Excerpt from Capping Paper Part 3

THE ESSENTIAL TEACHER-LIBRARIAN:

CLARIFYING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF TEACHER-LIBRARIANS TO THE

DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS IN 21^ST CENTURY LEARNERS

The following is the final excerpt from my final capping paper for my MEd at the University of Alberta Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning Program. This excerpt consists of a list of implications of my literature review on our specific situation in Manitoba. 

This excerpt will appear in the Fall issue of the MSLA Journal.

Implications of the Literature Review

Implications for Teacher-Librarian Scholarship in Manitoba

When collecting literature for the literature review I found:

• There were few scholarly articles on teacher-librarianship or the impacts of teacher-librarians in schools written by Manitoba authors or about Manitoba situations.

Implication:

• Teacher-librarians in Manitoba would benefit from Manitoba based scholarly study on the impacts of teacher-librarians in schools.

Implications for Curriculum Development in Manitoba

The literature review revealed:

• Information literacy in the 21^st century is a fusion of literacies that encompass all other literacies.
• Technology skill doesn’t necessarily translate into being information literate and many 21^st century learners need explicit instruction in information literacy.
• Essential 21^st century skills can be placed in categories that closely mirror the multiple literacies identified as being a part of information literacy in the 21^st century.
• Inquiry based learning is an excellent way to teach information literacy.
• Teacher-librarians in the 21^st century are qualified teachers with additional training and classroom experience many of whom have expertise with inquiry-based learning and teaching information literacy to 21^st century learners.

Implications:

• Teachers and students would benefit from a revision the Literacy with ICT Continuum (MECY, 2006b) to specifically and explicitly identify information literacy outcomes and the role of the teacher-librarian. 
• Teachers and students would benefit from the creation of a foundation document for information literacy that provides suggestions for infusion, instruction and assessment of information literacy through inquiry.
• Teachers and students would benefit from suggestions for collaboration between teacher-librarians and teachers on inquiry and information literacy instruction in future curriculum development. 
• Manitoba Education and Literacy would benefit from the expertise of qualified teacher-librarians when revising or creating any new curriculum documents in Manitoba.

·         All stakeholders would benefit from the creation of a position at Manitoba Education and Literacy that specifically relates to information literacy and 21^st century literacies with a qualified teacher-librarian in the role.

·         All stakeholders would benefit from linking the Literacy with ICT Continuum (MECY, 2006b) to the role of teacher-librarian.

Implications for Teacher-Education Programs in Manitoba

The literature review noted:   

• Net Geners are currently between the ages of 11 and 31 indicating that many current teachers and new graduates from Education faculties in Manitoba are 21^st century learners. 
• Although Net Geners seem technologically savvy, they may not possess information literacy skills.
• Inquiry based learning is as an excellent way to teach information literacy skills to 21^st century learners.

Implications:

• Teacher candidates would benefit from the inclusion of an information literacy course in their program of studies.
• Teacher candidates would benefit from the inclusion of an inquiry-based learning course in their program of studies.
• Teacher candidates would benefit from learning how to work with a teacher-librarian on a collaboratively planned and taught inquiry-based learning experience. 

Implications for Manitoba School Divisions

The literature review indicated:

·         In many cases qualified teacher-librarians demonstrate expertise in areas such as instructional leadership, knowledge of inquiry-based learning and information literacy and providing professional development to teachers. 

Implications:

·         All stakeholders would benefit from having a qualified teacher-librarian in every school. 

·         All stakeholders would benefit from having a qualified teacher-librarian at the divisional level to address the information literacy needs of the school division as a whole.

Implications for Teacher-Librarians in Manitoba

The literature review established:

·         Teacher-librarians are qualified teachers with previous successful classroom experience

·         Teacher-librarians need additional qualifications to be effective in their job.

·         Qualified teacher-librarians are often instructional leaders who model best practices. 

