I wish that I could collaborate more with my teachers, but there are a couple
of reasons why I do not.
The first is that this is my first year at our school. So I am not as familiar
with the curriculum as the very veteran teachers are. I was hired in late
July,
2001. School started after Labor Day. We had to move here, etc. So I did not
have much chance to talk with my teachers about things.
The second is that we do cover the planning period time, so I am with classes
when teachers are meeting. Some of our grades had meetings at other times
early
in the year, but that phased out quickly.
The third reason is that teachers in my school do not always teach the same
thing at the same time. It is frustrating for me. One second grade teacher
will
teach Ancient Egypt in the fall, another in the spring. Kind of messed up some
plans I had.
The fourth reason (and this is really something I want to share but not
have my
name used) is that the previous LMS may have not been quite as willing to work
with people. I am very PR-oriented. I ask what I can do for people, especially
our kids. The previous LMS did not spend the budget he was given yearly. I
spend that and more. It makes it a tough task to improve relations.
*** *** *** *** ***
I spent two years as a prep time librarian. It is IMPOSSIBLE to collaborate
with the teacher if you are providing prep time for her. You have no time
to get with the teacher during the day, plus the library has no open blocks
for the teacher to use with her students.
I am now on a flexible schedule and collaboration happens, but there were
still barriers to overcome. The elementary teacher has less planning time
than the secondary teacher. To be successful, an elementary librarian needs
to make planning with the teacher as simple as possible. A lot of planning
at my school is done on the run. The teacher gives me a topic and her
requirements. Later I show her how I can help her and write a lesson. When
the teacher and I work out the project together, the students' library visit
is always more productive.
Also, I believe that teachers are use to working in isolation. They don't
see the potential of the library. Many are only worried about a weekly
checkout and don't think their students are ready for research. Librarians
in elementary schools have to sell the library to their colleagues and bend
over backwards to help them out.
I think library staffing is often a problem at the elementary level. If I
were working in a high school in our state, we would be required to have two
librarians because my school is so large. No such requirement for an
elementary school. In a high school there would be two librarians to help
the teacher plan lessons.
Quite a few obstacles to collaboration, but with a flexible schedule you can
plan together. With a fixed schedule you can't.
*** *** *** *** ***
You are correct. It is hard to collaborate when you can't plan together.
Everyone is so busy that asking people to meet with you after or before
school is asking a lot. I also think the teachers have so much to cover in
their curriculum that they often are afraid to try something different.
Another reason is the flexible schedule, it is very hard to find a time that
suits both the teacher and the library media specialists schedule. I had to
do a collaborative unit as part of the National Board Certification. The
hardest was finding the time. We planned after school and used a lot of
e-mail. We started together and eventually ended up each doing our part,
mine during the scheduled library time and hers during her regularly
scheduled computer lab time. If I would have had a flexible schedule it
would have been much easier to do. Hope this helps.
*** *** *** *** ***
You hit the bull's eye for me. I am 50 % at an elem with almost 800
students and 50% at a jhs with almost 1000 students. I have a fixed
schedule at the elem and there is not a minute that I spend there that I do
not have a scheduled class. I spend the first 1/3 of the year delivering
basic instructions and "my" programs (such as Calif. Young Reader Medal -
state awards) to 5th and 6th graders. The remainder of the year I request
that the teachers tell me what they are doing in class and I TRY to do
something that is at least related to what is going on. It is becoming more
and more difficult as the school grows, however, and it still isn't
collaboration. I do collaborate at the jhs, but the down side is that there
are students that never get into the library because the teachers are too
busy teaching to the test. Those that I reach are great, but I'm afraid
that there are many students that just are not given the chance.
*** *** *** *** ***
For the last two years I have been a half-time Media Specialist for two
elementary schools. One school had 1000 students this year (K-6), the other
had 800, total teachers around 75. I had two aides in the media center at
each school, one in the library and one in the computer lab, which is part
of the library. Both of these areas were a scheduled prep time for teachers
with the aide covering the prep. I did the planning for the library, but
for the most part did not carry out the instruction. The computer lab
activities were chosen by the teachers, but was carried out by the aide. It
was mostly math software- not really any true integration of technology.
There are four elementary schools in our district and two Media
Specialists. We both have our endorsement. Our hands were tied when it came
to collaboration. I tried very hard to get some teachers to work with me
and finally got two teachers at each school. We did some small group
activities with great success and one of my principals FINALLY saw the
benefits of collaboration and flex scheduling. I made MY schedule flex to
fit into the teachers. It was a lot of work.
The other M.S. and I talked with the Superintendent after a visit to
Corbett Elementary School. Corbett was the 2001 winner of the School
Library of the Year (ALA). Kim Grimes has a wonderful program and we felt
this could be a good model for our school district. We have great
technology in our district and our physical media centers are very nice. We
wanted to see some improvement with the way things are handled in the
library. We were finally successful in getting a F/T M.S. at each
elementary school (our district is opening one new elementary year and one
new middle school this coming up school year). The decision on how to
handle the scheduling and what the M.S. would do was a site based decision.
