HIT: How librarians help teachers Part III

[Anne T Knickerbocker <aknicker@TENET.EDU>]

And here's the last of three messages giving ideas for a presentation to
student teachers about how librarians can help teachers.

Anne Knickerbocker                           Cedar Brook Elementary
Librarian                                    2121 Ojeman
SBISD                                        Houston, Texas 77080
aknicker@tenet.edu                           (713) 365-5020




Congratulations!  I used to do this for our student teachers (as part of an AV
seminar), but a few years ago, the new faculty member who coordinates the
Senior Student Teacher Seminars decided this whole presentation was
unnecessary.   She's a nun (a member of the order which owns/runs this
college), so the department chair is reluctant to overrule her.  Oh, well.

I used to emphasize the following points:

1) They are new to the profession, and should be looking for pointers from all
corners, not just the cooperating teacher.  Contrary to what they believe, they
have a lot to learn yet!
2) The school librarian knows his/her school's curriculum better than the
student teacher, and has built the collection around that curriculum.
3) Find the LMS as soon as possible, introduce yourself, and don't be afraid to
ask for help - of any kind - not just curriculum/materials resources.
4) Find a library project for at least one of your lessons/unit plans.  Consult
the librarian EARLY  (emphasis on "don't wait until the last minute") to
schedule the class in (if they're not blocked in), go over what you want them
to do, and look over the resources the librarian pulls for you.

I found that many of our students in general have had an unpleasant experience
somewhere with a librarian somewhere along the way, and this makes them very
reluctant to even go into a library, let alone approach a librarian.  I
apologize for the experience, and tell them that they just encountered one bad
apple.  I try to explain how the field has changed over the years, and the
librarians have had to change their thinking as well.  The most common
complaints I heard were: being "shooshed" when talking softly; being yelled at
for taking books off the shelves/leaving materials on tables; the materials
were too dated to be of any use; and the librarian acting like she was angry
that her work was interrupted when someone dared to
ask a question.   I then explained my personal philosophy: a neat library is
one that is never used; a silent library is a stagnant library; and questions
don't interrupt my work - questions are my work.


I hope this isn't too off-track, but one of my pet peeves is teachers
who come in and take every book on a subject off the shelf (or want us to do
it for them) so they can hole up in their classroom with them and do their
research there.  Please stress the value of bringing students to the media
center so that they can learn to select their own resources!  I always tell
my classes that I'm not planning to continue on to high school or college
with them to pull their books off the shelf for them, and that I'd really
like to help them learn how to do that now.  I have 5th and 6th graders who
really don't seem to know how to find things in the library, and I suspect
this is one of the reasons why.  Also, as librarians, we know of resources
that teachers may not even realize are in the media center that would be
perfect for the assignment they are doing.  A good example is collective
biographies.  When given an assignment to find biographical information
about people, our students always run for the biographies-- when a
collective biography might be much better-- since a lot of these are
reference books, teachers can't haul them off to their classrooms.  Please
let the teachers know that when they bring their classes in to use the
library, we get a better idea of what resources are needed and then we can
make sure to order those resources. Some teachers seem to be trying to build
their own libraries in their classrooms.  We need to help them understand
that a shared pool of resources benefits everyone!

I'll step off my soapbox now!  Good luck with your presentation-- it's
a great opportunity for you/us!




Anne, I think I would stress that librarians love to be in on the
beginning of planning a unit so they can be gathering resources.


Great opportunity - where to begin? My first impulse is to say
teachers be aware of the particular resources within the library BEFORE
giving the assignment; but now I'm thinking the best bet is to keep it
light; let them know the librairan is a faculty memeber as well as wants to
participate; that the library can be overwhelming, but take it slow and it's
O.K. not to know where or how to find everything, but please to ask for help
rather than ignore the facility.  The fact that you are speaking is already
a major step - be a cheerleader for the library.  Enjoy it!  - Martha



I made a similar presentation at SFASU in Nacogdoches.  You will be
amazed at what the students who are about to become teachers DON'T know
about their librarians.  Just stress how the librarian can help in ways
aside from finding books...locating videos to match curriculum, working
with teachers to plan units to include media, teaching them how to use
equipment and software, etc.  I also stressed the value of having a
trained media specialist vs. a library aide.  (It never hurts to have a
teachers out there who understand the difference).


I presented my case several years ago on how librarians help teachers to
my faculty when convincing them to allow the library to change to flexible
scheduling.  I stressed the curriculum-thematic-unit support from the
library.  I demonstrated a couple of total unit plans for elementary
including lesson plans (Library Media Activities Monthly and Eric on
Internet, books with literature tie-ins, non-print materials and included
a BIG SIX information gathering approach.  It worked!



Having just done an orientation for five student teachers assigned to
my school, your request caught my eye. I gave each student teacher
an orientation packet and a videotape (self-created) to introduce
our library, its resources and services. The packet includes our LMC
Handbook, forms they will use, info about our District LMC, microwave
popcorn to go with the video, bookmarks, booklists and flyers from
our public library, and a two-page sheet called "Things your
librarian can do for you."

I think we should stress how studies show that in schools where teachers
and librarians work together, student learning greatly increases.
Forming such partnerships early on will ensure better success for their
students. This is something we need to stress over and over again.