·         Qualified teacher-librarians are often professional leaders who provide professional development opportunities for school staff.

Implications:

·         Teacher-librarians would benefit from developing a personal professional development plan that allows them to gain expertise with inquiry-based learning, information literacy skills in the 21^st century, and the needs of 21^st century learners. 

·         Teacher-librarians would benefit from staying abreast of current literature. See Appendix F: Selected Professional Resources for Teacher-Librarians.

·         Teacher-librarians who may not already have a certificate, diploma or Master’s degree in teacher-librarianship would benefit from seeking out higher learning opportunities related to their teacher-librarian role.

Implications for the Manitoba School Library Association

The literature review showed:

·         A qualified teacher-librarian has additional training in school-librarianship and information literacy as well as successful classroom experience.   

Implications:

·         Teacher-librarians in Manitoba would benefit from a definition of “qualified” within the contexts of the situation in Manitoba which was then shared with Manitoba Education and Literacy and senior school division staff. 

·         Teacher-librarians in Manitoba would benefit from a Teacher-Librarian Certificate program that would allow them to obtain the qualifications for their job through targeted professional development combined with university course work, similar to the Level 1 Administrator’s Certificate. 

Final Thought

             The two most important things I learned from this inquiry are that the role of the teacher-librarian in the education system of the 21^st century is an essential one and that a strong case can be made for having teacher-librarians in every school in Manitoba.

Excerpt from Capping Paper Part 2

THE ESSENTIAL TEACHER-LIBRARIAN:

CLARIFYING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF TEACHER-LIBRARIANS TO THE

DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS IN 21^ST CENTURY LEARNERS

The following is the second excerpt from my final capping paper for my MEd at the University of Alberta Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning Program. This excerpt consists of a summary of my literature review and a short excerpt from my reflection section.

Summary of Literature Review

How is information literacy defined in the 21^st century?  Through my review of selected literature, I found that information in the knowledge age of the 21^st century is no longer static, nor is it something that someone can own or necessarily trust.  Information is ever changing and highly contextual.  Furthermore, seeking information has become a process by which the seeker experiences greater transformation from that process than from the attainment of knowledge.  Similarly, literacy in the knowledge age has moved well beyond reading and writing.  To be literate in the 21^st century one must be able to access, comprehend and communicate with digital media as well as print media.  “Although information literacy figures prominently in descriptions of 21st century education, other ‘new’ literacies are integral to new school library programs as well, thus creating a ‘literacy of fusion’ ” (Asselin & Doiron, 2008, p. 10).  Information literacy is consequently transformed in the 21^st century to a fusion of multiple literacies needed to function and succeed in the 21^st century.

What is unique about 21^st century learners?  Many authors agree that students in the 21^st century appear to be technologically savvy.  However, a number of articles and studies I examined suggest that these things do not contribute to 21^st century learners’ information literacy.  Students are often ill prepared for the information demands of college or university, often unwittingly put themselves at risk online and are often unable to effectively evaluate the information they find and use. 

What skills are essential for success in the 21^st century?  According to the literature that has been examined and highlighted, the following interrelated and interdependent categories will be imperative for 21^st century learners to master: basic literacy; information skills; critical thinking skills; creativity and innovation skills; collaboration and teamwork skills; multimedia skills; technology skills; ethical thinking skills; and skills for lifelong learning.  These categories cross all boundaries in the fusion of literacies that has come to be defined as information literacy. To become successful in the 21^st century “students will not only need to master reading and writing, but also learn how to communicate – to compose, to problem solve, and understand” (McPherson, 2008, p. 37). 

What is the role of inquiry-based learning in information literacy programming?  A number of authors reviewed in the literature review have indicated that the inquiry process and inquiry-based learning are excellent ways to teach both information literacy and essential 21^st century skills such as those listed in the above noted categories. 

