A TEACHER-LIBRARIAN LEARNING JOURNEY

My Employment to Fairview When vacancy was open for Filipinos to apply as a Library Resource Teacher here in Malaysia, I immediately applied. It was advertised that Fairview is and International Baccalaureate (IB) Curriculum School. I went online and search what this IB curriculum means and I find it very interesting. International Baccalaureate means it is an inquiry-based curriculum. In my understanding then, Inquiry-based somewhat applies constructivist theories in teachingwherein you allow the learners to look into the information themselves and process this to learn new knowledge. I was reflecting, I am an Information Professional, a Librarian, they are inquiry based school so therefore there must be something big that I can do for this school. I was hired and my direct assignment was Fairview International School Subang Jaya. Currently this is the youngest campus of Fairivew Group of Schools (M) Bhd. The first task is to assess the Library and Media Centre and see whether it can support the curricular offerings of the school. The library as a hub of inquiry must have sufficient resources both in print and non-printed materials to support the learning needs of the students. Upon initial approach I find the library small however with the existing collection vis--vis the budget allocation of books and other materials I think it can suffice to the inquiry of the students. I was new to Fairview and to IB thus I have insufficient knowledge about the learning style and information-seeking behavior of IB students. I have not also looked into the context of the IB programmes. In my thinking, since that this is IB perhaps Information Literacy and Research Skills of students can be considered very crucial. So I did some review of the school whether they have some sort of integrated Library Curriculum for that matter. I found out that indeed, Information Literacy is a criterion for their unit plan assessment in MYP and Research Skills is considered as one of the transdisciplinary skills in PYP. During that time I didnt completely comprehend yet on how they do their curriculum. I also found out that they do not have any library instructional support with regards to conducting research, library orientation and library reading support programmes. Although some of these issues have been address in small details in their Unit Plans and Scheme of Work but it seems to me that it is not sufficient enough to support Inquiry. So what I did was draft a proposal of a curriculum integrated Library Literacy Programme and I presented it to the Centre Head Principal for perusal and approval. Apparently, the Centre Head, who was then Ms. Alice Ong, have been waiting for someone to initiate programmes as these and has automatically called for a meeting for this matter. The meeting concluded with a decision to finalize the draft and pilot test the programme starting with the MYP. They will also need to see whether I do have the potential to administer the plan and conduct a classroom instruction. I conducted my first session with my Assistant MYP coordinators Humanities class with the Year 11 with him seated at the back. Fortunately, I have successfully past his expectations and he recommended me to fully administer the session plan and attend In-Campus teaching Induction, Continuous Professional Development sessions and Teachers trainings. This is where I think my teaching career has started.

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Teacher Trainings My initialsession was an induction by the PYP department. It was a great experience because the programme was designed to simulate the present classroom condition. The first session was about Using How to Succeed with Cooperative Learning by Murdock and Wilson (2004:28-33, 34-39). The session specifically focuses on Clustering Strategies where in varied applicable types of groupings are identified. This was specifically beneficial to me because I personally do not have strategies as these and if I will be ask to group my students I would simply do the number off head count from 1 up to 5 or depending on how many groups do I want to create. After the session I tried varied types of grouping strategies and I even modified some like the Lucky Dip strategy. Originally, you will have to fill a bag or box with a collection of objects that can be group such us coloured buttons, counters or blocks. What I did was fill in the box with rolled coloured paper and print a matching number inside. I ask them to pick one and not open that scrolled paper until I say so. Basically if they got a colour yellow they will think that they belong to the yellow group changes happens when they will have to openscrolled paper for it contains group numbers of which they are assigned. My goal on this is for them to reflect that the first thing that they see might not bethe right judgement. The colour maybe varied but the reality is what is of the inside. This is basically the same when they will have to socialize with other people of varied nationalities of different cultures. I used this strategy with my MYP classes and with my PYP Grades 5 and 6 last year.

