Leadership, learning and librarians: A personal reflection

The theme of relationships emerged regularly during the ETL504 Teacher librarian as leader learning modules and case study group work; relevant to leadership elements such as shared vision and strategic planning (Cox, 2018a), conflict resolution (Alderman, Cox, O’Brien & Sylaprany, 2018a), and advocacy (Bell & Group 7, 2018; Washington, McKellar, Knuckey, Sprod, & Peachy, 2018). This demonstrates that positive relationships are fundamental to the work of teacher librarians and the success of school libraries (Dinham, 2008, p. 119-137; Winzenried, 2010, p. 23-61). Learning in this subject has taught me that positive relationships, particularly those in busy and dynamic school and library environments, do not just occur; but must be thoughtfully planned and articulated as part of a larger library leadership strategy and collaborative mindset. Furthermore, this moves me to consider how I can leverage existing positive relationships to initiate partnerships with colleagues, particularly to implement the guided inquiry framework for student learning (Fitzgerald, 2015a, p. 4-17; Fitzgerald, 2015b, p. 16-27; Fitzgerald, 2012, p. 18-26; Kuhlthau, Caspari & Maniotes, 2015).

I was initially reluctant about participating in group work throughout this subject; however, after taking the initiative to establish positive and open communication within our group wiki space (Cox, 2018d), I found the collaborative process to be worthwhile for my learning. This was particularly evident when my group members and I used the discussion pages to brainstorm our ideas, find common themes, plan our written response, and designate roles. Being able to access the additional expertise and perspectives of my peers was especially helpful when engaging with complex leadership elements such as conflict resolution (Alderman, Cox, O’Brien & Sylaprany, 2018a). Similarly, reading the posts of other groups provided additional ideas, strategies and resources which supported my learning in this subject (Washington, McKellar, Knuckey, Sprod, & Peachy, 2018).

To further my personal learning and growth, I have worked to develop high quality content for my professional blog (Cox, 2018b; Cox, 2018c), and to engage with social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook groups. Similarly, several ETL504 peers mentioned social media and blogs for professional reading in the context of Module Four (Bell, 2018). I have found social media to be an excellent platform to engage with new ideas and practices, and to carry out a broad range of practitioner-based professional reading. I had hoped that engagement in these platforms would also result in some professional connections, or interest in my blog, but instead have found the lack of engagement with my posts and content to be somewhat disheartening. Upon reflection, I believe that engaging more dynamically may be the way to promote more meaningful connections. Specifically, I feel I should initiate contact with others by making thoughtful comments and asking questions on social media, rather than just liking a post. Furthermore, more strategic use of tagging and hashtags may be beneficial. This highlights the ongoing importance of professional learning within the context of the Professional Standards for Teachers (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), 2011, p. 1-24) and the dynamic capacity of digital platforms as teacher librarian professional learning networks (Bales, 2017).

References

Alderman, L., Cox, E., O’Brien, E. & Sylaprany, N. (2018, 3 August). Group 2 Case Study 3 [online discussion forum post, ETL504, case study 3]. Retrieved from Interact2 website, CSU

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). (2011). Australian professional standards for teachers [pdf file]. Retrieved from AITSL website: https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/apst-resources/australian_professional_standard_for_teachers_final.pdf

Bales, J. (2017). Collector, curator or collaborator? Connections, Issue 100, November. Retrieved from SCIS website: https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-100/collector-curator-or-collaborator/

Bell, J. (2018, 4 September). RE: Primary [online discussion forum post, ETL504, Module 4, Week 6, 4.1, 4.2]. Retrieved from Interact2 website, CSU

Bell, J. & Group 7. (2018, 28 September). Group 7 response [online discussion forum post, ETL504, case study 5]. Retrieved from Interact2 website, CSU

Cox, E. (2015a, 15 July). Modern management in school libraries [blog post]. In Ms Cox: Librarian. Retrieved from: https://mscoxlibrarian.wixsite.com/portfolio/single-post/2018/07/15/Modern-management-in-school-libraries

Cox, E. (2018b, 15 July). School libraries: Contributing to school success [blog post]. In Ms Cox: Librarian. Retrieved from: https://mscoxlibrarian.wixsite.com/portfolio/single-post/2018/07/15/School-libraries-Contributing-to-school-success

Cox, E. (2018c, 14 September). 21st century leadership in school libraries and the role of the teacher librarian. In Ms Cox: Librarian. Retrieved from: https://mscoxlibrarian.wixsite.com/portfolio/single-post/2018/09/14/21st-century-leadership-in-schools-and-the-role-of-the-teacher-librarian

Cox, E. (2018d). Hello Group 2! [online discussion forum post, ETL504, group 2 wiki]. Retrieved from Interact2 website, CSU

Dinham, S. (2008). How to get your school moving and improving. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au

FitzGerald, L. (June, 2015a). Opportunity knocks: The Australian Curriculum and guided inquiry. Access, 29(2). Retrieved from EBSCOhost database, CSU Library

Fitzgerald, L. (2015b). Guided inquiry in practice. [online]. Scan, 34(4). Retrieved from Informit database, CSU Library

FitzGerald, L. (November, 2012). Practice meets theory: A guided inquiry update [online]. Access, 26(4). Retrieved from Informit database, CSU Library

Kuhlthau, C. C., Caspari, A. K., & Maniotes, L. K. (2015). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition : Learning in the 21st Century (Vol. Second edition). Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1061481&site=ehost-live

Washington, C., McKellar, P., Knuckey, L., Sprod, D. & Peachy, M. (2018, 25 September). Group 6 response [online discussion post, ETL504, case study 5]. Retrieved from Interact2 website, CSU

Winzenried, A. (2010). Towards and organizational theory for informational professionals. In Visionary leaders for information, p. 23-61. Retrieved from eBook Central, ProQuest, CSU Library.