What is the role of the 21^st century teacher-librarian? A teacher-librarian who is qualified can most effectively become an instructional leader by utilizing and demonstrating best practices and current instructional strategies.  This instructional leadership that many qualified teacher-librarians exhibit extends to an expertise with inquiry-based learning and teaching 21^st century skills to 21^st century learners.  Additionally, I found that qualified teacher-librarians are often professional leaders who share their expertise in the areas of inquiry and 21^st century skills with colleagues, allowing all members of the school to benefit from said expertise through collaboration on inquiry projects or through professional development provided by the teacher-librarian. 

REFLECTIONS

Initial Thoughts

            One of the most significant things I learned from my review of the literature is the fact that the multiple literacies that now define information literacy mirror almost exactly the categories of skills identified as essential for success in the 21^st century (see Appendix E: Information Literacy and Essential Skills).  This leads me to determine that information literacy not only encompasses all of these essential skills, but that it is a necessary component of 21^st century education.  If, as the literature I reviewed suggests, inquiry-based learning is an effective way to teach information literacy, and if, as the literature suggests, qualified teacher-librarians are more likely to be experts in teaching information literacy and inquiry-based learning, then it follows that teacher-librarians will be an essential component of the education system in the 21^st century. 

Knowing that our role is so important is reassuring.  In fact, the literature review has provided me with ammunition for dealing with the wrongly held belief that the Internet will cause teacher-librarians to become obsolete.  However, now the question becomes how can Manitoba teacher-librarians do the job we clearly are supposed to be doing if we have no framework in this province that governs information literacy?  Also, how can we justify our necessity if no scholarly study on the impacts of teacher-librarians in schools has been conducted here in Manitoba?   It is difficult to convince school boards and administrators of the importance of having a qualified teacher-librarian on staff and teachers of the importance of working with a qualified teacher-librarian if there is no explicitly mandated curriculum document or any specific provincial evidence that supports our role.  All that we can do is work within the existing curriculum structure while at the same time advocate for either a revision of current curriculum or the creation of a new document for inquiry and information literacy.

In my original paper, the sections that follow this summary include my own reflections on the implications of the literature review for our particular situation in Manitoba.  I examined the Manitoba curriculum and the Literacy with ICT Continuum (MECY, 2006b) for specific references to inquiry and information literacy as they have been defined above. I then list the implications of my literature review for the various stakeholders here in Manitoba.

To read these reflections and implications please see the full paper posted on the MSLA website.

Excerpt from Capping Paper Part 1

THE ESSENTIAL TEACHER-LIBRARIAN:

CLARIFYING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF TEACHER-LIBRARIANS TO THE

DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS IN 21^ST CENTURY LEARNERS

The following is an excerpt from the Introduction of my final capping paper for my MEd at the University of Alberta Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning Program.

This excerpt appeared in the Spring issue of the MSLA Journal.  

The Literacy with ICT Continuum

In 2006, Manitoba Education Citizenship and Youth (MECY) published the Literacy with ICT (information and communication technology) Continuum.  The document defines literacy with ICT as “choosing and using ICT, responsibly and ethically, to support critical and creative thinking about information and about communication across the curriculum,” (MECY, 2006b, p. 8).  After attending an in-service on the Literacy with ICT Continuum (MECY, 2006b), I finally realized the link between this document and the inquiry process that I was learning about in my EDES 542: Inquiry Based Instruction course.  The role of the teacher-librarian in Manitoba suddenly became clear to me.  The Literacy with ICT Continuum (MECY, 2006b) with its organization based on the inquiry process and its content based on information literacy skills was obviously the document that could provide those guidelines I was so desperately in need of.  I was surprised none of my teacher-librarian colleagues had pointed this out to me. 