Another induction session of which I find very beneficial was the October 5, 2012 session on Strategies in Inquiry cycle. The session was again very short because we are only given an hour to try-out and share our views regarding the strategies but it was very productive. At the end reading hand-outs were provided. I personally utilize the following strategies; For tuning in Brainstorming, Finish the sentence, Mind-mapping and Think-Pair-Share. I have used this several strategies warming up and setting the learning modes of my class. Finding Out I make use of video presentations and structured observation specially in my introductory sessions like orientation. Sorting Out Classifying, Role Play, and flash words mostly when I ask students to present their work outputs. Sharing, Discussion and Reflections Carousel sharing, self-assessment, and reflection roundabouts I specifically make use of these strategies when I ask them to talk about something like when teaching them about Academic Honesty. I grouped them by 4 then give them a picture of an academically dishonest practice and ask them to discuss what they thought about the picture.

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Fairview Global and IB Trainings A. Art and Science of Teaching Workshop My first global-wide professional development training within Fairview Group of Schools is The Art and Science and Teaching Workshop. I attended this workshop on the 6th 7th of August 2012 at Fairview International School WangsaMaju Campus. The workshop was conducted by Fairview Academic Director, Prof.Gopi. It was based specifically on Rober J. Marzano and John L. Brown book focusing mainly on module 2 and module 3. What I have mainly in the session was establishing acceptable learning goals which are a very necessary ingredient in designing lesson/programme plans as well as innovating activities that will compliment. Scaling learning goals was also one of the programme content. We reflected on some sample rubrics and using the template we are also asked to create a draft of our own rubrics. As much as possible the rubrics should be Student-Friendly using the language the student uses and understand. The second part of the workshop talks about designing and scaling formative assessment. Formative assessment is bot beneficial to the students and teacher. This allows the teacher to monitor students progress. Just like the first part, we also practiced designing our own formative assessment and marking scale. B. Making the PYP Happen Workshop My workshop on Making the PYP Happen was one of my favourites among the professional development that the school have provided me. It was facilitated by IB Professional practitioner and certified Examiner for Asia-Pacific Ms.FridaWidjaya. The workshop was held at Fairview International School Subang Campus last January 19-20, 2013. Having the opportunity to be in the workshop made me understand how the PYP curriculum works and as a Library Resource Teacher I am able to understand as to which part am I going to be of support. In this training, I specifically learn that the context of the Unit of Inquiry is composed of five Essential Elements. The knowledge is structured according to 6 transdisciplinary skills plus the traditional subjects like language, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education and Arts. The transdisciplinary themes are driven with specific central idea according to the learning needs per grade level. In order for the students to understand these themes the so called Concepts. These concepts are set of guiding questions based on Forms, Function, Causation, Change, Connection, Perspective, Responsibility and Reflection. To become effective inquirer and life-long learners, the PYP curriculum also hone transdisciplinary skills; thinking, social, communication self-management and research skills. In IB Middle Years Programme this skills are called Approaches to Learning (ATL). PYP students are also trained to adhere to PYP attitudes at all times. Lastly, PYP the curriculum aims for the students to choose, reflect and act what they have learned. My role on this whole process as a teacher and a librarian is very important. After the workshop I realize that there is much greater things to do to support the programme becomes a success. C. Inquiry and the Librarian Another workshop that I have attended is the Inquiry and the Librarian across the three IB programmes (Online) Category 3 in English. This is an online workshop composed of 5 modules facilitated by an expert in IB Teacher-Librarianship, Ms. Ingrid Skirrow from Vienna International School Vienna, Austria. This workshop has given me the opportunity to widen my perspective in IB Librarianship. We have dissected the IB and its standard and the support library and media teachers
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are supposed to do not just to support inquiry but promote this and the habit of reading and independent learning. I particularly like the module 4 of the workshop because it talks so much of teaching; planning and designing library curriculum and scaffolding research and information literacy skills was the main subject of Module 4: Librarians Support Inquiry. In this module, discussions in forums and responses to postings and sample plans are at prime popularity as many are sharing ideas and some even contrasted. Certainly because participants are from all over the world and though we might all be teaching the same levels but practices might be different and thus applications of certain schemes might not be applicable. Issues like Do we start teach DDC as early as Grade 3? are being discussed based on individual practices and experience. D. Cambridge International Diploma for Teachers and Trainers (CIDTT) I was also very fortunate to have offered to undergo the Cambridge International Diploma for Teachers and Trainers. This training is a reflective professional development that allows me to articulate my teaching and learning process. The programme is composed of 4 modules: Design, Practice, Assessment and Evaluation. Though I had some difficulties in finishing up the modules I was still able to comply and was very grateful because it was indeed a great journey. Module 1 is planning and Design. I made up my mind that for the completion of the programme I will have to use the MYP because during the time that I applied I was conducting Literacy Programmes in MYP. In Particular I choose MYP Grade 9 Class. I choose my introductory lesson as session 1 and my order and classification in the Library (Location and Access) as session 2. After completing planning and design, I came to realize the following; I have a very limited knowledge and skills to conduct this kind of program in an InquiryBased Curriculum. This results me with difficulties in finishing the design of the plan and actualizing the plan in the classroom. In order to dissolute this need I spend time searching and reading researches, articles, blogs and forums of librarians and experienced professionals in education about their experiences and practises in administering such programme. Specifically those that are IB affiliated. Furthermore, I have constantly talked to experienced colleagues, browsed the IB librarians online community centre (http://occ.ibo.org) and strategically observed my students and reflect after each session. An actual teaching experience, theory knowledge and skills are really required. This is because administering Information Literacy is actually teaching in Middle Years programme. With my insufficient knowledge, skills and experience in teaching I had hard time identifying activities, groupings and professional terminologies for the language that I need to use in order to construct the programme. To suffice these needs, I dedicated time to read professional education articles and researches, spend time for informal chats with experienced IB teachers, and attend regular Continuous Professional Development (CPD) conducted by coordinators of the school. When planning an instructional programme like this, an action research about the prior knowledge of the target participants should be conducted in order to accurately identify areas of concern for inclusion. It is a must to be time conscious when conducting the session otherwise you may not be able to complete the plan as scheduled. I had hard time finishing session 1 in particular

