Teaching the Teachers

Many librarians can relate to the following scenario: You have just worked with students on a digital tool or research strategy, and they have done amazing work. Their classroom teacher was not present for the lesson due to another commitment. The next day you walk past the classroom while the students are working on a project where their library learning will seamlessly integrate into their task (which you anticipated when you aligned your lesson with the curriculum). You are astounded to hear the teacher giving directions that unconsciously contrast with every aspect of your lesson and promote unethical or irresponsible use of information. It was a moment like this when I first realized the critical importance of effectively teaching teachers, as well as students.

School librarians have always been leaders in the area of professional development. The Future Ready Librarian framework dedicates a wedge to facilitating professional learning in order "to cultivate broader understanding of the skills that comprise success in a digital age (e.g., critical thinking, information literacy, digital citizenship, technology competencies, etc.)." Aligned with this idea, the AASL National School Library Standards connect with professional learning in multiple ways. Perhaps the most significant is in the shared foundation of Collaborate where the key commitments include facilitating learner networks, leading professional development, and modeling and promoting information skills to the larger school community in a variety of ways.

Although at one time these responsibilities may have been confined to leading large group instructional sessions on research skills and tools, there is now an extensive array of possible pathways, giving us the capacity to personalize professional learning. By taking advantage of the many strategies and topics available, librarians can add value to their positions, transform teachers, and positively impact student learning throughout the school.

Large Group Instruction

Click to Enlarge +Teaching the Teachers

Mentoring

If your district has a mentoring program for new staff, volunteer. When new teachers come to a district, they need to know more than where to find the coffee. The librarian is the perfect professional to guide those who are new to the district or school, or new to the profession, in finding resources, understanding acceptable and ethical use of materials, programming to align with standards, and developing a wide range of instructional strategies. In addition, qualities of a good mentor often include collaborative skills, as well as skill at providing instructional support, developing good interpersonal relationships, and the desire to be a positive, continuous learner (Rowley 1999). These skills are all part of developing relationships with stakeholders, a component of the AASL Standards, and, as a Future Ready librarian, leadership includes fostering "a culture of collaboration and innovation to empower teachers and learners." As a mentor, the school librarian has the opportunity to stay current in a variety of curricular areas and develop a strong network of library users and collaborators.

Instructional Coaching

Although similar to mentoring in that coaching can be a one-on-one activity, coaching has the added potential to transform education. While a presentation to a large group has a 5%-10% rate of success for a skill application, coaching increases these percentages to 80%-90% according to Wisconsin Response to Intervention. The first lens a successful coach must have is that of inquiry (Aguilar 2013). A school librarian can naturally implement inquiry strategies as a coach. Instructional coaching has gained momentum as a tool to support teachers in implementing best practice in math and literacy. Librarians are well positioned to coach in digital literacy and the research process. While a school librarian cannot serve as a full-time coach, at the very least implementing coaching techniques expands the collaboration spectrum. School librarians will find them useful in working with individuals as well as teams. Participating in a team meeting as a coach allows the librarian to meet the needs of the group without being a separate item on the agenda. As an active listener, a librarian can find appropriate times to integrate information literacy without making it "one more thing." Taking on the role of a coach affords the opportunity to "lead educators...to embrace a growth mindset through lifelong learning," as defined in the Explore foundation of the AASL standards, which crosswalks to the Future Ready librarian wedge of Facilitating Professional Learning. An added bonus of this educational evolution is that other instructional coaches are great professionals with whom to network when developing strategies for teaching teachers.

Blended and Virtual Learning

Classroom teachers are exploring ways to provide personalized learning for students and utilize new instructional technology through digital learning. However, many of them have not experienced these strategies as learners. Librarians provide teachers with this lens by offering professional learning using these techniques. Offering a book study or selection of articles and videos in a blended format enables teachers to increase their knowledge on a topic while also learning about the instructional practice. Employing webinars, Twitter chats, and short screencast tutorials models effective use of instructional technologies. In addition to enabling growth related to learning the intended content, school librarians provide a safe environment for teachers to ask questions about the technologies, too. This again supports the Engage foundation and its call for "innovative and ethical use of information and information technologies," as well as Future Ready librarianship. Using blended and virtual strategies can ease much of the resistance that occurs due to time constraints. If librarians are to truly personalize the learning experience for educators, they must be sensitive to this stress. Taking advantage of instructional technology allows for archiving and curating materials for easy anytime access, allowing teachers much appreciated flexibility. The curation can include locally created resources, as well as those produced by others. Librarians may also include teachers and administrators in the selection process in order to practice and model resource evaluation strategies. Finally, completion of digital professional learning can often be tracked, a welcome feature for reducing administrators' stress.

Conclusion

Regardless of the methods chosen for facilitating professional learning, certain key elements are crucial for success. When determining focus areas, school district initiatives and goals should guide decisions. This illustrates the librarian's commitment to integration, the district vision, and student learning. Additionally, determining the greatest areas of need and scaffolding instruction to different levels of mastery will make efforts inclusive, better received by educators, and supported by administration. Developing a process to measure need and levels of mastery should include stakeholders. Having a voice in determining future learning opportunities will increase positive participation. Structuring professional learning to be continuous and integrated will also raise its long-term effectiveness. Every effort should also be made to allow participants to create a product that will inevitably help transform their instructional practice to enhance the value of the experience. Finally, keeping accurate data, tracking attendance, and measuring success will be useful for self-reflection, future goal setting, and advocacy of the library program when speaking with administration.

If you choose to expand your professional learning tools and dedicate time to these endeavors, your next walk down your school's hallway could reveal the thrill of hearing only the best instructional practices related to inquiry and information literacy, thus transforming the learning experience of students throughout the building.

Works Cited

AASL "National School Library Standards Crosswalk with Future Ready Librarians." American Association of School Librarians, 2018. https://standards.aasl.org/project/crosswalks/

Aguilar, Elena. The Art of Coaching: Effective Strategies for School Transformation. John Wiley and Sons, 2013.

Future Ready Schools. "Future Ready Librarians." Alliance for Excellent Education. https://futureready.org/program-overview/librarians/. Accessed November 2018.

Rowley, James B. "The Good Mentor." Educational Leadership 56, no.8 (May 1999): http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may99/vol56/num08/The-Good-Mentor.aspx

Wisconsin Response to Intervention. "Coaches: Wisconsin's Vision for Systems Coaching in an RtI Framework." Wisconsin RtI Center. https://www.wisconsinrticenter.org/coaches.html. Accessed November 2018.