Here is the reality of teaching

Terrific article in today's Sydney Morning Herald, from Leon Wright who teaches in western Sydney.  My favourite paragraph from "Waves of guff wash over the modern teacher" is this one:

Here is the reality. This morning, tens of thousands of teachers will go to work. They each have their strengths and weaknesses. There are motherly types, coaches, IT experts, role models, adventurers, martinets, inspirers, storytellers, social workers, academics, craftsmen, performers and, of course, a few time servers, incompetents and babes in the woods. Only the gullible and ambitious among them will uncritically embrace the passing fads. The rest will just get on with it.

But it's all worth reading.  Smart observation, this:

Once you have begun teaching, there is no let-up. At staff development days, we watch highly paid experts give presentations on how the judicious use of painted egg cartons and paper clips has transformed education in Barbados. We invariably apply one jaundiced criterion to evaluate this stuff: would it work with my year 9 class on a Friday afternoon?


Read it all:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/waves-of-guff-wash-over-the-weary-teacher-20110619-1g9yu.html
 
Cheers
 
Ruth
 
to whom some, but not all, of the above descriptions apply.
 
Found via the paper paper: the SMH as broadsheet, while I scarfed down a quick sandwich before a lesson with Year 7.  Seize the day (and the lunch!)
 

Auslan Signbank (is this a perfect use of the internet, or what?)

Many moons ago, I learned some Auslan - Australian Sign Language, as used by the deaf community.  As you may know, this is not the same as the sign language used in the UK or the US, even though our countries all share English.  As it happens I haven't used it much, or (to be honest) retained a lot of what I learned twenty years ago, but some has stuck, and come in handy from time to time.  (And one of my best true funny stories is about an unexpectedly handy application of Auslan...!)

 

Working with a slightly tricky kid the other day, where something lateral and quirky was more likely to catch his attention than plain vanilla, I used some fingerspelling.  It did catch his attention when I repeated a word in this unexpected way).  But his attention drifted when I had to attend to other students, and when I had time to get back to him, he was definitely grumpy again.  Hmmm, I thought, I wonder if...?  Less than a minute of googling and I'd found the Auslan signbank online.

 

How to sign 'grumpy'?
http://www.auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/grumpy-1.html

 

 

 

This is an utterly brilliant use of the internet.  Many moons ago, I had a couple of books (the more comprehensive one hugely bulky) that contained signs.  Trapped in drawn diagrams, because that is what print books can do.  But on this page, the little video shows you the word/idea being signed.  You can replay it as often as you like.  You can search for any of the other over 4000 signs listed via the alphabetical list or just the word you want.  You can search on medical terms only.  You can see in which parts of Australia a particular sign is used.

Here's what the site includes:

• a dictionary
• a special medical and health dictionary
• grammar examples on video
• videos of deaf people using Auslan naturally
• information on the deaf community in Australia
• links to Auslan classes

To my knowledge, there aren't students using sign at my school (ie. I don't know if we have any who use it at home, but it's not used at school) - my use of it is as an attention-getter, something different, a way to cut through and get a kid's attention (which I can then deploy in the direction I'd like it to go...); and as a window on another way of looking at the world.  The grumpy sign certainly illustrates the frustration/crankiness/grumpiness of the student who prompted this search.(He'll be back and I'll be ready!).  Maybe I'll get to use this sign instead.

 

One to share with other teachers - English/drama, for example.

 

Cheers

 

Ruth

The happy life of teacher librarians: should you argue with me?

Used under a Creative Commons license. 

I was having a discussion with an argumentative Year 7 boy this afternoon about some work he needed to do. Maintaining my cool and staying amused. He didn't want to work, and kept arguing.   The word "No" was implicit in what he was saying.

I stopped a couple of seniors walking past from the senior study in the library. "Will he win if he keeps arguing with me?" I enquired cheerfully.

They turned to the boy and instantly said, "NO! You won't!".

And we all laughed, and they went on their way, and the discussion with the boy was able to become a conversation, and some progress with his work was possible.

Teaching is made up of so many small, momentary transactions, and human moments, and funny moments every day.

The happy life of teacher librarians: discussions are fine, but think carefully before you argue with me!

Cheers

Ruth

I don't own this Tshirt, but maybe it could be rather fun (until I got caught out at something I really don't know!!)

It's from this shop on Cafe Press:
http://www.cafepress.com.au/+i_am_a_librarian_womens_dark_tshirt,339317322
And there are lots more librarian T shirts you might like offered by a multitude of folks with Cafe Press shops.  Try searching on 'librarian'. 

