I have been the Teacher Librarian at a K-5 English Language Elementary School for two years. There are 14 classrooms of just over 300 students. The school is located in a semi-rural area and the population of students come from families with higher socio-economic status. Print reference resources were extremely out-of-date and above the reading level for most students in the school so most have been de-selected, leaving the Library Learning Commons with very few. The district provides subscriptions to many online reference resources such as Worldbook Online, Ebsco Database, Thompson Gale Database, and National Geographic for Kids; however, most of the teachers are not using any reference resource with their classes and I wonder if this is because they are not sure that the library has them or because they don’t know how to use them even if they know they exist. The library is transitioning to a Learning Commons format but is still lacking a seating area where patrons can comfortably peruse print reference resources. Many teachers at the school have been teaching there for many years and are a bit “stuck in their ways” but as the school has been growing, there are more young teachers who seem eager and willing to try some new ideas. I find many of the seasoned teachers have been through the changes of having a Teacher Librarian and then having them taken away so now they are reluctant to rely on working with another teacher, which I have found a challenge in booking times outside of a weekly book exchange in order to give lessons on reference resources. I think this is because “When people are overwhelmed or feeling unsuccessful, they are not ready to grow. In that case they will NOT state responses such as those listed at the level we might expect. They will be focused at a lower level where they still have concerns. If their professional development needs remain unmet, they can easily become stuck at some lower level of development, perhaps even for the rest of their career!”(Loucks-Horsley, 1996, p.7). There has not been a culture of inquiry at any level in the school as of yet. The school I was teaching at before this is a school where there is a very strong culture of inquiry starting in kindergarten and by the time students get to grade 4/5, all grade 4/5 classes work towards a showcase at the end of the year. I would like to create an inquiry culture at my current location, but it may be challenging because it is not happening at all and “The effective implementation of a new program is a highly personal developmental process” (http://www.sedl.org/cbam/, par.2). Therefore, I will be focussing my energy on two of the newer teachers to the school and applying “The Concerns Based Adoption Model” which uses “the seven stages of concern” to evaluate their readiness for collaboration with me, the Teacher Librarian, to use print and online reference resources. I feel like ” seven stages of concern” is suitable in my situation because “First, they point out the importance of attending to where people are and addressing the questions they are asking when they are asking them”(Loucks-Horsley, 1996, p.1). Both of the teachers, in conversations with me, have expressed that they would like to work with me but I have pre-assessed them at two different levels in “the stages of concern”. 

Teacher #1 has been teaching for about 2 years and has been teaching at the school for the entire time with just minimal TOC time before that. She is co-teaching a class of 30 grade 5 students, only working two days a week. She has expressed to me that she would like to try an inquiry unit but from ideas that I have explained to her, she cannot picture how it will work without being chaotic and without it going on for weeks as she is just working 0.5 FTE. As well, I have told her about the online resources that the library supplies and she told me she had no idea these existed and therefore does not know how to use them. I would apply the “Concerns-Based Adoption Model” to this teacher because “The model (and other developmental models of its type) holds that people considering and experiencing change evolve in the kinds of questions they ask and in their use of whatever the change is” (Loucks-Horsley, 1996, p.1). Last year, we began to discuss ideas and logistics for an inquiry unit but she didn’t seem quite ready for a full-on inquiry because she was obviously in the “Informational” to “Personal” stages of concern. I know this because she was asking questions much like the examples given in the article when it states, “In general, early questions are more self-oriented: What is it? and How will it affect me?” (Loucks-Horsley, 1996, p.1). To start the process, all we accomplished was a series of note-taking and citation lessons. This year we have continued the discussion and currently I believe she is in the “Management” stage because she has moved on from the simple questions and now,“… questions emerge that are more task-oriented: How do I do it? How can I use these materials efficiently? How can I organize myself? and Why is it taking so much time?” (Loucks-Horsley, 1996, p.1). So, we still have the challenge of time constraints where she does not want a project that goes on for weeks but she is interested and more willing to try a project together this year and she is keen to collaborate and co-teach. The other challenge is her inexperience with inquiry and her unfamiliarity with the resources the library supplies. During informal conversations I have asked her what area of focus she would like the inquiry to be and I took note of units she taught last year. While selecting books and new print reference materials, I look for suitable materials that would connect to units that she has taught or is wanting to teach. If and when these materials are obtained, I take the new resource(s) to the teacher and show her and ask if she would like to set up a time to look at them together or book her class in one day to explore the resource(s). In addition, this teacher is unfamiliar with the library’s online reference resources so I would ask her if she would like to book her class for a lesson to explore those resources. In exploring both the print and digital reference resources, I would first have a question or questions that I want the students to find answers to and then have them come up with their own “inquiry-style” questions to try and find support for in a specific subject area. In doing these lessons, the teacher and students will get more exposure to the print and electronic reference resources as well as practicing the inquiry skills of questioning, researching, and coming to personal conclusions. This will meet the needs of the teacher in that it will not go on for too long, she will learn inquiry-style teaching techniques and become familiar with the reference resources available. An added bonus is that the students are still learning new information linked to a unit of study. I feel like next year, she will be ready for more in-depth and more independent inquiry projects and I will continue to look for reference resources that would suit her needs in units she is teaching. To evaluate our progress, I will use the “Levels of Use” diagnostic tool from the “Concerns-based Adoption Model”. I will determine which level she is in by interviewing her. Last year, I would put her in the ‘nonuse’ level and then hopefully this year she would be in the ‘orientation/preparation’ level (http://www.sedl.org/cbam/levels_of_use.html, par. 3). 

