This document discusses the evolving role of school librarians and the importance of collaboration between teachers and librarians. It outlines how collaboration has progressed from cooperation, where teachers and librarians work independently, to coordination, where they plan more jointly, to true integration, where they team teach. When teachers and librarians collaborate effectively, it benefits students through seamlessly integrated lessons, as well as teachers, librarians, and administrators by addressing curricular goals and student deficits.
1. Jenny Corrado Michelle Melencio Nan Ropelewski
Why you need to know your
school librarian
November 6, 2012
2. Not your 20th century
school librarian
“Shush." Flickr. Yahoo, 24 Sept. 2006. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/circulating/251649357/>.
3. The 21st Century school
librarian
Braun, Linda W. "Next Year's Model." School Library Journal. N.p., 1 Apr. 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/articlesinterviews/893927-338/next_years_model_sarah_ludwig.html.csp>.
4. AASL Standards for the
21st-Century Learner
Standards for the 21st-
Century Learner offer vision
for teaching and learning to
both guide and beckon our
profession as education
leaders. They will both
shape the library program
and serve as a tool for
school librarians to use to
shape the learning of
students in the school.
“Standards for the 21st Century Learner” Web 22 October 2012
<http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_Learning_Standard
s_2007.pdf>
5. AASL Standards for the
21st-Century Learner
Draw conclusions, make
informed decisions,
Inquire, think critically,
apply knowledge to
and gain knowledge.
new situations, and
create new knowledge.
Share knowledge and
participate ethically and
Pursue personal and
productively as
aesthetic growth.
members of our
democratic society.
“Standards for the 21st Century Learner” Web 22 October 2012
<http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_Learning_Standard
s_2007.pdf>
7. The school library
The mission of the school library program is to ensure
staff and students are effective users of information
and ideas.
The School Library Media Specialist empowers
students to be critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers,
skillful researchers and ethical users of information.
The vision of a school library program is created by
the school librarian to support that particular school’s
mission and vision.
AASL. (2009). Empowering learners: Guidelines for school library media
programs. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.
8. Roles of school librarian
Program Information
Administrator Specialist
Instructional
Teacher
Partner
Photo by Jenny Corrado
9. Resources throughout
the entire school
Print Non-print
• books • CDs
• texts • electronic
• magazines databases
• e-books
• internet
resources
10. Roles of school librarian –
examples of services
Investigating Professional
electronic tools to development of
enhance student teachers – training
learning them on use of tools
Providing resources
Creating
(print and
pathfinders for
electronic) for
student projects
research
12. Instructional partners
Teacher and school librarian jointly identify:
• Student information needs
• Curricular content
• Resources to be used
• Learning outcomes
School librarian works with:
• The entire school community
• Teachers in designing authentic learning tasks and assessments
• Teachers in ensuring that content and AASL standards are met
Association for Educational Communications and Technology, and American Association of School Librarians. Information
Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. Chicago: American Library Association, 1998. Print.
13. STEPS TOWARDS COLLABORATION
Teacher and school librarian work
independently but come together for mutual
Cooperation benefit. Their relationship is informal and
instantaneous.
Example: 3rd grade science teacher asks for books where students
can identify and compile a list of materials that can be recycled.
(Standard 3.0 – Life Science, Topic E – Flow of Matter and Energy,
Objective A)
Teacher and school librarian have a more formal working Coordination
relationship and an understanding of shared missions.
More joint planning and communication occurs.
Example: 4th grade science teacher is teaching a unit on genetic traits that are
inherited. She asks the school librarian to teach database search skills where
students can locate articles on this topic. (Standard 3.0 – Life Science, Topic C –
Genetics)
14. Teacher and school librarian create a unit of
study based on content and information
literacy standards. The unit is team-designed,
team-taught, and team evaluated.
Example: 3rd grade science teacher asks for
books where students can identify and
compile a list of materials that can be
recycled. Librarian suggests a collaboration
lesson on reducing winter waste. (Standard
3.0 – Life Science, Topic E – Flow of Matter
and Energy, Objective A)
"Susan Lester and Buffy Hamilton." Flickr. Yahoo, 26 Feb. 2010. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/10557450@N04/4391134586/>.
