Week Seven Reading

Marcoux, B. (E.) L. (2007). Levels of collaboration: Where does your work fit in? School library media activities monthly 24:4.

Student achievement is 20% higher in schools where there is collaboration? Wow- that says a lot! Team teaching in content areas has been going on for years, why can’t this be easily expanded with the Media Specialist playing a collaborative role? I think this is because teachers don’t know what the Media Specialist can offer. Information, research, media- what do we provide? We need to define our content and make it clear to teachers how it can relate and improve their content lessons.

The clarification of the levels of collaboration continuum helped me to understand what types and how thorough collaboration can be. It is important to determine what lessons can benefit the most from collaboration. We should only collaborate on lessons where everyone benefits from the effort. But, who is this “library staff” she keeps referring to?

Moreillon, J. (2007). Collaborative teaching in the age of accountability. In Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension: Maximizing Your Impact. Chicago: American Library Association.

My new mantra- “I am NOT support staff, I am NOT support staff, I am NOT support staff!”

The big question is, ‘Will teachers let us teach their students?”. We do need to be more than recreational reading motivators- we need to be essential to the learning process by communicating our talents with teachers to let them know we can be of help. Just showing a teacher the examples of different co-teaching approaches would be an initial, positive step in communicating with teachers the abilities and level of contribution we can offer.

Preddy, L. (2008). Collaboration: The Motown method. School library media activities monthly 25:3.

Playing on one’s strengths, depending on the task, is the best method of achieving success in collaboration. That being said, collaboration takes time- time that is separate from sitting at home on your couch in front of the TV planning your next lesson. That’s part of the hesitation I would imagine most teachers and media specialists have with collaboration, who has time to do it? Effective use of time in the collaboration process demands that clear goals be set to make sure that the effort is worthwhile. If a collaborative lesson fails, it will be difficult to convince all stakeholders that it is worth the effort to reflect on and revise the plan. Working as a team is never easy, everyone has to have the same goal in my mind, or else you are just working against each other.

Can I be Diana Ross first?

Todd, R. (2008). “Collaboration: From myth to reality: Let’s get down to business. Just do it!” School library media activities monthly 24:7.

Collaboration does seem like a myth and successful collaborations are few and far between. Most teachers do not know what the Media Specialist can do for them and the Media Specialist needs to do a better job marketing themselves. I think this increase in advertising needs to start with the principal. A Media Specialist should have an excellent relationship with their principal, helping them to understand everything the Media Specialist can do for the school. Hopefully, if the situation is conducive and the staff respects the principal’s opinion, the principal can then be the Media Specialist’s greatest advocate

As Todd states, to start being an effective collaborator, we have to:

-Be mindful of available opportunities

-Believe that it can happen

-Never give up

-Think of the big picture

-Make sure collaborators are on the same page

-Make sure intent is clear

-Review past collaborations and improve on them

Sounds simple.