Haycock, K. Collaboration among School Specialists. Teacher Librarian v. 33 no. 4 (April 2006) p. 38

A very brief article summarizing research that shows that school specialists (librarians, reading resource teachers, speech therapists, etc.) all work toward the same goal but don't collaborate. This is an idea that we haven't really discussed in class. I think that this is exactly the kind of thing that a learning commons approach could remedy. Imagine if all the specialists got together to deliver model lessons to some of the most difficult students to teach... wouldn't that be something for the learning lab!

Submitted by Rose Bright

Bray, B. Fall 2008. Preparing Teachers to Teach the New Literacies. OnCUE. (30) 4. pg. 20

This article deals with making sure your students are using technology to its fullest potential and incorporating 21^st century skills and literacies into your curriculum. The author provides 8 steps of professional development to incorporate the new literacies. Library Media Specialists are encouraged to work collaboratively to create a shared vision for the new literacies. Assess the current skills of the students. Map the curriculum and review pacing guides. Compare and contrast current and future skills by creating a chart listing current and future skills for students, teachers and administrators. Set professional goals. Develop objectives for professional development goals. Design activities to attain objectives and finally, establish the essential conditions needed for implementation.

Susie Huber, 15 April 2009

Barack, L. (2008) Librarians Head Back to School. School Library Journal 54(9), p19-19

Describes the a school district in the Kansas school system that is integrating technology into the classrooms in the form of Smartboards and student macs.  Librarians are taking a major role in the classroom in helping the teachers work seamlessly with the technology so that the learning is not compromised.  Also talks about a comic that is being written focusing on copyright laws.

posteb by Jessica Gillis

 This is an article on collaboration by Yukawa and Harada

Yukawa, J.  & Harada V.  Librarian-Teacher Partnerships for Inquiry Learning: Measures of Effectiveness for a Practice-Based Model of Professional        Development.  Retrieved April 12^th, 2009. yukawa.htm

This article discusses a study that was done with Teacher Librarians and Teachers concerning collaboration.  It concluded that a practice-based model of professional development was the most effective in promoting collaboration. The authors’ conclusions were that a practice-based model required constant modification of course curriculum and individual mentoring where feedback is given is essential. Also, inquiry-based learning was very useful but teachers wanted specific examples of how to use inquiry-based learning in their classes. Teachers found inquiry-based learning to be effective in both the short and the long term.  The authors found change in three areas. The changes were in the use of inquiry-based learning,  the increased roles of the teacher librarian in collaboration with the teacher, and the positive impact on student performance. Submitted by Joanne Maher on April 12th, 2009.

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Fontichiaro, K., & West, D. (2009, February). Promoting Inquiry with Emerging Readers Using Elephogs and Octobusinnies. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 25(6), 28-30. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text database.

     What in the world are Elephogs and Octobusinnies? That's what I was wondering too. This article shares details from a four-day project in which a library media specialist and a reading teacher collaborated to have emerging readers in a research project about animals. Elephogs and Octobusinnies are animals that were created by the participants of the class by combing two animals that they found in animal books and encyclopedias that were selected together by the library media specialist and the reading teacher. The took turns leading the children into creating the animals and writing an individual letter to a near-by zoo. This research project aligns with the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learners. Refer to the article to see the details.

entry made by Jung Ah Lee on April 7, 2009

Carla Colburn submitted 4/5/09

LaFlamme, M. A. Q. (2007). Towards a progressive discourse on community needs

     assessment: Perspectives from collaborative ethnography and action research.

     Progressive Librarian, 29, 55-62.

Community collaboration in the process of needs assessment is discussed. The collaborative model of assessment will be less efficient but it may uncover needs that might never have been envisioned by a traditional needs assessment. Participants in a collaborative needs assessment can form partnerships within the community. Their work can become a tool for political empowerment and social justice.

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Older materials about LC Collaboration

Add your materials here:

Cooper-Simon, Sheila.  Rethinking collaboration:  transforming Web 2.0 thinking into real-time behavior.  Teacher Librarian 36(1)  October 2008. 34-38.

The author describes creating learning spaces online with students and through describing their understanding, makes it easier for adults to get.  She presents a list of definitions of 2.0 which is extensive and inclusive of many ideas.  Cooper-Simon summarizes - "The new learning commons seems to be in fact the globalization of how we learn and are growing culturally. She stresses flexibility during this time of transformation and feels perhaps our usual frustrations of too many students and not enough time can actually be handled more efficiently with the new tools.  "An any rate, it is both a delight and a responsibiity to listen carefully to how it unfolds."  

