Chat+1+notes+24.07.11

Louise This is the entry I made yesterday: not sure whether we are using this chat room this afternoon or tomorrow. I think I am leaning towards objective 4 as the topic for our powerpoint. I guess it will be a popular choice with the other students in our cohort and am not sure whether to avoid the popular choice or just go for it because it is useful. Organisational theory doesn't grab me - struggling to concentrate with the readings. If we go with objective 4, the title I have come up with is: 'To infinity and beyond - the mission of school information services in the 21century ‘ - I am also playing with a couple of versions of this

Meghan Organisational theory is also boring me to tears -- I am glad that this is not the frontrunner for our topic! Ditto on organisational theory. Would work for anyone suffering insomnia I think. || Louise Hi Meghan - glad I'm not the only one who thinks OT is boring
 * julie

Meghan topic 4 - mission statement - could work. Our second assignment (individual) is to create a mission statement for a library undergoing change. This might be considered "double dipping" by the lecturer (I wouldn't let my students get away with it!!) but it doesn't seem to be disallowed in the information we've been given.

Julie 4th objective is good with me - but do we need to cover the entire objective - i.e.develop mission statement and identify etc... delivery of the school's info services? Maybe we assume the mission statement is done and work on the necessary centrality of information services - library as information hub, information literacy etc

Louise I think we will have to come up with a clear mission statement - just looking over assignment to work out exactly what we have to do. Will have to decide on a journal to promote it in too.

julie I am confused about the assignment anyway - we are producing a powerpoint which is designed to provide a synopsis (I suppose?) of an article we would like to publish - so we are effectively lobbying (who? a publisher?) for funding (?maybe not) and approval to proceed with our article. But in this article are we lobbying for something or just researching and critically evaluation current or proposed processes/theories etc. I.e. could we be asking for funding to produce a paper that examines the current state of information literacy in school libraries and the benefits etc. Louise It should be: 'written for a non teacher-librarian audience about an aspect of a topic covered by this subject. Write with a teacher librarian's perspective for this audience. It should support one of the first four (4) learning objectives'

Louise I think we are promoting the role of TL maybe to a journal designed for teachers in general or for educational leaders Thats right Louise ||
 * katie

I understood a similar thing to Louise - this seems to lead on from previous subjects that focused on raising the TL's profile to avoid redundancy. ||
 * Meghan

Definitely not sending it to a publisher but working out the type of journal we are aiming this material at will help us decide what to include level of language etc ||
 * Louise

Louise - in that case we could be proposing an article that examines (critically etc etc) the information literacy framework in a selected range of schools or something (and how the TL is pivotal). That covers 1/2 of the 4th objective. ||
 * julie

That's also practical, Julie. ||
 * Meghan

Have had a brilliant idea. We propose a world tour of top-class libraries and let's go for it! Organise your passports girls! ||
 * julie

We could have the intention of educating teachers about why collaborating with the TL is a positive thing, not just more work, and couch it in the language of that fourth learning objective "and identify objectives/outcomes for the delivery of the school's information services" ||
 * Meghan

I meant that we could look at this journal in our group not send to the publisher. Roy suggested this journal as a starting point. ||
 * Emma

Great idea Julie ||
 * Meghan

Meghan - I have seen articles in SCAN that look at collaborative programming (TLs and CTs) - so that could be a good idea ||
 * julie

Emma - I see what you mean. Sorry for misunderstanding ||
 * julie

Julie I agree. There is alot of info on collaboration ||
 * katie

And isn't it sad that (so far) I haven't seen much of it? ||
 * julie

YES! ||
 * katie

'Decide what you want your audience to gain from reading the proposed article. Think about your purpose in addressing your 'publisher' and their team of referees. Consider what information is most likely to help your cause. Prepare your PowerPoint with this in mind. Be sure your purpose is clearly stated in the presentation and the expected outcomes are at least implied, if not explicit. Include any self-created images that might increase understanding, such as a concept map, charts, graphs or tables. Do not include anything for which copyright clearance would have to be gained if the article were actually to be published. Your slides and their notes will provide an abstract of the proposed article that summarises what it will contain. Include a list of everything you have cited within your presentation (as your last slide). ||
 * Louise

By the way, as this chat seems to disappear when we leave, I will cut and paste it into the wiki before I leave. || Thanks Julie ||
 * julie
 * klemj entered the chat room.
 * katie

So, what do we want to gain from reading the (proposed) article... the benefits of collaborating with the TL? ||
 * julie

