The Last Post

Over the course of this subject, I have learnt a lot about what it takes to be a Teacher Librarian. It is hard work. Teacher Librarians have to juggle not only teaching, but also trying to keep literature alive within schools. In today's society of the Internet, DVD, and television this is a hard feat because students, and teachers alike, are looking for quick answers and to be entertained quickly. This, as we know, do not happen easily in fiction and trawling though dust tombs is something that many students do not want to do every time they are looking for an answer.

Teacher Librarians are the most adaptive on a school campus. From when technology was introduced into schools in the 80's to creating websites for their own school library, they are the people to see if you have a problem with surfing the information highway. This skills is over looked by staff and students who usually go to the first website that they come across when entering a topic into a search engine.

Teacher Librarians are a useful tool to have around a school, though their talents go mostly unnoticed by the staff and students around them. If libraries are to survive schools they must use this resource to its full capacity.

Ah, Book Week. I LOVE Book Week. It brings back many memories of dressing up, reading/ listening to the books and the scramble to borrow them after the week is over. Funny enough these memories are all primary school memories. Book Week, as I have seen, is only really celebrated in primary schools, although there is awards for young reader texts. I observed both the high school and primary school libraries over Book Week and found great differences in how it was celebrated. The primary school library was much more involved in the celebration, with the school holding a fete and selling books all week. The high school, on the other hand, did not mention it at all, except for a small note on the library door. No stand with the nominated books, no judgement of the books, not even a mention in the daily notices. I was quite disappointed with this and when I spoke to the Teacher Librarian about this, she said that there was not enough time to be able to set up the same celebrations as on the primary campus and in other schools she worked in, many students were not interested in Book Week by the time they reached high school.

I was quite disappointed with this and decided to ask some students about Book Week. What I found out confirms what the Teacher Librarian said; students were not interested in Book Week and many did not know that it was happening during that week. This made me rethink how could I as a Teacher Librarian promote Book Week in a high school setting. Firstly, it has got to be publicised earlier in the term, so students will know when it is happening. Secondly, students love prizes, so one way to get students involved is to maybe to have a quiz on all of the books for the more enthusiastic students or to hold a reading of all of the books over the week, where students can come and listen to part of or a chapter of all of the books to introduce students to the books. Another prize, especially for the more artistic students, is to hold a cover design competition. Lastly, to get the teachers on side and to promote the week across the school. It would probably be best to start with the English teachers and work on it over a few years to develop a program for that week.

Book Week is probably one of the longest running Australian based literacy appreciation week and if the promotion of Book Week is not promoted more fully in high schools, I believe that the childhood joys of Book Week will be lost.

Hi all.

I spoke with the teacher librarian at my school today and she gave me great insight into how hard it is for a teacher librarian in todays society.

She spoke about how she must use modern technology, ie the internet, to get students engaged in using and reading books. She is in the process of creating a web page for students to access. She was worried about how many students do not know how to utilise the information in books in their research process. The school has invested money into a journal data base that none of the students (or the staff) use. It is a great resources but no one is using it.

She is finding it hard to tell teacher about what her job description is and many teachers do not use her knowledge base of what books/resources are available in the library, limited as they are.

She was telling me about how little funding that she has and the funding that she has is going towards replacing old textbooks that students have not returned over the years and trying to update the fiction and non fiction sections of the library.

Many students on the campus have reading difficulties and she is appalled that she has to be buying books that are at a grade 5/6 level for year 8/9 to read. Along with this she is investing a lot of money into buying graphic novels so that students will utilise the library.

I have walked pass the library many times and i have seen that it is usually empty, no classes using books for research, no students reading at lunchtime. She is trying to increase reading rates in the school by using these measures and i hope that she is successful.

It looks like being a teacher librarian is going to an ongoing battle of working with technology, not making the research process redundant and battling with staff and students to utilise the library to its full potential and not just a place to hide when it is raining.

Something to consider.

Welcome all!!

Hi

Welcome to my blog.

Ill start with a little bit about myself.

I am 23 years old. I am in my second year of secondary teaching. I am originally from South Australia, but have move to Northern Queensland to work in a Catholic school, leaving my partner, family and friends in South Australia. I am teaching from Prep to Year 12, coving a range of subjects including dance/drama in primary years, SOSE and Modern History. I became interested in becoming a Teacher Librarian by taking my Prep class for library time each week. I am only doing one course at a time because of the work load needed to teach senior students but I am keen to study again and hopefully become a fully qualified teacher librarian.