As I read chapter one I realized that I worked in a school library that got it right. Every instruction was based on the inquiry model. There were foundation questions and essential questions given to the students to guide them through their research. As the students progressed through the years they had to develop their own questions to base their research on.
Where instruction in the library got trickier was in collaboration.
How do we make classroom teachers realize that we enhance what it is they are teaching? Our curriculum encompasses all disciplines. Violet H. Harada gets it right in chapter 2 when she states that "...thinking permeates the disciplines, library media specialist are key team members in identifying the relationships existing between thinking skills and dispositions and the processes embedded in the disciplines and information literacy (Stripling 1995)" in Curriculum Connections Through the Library on page 44.
We teach our students to think, to reason, to solve puzzles, to ask questions, and to verify information. We lay our curriculum on top of whatever assignment the students are given. We teach a life long transferable skill.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Teresa:
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. It will be a challenge to change the old view of the librarian behind the desk who is too busy to interact with people image. Today's librarian is so much more. We have to keep looking for ways to promote the library and our role as information & technology specialist so that we change change the old model.
As a (barely) former classroom teacher, I just want to remind you that perhaps it is not that the classroom teacher doesn't want to collaborate. It may be that they do not have time or aren't sure how to collaborate with you. I am experiencing some anxiety about feeling so exposed in the library! In my classroom, I felt very comfortable, safe, and in my own space. Once I step out of "my" room, I got much more nervous. Yes, it should be clear that collaboration would be beneficial, but teachers may still be nervous to open themselves up.
ReplyDeleteI plan to start small, with one or two teachers that I know are anxious to try something new. I am also going to find out when the team meetings are for each grade level. I hope to sit in on their meetings at least once a month. I may hear about something coming up in the future and bring some suggestions to the team another time.
One part of the Harada chapter that struck me, and that I was reminded again when I read your post, was the idea of teaching about the approach and perspective of the discipline - being a historian, scientist. And that made me think about what it means to be a librarian and how we share that type of thinking process with the students with whom we work.
ReplyDeletePam, you make really good point. In order to have a successful collaboration, there really has to be a good level of rapport and trust between colleagues. And as the librarian, we have to be brave and take the first step.
My students were reading and asking five the 5w’s as they read. Who, what, when, where, and why? Chapter one informed me that this is inquiry based instruction. I loved it because, I did not have to come up with specific questions for a specific book and the students loved it because it was not overwhelming for them to complete. Most of them answered the five questions and completed a citation for their books within a half an hour.
ReplyDelete