The following ppt presentation by Bronwen Parsons from the 2009 SLAV conference can be retrieved from Bright Ideas blog section on the "Global teacher" It demonstrates a great example of collection development to upgrade the Belmont High School library.
It's worth a look.
Resourcing for the future: constant renewal through collection development. A conference presentation by Bronwen Parsons
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Resolutions for 2010
Having read back over my assignments and the marker's comments, I resolved to find more information regarding critical evaluation and writing annotated bibliographies.
I will read more widely,visit other local libraries and organise regular access to journals etc. My personal goals are to improve my typing and ICT skills and to keep up with professional awareness of uses for web 2.0 technologies and networks, I have subscribed to Bright Ideas -Slav blog. I need to organise my time to include exploration of these new resources i.e walls, wordle,prezi, twitter etc.to develop working knowledge with them and to blog more often!
I must admit I really needed a summer break and it gave me time to reflect on my
learning and my goals for the future. It also gave me time to read for pleasure, I decided to read a mixture of student novels and adult literature. I read the classic Bryce Courtney novel "The Power Of One" which could be used with upper primary school students to foster critical thinking about bullying, racism and social issues. It could also provide insight into the human ability to face adversity, to rise above it and focus on personal goals. Morris Gleitzman's "Then" is a serious novel that tells a tragic tale of World War 11 experiences from children's perspective. I would be reluctant to use it with primary school students because of the gravity of the subject. But,I would like to read the previous novel and more of Gleitzman's more recent work. Currently I am reading "The Book Thief" and despite the bleak environment and the harshness of the story, I am enjoying the author's unusual expressions of language, it's format and it's use of illiteration. Right now,I need to hurry up and finish it so that I can get into the reams of reading that we need to do for this course!
I will read more widely,visit other local libraries and organise regular access to journals etc. My personal goals are to improve my typing and ICT skills and to keep up with professional awareness of uses for web 2.0 technologies and networks, I have subscribed to Bright Ideas -Slav blog. I need to organise my time to include exploration of these new resources i.e walls, wordle,prezi, twitter etc.to develop working knowledge with them and to blog more often!
I must admit I really needed a summer break and it gave me time to reflect on my
learning and my goals for the future. It also gave me time to read for pleasure, I decided to read a mixture of student novels and adult literature. I read the classic Bryce Courtney novel "The Power Of One" which could be used with upper primary school students to foster critical thinking about bullying, racism and social issues. It could also provide insight into the human ability to face adversity, to rise above it and focus on personal goals. Morris Gleitzman's "Then" is a serious novel that tells a tragic tale of World War 11 experiences from children's perspective. I would be reluctant to use it with primary school students because of the gravity of the subject. But,I would like to read the previous novel and more of Gleitzman's more recent work. Currently I am reading "The Book Thief" and despite the bleak environment and the harshness of the story, I am enjoying the author's unusual expressions of language, it's format and it's use of illiteration. Right now,I need to hurry up and finish it so that I can get into the reams of reading that we need to do for this course!
Hindsight on 2009
When I look back I now realize what a huge year it was- my son turned 18, my daughter's 2ist birthday was a major event to deal with whilst my husband and son were overseas. As well as returning to study after 22 years, I had a major health scare,and I went overseas with my mum to New York for nine days then returned to face the medical dramas. Nevertheless,I lived through it all and managed to pass the three subjects. Of the three subjects,I enjoyed "Information environment" the best because it was so practical and relevant. I loved making my own "mywiki', I learned so much through the process and got some great feedback for it. However it was a mistake to do it on the school website because James could not get access to it!. I will now have to try to recreate it on wikispaces so that I can re-use it with students and include the link on my eportfolio.Despite really looking forward to "TL as a Leader",I was disappointed in this subject. I found the assignment outlines ambiguous therefore they were difficult to complete and I got poor results. The group assignment was difficult to coordinate with everyone's various commitments, however I was lucky that I had a good group to work with and I learned and benefited from the professional imput of others. It was great to actually use skype ,google docs, wikis, chat lines etc. in a meaningful way, to learn by doing. It gave me more confidence and belief in my abiltiy to use web 2.0 technologies.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Communication and Conflict Resolution
The management of any groups of people and maintenance of relationships are two of the greatest challenges faced by all of us in our personal lives and at work. Communication and conflict resolution are crucial factors in successful relationships. Savages article explores definitions and notes that "communication is an exceedingly complex process in which people, behaviour and objects transmit information, ideas and attitudes' He discusses some significant factors such as interpretation,various means of personal and media communication,types of intentional and unintentional and two way communication. This article gives an administrator some tips and strategies to use when dealing with rumors and mass communication. It outlines 16 generalisations, in relation to school communities, that leaders need to be aware of and they provide food for thought for a TL.
