I couldn't agree with Kate more. My philosophy is to get as many students and
teachers into the library as possible. I would prefer advance notice - and usually
get a day or 2 notice 99% of the time. With some I jointly plan the lesson; with
others I don't - as there is no need. It is a repeat of last year's project or it
is one we have worked on together before.
At times (many times) my advance notice is one hour before or the morning of. If
there is room I always say YES and reorganize my day around the classes.
For example, yesterday 1st period -we had a meeting of parents, guidance
counselor, police - for Parents Who Host Lose The Most- in the library. I had a
week's notice of that meeting. They had coffee - rearranged the round tables (they
wanted to feel more "intimate") and had invited several of our students to give
input. They put everything back and it was all clean when they left.
2nd and 3rd periods I had the Participation in Govt. classes doing research. I had
worked with the teacher on CQ Researcher and Proquest; I taught her when she was an
undergraduate getting her education degree - so she knew what I expected. She
signed up 3 days in advance.
4th period - Peer Ministry - The teacher did not plan the lesson with me - but it
was a recycled on that I had worked on 3 years before with a previous Campus
Minister. No problem, I just added new databases and books during my Intro. I had a
week notice of that class.
5th period - Forensics - 1 student - had research assigned to him as he did not
bring in the necessary Parent Permission slip to go with the class to the Medical
Examiner Office. I worked with him on research. 1 day notice that he would be
coming.
6th period - 1 student taking a Religion test she had missed. No advance notice. I
put her at a table in my office.
In all my 42 years as a librarian not one teacher has abused the library. Maybe I
am just lucky. I also will take over a class if there is a need. Tomorrow a teacher
needs to leave 20 min. early for a Doctor's appointment - I agreed to "watch" his
class for those 20 minutes. There is payback in all of this. He will use the
library (doesn't plan with me but that's ok - he gives me the assignment ahead of
time). That is his style - he has been teaching for centuries - and who am I to ask
him to change? What is important is that his students are using the library.
So each day, I take it as it comes. The underlying motto is: If there is room -
ya'll come!
Dr. Allan O'Grady Cuseo (Brother Donogh Allan, MGC)
Bishop Kearney High School Library
125 Kings Highway South
Rochester, New York 14617
585-342 - 4000 x231
585-342 - 4694 (FAX)
acuseo@bkhs.org
Education in the tradition of the Christian Brothers and the School Sisters of
Notre Dame
FAC OMNIA BENE (Do all things well)
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----- Original Message -----
From: kaTe
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 8:27 AM
Subject: Re: [LM_NET] Collaboration and Evidence - The Future of Our Profession
Hello............good discussion point here......
I am all in favor of collaboration until it comes to a point where
classes will never come to the library because the teacher isn't
interested in collaboration. I have seen and heard of situations where
a collaboration between librarian and teacher is -required- for the
class to even use the library, (even for just having a storyime) and
then the kids miss out because their teacher isn't interested, and after
trying to work with them, I found they would never be interested in the
process of collaboration before their class came to use the library. (I
saw this more on the elementary level than my current high school
level). I would prefer that we get all kids and all classes into the
library whether collaboration happens or not. or a collaboration of a
sort happens when they walk into the door.
And would I prefer to be notified a head of time that a class wants
to use the library? sure, but unfortunately some teachers don't plan
ahead that well or schedule that well. and they may get to the point of
an assignment (i.e. everyone is writing poems about this or that and the
teacher decided maybe reading other poems would help, so let's go to the
library), where they decide -that- period to run up to the library so
they will call up (generally) to find out if anyone is there or if there
is room. I will almost always say yes just to encourage use of the
library at any point.
I think the flexibility of organizing the use of the library is
important also to try and reach as many students as possible. If I was
back in elementary school I would probably advocate for as much of a
flexible schedule as possible, but if the teachers insisted, I would be
happy with the lower grades coming in on a regular basis just for
reading a story and/or doing a little lesson and checking books out.
everyone has to feel their own particular situation out to see what
works best.
peace,
kate :)
Judi Moreillon wrote:
>Dear Colleagues,
>I cannot help but join Shonda on the "soapbox." Last fall I taught School
>Library Administration and Organization (University of Arizona). I required
>that students collaborate with different members of the class and
>practitioners in the field for collaborative lesson plans and projects. All
>students used a trial version of Nancy Miller's IMPACT! software (available
>on the LMC Source Web site), and I recommended that students purchase it.
