LIBE 467 Assignment 2: Collaboration

 

Collaborating with Teachers

C.L.A. Leading Learning, 2014. http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/llsop.pdf

                Part of the role of a Teacher Librarian is to facilitate collaboration.  As shown in the figure above, the Canadian Librarian Association puts emphasis on the role of the T.L. in facilitating collaboration and co-planning and co-teaching. The document is called Leading Learning, but my interpretation of that is that T.L.s lead the learning of the students and the school community, not necessarily of the Teachers. We collaborate with teachers and staff to create meaningful learning for the student population. During collaboration, and our practice in general, there is often also a lot of personal learning that happens. As a T.L., working with peers to design, plan, and implement innovative activities, lessons, and projects is a big and enjoyable part of the job. When teachers come to the library looking for resources and help improving their practice it is the job of the T.L. to provide it to them. The CBAM model can also help T.L.s to identify when a Classroom Teacher is in need of assistance. Still, I find it is more effective to teach my peers by co-teaching their classes with them rather than running a Pro-D kind of session.

                In the two teacher profiles below I will refer to the following two tables that show the different levels of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). These tables are a measure of the level of concern the individual has about the innovation and the application/adoption/use of that innovation. The CBAM model is a framework that helps the user to change their own practice, or to help others grow as well. The CBAM model promotes both the inclusion and implementation of new innovations as well as emotional support for the process of learning.

https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/731/2015/07/CBAM-explanation.pdf

Teacher Profile: Teacher A

Teacher A has been teaching for over 10 years. They teach in a Montessori choice program so they teach grades 4-7. She collaborates continuously with the two other Upper Elementary teachers. Reference materials such as Dictionaries and thesauruses are used constantly in the classroom as a part of their Language lessons. Atlases are also used frequently as geography is one of the Montessori subjects. Students are also continuously doing research projects and for these they use a combination of books and online sources. Teacher A is generally teaching other lessons while some students are working on research and students generally just use google for internet research. I have seen some students try to use google image searches to find information because they are not sure how to navigate the internet. Teacher A is quite tech savvy and uses many online databases in their own practice (most of them are Montessori specific resources). In the past they have been open to hearing about other resources that are available to students, but rarely implements them.

According to the CBAM model, this teacher falls in the Routine level. They have their go to resources and knows how to locate more, but rarely varies from her routine. In terms of the stages of concern, they would probably fall into the Personal level of concern.

For this teacher, I believe that the resources that will be the most beneficial will be online encyclopaedias. Since the students are often conducting research relatively unsupervised there can be a lot of time wasted and students often face difficulties finding accurate information. Online encyclopaedic sources such as https://kids.britannica.com/ , https://kids.kiddle.co/ , https://kidssearch.com/KidsSearchEncyclopedia.html , and World Book Online (which our district has a subscription to) would make it easier for students to find what they are looking for. The difficulty is in showing students how to navigate to these windows and throughout these sites. I plan to teach a few mini-lessons in our library time on online resources. I would like to also get desktop icons placed onto the background of the computer screens that will take students straight to these resources, but in order to do that I will have to go through the tech department. I also plan to showcase different reference resources at the monthly staff meetings to all teachers.

Teacher Profile: Teacher B

                Teacher B has been teaching grades 5,6, or 7 for over 15 years. They use print materials such as thesauruses and dictionaries as a part of the English teaching. They are familiar with online resources for their own use and often find and print out maps and other reference materials as needed. They are open to collaboration in areas that they do not feel strong in (ADST, Art, Career, and Science) but prefer to be in charge and like to work independently. Once a year they have their students do an online research project. They do direct teaching on using the online database they have chosen (often Nat Geo Kids). They use Wikipedia with their students and teach that it can be used with discretion.

                I would place teacher B at the Routine level of the CBAM model because they are comfortable with resources and have the skills to locate new ones but they tend to just do what they have always done. The stage of concern for this teacher would be either unconcerned or awareness. Sometimes they are open to learning about new resources and innovations but often they do not want to.

                In this case I feel that the lack of interest limits what I can do to support this teacher. I will continue to email blast information about new resources as well as showcase them during staff meetings. I will also continue to share and demonstrate new resources with them directly. They are open to collaboration in certain areas and normally we collaborate on an entrepreneur unit in the spring. This year I plan to incorporate an entrepreneur research portion to the unit. It may be best to demonstrate how different reference resources can be helpful by using them in our collaborations.

References

Canadian School Libraries (CSL). 2020.  Leading Learning:  Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca

Hord, S. M., Rutherford, W. L., Huling, L., & Hall, G. E. (2014). Taking Charge of Change (PDF Ed.). Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Retrieved March 7, 2023, from https://sedl.org/pubs/change22/taking-charge-of-change-2014.pdf

Huang, P.S. (n.d.). Levels of Use. Concerns-Based Adoption Model. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from https://sites.google.com/site/ch7cbam/home/levels-of-use