One of the English teachers pointed me in the direction of this - said it reminded her of me.  Very kind!

More on the interrogation of teacher librarians in LA

In case you missed it, please check out the link in this tweet.

ruth_skerricks Ruth Buchanan

A TL's spirit broken by prosecution from LAUSD & lawyers: http://t.co/YcfgtMp #savethelibrarians via @_capedcrusader #yam #austl #APPALLING

It's the same mizzmurphy blog I cited as giving a TL's view of the interrogations: Are teacher librarians teachers?  The same teacher librarian whose phrase, "the nuanced beauty of pedagogy" I admired, and shared this week with one of our seniors who is planning to be a high school history teacher.  What happened next?  Read and find out.

I don't think I can blithely type, Cheers

Ruth

Final Report: School Libraries and Teacher Librarians in 21st Century Australia

The final report has been released today.

The full report pdf is here:
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ee/schoollibraries/report/fullreport.pdf

Here are its recommendations:
List of recommendations



2 Impact of recent Commonwealth Government policies and investments on school libraries


Recommendation 1


The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government partner with all education authorities to fund the provision of a core set of online database resources, which are made available to all Australian schools.


Recommendation 2


The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government work with the states and territories to develop a discrete national policy statement that defines the importance of digital and information literacy
for learning in the 21st century, which can be used as a guide by teachers and principals.


3 Potential of school libraries and librarians to contribute to improved educational and community outcomes


Recommendation 3


The Committee recommends that the Australian Curriculum, Assessment  and Reporting Authority include statistical information about the breakdown of all specialist teachers, including teacher librarians, on the My School website.

Recommendation 4


The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government support additional initiatives to promote reading, such as a National Year of Reading. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace
Relations should collaborate with the Australian School Library Association, Australian Libraries and Information Association and other education stakeholders in developing these initiatives.


Recommendation 5


The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government initiate an Australian-based longitudinal study into the links between library programs, literacy (including digital literacy) and student achievement, including their impact on improving outcomes for socioeconomically disadvantaged students.


Recommendation 6


The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government support promotional activities undertaken by ASLA and ALIA that demonstrate to the school community the valuable work that teacher librarians are doing in respect of e-learning in their schools, including those that highlight their leadership capacity.


4 Recruitment and development of teacher librarians


Recommendation 7


The Committee recommends that the rollout of the new national curriculum, which is to be made available online, include a component of training for teacher librarians.


Recommendation 8


The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government commission a thorough workforce gap analysis of teacher librarians across Australian schools.


Recommendation 9


The Committee recommends that the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, through the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs, establish a national dialogue, including with tertiary providers, on the role of teacher librarians today in schools and into the future. The dialogue should include an examination of the adequacy of the pathways into the profession and ongoing training requirements.


xx


5 Partnering and supporting school libraries and teacher librarians


Recommendation 10


The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government, through the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood and Youth Affairs, discuss ways to enhance partnerships with state and territory and local levels of government to support school libraries and teacher librarians.


Recommendation 11


The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government partner with ASLA and ALIA to produce a document that showcases some of the successful partnerships and programs between school
libraries and other libraries, and joint-use libraries. The document should be made available to government and non-government education authorities and school principals.

The whole report is 180 pages plus.  Haven't yet had time today to read/digest, but certainly will.

Cheers

Ruth

Are teacher librarians teachers?

Just retweeted this.

RT@walkyouhome: The disgraceful interrogation of L.A. school librarians latimes.com/news/local/la-… #savelibraries #austl #tlchat #APPALLING #yam
Twitter for iPhone • 15/05/11 6:31 PM

Go read that article, dear teacher librarian colleagues, and ponder having to be in their shoes.

Alternate link to same article:
http://t.co/S73bqhq

Here's an extract from it:
A court reporter takes down testimony. A judge grants or denies objections from attorneys. Armed police officers hover nearby. On the witness stand, one librarian at a time is summoned to explain why she — the vast majority are women — should be allowed to keep her job.


The librarians are guilty of nothing except earning salaries the district feels the need to cut. But as they're cross-examined by determined LAUSD attorneys, they're continually put on the defensive.

"When was the last time you taught a course for which your librarian credential was not required?" an LAUSD attorney asked Laura Graff, the librarian at Sun Valley High School, at a court session on Monday.