15. Data-driven
collaboration
The teacher and school librarian take
collaboration a step further. They plan
comprehensively based on the results
of evidence of student knowledge,
skills, and learning.
Example: 5th grade students have a deficit
in identifying main ideas and using graphic
organizers. The 5th grade team and school
librarian develop a sky watching and
constellation unit focused on addressing
these deficits.
16. Collaboration:
challenges & solutions
Finding a time to Administrative Federal
School culture
plan support mandates/testing
• Participate on • Keep • Participate in • Brainstorm lists
school-based administrator in school of collaborative
teams that plan the loop with leadership projects that
schedules reports teams address specific
• Ask your (collaboration • Enlist the trust deficits in your
principal for successes, of colleagues school
collaboration lessons taught) • Data-driven
planning time • Invite your collaboration
principal to
collaborative
planning
meetings
Buzzeo, Toni. The Collaboration Handbook. Columbus, OH: Linworth Pub., 2008. Print.
17. Benefits of collaboration
Teachers Librarians
• Curriculum is • Chance to directly
reinforced during assess school
media lessons learning goals and
• Partner to share the influence student
task of addressing achievement
student deficits • Opportunity to
lighten teacher load
in an age of
increased
expectations
Buzzeo, Toni. The Collaboration Handbook. Columbus, OH: Linworth Pub., 2008. Print.
18. Benefits of collaboration
Administration Students
• Assurance that • Content units taught with
collaborative partners are seamless integration of
working in service of information, textual,
ensuring an effective visual, digital, and
school technological literacy
• Resulting increases in skills.
measurable student skills • Reinforcement for skills
that have proven difficult
on standardized tests
Buzzeo, Toni. The Collaboration Handbook. Columbus, OH: Linworth Pub., 2008. Print.
JC’s Script:Good morning and thank you for having us here today. We appreciateyou letting us take up some of your class time in order to help us with our project and for giving us the opportunity to tell you about the role of the school librarian.Today we want to hear what your perceptions and expectations are when you think about working with your future school librarians and hopefully we can provide you with the tools to start your careers in education as eager collaborators.A little bit about us. We are all in the School Library Program here at the iSchool. All three of us have had careers in other fields and are now making the switch to school media. The big commonality between us is that all three of us have extensive backgrounds in technology which will be very useful in our new career as school librarians. The role of the school librarian has changed greatly and a mastery of technology is just as important as knowing what books to suggest to students.That being said at the end of this presentation we hope to have introduced you to:-The various roles of the school librarian-Services/resources that the school librarian can provide for teachers AND-Benefits, challenges, and types of teacher/school librarian collaboration
JC’s Script: How many of you had a school library or media center in your schools? What are some of the the things you remember your librarian doing?Order & catalogue booksRun the book fairRun the libraryReshelf books
JC’s Script:Those are all great answers however, Things have changed a lot in the past decade and the 21st century librarian has many new roles. Yes, we may still check out books and do story time but our role embraces technology just as much So what is the 21st century librarian? The 21st century librarian: Promotes reading – not just in print but via Nooks, kindles and the ipad The 21st century librarian: is the information expert in your building. She/he can provide teachers and students with a wide variety of search tools that reach across blogs, wikis, databases and social media The 21st century librarian: Organizes the web for learners. She uses blogs, wikis and other tools to collect resources and organize them The 21st century librarian models respect for intellectual property. She ensures that students (and teachers) practice safe and ethical behaviors by learning how to properly cite content in all formatsAnd finally, The 21st century librarian embraces technology and is one of the leaders in getting it implemented into your curriculums.
JC’s Script:Standards for the 21st-Century Learnerhave been provided by the American Association of School Librarians. They offer a vision for teaching and learning to guide our profession as education leaders. They will both shape the library program in your school and serve as a tool for school librarians toshape the learning of students in the school.These standards help stress the “importance of literacy and reading in schools, the need for inquiry-based learning, the importance of teaching ethics in library usage and the,importance of technology in libraries.”