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because I failed to anticipate the volume of questions raised by my students. I failed to realize how inquisitive they have become. In session 2, I failed to estimate my students capabilities in obtaining the necessary knowledge to execute task 1, thus I have to repeat the instruction and add-on examples. A clear task specification and instruction should be prepared in each activity to avoid confusions and delay. In addition to these, I failed to prepare necessary classroom management measures to instil order in the class. There is a must to document the activity of each session, collate task outputs and reflect regularly to sustain development.

Module 2 was exciting because this involves hands-on practice and peer observation. At the end of the module I have reflected that there is something missing with session plan. After I conducted session one, I feel like there is this something that is really missing. I feel that students interaction has been very minimal. It became more like theory-centred session. In order to remedy this I tried to made variation in the second session plan and indeed more active learning has evolve. Classroom management has always been the most challenging issue to me. This is very evident in both of my session observation forms. Upon reflecting on this matter it made me realize that this might be because I have hesitations on imposing discipline, lack of systematic classroom strategies and I was not able to set the essential agreement. I was too confident that they have this general classroom rules already and they are aware that they should abide. It also occurs to me that this might also because I have very less influence with them. Since I am not really a formal homeroom or subject specialist teacher and I am just a lecturer to support the Approaches to Learning programme of IB though I believe that I am still a teacher. At the bottomline I realize that this is very important because this affect my whole session scheme and factors like content delivery is greatly affected. This is also true with time management precisely because uncontrolled class can eat so much of the time and it affects everyone before the class can proceed. Planning and structuring the written curriculum: This module made me further reflects on module 1 (Design) that I should look into some specific details and anticipate how students response. The goals and content/learning coverage are very important but in order to be successful on this a teacher must get familiar with the students first. Practice is the reality of the design and thus the next session planning I should further consider the learning styles of my students as well as their characteristics. This can be attained by collaboratively working with their homeroom and subject teachers. Generally, I can conclude that my students reflective feedbacks were affirmative. Their exit pass is telling me that I am successful with my aim for the session. However, when I am teaching I always consider my insights and attention on the classroom environment. I am aware that a class constantly gives its teacher verbal and nonverbal clues (Power, 70-86:1992). The questions they ask and even simple statement like they wished its break time means something. Behaviour like unable to immediately execute as instructed is always telling the teacher to keep up the motivation and the learning spirit. As the session is in progress I vary the strategies and remedied learning obstructions. In taking students feedback made three (3) main questions that students will answer at the end of every session. In order to obtain on how students perceive the session I ask them the following;

