Information literacy is a key role of the Teacher Librarian. The TL aims to develop information literacy skills within school curriculum programs so it becomes a school wide skill that all students become accomplished at (Braxton, 2008). With the increase of digital resources, information literacy has become a vital learning skill (Herring, 2007), and not just an educational goal for students but a lifelong goal with the vast amount of information that surrounds them in their daily life (Langford, 1998). I like the term by Leronzo (2007) ‘information fluency’, to define what is information literacy. From a previous post on my blog I have said;
‘Information fluency’… is made up of information technology skills, information literacy skills, and critical thinking skills. To me I think these aspects encompass what I see as information literacy in the 21st century. It includes the elements of find, understand, apply and evaluate which includes ICT skills and higher order thinking. You cannot escape technology and the Internet in this present and future educational culture, so it has great presence in information literacy. High-order thinking is part of information literacy which includes student's ability to reflect on their own information literacy practices and their own learning. Searching, evaluating and synthesising skills, IT skills and critical thinking skills are what I think make up information literacy and what will make it successful for learners.
I see information literacy defined as the ability to access, evaluate, and use information from a variety of sources. The aim of information literacy I believe is for students is to gain control over the vast amount of information available to them (Langford, 1998).
Information literacy is a skill that I believe schools never place enough importance on. As a Teacher Librarian I understand that I need to be a leader in teaching students to become information literate, the skills to access, evaluate and use information. The role of the classroom teacher is to focus on subject content where a Teacher Librarian focuses on the skills of inquiry, problem solving and critical thinking (Church, 2011). From the course I have discovered that Teacher Librarians need to be actively involved with student learning and teachers’ professional development with information literacy so it is happening no just in the library but also in the classroom.
The course highlighted many different information literacy models such as the Big6 and the PLUS model. The information literacy model that I use as a Teacher Librarian is Guided Inquiry. I was able to attend a Syba Signs seminar with Dr Ross J Todd (2011) concerning 21st century libraries, Learning Commons and the guided inquiry model. Guided Inquiry is broken down into the following steps, initiation, selection, exploration, formulation, collection, presentation, evaluation. The inquiry based learning model is where the student takes ownership of their learning. Students, guided by their teachers, explore topics, ask questions, research, find solutions that can lead to action, and reflect on their own learning and research process. This approach has allowed students to achieve higher-order information literacy and critical thinking skills (Todd, 2011). Guided Inquiry allows for self-directed learning and therefore encourages the students to become independent learners. We have been using this model for a year 9 English project and have great success with students that are motivated and engaged in their chosen topics experiencing a greater depth of understanding and skills for lifelong learning.
Braxton, B (2008)
The teacher librarian as literacy leader. Teacher
Librarian, 35 (3), p. 22026
 |
| Guided Inquiry Model |
Church, A.P (2011)
School librarians as teacher leaders. The Delta
Kappa Gamma Bulletin, p. 10-12
Herring, J. E.
(2007). Teacher librarians in the school library. Libraries
in the twenty-first century
: charting new directions
in information services.
Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, Wagga
Wagga, NSW. ch.2, p. 27-42
Langford, L. (1998)
Information literacy: a clarification. School Libraries
Worldwide, 4 (1), p. 59-72
Lorenzo, G (2007)
Catalysts for Change:
Information Fluency, Web
2.0, Library 2.0, and
the New Education Culture.
Clarence Center, NY: Lorenzo Associates,
http://edpath.com/images/IFReport2.pdf
Todd, R. J (2011)
Guided Inquiry at work: insights from AIS research project. Syba
Signs
No comments:
Post a Comment