LIBE 467
Assignment
2: Collaborate with a teacher and evolve their practice
Laura Fletcher
Introduction
Identifying appropriate
strategies to facilitate change is one of the leadership roles that a
teacher-librarian can champion. An area of expertise is the school library
reference collection, where teacher-librarians can provide bibliographic
instruction to strengthen students’ information literacy skills by teaching
“students how to locate and use information in the library, as well as sources
that exist beyond the physical boundaries of the school library” (Riedling et al., 2013, p. 5). Another
important task that teacher-librarians often take directive on during
collaborative projects is the ethical use of content and teaching research
methods that prevent plagiarism (Weisburg & Toor, 2012, p. 186).
Based
on the suggestions in Leading Learning –
Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada (Canadian
School Libraries, 2018), when a teacher and teacher-librarian collaborate each
have a role to fulfill, but the strongest projects are co-planned from the
beginning. “Teacher-librarians
have the specialized skills, knowledge and training to implement needed change.
Volumes of research point to the positive influence excellent teacher-librarians
have on teaching and learning.” Improving student achievement includes the
teacher-librarian training students in how to learn skills and strategies for
more impactful use of reference resources during research-based projects. Leading
into the future, ideally, a “Teacher-librarian leads the school community in the design of
information literacy learning strategies and processes in order to empower
independent learners.” With this in mind, this collaborative design plan is
intended to map the process of increasing a colleague’s level of integration,
application, and embedding of the effective use of stronger reference
resources.
Methodology – application of the
Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM)
The Concerns-Based Adoption
Model “identifies and provides ways to assess seven
stages of concern, which are displayed in Table 3. [See Appendix A]” and “this
model suggests the importance of paying attention to implementation for several
years, because it takes at least three years for early concerns to be resolved
and later ones to emerge”(National Academies, 2005). The following discussion
and plan for assistance is based on the CBAM model.
Discussion – a teacher’s usage of
reference resources
During a “collaborative”
researched-based project with a grade 4 class, I experienced an example where
effective use of reference resources was not taking place. I recognize that
being new to the teacher-librarian position and being young played a role in my
not speaking up or stepping in with more authority, however, being that my
colleague had been teaching for more than twenty years, what I observed should
not have been taking place.
Prominent
issues observed:
·
Weak resources used
o
Google.com
- Students
were accessing resources not intended for children and not presented at their
reading level, therefore many students did not understand the content and were
copying and printing information that they did not comprehend
o
Ask.com
- Students
were accessing responses not intended for children and not presented at their
reading level
- Responses
on this website are not from sources of authority
·
Plagiarism and lack of properly citing text
sources and images
o
Students were printing text and images
directly from the internet without including proper citation
·
Lack of clear plan for project, purpose/ goal
changed often, minimal time spent in library with the teacher-librarian
·
Lack of clear instruction and direction when
using technology such as computers and iPads
·
Project not truly “collaborative” between the
classroom teacher and the teacher-librarian
o
No direct time allotted for information
literacy skills instruction or practice
o
Role of teacher-librarian turned into a
supervisory role, retriever of book resources, and technology trouble-shooter
o
Use of library reference materials underutilized
Based on the CBAM Stages of
Concern and Levels of Use (See Appendix A), my colleague was at a level 0, and
did not appear too concerned about the inappropriate practices taking place
during this project. Additionally, my colleague was at a non-use level of
innovation/ taking no action – for example I shared more child-centred search
engines and pointed out that they should be citing resources, however the
students were not pushed to do so.
Plan for assisting a teacher in updating
and addressing their usage of reference materials
Keeping in
mind that “nurturing relationship with teachers is fundamental to [a
teacher-librarians] success…” and just as students learn differently,
“[t]eachers also have their individual learning styles and personality traits.
[Teacher-librarians] need to be conscious of what works best with each of them
if you are going to be successful in collaborating with them” (Weisburg
& Toor, 2012, p. 93 & p. 101).