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What they learn? A summary on what they have learned focusing on the objectives of the session. This will tell me which parts are well delivered and which part needs improvement. Which part they learn best? Which is the most effective part of the content delivery, the one that they like the most and will easily remember, and what strategies did I apply. This is where I learn about the strength of the session and this is where I sustain and develop. Reflection This is where I ask them to think on the bigger picture. As to how they apply what they learn to the real life inside and outside the school. Time and its management is very crucial in an Inquiry-Based classroom where interactive learning is encourage at all times. Teaching using active learning techniques is very time consuming for teachers to prepare and appropriate timing is also necessary when running this in class. However, at the end of the session when students learn best is a fulfilment felt by the teacher more compensating enough of the hard-work done. I think active learning is where students will learn best. Facilitating participative-learning for me starts with Tuning-in where prior knowledge is assess and the session aim is introduce through a presentation or activity then followed by a quick theory discussion then interactive activity. After activity, presentation of the output as a celebration of learning and providing opportunity to share what they have made to their classmates follows then Reflection. This is what I think the process should be when learning Information Literacy. It was my experience in the first session where I ponder on and feel that there is something missing in the manner that I deliver the session. I was not able to anticipate in varying techniques and I did not consider that that there might be varied learning styles that my students will prefer as this is what they expected for this has been the usual learning sessions they have had with all other subjects. Thus in the second session, though I have prepared the scheme already, I decided to modify and top-up activities like the application of the computer games considering the fact that my students might like it for in their generation playing computer games is a popular past time activity. I thought it might be helpful to boast up their interest and ignite their curiosity and enthusiastically participate in throughout the learning session. Indeed I was right on this. Sauv (2010) mentioned that Educational effectiveness is defined by positive consequences from the use of a game on participant knowledge, attitudes or psychomotor skills. After finishing Module 3: Assessment After concluded that when teaching kids of these ages (Grade 9) learning session should be simple and playful. Making it sophisticated will turn out to become frustrating on a teachers end. Making it more formal will eventually disappoints you as a mentor. I also realized that students learning always depend on the teacher and his strategies. In the future plans, I will include more interactive activities and promote learning through social interaction. Though it would entail a lot of work on my end but I have decided that for the next session plans my formative assessments should be loaded with fun loving activities. Activities that will make them busy working, activities that will ignite them to think critically and enthusiastically. Innovate more hands-on learning. The scheme should be something like activity-theory-application-reflection. This will be my baseline in designing my future plans. I will continue to learn various strategies with due consideration on the learning needs and learning styles of my students. Evaluation (Module 4) is very crucial in all programmes. This is a measure whether the programme is a success or not. On the other hand, evaluation is to look into what have been the challenging issues
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and how these issues should be addressed. Which part needs improvement and how to response to this. I did not use a standardize tool to evaluate my CIDTT journey. Instead I make use of the Marie Delany Rethink Model. This model is used in helping learners with behavioural problems to respond, coup up and learn. I used this as a guide for me to rethink about my whole experience with the Diploma Programme. The process constitutes 4 stages: Review, Reframe, Reflect and Respond. Review - The programme was challenging to me because in order to learn certain terminologies and theories, I should do a lot of reading. Preparing academically and setting the mode to self-study, selfassess and independently learn is extremely challenging. However, I still believe that the programme was a success to me because I have learnt. My teaching skills, programme design, my assessment strategies are beyond what one can expect for an immature like me. Reframe My session plans has to be revised taking into consideration of what I have reflected for the programme. I need to look into a more interactive classroom for a more cohesive learning experience for my students. Reflect If the new design will meet the need of the learning needs of my students. Respond My plan of action relative to what I have learnt and the respond of my mentoring and coaching in Module 2. I would particularly look into varied means in order for me learn more about Classroom Management Strategies E. Hands-On Experience. They say Experience is the best Teacher if this is so then Edmund Burke is correct on his statement of learning by discovery. Learning interest are more excitedly aroused and learners mind set to work more effectively by things that the learner himself will find-out. Experience therefore is the best Teaching method. My learning experience in teaching is increasingly enriched everytime I finishes a class. As I reflected and ponder upon what happen in the real classroom and with my students I continuously persevere to make my practice better. From the design of the lessons to students and classroom management even behavioural issues of the learners is what I should look into. Teaching to me is Passion. It should come from the heart. No matter how expert a teacher is in his/her field of study if he/she does not have the heart for it then there will never be a success for him/her. My inspiration is my students and I will continue to study formally and informally in order for me to give them the Best education.