JC:The four main goals of the these standards are for learners to use skills, resources and tools to: Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society. Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.http://www.ehow.com/about_5431981_aasl-standards-st-century.html
NR’s Script:Books are still a major part of any library, and school media centers are no exception. School libraries have books divided between fiction and nonfiction. Reference sections are getting smaller as more schools use online encyclopedias. Staff reference resources are also available. Some schools have audio books, or kits containing books and CD or tape for students to view while listening to the story. School Librarians are committed to inspiring a love of reading in students, so many will sponsor some type of reading incentive program, as well as summer reading programs.
NR’s Script:The mission comes from the American Association of School Librarians, and is intentionally broad. The 21st century library program is not just reading, or research, or proper citations, but a combination of all of them to ensure students are prepared to become critical thinkers and are inspired to keep learning.
NR’s Script:There are several titles that can all be used interchangeably: School Librarian, Teacher Librarian and Library Media Specialist. In all cases, the person in the job is working with teachers to help students learn.A school librarian has four major roles **note – I’m not big on promoting the leadership role with teachers. We can talk about this more, but this script only covers 4 roles**. Any given day he or she may be doing all four, and the amount of time spent on each role varies. [Go back to survey results to talk about what they thought was main role – discuss in the order they ranked them] Here is a description of each role:Program Admin – managing the facility, creating and following policies, creating and maintaining the budget, ordering books and other resources to meet the needs of the students and staff, maintaining the collection.Teacher – teaching students how to conduct research by phrasing questions, gathering information, organizing the data, preparing it and presenting their findings and finally evaluating themselves and their results.Instruct Partner – collaborating with other teachers on teaching lessons that are applicable to real world and have meaning to students, tied into other subjects.Info Spec – using technology tools to supplement resources, introducing and modeling emerging technologies as well as finding/assessing/using information. Ensuring the ethical use of information (honoring copyrights and citing sources properly) is also a major portion of this role.
NR’s Script: Resources: both print (books, textbooks, magazines) and non-print (may be DVDs, videos, CDs, internet resources, electronic databases and electronic books (Tumblebooks, One More Story, etc) Services: collaboration, teaching, professional development to staff on technology (web 2.0 tools) as well as electronic databases and books that may be purchased by the school, technical support (troubleshooting computer, promethean, TV, listening center, etc problems), even mundane things like replacing printer cartridges, laminating, requesting equipment repair, etc.Pathfinders – created by LMS tailored to the teacher’s project that helps direct and focus student research. May be as elaborate as this example, or as simple as a Word document with links for the students to click on.
MM’s Script:In the next few slides, we’re going to discuss an instructional partnership continuum. To give you an idea of a true instructional partnership for the teacher and school librarian, these objectives need to be addressed: the teacher and school librarian must identify the student information needs, the curricular content (for subject and AASL standards), the learning outcomes, and the resources to be used. In an instructional partnership, the librarian will co-plan and co-teach the unit with the teacher from the pre-planning phase up until the assessments and evaluation of the lesson to ensure that the learning outcomes were met.
MM’s Script:Now we’re going to discuss the steps towards collaboration (aka instructional partnership continuum). If the school librarian is an equal teaching partner in the school (and this isn’t the case in every school, because administration sets the culture for the school), her goal is to work towards collaboration. None of these steps on the instructional partnership continuum are less important that any other level. However, the focus is always on student learning outcomes. The purpose of the media specialist is to meet the school’s curricular goals. In the first level of the instructional partnership continuum, we have cooperation. The relationship with cooperation is loose, informal, and instantaneous. The teacher and school librarian work independently, but come together for a mutual benefit. For example, a 3rd grade science teacher may need books for a lesson on identifying and listing materials that can be recycled. The librarian cooperates with the teacher by providing these books. Cooperation is the bedrock of trust on the instructional partnership continuum. Without the trust, you can’t follow the steps towards collaboration.In the second level of the instructional partnership continuum, we have coordination. The relationship is planned and requires more joint planning and communication. The teacher and school librarian have a more formal working relationship and an understanding of their shared missions. For example, a 4th grade science teacher wants to teach a unit on genetic traits that are inherited. She asks the school librarian to teach database skills where students can locate articles on this topic for a small research paper. The librarian coordinates with the teacher by teaching a lesson that will benefit the students and the teacher.