Sounds good - specifically, the benefits for the information literacy skills of the students ||
 * Meghan

Sounds great ||
 * katie

Sounds like a good idea. I guess Roy will either give it the go-ahead or tell us we are on the wrong track when we submit the proposal. ||
 * Louise

(and why a run of the mill classroom teacher should care about the info lit skills of their students) || I think we are a bit ahead of the timeline anyway, so if we submit a proposal today there is still plentty of time for Roy to set us straight ||
 * Meghan
 * Emma left the chat room.
 * klemj is now known as emma.
 * Meghan

Ah yes, the benefits not just in the collaborating stage, but in the programming and delivery - learning connected and possible assessments both classroom and library connected ||
 * julie

We could play around with the following as possible outcomes/rationale in the proposal thing: ‘educating the educator’ in the implementation of effective search strategies and the use of Web 2.0 tools. This will enable the teacher librarian to share her knowledge with others and be actively involved in the life-long process of learning she seeks to foster. Collaboration: information literacy states the importance of it being integrated into the delivery of curriculum units-= integration of information literacy skills with curriculum outcomes produces authentic academic achievement the ASLA Standard 2:2, collaboratively plan and resource curriculum programs which incorporate transferable information literacy and literature outcome aim of the teacher librarian is to produce life-long learners who can be their own gatekeepers of information ||
 * Louise

Sounds good. I think we are getting somewhere ||
 * katie

Do we want to target a specific state or age based group of teachers? (i.e HSC teachers, primary teachers working with the Qld curriculum, IB middle years teachers)? Or keep it broad and applicable to a wide range of contexts? ||
 * Meghan

Proposal template : we need Objective, Title, Intended Audience, Expected outcomes ||
 * julie

I wouldn't do State as the National Curriculum is coming in soon so it will look like we are behind the 8 ball ||
 * Louise

Who is where amongst us? I am teaching Year 1 in NSW. ||
 * julie

Library - NSW ||
 * emma

I teach the IB Middle Years Program, as well as HSC English (in Singapore but not in the Singapore educaiton system). ||
 * Meghan

Emma - primary I presume? ||
 * julie

I teach in a K-12 school. ||
 * Louise

Ah yes - primary ||
 * emma

I teach both secondary and primary ||
 * Louise

first year TL Orange NSW after being a Classroom teacher for 6 years. Primart ||
 * katie

Meghan what ages? ||
 * julie

primary ||
 * katie

years 7 and 11 (so 12 year olds and 17 year olds). ||
 * Meghan

So could we aim at upper primary? Does that allow everyone to draw on existing knowledge? ||
 * julie

a mixture of experiences amongst us ||
 * katie

Should we narrow our focus? ||
 * emma

big mix of experiences ||
 * Meghan

Upper primary suits me ||
 * katie

I've never taught/ been in a primary school, but I do know that years 6 and 7 - though the middle school in my context - are usually upper primary in many schools. I could wing it...? ||
 * Meghan

The info lit needs and skills are probably the same, no matter what label is on the gate outside the building! ||
 * Meghan

Is our audience then general classroom teachers, possibly specifically upper primary? Or are we aiming at 'leaders' i.e. principals, anyone who has control of funding. Though my schools staff development day this term was all about how all teachers are leaders... ||
 * julie

maybe our audience is high level govt who seem to not value TLs (reduced funding etc) ||
 * julie

I don't think we need to be specific about audience do we - it seems that the things we will focus on are applicable accross K-12. ||
 * emma

I think we should aim at teachers themselves. In my experience, it is not the school leadership who are active barriers to collaboration. It is suspicion or lack of understanding on the part of classroom teachers that mean collab doesn't happen ||
 * Meghan

we have to state audience on the proposal ||
 * julie

I think it shoud be teachers in gneral not a specific grade range ||
 * emma

so the expected outcomes of our (proposed) article is greater collaboration with TLs - or is it an understanding of the importance of TLs in collaborating? ||
 * julie

classroom teachers ||
 * katie

Let's get the proposal right then decide whether or not to narrow the focus to a particular age group. Collaboration is something that is fairly essential to all stages. Proposed title: 'To Infinity and Beyond - the mission of school library information services in the 21st century' Objective 4 - Be able to develop a mission statement and identify objectives/outcomes for the delivery of the school's information services. Intended audience: teachers Outcomes: play around with the following so they better suit our purpose are more specific ‘educating the educator’ in the implementation of effective search strategies and the use of Web 2.0 tools. This will enable the teacher librarian to share her knowledge with others and be actively involved in the life-long process of learning she seeks to foster. Collaboration: information literacy states the importance of it being integrated into the delivery of curriculum units-= integration of information literacy skills with curriculum outcomes produces authentic ||
 * Louise

