different information skills models. I wish I had some experience as a TL as I know this would place me in a much better position to see what works and what doesn't first hand. I got a video explaining the Big 6, which was very helpful.

Revisiting the "standards of excellence" is interesting. When I looked at them for my assignment on Information Literate Communities, I found them overwhelming, but I was looking at them as a role description, seeing them as something to aim for is more inspiring and achievable. What keeps standing out for me is the leadership role that people like Henri (2005)and Oberg and the standards document expect of TL's. I find this exciting but I also wonder about the general status of TL's. Working as a Head of Department I did not accomplish half the work expected of a TL. I started to wonder if Heads of Information Services must be payed more than a normal HOD. I was shocked when talking to Helen HIS at Santa Sabina, to hear that if you are running a library in a DET school, you are only payed as a normal teacher. The time management skills in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People are definately going to come in handy!

IL

Very excited about Carol Kulthau's work. I think the way she incorporates feelings into the model is spot on. It is our feelings that get in the way of learning, and our feelings that spur us on to new learning discoveries. I will definitely use her work as a TL (when I hopefully get a job).
The fact that her Information Search Process is based on empirical study and psychological theory (Kulthau 2004) gives her model a depth that the other processes don't have. When I read it I thought 'wow this is how I learn.' It reminded me of Maria Montessori's work. She also came up with her theory by observing learners - in her case young children.
Why didn't my old principal champion Information Literacy models like this?

Constructing my own learning - forums, blogs and readings

Have just been reading the 401 forum. One of the posts talks about the blog and the forums being a part of a constructivist learning/teaching construct. I must admit I had not even thought of it this way. I have found the forums very useful, and they have absolutely helped me to construct my understanding of the course material.
I don't feel the same way about the blog though. I have always found reflective writing a bit of an artificial process and I must say that when I have asked my own students to create a log, the material they hand in is not really reflective of their learning.
Is it that the interaction is what is important to me and my students? I do miss tutorials, where you could have a face to face conversation with people about the topics.
I have enjoyed reading the chat room for assignment 1, but could not get involved because of the time it was on.
All this tells me that for me interaction and conversation are important elements in my learning - I suspect this is true for my pupils as well.
Reading the article by Campbel et al 2008 on RBL was also an eye opener for me. So this is what resource based learning looks like! Very inspiring, although I know how long it takes to prepare lessons like that. It is also good to have an insight into the work of teachers in different subject areas, as I am sure that this will help in my work as a TL. It is easier to collaborate when you know where someone is coming from. I agree with Jennifer in her post for the subforum (March 19th) in her enthusiasm for RBL. She said that she is often inspired by one really great resource which will get her looking for more. I know this has been true of my work in Drama. I hope it will be true of my work as a teacher librarian, when I don't know the subject as well.
Todd's (2008) article on collaboration was interesting. The point that collaboration is successful if the planning stage is thorough, is important and something I want to remember. Also his point that the main motivation for the TL needs to be improving outcomes for students rather than improving the TL's standing in the school. Being honest with myself I know that this will be something I will need to keep reminding myself about.

first info skills essay almost done

I am finished my rough draft of my 'scholarly paper' for ETL 504. Way over the word limit as usual.
I have really enjoyed this topic. Information Literacy is, I think, really important and having come from a school where there was an attempt to introduce IL that (in my opinion) has not been successful, it has been really interesting to analyse why. I could only address one problem in my essay, and so I chose one I could substantiate and back up, but the situation was a lot more complex.
There was a great TL at our school, with a lot of experience, passion and credibility and yet she was unable to get the school to adopt a real commitment to Information Literacy(IL). On speaking to her, she said that the principal, did not really understand what IL was and despite the TL giving talks about it and the principal paying lip service to it, she never really supported its implementation.
It seems to me that you can be a great TL, but if the Principal does not really support you, you are a bit lost.
The whole concept of an information literate community is an exciting one. I particularly responded to Henri's (2005) arguments that the TL place their emphasis on teaching the teachers. I think this is the only way that IL will spread through the school. This would require a very supportive Principal who understands the TL's role and IL. I'm not sure that many of these Principals exist.

On another topic - I am dreading the assignment on collection management. This part of librarianship is such a new world to me, I feel like I am all at sea. I definitely feel behind the eight ball as I am not a librarian and I don't even work in a school at the moment. I am in contact with two librarians from different schools, but definitely feel like a bit of a pain when I ring. However they have been very helpful and I do feel like I am learning so much.

First Assignment Finished

Just finished my first assignment. What a struggle. I thought it would be quite easy, but found that doing this style of essay is very different from an English or Drama Essay, where you can go off on your own tangent.
Have learned a lot though. At first I was excited about the Drama Resources I found - its hard to let go of being a Drama teacher. But I found a great 'selection tool' for online resources - "Intute", discovered that Data Bases of Teacher resources and information for secondary schools exist and feel more confident about searching for information. I must say though that if a chemistry teacher came to me, I'd still feel daunted at the idea of finding resources for them!

I have actually learned more about what a 'constructivist framework' for education is. At my last school that's what they were striving for - not sure they achieved it though.

The material about selection criteria was interesting, in that I know if I was selecting, I would be inclined to select on an ad-hock basis, so having a criteria is a good idea.

What I have realised is what a huge job being a teacher librarian is. If you want to do it properly, it seems its best to be in a big department where people can specialise in different areas. In the school I visited, for example, they have one librarian that focuses on cataloguing and the department has about 6 people. Thus the Head Teacher Librarian can focus on increasing Information Literacy, which is her passion. This is where I would like to be, but it seems a long road ahead. Just the idea of learning how to catalogue fills me with trepidation.

Its hard starting from scratch when I have been a Head of Department and have been studying my subject area since I was 12!

Visit to meet Helen - Head of Library Services

Went to meet Helen, the Head Teacher Librarian at my old school. She has moved schools and has generously offered to mentor me. Was interesting being in a school again. The library was designed by the same people who designed the library at me old school and Helen's observations about the lack of transparency in the library - the need for lower shelves so that a feeling of openness was created were interesting.

She answered all my beginners questions about catalogue management. It was very uncomfortable feeling like such a novice, when I am used to being the expert and running a department. I realised that I don't even know the basics - like how to catalogue a book!

Helen is extremely keen on promoting information literacy, and again as a Drama teacher this is not an area I have focused on - I had to ask her exactly what it was even though I have heard the term often enough. However, this is the area I think I am interested in. I want to know more about how to assist learning in a non didactic way. Unfortunately my style has been very teacher directed up until this point and I certainly believe that it is almost impossible to teach the HSC and not do this to some extent. But I want too learn more about learner centred teaching. Helen pointed out some good resources for this.

Feeling quite overwhelmed about the amount of study I need to do. Am wondering if I should drop a subject. We will see.

Hi!

Hi
This is my first blog. Feel very proud to have done it. Part of the Twenty first Century!
Hopefully I will remember to post every week or so and record my journey on the way to become a teacher librarian.
At the moment Teacher Librarianship seems a long way away from what I was doing before - Drama teaching. But I like the collaborative (hopefully) nature of the role, I love books, and I would like to learn more about technology and student centred learning.
We had a great Teacher Librarian at my old school (am a full time Mum at the moment). She was very up on new technology and very keen to get the teachers to use her, her colleagues and the resources of the library.
I have given her a ring and she has agreed to be my mentor for this course, so I am very happy about that.