Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS NSW
SUBTLE ADVOCACY: How a Library Web Page can reach into the Community
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Teacher Librarians Know students by name Teaches all students across K-6 Can track progress across 7 years
School Libraries Have value Need advocates
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Popular Google Image results when searching the term ‘librarian’!
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
More popular images – do these really represent us?
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Now these are more like it!
Justifying Our Role Still a lack of understanding re our role
by both teaching colleagues and parents
We can each do something about it!
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Cause for Concern Some states do not employ teacher
librarians in government schools May not have a teacher deployed in the
school library May employ library technicians as an
economic alternative Recent research tells us school libraries
are run down and under resourced
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Show, Don’t Tell We can change perceptions by doing
and showing – not just telling Within OUR control and implemented on
a daily basis – effecting change Still need to write letters, articles and
speak to raise awareness of our role Initiate change at grassroots level – at
YOUR school, within YOUR community
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Parents Role Parents can play a vital role in supporting
teacher librarians and school libraries and influencing a Principal, a P&C, state and federal governments
Excellent example of three mums from Spokane, Washington who were able to secure $4 million in funding for school libraries across the state in 2008
[ without certified librarians] “Our children were going to be riding an apple cart on the information highway.” http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6590045.html 1/9/2008
Active Advocacy Advocacy: Disseminating
information intended to influence behaviour, opinion and decisions regarding particular issues
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Subtle Advocacy A school library webpage can both
advocate and promote the role a teacher librarian plays in the education of students
Not didactic Is engaging Is informing Connects with the school community
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Mrs Mac’s
Began as a need to house learning tasksFurther developed to house Book Week activities and linksLater developed to provide information and ideas important to the professional life of a teacher librarianhttp://smclibrary.shaz.googlepages.com
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Mrs Mac’s Hotspot
Online Program VS Paper Program Easy access for staff, principal and parents Contains outcomes, tasks, rubrics, supporting and additional informationhttp://smclibrary.shaz.googlepages.com/mrsmac’shotspot
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Developed as a useful site for parents – it SHOWS what I teach and how we can work together in educating their children
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
What to include A school library site must be planned
and have purpose It should be useful to the entire school
community – students, teachers and parents
It should engage the viewer Make your audience want to keep
returning
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Engage, Enthuse, Educate Your library site should include your Library
Policy/Management Plan Curriculum based links aimed at students Examples of what you are teaching (web 2
tool as an example) Information Literacy links YOUR TERM PROGRAM! Including links to tasks, assessment rubrics
etc
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Online Library Teaching Program
From Term 2 2009 Online Program
Brief outline of task(s), outcomes, relevant links which mirror classroom teaching
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Online Library Teaching Program
Note the outcomes listed and the hyperlinked tasks
Online Library Teaching Program
Examples of student work - ebooks ( uploaded onto a new site using ‘weebly’ (http://tpslearning.weebly.com )
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Online Library Teaching Program
Stage 3 stop motion animation film examples from Term 3 2009 again on the ‘Our Learning’ site, using ‘weebly’
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Links
Examples of web 2 tools students may use, blogs, booklists, research starters
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Final Message
A quote to think about...Links to ASLA and The Hub to really inform the school community about our role!
Other School Library Pages
Pendle Hill HS
Amanda Credaro has included links entitled :
•Why is Info Lit important?
•Why do we still need school libraries?
http://pendlehill-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/facilities/library.html©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Other School Library Pages
Sandy Beach PSAudrey Nay, TL
Note the blog for parents
AND
The blog for teachers
A truly collaborative library site!
http://sandybeachpublicschool.googlepages.com/home
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Other School Library Pages
Providing great examples of student learning
Penrith PS, Ian McLeanhttp://penrithpslibrary.pbworks.com ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
Other School Library Pages
Palmerston District PS, Barbara BraxtonNo longer updated but still an excellent example of what to include – note the quote re the impact of school library staff and collection on student academic achievement.
How To Start? Sign up to weebly – a free web authoring site with its own blog. Uses simple drag and drop elements http://www.weebly.com/
Weebly
Easy to click and drag elements from the top of the page.
How To Start Try Yola, another easy web authoring site http://www.yola.com/
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
How To Start Or even Wix – another which uses easy drag and drop elements http://www.wix.com/
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
A powerful tool A school library website / page is
something we can all do to achieve active, yet subtle advocacy.
The Library page should be recognised as a core element of a school’s website
Publishing the Library teaching program places a focus on what a TL does
Advocacy at grassroots level Makes a difference to students, staff and
parents
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
“An effective TL must speak up and be an advocate of the school library program. By demonstrating effective information use, modelling sound ICT practices and actively promoting lifelong learning, the TL can serve as an agent of change.”
Advocacy: An Introduction http://eduscapes.com/sms/advocacy/index.htm 20/09/09
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
The Last Word Have a go!
Work towards creating your own vehicle of active, subtle advocacy
We know how a school library makes a difference to student learning.
It’s up to us to demonstrate it to our school communities
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS
©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS