Leading a Community of Learners: Helping Teachers Thrive

  

Leading a Community of Learners

    

    One of the reasons I want to become a Teacher Librarian is to support my colleagues and to work with my school in a larger sense.  Teachers Librarians hold a secret but valuable leadership role in school communities. “A Learning Commons is about changing school culture and transforming the way teaching and learning occur”. (Loertscher, Koechlin and Rosenfeld, 2012). 

    Within this role in mind,  Teacher Librarians have a big responsibility in meeting the diverse needs of the community, sharing and connecting with the community, and nurturing a community of collaboration and learning.

Picture retrieved from https://lostandfoundbooks.wordpress.com/2016/11/16/radical-librarians/

 

 

DIVERSITY OF OUR COMMUNITY

     

    Meeting the needs of our community includes not only our students needs but the needs of our teachers as well.   Just as students come from all backgrounds, areas of interest, races, styles, and preferences, our teachers do too.  How do we know what our teachers need… we won’t know until we ask?

 Peas in a Pod (Paciotti, B., 2018) lists 12 ways in which Teacher librarians ‘help teachers to thrive’, gauge,  and respond to the needs of their schoolteachers.

1.        Conducting Surveys and Interviews: Regularly asking for feedback, collecting ideas, and having teachers respond to surveys are great ways to get idea from our teachers. Google Forms, question boxes, exit slips, or a quick email questionnaire are some easy ways to do this.  Of course, you could always ask them in the staff room at lunch too.

 

2.        Collaborative Planning: Engaging in collaborative planning sessions with teachers to support with curriculum goals and classroom projects is another great way to connect and meet the needs of teachers in your building.  Teachers are busy, so meetings outside of class time will  usually work the best.

 

3.        Professional Development: Offering professional development sessions focused on integrating library resources and technology into teaching. Show teachers what you have in the library and how to use it; find ways to inspire teachers into using the great resources you have accumulated. 

 

4.        Classroom Observations: Ask teachers if you can come into their classrooms to watch and observe.  What are the students learning about? How can you support or provide resources in connection to what they are learning/ teaching in  the classroom.

 

5.        Creating Resource Guides: Developing tailored resource guides and materials that address specific teaching needs. Using technology to help inform, keep track, and organize.

 

WAYS WE SHARE AND CONNECT WITH TEACHERS

     Collaboration, is the key to any successful business… and yes education is a business!  “Collaboration is an explicit part of every teacher-librarian’s job description, and scheduled activities may take a variety of forms. All collaborative activity aims to support and extend learning opportunities. All collaborative activity is valuable.”  (BCTLA, 2024) What are we, as TL’s, doing to support our teachers to “think outside of the box”  and manage the different programs that support and engage with students. (TCEA, 2020) 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysl6sc2rP-s

 

Staying Cool in the Library (2018) offer 6 suggestions to aid the collaboration process by keeping it streamlined and manageable. 

1.     Begin Slowly – start with one teacher and branch out slowly, word will spread. 

2.    Communication - clear and effective goals for learning and lessons, take feedback.

3.    Types of Communication - all types and forms to meet the diversity of our teachers and staff, there many types of collaboration, simple and big! 

4.   Be Available – have lunch with staff, attend meetings, collaboration can happen in many ways.

5.    Know Your Stuff – know what and how to support your staff.

6.    Stay Organized – take notes and keep track of lessons and resources available (a suggestion here is “Google Keep”).

Picture from https://bctla.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/teacher-librarian-infographic-final.pdf

BCTLA (2019) provides a great infographic on many of the options of collaboration big and small (refer to the image above). Not only does this image give suggestions for collaboration, it also explains a successful process of preparation, action, and reflection.  The suggestion here is that this process of collaboration is cyclical and continually changing and propelling forward… much like education, there is always more to learn and creative and different ways to get there. 

Here are some other great examples I found to explore and expand in my own TLLC.  Teacher librarians can centralize and promote all the services they offer to staff and students, giving them a space to easily access and ‘tap’ into what the SLLC offers to their community.  Another centralized source is a school website… a must to consider for all librarians!

picture from https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/getting-to-know-your-school-librarian-from-a-safe-distance/

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1TiBwwpJTabYncb_YjfkcoSNB5r6UhSjk0YVpsQmTj1U/edit

 

Teacher Librarians can offer open houses for teachers to explore and experience “hands on” library resources or technology. This enables them to know what resources are available, help using these resources if needed, and promotes an essential collaboration between teacher and teacher librarian.  Simpler ways to communicate are through google forms, email, newsletters, or even exit slips as they leave the library.  This helps librarians know what teachers need but also teachers connected to resources and services the library can provide.

                                                                                           An example of a newsletter retrieved from  https://www.orthovipers.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1822945&type=d&pREC_ID=2174611

 

Teacher collaboration form- https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1v8VCTGmZ3R4QDJWQOqhC-9JBnTry6aqR-T8zP99p6wg/edit(Staying Cool in the Library, 2018)

 

NURTURING LEARNING BY ALL

                  Though the tasks of the Teacher Librarian can sometimes feel endless, the role takes on a heroic form.  Our service is vital to the greater good and purpose of our community.  By embracing all for ‘who they are’ and ‘how they come’ we create not only a culture of collaboration, but of relationships.   These relationships are essential in building a community of learning but also in developing a genuine care for those in our workplace. If the library is ‘the heart of the school’  for both teachers and students (Lindsay, 2006; Mokhtar & Majid, 2005 in MacPherson, 2020) our role as librarian stretches beyond programming and collaboration, it includes fostering strong relationships in ways that include (but not exclusive to) caring, friendship, approachability, friendliness, and a personality that is collegial and welcoming. I am sure there will be times when the TL (I) won’t know or have all the answers. But just as we practice,  preach, and role model daily, creativity, collaboration, and relationships are the ways to get there. This is true leadership and growth is it not? As we jump in, inspire, find ways to support each other and foster a culture of teamwork and growth, anything seems possible. 

                  

picture retrieved from https://stephenslighthouse.com/2011/01/27/do-you-know-a-librarian-superhero/

REFERENCES: 
 
British Columbia Teacher-Librarians' Association. (2019). Teacher-librarian infographic. Retrieved June 5, 2024, from https://bctla.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/teacher-librarian-infographic-final.pdf
 
Canadian School Libraries. (n.d.). Library learning commons. Retrieved June 5, 2024, from https://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/library-learning-commons/#:~:text=A%20learning%20commons%20is%20a,teaching%20throughout%20the%20entire%20school.

Janes, P. (2024). Teacher-librarians as active allies. Canadian School Libraries Journal, 2(2). Retrieved June 5, 2024, from https://journal.canadianschoollibraries.ca/teacher-librarians-as-active-allies/

Loertscher, D.V., Koechlin, C., & Rosenfeld, E. (2012). The virtual learning commons. Salt Lake City, UT: Learning Commons Press. 

McPherson, M. (2020). The influence of teacher librarians’ personal attributes and relationships with the school community in developing a school library programme. School Libraries Worldwide, 26(1), 136-150. https://doi.org/10.14265.26.1.02

Paciotti, B. (2018, July 4). 12 ways a school librarian can help teachers. 2 Peas and a Dog. Retrieved June 5, 2024, from https://www.2peasandadog.com/2018/07/12-ways-a-school-librarian-can-help-teachers.html
 
Pentland, C. (2020, September 3). Getting to know your school librarian from a safe distance. Knowledge Quest. Retrieved June 5, 2024, from https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/getting-to-know-your-school-librarian-from-a-safe-distance/
 
Staying Cool in the Library. (n.d.). 6 tips for the teacher librarian. Retrieved June 5, 2024, from https://www.stayingcoolinthelibrary.us/6-tips-for-teacherlibrarian/
 
TCEA. (2020, September 2). Administrators on School Librarians Leading Collaboration [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysl6sc2rP-s