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.

[Lisa Hunt]

I am happy to share my survey with anyone who is interested. It was something that I created, and I just asked myself what elements I wanted to review as I began planning for the next school year. I thought about the collection and what was needed, services in the program, how to best reach teachers and students, and what I might want to try that is new. Then I created questions that would pull this information from my teachers. It was really easy to do. I will try to upload the Word doc with the Upload Files feature.

[Sue Rasmussen]

Thank you for sharing, it will give me a good start in preparing one for myself. I especially like that you remind it starts by reminding teachers that the library is accessible and you are a resource.

[Deborah Ramm]

Wow Lisa,
Through your posting I can really see and am catching on to your passion! I hope I can make that kind of contribution to my school as I begin my TL career. I love teaching and am also ready to "go get 'em!".
-Debbie

[Jordan Kominsky]

I agree that building friendships is the best way to start. I began this year as the person who replaced the beloved librarian for the past 12 years. She was a legend and everywhere I went I heard Beth did this and Beth did that. The Principal even came into the library to explain how Beth had set everything up. On top of that I am the only male on the staff. My opening came with laminating. The lower school librarian does all the laminating for the schools (lower, middle and high). The staff was surprised that I was willing to do any laminating before the school year began. This was not a service they were use to having. Not only did I do the laminating I delivered it to the classroom. The lower school is located in a 200+ year old manor house here in England. It is a maze to get from one room to another. Visiting the classroom was a real surprise for the teachers when I arrived. It gave me a chance to chat and often times return with material they had requested. Within a week the teachers were asking me, so what are you going to do with the students? The reply... well why don't we talk about some of the things we can work on together when the class comes to the library. There are many ways to begin this one worked for me.

[Nancy R. Green]

PreK-12
It is not an easy task with some colleagues, and incredibly fun and exciting with others. Truely, some of this is simply a matter of personality - whether clashing or comraderie. That being said, there are ways to smooth the path of collaboration.

I always try to make a concerted effort of welcome to any of our new teachers. I bring them the list of library standards for their grade, and make suggestions about what materials and collaborative efforts have been successful at that grade level in the past. Life has been made slightly easier here at Grand Canyon with the adoption of the International Baccalaureate curriculum. We are now an authorized PYP and MYP school, with DP being looked at in the future. One of the mandates of IB is collaboration at all levels. We actually had a documented deficiency at the elementary level because of the balking of some teachers to collaborate. Our PYP coordinator made great efforts to clear this from our record. She planned meetings with the specials teachers (Art, Music, Tech/PE, Spanish & Library) where the elementary teachers would rotate between all of us specials teachers, explaining what 6 or so week unit of study they were embarking on currently. That way we could all brainstorm on how each of our specials could contribute to the current unit of study at each grade level. It's a highly successful technique, no one is left in the dark, and 2 or more heads are always better than one. Even the recalcitrant teachers are beginning to see the benefits of this. We hope to have these meetings quarterly, at the minimum.

Middle school and high school teachers also need to be approached and inculcated into the benefits of collaboration. Middle School has regular meetings which I can sometimes attend. High school is harder, because their common prep is at a period when I have classes. But - I keep offering suggestions, finding materials that might work, and generally staying highly visable as much as possible.

Being a one woman show in a rural and remote library definitely has its challenges. Just so you know - I'll be retiring in a couple of years - if anyone wants to take over my challenging job!

Nancy R. Green, MA
Teacher/Librarian
Grand Canyon Schools
Grand Canyon, Arizona

[Judy Franz]

I can see that visibility iand helpfulness are really important for collaboration, even before it is taking place in many instances. All of your ideas are going to be very useful once I am in the work field. Chances are, I will also be in a small rural library, and I want to make it work. You give me confidence.

[Kathy Hellman]

One of the libraries in the network for which I am Systems Administrator is a small public library housed in the same building as the one-room K12 school. Talk about rural! The librarian teaches Spanish to students using the subscription to Rosetta Stone that the state library provides to all public libraries in Arizona. Opportunities abound for collaboration in rural communities because resources are so very limited and must be shared.

[Sue Rasmussen]

Nancy,
What a unique and exciting environment! How many students and teachers do you work with?
From your description it appears that middle and high school teachers were more resistant to collaboration efforts. Why do you think that is? How did they react to "being inculcated"? (I'm thinking of teachers on my staff who would just get more stubborn.) Do you find a difference between newer or more experienced teachers--or does it mostly come down to personality as you said?

[Nancy R. Green]

Sue,
I do agree - living at Grand Canyon for most of my adult life has been a thrill and a privilege. We have 300 students K-12, plus I service the little pre-school adjacent to our campus for storytime several sessions per month. We have 35 teachers. I think resistant might be too strong of a word. It's more a question of our compressed schedule - (4 day work week, LOOOONG days) Also there is a tendency here to become a lone wolf. We only have ONE of so many areas - one music teacher, one art teacher, one MS math teacher, one fourth grade teacher,etc. that people forget that collaboration does NOT need to occur just by grade level or discipline, but we all can be resources for each other. I am constantly reaching out - listening to what teachers are doing, or what is their current frustration, and then trying to match resources and/or materials to what I hear is their need. I won an award for being "the friendliest person in America" (HA) & I keep that plaque in my library window and try to live up to it. I want the library to be the first stop for information of any kind. I've been here the 3rd longest on the staff, so I'm sortof an institution around here. If I can make friends and help teachers new to the district when they arrive and are in their overwhelmed and confused phase, they usually appreciate the help and continue to turn to the library for subsequent needs. But it all does come down to personality - some teachers just want to run their own show. I drop everything to fufill teacher requests - that is always my first priority. The cataloging and weeding can wait if a teacher needs something.

[Sue Rasmussen]

Thank you--I can easily see why you were given that award. Like you, I have pretty much been around forever so your suggestions for reaching out seem very common sense and much the same as what I do. I especially like that you "want the library to be the first stop for information of any kind." Such a simple but powerful statement.
I hadn't thought of what a difference a four day work week would make. That's 20% of the work week. How long are your days?

[Nancy R. Green]

To answer Sue & Brandee's questions -Teacher day officially is 7:30 - 4:45, but you know how that goes - meetings tend to go later. K-5 goes from 7:55-3:04, with 6-12 going from 7:55-4:00. Then there's sports, etc. Some of our kids on the longest bus routes don't get home until 8:30. Then - our school year is longer - we started on August 6 & go until the week after Memorial Day. We're all pretty much exhausted by Thursday night. Then once a month we have Friday and sometimes Friday/Saturday teacher in-services. If we do have a weekend off, then it's the drive to Flagstaff for groceries and anything else you might have run out of! It really does work for Grand Canyon. Any time the school district talks about a traditional 5 day week, the community gets into an uproar in defense of the 4 day week. The Park Service personnel even have adjusted their schedules to a 9 hour days so they have that third day off every other week. It really does make for strong family time. This really appeals to our Native American population who return to the nearby reservations (Navajo, Hopi & Havasupai) for traditional ceremonies.

PS - Brandee - I like your horse! Where do you live?

[Sue Rasmussen]

Interesting--your K-5 school day isn't really that much longer than ours (8:35-3:35) but we get out at 1:30 on Wednesdays. We started on the 8th of August and finish the Friday before Memorial Day. I taught at Many Farms on the Navajo Reservation many years ago so I truly understand about bus runs and needing to run to "town" for supplies. I can see how the families really like this schedule. Besides time, I would think there is also a savings in 20% less bussing and utilities, except for those times when teacher meet. Is there time for collaborative planning on the Fridays that you work?