>
>The course was completely virtual (not my first choice) so online dialogues
>were an essential part of our communication. In one exchange, a student
>expressed the opinion that AASL and the course facilitator were brainwashing
>school librarians to believe that working collaboratively and documenting
>student achievement are THE best practices in school librarianship.
>
>Although I wouldn't use the term "brainwashing," there is a reason our
>national association, many of our colleagues, researchers in the field, and
>school library educators are emphasizing maximizing our impact on student
>achievement through classroom-library collaboration.
>
>In the age of accountability, NO educator can afford to be on the sidelines
>when student achievement is being discussed. Yes, we are about process in
>the library, but process can be documented. Assessing students' brainstorms,
>keyword selection, notemaking, rough drafts, and more are some of the many
>ways we can document students' growth. Collaborative teaching with classroom
>teachers and the impact on the professionalism in our learning communities
>can be documented as well.
>
>At the AASL Vision Summit in December, representatives of the AASL Affiliate
>Assembly talked about school library "outputs." Most of our administrators,
>classroom teacher colleagues, and parents are not interested in knowing how
>many books are on our shelves or how many circulate each year.
>
>This is what they are interested in: Are students engaged and motivated to
>learn? Is the teaching that happens in the library, lab, or classroom making
>a difference in students' achievement? Are classroom teachers and
>teacher-librarians engaging in job-embedded professional development and
>improving their teaching practices as they coplan, coteach, and coassess
>lessons and units of instruction?
>
>Some of us believe that the very future of our profession depends on being
>able to document and answer "yes" to these questions.
>
>Best,
>Judi Moreillon, M.L.S., Ph.D.
>Veteran Elementary and High School Teacher-Librarian
>Author: Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension:
>Maximizing Your Impact (ALA Editions, 2007)
>Literacies and Libraries Consultant
> <http://storytrail.com/> http://storytrail.com
>
>It is interesting to note that there is a discussion in progress on the AASL
>Forum about students, classroom teachers, and administrators not knowing
>what we do in the library. I would suggest that can be remedied through
>increased and more effective classroom-library collaboration.
>
>
>One of the things that I've tried to impress upon some of the librarians who
>are enrolled in a course that I'm teaching through the ESC XI (Fort Worth,
>TX) Library Academy sessions dealing with "Teacher-Librarian Collaboration"
>is the "evidence" that we offer to administrators. Our administrators want
>charts and graphs of our work...but not necessarily about our books.
>However, we always show these and miss sharing the important elements---what
>we do.
>
>We often want to compile reports of the statistical use of our materials
>(which is great) but we also need to show our impact on student achievement
>AND how we were involved in that process. Throughout the Library Academy
>sessions, I've shared some of the great resources that I've used over the
>last year or so...(David Loertscher's book, "Taxonomies of the School
>Library Media Program" is one book that I'm "slowly drinking in" because it
>contains SO much information about what to do to show our impact to student
>achievement. This is a book that every librarian NEEDS on the personal /
>professional shelf, near the desk, or in the briefcase for dull moments on
>the bus / train / plane.
>
>What I have discovered through my research is that while we always want to
>share our circulation records or our collection numbers to administrators,
>we AREN'T documenting our "collaborative efforts" with teachers, the number
>of students we teach during those collaborative units, and how our direct
>instruction (and use of library resources, of course) help to make a
>positive impact on student achievement.
>
>I've suggested to librarians who are enrolled in the Library Academy (and
>who aren't great at keeping records of their collaborative efforts and
>instructional time) to order the software program: IMPACT! Documenting the
>LMC Program for Accountability by Nancy A.S. Miller (you can order it
>through LMC Source http://www.lmcsource.com/tech/manage.html )
>
>~Shonda
>
>--
>Shonda Brisco, MLIS
>Library Media Specialist
>Arlington ISD
>Arlington, Texas
>sbrisco@gmail.com
>
>
>
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--
Kate Gallion
Librarian ~ Teacher
Project MORE H.S.
Tucson, AZ 85719
cag02@earthlink.net
http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/Alternative_Ed/
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