Well, I have to say that the responses to Toni Buzzeo's request are
discouraging.
I agree with Shonda Brisco - it *is* frustrating "to be taught to do
something that no one else in education is aware of or wants to become
part of once they're in the system." I have to say, though, that it's
not only the teachers who are unaware or unwilling; in my experience,
there are some librarians who are not willing to consider the paradigm
shift from "taking care of/checking out the books" to collaborating with
teachers to integrate the TEKS. I have heard the comment, "I'm not a
teacher-librarian, I'm an administrator/librarian." Or, "I checked out
books for 1,000+ students in the month of January - that's my
contribution."
I haven't been around as long as these librarians nor have I walked in
their shoes; I=92m sure much of it has to do with the constrictions
presented by the school environment they're in. They've probably lived
the frustration and fatigue of doing back-to-back classes as well as AR.
I know of several librarians who are reaching burn-out with the demands
placed by this program. AR can tend to become the "be-all, end-all"
once it's fully implemented. I know that in my school, it was a real
challenge for me to keep up with just getting the books back on the
shelf, in addition to integrating the library skills with the curriculum
of the research classes.
There are many elements working against us as we attempt to align our
practice with state and national standards - lack of teacher time and,
at times, willingness; lack of principal's supprt; the nature of our
public school system (the accountability factor works to pressure the
teachers into covering the curriculum in piecemeal fashion; the number
of kids a teacher must attempt to teach at a time, along with the
baggage from their personal lives; unwillingness to change paradigm;
etc.
I guess the main thing I will try to remember is to do what I can within
whatever circle of influence I have and not to obsess about what can't
be done.
Carol Valdez, SGMS librarian
Laredo, TX
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of S Brisco
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 10:17 PM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: What prevents you from collaborating? FINAL INSTALLMENT
I was glad to see the HIT on collaboration. It seems that everyone is
finding the same thing in their schools. Some teachers collaborate,
some don't. It's frustrating when librarians are taught to do something
that no one else in education is aware of or wants to become a part of
once they are in the system.
I worked at Oklahoma State University as an assistant professor /
librarian for our Curriculum Materials Library which was specifically
geared toward education majors. Our library was a "model school
library" which offered tons of resources that "might" be found in school
libraries. The education majors loved the library but found it hard to
understand how (or why) to collaborate with the librarian. I would help
perhaps 10 students personally each semester in developing their
lessons. It was exciting; however, there were over 2000 education
majors in the program. How many did I miss? Too many!!
I enjoyed the opportunity that many of my professional colleages allowed
when they brought their students in for in-depth explanations of how to
do
research for lesson planning. In my explanation to these "new
teachers" I
encouraged them to make the librarian their "best friend" and tried to
explain how and why to work with the librarian. However, I still got
the
feeling that many felt they knew it all and NO librarian would be able
to tell them HOW to teach a subject that they've just spent four years
learning about in college. (What do I know? I've only been in
education for 20
years.)
My other fear was that many of these new teachers who did collaborate
with me would be excited about the idea of collaboration, find their
first job, and then learn that their school didn't have a librarian (or
even a warm body in the library) to actually work with during their
first year.
Another fear that is realized each and every day is meeting librarians
who have administrators that don't have a clue about libraries and don't
care about libraries. Where do these people come from? (I've even had
some of these people smugly tell me that they "got their degree without
having to set foot in a library"---and boy, did I want to snap back at
that comment.) I think that one of the required courses of
administrators should be one specifically designed to teach
administrators how to work with librarians. That would include
understanding what we do, how we impact schools (students, teachers,
parents), how we impact test scores, and why libraries should be the
heart of every school program. I think they should also spend at least
two weeks in a library working side-by-side with a librarian to
understand the problems and the rituals involved... (The best schools
that I've been in had administrators who supported and worked with their
librarians. I was so impressed with one school that I asked about the
educational background of the principal....she was a former librarian
with over 10 years of experience!) I wish we had more of these people
out there...anyone considering a career change toward administration?
We need you badly!
My opinion only...happy it's summer! Looking forward to my NEW library
position! Have a great week!
Shonda Brisco
FWISD Teacher / Librarian (formerly)
Trinity Valley Upper School Librarian (2002-2003)
Ft. Worth, Texas
sbrisco021@charter.net
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