We had to cut two classified positions from each school to accomplish
having a F/T M.S. One of my schools cut art and the computer lab aide and
left the lab and library as a prep. The M.S. is suppose to teach the lab as
a prep, the teachers were not willing to give up the prep. The other school
cut both the library and computer lab aide and the M.S. is suppose to teach
the library as a prep. They gave up one prep. It is still not a great
scenario. There seem to be about four stumbling blocks for collaboration at
my schools. The first is prep time, the second is fixed schedule (due to
the prep), the third is the primary teachers do not see the benefit of
collaborating and the fourth is lack of administrative support. A fifth
would be lack of support for FT personnel (which will not be the case next
year). I tried very hard to show the benefits of collaboration, but it did
take some effort on the teachers part and they did not seem willing to do
that. They like things the way they have always been! The teachers of the
youngers do not do much "research" and no one uses the library on the open
times, unless they have a presentation to do or some parent activity. I
went to each teacher last year and discussed the benefits of having a FT
M.S. and was successful, but it's going to be another long road to get them
to work with me. I would also like to say that I know many school districts
in Arizona that do not hire Librarians or Media Specialists. Their
libraries are run by aides and they may have a district librarian to
oversee everything. Another Arizona problem is that Arizona does not
require teachers to take classes to receive their Media endorsement. All
they have to do is take a test and last I heard there was no scoring rubric
for the test so everyone passes. Many of these non-class taking M.S.'s do
not understand collaboration and just "teach library". There has been some
lobbying this year to get this changed, but I do not know what the outcome
was. I would like to see some education of administrators on how the
library should work and also for new teachers at the undergrad level. Do
you know of any universities are doing this?
*** *** *** *** ***
Collaboration takes time which neither classroom teachers nor I have. This
year our grade levels met in the morning from their arrival time until 9:15
each week. I arrive before our required time (7:45am) and thought this
would be a great opportunity to plan with the teachers. I found this
difficult for the following reasons:
1. As the only certified LMS on staff for a school of 1100+ K-5 students, I
was in demand from the moment I arrived. ( I have a wanna-be LMS working
with me as well as a full time assistant. The assistant was usually on
carpool duty. The other person has come a long way, but wasn't as familiar
with curriculum as I. She is enrolled in school and was my assistant last
year. She hasn't gotten into the professional mode as yet.)
2. With a morning news program every morning, I found myself composing the
script and trying to get the crew together instead of planning. I was part
of the planning time for the fifth grades while they and the third grade
teachers were meeting. I didn't get to many third grade meetings.
3. Whenever I went to their meetings, there was always so much on their
agenda, esp. with a new reading adoption, that I felt that I wasn't wanted.
I told them what I was doing, which is all they really cared about. The
full time literacy facilitator was always at their meetings to give them
advice about books in "her collection." I really feel as if they don't care
what I'm doing as long as I don't bother them.
4. The classroom teachers have a more rigid schedule than I do. They must
have a 1 1/2 hour literacy block and a one hour math block of uninterrupted
time in the classroom. Whenever I asked about taking 1/2 a literacy class,
the answer was always a loud resounding "No, it can't be done."
5. I do collaborate with their plans -- I keep the media center open
longer, on my own time, when they assign research projects. But I am never
consulted about the resources, project or grading rubric. Most teachers do
not even know how to access the online catalog, nor do they know our
resources. I know I should keep them informed, but I can tell by their
questions that they never read my memos.
6. My fixed schedule is 45 forty minute classes a week. Many of these are
two classes at the same time. Checkout is included. Since the literacy
block is in the morning, I have some free time then. When classes are free
to come for research, I've got two classes at a time back to back without
one minute between the schedules.
7. I also prevent collaboration by my planning. Since I don't hear anything
from teachers, I create units of learning. I do units to keep my sanity.
Often I am right in the middle of a unit when the teacher wants me to do a
special lesson. Even if I do the lesson the next week, it is often too late
to be useful, esp. with holidays and other activities such as field trips
interfering.
8. There are a media and a technology curriculum. Teachers don't teach
these or often even know what they are. I can't blame them with the
accountability factor on reading and math. Research skills are barely
touched on the 3-5 end of grades. I try to hit the media curriculum and the
technology specialist does the tech.
9. This is the LEAST important, but for me, it is easier not to
collaborate. At a school of our size, it's hard to pin down a time with a
teacher. I don't eat with the other teachers because the media staff all
have the same lunch time and the others beat me to the door. I won't leave
the library empty, so I eat at my desk. The teacher's lounge is overcrowded
and the talk is rarely about teaching. We get a 20 minute lunch, so by the
time I heat up my frozen entree and use the rest room there is little time
left.
I'm thinking about doing National Boards next year and this is the issue
that troubles me most. Pair that with 1400+ children, another 1/2 time
media specialist, but possibly no assistant, and a later school start time.
It's not going to get any easier.
*** *** *** *** ***
EXACTLY!!!!!! Although I'm not contractually a prep time; it seems like
it because while I have half the class in the library, the teacher is
with the other half in the computer lab (and for grades 3-5, the next
week the kids switch places). Often it is one teacher bringing down
several different classes to the lab/library.
In my K-1 school (I'm in 2 buildings K-1, and 2-5), while not
contractually a prep time, I am being used as a prep, and I teach 9
classes (5 first grades @ 45 mins ea, and 4 Kinders at 25 mins each) in
the one day a week I am at that location
*** *** *** *** ***
High school teachers do not want to collaborate. We insist that they come
to us to sign up a class to come to the library, and we ask them what the
students are required to do. We explain that we can better help the
students if we know what they are going to be doing, and it may be
necessary for us to talk to the students before they begin their research
about the best sources for them to use, and even may be necessary to
demonstrate how to use those sources. We also ask the teacher for the
handout that they will be giving the students. We are lucky if the
teacher gives us 5 minutes to discuss this.
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