Building Common Ground

Course

Student Teachers & New Teachers [5:00]

Learn some ways to introduce these professionals to the library through support, resources, & relationship building.
Learn to provide resources to help with professional development or induction.
Learn to identify the needs of student and new teachers and support these within the library program.
Learn to collaborate with university supervisors to foster relationships with student teaching programs.

This lesson is about student teachers and new teachers. These are potential advocates in your classrooms, in your school right now, either working through internships or working in their first years professionally. Introducing them to the school library program through support, through resources and relationship building is a really great way to foster eventual partners for the school library program. So here we'll talk about introducing these professionals or pre-service professionals to the library, induction in professional development, showing interest in their work and giving curricular support and finally, reaching out to universities supervisors.

So we'll start with a thinking exercise. What are some common questions that student teachers or new teachers have when they come into the library? What do they know and what do you wish they knew? When you think about those areas maybe it's using the Internet that is an area of frequently asked questions or where things are in the library or how to find books on students' reading levels, there are a lot of ways that you can contribute to the professional growth of new and newer teachers.

One of the ways that you can support this is through professional development or inductions. So perhaps with new teachers, for instance, let's focus on them, you might offer a back-to-school professional development induction focusing on the role of the school librarian, providing collaboration examples, and sharing really useful resources like passwords for school databases, policies, services and offerings of the school library.

You could also prepare some resources at the ready, making a folder and/or a website that's ready to go with maybe a video welcome, frequently asked questions, tips on the catalogue, maybe a student recorded video tour of the library and then, of course, essential things like the schedule policy, hours and services. It's the laminator in that library, how do we sign out devices. Sometimes offering that information ahead of time can really give a person confidence, it's like stepping into a new space for yourself for the first time. You don't quite know where things are or where to go. If you can provide that information it makes for a more welcoming experience.

If you have the chance to offer professional development either for new teachers or maybe as part of a student-teacher seminar, you might consider apps for learning, reference databases, developing an inquiry question, intellectual property, whatever you do, keep it focused and attend to the needs of new teachers. Think about where their needs are and how the library program can support those. To find out what some of their needs are just ask, make sure you're not just feeding information, but inventory, either through a Google form or maybe just some casual conversation. Use some examples of possible collaborative lessons particularly if they're not familiar with that co-teaching or supportive role in curricular integration with the school library program.

Another thing to do is to reach out to your university supervisors. If yours is a school that hosts student teachers perhaps they might have a weekly seminar, maybe with the okay of your district, of course, you could host the seminar in the school library after school. Maybe you could provide a session on one of the topics that I mentioned for professional development or something that aligns with their particular program of study. Many student teachers have to do a certain number of lesson plans as well as a unit plan aligning with standards.

Here's a really great way to introduce the student teachers to the expertise of the school librarian plus you're showing them not only that you can help them to survive their student teaching, but you're demonstrating the potential partnership the school librarian can have with these teachers once they get jobs and become professionals. The university supervisors also witness this partnership and this willingness on your behalf and may look to incorporate the school library into the student teacher's assignments or reflections or some of their work as student teachers.

So through reaching out to university supervisors, showing interest in giving curricular support, induction of professional development and then overall reaching out in a special way to student teachers and new teachers you're building potential advocates for the school library program and ultimately as all of these topics are about, building student learning opportunities across professionals in the school.

Find Out. What Do Teachers Need?

Context:

New teachers and student teachers are educators who stand to benefit from the purposeful outreach of the school librarian. This group is likely to be rather bombarded with new information and responsibilities as they start off their careers, and help and support from the school librarian can initiate a long-term partnership. Offer resources and ideas, but be selective so as not to overwhelm.

Instructions:

Following the suggestion in the course, think through or list your responses to these questions: What are some common questions that student teachers or new teachers have when they come into the library? What do they know, i.e., what are their strengths and specialties? What do you wish they knew?

To help learn more about the needs and interests of this group, develop an inventory to give to new teachers and student teachers in order to guide your efforts in support and collaboration. You might ask about major themes or topics they'll be teaching, favorite journals or teacher resources, or experience with technology tools and library materials such as research databases.

MLA Citation

Morris, Rebecca J. "Building Common Ground: Find Out. What Do Teachers Need?" School Library Connection, October 2024, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1979867?learningModuleId=1979873&topicCenterId=2158571.

Entry ID: 2122855

Additional Resources

Annotated Bibliography.

About the Author

Rebecca J. Morris, MLIS, PhD, is teaching associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. She earned her master's degree and doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh and her undergraduate degree in elementary education at Pennsylvania State University. Rebecca has published articles in journals including School Library Research, Knowledge Quest, School Libraries Worldwide, Teacher Librarian and the Journal of Research on Young Adults in Libraries. She is the author of School Libraries and Student Learning: A Guide for School Leaders (Harvard Education Publishing Group, 2015). Rebecca is a former elementary classroom teacher and middle school librarian.

Email: rmorris@schoollibraryconnection.com

Twitter: @rebeccajm87.

MLA Citation

Morris, Rebecca J. "Building Common Ground. Student Teachers & New Teachers [5:00]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, September 2015, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1979867?learningModuleId=1979873&topicCenterId=2158571.

View all citation styles

https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1979867?learningModuleId=1979873&topicCenterId=2158571

Entry ID: 1979867