Unfortunately, the Literacy with ICT (MECY, 2006b) document defines information literacy in terms of technology use only, and in fact does not use the term ‘information literacy’ at all.  I realized there was much confusion in my school division regarding the multiple definitions of information literacy in the 21^st century and uncertainty about the role of the 21^st century teacher-librarian.  This resulted in a perception that caused teachers, administrators and other divisional staff to interpret the Literacy with ICT (MECY, 2006b) document as something to be addressed by the “technology department” only, leaving a glaring gap in the ability of teacher-librarians to address the information literacy needs of students. 

Through further investigations and involvement in local and provincial professional associations, I came to realize that it isn’t just the teachers in my school and division that struggle with the role of the teacher-librarian; it is our entire provincial education system. Teacher-librarianship in Manitoba is in a state of confusion. 

With a government mandated continuum comes funding.  As a result of the impetus to infuse technology throughout the curriculum through the use of the Literacy with ICT Continuum (MECY, 2006b), school divisions have spent a lot of monies on technology.  There exists a perception that the technology departments of school divisions have been quite well funded at the expense of libraries which have suffered cost cutting measures such as reduced staffing.  Regrettably this opinion and its implications have caused much uncertainty about who should be helping teachers to implement and integrate the Literacy with ICT Continuum (MECY, 2006b).   

Teacher-librarians have been left in the cold with regards to information literacy programming in Manitoba, yet hope exists for our renewed role in schools.  The inquiry and information literacy structures that exist within the Literacy with ICT Continuum (MECY, 2006b) can allow teacher-librarians in Manitoba to re-establish their expertise with information literacy and clarify their roles as both teachers and leaders in our schools. 

What is our Role?

For teacher-librarians to clarify the essential nature of their position in Manitoba schools, it is first important for the role of the 21^st century teacher-librarian to be well defined.  A clear definition of our role in information literacy instruction and our expertise with inquiry based learning will lead to an understanding of how our role coincides with the Literacy with ICT Continuum (MECY, 2006b).   To that end my capping paper examines the question How can the role of the 21^st century teacher-librarian be clarified and defined within the context of the already existing curriculum structure in Manitoba?

            To help me answer this question I investigated pertinent professional and academic literature to answer the following questions:

·         How is information literacy defined in the 21^st Century?

·         What is unique about 21^st century learners and the essential skills necessary in the 21^st century?

·         What role does inquiry-based learning play in information literacy programming and instruction?

·         What is the role of the 21^st century teacher-librarian?

After reviewing the literature I reflected on how teacher-librarians can define their role within the context of the already existing curriculum structure in Manitoba.  Additionally I included implications of the literature review for various stakeholders in Manitoba.

A summary of my literature review and a list of the implications will be published in the Fall MSLA Journal.  For a complete copy of this capping paper please visit the Manitoba School Library Association website.    

Christine Robinson, MEd

So Who Cares?

After ripping the Manitoba Literacy with ICT document in my capping paper as a document that doesn’t do enough to help our students obtain 21^st century information literacy skills, I had the opportunity to meet many of the people who wrote the document.  As a member of the Manitoba School Library Association Executive, I was offered the opportunity to sit on the Literacy with ICT Advisory Committee for the province of Manitoba.  This committee is made up of various stakeholders interested in ICT Literacy in our province and the committee consists of representatives from many areas of education in our province (MTS, MASS, MAST, MSLA, ManACE, MERLIN, Man Ed., U of W, etc.). 

Sitting on the committee are also many people who were involved in the initial writing of the document and after attending a single meeting I have a renewed respect for them and their vision, and a new found hope in the realization that we DO HAVE great people in our education system in Manitoba who share my beliefs about getting students those 21^st century skills they so desperately need.  We just need to get the politicians to listen and to FUND EDUCATION BETTER!!!! Thus I have a renewed desire to continue my own advocacy for the work of Teacher-Librarians in Manitoba schools! YAY!

