{"id":177,"date":"2021-02-06T18:51:30","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T01:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kathleenw\/?p=177"},"modified":"2021-02-06T18:51:30","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T01:51:30","slug":"learning-log-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kathleenw\/2021\/02\/06\/learning-log-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning Log 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question: A classroom teacher wants you as a teacher-librarian to participate in a more traditional research process as an initial foray into the use of the SLLC, and inquiry practices. Discuss what you would do, and why.<\/p>\n

The first thing, in my opinion, that the teacher-librarian should do when a classroom teacher initiates collaboration is to demonstrate a positive attitude. The teacher-librarian should nurture the working relationship and show appreciation for the teacher’s desire to collaborate. The teacher-librarian must make the teacher feel supported and be open to their ideas. It is also important that the teacher-librarian show flexibility with what the teachers want to achieve and their busy schedule. The teacher-librarian must learn what the teacher’s goals are for the activity and adapt services to the teacher’s and student’s needs. The teacher-librarian must aim for true collaboration<\/a> to build trust. The teacher-librarian will think of ways to enhance and improve the teacher\u2019s efforts without overstepping or changing the vision that the teacher may have for a certain inquiry. Stripling says, \u201clibrarians must decide how to enhance the teacher\u2019s instruction and impact learning without disrupting the teacher\u2019s preferred teaching style\u201d. (Stripling 2012)<\/p>\n

The following Piktochart demonstrates what true collaboration looks like.<\/p>\n

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The purpose of the teacher-librarian is to lead the teachers to pursue inquiry investigations with their students. Teacher-librarians must adapt their services for teachers and offer to combine efforts to achieve the goals set out by the teacher. Stripling states in her article entitled Inquiry through the eyes of Classroom Teachers<\/em> that:<\/p>\n

\u201cLibrarians can encourage teachers to provide opportunities for students to pursue inquiry investigations, but they must also meet teachers and students where they are and develop new strategies to enhance their teaching and learning in the classroom.\u201d (Stripling, 2012)<\/p>\n

The next step would be to find out everything about what the teacher wants to achieve. The teacher may want the students to learn about the SLLC (School Library Learning Common) and the services it can provide. The teacher may want the students to learn the skills to do efficient research, how to formulate higher thinking inquiry questions, how to compare websites and information, how to write a bibliography, do note-taking skills, or simply how to use the school library system to find books related to various topics. The teacher-librarian can offer to meet with the teacher at their preferred time to discuss the goals and reason for the visit to the SLLC. This offers the teacher-librarian the opportunity to make subtle changes to the teaching process through planned cooperation. If indeed the teacher is looking for help with the acquisition of inquiry skills, then the teacher-librarian has many options to help the teacher.<\/p>\n

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  1. The \u201cembedded librarian\u201d strategy. The teacher-librarian visits the classroom prepared with activities that will teach the students the framework of the inquiry process.<\/li>\n
  2. The teacher-librarian and classroom teacher can collaborate to target specific skills to integrate into a series of mini inquiry lessons.<\/li>\n
  3. The teacher-librarian can prepare a plan for the teachers to follow to teach inquiry skills in the classroom and include graphic organizers.<\/li>\n
  4. The teacher-librarian can introduce additional specialized resources such as maps, photos, online databases) to the teacher can use them when teaching inquiry skills.<\/li>\n
  5. The teacher-librarian can facilitate professional development. (Stripling, 2012)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In Fontichiaro and Oehrli\u2019s 2014 article about collaboration, they state that: \u201cAs a librarian, if you don\u2019t show the impact, it\u2019s not going to be worth it. The teacher has enough going on.\u201d The teacher-librarian must show the teacher that their help will have an impact on the students. Teachers are very busy, and it is important for them to see the big picture and what kind of impact the teacher-librarian\u2019s help will have.<\/p>\n