In my District we are currently working on a Teacher Librarian inquiry project in which all the TL’s in the District meet once per month to work together on their individual inquiry. Through these meetings we are working on exploration of our own topics but also on the larger question which is how we implement technology into the learning commons. This support network is the best one I can think of because it is made up of all of the Teacher Librarians from all levels (Elementary, Middle and High School) in our District. Therefore, each teacher is bringing forth a different but relevant perspective. Because this team of Teacher Librarians is so cohesive, it is clear that we are committed to our positions and roles in our schools. We also have a District Collaboration Hub where we can post questions, reflections or concerns, which creates a definite sense of community within our profession. Last month was my first meeting, and I left feeling very supported and excited to be a part of this group of Teacher Librarians, and I know that this will certainly be a big part of maintaining my explorations and development.
To connect with other Teacher Librarians, I feel that conferences are an excellent place to do so. Last year, I attended Jean Prevost’s presentation at the Tapestry Conference in Victoria on Teacher Librarian’s and Inquiry. This was an excellent opportunity for me to meet Teacher Librarians from other Districts and to talk to them about their roles which are surprisingly quite different depending on the District. The BCTLA, Teacher Librarian Conference will be held on Oct. 24, 2014 this year. I’ve heard that this is also an excellent place to connect and share learning. Philip Balcaen’s keynote presentation is available here. He spoke on “New Challenges for e-Learning environments: Pitfalls and Possibilities. http://bctf.ca/bctla/conference/2013/PhilipBalcaen.pdf
Through this course, I have been learning about how I can use Tech tools to continue to support my exploration and development. Twitter is an excellent tool to support collaboration with people that may be in a different country. Twitter promotes conversation on a variety of topics that are categorized based on hash tags. By searching relevant hash tags you can join conversations and find new people to follow. This is one avenue that I have started to explore and will continue to do so after this course.
This link gave me some good information on using hash tags and a list of hash tags that are focused on educational conversations.
http://www.teachthought.com/twitter-hashtags-for-teacher/
Some that I may use include:
#ntchat (fornewteachers)
#edchat
#elearning
#EdApps
Another interesting avenue that many educators are exploring are large, free online courses that are offered without credit in which you can do as much or as little as you would like in order to participate. When looking into it, I noticed websites such as https://www.coursera.org/ that offered these as options. One course that I found was called ICT in Education. At the end, you receive a certificate and it appears that the course is very relevant for primary teachers and teacher librarians. This looks fascinating and although I have 2 courses on the go
right now, this may be something I will look to in the future.
Here is a video outlining the ICT course and children using technology:
ICT in Primary Education
Resources:
ICT in Education. Accessed from: https://www.coursera.org/course/ictinprimary
BC Teacher Librarians Conference 2013. Key Note Speaker Presentation. Accessed from: http://bctf.ca/bctla/conference/2013/PhilipBalcaen.pdf
The Complete Guide to Twitter Hashtags in Education. Accessed from: http://www.teachthought.com/twitter-hashtags-for-teacher/
Great post Melissa. You might also want to check out the #tlchat on Twitter. The ICT in Primary Education course looks really interesting, I might follow your lead and try to do it when I’m done these two courses.
Thanks for the suggestion Leslie!
Good stuff! Your personal explorations and developing your own PLN are coming along very nicely! So happy to be involved with the Saanich inquiry group, as its a wonderful opportunity that not many TLs have! Good job on collecting some useful twitter chats and other resources!
I find meeting with my TL group really helpful also. We are just now moving toward the concept of a learning commons style so it’s still quite new for all of us.
This is where we are as well. Many of the high schools and middle schools have transitioned now, which makes our discussion very strong since many of our TLs are speaking from experience. Next year, the transition for elementary schools will be happening. It will be nice to have suggestions from our group as we work towards this process.