So this week i have achieved a little - not the lot i was hoping for but, I have had some very interesting discussions with the library staff and managed to get at least 1/4 of my assignment finished and some sporadic drafty note type things for about 1/2 of the remainder - though am way behind in my readings if you go by the schedule. I have decided that the main problem for the TL is the rest of the teachers and i can't help thinking that this in part could/should be addressed in teacher training.
In fact I am struck by a couple of things - mainly how little i knew about the role and scope of the TL before embarking on this and the fact that so far none of the teachers i have spoken to have heard of the ILSC - I think this indicates that those readings that suggest that TL literature and research need to go beyond the TL profession to reach the broader teaching community are right. It is an uphill battle for any TL if no-one in the wider teaching community is aware of the vision and research that supports the ILSC. Apart from integration into T training courses i think that perhaps the TL community should be publishing in mainstream teaching journals.
My TL completely agrees with you - about the teacher training. She tries to spend time with new teachers and prac teachers as she feels they have no real concept of her role, and believes that it should be part of the training for all teaching courses at all facilities.
ReplyDeleteI used that as a point in my assignment, the ignorance of what a TL is and a SL is not helped by the lack of training in our teaching courses. I don't think it was mentioned ONCE, not even "if you are doing a project, employ the use of the TL to assist you" I mean, nothing!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm behind in this weeks readings too. Hard to keep up when this weeks essential readings were atleast 60 printed pages (and that was only two of them, I didn't bother with the others at this stage).
thanks for the comments - half the time i assume i'm writing into the void. You have inspired me to return the favour and write comments on other peoples blogs too!
ReplyDeleteand i know what you mean about the length of some of the readings - thank goodness we aren't marked on the posts (or lack of them) we make regarding each topic!