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SOURCES CITED Dewey, John. Democracy and Education.Teddington, Middlesex [England: Echo Library, 2007. Print. Marzano, Robert J., Jana S. Marzano, and Debra Pickering. Classroom Management That Works: Research-based Strategies for Every Teacher. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2003. Print. Murdoch, Kath, and Jeni Wilson. How to Succeed with Cooperative Learning. Carlton Sth, (Vic.): Curriculum Corporation, 2004. Print. Murray, Janet R. Achieving Educational Standards Using the Big6. Columbus, OH: Linworth Pub., 2008. Print. Power, B. M. (1992). Rules Made to Be Broken: Literacy and Play in a Fourth-Grade Setting. Journal of Education 174(1): 7086. Sauv, Louise. "Using an Educational Online Game to Stimulate Learning." Gaming for ClassroomBased Learning: Digital Role Playing as a Motivator of Study. Hershey PA, USA: Information Science Reference (an Imprint of IGI Global), 2010. 137-57. Print. Shayer, Michael, and Philip Adey. Learning Intelligence: Cognitive Acceleration across the Curriculum from 5 to 15 Years.Buckinham [England] : Open UP, 2002. Print EBSCO Database: Johnson, David W., Roger T. Johnson, and Karl Smith. "The State Of Cooperative Learning In Postsecondary And Professional Settings." Educational Psychology Review 19.1 (2007): 15-29. ERIC. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. McBride, Mark F. "Reconsidering Information Literacy In The 21St Century: The Redesign Of An Information Literacy Class." Journal Of Educational Technology Systems 40.3 (2011): 287-300. Education Research Complete.Web. 20 Oct. 2012. Tina H. Denetclaw, et al. An Active-Learning Strategies Primer for Achieving Ability-Based Education Outcomes. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 75.9 (2011): 1-12.Education Research Complete.Web. Oct. 2012

Online Documents: "AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner." American Library Association.Ed. Allison Cline.American Association of School Librarians, 2007.Web. 27 Oct. 2012. <http://www.ala.org/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards>.

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DimplomaProgramme : Academic Honesty. 2011. MS. International Baccalaureate, Dardff, Wales: United Kingdom. Online Community Centre - International Baccalaureate. Ibo.org, July 2011. Web. 2012. http://occ.ibo.org/ibis/documents/general/specific_interest/malpractice/g_0_malpr_sup_1107 _1_e.pdf "IB Middle Years Programme." IB Middle Years Programme Curriculum. International Baccalaureate, 2007.Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.ibo.org/communications/publications/documents/MYPflyerEng.pdf>.

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