Decades of Data: Accountability and Impact with Annual Reports
by Diana Maliszewski
The author, an Ontario teacher-librarian and new Canadian School Libraries (CSL) Board Director, in a longitudinal study examines the impact of school library learning commons data collection and reporting over two decades in the same school. Despite ongoing challenges over time, the reflective conclusion demonstrates key personal and professional learnings on the importance of accountability in practice. Appendixes include a data collection tool “Exit Ticket on Library Collaboration” and copies of annual reports prepared in 2004/2005 and 2023/2024 where readers can further study changes that occurred.
Diana Maliszewski, OCT BA BEd MEd is the teacher-librarian at Agnes Macphail Public School in the Toronto District School Board and has worked as a school library professional for over twenty-five years. From 2006 – 2018, she was the editor-in-chief of The Teaching Librarian, the official publication of the Ontario School Library Association. Currently, she is the co-Vice President of the Association for Media Literacy and Canada’s representative with the North American and European chapter of UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy Alliance. Diana developed and still facilitates the Teacher Librarianship Additional Qualification courses for York University and Queen’s University. Diana has been honoured with several awards, such as the Follett International Teacher-Librarian of the Year in 2008 and the OLA President’s Award for Exceptional Achievement in 2013. She blogs weekly as part of her reflective professional practice at
mondaymollymusings.blogspot.com.
Diana, Once again the vulnerability you display transparently is remarkable, and invites so many conversations. It's no wonder that you're a mentor to so many of us in the school library field! I really like how you describe in detail about why there are highs and lows in the data. If there is 1 more thing I would ask for in this paper it would be: Recommendations. Let's say you only have .33 library but still want to capture data. Which of the many methods you've tried would you say: start here? Would you base that response on its persuasive prowess or ease of management? I wonder if we return to the parts of Leading Learning, where Collaboration is described in growth stages as a scale from Exploring to Leading, how you would qualify some of your experiences? If you had to say: "These are the best examples of the impact of my school library work" -- which ones would you choose? I am conscious of the burnout factors now in work that never meets it's ideal, and yet the scratching and sifting stages are significant too. Thank you for showing us what a long career in library leadership looks like.
ReplyDeleteAlanna,
DeleteThanks for asking some really tough questions! I may have to return to your comment as I digest and process. I can't remember if I mentioned that at my school, I have always been a 0.50 teacher-librarian (and right now, I think I'm technically a 0.37 TL with 0.13 guidance and 0.5 ESL?). My initial response is that simple things like infographics and photographs give the quickest impact. People like Jonelle St. Aubyn and Beth Lyons have done some amazing things to make their annual reports engaging and reader-friendly. On Leading Learning, I'm all over the scale! I'll get back to you on "best examples".
Diana
Diana,
ReplyDeleteYou know how much I love a year end report!! It’s probably one of the things I miss the most (silly-I know) from being the TL role. I think I have replaced it with my constant revamping and rethinking of pedagogical documentation through reading and working with Angela Stockman. When I was creating year end reports I felt it was important that it not only be visually appealing but able to be easily understood at a glance. Admin are busy people and your “elevator pitch” for funding and resources usually needed to be quick and to the point, I felt that year end reports are the same. I’m wondering now what I might change knowing what I know now and what I’ve been trying in my kindergarten class- layering quotes from students on top of the photos of their play/learning and more recently, using AI to help me keep more detailed notes. Excited to chat in person.
I love year-end reports too (my testimonial file--just for me as a teacher and teacher-librarian, for reading on days when things didn't go right-- and my annual report as a faculty member--reviewed by the whole faculty, but helping me have empathy for new faculty preparing their first report)! Telling stories of our failures is important too--as a department chair, when I met with our teacher ed students just before they went out on their first practicum, I always told the story of how I hated my first practicum but still ended up loving teaching every year of my 40+ year career!
ReplyDeleteDianne, you are dredging up some long-ago memories for me! (In my final year of my BEd, I cried after one of my observations, because during my lesson, one student slapped another in the face! I thought "I'm doomed; I'll never get a teaching job!". My classroom management improved and I did get hired - although there are always those challenging groups that make you worry that you aren't good enough.)
DeleteThanks for reminding us about those "testimonial files" too, Dianne. We can always put a positive spin on some of those annual reports (like the years where I had no collaboration time at all) but we secretly know how we feel about the years where we don't feel we accomplish nearly enough. The testimonial files are the reminders we need, even if they aren't published.
Diana
A very interesting look at the role of our own documentation, reflection and assessment. I wonder how or if this ties into your inquiry of Canadian school library research and scholarship. So much mutually beneficial information contained in these local documents! I have found over the years that I tend to produce 2 reports: 1 for myself, 1 for my school admin. The one for myself is more detailed and traditional, and the one for admin very brief, accessible, using primarily visual imagery. I am interested in thinking about these as historical documents that show a long arc over time of the school library landscape more broadly. Thanks again, Diana!
ReplyDeleteAnnette, thank you for your comments. My reports tend to be three-fold (the traditional, detailed, statistics-rich multi-page document / the photo scrapbook / the infographic) and for both (thanks to those catered lunches). Actually, there is a 4th that's a wider and narrower audience - my blog. You've inspired me to pack and bring to TMC a couple of my printed blog copies (those are definitely just for me). It really is fascinating to examine all of these, especially over time.
DeleteDiana