I like understanding the importance then we can discuss info lit? ||
 * katie

Meghan, I agree about Classroom teachers not being receptive to collaboration - but doesn't it sometimes get back to funding (ie time off class to get together to do it) - or do we not concern ourselves with that (for this) ||
 * julie

Louise, sounds good. ||
 * julie

I agree - funding and school structures (like dedicated meeting time) are important factors. I didn't mean to play "blame the teacher"! Perhaps our article takes the line that we target classroom teachers anyway, by showing that no matter what release time they're given (heaps, none) the benefits of planning in this way are such that it is WORTH the effort (even if it is extra effort)? ||
 * Meghan

Louise you are efficient! ||
 * katie

Louise is fabulous! ||
 * Meghan

So, shall we send in the proposal and wait for Roy's feedback? It sounds like a decent plan, though of course we now need to find research etc to support out ideas. ||
 * Meghan

It is worth a try ||
 * katie

That sounds good Meghan. Given that our unit is The Teacher Librarian As Leader I guess the powers that be want us to show how we can be leaders in developing mission statements, getting a dialogue going with others, actively promoting our role in schools. Another proposed title: To infinity and beyond – working collaboratively to produce life long learners ||
 * Louise

Like that second title - slightly narrower focus (yes?) ||
 * julie

What if either we each write up the proposal and email it around for comment and adjustment or delegate someone to do it properly ||
 * Louise

sounds good ||
 * emma

Me too ||
 * katie

I can write it up if you guys want. ||
 * Meghan

Sounds good. We are also able to re-submit our proposal if it doesn't work out - not sure if that means because Roy rejects it and/or because we find it isn't working ||
 * julie

That way, we can have one version to comment on rather than five! ||
 * Meghan

Thanks Meghan, that would be great with me ||
 * julie

Thanks Meghan ||
 * katie

Thanks Meghan, that sounds great. ||
 * emma

Okay then - are we deciding to take what we have here and write it up using the proposal template - maybe on the wiki - and then combining what we have before we submit it? ||
 * Louise

Or Meghan does it and then we all edit/comment? ||
 * julie

Good idea Louise ||
 * katie

Can we all work on it at once on the wiki? is it easier if I make version one, and then use group feedback to amend it? ||
 * Meghan

Thank you Meghan for your offer. I think it would be a good idea to do it on wiki then everyone can have a look make suggestions for change {if they are needed at all} then we can submit to Roy? ||
 * Louise

One at a time on a wiki. ||
 * emma

Yes I agree ||
 * Louise

I think if you do it, on the wiki, we can jump in and add comments/ etc later. Wikis have a discussion page which is good for chatting like this, but formatting could be messy on a page if we are all in at once. ||
 * julie

Can you do footnotes on wiki or start a suggestion page? ||
 * Louise

You need to edit and save the page changes, then the next person can come along and edit. ||
 * emma

Okay, no worries. Wiki it is. To clarify, am I making version one? ||
 * Meghan

(excuse my heat-induced confusion - it is so HOT here!!) ||
 * Meghan

Each page has its own 'discussion tab' - you can post to that as we go. Am multi-tasking at the moment - have started a 'chat 1' page with the cut and paste of all of this... ||
 * julie

Yes I think so Meghan ||
 * katie

Okay well sounds like decision is for Meghan to write it up on wiki then for everyone else to have a look and use discussion page for any comments ||
 * Louise

Yes, I think so too, Meghan. ||
 * julie

Has everyone been able to 'manage the wiki' so that they get sent emails when things happen on it? Or do I need to make you all organisers rather than members on the wiki? Let me know if you want that to happen and can't find it and I will change your status. ||
 * julie

Okay, got it.I'll write up version one now, and then we can all edit etc. Should we make a deadline of, say, Tuesday evening at 10pm to make changes and then we can send it off to Roy? ||
 * Meghan

Yes - I agree with Meghan's deadline suggestion. ||
 * Louise

Me too ||
 * julie

I haven't tried to edit wiki yet but have easy access to it. ||
 * Louise

IT all sounds great to me girls. I think we are off to a solid start ||
 * katie

All good. Deadline works for me ||
 * emma

oops - road block. The proposal page on the wiki says "protected" and I am not able to edit it? ||
 * Meghan