"I'm not sure what you're asking," Graff said. "I teach all subjects, all day. In the library."

"Do you take attendance?" the attorney insisted. "Do you issue grades?"

I've seen a lot of strange things in two decades as a reporter, but nothing quite as disgraceful and weird as this inquisition the LAUSD is inflicting upon more than 80 school librarians.


And here's a teacher librarian's account of those proceedings:
http://mizzmurphy.blogspot.com/2011/05/settle-in-its-long-one.html

Cheers (for those brave souls).  I'm appalled for what this may mean for the kids in that education system.

Ruth

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Holidays.... and learners inheriting the earth

Well, you can tell the last week of term went by in a gallop!  Not a peep from this direction - too busy with everything else!

Also, I do love the tentacle in the last blog entry.  So very much.

A bonbon to leave with you to tide you over till the holidays end.




Will Richardson at TEDxNY in March 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni75vIE4vdk

A screenshot of my favourite slide from his presentation: a quote I was using years ago, and which still (despite all that has changed) applies.

If you're on holidays too, enjoy.  If not, we will for you.  Ain't that kind?!

Cheers

Ruth

NSW public schools resume on the Wednesday after Easter for teachers, and the Thursday for students.

GIFSL* 58: Enchantment and your school library

@brainpicker on Twitter, and the associated blog Brain Pickings, provide a constant supply of inspiration and ideas on a huge range of topics.  Not narrowcast "teacher librarian-focused stuff", but all sorts of things from left field and out there and what about?, and hey, here's something to think about.  I love foraging among the wider world to bring back good things to inform my teaching (eg. this blog! - see the intro reference to a flypaper mind).

Take this infographic from a recently published business book, Enchantment: the art of changing hearts, minds and actions, by Guy Kawasaki.  Not something I've tripped over in education circles, but a great lens to use in thinking about our business as teacher librarians, promoting our libraries and their services.

Read the whole blog entry on Brain Pickings here, including links to an enchantment aptitude test, an interview with the author, and more. 

As school library staffing is being challenged, our work as teacher librarians evaluated, the ill-informed happy to spout that 'it's all on the internet now' and so forth, this infographic is, to me, valuable professional reflection for considering what I do and why and how, and how I can do it better.

Cheers

Ruth

*GIFSL: good ideas for school libraries

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Find the original here.  I discovered it via Twitter.  Another image to share with my senior students when discussing study skills.  Maybe a task that gets them to work out the hierarchy?......  And of course one to share with my teaching colleagues.

Cheers

Ruth

21st Century Learners

and this

are both by Peter H. Reynolds and can be found at Thinkfinity.org here.

Wonder what the kids would say about themselves?   Hmmm, that could be an interesting task for the Year 11 study skills program...

Cheers

Ruth

So what are they doing better in Finland (in education)?

Teaching less and learning more.  Read an excellent overview with handy graphs and a video in Less is More. Teach Less, Learn More by David Truss on Connected Principals.

“This creativity aspect is very important because in Finland we believe that risk-taking, creativity and innovation are very, very important for a society like ours. And particularly working in this global and globalized world it is more important than what you actually know and remember, it is more what you are and what you are capable of doing.” ~ Pasi Sahlberg


Worth reading the whole piece - click on over.  We seem, here, to be using the UK and US as our educational models, far more than places like Finland, even though the Finnish approach is more successful.
 
Cheers
 
Ruth

Measuring your use of time

Toddling about the internet, collecting resources and ideas for the senior study skills program, I came across this article: "I shipped in 2010 - you can too" by Doug Johnson on his Blue Skunk blog.  While his main focus is on the extras he did related to his work, such as conference presentations, papers and articles, one sentence jumped out at me for its use with students.

I personally measure my days not whether they were happy or unhappy, but whether they were productive or unproductive.

One aspect of my work as a teacher is talking with students about their work.  They sit in my office and tell me their successes, failures, concerns.  Sometimes, tissues are involved. It's always been part of my work, not only through mentoring programs etc but also just because I'm findable, there, a listening ear. Thinking over what they say, often enough it is about happiness - "I feel terrible" "Nothing is working" etc - stuff related to feelings/emotions.

The rest of the paragraph reads like this:

Did I have a fruitful conversation or meeting? Did I get something finished? Did I write something worth sharing? Did I read something challenging? Did I do an hour's worth of physical activity? Did I clean up a mess, revise an article, or organize something for the future? Did I do something that made my own life or someone else's just a tad better?


