Curriculum Connections: Chapter 11

Collaboration can be the key to success for teacher librarians. It is a way for us to prove our value to the school and to the district. While the concept scares some (and keeps them from developing further as teacher librarians), for others it is what drives their jobs and their libraries. It is a way for them to relate to other teachers, administrators, parents, and students.

There are some difficulties, however, with collaboration. For whatever reason, a teacher can work with a teacher librarian successfully, but then return to their old ways of teaching sans collaboration. What's a teacher librarian to do?

To begin, teacher librarians must accept that their job involves leadership. A good TL must be guided by a vision for what is possible and must have an administrator who will support that vision. The book describes Loertscher (2000)'s premise that collaborative planning is key to having a successful library program. Importantly, you must link academic achievement to your library program.

Collaboration can be difficult for two reasons:

1. Internal elements (over which librarians might have some form of control); or


2. External factors (such as district policies, funding issues, and the like).

Clearly, it is easier to deal with the first than the second. Local issues can be solved locally.

There a number of factors in leading collaborative efforts. They include:

1. The principal's mental model. How the principal views your position has much to say about how successful you can be.


2. The teacher librarian's knowledge of the curriculum. Teacher librarians need to be able to provide support even in areas where they do not have teaching experience.


3. Teachers' prior knowledge and experience. Many teachers have a preconceived notion as to the job of a teacher librarian and it can be difficult to convince them otherwise. That being said, it is the TL's job to do so.


4. Ability to see the big picture. It is important to be able to view the curricular needs of the whole school and not one tiny part.


5. Belief in the ability to lead. The teacher librarian needs to view their position as a leadership one. Affecting change means providing leadership.

There are three qualities that a successful teacher librarian must possess. They are the ability to be patient, an ability to know when to encourage others, and empathy to what occurs on the day-to-day in a teachers classroom.

There are a number of principles and stategies necessary if you wish to lead successful collaborative efforts. They include:

1. Create/take advantage of opportunities. Determine how you can take advantage of situations to promote collaboration


2. Acknowledge agendas. What is it that the partners want to get out of the collaboration.


3. Discuss expectations. While in a perfect world, teacher librarians could map out how a collaboration should work, the classroom teachers and administrators often have their own expectations.


4. Determine goals and objectives. What does the ending point look like?


5. Set priorities. What is most important to achieve and what is less so?


6. Create teams. While many collaborations are with two partners, it does not need to be so.


7. Keep team focused on the mission. Sometimes people can drift off into other projects, programs, and goals. It is the teacher librarians job to schedule and keep focused.


8. Evaluate. Did it work? Did it not work? Why?


9. Document evidence. Being able to produce evidence of success is powerful both for the teacher you worked with, but also for other teachers and for administrators.


10. Reward positive results. Being able to mention in front of administrators what a wonderful collaboration you had with Teacher X goes a long way toward getting others to work with you.


11. Lead professional growth. You should be a part of the professional development opportunities for individual teachers and for your staff.


12. Share leadership. While you need to provide direction, you do not need or is it desirable that you are the sole leader.

Related articles

Montiel-Overall, P. (2009, September). Teachers' perceptions of teacher and librarian collaboration: Instrumentation development and validation. Library and Information Science Research (07408188), 31(3), 182-191.

Forrest, M. (June 2009). Good Practice in Action. Information Scotland, 7(3), 4-4.