Mackay advocates resolving conflict through listening and details a method based on reflective listening. He notes that there are two conditions that need to be present for any hope of resolving conflict:-that both parties want a resolution and that both of them must be prepared to compromise. The reflective method involves a great deal of discipline and time, however I think this article provides some important points that we can all draw on to assist us in times of conflict or to prevent issues escalating to difficult problems with the people in our lives.
Mackay advocates resolving conflict through listening and details a method based on reflective listening. He notes that there are two conditions that need to be present for any hope of resolving conflict:-that both parties want a resolution and that both of them must be prepared to compromise. The reflective method involves a great deal of discipline and time, however I think this article provides some important points that we can all draw on to assist us in times of conflict or to prevent issues escalating to difficult problems with the people in our lives.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Life on the run and catching up.....
My life from late August to early September has been very busy with a school concert book fair,two assignments,new technology to learn and endless readings.So I will review the readings that have made an impact on me in a brief summary.In Beck and Yeager's article,'Making teams Work",the attributes of a high performing team are worth noting: - high involvement by leader -present most of the time and supportive. The leader sets high expectations, presented 'the assignment as a challenge...and an opportunity for each team member to stretch, learn and take risks." Team adopts a can do attitude.Members focus on the team's mission and their role in achieving it."The communication channels were wide open..people got information quickly, problems surfaced rapidly and there was lots of problem solving when the effort hit a snag".They found ways to develop team spirit and often had a lot of fun.(Beck&Yeager,1994,p.87)They discuss different leadership styles to use at various stages in team development which could be useful for a TL to consider when building a team of staff in a library/school.
Cheng explores models of leadership styles and strategies "in a new era of globalization,information technology and knowledge based economy, educational leadrs play a key role as transformational leaders.' Group members can lead different aspects of the institutions functions and influence members...through their managerial behaviours, charisma,vision and inspiration.
"Leaders should play the role of resource developer and distributor.They clarify the connections between inputs and outputs and determine what resources are critical to the institutions survival and development."Cheng outlines a five dimensional model of leadership- a framework for strategic management in education.
Cheng explores models of leadership styles and strategies "in a new era of globalization,information technology and knowledge based economy, educational leadrs play a key role as transformational leaders.' Group members can lead different aspects of the institutions functions and influence members...through their managerial behaviours, charisma,vision and inspiration.
"Leaders should play the role of resource developer and distributor.They clarify the connections between inputs and outputs and determine what resources are critical to the institutions survival and development."Cheng outlines a five dimensional model of leadership- a framework for strategic management in education.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Last week in retrospect...
I feel as if I am on a steep learning curve as far as all this new interactive technology is concerned! As part of the group assignment,we initially used the wiki, group email and announcements to communicate, however the chat line was too slow and frustrating. Then we chose to use skype to chat to one another and goole docs to view and edit the outline that I created as a starting point.
At first I felt it difficult to get my head around the topic and unsure about how we could exchange and clarify our ideas to formulate a unified response. I was also worrying that I was spending too much time learning these new programs,and getting behind with all those readings! It reminded me of Tuckman's team development model
(1965 p.75)-formimg, storming,norming,performing,adjourning.
To relieve my "storming" emotions,I chose to just write down my ideas and send them to the others for discussion at our skype conference. This worked well, Tareena is a speed typist so she was happy to type our responses and edit as we worked through the draft and the conversation seemed to flow naturally from there. We were able to formulate some structure and headings for the article that we could all add to as we read and gathered information independently(mid week).
This experience of working collaboratively correlates well with the readings regarding 'groups' and 'teams' which Law and Glover refer to as 'terms...to describe individuals cooperating to achieve a given task." They state a "team is predominantly used when a group is deliberatly constructed and there is a clear focus on its processes and level of performance". This article stimulates reflection on leading teams and the tables 5.1 -5.4 could provide self evaluation criteria.
At first I felt it difficult to get my head around the topic and unsure about how we could exchange and clarify our ideas to formulate a unified response. I was also worrying that I was spending too much time learning these new programs,and getting behind with all those readings! It reminded me of Tuckman's team development model
(1965 p.75)-formimg, storming,norming,performing,adjourning.
To relieve my "storming" emotions,I chose to just write down my ideas and send them to the others for discussion at our skype conference. This worked well, Tareena is a speed typist so she was happy to type our responses and edit as we worked through the draft and the conversation seemed to flow naturally from there. We were able to formulate some structure and headings for the article that we could all add to as we read and gathered information independently(mid week).
