Exploring Professional Development Opportunities for Teacher-Librarians
I have never been a librarian. Not even for one day! My plan/goal (dream!) is to be the full-time librarian at our school next year. Our school is transitioning towards being a single-track French Immersion school and our current librarian does not speak French. I am hoping that this could be my opportunity!
That being said, if my plan/goal (dream!) becomes a reality, developing my pedagogy and professional development will be a must. As I have never been a teacher librarian (TL), I think that the first step will be to create a vision for the library.
This video is from the Learning Commons at Elizabeth Rummel school in Canmore, Alberta. At my school, my students visit the library for 15 minutes per week. They go to the library for a book exchange. There is no story, no inquiry, no technology and no noise... It is a space that I would love to have the opportunity to TRANSFORM! I loved this video as it sounds like this school went through a similar transformation.
- What is the purpose of the library?
- What is my role as a teacher in this space?
- How can I ensure that students are learning when they come to the library?
- How can I create a safe space for all of the students in the school?
- How can I support teachers with project based learning?
- How can I help teachers find resources and books for their classrooms?
- How can I create a culture of reading in our school?
- Where can I go to learn about new books?
- What is the best way to organize a library?
- Where do I find resources for French Immersion students?
- How do I motivate students to want to read in French?
In order to have clarity around my vision and in order to build confidence as I embark on this new career, it will be important for me to 1) seek opportunities for professional development, 2) find resources other than taking university courses and 3) join network of teacher-librarians. Luckily, there are incredible opportunities to learn online and several teacher-librarians sharing their learning in so many different ways!
BC Teacher-Librarians Association
- Diversity Resources for French Immersion (with Leisbet Beaudry)
- Exploring First Peoples Knowledge and Perspectives with Classroom Teachers (with Linda Mei)
- Library Hacks for New TL's (with Rhea Woolgar and Emily Huang)
- Introduction to Scratch (with Cameron Beck)
Learning by Listening: Podcasts
Podcasts are not a place that I would naturally gravitate towards for professional development but it turns out that there are several podcasts for teacher-librarians! The School Librarians United podcast is the only podcast I could find dedicated solely to the library world. Topics covered include: "Motivating Readers", "Navigating a New Library", "Anime Club" and "Neurodiversity in our Libraries".
The Cult of Pedagogy podcast is designed for all teachers. There is a focus on new teaching trends and applying them in a practical, realistic and meaningful way. There are also many learning opportunities in technology in the podcast and in the blog.
Here are three of the podcast topics:
Social Media: Instagram
I try to limit my time on Instagram as it can be an incredible time-waster but this social media platform is now being used by thousands of teachers to share teaching strategies, ideas and resources. Instagram is also the place where I find most of my book recommendations! Here are few teachers and teacher-librarians that I follow:
@fifthinthemiddle
Blogs and Websites
The Mischievous Librarian
http://www.mischievouslibrarian.com/
Emily Huang is a teacher-librarian in Surrey, BC. She shares lesson ideas and book recommendations on her blog. She also has a section of her website dedicated to her Learning Commons. Huang shares information about library organization, flexible learning spaces and library pets!
The Trapped Librarian
The Trapped Librarian is a blog/website written by Laura Trapp, a teacher-librarian in Montana. She has a has a variety of resources available for teacher-librarians such as social-emotional learning activities and research skills for primary students. Her website is colourful, engaging and very well organized.
Teacher-Librarian Networks
Although I am nervous about the possibility of starting a new career, I am reassured by the amount of resources that are available. I think that it will be important to not get overwhelmed by the amount of information available!
I love the idea of a teacher librarian podcast. I will have to check this out, perhaps while shelving! I am starting my first job as a teacher librarian in September. I have saved all the websites you have linked. I really like the websites which provide activities to do with kid, I don't just want to read a story and do book exchange so it will be a great way to come up with ideas to engage students in school wide reading and learning opportunities.
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI feel like we are on very similar paths. I really connected with your statement "my students visit the library for 15 minutes per week. They go to the library for a book exchange. There is no story, no inquiry, no technology and no noise... It is a space that I would love to have the opportunity to TRANSFORM!" Currently our library (I would not call it an LLC) is run very much the same. One of my big goals is to provide a storytime for our primary classes. We are a large school, and I'm sure time constraints were the reason storytime stopped in the first place, but I am really committed to having it back on the schedule. Thank you for highlighting the workshops for this October's BCTLA conference. I am going to register for the Diversity Resources for French Immersion (we are a dual track school) as well as Library Hacks for new TLs! Thanks for pointing them out.
Sorry- the above was posted by Natalie Clark (it showed my name initially, then disappeared after I hit publish!)
DeleteHi, Natalie. It did this to me, too, initially. It stopped after I created a Blogspot account. Good luck!
DeleteHi, Michelle.
ReplyDeleteOne of your questions -- where can I go to learn about new books? -- was one of mine last year too. So I thought I'd share: the two sources (aside from fellow TLs) that I found most helpful were:
1. School Library Journal (https://www.slj.com/). They are American so they don't have CanCon, but I love their reviews and articles. I got the digital-only subscription which is much cheaper and gives you full access to years of archived issues.
2. Strong Nations (https://www.strongnations.com/) which is a publishing and book distribution business, owned by the Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre. They very clearly tell you if a book focuses on a particular Indigenous culture, if it's Canadian, and the Indigenous heritage of the author. I check with them before buying anything to get a better sense of whether the story is from an authentic point of view, and if the author had permission to tell a traditional story.
Thank you for all the resource links! I will definitely check them out.
Andrea
Thank you for the resources! I will check them out!
DeleteWow, you're going to be so ready for that library position when it comes along! It breaks my heart to hear about your library being used only for book exchange. It's a place of so many possibilities! I felt overwhelmed by the possibilities in my first year in the library and tried to do everything! Some things worked and some didn't, but in hindsight, I wish I had narrowed my focus a bit more. If you had to narrow your focus to one thing you would change, what would it be?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the feedback! If I were to change one thing, I think I would start with opening up the library in the mornings, at lunch and after school. I want to be able to offer a safe space to all students and I also want the library to be a place where parents can feel welcome as well. I would also love to have various school-wide incentives to promote a love of reading. I do not know a whole lot about technology (yet) but I am keen to learn and to share new technologies with our school.
DeleteYou are asking excellent questions here. These will help you focus your learning as you take on this new challenge. You have curated some strong resources to support your learning and are on the path to reimagining the space and unlocking the potential. If you haven’t read it yet you may want to spend some time exploring Leading Learning - https://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/
ReplyDeleteThank you for the resource and the feedback. I will be sure to take a look!
DeleteHi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to curate these resources and share podcasts.
If you want students to come to the library, talk to teachers and offer to teach lessons to their classes, in the library. I guarantee you that most teachers will accept and be happy you offered. Make sure to be flexible and have a google calendar where your schedule is clear and explained (written and easy to find instructions are a must because people forget what you said): an issue I noticed in my school is that the school library calendar is very confusing and was made by the TL and for our TL only so I was not sure when the library would welcome a group or an entire class to read and/or borrow books (another idea is that you may want to specify what guests can and cannot do in which blocks).
Alex D.
Great ideas!
Delete