Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS NSW SUBTLE ADVOCACY: How a Library Web Page can reach into the Community ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Teacher Librarians  Know students by name  Teaches all students across K-6  Can track progress across 7 years  School Libraries  Have value  Need advocates ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Popular Google Image results when searching the term ‘librarian’! ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

More popular images – do these really represent us? ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Now these are more like it!

Justifying Our Role  Still a lack of understanding re our role by both teaching colleagues and parents  We can each do something about it! ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Cause for Concern  Some states do not employ teacher librarians in government schools  May not have a teacher deployed in the school library  May employ library technicians as an economic alternative  Recent research tells us school libraries are run down and under resourced ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Show, Don’t Tell  We can change perceptions by doing and showing – not just telling  Within OUR control and implemented on a daily basis – effecting change  Still need to write letters, articles and speak to raise awareness of our role  Initiate change at grassroots level – at YOUR school, within YOUR community ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Parents Role  Parents can play a vital role in supporting teacher librarians and school libraries and influencing a Principal, a P&C, state and federal governments  Excellent example of three mums from Spokane, Washington who were able to secure $4 million in funding for school libraries across the state in 2008  [ without certified librarians] “Our children were going to be riding an apple cart on the information highway.” 1/9/2008

Active Advocacy  Advocacy: Disseminating information intended to influence behaviour, opinion and decisions regarding particular issues ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Subtle Advocacy  A school library webpage can both advocate and promote the role a teacher librarian plays in the education of students  Not didactic  Is engaging  Is informing  Connects with the school community ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Mrs Mac’s Began as a need to house learning tasks Further developed to house Book Week activities and links Later developed to provide information and ideas important to the professional life of a teacher librarian ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Mrs Mac’s Hotspot Online Program VS Paper Program Easy access for staff, principal and parents Contains outcomes, tasks, rubrics, supporting and additional information ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Developed as a useful site for parents – it SHOWS what I teach and how we can work together in educating their children ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

What to include  A school library site must be planned and have purpose  It should be useful to the entire school community – students, teachers and parents  It should engage the viewer  Make your audience want to keep returning ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Engage, Enthuse, Educate  Your library site should include your Library Policy/Management Plan  Curriculum based links aimed at students  Examples of what you are teaching (web 2 tool as an example)  Information Literacy links  YOUR TERM PROGRAM!  Including links to tasks, assessment rubrics etc ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Online Library Teaching Program From Term Online Program Brief outline of task(s), outcomes, relevant links which mirror classroom teaching ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Online Library Teaching Program Note the outcomes listed and the hyperlinked tasks

Online Library Teaching Program Examples of student work - ebooks ( uploaded onto a new site using ‘weebly’ ( ) ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Online Library Teaching Program Stage 3 stop motion animation film examples from Term again on the ‘Our Learning’ site, using ‘weebly’ ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Links Examples of web 2 tools students may use, blogs, booklists, research starters ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Final Message A quote to think about... Links to ASLA and The Hub to really inform the school community about our role!

Other School Library Pages Pendle Hill HS Amanda Credaro has included links entitled : Why is Info Lit important? Why do we still need school libraries? ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Other School Library Pages Sandy Beach PS Audrey Nay, TL Note the blog for parents AND The blog for teachers A truly collaborative library site! ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Other School Library Pages Providing great examples of student learning Penrith PS, Ian McLean ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

Other School Library Pages Palmerston District PS, Barbara Braxton No longer updated but still an excellent example of what to include – note the quote re the impact of school library staff and collection on student academic achievement.

How To Start?  Sign up to weebly – a free web authoring site with its own blog.  Uses simple drag and drop elements 

Weebly Easy to click and drag elements from the top of the page.

How To Start  Try Yola, another easy web authoring site  ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

How To Start  Or even Wix – another which uses easy drag and drop elements  ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

A powerful tool  A school library website / page is something we can all do to achieve active, yet subtle advocacy.  The Library page should be recognised as a core element of a school’s website  Publishing the Library teaching program places a focus on what a TL does  Advocacy at grassroots level  Makes a difference to students, staff and parents ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

“An effective TL must speak up and be an advocate of the school library program. By demonstrating effective information use, modelling sound ICT practices and actively promoting lifelong learning, the TL can serve as an agent of change.” Advocacy: An Introduction 20/09/09http://eduscapes.com/sms/advocacy/index.htm ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS

The Last Word  Have a go!  Work towards creating your own vehicle of active, subtle advocacy  We know how a school library makes a difference to student learning.  It’s up to us to demonstrate it to our school communities ©Sharon McGuinness, TL Thirroul PS