Roles and Goals

By the time I finish up the T-L Diploma program, it will have taken me six years. I joke that I am completing the slowest Diploma ever. But, there is something to be said for being the proverbial slow and steady tortoise! Several of my courses have devoted a module to the "Role of the Teacher-Librarian," and I have had the chance to come back to that question along different points in my professional development, and in my life. I've been able to collect some favourite tropes along the way. And, I've been able to appreciate how their meaning shifts when I go back to them at a different stage of the journey. 

Favourite Trope #1: The Remixer

I first watched this video pre-Covid. Ray's discussion of advocacy was helpful then, but it rings even more true now. This year, with staff shortages and the time in our T-L schedules really shrinking, I appreciate my supportive admin that endorses my Pro-D, and I make sure I communicate with them about this learning and its benefit to our school. The example of T-L Tracy Chen, who "remixes" her space and program (6:15 on), always adaptable and responsive, is a great fit for our planning around reference resources. 

Favourite Trope #2: "Inquiry Superhero"

This infographic has stuck with me more as something to strive for. I still consider myself very much a newbie about how to run a library (especially having always been the smaller partner in a job-share). Casting myself as a high-flying hero is a stretch. But, it is important to own the power in our space and role, when it comes to student agency. Information literacy is certainly part of this, when we "Help learners understand the library space and empower them in it."

Favourite Trope #3: Grandma of the School

This may be the unlikeliest, but it is the trope that guides me the most - and the one that has evolved the most for me, too. On one of my very first days of teaching, I ate lunch with the school's T-L who shared with me her joy in being the "grandma of the school." Kids love coming to see her every week, to share stories and belonging. This sounded great to me, and still does. But, with more reading and experience, I now see how important it is to qualify this image. We have to be careful with the Grandma trope! We don't want to take on the bun/spectacles and shushing Mark Ray mentions above - or worse, seem content to be a babysitter rather than the robust program of learning that we are. I choose to invoke a grandma like the one in this illustration from Xelena Gonzales's Where Wonder Grows: someone who makes space for kids to wonder and explore. She brings her beloved kids to her special garden, where they feel their place in the vast and wondrous world. She lays out their blanket, sits with them, shares what she has learned, and carries on learning together. Here is a model that I feel connects profoundly with our theme of "Reference Resources."

Now, that is a lot about "Roles" - what about "Goals"? Our Lesson 7 asks "what goals do we have for our school library's reference services?" I found it reasonable enough to look at our current setup and identify a step to hopefully improve it. I plan to make digital resources more visible in our library and school, and I'm confident this will boost excitement and engagement with users. But this is one initiative, and not a big picture vision. It is a start, from which we'll need to assess, reflect, and build further. We'll need to gather input from teachers: is this shift supporting information literacy in our school? What else can we do? This tortoise is going to need some time to keep evolving my idea of what a powerful reference service looks like, for us, in our Elementary LLC. 

Works Cited

Balaban, Samantha. "Grandma's garden of magical rocks is 'Where Wonder Grows.'" 2022. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/2022/02/12/1079832241/where-wonder-grows-book. 

Library of Congress. "The Hare & The Tortoise." Retrieved from: https://read.gov/aesop/025.html. 

Mackenzie, Trevor. "How Your Teacher-Librarian Can Be An Ally When Teaching With Inquiry." 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/53417/how-your-teacher-librarian-can-be-an-ally-when-teaching-with-inquiry. 

Ray, Mark. "Changing the Conversation about Librarians." 2016. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IniFUB7worY.