This experience of working collaboratively correlates well with the readings regarding 'groups' and 'teams' which Law and Glover refer to as 'terms...to describe individuals cooperating to achieve a given task." They state a "team is predominantly used when a group is deliberatly constructed and there is a clear focus on its processes and level of performance". This article stimulates reflection on leading teams and the tables 5.1 -5.4 could provide self evaluation criteria.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Quality management ,Library leadership
I felt the "Myron Tribus article re Quality Management in Education" had a some good points that are applicable to library leadership: -best definition to my mind
" Quality management is a different way to organize the efforts of people. The objective is to harmonize their efforts in such a way that not only do people approach their assigned tasks with enthusiasm, but they also participate in the improvement of how the work gets done.Quality management introduces a significant change in the relationship between those who manage and those who actually do the work." These points are taken from Ed Baker's comparison:-
'exercise managerial leadership through participative management in carrying out their roles as mentors, facilitators,innovators,etc.'
"people are active contributors, valued for their creativity and intelligence"."
' problems will be prevented and improvement will be promoted when people understand where they fit in and have the knowledge to maximize the contribution to the whole...create the environment that nurtures a team oriented culture that can prevent problems and continually improve"
This definition is more applicable to resource management - "quality is defined in a positive sense as products and services beyond present needs and expectations of customers. Innovation is required.External change is inevitable ,but a favorable future can be shaped"
Deming provides more specific links to education: - "Quality in education is what makes learning a pleasure and a joy ... It takes quality experience to create am independent learner" in relation to teachers he writes under quality management the objective is to seek to find a better way .... everyone in the system is expected, invited and trained to participate in the improvement process." S. Covey expresses this as "the teachers are not only responsible for continuous improvement, they are helped to become response -able"
"Students definition of a quality experience has to be found through discussion and negotiation.' - David Langford reports 'once the students understand and accept what it means to do quality work, they learn with such speed and effectiveness, that they more than make up for the time spent in defining a quality experience."
Like Fullan,Deming suggests a manager needs to establish a constancy of purpose -it means to establish a sense of purpose which appeals to all members ...and which provides them with a basis for decision making and taking actions." i.e asks students "what are you trying to do? 'What does it mean to you to do it well? What does the teacher have to do so you can do it well? How will we know if we re doing it well together?
He also advocates that a leader of change needs to understand some of the dynamics involved in changing people's paradigms and that the leader needs to devise a strategy which includes: -
1. develop awareness why it is necessary to change.
2.establishment of goals and objectives for change
3.share broad understanding of what the change entails
4. set of first steps
Finally the article shows some figures and tools that could be used to facilitate staff discussions and st/teacher evaluations.
" Quality management is a different way to organize the efforts of people. The objective is to harmonize their efforts in such a way that not only do people approach their assigned tasks with enthusiasm, but they also participate in the improvement of how the work gets done.Quality management introduces a significant change in the relationship between those who manage and those who actually do the work." These points are taken from Ed Baker's comparison:-
'exercise managerial leadership through participative management in carrying out their roles as mentors, facilitators,innovators,etc.'
"people are active contributors, valued for their creativity and intelligence"."
' problems will be prevented and improvement will be promoted when people understand where they fit in and have the knowledge to maximize the contribution to the whole...create the environment that nurtures a team oriented culture that can prevent problems and continually improve"
This definition is more applicable to resource management - "quality is defined in a positive sense as products and services beyond present needs and expectations of customers. Innovation is required.External change is inevitable ,but a favorable future can be shaped"
Deming provides more specific links to education: - "Quality in education is what makes learning a pleasure and a joy ... It takes quality experience to create am independent learner" in relation to teachers he writes under quality management the objective is to seek to find a better way .... everyone in the system is expected, invited and trained to participate in the improvement process." S. Covey expresses this as "the teachers are not only responsible for continuous improvement, they are helped to become response -able"
"Students definition of a quality experience has to be found through discussion and negotiation.' - David Langford reports 'once the students understand and accept what it means to do quality work, they learn with such speed and effectiveness, that they more than make up for the time spent in defining a quality experience."
Like Fullan,Deming suggests a manager needs to establish a constancy of purpose -it means to establish a sense of purpose which appeals to all members ...and which provides them with a basis for decision making and taking actions." i.e asks students "what are you trying to do? 'What does it mean to you to do it well? What does the teacher have to do so you can do it well? How will we know if we re doing it well together?
He also advocates that a leader of change needs to understand some of the dynamics involved in changing people's paradigms and that the leader needs to devise a strategy which includes: -
1. develop awareness why it is necessary to change.
2.establishment of goals and objectives for change
3.share broad understanding of what the change entails
4. set of first steps
Finally the article shows some figures and tools that could be used to facilitate staff discussions and st/teacher evaluations.
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