ETL504 Leadership For Learning
Have you been able to identify any particular element of leadership practice in a collaborative environment that has made you stop and think about the practical professional opportunities that you may like to explore and adopt in your school?
lindalibrariansmith 
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Have you been able to identify any particular element of leadership practice in a collaborative environments that has made me stop and think about the practical professional opportunities that you may like to explore and adopt in your school?
Throughout this course my knowledge and understandings of what a teacher librarian as a leader is has expanded dramatically. It was hard to imagine myself as a leader in the context of the school library when I first started this course but now I have seen my understanding of leadership not only grow within this subject but within myself as a teacher librarian at my school. I now have a vision for my school library and more confidence to demonstrate my leadership skills to implement change. What I see as the benefits of transformational leadership in my school context is the focus on creating a shared vision of 21st century schooling in the school library, developing individual’s skills and creating an environment in which innovation and risk taking is fostered.
Whilst attending a professional development course at Caddies Creek Public School last term I was so overwhelmed and impressed with the TL leadership practice I saw in developing the school library as a collaborative teaching and learning environment. The teacher librarian, Jenny Scheffers, has been at the school since 2003. The library program was conducted as RFF until 2005. From 2006 onwards she has transformed the library into something quite amazing! The library adopted the Coperative Planning Programming Teaching (CPPT) approach to library teaching and learning. Library lessons were not only a team teaching situation but the classroom teacher and the TL collaborated on the planning and programming of the units of work to be conducted. Flexible timetabling was adopted to ensure all classes and classroom teachers were involved.
Also the way Kuhlthau’s Guided Inquiry approach to learning is used in library lessons is very inspiring. The school moved gradually from NSW Information Search Process to the 7 steps of Guided Inquiry. Students were involved in evaluating their own progress in the research path which was very interesting!
The success of the library program is the result of teachers and the teacher librarian working collaboratively together to achieve a common goal. The careful planning and steps in the change process included lots of professional development for the teachers and the wider community.
Congratulations Caddies Creek! Very inspiring! I am now attempting to follow in their footsteps!