Collaboration Question from Graduate Library Students

[Judi Moreillon]

Please put the level (elementary, middle, or high school) at the top of your response.

Please share specific strategies that you use to develop your instructional partner role with novice and with veteran classroom teacher colleagues.

We are especially interested in collaborative projects that include designing, planning, implementing, and assessing standards-based lessons or units of instruction.

[Nancy R. Green]

Sometimes collaborative time is built into the in-service days. Other times, we are in training all day. It depends on the topic of the in-service.

Nancy

[Brandee MacLean]

How does the compressed schedule work? In my district they're trying a new schedule where we have a half day every wednesday every other week. In addition to all the three-day weekends I feel like our school is greatly disrupted. It would probably be easier if we just went to 4 day weeks. Would you recommend that? We are a small school district as well.

[Deborah Ramm]

Nancy,
Are the state standards listed on the state website? If so, I wonder why all schools don't have them printed out for teacher and/or librarian use? I have been in this district for 13 years and have never seen nor heard of the. I would really like my students to learn something when they go to the library besides being read to and searching for books. Any ideas on how I can use the 30 minutes I have with our librarian? We are scheduled 2 teachers for each time slot.

-Deborah

[Nancy R. Green]

I was told by my district to create my own set of library skills and standards. There were no sets of skills and standards back in 2002 anywhere that I could find when I started this process. I read and researched and came up with what seemed to be the most logical progression of library skills. It took me 2 years to write it. I have found that it is a constantly evolving document depending on who is teaching what grade that year. At least now I have a framework and can adjust according to what each teacher needs.
Here is an example of what I do with the 5th grade. Let me know if you need something specific.

Nancy

[Carolyn Foote]

Secondary

We have a fairly large high school, so I feel that it is important to work wtih new teachers each year, and help them as much as possible.

We try to do a social gathering combined with a tour, or get to know you visit for new staff. This year we are going to invite new teachers to pose for a photo with their "favorite" book, and then we'll display those photos with their names so other staff and students can get to know them.

We're also trying to create some virtual audiovisual materials for teachers to use with students, in addition to online handouts that we have posted on our website.
A couple of specific ones I've worked on this fall:
Voice thread--Choosing Databases or "google"

TeacherTube video--Authority of sources

These are our beginning efforts at creating more virtual materials that will be readily available for us to use with classes or teachers.

Other strategies-- attending department meetings to continue a relationship with teachers, being a member of our campus department chair team, sending out invitations to collaborate via email, joining committees on campus, and being a part of decision making teams.

For new teachers, we also have a "prepared" packet of materials based on Carol Kuhlthau's work on the research process, with some handouts to guide students through the research process. Though handouts may seem "old school," I find it a quick and helpful way to give new teachers a good model and handouts they can modify or use with students as they help them through a research paper, and having the packet prepared, so when I only have five minutes to really talk to them gives me something I can put in their hands that is helpful.

We also try to incorporate web 2.0 skills wherever possible, and provide models.

It is difficult in a large high school with only one of me, so I try to have a myriad of things available, via email, on my website, on my blog, and always maintain a welcoming atmosphere.

I think when it is clear you are inviting and willing to help, willing to learn, and willing to experiment, then teachers will approach you with their ideas as well.

I'm eager to hear more about the strategies others of you are using!

[Susan Geiger]

Carolyn
What a great use of Voice thread as an online instructional tutorial. I've been introducing Voice thread to teachers right and left, but hadn't considered it for my own use. Duh.

[Judy Franz]

Virtual lessons would be a unique way to duplicate your services to reach more faculty members, and consequently more students. The more students are exposed to virtual learning at the high school level, the more they have a right to expect it at the college/university level. I wonder if it might not also help with the high absentee rates some schools have. Students could be required to make up work virtually whether for excused or unexcused absences to receive credit. I can also see lessons like these being used as a springboard for great extension assignments.

