New School Year Coming Up!

   I'm very excited about this new school year- I will actually be able to be a real librarian at the Middle school.  I will be collaborating with teachers to instruct  and assist students in their  need for informational resources. I want also to encourage  reading for pleasure and recreation.

    I am working on a newsletter to promote the library media centers services to both small and large groups. Also in the newsletter there will be a resource  link column  that will highlight an few interesting  and useful websites  for teachers to use for  subject resources and to use with students to  provide more engaging lessons.

  In the newsletter I will have a listing of some of the newest   titles added to the library's collection. The newsletters will hopefully be  issued monthly to advertises the library and my willingness to collaborate!

Next Year! New challenges!

      Next year I am told  that I will not be doing all day 7th grade all day. So I will be a 'real " librarian.  So my first challenge will be  getting teachers to collaborate  with me  during the following year.  I know several of the teachers will be glad to work with me. 
      For instance , the music teacher always does several projects requiring  research  on famous   musicians.  I am trying to also remember  if there was another project that he did.  We already  have a whole packet worked up for this project.

       Both of  The 7th  grade science teachers also  do at least one project on endangered species that require  the students to do research on an animal.  So I am quite sure that they will also work with me,

      The one 8th grade social studies class does  a  project on Immigration and also I think another on Washington DC before their trip in the spring.  

   So I will springboard off of these and work on getting other  teachers to work with me on different projects.

Collaboration - Cooperation ( Level 2)

   You  may be past the first level of collaboration  or you may have begun to press on to the next level.  The cooperation level is an extension of the coordination level because of its not having teachers and librarians truly work and plan together.
  On this level , there are informal and short term tasks , activities, and lessons that librarians and teachers work on at the same time. There is no yet an established mission or defined structure.
    In this level of collaboration, librarians and teachers share information about the current project. Each one has his/her own part of the project that they are working on , but they work is done individually. The out come is a cooperative  event and the learning of skills is given by each partner.  Students will see the benefit if this type of learning. They will learn skills that are needed for the project at hand.

  Here is what a level 2 cooperation collaboration might look like:
 
    A teacher requests that the librarian teach the students certain research skills because    he/she wants the student to do a research project on a certain subject/ topic.  The librarian leads the class to the steps of the research and they do research on their topic along the way of doing the research.
    Then the teacher has them continue their work on the project, possibly bringing the students to the library or computer lab to help them complete  the assignment. The teacher does the final  grading/ assessment of the assignment. The librarian might keep a shelf of resources reserved for the students to use as they complete the project.

Beginning Collaboration

   The first steps of collaboration has a few different names, but the names are not as important as the process.  As a school librarian, how do you begin the first steps towards   teachers seeing  the value of working with you?

   First things first: begin wherever you are!  Here are a few easy ideas to help you get more involved with and working with your staff.

   1.  Attend grade level meetings to see what lessons/units are being done. Take notes!

    2. Offer to pull books and materials for teachers on what they need to supplement their lessons and activities.

   3. Help teachers incorporate various websites and technology that would go along with their units and curriculum.

    4. Volunteer to help the classroom teacher. Give some ideas on how you could help them

    5. Give some ideas on using the library resources that would enhance and extend the curriculum and lessons.

    6.Read the curriculum standards and the state standards or the Common Core  adopted by your state. This way you will know what the teacher is covering. 

    7. Order materials that go along with your schools curriculum.

    8. Use face to face meetings and email to keep in touch with  your teachers.

These are just a few ideas to get you noticed by your teachers. Use these to begin working with your staff.