Teacher #2 has been teaching for 15 years and it is her second year at the school. She has exposure and training in inquiry-based teaching and learning and has tried out some simple inquiry units. Recently, she expressed that she would like to collaborate and try some more specific inquiry units but finds students are lacking the background skills to work independently on inquiry such as formulating questions and research skills. This teacher is in the ‘Consequence/Collaboration’ level in the ‘stages of concern’ asking questions like the examples given: “How is my use affecting learners? How can I refine it to have more impact?” and “How can I relate what I am doing to what others are doing?” (Loucks-Horsley, 1996, p.2).  I believe this teacher is getting close to the ‘collaboration level’ in that “Once employees attain the collaboration level and work at that level for two years or more, they know its value and, given the opportunities and time to maintain and live out that disposition, will continue to seek and give collaborative support among their colleagues”(Loucks-Horsley, 1996, p.9) but needs a bit more support to reach it fully. I feel this way because she has experience with inquiry and collaboration but has not had the opportunity to apply these skills and would like more. This teacher is already very familiar with the print and online reference resources available in the library but commented that students are not familiar with them so don’t use them. In addition, she expressed the need for more current print reference resources because she knows they were all out-of-date and above the reading level for most students at the school. I will make a point to find this teacher and have informal conversations about what kinds of units she would like to focus on. Also, I will talk to administration about release time for collaboration with this teacher. I will purposefully seek out print reference materials that fit with the units of study in her class. During library times, I will teach a series of mini-lessons working on inquiry skills to assess the needs in the class. The lessons will focus on how to formulate suitable inquiry questions, explore online reference resources, how to use a print reference resource and find answers to some simple questions using reference resources available in the library. These mini-lessons will take about six weeks to complete if we were only working during the weekly library times. Hopefully, we will get time to formally collaborate and plan an inquiry unit where the class will be able to apply the inquiry skills using reference resources to come to conclusions. If there is no release time for collaboration this year, I will push for it next year. As soon as new print reference resources arrive, I will find the teacher and show her to see if it is a resource she is interested in and let her know that if she needs any help, I am available for booking. To evaluate our progress, I will be looking for students independently seeking out and using the print and electronic reference resources. As well, I will also apply the “Levels of Use” diagnostic tool from the “Concerns-based Adoption Model” and determine which level she is in by interviewing her. From our current conversations, I would say she is at the ‘Mechanical Use” level and working towards ‘Routine Use’ (http://www.sedl.org/cbam/levels_of_use.html, par. 3). 

Since I will be working with these two keen teachers, it is my hope that other teachers who are less adventurous will see how easy and productive it is to collaborate with the Teacher Librarian and how beneficial it is to students when they learn how to use the reference resources available. I plan to continue to check in with these two teachers with a goal that in the next three years, they will feel comfortable collaborating and using the print and digital reference resources easily and maybe even helping others because “Change is a process, not an event. …. Subsequent research on school change has confirmed that changes in classroom practice can take anywhere from three to five years to be fully implemented”(Loucks-Horsley, 1996, p.4). In addition, “Change is a highly personal experience, involving developmental growth in feelings (the Stages of Concern) and skills (the Levels of Use). More to the point, people need sustained help along the way if they’re going to fully implement a new idea, and they’ll require different kinds of help as their needs change”(Loucks-Horsley, 1996, p.4). I anticipate that these two teachers will continue to pursue inquiry-based teaching and learning with the use of reference resources and they will be good allies to have when other teachers enter the lower ‘Levels of Use’ and ‘Stages of Concern’. 

Works cited: 

Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). (2020). Retrieved 8 March 2020, from http://www.sedl.org/cbam/.  

Levels of Use, a Dimension of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). (2020). Retrieved 8 March 2020, from http://www.sedl.org/cbam/levels_of_use.html.  

Loucks-Horsley, S. (1996). The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM): A Model for Change in Individuals.