I also attended the first Adolescent Literacy Summit in Manitoba on April 14 & 15, 2011, and was again reinvigorated by the people and the topics discussed.  Although I felt that much of what they were talking about needing to put in place to alleviate illiteracy in Manitoba could be accomplished through the work of high quality Teacher-Librarians in schools, there were few of US at the summit!!  And when I voiced my ideas about 21^st century literacy and information literacy being an umbrella term that will encompass all forms of literacy in the 21^st century, I was not exactly taken seriously!!  (This will sound a bit hoity-toity, but I really think they misunderstood what I was saying and that they immediately linked information literacy to computers, a common mistake in my province.  But WE know that is not the case!! Information literacy= critical literacy, media literacy, computer literacy, reading & writing, and SO MUCH MORE!!! READ MY CAPPING PAPER FOR MORE ON THIS!!!) Even so, I was able to participate in a recommendation building session in which I DID get my voice heard about the work of Teacher-Librarians and DID get some people hearing what I was saying about how WE CAN INCREASE STUDENT SUCCESS, LITEARCY AND ACHEIVEMENT!!! 

In fact a few people from Manitoba Education actually came up to me and asked if they could contact me later and if they could read my capping paper!! Interesting.  Glad I took my Instructor’s advice and reworded my “strongly worded” reflection section, since it looks like people will actually read my capping paper!!!!

Clear Thinking & Adequate Reflection

Finally Done!

It’s now been 4 months since I submitted my final capping paper for approval and completed my MEd.  Wow was it a lot of work!!

In the months that followed finishing my capping paper I worked like a maniac on our school’s Grade 7 year end project (as Teacher-Librarian and as Grade 7 Team Leader) and on wrapping up my own year at school/work.  I worked madly planning and organizing the Manitoba School Library Association annual SAG Conference of which I am the Chair.  I attended my convocation in Edmonton, Alberta, and the following week attended my brother’s wedding in which my two children were flower girls.  Finally as of July 1, I have been able to relax for the first summer since . . . forever!!  So it has only been in the last month that I have been able to really think clearly and reflect adequately on the capping process and my capping paper itself! 

The Capping Process

The University of Alberta TL-DL program has the capping process down to a science, which made the whole experience so much less stressful than one would think.  Each student is paired with a writing partner who reads, edits and advises on possible revisions to their partner’s paper.  I was lucky enough to be paired with the most wonderful and amazing Rhonda Morrissette who is the Teacher-Librarian at the Winnipeg Adult Education Center.  Even better was the fact that we live in the same city and so we often met over coffee to discuss our papers, our struggles and stresses and our work as teacher-librarians and as fellow members of the Manitoba School Library Association Executive. Suffice it to say that having Rhonda as my writing partner was the best thing that could have happened!

The Various Difficulties I Encountered

I found the reflection section particularly difficult.  I feel I am very good at critical writing, although I will be the first to admit that I can be quite verbose and . . . well, longwinded.  I went through many many many versions of my lit review until I felt it said what I wanted it to say, included all the wonderful morsels of knowledge I gained, but was a length that didn’t scare away everyone who potentially wanted to read it!  Even though that process was time consuming, it was not difficult for me.  However, the reflection section was difficult.  I kind of felt like I was floundering and that there was no real guidelines for what the reflection needed to be.  Of course this is all part of the process and the feelings of frustration are normal in any inquiry process, but this was the first time I had personally experienced that level of angst over something academic.  I know I should stop whining, but it was a struggle and I will never again underestimate the feelings of frustration that my own students feel while engaging in inquiry.  It was quite a lesson for me.    

Specifically, my biggest issue was that I struggled with (and knocked heads a bit with my instructor over) the wording of my “recommendations.”  I had thought the reflection was supposed to be a place where I reflected and expressed my opinion, and so I wanted to include some strongly worded recommendations for various stakeholders in my home province of Manitoba (school boards, government, universities, teacher-librarians, etc).  However, the instructor advised me that those strong words could in fact be misinterpreted and that I actually sounded unprofessional.  I found this maddening since one of the main problems that I perceive in our province is a lack of people willing to say the important and strongly worded things that need to be said about our education system.  I did simmer over that for many a day and finally took her advice to heart. 

