A.++PROFESSIONAL+LEARNING+PLAN


 * __PROFESSIONAL LEARNING PLAN (Part 1) __**

Over the past 3 months I have learned a considerable amount about the role and expectations of the teacher librarian. Not only do I now know that it is a role which is highly complex, but is also one which carries high expectations. I have been fortunate to have been in contact with many different school librarians in my teaching career and have always thought that they have done a fantastic job. I now know that a few of them would certainly not reach the standards outlined by ASLA, while others are doing an exemplary job with the resources they have. To truly fulfil those standards, a teacher librarian has to be nothing short of being a super human, and I know that when I finally do take on the role, I will most certainly do my best to uphold the standards expected.

During my 20 hours in the library at Site 1, I have been guided most professionally by the teacher librarian and the librarian aide in many different areas. Some of the activities I have taken part in are selecting teacher's resources and checking them against what is already available, accessioning books, following up on challenged materials and creating a resource display aimed at the middle and senior primary children. Other activities included working with a number of year levels in reading to the class. guided reading, literature circles and learning centres. I can see now why the teacher librarian has the best job in the school - that of being able to be involved in a wide variety of activities with a range of age groups.

I have a lot more to learn, especially in the more intricate running of the library, such as the utilization of the borrowing system. I was unable to do much about learning about the functions and workings of the system as it is new and the librarian is still trying to get her head around its workings before she will be able to show me how it all works. I think the administration section of running the library is an area that I feel that I still need to learn a lot about.

I am looking forward to my continued work in a few more sites to gain a broader knowledge of the running of a school library and the role of the teacher librarian.


 * __PROFESSIONAL LEARNING PLAN (Part 2) __**

The remaining 40 hours of Situated Professional Practice was spent across 2 different schools in Queensland, 25 hours (1.5hours per week over two terms) in a Catholic Primary School in the northern district of the Brisbane Catholic Archdioces and 15 hours (3 hours per day over 5 days) in a Queensland Education Primary school in Central Queensland. The great contrast between the two schools was quite obvious, given that both were small, with one consisting of 260 pupils, while the other, 56 pupils.

The tasks and activities I engaged in were varied, helping with group reading, co-operative reading, assisting with research skills, as well as tasks such as shelving, weeding, cataloging, and covering books. The experience of working with these TLs was enjoyable and most worthwhile. I gained a great deal of insight into the basic workings of the resource centre/library at each of these sites. I am concerned, however at the increasing number of expectations which are heaped onto the TLs. While they are expected to be fully au fait with ICLTs, I feel that the load is almost unbearable at Site 1 in particular. I say this because they are a heavily resourced school when it comes to ICLT, but with that resourcing, there needs to be a full time person dealing with the issues which come with having computers or iPads in all the classrooms. The TL alone cannot be expected to deal with those issues and be an effective TL at the same time. I know that if that was the place that I would be lucky enough to secure a TL position, I would most definitely demand a full time person for those reasons. I have only included documents from Site 1 as neither Site 2 nor 3 could provide me with any of those documents. They both said that they still needed to get around to creating those documents. With this type of approach you leave yourself open to all sorts of problems. The smooth running of the library, from my own experience is only done with good, clear processes in place. It is definitely not a place which can be run haphazardly.