Looking at this idea, it's one I plan to try with students, and see how it can be worked into the study skills program, too.  Refocusing from emotions (so much trickier to wrangle) to more measurable activities/achievements that can be done/replicated and from which positive feelings can flow seems like a useful idea to play with.  I'm not saying that feelings aren't important, but rather that this is a way to get from the tissues/tears/frustrations/sense of impotence/being stuck that some of those students have when they plonk themselves in a chair in my office, and help them onwards.  From a study skills program perspective, it also points a way from the emotional to the measurable, helping students to progress.

Cheers

Ruth

A dozen ways to teach ethical and safe technology use

Read this excellent blog post from Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk blog.

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2010/12/26/a-dozen-ways-to-teach-ethical-and-safe-technology-use.html

Cheers

Ruth

How to learn? from mistakes (Diana Laufenberg)

To start the new school year*, an inspirational TED talk about teaching



Her three key points (and please do watch the video, don't just clock these and click on in your travels - it's a great ten minutes) are:

• experiental learning
• student voice
• embracing failure

Page URL if the video doesn't work for you:
http://www.ted.com/talks/diana_laufenberg_3_ways_to_teach.html

Cheers

Ruth

*Yes, the Australian school year follows the calendar - we've just finished our summer holidays and are back for a new school year.

Historical Facebook: and more links that you thought possible.

The wonderful SLAV blog, Bright Ideas, has a brilliant entry today about how to use the format of Facebook (not the site itself) for a biography task; and links to a freely-available template.

Find it here.

Another blog that is a constant cornucopia of wonderful links is Anne Weaver's Reading Power.  Just toddle over there regularly and you'll find roundup after roundup of links, ideas, inspiration.  She's the blog I've featured on our school's (internal) staff blog this week.

Find Reading Power here.

Will Richardson (Weblogg-ed) offers in his most recent blog entry some thought-provoking and challenging ideas about Unlearning Teaching.  Worth reading and thinking about, and talking about with colleagues.

These blogs are in my blogroll (over in the right hand column).  Don't forget to check this regularly, as it shows the most recent entry for each blog - always something good to be found there.

Tagxedo (tag clouds With Style) was one of the Web 2.0 tools I mentioned at the WeSSSTA conference presentation I gave last night.  I've been amused to see the Sydney Morning Herald use Tagxedo to create graphics related to the election - eg. the party leaders' launch speeches.

Cheers

Ruth

Parent-Teacher Night: reflections, and 10 questions for your child's teacher

We've just had a parent-teacher night here.  I make a point of attending, as a member of the teaching staff.  I may not, in advance, have many (or any) appointments with parents - kids tend to make them with their class teachers.  But I'm not lonely.  A number of parents stop by to say hello - I was year adviser to one of their older children, or am mentor to one of their senior students now, so I hear how the older ones are going, talk about the ones still at school.  Some I'm able to help find other staff members (the kids may know what each of their teachers looks like, but parents need the name tags on the tables). 

And my colleagues see me there, part of the teaching staff, spending my afternoon and evening at school the same as they are.  Good library PR.  A couple of them refer parents to me, or include me in a discussion.  The principal knows I choose to attend; a couple of times he's brought parents to meet me who may have asked about or been appreciative of the library.  As I said, good library PR.  I also have home-made muffins and make a cuppa for the teachers in the faculty to which I belong - they're deep in interview after interview, and I can escape for a few minutes to make a cuppa and bring it to them at their desks.

I've had some teacher librarian colleagues rubbish the idea of attending parent-teacher night, for various reasons.  Me, I know it's my time, I know I probably don't HAVE to be there, but I choose to be there and am happy to demonstrate my professional commitment.  I've had a couple of colleagues ask, bewildered, why are you here?  But they know I am, and will be.  It's my choice, as a teacher.

Years ago I got one of the best bits of advice about parent-teacher night from an English teacher (who I now can recognise was one of my most important mentors in teaching): the parents want to hear something positive about their kids - whoever their kid may be.  It works for me.  It doesn't mean you can't get down to brass tacks when there are problems that need addressing, but it's a useful mindset for a productive, appreciated discussion.

