Zipes

(Critics) are not recognising or do not want to recognise that the former traditional approaches to alphabetic literacy through reading print are not meeting the needs of young people who read texts much differently than the generations of teachers and educators who are teaching them.(p. 42)

Zipes, J. (2009). Misreading children and the fate of the book in Relentless progress the reconfiguration of children's literature, fairy tales, and storytelling. London: Routledge. (Chapter 2, p. 27-44)

I disagree with this comment from Zipes. Much of what has been commented on in the research on reading decline in this module, comments on the shift of reading for pleasure by the time students enter high school or college.

So it seems to be incongruous to say that traditional approaches to alphabetic literacy are not meeting the needs of young people.

In order for a person to choose to read for pleasure, they must possess the necessary skills for reading. A significant part of developing those skills is the variety of kills and instructions surrounding the ability to decode ie alphabetic literacy.

I would suggest that it is the skills that build upon decoding – critical literacy, inferential literacy are the ones that are often under taught in classrooms (particularly over the past decade where significant portions of the literacy curriculum has been devoted to the teaching of ‘text types’). If our curriculum does not encourage, nay demand of us to teach beyond the decoding stage, then we are not meeting the needs of young people.

In todays information age, where people are bombarded daily with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of information, it is imperative that we teach our students to be critically literate, to develop skills for interpreting what they read, justify their interpretations, make their own meaning of texts they read, compare themselves and their own experiences with what they read, to read broadly, to develop their own point of view, to respond to what they read

Then we will be teaching young people to be

• avid, self motivated, confident readers
• who feel strongly about what they choose to read
• who justify their reading choices
• who are engaged in the process of reading because they choose to be

Regardless of whether they read in print or digitally.

For the teacher librarian, this means a greater collaboration with classroom teachers to use literature across the curriculum that encourages and explicitly teaches these skills to our students.  

Is the Teacher Librarian an endangered species?

What a fabulous question - and one I would dearly love to pose to numerous principals, executive staff members and staff. In answering the question, one really needs to consider what they know of the role of the teacher librarian and what value they place upon that role.

The five guest speakers invited to answer that question at The American Association of School Librarians website:

Are School Librarians an Endangered Species provide interesting insight into this question.

All interviewees agreed - the Teacher Librarian is definitely not extinct and far from endangered. In today's rapidly changing educational landscape, the Teacher Librarian is a more relevant and important than ever.

Henry Jenkins points out that the role of Teacher Librarian needs to be redefined from that of curator of local collections to one where librarians are coaches who help young people navigate an evermore complex media and information landscape. He talks of librarians as online mentors in a digital landscape.

Doug Johnson discusses that the role of teacher librarian and their relevance in schools today is based on the core values or core beliefs that we as educators hold. If we believe in intellectual freedom, that all children should be good digital citizens, a commitment to teaching students to be critical users of information and ideas, that all students have the right to access a learning space where all of this is achievable, then there will continue to be teacher librarians and school libraries.

Michelle Luhtala gets right to the point. Schools that aim for instructional innovation and high standards for all learners and stand behind the goal of preparing students for 21st Century citizenship, understand that a well supported library program is integral towards meeting these goals. She discusses how rather than declining in relevance in schools, the need for Teacher Librarians is growing exponentially as the information age progresses. Luhtala also points out that educators who perceive the Teacher Librarian role as dealing primarily with print media show ignorance regarding the role of teacher librarian.

As we progress through this course, and towards achieving the qualifications for Teacher Librarianship,  forefront in our minds will be whether we will have to the opportunity to work with school executive who also share the understanding that Teacher Librarians are far from extinct and view us as critical members of the learning community.


What is your answer to this question?

How would your school executive and staff answer this question?

21st Century Literacies

At 18 months and 10 months old, these 'Digital Natives' (Prensky, 2001) already know how to navigate and interact with forms of 21st century literacies. They are surrounded by technologies that have become integral to our lives: computers, phones, tablets. They are growing up in a world where single function devices such as watches, have become overtaken by multimodal devices that provide a variety of information at the touch of the fingertips, in any location, at any time. 

