The Library is My Happy Place

Creative Commons licensed image courtesy of aitoff on Pixabay While watching this week's course update video, I was captivated by our professor, Aaron Mueller's image of teacher librarians as explorers, going out to learn about the newest technologies and trends in education to bring them back to the staff. I aspire to being one of these explorers and I'm confident it will happen, over time. As a brand-new teacher librarian, I feel like I'm learning so much myself that I haven't had time to think about how I might share my knowledge with my colleagues. It seems intimidating to think of giving workshops on topics that I've just learned myself, although it would likely be a good way to cement my learning. However, I am fairly technologically savvy (despite my ignorance about the term ICT skills) and I have previously had a job as a technology coach. I have a Smart Board at my disposal in the library and could easily give talks about using Destiny, our new li...

My initial inquiry into resources related to information literacy led me to an article by Copeland and Jacobs in the journal Teacher Librarian entitled, "The power of collaboration between school librarian and classroom teacher". This article describes a successful collaborative relationship where a teacher librarian and classroom teacher taught students research skills to elementary school students. Copeland and Jacobs write, "the school librarian and teacher planned the unit together, determining student goals related to social studies content, information literacy skills, and communicator/collaborator skills." (Copeland & Jacobs, 2017, p 23). One reason this article is an excellent source is that it lists challenges that teachers may face when considering collaboration and offers possible solutions. As I'd had success finding articles on my chosen topic of information literacy in the journal Teacher Librarian, I narrowed my search within the L...

As a first-year teacher librarian, I feel like there are dozens of topics that I would like to research further and it's challenging to narrow down my research focus to just one. I will do my best to weigh my options and select an essential question that will immediately be put to use in my teaching practice. I have just started a job at an elementary school in Vancouver and I will be working with students from kindergarten through Grade 7. My position is a job share and I will be working closely with my teaching partner to make decisions about the library. My main priority at this time is developing relationships with students and staff and learning about the school community. I know I will be collaborating with classroom teachers in order to support students in researching their inquiry projects this year. I feel that building my knowledge of information literacy and library skills (e.g. effective internet searching, using databases, spotting "fake news") would be...