LIBE 467 Teacher Buy In: Assignment 1 - Part 1 - Article 1

This is my fourth library course and I am finding it difficult to keep the topics in my brain separate.  I received my text early last week, so I have been slowly catching up with the readings and the weekly discussions.

I thought I would begin my blog with the three articles I read.  I did not choose articles about building a reference collection, rather I chose two articles that focus on the current technological stew that teachers and students find themselves in today and I chose an academic study on collaboration and teachers perceptions of the "frequency and importance to student learning" (Monteil-Overall 49).

In discussion 3 on Riedling's approach to building a reference collection, Karen Leonard brought up the issue of expertise and how she would struggle to choose appropriate references in unfamiliar subject areas.  I thought this was an interesting statement, because it speaks to the teacher librarian's need for collaboration.   I have described in my posts the difficult situation in the Britannia Library, and how it is a less than ideal space for study or collaboration.  However, when I was at Eric Hamber Secondary, a school with an amazing library and an enthusiastic librarian team, there was still a constant struggle to get teachers into the library to teach collaboratively.  This made me consider that my mental blocks around collaboration may not stem from Britannia's lousy facility set up.  Rather they may stem from some sort of strange resistance to change or a fear of the unknown.

This notion was supported in the article from the Canadian Journal of Library Sciences titled "Teacher And School Librarian Collaboration: A Preliminary Report Of Teachers' Perceptions About Frequency And Importance To Student Learning." by Patricia Monteil-Overall and Patricia Jones.  In our second class discussion around research models, a lot of the peripheral posting was about getting teachers to "buy in" to the research/collaboration process.  This attitude was reflected in the research by Monteil-Overall and Jones.  The article an academic study that attempted to collect empirical data around teachers attitudes to collaboration and how teachers felt collaboration benefited their students.  First off, this study was very scientific and I had a lot of difficulty digesting the data; however, the discussion at the end of the paper was edifying.  Here are a couple of key points that were illuminated:

• Most teachers feel that they engage in some sort of collaboration with the TL.
• Most teachers engage in "low level collaboration" such as having the TL find resources for them.
• 50% of teachers in this study engage in collaboration at least once a month.  On the flip side 50% of teachers never engage in collaboration.
• Teachers believed that collaboration had value even if they did not engage in collaboration.
• One third of teachers in the study thought they were using library curriculum in their classroom however there was no clear definition of what library curriculum was.  A number of teachers were unaware of any library curriculum.
• By grading students, TL's created trust with teachers that led to higher levels of collaboration.

(Monteil-Overall 69-71)

After reading this article, I realized that my experience at Britannia is very similar the the experiences of many teachers.  I struggle to collaborate beyond the pulling books stage.  This reflection makes me consider how I will approach the role of Teacher Librarian.  I think that an empirical study is encouraging, because it states fairly clearly that teachers believe collaboration is beneficial to students.  I believe that this suggests that the TL role is valued within schools even amongst teachers that do not engage in library use.  So in some ways, teachers already buy into the library.

Work Cited

Montiel-Overall, Patricia, and Patricia Jones. "Teacher And School Librarian Collaboration: A Preliminary Report Of Teachers' Perceptions About Frequency And Importance To Student Learning." Canadian Journal Of Information & Library Sciences 35.1 (2011): 49-76. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Sept. 2012.