Amanda Johnstone is a Teacher Librarian and the Head of Library and Information Services at Kincoppal-Rose Bay School. Amanda works in both the Junior and Senior School Libraries. Prior to completing her Teacher Librarian qualification Amanda worked as an English, History and Studies of Religion teacher, and she still teaches Studies of Religion in addition to her library lessons. Amanda collaborates with teachers from various faculties to design and deliver lessons that develop information and digital literacy skills. Amanda has been involved in developing school guidelines for the ethical and effective use of AI in student assessment and is particularly interested in working with teachers to create units of work or forms of assessment that require students to think critically about the information they are using and how it is produced.

About Merryn Whitfield 

Merryn Whitfield is a primary school teacher with over 30 years experience. She is currently employed as a substantive Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction at Peakhurst Public School. Before that she was an Instructional Leader in literacy and STEM. Merryn has also worked with the Communication and Learning Innovation Centre and more recently, the University of Wollongong and their LIFT program, developing teacher resources to support the implementation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in primary school classrooms. Over the past 25 years, Merryn has published a number of teacher resource materials, including the award-winning Targeting Writing Across the Curriculum series and Targeting HASS workbooks. In her spare time, she loves to read, walk her dog and travel with her family. She is also known as Parttimepleb in online sharing forums.

About Tessa Zwar

Tessa Zwar has been the Head of Library and Research Services K-12 at Pymble Ladies’ College in Sydney since 2021. She feels privileged to work across the Junior and Secondary campuses, working with students to build a love of reading and develop their curiosity and information literacy. A passionate Teacher Librarian and Head of Learning, Tessa enjoys collaborating with fellow teachers on research in the classroom and co-designing inquiry tasks to develop critical thinking, especially in this AI age. Her experience as a former History teacher and HSC marker, provides her with a firm understanding of the busy curriculum and how the library can best support classroom teachers.

Suggested Standards addressed by this Online Meet-up