Week 7: Working with Others

This week is all about collaboration and how librarians can improve learning outcomes in their schools by working with other educators. Overall, it seems like the important takeaway from the readings is that collaboration is not always easy and can mean different things in different environments, but it is a valuable strategy for creating meaningful learning experiences. Some additional thoughts on the readings are outlined below.

Levels of Collaboration (Betty Marcoux)
Collaboration doesn't always mean the same thing. Marcoux stresses that it is important to keep an open dialogue about what is happening in the library and classroom: the good, the bad, the ugly. This openness and constant communication can promote the library services and facilitate collaboration between teachers and librarians. There are multiple levels of collaboration, and different projects and lessons are going to warrant different levels. Student achievement and professional development can both be enhanced by identifying how collaboration should be undertaken. The author's idea that different projects or initiatives require different collaborative strategies seems logical, although determining how to best approach collaboration seems tricky, especially for new librarians.

Collaboration: From Myth to Reality (Ross Todd)
Is the library and its resources being under-utilized? In this article's scenario, the library of Miss Congeniality is only used for "bird unit"-type projects with little-to-no inquiry-based learning happening; math and science courses not utilizing library services at all. Meanwhile, Miss Congeniality wants to demonstrate her relevance (and keep her budget money). According to the research presented in the article, librarians still have a lot of work to do to dispel old myths about librarians and what they do (for example, that they aren't just keepers of books and other stuff).

Still, if the levels of collaboration are not very high currently, then there is a lot of room for improvement. Be persistent. The value of collaboration should not be underestimated; at the same time, it is not easy to plan. This does not mean that it should not be attempted but that school librarians must recognize the importance and resolve early on to make working together a priority. While I think that this is a worthwhile point and probably a very true observation, what if a teacher really just doesn't want to work with the librarian? How can the school librarian be expected to carry the weight for both educators in that sort of dynamic? Certainly, forcing collaboration doesn't seem like a good idea. Also, Todd points out that librarians should be careful not to make collaboration about promotion of the library, which from other readings, seems like it is a temptation.

Collaboration: The Motown Method (Leslie Preddy)
How to collaborate? Like a Motown group, of course! Preddy argues that good collaboration plays to the strengths of individuals in the group, thereby making it easier for everyone to participate and feel like he/she has something valuable to offer. Still, good collaboration, like good music, needs a strong leader (which can be the librarian, depending on the type of collaboration). Other educators can back up the leader. What interested me most about Preddy's approach was her argument for continuous reflection and revision for collaborative plans. If teachers and librarians come together for a lesson only to find it a disaster (ala Miss Congeniality's library), then it should be taken as a sign for improvement, not abandonment.

Collaborative Teaching in the Age of Accountability (Judi Moreillon)
One of the comments that stood out to me from this article was that the school library needs to "be responsive to spontaneous teachable moments as well as to planned classroom-library collaboration." This seems to be an important point about the balance that needs to be struck, in terms of not only planning collaboration out with other educators but also being open to non-planned instruction. In arguing for collaboration, Moreillon also points out that having a librarian on hand during important instructional moments can lower the student-teacher ratio, thus improving learning success. One of the most interesting points from this reading was the notion of educators as role models for students in terms of collaborative efforts. Since collaboration is part of the education standards that educators are trying to impress upon their students, it is only reasonable that they model these same behaviors themselves. In doing so, they can both create high-quality lesson plans and achieve instructional success through leading by example.