HIT: Teacher-Librarian Collaboration -- Part II

[dana johnson <danaelizabeth@HOTMAIL.COM>]

Dana Johnson, Teacher (Soon-to-be-Librarian)
Atkinson Elementary, Houston, TX
danaelizabeth@hotmail.com

Here's Part II...

Once the game plan has been set the teacher-librarian does all the grunt
work - making up handouts, getting resources together, etc., leaving the
classroom teacher with a great deal of prep time and marking time saved.
Quite simply, the load is shared instead of left to one.

You have two heads to brainstorm activities and anticipate problems, and
these two heads often have different teaching styles.  Therefore more
student learning styles will be addressed and creativity increases as ideas
are broadened and defined.

The actual curriculum will be more thoroughly addressed.  Sometimes people
get caught up in cool ideas and drift away from the curriculum. I have no
desire to sound unprofessional in this, but  I have found that when class
time is an issue sometimes two or even three people have a better chance of
sticking to the curriculum.

The experiences of both teacher and teacher-librarian complement each other.
  For example,  I may know of pitfalls in using technology that can be
avoided because of past experiences, while the teacher knows the class
better and can bring that experience with her/him.  Therefore, teaching
becomes more effective.

It can be its own little professional development activity with each of the
key parties learning from each other.  Not to mention that teachers spend a
great deal of time in isolation and love the opportunity to talk about
learning and teaching.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. To be certain there are enough materials available to support the
lesson/project/research.

2. To determine if the materials available will meet the teacher's needs.
(Are the pictures in the book big enough to show? Are they appropriate for
the age group? Are the experiments easy to locate materials for? etc.)

3. To determine if the materials available for students will meet their
needs - are they the right grade level, or appropriate reading level? Or are
a variety of levels needed? Are they current and accurate?

4. If the teacher has a list of specific titles which we don't have, what
can we substitute from our collection which will work out as well? What do
we need to borrow, or buy for the future? Are those materials still
available?

5. What other wonderful resources (We just got in this new pop-up book, and
it's perfect for your unit on . . .) or additional services (I know a
community volunteer who would come and share with your class about this
topic and bring samples/demonstrate/storytell. . .etc.) can I help you with?



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