MM’s Script: Finally, we’re at collaboration. This relationship is prolonged and interdependent. The teacher and librarian co-plan, co-design, co-teach, and co-assess the unit. For example, the 3rd grade teacher who asked for books on recycling earlier, the librarian took it a step further in this example by suggesting that they collaborate on a lesson that incorporates both science content and information literacy standards. She brings up this cool website she came across called “MyGarbology” and even suggests that with the holidays coming up, that this is the perfect time to discuss reducing winter waste. She offers to email the science teacher some lesson seed ideas that will incorporate both science and information literacy content. The definition of information literacy has become more complex as resources and technologies have changed. Information literacy has progressed from the simple definition of using reference resources to find information. Multiple literacies, including digital, visual, textual, and technological, have now joined information literacy as crucial skills for the 21st century. What does collaboration look like? Let’s take a peek at the beginning stages of collaboration in action. Michelle will click on the picture for the 2 minute YouTube video to come up.
MM’s Script:The instructional partnership continuum ends with data-driven collaboration. It takes collaboration a step further to where the teacher and school librarian evaluate test data to determine what the students don’t know. Once the deficits have been targeted, the students practice these skills as they’re learning the subject area content. The teacher and librarian look carefully at the constructed response questions, focus on two or three subskills, and track student progress carefully. Data-driven collaboration is necessary in this age of testing. Data-driven collaboration’s purpose it to improve student learning and achievement. Ultimately, this type of collaboration shows administration that the school is on target.
MM’s Script:Unless your planning time coincides with the librarian’s planning time, there isn’t enough time in the day to have a collaboration meeting. Meetings happen in the hallway, at lunch, before school, after school, and via email.It’s up to the administration to look at the impact of the schedule on all educational programs and make changes that will improve its impact. It’s also up to us to serve on leadership committees that plan schedules. If we see that we’re not getting the planning time we need, we have to speak up. Administrative support is an essential component to collaboration. If we have a strong leader who sets goals with expectations for collaboration, the staff is going to collaborate not just because they “have to”, but because that’s the expected school culture. When the principal provides planning time and her goal of collaboration, her leadership trickles down to where each staff member feels supported. Collaboration is difficult to get off the ground if the support is not present. The lack of support from administration can hinder progress. We can’t stress enough that the role of the principal is so critical to the development of school priorities, culture, and resources. The principal is the key factor here. When a school lacks a collaborative work culture, teachers won’t collaborate. Staff faced with a negative school culture or those who are resistant to change don’t get anywhere either.The No Child Left Behind Act changed everything. Teachers are more overwhelmed than ever. Teachers have to cover the standards and materials covered in the tests. What better way to overcome this challenge through data-driven collaboration? Show administration how you and the librarian have improved test scores through collaborative projects.Each school is going to have different roadblocks. The best way to overcome these roadblocks is through a team effort. Our students depend on it.
MM’s Script:There are numerous benefits of collaboration for teachers, librarians, students, and administration, but we decided to focus on only two benefits for each audience. The benefits of collaboration for teachers are that the curriculum is reinforced during media lessons, and that they have a partner to share the task of addressing student deficits. For the librarians, we have the chance to assess school learning goals and influence student achievement. We also have the opportunity to lighten teacher load in an age of increased expectations.
MM’s Script:There are numerous benefits of collaboration for teachers, librarians, students, and administration, but we decided to focus on only two benefits for each audience. The benefits of collaboration for teachers are that the curriculum is reinforced during media lessons, and that they have a partner to share the task of addressing student deficits. For the librarians, we have the chance to assess school learning goals and influence student achievement. We also have the opportunity to lighten teacher load in an age of increased expectations.
MM’s Script:In concluding our presentation today, we’d like to say that collaboration isn’t easy. It takes practice. It takes time. Collaboration happens after you’ve established a relationship of a trust. Collaboration is about building bridges.