I realized that if I wanted to get my message out (that Teacher-Librarians are essential in the 21^st century education system here in Manitoba and everywhere) that I would have to be able to reach ALL stakeholders, and sometimes strong words fall on deaf ears.  So I reworded all my “recommendations” and made them into implications of the literature review and eliminated any opinion.  The implications now summarize pertinent findings from the lit review for each stakeholder and then note the implications of those findings for that particular stakeholder. It works, but I still would have liked to include recommendations, since I feel that I am qualified enough to make a recommendation as opposed to merely pointing out implications.  BUT, there has now been quite a bit of interest in my work from various people in this province and so I may get to provide recommendations after all (whether it be the near or far future, who knows!!)

The Evolution of a Title

As you may have read in my previous post, I had been second guessing my capping paper title.  The title I was thinking of posed some problems and as all things evolve, so did my title and thought process around the topic of my capping. Below find the evolution of my title:

1^st thoughts:

Why Teacher-Librarians are Essential: The Evolving Roles of School Libraries and Teacher-Librarians in the 21st Century. 

Proposal title as well as Draft 1 & 2:

The Essential Teacher-Librarian: Clarifying the Role of the Teacher-Librarian in the Implementation of Information Literacy Programming in Manitoba Schools

 Draft 3:

The Essential Teacher-Librarian: Clarifying the Role of the Teacher-Librarian in the Implementation of Information Literacy Programming

Draft 4 & 5:

The Essential Teacher-Librarian: Clarifying the Role of the 21^st Century Teacher-Librarian

Final title of published capping paper:

The Essential Teacher-Librarian: Clarifying the Contributions of Teacher-Librarians To The

Development of Information Literacy Skills in 21^st Century Learners

Although this title evolved, you can see that I never took out the word “essential” because I truly believe that we are an essential part of 21^st century education.  Plus it was intended to be a piece of advocacy for our essential role in schools.

Second Guessing?

After reading through my new course material (EDES 549 Leadership in Teacher-Librarianship) I am wondering if my capping paper idea is too vague. I might have trouble doing the literature review because there is so much to think about.

My idea for a title was: Why Teacher-Librarians are Essential: The Evolving Roles of School Libraries and Teacher-Librarians in the 21st Century.

Let’s think about this. A paper with this title should include the history of teacher-librarian roles in schools and how these roles have changed in the 21st century as well as the history of school library it’s changing role. Then there is the whole idea of having to define what “essential” means and describing what it looks like. Also, I would need to address the question: what is it that teacher-librarians do that makes them essential, which would entail discussing and finding information about the ideal personal and professional characteristics of a “master” or essential teacher-librarian. Plus I would need to look at the idea of “new literacies” and also would want to include Literacy with ICT and inquiry. Then I would need to link effective teaching practices of these new literacies, ICT and inquiry to an “essential” teacher-librarian.

That’s a lot. Plus I’m not really interested in focussing on the history of the roles of teacher-librarians and school libraries, but the rest does really interest me.

What is it that teacher-librarians do that makes them essential? I actually like this question. Maybe it’s something I can focus on. I’m definitely interested in what makes a “good” or essential teacher-librarian, specifically the characteristics, actual activities and other hard to pinpoint things that make some teacher-librarians more successful than others.

But I am also really interested in the Literacy with ICT aspect of our job and how that aspect makes teacher-librarians so very important in this day and age. I suppose that makes me also interested in the new literacies, technology integration and inquiry learning too!

I wonder how I can marry these two things without making writing my capping paper such an immense undertaking that I will go mad!! Plus it shouldn’t be really really long either, so . . . I guess I will have to think about it some more.

In the meantime I think I will continue to explore what makes a teacher-librarian essential. I think the next blog will be about how teacher-librarians are teachers first. Stay tuned for more!