Submitted by Mary Smartt, April 5, 2009 

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Charlama Chaffee (4-1-09)

http://www.csslibraryskills.blogspot.com/

This blog is shows how students, educators and the world can interact and collaborate. There are specific assignments for 5^th graders and 6^th graders, a group collaboration on how to determine the authorship of websites, how to comment on the blog, and a general assignment to answer the following question in five or more sentences: “What does it mean to be a good digital citizen?” This last entry has 31 comments. Many of the comments appear to be student comments, showing how the students can interact with the teacher and with each other. In addition, one of the comments is from Dr. Carol Brown from East Carolina University, showing how the students can interact and collaborate with the world at large.

Sanacore, Joseph. (2006). Teacher-librarians, Teachers, and Children as Co-Builders of School Library Collections. Teacher Librarian, 33, 24-29.

                  Through various strategies such as checklists, peer sharing, etc, information on student interests in reading can be acquired.  What children prefer to read is not often in the schools or what is required by teachers.  Materials are expensive so every effort should be made to get materials that kids will actually want to read.  To do that teachers and teacher-librarians need to collaborate and use the strategies listed to accomplish this.  Many of the strategies they listed seemed to me to be common sense - watch what the kids are picking out and looking for during free choice time, talking to the kids and asking what they like to read, and making checklists of the types of books either are asked for or are checked out of the library.  I liked the peer sharing idea where kids do little book reviews or book talks for each other.  He also suggested an afternoon reading party with food where small groups of kids talk about books they liked.  A collaborative lesson with  the classroom teacher was described where the students read professional reviews from the Horn Book Magazine and School Library Journal and then used them as models to write their own reviews.  The last strategy he talked about was building reading portfolios, though he didn’t elaborate on what went in the portfolio.  He closed the article by reiterating the importance of having materials that interest the students to promote literacy and that reading literacy did not happen by itself but needed to be encouraged.   

          Jessica Gillis March 16, 2009

In this article Barack states that on February 10, 2009 the School District of Elmbrook in Brookfield, WI banned the "fraternization" of

teachers and students via Facebook, MySpace, and social networking and instant messaging, even during non-school hours. The board is

concerned that Facebook, etc. is too uncontrolled. The district plans to add social networking as an educational component in the future, '“We are building out a new Web portal technology built around iGoogle that will incorporate similar Web 2.0 tools,

                 but do it in our controlled environment,” says Chris Thompson, chief information officer for School District of Elmbrook.'

At this time though teachers and students interacting via Facebook, etc. is strictly off limits.

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Elizabeth Waterbury

http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/02/12/skyping-in-mike-artell-illustrator-author/

This is a blog entry detailing a collaboration between an illustrator/author and a classroom teacher using Skype.  The author, Mike Artell, "visited" the class via Skype, and conducted a drawing class.  Students were engaged and enthusiastic.  The entry details how the lesson plan was set up and how the technology facilitated the collaboration.

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Laci Henning

Gess, Angela. (2009). Collaboration: Finding the Teacher, Finding the Topic, Finding the Time. Library Media Connection. v27 n4 p24-5 Jan/Feb 2009.

"Have you ever had a teacher say, "I'd love to bring my classes to the library more often, but we just don't have enough time because we have to prepare for our state standardized tests?" This response stems from the misconception about the role of library media centers and the library media specialists. In some school environments, the library media center is viewed as a place for students to "waste" time reading fiction books, and the library media specialist as merely a babysitter who provides teachers with much needed planning time. This misconception by teachers and administrators must be changed. In light of the information power information literacy standards and the new 21st century learner standards, it is the role of the libary media specialist to aide teachers and students in the preparation for standardized tests while teaching them crucial information literacy skills. This can be done through collaboration with right teacher, on the right topic, at the right times."

You've Got a Friend.Preview By: Woeste, Marianne. Library Media Connection, Aug/Sep2008, Vol. 27 Issue 1, p32-33, 2p; (AN 34384607)

The article discusses how important it is for first year teachers to take advantage of all the resources that are available to them and reminds them that the librarian can be an exceptional “friend” during this challenging time. This article not only points out that a first year teachers' success depends on the support system and mentors that are available and the school librarian can provide much needed guidance and support during this transitional period, but also reminds us that all teachers can consult the library for assistance and updates.

Cristina Johnson

March 27, 2009

In the spirit of the "Future of Libraries" I'd like to submit Jeffrey Pomerantz's twitter feed (http://twitter.com/jpom using tag #libfuture) who is/was at the 2009 IT Littleton Seminar at North Carolina State University on Apr 15th.  The speaker is Kevin Cherry (Senior Program Officer at the Institute of Museum and Library Services) delivering a speech entitled "Who's on the Desk? Staffing the Library of the Future Today.”  For those who scoff at twitter and micro-blogging, this is an example of using twitter as a way of keeping people informed "up to the moment" on topics of interest.  The true primary information resources are people-- not print, not web. 

Brian Thomas