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I inherited a library that until last year was underutilized by staff and students at my school. I have worked very hard to change the underutilized space to busy thriving LLC. Even though the changes have had a positive impact on students and staff, I still have a long way to go. I feel overwhelmed, but inspired to continue to meet the personalized needs of needs of my school community.
I am in a transitional phase right now in how I support teachers. Prior to my arrival there were no teacher supports offered through the LLC and as a result I have had to work very hard to change the perception of what services are offered. I am still in a transitional phase because I have not yet been able to reach all of my staff. There are some teachers with whom I have collaborated and co-planned/co-taught, and I have provided support to them. Because of this they realize the resources and supports available to them to support their professional development. There are others who are “too busy” to utilize the LLC but are aware of the services and supports, and there are some teachers who I need to reach because they are not aware of the opportunities for professional growth that can have a direct impact on our students.
With the ICT professional needs of my school community in mind I have outlined some ways that I can better support my colleagues ICT professional growth.
Co-teaching
Collaboration has been an integral part of my professional growth and I know that it is the key to supporting teachers with ICT.
I also know that for professional growth in this area to be effective and have a positive impact on both teacher and student learning it must model effective teaching pedagogy. A study, Effective models of staff development in ICT, looked at staff development around ICT and found that professional development “based on pedagogy has had far greater impact on teachers’ use of ICT than any other type. Further, it indicates that there has been a great emphasis placed on technical and academic staff development and insufficient on pedagogy” (McCarney pg.70) This suggests that co-teaching has the greatest impact on teachers’ use of ICT. While I was researching ideas I came across the article Coteaching: A Pathway to Leadership by Judi Moreillon and Susan D. Ballard that succinctly articulates the power of instructional partnerships in advancing teachers professional growth. It suggests that “through the development of instructional partnerships, school librarians can increase the impact of our expertise as information specialists, teachers, and program administrators” (Moreillon and Ballard pg. 6). Just what will this look like? In order to meet the diverse needs of students and teachers, TLs need to be a part of the planning, teaching, assessing and reflecting process:
We practice the best kind of professional development—job-embedded professional development—when we coteach actual students in real time, using the taught curriculum, available resources and tools, and within the supports and constraints of our particular learning environments (Moreillon and Ballard pg. 6).
I am currently involved with several instructional partnerships and the professional growth for me personally has been significant. I always feel that I am learning more from them then they are learning from me, and this creates a reciprocal mentoring opportunity. This is the power of instructional partnerships and I continue to look for new opportunities.
Promoting and Communicating
I know that I need to find a way to reach out to those who I have not worked with yet and are not aware of the professional development opportunities available to them through the LLC. I prefer face to face interactions but I realize that not everyone is ready or willing, whether it is simply because they are too busy or maybe just not ready. I need to not only promote the LLC’s physical services and supports, but also the virtual services and supports. I have been working on the LLC website since I started two years ago but I realize that there are many teachers who don’t know about it or are not using it to its full potential. I have three ways that I would like to promote both the virtual and physical capabilities:
- Create a Library news blog that is posted on the library website where I can showcase what is happening in the LLC, post how-to tech solutions, share ideas and share resources. I was able to find a great link that has many examples that I can look at to get inspiration:
- Fight for time at staff meetings to promote co-teaching and provide examples and have other teachers share their experiences. Although I have very supportive administration, I am often put at the end of staff meetings and we often run out of time. Alinda Sherman in Three in one: teacher, information specialist, leader states how administration plays an important role in supporting TLs and can enable this by “providing professional development sharing opportunities for the TL to demonstrate to teachers that the TLs collaborative teaching program is effective” (Sherman pg. 6).
- Send out interactive tech tutorials or updates. I can send these out when there is a tech issue that can be solved by a series of steps or a short video. Our district tech department has great examples of both:
Tech Updates:
Although these ideas are not revolutionary, they are definitely areas where I can promote the LLC services and supports and perhaps reach some of the teachers that are not using the professional development supports and services. They are also areas where I need to continue my own personal professional development in order to meet the ICT needs of my school.
