Don’t Hesitate, Just Collaborate!

The over-riding goals of a quality school-library program are to collaborate with teachers, administrators, parents, and students; to support building and district initiatives; and to integrate the teaching of literature, information literacy, and technology skills into the subject-area curricula. Numerous studies since the 1990s, as well as personal experience, confirm a belief that collaboration with classroom teachers supports active and engaged learning, differentiates instruction, facilitates the use of a variety of resources, and ultimately influences student achievement. Professional literature and organizations emphasize the importance of collaboration over and over. But, all too often, library media specialists read or hear about elaborate collaborative projects involving intensive planning between teachers and librarians, or involving protracted time frames, and are left with the feeling that accomplishing similar achievements is almost impossible. To be honest, it is often a challenge to develop these collaborative projects. Budget cuts and fixed schedules, especially at the elementary level, are an all-too-common reality. Standards-based education and high-stakes testing have put increasing demands on classroom teachers and their time. A feeling may develop that there is no time in the curriculum for “extras.” However, as effective school library media specialists, we must demonstrate that we understand these challenges, know the curriculum, and are familiar with the benchmark objectives students must master.

What to do?

One possible solution to this challenge is to move away from the “once a year” model of a special-research or library-based project. Instead, work to develop a seamless pattern of collaboration with the classroom teachers in your building across a variety of curriculum areas, so that the use of library resources and the teaming of classroom teachers and librarians becomes an ongoing and integral component of curriculum delivery. The emphasis needs to be put on student learning, not on the degree of collaboration, length of time, or the “wow” factor of the final project. As the old saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step. Here are some suggestions for starting on that journey

Talk the talk, and walk the walk.

If you want to be viewed as a teacher, act like one. Get curriculum guides or textbooks and know the units. Become knowledgeable about standards, benchmarks, and any high-stakes tests that impact your school. If on a fixed schedule, develop rubrics and other assessments for library projects and activities that occur during your library classes. Return the work to the classroom teachers.

Advertise, advertise, advertise.

Attend faculty and grade-level meetings. Find books, Web sites, and other resources to support the classroom curriculum. Put materials on a Web page, in teachers’ mailboxes, or post them in the staff lounge. Teachers need to know that you are familiar with the content they have to cover.

Display student library work.

Use library display areas, and even the hallway, to display student projects, whether from a regularly scheduled library class or from a collaborative lesson. There is nothing more powerful than teachers in other grades seeing the evidence of collaborations displayed in the hallway or to hear it being discussed at lunchtime. Make sure the parents know as well. Have a stamp made that says “Library Project” or something to that effect. Stamp everything from the most basic OPAC worksheet to the author brochure. When parents see such a document, they may notice that student learning is taking place in the library media center.

Make it simple.

Today, many classroom teachers feel overwhelmed. If collaboration with the library media specialist sounds at all like more work, good luck getting teachers on board. So make it easy; spell out exactly what you will do, how long it will take, what objectives will be addressed, and how student learning will be assessed. For example, take the reading textbook and identify standards-based benchmarks in the grade-level curriculum that match library learning objectives in the areas of literature, information, and technology literacy. Then develop a menu of collaborative learning experiences and library projects tied to the reading program, explicitly identifying the benchmarks to be addressed, as well as delineating responsibilities and time frames. Prepare any resources needed, from graphic organizers, to Web site links, to suggested assessment rubrics. Share these materials, whether in print or on a Web page, with your principal and with teachers at staff meetings.

Be the solution.

Are teachers concerned that a new content area was just added to their curriculum and resources are lacking? Has the new principal identified a goal of integrating technology into the curriculum? Come forward with concrete suggestions that will help solve the problem, whether with library resources, ideas for collaborative lessons, or a Web page of useful links for a topic. If you help make the slide presentation for kindergarten orientation, you can add some slides about the library program and the importance of free reading. Help with the newsletter, and you can always make sure to include a library page. Assist the PTA president by creating a Web page or giving a presentation at a meeting, and some increased funding may come your way.

Focus on yourself, but keep the teacher in your sights.

Library media specialists are educated about the importance of a quality program and the value of developing information-literacy skills that integrate with the subject-area curriculum, rather than exist in isolation. Far too often, classroom teachers are not. So take responsibility and reach out. Get to know your staff and their needs. Brand-new teachers are especially receptive, since they are often overwhelmed by the amount of material that they have to cover. More experienced teachers may express dissatisfaction over something like the annual biome report. Seize the opportunity and suggest, for example, a project that involves use of the library’s online databases or taking notes on a graphic organizer that you have developed. The end result might be a slide presentation.

Frequency often matters more than complexity.

If teachers are reluctant to engage in time-consuming library collaborations such as research projects or PowerPoint presentations, then develop a one-period WebQuest, create a booktalk to accompany an author study, or design a lesson that reviews literature vocabulary for the state reading assessment. If there is a weekly book-exchange period, develop mini-lessons that focus on genre examples, literary elements, and figurative-language examples that might be on the state assessment. Follow with a mini-assessment that you grade and return, and watch the enthusiasm for working with the library media specialist grow.

Allow time for trust to develop.

It is important to note that once the initial contact has been made and a successful collaboration accomplished, the trust developed between the librarian and classroom teacher can lead to other opportunities for collaboration not originally anticipated. The power of classroom teachers seeing librarians in action—teaching—cannot be overestimated. This is especially true in an elementary-school setting, where often a library period is prep time, and they just drop off their class and leave.

Share, share, share.

Share your success with your principal and, more importantly, the library media specialists in your district. Use shared folders on your network or on a Web site to make lesson plans and resources available. If your teachers go to district grade-level meetings, they can share some of these projects with their teammates in other buildings. Thus, the seeds of collaboration are spread not only to other grade levels, but beyond the confines of your school.

Don’t sweat the library stuff.

Very few people care whether the call numbers are perfect, the MARC records complete, or the inventory totally current. If you have a fixed schedule with only a few open spots, make student learning the priority. When raising children, spending time with them is more important than a spotless house. Ditto for the library media center.

Proactive outreach to teachers needs to be the mantra of all school librarians. In this time of budget constraints and standards-based education, we must demonstrate that school-library programs support the academic achievement and educational goals of the district. Students need to gain competency in information literacy and technology in order to become successful citizens in our twenty-first-century global society. It is a goal whose worth no one can deny. So Don’t Hesitate, Just Collaborate!