I was enthralled with your creativity in producing the Flcker video on “Informed Writing”. It was presented in such a clever and meaningful way. In under three minutes it presented a succinct lesson that would make a lasting impact on students. I know it did on me. The connection with the real world at large was well done and spoke volumes, the “Road Work Ahead” sign vs. the completely competent crew got the point across with a bit of humor, and kids could definitely relate to the music component. I have several questions on how this production came about, so that I might pursue a similar project in a high school. How do you get started? Were I to use this avenue to teach information literacy, is it something I could do at the local level, or is special training required? Were the persons listed in the credits technical professionals, teachers, students, or a combination of these? Also, what are the expenses involved in a production like this one?

I would really like to see virtual lessons like these become a shared collaborative effort among teachers, whereby the topics could be coordinated, developed, and organized in such a way as to have an archives of materials available online. Your Flcker video on Informed Writing is a prime example. Thank you for some outstanding examples.

[Nicole]

I just recently was introduced to Teacher Tube. What a great site! Thank you for the posting. Do you offer your high school students a chance to be a part of social computing? Do students run any of these activities? What is "educational" standards are met with blogs, podcasts, etc..? Do you allow my space, you tube, second life?

[Andrew Zollman]

Providing students with virtual lesions are a great was to keep more space within the library, both physical and digital, as well as providing librarians another method to teach larger groups of students. You stated that you used this method in your library. What is the volume of students using these activities? Have you seen any change in learning with the students? How do Voice Thread and TeacherTube affect the amount of work you present in the library?

[Deborah Ramm]

Carolyn,
I love those ideas Especially the photo idea! We're having a special reading night where teachers come and read to students and their families. I think this would be a great idea for a welcome bulletin board. Is there any way we can see a copy of the packet of materials? Maybe it can be mailed to individuals?

[Judi Moreillon]

If you have money, ALA Graphics offers the READ Poster CD: http://www.alastore.ala.org/SiteSolution.taf?_sn=catalog&_pn=pr...

You can see a sample on my Web site: http://storytrail.com/Author/about.html

[Judi Moreillon]

K-12 – Novice and Veteran Classroom Teacher Colleagues

One way that I have particularly enjoyed engaging classroom teachers in collaboration is through professional development (PD).

It’s easy when the staff development experience is at your school site to connect with teachers afterward and offer to try out new strategies or content. Most educators appreciate and welcome support when taking risks. And principals are quite impressed when they see (!) teacher-librarians supporting their PD initiatives!

Examples: Several years ago, in an effort to improve test scores on district and state assessments, Sabino High School adopted the Jane Shaffer writing method. I attended the all-day workshop at our school along with the English department and representatives from other departments and the feeder middle schools.

Afterward, I was asked to present the method to the entire faculty via a PowerPoint presentation at a faculty meeting. Everyone who attended the workshop was assigned one or more colleagues to mentor. The principal assigned me to work with the fine arts and P.E. departments to teach the teachers how to teach and use this method. One of the highlights was working with a P.E. teacher to help students research and write letters to the editor of the local newspaper when the state was considering banning junk food in school vending machines. Several students’ letters (written in the Jane Shaffer method) were published.

Another way to create collaborative partners is through attending conferences and workshops together. Many local area reading councils, technology, social studies, science, or other content area professional groups offer weekend or summer workshops. (In Arizona, educators are required to earn continuing education credits in order to renew their teaching credentials.)

A fine arts example is a published lesson plan on the ReadWriteThink.org Web site, “Behind the Masks: Exploring Culture and Art through Poetry:” http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=395 The Jane Shaffer writing method was used in the students' reports - not their poetry!

After attending a workshop together, try out the strategies or content through coteaching. Share your learning with the other teachers at that grade level, teaching in that content area, or with rest of the faculty. Then, at the next workshop or conference for the sponsoring organization, share your collaborative work by co-presenting a session.

Examples: Along with classroom teachers, I have co-presented conference sessions that featured our collaborative teaching at science and literature conferences. Not only did we feel like professionals with valuable knowledge and experience to share, but we also influenced the thinking of others about classroom-library collaboration.

Increasing our own and our colleagues’ instructional expertise can be a great motivator for our collaborative work.