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Web 2.0
Prior to taking this diploma I did not consider myself very good at technology. When I became a TL and started my diploma I had to make a decision. Would I let my insecurities limit me or would I just dive in and see what happens because I had nothing to lose. Now that I am in my final 2 courses I realize that I have learned so much and have been able to share that with my school community which for me has been very rewarding. I still have so much to learn and feel that right now there are several specific skills that I need to focus on in order to better support my colleagues ICT professional growth.
- Learn to make a simple tutorial using a tool such as Screencast-O-Matic. This would help those that have tech issues solve them without me having to be there. This would free me up and allow them to access support from anywhere anytime.
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| Image courtesy of: https://wordpress.miracosta.edu/darnaud/files/2013/02/logo-screenomatic.png |
- Learn to post videos on YouTube. This would be helpful for library resources as well as supporting students who are making videos.
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| Image courtesy of: https://www.youtube.com/yts/img/yt_1200-vfl4C3T0K.png |
- Using Google Classroom to collaborate virtually with teachers and students.
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| Image courtesy of: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jWBBqrENpBVVCcMOekDOhhn-Zv_nAhWTysQK7zvANbyNd4UDodNlqoPpDE_XRCIpazdf=w300 |
These are just a few of the areas that I need to develop in order to better meet the needs of my community. Research by O’Brien and Wisbey demonstrates that when TLs are involved in building a dynamic online learning and community environment, they become more well known throughout the school:
There is real respect for their skills and knowledge and, importantly, they are seen as educators with an effective knowledge of pedagogy and the uses of ICT to enhance the education of their students. (O’Brien and Wisbey pg. 34)
The power in this is that the LLC has the potential to become the physical and virtual hub of a school.
I believe that right now the most responsive way to support the diverse of needs of my educational community it through co-teaching. Working side by side together will be most the effective way to meet the ICT professional needs of my community. For me to be an effective leader I need to better communicate and promote the services and supports of the LLC as well as continue to develop and expand my personal ICT skills and tools.
Works Cited
John McCarney (2004) Effective models of staff development in ICT, European
Journal of Teacher Education, 27:1, 61-72, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0261976042000211801
Moreillon, Judi and Susan D. Ballard. "Coteaching: A Pathway to Leadership." Knowledge Quest, vol. 40, no. 4, Mar/Apr2012, pp. 6-9. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=82578135&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
O'Brien, M., and J. Wisbey. Access (Caulfield East): Building a Dynamic Online Learning and Community Environment. 22 Vol. Australian School Library Association, 09/01/2008. Web. 20 Oct. 2017. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=8a1491ce-f299-40ea-9e3d-03fce6856c06%40sessionmgr4009
Sheerman, Alinda. Access (Caulfield East): Three in One: Teacher, Information Specialist, Leader. 27 Vol. Australian School Library Association, 06/01/2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2017. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=30fed0a7-3a2d-477e-8d24-0cc763401ac9%40sessionmgr4006
TEDxTalks. The power of co: Angela Rasmussen & Andrea Reid at TEDxCCS. Dec 19, 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CVtMmNnBFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CVtMmNnBFE
Hi Julia,
ReplyDeleteGreat informative post! I feel both you and I are in the same situation. I too inherited a library that no one utilized. The previous librarian was not very welcoming and staff did not look up to her as an educational leader. What has benefited me, is that I have been a teacher at the school for 9 years, and so the staff already knew me, which allowed for an easier transition. But like you, it is still a work in progress. I have a specific vision in mind (as to how I would like the space utilized).
I think creating a Library Learning Commons blog or website is a great idea, and hope to begin one soon. I feel that this could be a place where tutorials could be uploaded and teachers could go check them out on their own time. Thank you for all of the useful links!
I could not agree more with you about co-teaching. I have had the opportunity to co-teach and without a doubt it has had the most significant impact on my professional practice. You learn so much in real time as you go through the lessons together. While it can be intimidating at first, it pays off immeasurably. TL's are in a unique position to be able to offer that opportunity to all the teachers in his/her school.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated the discussion in your post about the importance of co-teaching. You share many of the challenges we all face, as well as provide some interesting and useful solutions, strategies and resources that can be implemented to inform and engage even the most reluctant teachers. Overall, a great post that has lots of good references, resources, links and labels.
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