Key Issues in Budget Management facing TLs

In "Resourcing the Curriculum" Module 5, we were asked what we believe are the key issues in budget management facing TLs. Here are some of the thoughts that have come up from my reading:

• Understand how the budget is funded
• Create and submit a budget, even if it is not requested.
• Assess your needs. Prioritise, brainstorm, make it happen!
• Create a strong, out-come driven rationale
• Include goals, be specific, use needs assessments.
• Include others in the budgeting process - an advisory group (students/teachers/admin/parents)

After reading about budgeting I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Not so much at the thought of budgeting but as I find out more and more what is expected of a TL. Having worked for a couple of terms as an acting TL I thought I had a fairly realistic idea of what they did, but since starting uni, I have been regularly surprised at the extent of the TLs role. More than once I have thought "Is this what I really want to do? Am I going to be able to do all this?" I think it is just that feeling of being overwhelmed. I force myself to remember that in a new job, new position, it always takes time to find your feet and learn about the job, and that no one would expect you to know everything straight away. I am still a little nervous though!

Best Books of 2011

Check out NetGalley's Best Books of 2011 page. NetGalley has brought together "best book" lists from various publishers such as the New York Times, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Thanks Jennifer for this link.

NetGalley is itself a useful website for TLs. Once you sign up (it's free), you can use NetGalley to read, request and review titles before they are published.

Critical Reflection EER500 - Assignment 1

Well if I'm writing a critical reflection for one assignment, I might as well do it for another.

Assignment one for EER500 - Introduction to educational research, was different to any other assignment I've had to do. First of all, it was divided into parts 1a and 1b. Our course work also centred around this assignment. (It was so great not to have to keep following course work while also trying to complete an assignment - all lecturers take note!) We had to select a media article to do with an area of interest. Find 2 to 3 journal articles/studies about the area of interest in the media article. Formulate a research question (based on our module readings) and write about how the research question was related to the literature. Next we had to publish our writing onto a wiki.

For part b of the assignment, we had to read all the wiki posts in our section. Select one relevant to us professionally/personally (as well as our own), and read all the articles to familiarise ourselves with the area. Next with reference to our text and other readings we had to identify and comment on strengths and areas for improvement of the draft research question and the statement of how the question related to the literature, and the practical importance of the research question. Whewww! It took me a while to work out (from the forum posts and assignment info) that what we were doing was a type of critical evaluation (in a positive sense) of our own and the other wiki post and to back up any of our comments with references. Thinking of it like that made it a little easier for me to understand how to go about it.

I read alot about formulating research papers and research questions and literature reviews, and eventually managed to work out what was a good research question and how to effectively connect it to the literature. This whole process was a bit unerving for me because the assignment guidelines seemed to be so broad. Tell me to write a critical analysis on an author's view on a certain subject and I'll have no problems but in this assignment it felt like there was so much we had to work out for ourselves (like what is a good research question and so on). I find open-ended stuff so much harder to deal with, probably because I doubt my own abilities so much.

There was so much that I learnt from this assignment though. Like how most research reports give you ideas for further research if you know where to look and how the research question shapes the whole research process so you really have to get it right! The fact that researchers constantly revise their questions and research design. I'm finding that a bit hard to get used to.

ETL503 Assignment 1: Critical Reflection

The first assignment for ETL503 focused on identifying an aspect of the curriculum not adequately resourced by the school library, and then finding 10 new resources for this area. Simple enough, I though initially. It didn't take me long to identify an area of the curriculum where resources were lacking. Halfway through the year I had to teach a unit of work on Darwin and the theory of evolution for a teacher on leave. The textbook work was boring so I went to the library only to find there was nothing suitable. I still had my copy of the program so I used that. Next step - find 10 new resources - not a problem. I went online, hunted around Tale and some of the usual places. Easy! Then I re-read the assignment, read a few forum posts and went OMG! There was a process to follow and it was actually the process that was more important for this assignment than the end product. Didn't that change things! I think I was relying more on my experience with the curriculum and the students to find resources, which is probably fine when you know that aspect of the curriculum well, but what if you don't. That was something I hadn't considered.

And what is the process for resourcing the curriculum? This how I think it goes :

1. Identify an aspect of the curriculum (which is not well resourced);
2. Look at the teaching/learning program and/or syllabus. Identify outcomes.
3. Consider the teachers who teach this and the students they teach? Do they have any particular needs?
4. How do the current resources fit in with all this? What aspects are not covered by the current resources?
5. Choose and use various selection tools to find suitable resources.
6. Describe and justify the potential acquisition of these resources.

I think I was doing steps 1-5 already but without really thinking about it. With this assignment, we had to break the process down into individual parts so that we go to understand how the process worked. When I was acting TL earlier in the year, I didn't have to justify any resources the library acquired to anyone. Upon completing this assignment, I realise that no matter how well you "know" an aspect of the curriculum, if you can't explain how a resource fits into the program or how it fulfils a need, what good is it? It simply wont be used if it is not useful. As a teacher, I know that I wouldn't use a resource if I couldn't see how it fit into my program.

Looking back, I found reviewing the subject's syllabus very helpful because it gave me more than just outcomes to consider. The school program only gave me a small view of the aspect of the curriculum I had chosen to resource, whereas the syllabus showed me where it fit in the broader picture. I could consider values and attitudes outcomes, as well as skills and knowledge outcomes.

Next assignment, I plan to read the question a lot more carefully.