Darcy Moore's excellent blog has a brilliant entry on ten questions he wishes parents would ask him:

How would your child’s teachers fare if asked these questions:


1. What is your educational philosophy?

2. How are you assisting our child to become a self-directed learner?

3. What professional reading are you undertaking at the moment?

4. What are you reading for fun?


5. How do you use technology as a tool to leverage learning in the classroom?

6. What online resources have you created for your class?

7. How do you assist students to learn about digital citizenship?

8. What professional networks and associations are you involved with regularly?


9. What observations can you offer about our child’s happiness at school?

10. What reflections can you make about our child’s growth as a learner and citizen this year?

Useful for one's own reflection/professional development.  Do read the full blog entry and comments (it's a blog worth following, as are his Tweets).
 
Cheers
 
Ruth

Oustanding teachers fight for recognition

From Megan Johnston in this week's Education section of the Sydney Morning Herald, an article about outstanding teachers and the impact of school leadership.  It begins:

Pause a moment to ponder your school years. Most of us would remember fondly at least one teacher for their enthusiasm, spirited classes and willingness to push students to achieve their best. At some stage, however, many people have also encountered the opposite: a mediocre teacher who struggled with students and delivered dreary lessons.


Teachers at either end of the spectrum are now recognised as potentially the biggest influence on a student's academic achievement. Research has widely shown the effect is greater than the type of school or even who heads it.

But what separates top teachers from their lacklustre counterparts is not exactly clear. Creative nous, intelligence and resources obviously play some role, but the most dynamic schools are more than the sum of their teachers.

And, as many educators, parents and researchers will attest, the quality of a school is often determined by the people who lead it.


"You can have good teaching without having a good school but you can't have a good school without good leadership," says Professor Stephen Dinham, the research director of teaching, learning and leadership at the Australian Council for Educational Research.

"Leadership is an enabler, bringing the school together and driving it forward," he says.

But effective leadership is no simple matter. Many experts, Dinham included, believe it comes in many forms and is not restricted to the formal role of principal.

A senior education lecturer at Charles Sturt University, Dr Jane Wilkinson, refers to "lighthouse teachers" as those who guide their peers. "The ones with credibility, the ones others look to - we're talking about very influential teachers," she says. ''They … are recognised as leaders because of their credibility in the classroom."

Read the rest of the article here and consider the lighthouse/leadership role possibilities of teacher librarianship...

Cheers

Ruth

In praise of teachers...

Feeling like it's hump day, Wednesday, a bit teacher-weary?

Read this entry on the Alien Onion blog.  It's fabulous.

If I was making my own list:

Mrs B, who let the school choir sing the latest cool music, like Fernando by Abba.  Even if it was transposed up so we had to screech in some sections.  And who taught me the soprano descant for Silent Night.  I can still sing it.

Mr B, who loved putting on school musicals, so we got to be a part of that wonderful experience - yay for Oklahoma!

Mrs A, the fiercest, most uncompromising PE teacher ever - and the one we most wanted to have

Mrs B, (a different one) who showed me a little of the beauty of mathematical equations.  I bought a calculator after my HSC and have never looked back, but still remember that aha! moment.

Ms B (a third one!), who made 3 unit English a joy - Romeo and Juliet, Ted Hughes - still some of the best literature study I've experienced

Mrs ?? whose name eludes me, but whose weekly coloured chalk illustrations from children's books made her term as primary teacher librarian when I was in grade 5 utterly memorable

Mrs E, who taught Ancient History with style, verve, and many handwritten purple fordigraph sheets: I've never forgotten that Alcibiades won the trifecta.  Or that scent of metho from freshly-produced fordigraph sheets...

At tertiary level:

WC: best English literature tutor ever.

MH, who inspired me to be a teacher librarian.  Thank you.

Who would be on your list?

Cheers

Ruth

who once had one of my Year 12 students say how much she remembered my salad sandwiches.  Right.  You never know the impact you're going to have...!!

A vision of 21st century teachers

YouTube URL for this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4g5M06YyVw

One for staff meetings/professional development?

Found via Lowden Clear blog.

Cheers

Ruth

Designed for Learning: school libraries

As you may know, I've been doing some presenting at conferences and staff development days on "Re-imagining your school library".  (Will be at MANTLE in May).

This 27 minute video (can't embed it, so click here to watch it) is from CILIP in the UK, and is all about the design and functions of 21st century libraries - showing spaces and possibilities, how students and library users find these, what they want, how library staff and teachers find these, what they want.... full of ideas, and SO positive about the IMPORTANCE of school libraries now and into the future as learning spaces.

Watch it.  Definitely.

I'm going to have to watch it more than once, to unpack the ideas and think about how to use them.

Cheers

Ruth

Found via Twitter @sandynay