A+1.4+Case+Study+Rough+Draft

Teacher section: (I know this is too long. See what you think and edit away!)

Collaboration between classroom teachers and librarians helps the teacher in many ways. Pat and Mary Ann both mention that they learned right along with their students, especially in regards to technology. Zmuda and Harada state that collaboration "motivates staff members to grow instead of discouraging them with overwhelming tasks or unreasonable expectations" (33). Moreillon mentions that teachers are able to receive help with teaching ideas and that more resources are available with collaboration. (Cooperation and Collaboration PP, slide 6) This is borne out in almost every interview when the teachers mention help with ideas, research, writing skills, storytelling, and resources. In addition, collaboration can help the teacher with feedback on both student learning and on the lesson itself. (Moreillon, slide 16) McGregor affirms this when she speaks of evaluation of the lesson (211). The teacher can learn not only from his or her own experience, but also from the perspective of the librarian and the students. In the chapter "The Learning Specialist," the author quotes Morris as saying that in collaboration the library media specialists "serve as a bridge to help teachers make the connections between inquiry-based learning and information-literacy skills throughout the curriculum at all levels" (Zmuda and Harada 37). Empowering Learners contains the statement that collaboration "assists classroom teachers in developing inquiry-driven curricular units that effectively teach content and research skills to students of all learning styles" (20). Judi P., a third grade teacher, mentioned that collaboration helped make the lessons "more authentic" where they "find answers for themselves." Tracy talked about how collaboration expanded her instruction by making students more aware. All of these thoughts, ideas, and quotes mesh together to make collaboration. Collaboration is not neat and clean and easy. It takes effort and much pre-planning, construction and deconstruction, evaluation and re-evaluation. It also takes an open mind on both sides. Each brings their own special skills and expertise to the table, and each must be willing to share that and accept instruction from the other. They both become learners. The teacher has experience in instruction and in the content area. She also has a deep knowledge of her students. However, she can learn much from working with the librarian in other areas that will enhance what she already knows. It is like a woven rug. A rug that has the same pattern and the same color is nice and functions just fine. However, if you can add more color and more texture to that weave, it still serves the same function but becomes richer and more enjoyable to use. The same can be said with collaboration. The teacher can exist in the one dimension of her classroom, but how much deeper and richer her instruction can become if she opens up to collaborating with the librarian.

Brief Introduction or conclusion:

In education, our priority is to teach the students to be successful, productive, and life-long learners. By providing a wealth of resources and with support from administration, this process can be achieved through collaborative efforts of teachers, librarians, and students. Everyone involved becomes an achiever.

Students:

One of the first benefits of collaboration would be that students are no longer confined to a single classroom. The library expands their learning zone and is considered to be a classroom as well. With such a vast amount of resources and tools, students are allowed to explore various avenues to take on an “active role in shaping their learning. (Empowering Learners 20) Teachers and librarians collaborate to assure students have appropriate tools for collecting, communicating, finding, and using information. Collaborative lessons beginning with elementary students build skills that teach citation and ethical uses of technology. Using self-assessment tools such as rubrics, students have the ability to engage in critical reflections as they perform various learning tasks in the librar. (Harada 14) Collaboration gives the opportunity for students to give feedback of the opinions about the learning and share what was positive about the experience along with the negative. Self-assessment is a key strand for the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. (AASL 2007) Teachers and librarians are able to view evaluations as a tool to improve future learning activities. Zmuda and Harada explain that collaboration “should be on what the students need, not what the adults prefer.” The more students are engaged, the more learning will take place and collaboration is definitely the key.

Who would have thought students would take on the role as teacher? Collaboration allows them to get the best of teachers and librarians, but also gives them an opportunity to share their knowledge. As an educator, keeping students productively involved in lessons has the benefit of boosting student success. Through collaboration, students are no longer held to just book, paper, and pencil, but learning extends into real life.

School Librarians

Librarians are known to be a wealth of knowledge and as Principal Paula states, “Librarians impact every student and interacts with all teachers…they impact achievement.” Establishing a foundation that welcomes students into a safe learning environment away from the classroom allows students to give feedback and problem solving ideas in a less formal atmosphere. Librarians use information from students to develop ways to collaborate with members of the faculty. For a librarian, collaboration helps advocate for the librarian and the librarian’s rold as a member of the teaching faculty. (Moreillon slide 8) One of the main goals as a librarian is to assure that collaborative efforts support the school’s goals and priortites. (Zmuda and Harada 40 – 41) Collaborating with the librarian benefits all learning styles and improves student performance.

Librarians have the awesome responsibility of being the leader of collaboration between teachers, students, librarians, and administrators. They are the one person that learns from everyone involved. This leadership role influences teaching and learning by having an active part in the development process. Librarians truly have the best of both worlds.

Conclusion:

Although collaboration is not yet embraced by all educators, (McGregor) people have to want to collaborate for it to work. As librarians work collaboratively with others, we can not lose sight that the end gol is not the collaboration itself but the results of the collaboration. We must also evaluate our own library practices to enable students to be the kind of learner we have envisioned.

Administrators:

Administrators have the broad responsibility of ensuring that student learning goals are achieved. They must lead the staff in a way that will enable them to achieve that. Zmuda and Harada write that "leaders can make decisions with their authority, but they can implement those decisions only through collaboration" (31). On page 29, they state that "while measures of external accountability have reframed public debate on education, external accountability cannot save a system in which staff members work in isolation from one another." Collaboration is one important way to end that isolation that administrators can use. In the PowerPoint "Cooperation and Collaboration," Moreillon points out that collaboration can help "them achieve their instructional goals for the school" (slide 9) High School art teacher, Diane Roderick, mentioned that her district had implemented writing across the curriculum as a goal. She said that through collaboration, she was able to integrate research and writing into her art curriculum in a very effective way. So the goal of the administration was achieved more fully and effectively through collaboration. Principal Paula Godfrey feels that the librarian is the only other person in the school besides the principal that really has a global view of the school; that sees the whole picture. She feels that the librarian is one of the most important educators in the building for this reason and for the fact that he or she touches and impacts every person in the school, both faculty and students.

Administrators have a difficult position. They have the power, but they must tread a fine line. They can force a teacher to do something, but are more effective when they lead that teacher to improve their practice. The administrator can use the collaborative relationship between the teacher and the librarian to effect change in their learning community. They can also use their own collaborative relationship with the librarian to reach the other teachers in a more informal and less threatening way. As pointed out in previous sections, collaboration can enhance every aspect of learning. However, the administrator must make that collaborative atmosphere possible through active support. Saying that they want collaboration and then making it more difficult through scheduling or other factors will not achieve the high level of collaboration that will enable greater learning. Collaboration itself though is a resource, not an end in and of itself. The end goal is to improve student learning. The administrator can and should utilize the resource of collaboration to benefit the entire learning community. Collaboration can help administrators become better learners and leaders if they are willing to try.