Critical Reflection

Shortly after submitting our first assignment for ETL503 - Resourcing the curriculum, we received a post assignment podcast from our supervisor, encouraging us to write a short critical reflection on the assignment/assignment process in preparation for ETL507 Reflective portfolio. When we had to write a critical reflection for ETL 401 I found it quite difficult because even though I had started writing this blog, I hadnt done much "reflective" writing at all. When I found out that in ETL 507 we will need to do a reflective portfolio I nearly fell over. Wouldn't it be useful to know right from the beginning that we should continue to write reflectively to assist with writing our reflective portfolio? Perhaps we were told that but if we were, I don't think it was said clearly enough. And what exactly is reflective writing? I found I had to do a little research for myself to really understand it. Anyway, I have come up with a bit of info about reflective writing and a handful of questions that will hopefully encourage it. If you are a Teacher Librarian student at CSU in particular, you may find this useful.

What is critical reflection and why should we do it?
Reflective writing enables the documentation of experiences, thoughts, questions. ideas and conclusions that signpost our learning journey ( see here). Basically, reflection provides an opportunity for us to think critically about what we do and why, so that change and improvement can result. By keeping some sort of reflective journal (ie a blog), we are keeping a record of events and results and our reaction to them, we are keeping data (useful for ETL507), and we are providing an opportunity to challenge and change ourselves.

Some ideas for getting started. (This is the hardest part for me).

• USE AN AGENDA: Describe the context. In our TL course, what is the issue/assignment? Where does it fit in the big picture? What are my assumptions? What could I do differently next time?
• FOCUS ON THE EXPERIENCE AND THINK (NOT ALOUD) IN WRITING: Take something you have read in the literature, or something that has occurred as part of the activity and think about the following - how does this connect with an aspect of my practice as a TL? What are the teaching and learning principles involved? What could I change in relation to this? What would happen if I did? Is there another way of looking at it?
• TAKING STOCK OF MY LEARING:What is the most important think I have learnt about the practice of a TL? What is the most important thing I have learnt about myself as a student? In what ways was I mistaken? How can I use this to improve as a TL/as a student?

Or put even more simply -

1. How do I feel about this?
2. What do I think about this?
3. What have I learned from this?
4. What action will I take as a result of my lessons learned?

Also, what have I learned with what I've done, and what have I done with what I've learned? (Shepherd, 2006)

I wonder how many students from last semesters ETL401 class have continued with their blogs, and if they have, how many are actually writing reflectively (instead of just descriptively)?

Reference
Shepherd, M. 2006. Using a learning journal to improve professional practice: A
journey of personal and professional self-discovery. Reflective Practice 7:333–48.

Christmas at the library!

With Christmas rapidly approaching I thought I would post some library-related Christmas pictures. Enjoy!

Resource Selection

So here I am up quite late working on an assignment for ETL503, Resourcing the curriculum. For me, this assignment has been more frustrating than others. For part of it we have to select 10 resources for an aspect of the curriculum (which we have chosen) that is not currently well resourced. Easy enough, you say, but we have to use "selection tools" to find these resources. We are being judged on the selection process, more so than the end result. I can understand why we need to do it, but it still annoys me that I have to write all the other stuff up. It's just one of those things we have to do, I suppose.

My chosen aspect of the curriculum is the area of the science syllabus to do with Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution. When I had to teach this topic while another teacher was on leave, I was very frustrated by the lack of current resources the school had and what they did have was way too heavy for the class of very average kids. I have found some amazing resources on The Teaching and Learning Exchange (TALE) (only available to NSW DET staff) that I wish I had access to when I was teaching the class. Some other sites I have found good stuff on were:

• School Library Directory selection tools page



• Commonsense Media Reviews



• Surfing the Net with Kids
  

I have also recently created a separate page on the portal for weeding and selecting which has a number of links to various useful selection tools.

I have so much to do before Christmas so I am really looking forward to finishing this assignment! Do you think it would help if I got to bed a bit earlier?

The Finnish Education System

I have always wondered why the Australian Government usually looks to the American school system when there are so many better ones out there. Take a look at this.

Announcing the 2011 Winners – Congrats to All!

Announcing the 2011 Winners – Congrats to All!

Click on the above link to see all the 2011 Edublog Blog winners. I am amazed at what teachers, librarians, students and others from school communities are blogging about.

Busy! Busy! Busy!

It's that time of year again! So why on earth did I sign up to do two subjects this semester? The next two weeks are going to be a blur for me as I try to complete two assignments - one due Tuesday night - midnight, and the other due next Monday night midnight. I may not have much chance to blog between now and then but after that...hopefully.

Over the last few years particularly I've become very aware of how different people view Christmas and I wonder if it's because of our experiences of Christmas growing up? I'm a bit of a "bah-humbug" kind of person (which I put down to the Christmas's we had as kids and the not-so-joyful family get-togethers we had). Another good friend of mine (who is single with no kids) gets right into the spirit and decorates her house right down to Christmassy toilet paper. She bakes and makes home made gifts for her family. I try hard every year to get into the spirit for the sake of my own children who I dearly want to grow up looking forward to Christmas and the usual family festivities, but sometimes it is difficult to go against the grain.

So how will you celebrate Christmas this year? From when the kids were little my husband and I made a decision that every Christmas day will be spent at our house so the kids can enjoy their gifts and we can wind down. We will happily visit rellies the day before or the day after but Christmas day is ours. It's truely one of the best things we have ever done and so many of my friends are jealous as they troop of to long family lunches with in-laws they would rather not spend so much time with. It is only occasionally that we invite family over Christmas day,as well, to avoid being lumped with lunch preparations. People say Christmas is about family - it is - but it does have to be with ALL of them at once!

In and around Christmas this year I'll be studying and working but I dont mind. It will keep my mind off the other stresses that usually try to find me this time of year!