Inquiry Blog # 3: TLs as "pros" in providing Pro-D for teachers

When reading the module for this week, I found that it echoed how I often describe my job to non-teachers when they ask what I do in an average day: resource-finder, tech-fixer, space-provider, team-teacher, co-collaborator (conspirator?), and educational leader. One of my colleagues says that a big part of her job is "hooking people up," whether it's with a resource, a project idea or another teacher in the school who is an expert in ____________ and can help them out. I also always say that one of the best parts of my job is the fact that I get to work with everyone and everything- different teachers, different subjects, different grade levels and different students. It's certainly never boring!

Because we are (hopefully!) in the learning hub of the school, I think we have great opportunities to reach out to teachers as understanding and helpful colleagues and be school leaders in terms of professional development focus.

Image courtesy of: http://www.mchslibrary.org/what-teacher-librarians-do.html

Creating an Oasis:

I think one of the most important ways to be educational leaders is to foster positive relationships with staff and build a solid rapport, much like how we do with our students. Indeed, just like our students, the library can be a sort of "safe haven" for staff as well. I can't tell you how many teachers would come to my office on their prep just to take a break, chat and relax for a minute. In addition, many new teachers who didn't have their own classroom counted on the library as a workspace during their prep time. Even the secretaries would come in on their lunchbreaks to read a book as a change of pace from the office! In that sense, the learning commons not only has to attract and cater to students; we have to make it welcoming and usable for our staff as well. Staff members who don't get a warm reception will be unlikely to want to come back with their entire class to collaborate on a project. I also found that making sure I had lunch with different groups of teachers (in a big secondary school, not everyone eats in the lunchroom) to talk informally about what they're doing in their classrooms, who their students are and see if there was anything I could do to contribute. In this way, the TL can provide that "just-in-time" support that can be really game-changing. If your school has that kind of dynamic, after-school "library meetings" at the nearby pub was also a great opportunity to connect with colleagues that you may not otherwise see very often! (Definitely informal and relaxed!) One of the best projects a Humanities teacher and I did all year was brainstormed in this way.

Unlike the typical stereotype of a teacher-librarian as being quiet, reclusive and "shushy," I feel like today's TL has to be a bit of a social butterfly! I remembered a great infographic I had seen outlining this very quality:

Image courtesy of: http://libraryconnect.elsevier.com/sites/default/files/LC_SocialLibrarian_infographic.png

Teacher Resource Sections:
Having a learning commons that is welcoming to teachers of course means having actual resources for them to check out. Having worked in 7 libraries in the past 4 years (and TOC'd in many more), I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly in teacher resource sections. Like anything else in the library, access and visibility are key. In my current library, the resources are housed ad hoc on a random shelf, and the DVDs are on a high shelf in the back office (which I barely use myself.) Terrible! My plan is to put actual signage on the section and have some shelf-markers so teachers can actually see what's there. I've found that most teachers in many schools have their own personal resource sections in their classrooms, due to the fact that the TR section in the library is outdated. At my little school (100 students!) where I teach once per week, the library underwent a massive renovation, in which all of the teacher resources were boxed up. Apparently no one missed them, as I just discovered them this year hiding in an empty classroom! Needless to say, I did some extensive weeding, and with the new shelving and open concept was able to put them on a prominent, easy to access shelf so that teachers can easily just grab what they need when I'm not there (which is unfortunately most of the time.) Again, being able to connect with staff and find out what resources they need is of course key to building a great TR section.

Time is NOT on our side!

Professional development can be a tricky endeavour. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has gone to an in-school Pro D Day, listened attentively, and then tucked away the workshop notes in their Pro D binder, not to be looked at again. In my opinion, Pro D needs to be practical, applicable, repeated and hands-on. I know that if I don't try something out on my own then I'll be less inclined to re-visit it, almost like sensory memory. Teachers (as we know) are incredibly busy and do not have a lot of time to spend on their own personal learning, as much as they would like to. Our scheduled pro D days are wonderful opportunities, but if they seem unconnected, then it can be like learning something in a vacuum. Therefore, I think that offering intermittent "lunchtime learning," staff meeting presentations or short after-school workshops is really effective in getting teachers learning something together, and perhaps continuing the learning that took place on the formal Pro D day. I've never personally served on a Pro D committee or been a Pro D chair, but I think it would be a really great way to further connect with teachers, see what their needs are, and create a Pro D program (and essentially a school vision) that will cater to those needs. Again, since we in a position to work with everyone, then we are able to further solidify our opportunities to "hook people up."

In my research for this week's topic, I came across an awesome e-book called Becoming and Being: Reflections on Teacher-Librarianship by _____________. According to the book, "teacher-librarians have a whole-school view and model lifelong learning for their staff and students (p. 231)". It was interesting to read about what makes effective professional development; according to research, teachers need "1) ample time and resources for learning, implementation and reflection, 2) opportunites for colleagues to work together in peer collaboration, and 3) school-or site-based learning that relates directly to curricular outcomes and increasing teacher's knowledge of content material (p. 231). In addition, "the leadership role of librarians as technology experts gives them the ability to provide in-house, contextually situated professional development on an ongoing basis in their schools" (p. 235). There is also a great companion website to the book with even more articles and links found here.

Short and Sweet

In addition to to formal, face to face workshops, sending out "library updates" with one or two cool things to share (new apps, interesting articles, blogs to follow) is also a quick and unobtrusive way to help colleagues in their professional learning. Whether it's through a Twitter account, the library blog/website or just an regular old email, the TL can reach all staff without a lot of effort. I also used to put things in teacher's mailboxes for those colleagues who aren't as electronically connected.

Of course, we can't help everyone. In reality, there are some teachers who will never bring their classes to the library. However, as TLs trying to create hubs of learning with our learning commons, I think it's simply in our nature to try our hardest to make connections. Now that I'm looking back at my post, I'm seeing that advocacy and explaining what we do is a crucial part of reaching out to staff and creating a professional learning network at the school level.

On that note, here is a funny infographic that I'm sure we've all seen but it still makes me chuckle:

Image courtesy of: https://librariotypes.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/librariotypes-presents-how-people-view-my-profession-memes/

References:

Boss, Suzie, Are School Librarians Part of Your PBL Dream Team? Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/school-librarians-part-pbl-team-dream-suzie-boss

Branch-Mueller, J., DeGroot, J, Salerno, K. (Eds.) (2013).  Becoming and Being: Reflections on Teacher-Librarianship. Teacher-Librarian by Distance Learning, University of Alberta. Edmonton: AB. Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/a/ualberta.ca/becoming-and-being/home/e-book

Canadian Library Association. (2014). Leading learning: Standards of practice for school library                  learning commons in Canada. Ottawa: ON.

• Dambruoso, A. (2014, July 18). 10 things classroom teachers need to know about modern school librarians. [Blog post]. Retrieved fromhttp://libraryallegra.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/10-things-classroom-teachers-need-to-know-about-modern-school-librarians/
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