What we teach and do

Yesterday I joined OZTL_NET and I received my first digest today. The readings that captured my eye were concerning two posts. One from a Classroom teacher that was appointed to Teacher Librarian 15 years ago in Australia and the other a Head of Information Studies in Hamilton, New Zealand.

What we Teach and Do

OZTL_NET Digest Vol 63 Issue 74

The first was defending her ability to teach in the TL role even though she had no "paper qualifications" and the second was reiterating the importance of teaching Information Literacy and emphasing the unique role of the Teacher Librarian and the "credentials" that the TL should have.

There were some good points in both posts so I have identified them:

Post 1 -
* Classroom teachers only see a fraction of what the role of the TL entails.
* Training and Development in TL is crucial.
* IT Skills are necessary.
* Joining Hub groups is also essential for continued growth and understanding of the TL role.
* Passion and a thirst for knowledge are important characteristics for a TL.

Post 2 -
* Instruction in Information Literacy during training is very important for the TL.
* Whilst classroom teachers who are placed in the TL role without formal qualifications may be literate in the sense of being able to word process or make powerpoint presentations, etc they do not have the expertise in the use of Boolean Strategies for effective searching databases suitable for school students or actually teaching students a research framework or note taking skills or different forms of reading (skim, scan, close) required for researching and much more.
* Library Staff "fill very distinct as well as integrated niches in education but this does not seem to be understood by some. "
* Emphasised that there is a lot of evidence that qualified TLs make a difference.

Another TL post which reponded to these posts added to the importance in the use of Boolean Strategies and suggested a great way to show Boolean searching is through the use of

www.boolify.org .

I will need to find out what this is today.