Learning Support Program – Using the teacher librarian skills to help students with learning problems.
It's time too to reflect on a volunteer initative that I undertook between June and August of this year managed by the Learning Support department at a secondary Catholic College in Sydney's south.
The school undertakes a Allwell test for incoming year 7 students while they are in year 6 to test their general skills such as literacy and numeracy. 16 students were identified as having weaknesses that needed attention.
So where do I come into it?
Well I wanted to increase my employability and I thought working with students with learning needs would be beneficial. I enjoy working with such kids and generally they good students. They want to do well. Also it gave me a chance to also apply my skills in information management, because I felt that they would benefit from it.
I was invited to create a research skills seminar for the students. I was going to teach them the PLUS model for research as devised by James Herring. Sadly, time constraints meant that this could not be done. At least I have created some resources that can be used as a teacher or teacher librarian.
Apart from that, I would turn up to the sessions and assist the students as they were taught skills including: memory skills, organisational skills, basic research skills (such as summarising key facts) and basic numeracy skills such as reading graphs and tables. I think the areas covered are very important for development of ICT skills – you need to have literacy, numeracy and organisational skills if you are going to be able to process information. Learning support staff actually agreed with me on this matter.
Given that I was not a teacher at the school, I was quite impressed at the rapport that was established with the students. I was not afraid to work with them or ask them questions. I was also able to gain an understanding of how they learn – e.g "how did you locate this?". They were able to reflect on their learning and I was able to direct them further providing them advice on how to approach it.
From this experience what have I learnt and what do I need to consider in my professional role as a teacher librarian or educator?
To answer this question, I look at my observations of the students and my role as educator.
· Make sure that I know learning preferences of students – do not be afraid to survey them about learning preference in "getting to know you" activities. Lessons must reflect their learning preferences.
· Make sure handwriting is legible – Might look silly to include here but I recall the importance of having legible handwriting during my HSC year. Poor handwriting means that words may be misinterpreted and this can impact on what is communicated . In assessment this can mean that the student is denied marks unnecessarily. This is even more important as school students type written responses instead of writing by hand. For some students legible handwriting makes the difference between passing or failing.
· Effective communication – make sure the students know what is going on and how to do it. Talk to them and follow up if necessary.
· Make sure they know what you want them to locate and be specific – "I am looking for facts relating to….."
· Provide a scaffhold – they need to know how to find, locate and present information. If they have these skills, good learning will occur.
To conclude – here is a link to read a little Allwell testing: http://www.allwell.com.au/html/1.0.html