Relationships also take time, which was not a factor in this example. Given the
opportunity to work again with my colleague, here is a possible plan for
updating and addressing the usage of reference materials:
Possible innovations
·
Rather than gathering
information to print and affix to a poster board, perhaps the class could use
digital presentation tools provided by the district through Office365
o Would enable use and creation of video and audio components
·
Rather than creating separate
products, perhaps it could be a class-wide production, like an interactive platform
that links to each students information
In this area,
to take my colleague from a level 0 to level IV or V, likely additional
workshops or webinar training in Office365 would be necessary. By initiating
and providing supportive guidance, the teacher-librarian could probably start them
towards level 0I, II or III depending on their willingness to try something
new. Doing so with kindness could help a reluctant or oblivious teacher adapt
to better use of the library and the teacher-librarian’s skill-set.
Possible adaptations
·
Co-create a clear outline of
the project and assessment plan during cooperative planning
o Clear purpose of identified learning outcomes and direct
connections to the BC Curriculum
o Include opportunity for students to practice questioning
strategies
o Clear expectations of student work (the objectives, the methods
of gathering information, the citations of used content, the evaluation method
that will be used)
o Conduct a reference interview to get a sense of the resources
that will be needed
- Gather/create a temporary references centre
o Requirement of citing a variety of reference resources (digital
and print)
o Check-in stages (helps to keep students on-track and also helps
to avoid plagiarism)
o Time-line of project pre-planned
·
Pre-teacher information
literacy skills
o Provide examples of how to cite resources
o Teach students how to search the library OPAC
o Highlight ready-reference materials located in the school
library like encyclopedias, almanacs, etc.
o Create a class project dashboard or Symbaloo with direct links
to helpful child-centered resources both for information gathering and
information citing
o Teach students how to access district online resources through
the school library’s website; teach them about access outside of school on any
device
o Have reflections built into the project where students explain
why they chose certain resources and why they chose not to use others found
along the way
If the
teacher-librarian takes on the bulk of this piece, then this colleague will
likely feel less concerned about the management level. By providing the tools
to better direct students in their research and information
gathering/presenting, then their teacher is more likely to witness the positive
impact it has on student achievement and quality of work, which will help
movement towards level IVA and IVB.
Possible Limitations
·
Time - always a factor that
classes receive limited direct instructional time with the teacher-librarian
·
Colleague may reject all suggestions/
resist change/ be unaware there is an issue
·
Imposing more structure on a
teaching style that usually does not have much structure may lead to conflict
or push-back
Conclusion
Working with my colleague
provided an eye-opening experience of how a “collaborative” research-based
assignment can become off-balanced. However, it also taught me where to front-end-load
information skill instruction as a teacher-librarian at the beginning of a
project, and then to continue providing support to my colleague and their
students throughout the entire process. As previously mentioned, Leading Learning – Standards of Practice for
School Library Learning Commons in Canada (Canadian School Libraries, 2018)
suggests that the strongest projects are co-planned from the beginning.
Therefore when collaborating in the future, I will ensure I sit down with my
colleague from the beginning, this way I can better identify appropriate
strategies to facilitate change from the onset.
References
Canadian School Libraries.
(2018). Leading Learning – Standards of
Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada. Retrieved from http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/
Hord, S. M., Rutherford, W. L.,
Huling-Austin, L., & Hall, G. E. (1987). Taking Charge of Change.
Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
National Academies. (2005). The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM): A
Model for Change
in Individuals. Retrieved from http://www.nationalacademies.org
Riedling, A. M., Shake, L., & Houston, C.
(2013) Reference skills for
the school library media specialist: Tools and tips
(3rd ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: Linworth.
Symbaloo. (2019). Symbaloo – Bring the Web Together. Retrieved from https://www.symbaloo.com/welcome#1
Weisburg, H. K., & Toor, R. (2012).
New on the job: A school library media specialist’s guide to success. 2nd edition. Chicago, IL:
American Library Association.
Appendix
A
CBAM Stages of Concern about
an Innovation, and Levels of Use of the Innovation (Hord et al, 1987, as cited
by National Academies, 2005)
No comments:
Post a Comment