The learning and teaching context
Beginning this unit with this topic has reinforced to me the ideas of what the focus of teacher-librarianship should be – and that is teaching and learning.
However, I am not sure that information provider is the most fitting term for this role. Information specialist is perhaps better, but my favourite role description for teacher-librarian is teacher.
Some interesting points were made in the first chapter of Herring’s (2011) text the most pressing of which I think is the conflict between the concepts of the purpose of education and the purpose of school. These are important as depending on which is in focus the question of ‘what is learning?’ can have different answers.
I agree with the point that 21st century teaching needs to be based on a constructivist model and think that the main aim of this should be as Herring (2011) says to encourage, foster and develop information literacy in students. With the myriad of information sources available to young people today, and the multiple stimuli they are constantly in contact with, it seems to me that engaging them, through their own knowledge and interests, is the only way to go. It is key that teaching has a “clear focus on what students learn, how they learn and what teaching strategies will be most effective” (p.11) and that teacher-librarians have the same.
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