Transformative Advocacy: The Teacher-Librarian’s Role in Elevating the Library Learning Commons (LLC) to the Heart of School Leadership Strategies
by Cynthia Duncalfe
This teacher-librarian, currently Curriculum Consultant at Heritage Christian Online School in British Columbia, details the importance of teacher-librarians collaborating with teachers, learning commons staff, leaders, and administrators at all levels to support achieving the school-wide goals. The author engages us in a reflective analysis of the Leading Learning standard, “Advancing the Learning Community to Achieve School Goals”. The appendix includes infographics of “Practical Tools for Teacher Librarians”.
Cynthia Duncalfe is a certified teacher-librarian who has been working as a curriculum consultant with the Learning Commons team at Heritage Christian Online School since early 2017. In addition to her role as a consultant, she coordinates in-person classes for a community of over one hundred K-9 home-educated students who meet weekly. Before this, she was the owner-operator of Cornerstone Learning Resources, Ltd. from 2005 to 2016, an educational resource retail store where she provided curriculum support to both teachers and parents. Currently, Cynthia is a candidate for the Graduate Diploma in Education at Queen’s University. She and her husband, Darren, have five children: three are married and living independently, while two still reside at home.
Hi Cynthia,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your paper. Your part about advocacy is a theme echoed in Wendy Burch Jones' paper. Make sure to read hers for an interesting comparison. I like when you say "Advocacy means cultivating partnerships with teachers, considering our shared goals and outcomes, and determining how to work together to achieve these things." (page 3) Your infographics are really impactful. Whom did you share these with? Which of these garnered the most attention and why? How do the ones you yourself created compare, in your opinion, with the pre-made ones that come from AASL and Scholastic? I'm relatively new to using infographics for my reports, but I find they are very useful for communicating quickly to those who don't have time to read lengthy reports.
Diana
Cynthia, immediately this phrase of yours is resonating with me: a transactional entity to a participatory learning hub. I am trying to accomplish this same thing in the instructional design projects that I'm working on in digital learning spaces. Although it might seem like a leap, I think you might find this document really interesting: Hurley, D. A., Kostelecky, S. R., & Townsend, L. (2022). Cultural humility. ALA Editions. It talks about how being actively vulnerable in the face of what we don't know through our lived experience can open up conversations about the changing role of libraries. It might lead to a whole new set of infographics regarding library purpose for you to explore. Thank you Cynthia!
ReplyDeleteThanks for including Keith Curry Lance's list of the things that TLs do that make a difference. It's tough to make decisions when your time is or library funding is reduced, but it is a list that could start the conversation with your principal and leadership team about which of these need to have the highest priority for the good of your students.
ReplyDelete