The implications for classroom teachers, teacher librarians, schools and educational organisations in general, is vast and overwhelming. According to Prenksy's article 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants' (2001, pg 1) 'today's students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors.' Students today have greater, faster access to information, use networking and will often multi-task a range of digital technologies at once.  For over a decade, educators have been playing catch-up, struggling to integrate new technologies into old classroom practices. There has been a shift, acknowledging the need to adapt traditional teaching practices where the individual users accessed content, to a new paradigm where communities create and share ideas. (Pence 2007). In an increasingly changing educational landscape, what is the role of the Teacher Librarian?

The past decade has seen a shift in the role of the teacher librarian from the holder of a repository of information, to becoming 'an integral part of the learning and teaching community' (Herring pg 27). The teacher librarian role in today's education systems is a multifaceted one with a variety of possible roles. Herring, in his book 'Teacher Librarians and the School library', refers to the ASLA document 'Learning for the Future' (ASLA 2003) and the three main roles of the teacher librarian: curriculum leader, information specialist and information services manager (pg. 31).The need to shift the focus of the library from its traditional role, to one that embraces 21st century literacies is vital. It has become necessary for teacher librarians to work collaboratively using 'a site of participatory culture, conducive to helping students create personal learning networks and environments that allow them to cultivate resources for accessing, evaluating and sharing information locally and with the world at large.' (Hamilton 2011, pg. 35) 

The Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians (ALIA/ASLA) acknowledges the diverse skills and qualifications of teacher librarians - skilled educators who combine curriculum knowledge and pedagogy with information management knowledge  and skills. Excellent teacher librarians 'comprehensively understand the role of information and communication technologies in lifelong learning.' (Standard 1.1)

'With the Internet as the defining technology for literacy and learning in the 21st century' (Drew pg.322), Teacher librarians are uniquely placed within the school environment to provide opportunities for students to develop the skills and strategies necessary to succeed in a 'globally networked, multimodal, digital age of information and communication'. (Drew pg. 321).  

The Australian Curriculum Framework does not provide specific Information and Communication Technology (ICT) content descriptors and elaborations. Rather, it has put the ICT as a general capability across the curriculum. Classroom teachers benefit then, from the collaboration with Teacher Librarians to ensure development of ICT skills across different curriculum areas, where ICT skills become embedded in classroom programs, designed around collaborative projects and jointly planned and taught by teacher librarians. Where classroom teachers are required in the Australian Curriculum to develop literacy proficiency across Language, Literature and Literacy, Teacher Librarians can focus more specifically on the skills and strategies for locating, evaluating, synthesising and communicating information, using 21st Century literacies and technologies. Through the use of online literacies such a search engines, databases, wikis, blogs, forums, social networking, smart devices, Teacher Librarians can provide learning opportunities that encourage students to become critically literate members of the global digital community. 

In an education environment, where 'future literacy demands will encompass technologies yet to be invented', the role of the Teacher Librarian has never been so important and pivotal to the teaching and learning experiences within the school environment. It is necessary that Teacher Librarians embrace the use of 21st Century literacies and how they can use them to enrich the learning experiences of the 'digital natives', equipping them with the necessary skills for interacting critically, intelligently and ethically as information literate members of a digital society in the future. 

References

ALIA/ASLA (2004) Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians Australian School Library Association retrieved from http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.aspx

Drew, S.L. (Dec 2012/ Jan 2013) Open Up the Ceiling on the Common Core State Standards: Preparing Students for 21st Century Literacy - Now.  Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 56 (4), 321-330. doi: 10.1002/ JAAL. 00145

Hamilton, B.J. (2011) The School Librarian as Teacher: What Kind of Teacher are You? 

Herring, J. (2007). Teacher librarians and the school library. In S.Ferguson (Ed.), Libraries in the twenty-first century: charting new directions in information (pp. 27-42). Wagga Wagga, NSW : Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University. 

Pence, H.E. (2007) Preparing for the real web generation. Journal of Educational  Technology Systems. 35(3), 347-356

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon (MCB University Press) 9 (5)