Re: GEN: From the classroom into the library

[Joni J Rathbun <jrathbun@OREDNET.ORG>]

On Thu, 12 Jul 2001, Medley, Kelly wrote:

> My question for this group:
> Why should anything keep "media folks and teachers apart"?
>
> This is a troubling issue for me and one that I tend to get a bit passionate
> about.  Please view my posting as one straight from my heart, without
> pointing a finger, only wishing for teamwork.
>
> I am a former classroom teacher working as a library-media specialist while
> I get my masters.  (In N.C. you have to have teacher certification and a
> masters in Library-Information Studies.)  My experiences in the classroom,
> in the media center, and in grad school have led me to understand one
> thing--good library-media specialists are good teachers.  In one class I
> recently completed, we even decided that most of us prefer Ken Haycock's
> label of "teacher-librarian" to most other labels.  Whether your teaching
> talent comes from within, classes, or specific experience, a good media
> specialist in today's educational environment is a good teacher.
>
> My state is has been focused on increasing student achievement, largely
> through a testing/accountability program.  I believe we are all responsible
> for student performance.  I have curriculum goals and if I don't teach
> information skills who will?  The times of "territories" are through.  I
> hope to develop a program where I am viewed as a "team member" on each grade
> level and work collaboratively with teachers to present integrated units.
> This takes time and effort, but I am willing to go the distance for our
> children.


When classroom teachers entered their classrooms for the first time,
they had to learn to become good teachers. My library is a classroom.
And when I entered it, I also had to learn to become a good teacher.
I don't believe actual classroom teaching experience is a must or
even necessarily an advantage. I'm an experienced teacher now too.
All many of us seem to be doing here is trying to somehow compare
experienced teachers to inexperienced teachers. This seems to deny
the fact the library is also a center for teaching and learning.
Of course someone with a few years in the classroom will have an
advantage over someone going into a library without having first
been in a classroom. But same can be true in reverse -- especially
at the elementary level. Indeed, there might even be an advantage
for the person who begins in the library. They will have dealt
with *every* discipine problem and *every* child on an IEP and
*every* gifted child and every other *every* that goes through
that school!

Requiring teacher librarians to have the same or similar background
prep as classroom teachers should be supporting their growth into
"teacherhood." And I continue to add to that growth just as a
classroom teacher does. I go to the same inservices and workshops
they go to -- from learning how to use the writing assessments to
math to social studies, you name it, because all those subject
areas are also my subject areas.

And that brings me to another important part of this that I haven't
seen mentioned -- and that's collection & program development. I believe
collection & program development is greatly strengthened with knowledge
of curriculum and instruction -- not only what is being taught
but how it is being taught and by whom. In some cases, I
would go so far as to say this knowledge combined with leadership
from the teacher librarian can also direct and shape the what
and how. That is, not everything I do is IN RESPONSE. Sometimes
what I do is done in a deliberate and educated attempt to help move
teachers (curriculum & instruction) in a specific direction.

I was sent into one school for this very purpose -- not to develop
a program in response to the status quo but to use my knowledge
of curriculum and instruction, standards and benchmarks, and (then)
current reform efforts in the state to help MOVE a reluctant staff
forward.

And that's the sort of thing I am talking about when I speak to
the importance of having some kind of "educational" background
in addition to having been prepared as a librarian.



========================================================================

"Leave It To Beaver" was not a documentary.

=========================================================================
J. Rathbun, Librarian
Mojave High School
Clark County School District
Las Vegas, Nevada
Email: jrathbun@orednet.org




=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=
All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law.
To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST, etc.) send email to:
listserv@listserv.syr.edu   In the message write EITHER:
1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST
4) SET LM_NET MAIL  * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv.
For LM_NET Help see: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
Archives: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.shtml
 See also EL-Announce for announcements from library media vendors:
    http://www.mindspring.com/~el-announce/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=