‘‘
One of many things I have been focusing on over the last few years is a school librarian’s own understanding of their role.
INSIGHT
School libraries
Reflecting on the last year I
T is the morning after the night before and a morning of contemplation following on from my first ever Keynote presentation. I spoke to over 160 delegates attending the Australian School Library Association Conference #keystolearning2021. My talk was called Thinking and Acting in a Global Village – A Story in Three Parts, and because they were in Australia I started my presentation at 12.15am. As I am a 10pm bedtime girl it was a really late night, however, I certainly feel it was worth it. My talk focused on my journey with FOSIL (Framework Of Skills for Inquiry Learning) and looking back on how far we have come was really therapeutic. Not only did it make me realise how much I have learnt, but it also helped me understand how far this framework has spread. It is no longer Darryl’s project, creator of FOSIL, but an outstanding framework that is being recognised all over the world.
School librarians are teachers One of many things I have been focusing on over the last few years is a school librarian’s own understanding of their role. Many of us are often frustrated at being overlooked and undervalued, and because of this find it difficult to believe or recognise our own expertise as teachers. What I want to share today is my own insight into what I have begun to understand since my last article.
Inquiry is a learning process that the school library is integral to and as such the school librarian needs to be a teacher, but what type of teacher are they? Barbara Stripling, in her E&L Memo, Learning to know and understand through inquiry, which
June 2021
can be found on the FOSIL Group website (
https://bit.ly/3vOSJH8), highlights that her understanding of inquiry is rooted in John Dewey’s “recognition of the need for both content and skills and providing solid justification for the role of a school librarian as a teacher of sense-making skills”. But what are the implications of being a teacher of sense-making skills?
Teachers of sense-making skills I think it is important to recognise that “information literacy” and “inquiry- based learning” are connected but different things. Inquiry is a “thinking process” applied to subject area learning (Stripling, 2020). Information literacy is part of this process – represented mainly in the Investigate and Express stages of the FOSIL Cycle. However, understanding that school librarians are guiding students in making sense of what they are reading and learning is a really powerful tool. If students can make sense of their learning they are thinking more deeply and critically, which is a skill that all our students need. This all sounds great, but how do school librarians even start to teach this?
Resources to edit, use and share It is important that school librarians have resources to help guide them, so Darryl has continued to enhance what FOSIL offers alongside Barbara Stripling and the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum and has now created the FOSIL Inquiry Cycle Skill Sets, which demonstrates the skill sets that enable the FOSIL Cycle (
https://bit.ly/3ce9sfk). The link also includes a whole continuum of skills under each skill set, giving school librarians a clear picture of exactly
Elizabeth Hutchinson (@Elizabethutch
ehutchinson44@gmail.com) Is an Independent Adviser and Trainer for school libraries.
www.elizabethahutchinson.com
where they are in the Cycle, with links to graphic organisers that can be used, adapted and edited to teach and assess each skill.
This new set of resources, alongside the growing number of people on the FOSIL forum, is beginning to generate some lovely ready-made resources and support going far beyond what I originally imagined possible.
What next?
I will be continuing my own professional development journey through #LibraryStaffLoveLearning. I’m really excited about the opportunity to talk about how to teach inquiry with like-minded people on the FOSIL Group forum. This will run on the last Sunday of every month at 2pm, and the topic and link will be posted at
https://fosil.org.uk/forums. come and join us to find out more. IP
All views are the author’s own. INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 55
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
