NSW Teacher Librarian of the Year Award

This NSW Yeacher Librairan of the Year is awarded annually to a teacher librarian or team of teacher librarians in recognition of excellence in supporting the learning

Selection Criteria

The successful candidate must

  • be a teacher librarian(s) in a NSW school
  • be nominated by a member of the school community and supported by the Head of the school
  • provide evidence based on key areas in the professional standards of ASLA.
  • provide evidence of quality teaching within role of teacher librarian
Nominations close 1st October each year.

Nominations will be considered by the Awards Panel for recommendation to the ASLA (NSW) Committee. The Awards Panel reserves the right not to make an award if nominations do not meet the criteria. Awards are presented at the State Library Conference in February of each year.

Download the application form for the award here. Email completed application and appropriate documentation to aslainfo@ozemail.com.au marked ATTN: Awards Coordinator.

 

 

2008

Joint winners John Free and Di Laycock - Barker College Sydney


John Free is truly a gifted teacher librarian who shares his insights and knowledge willingly in the pursuit of learning and teaching.   As well as being a dynamic performer, John is also a writer.  He uses both these talents in outstanding ways to enrich the literature experience of the boys at Barker College.  His influence in creating a reading culture at the College is evidenced in the successful Hear and Now, where he invites members of the school population, from teachers to support staff to special duty masters and even the Headmaster, to read their favourite book or tell their favourite story at lunchtime on Fridays.  As one colleague affirms, ‘the Library is overwhelmed with students from all year groups [during Hear and Now].  They are seeing adults in the school in a new light – and they see them reading’.  An executive contributed further to this observation by acknowledging that, ‘It is amazing to see the library full of middle school boys hanging on every word of these diverse presenters.’

John’s support in terms of sourcing ideas, researching information and resources for the Boys and Books program, the Barker TV pilot, the Middle School Reading Lists and the Barker College Book Review website are all testimony to John’s expertise.  Certainly his colleagues in the English faculty view John as a forward thinking teacher librarian as he continues to be involved in and be a contributor to a new and exciting era of English teaching.

Although John is active in developing a strong current of reading activities including the coordination of the MS Readathon, the prestigious Reading Aloud Competition and the arranging of numerous author visits to the school, he is also central to the development of assessment tasks in English and the invaluable mentoring of middle and senior school students alike, whether concerning major works, research assignments, or simply valuable reading suggestions. 

To say that John has been an essential team player in developing a reading culture at Barker College is putting it mildly.  He enthuses the boys to want to read.  As a consequence of his energy and enthusiasm and his belief in the adage that there is no I in team, John has earned this award in partnership with his teacher librarian colleague, Di Laycock.

In recognition of their excellent work together to enrich the reading culture of Barker College, it is appropriate to share the following comment from one of their colleagues:

What is really needed now, though, is a BIG thank you ...  for the way you deliver this program.  I can assure you it has a wonderfully positive effect on classes… You both go out of your way to provide something that all my students ... and I ... see as extremely valuable.  You help instil in all of us the love of reading.  And I thank you both for that, on behalf of all my Middle School students and myself.




(John Free was unavailable for a photo)

 

Since Di Laycock’s entry into teacher librarianship, she has not looked back in her cross-faculty approach to planning, developing, resourcing and evaluating units of study.  This love of teaching is very evident in the manner in which Di works with students and teachers, both individually and collectively, to foster greater critical and creative thinking.

Di’s research into the use of graphic novels to engage her students has led to an extensive graphic novel collection at Barker College.  As one colleague notes, this research has provided ‘invaluable support to the English Department’s ongoing drive to improve reading literacy for boys’.  He continues that ‘the findings also served as a useful tool for the design and implementation of graphic novel teaching and learning programmes in the English Department, as well as adding another dimension to the already extremely diverse and popular reading culture in the school’.   In pursuit of this interest and with a desire to share her knowledge, Di has delivered a number of presentations and has been published at the local, national and international level.  

But Di goes beyond the printed page in her zeal to share her knowledge and to learn from others.  Her outstanding contribution to educational innovation using ICT empowers her colleagues to integrate these learning technologies in appropriate and creative ways into learning and teaching programmes.  This is evidenced in the numerous professional learning activities at Barker College to which Di is a major contributor. 

Di is an outstanding model for teacher librarians.  She is an inveterate learner.  Her interest in evidence-based practice has contributed to not only the enrichment of reading at Barker College but beyond as indicated by her role as Action Research Coordinator for the International Boys’ School Coalition.  Not only is her enthusiasm for lifelong learning evident in the activities and professional learning she undertakes and shares with her students and colleagues, she is also an avid supporter of her professional association ASLA (NSW) in her role as Publications Officer, Councillor and Co-Coordinator of CAR-TL. Di also contributes to the effective learning experiences of upcoming teacher librarians as a subject marker for Charles Sturt University.

Di has taken to new heights the meaning behind the words teacher librarian, contributing to the school’s music community and outdoor education programme.  As one colleague remarked ‘she is in every sense a committed, dedicated and enthusiastic professional. I look forward to a continued professional association with her as I can always be assured of her utmost dedication, initiative and support’.

Di receives this award in partnership with teacher librarian colleague John Free, and in recognition of their excellent work together to enrich the reading culture of Barker College, it is appropriate to share the following comment from one of their colleagues:
 

What is really needed now, though, is a BIG thank you ...  for the way you deliver this programme.  I can assure you it has a wonderfully positive effect on classes… You both go out of your way to provide something that all my students ... and I ... see as extremely valuable.  You help instil in all of us the love of reading.  And I thank you both for that, on behalf of all my Middle School students and myself.

 

 

Past Recipients

2007 - Anne Lockwood - Tara Anglican School for Girls