VIC

Victoria

SLAV is contributing case studies to ASLA.

Ways in which I help my students, peers and others as a teacher-librarian by Margaret Simkin 1. I have a boy who is currently in year 9 who has finally started to read for pleasure: the Bear Grylls Survival series was his bait. Six years of trying to tempt him have finally paid off. 2. When I have teachers who are coming in for the first time with a class, I make myself publically very useful with their students (more so if they let me know in advance what they are doing, and completely if they have gone through a CPT process). I intervene as required with all sorts of tips: a good book to support the research topic, a demonstration of Google wonder wheel, how to use [|www.taggalaxy.com] to find good images, how to insert movie footage from a flip video camera etc. 3. When we have student teachers I introduce them to the SLAV publication "what a teacher-librarian can do for you". I explain the spectrum of school libraries that they may encounter and I show them my wiki for our staff and the blogs for our students. 4. I have made myself a bookable resource on our booking system. I am not available for 12 periods per fortnight: 10 teaching periods and my two "spares": 1 per week. People blocked against my year 12 class are starting to complain that they never have access to me which adds fuel to my requests for a full - time teacher-librarian in our senior library. 5. Every year in June I make an appointment to see the Principal. I table our wins/gains, indicate areas of serious concern and ask for more staff. The meeting is always very amiable as I have pointed out that if I don't ask for more staff no one else will. He knows I will be asking. We have increased our TL time across both campuses significantly as a result of these annual requests. He is impressed by the statistical analyses I take in and the research upon which I base my comments and requests. 6. When the strategic direction for each year becomes known, I make sure I am heavily involved and support teachers with access to the current educational authors. 7. I work with technology at all levels in order to demonstrate its use and my competence and that ranges from checking that the plugs are in and working to locating reliable sources and using new web 2 applications . I also run sandbox sessions for staff to show them new techniques and resources which are IT in nature. 8. I keep staff informed of what is available for them through a wiki developed especially for this purpose: [] 9. I keep parents informed about issues such as cybersafety and the research that supports the value from reading for leisure. I am about to launch a wiki for our parents. They are now engaging in dialogue in matters relating to information on the broader scale. 10. We have developed, and promote regularly, a library collection for parents with books about parenting, adolescence, grief etc. 11. Public demonstrations of the new, for example the ipad.

A few TL experiences from Marcellin 1. We have been developing and presenting a two part library orientation for year 7s, firstly looking at how information is arranged and stored and how to find it, and part two addresses information literacy and is part of a science or humanities lesson. Our junior classes’ research skills are far superior to the seniors’ already. 2. The importance of the “client interview” always amazes me… Last week a year 11 student needed help finding a book (“The technician didn’t know what he was after”). He needed a good book – entertaining, intelligent and something that was worth the effort of reading. He left with “One Crowded Hour” (Tim Bowden) and “The seven habits of highly effective teens” (Sean Covey). 3. We have a library web page which uses an information management system to house links, widgets and pathfinders as well as library news and resources. Staff are introduced to the library web page at a whole staff meeting during the year. We’ve been filtering web tools to our staff and have just begun a wiki for staff on web2.0 to better share these resources and keep them together. Research requests are housed and distributed using delicious.com.

In November 2008 I attend a SLAV (School Library Association of Victoria) session where the Teacher Librarians had their Secondary boys present the book trailers they had created using Powerpoint. The kids were enthusiastic and I thought this might work at my school. In 2009 the administration at my school required all teachers to invent and carry out some sort of Peer Coaching Project, so this allowed me to ask an English teacher if she'd like to work with me on this idea.

During Term 3 of 2009 we collaborated on an assignment where the students needed to create a book trailer using Animoto. I describe Animoto as "like Powerpoint without the screaming boredom". The unit incorporated a qualitative assessment of the assignment where the students relayed their ideas about how the product, their Animoto, impacted on their reading enjoyment and engagement with and understanding of the text. By and large, the students were very pleased with the alternative way of presenting and it helped them think about their book more closely. It also gave students who weren't so skilled at writing reports a chance to shine.

This year, the staff are reporting back to their colleagues, during our weekly staff meetings, on their 2009 Projects. As a result of our presentation to the staff about the Animoto assignment, two more teachers have decided to use the software with their classes. One is another English teacher who will do a similar task and the other is a Geography teacher. Her students are to create an Animoto of a favourite holiday destination, either one they've been to or one they'd like to go to. The product is to include information like climate, natural landmarks, maps and activities.

I feel that this slow blossoming of one small effort is a definite success story that would not have happened without a Teacher Librarian who has knowledge of new technologies, who understands how the classroom operates and who is up-to-date with pedagogical thinking.

Joanna DurstTeacher librarian Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School Moonee Ponds campus Melbourne