Re: [LM_NET] Talking to Teachers

[Shonda Brisco <sbrisco@GMAIL.COM>]

Rather than presenting the information as a "there's good news and
then there's bad news" situation....why not present it as a "here's a
win-win situation" starting this year!

In other words, you will no longer have 3-5 grades as a fixed schedule
class which means you now have the opportunity to collaborate with
those teachers!  Present the new schedule in terms of how you will be
able to work with teachers (to lighten their loads) by becoming a
team-teaching partner with them on specific units.  If you know of a
specific unit that each group does during the year, you might want to
consider drafting a few ideas in a bit more detail and creating an
outline of how you can help make their units more effective.  You
could even create a short PPT of what you can do as a result of having
more time to work with each group.

Show your teachers that you can help with the creation of a new unit;
provide specific instruction on the use of the print /  electronic
resources; show students how to use Big6; teach them how to cite their
sources; teach them how to gather facts for research; etc., all in the
relationship of the specific projects that they normally do.  Be sure
to state how you will use THIS type of information as an assessment of
student learning in the library so that you can also provide data at
the end of the year which shows how the library impacts student
achievement. (See Dr. Violet Harada's work for addition ideas on
this...)

This shouldn't be a "bad news" situation....your teachers may
initially think that they're losing something, but you need to remind
them that you are also a teacher and that your expertise includes
teaching information literacy skills.  By having more time to work on
projects with specific teachers (and telling everyone about those
projects afterwards---because you'll want to share your success,
promote that teacher who is collaborating with you, and inspire others
to work with you too), you'll be a much more important element within
the instructional curriculum.

Present this is a positive fashion and it won't be considered as
negatively as you might think.  Showcase your strengths as you share
the changes that will occur and you'll gain some interest from those
who never "saw you as a teacher" before today. Praise your principal
for having the foresight to realize the importance of a flexible
schedule and allowing you to become an important part of the teaching
team (and keep your principal involved in what you're doing as you do
collaborate!)  Provide your teachers with something tangible (a lesson
plan idea list for collaboration with you, etc.) to take with them
after your meeting----and a schedule of when you'll be stopping by to
talk with them about their special project / activity that they do
each year. Be prepared with ideas to share with them about how you
WILL be teaching their students this year in a much more effective
way!

Good luck and keep us posted on what happens!

~Shonda

-- 
Shonda Brisco, MLIS
Library Media / Technology Specialist
Digital Bookends wiki / blog:
http://digitalbookends.pbwiki.com
http://shonda.edublogs.org/
sbrisco@gmail.com

Resources for Texas School Librarians:
http://txschoollibrarians.ning.com/
http://txschoollibrarians.wikispaces.com/

"Digital Resources" columnist
School Library Journal

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