The Teacher Librarian as Educational Leader by

bethanyleng — 2023-10-26 20:50:14 UTC

Building relationships

bethanyleng — 2023-10-26 22:10:34 UTC

"On an ongoing basis, teacher-librarians support and build relationships with colleagues throughout the school community, creating opportunities for new kinds of shared work, and bringing colleagues together." (Surrey Teacher Librarian's Association (BCTLA))

Teacher Librarians are curators. They select and acquire resources for the SLLC collection and promote and provide these for teachers.

bethanyleng — 2023-10-26 22:16:36 UTC

this reduces workload for teachers
teachers have more time to be creative with those resources

"Teachers + Teacher Librarians = Better Learning." YouTube, uploaded by Students Need School Libraries, 15 Oct. 2018.

How could our school adopt a flexible schedule?

bethanyleng — 2023-10-26 22:18:46 UTC

bethanyleng — 2023-10-26 22:29:49 UTC

Respectful communication
Goal setting
Timely and regular planning
Open and flexible mind-sets
Student-centred approaches with student benefit as the shared goal
Valuing of the expertise and perspectives of others
Advocacy for what each member can offer the collaboration
Generosity
Commitment to meeting both the group and individual needs of students
Willingness to evaluate the collaborative and provide supportive critical feedback
Safety to articulate concerns and issues without irrevocably damaging the collaborative relationship (Merga)

Reflection:

I think our school has strengths in the areas of respectful communication, timely and regular planning (for some grades/teachers), student-centre approaches with student benefit as the shared goal and commitment to meeting both the group and individual needs of students. I think we could improve our regular planning with specific grades/teachers. In some cases, I am not aware of the areas of expertise held by other teachers - this would be something to find out, to see if any collaborations might arise from this expertise. I also think that the evaluation and critical feedback piece after a collaboration is missing from many of the collaborations that curently exist. This step should be built into each collaboration.

TLs also...

bethanyleng — 2023-10-26 22:38:18 UTC

provide supportive materials for students that focus on reading engagement rather than reading assessment
solve problems
support students with high literacy needs
choose class sets of books

(Merga)

bethanyleng — 2023-10-26 22:40:43 UTC

Canadian Library Association. (2014). Leading learning: Standards of practice for school library learning commons in Canada. Ottawa: ON (p.17)

Dekens, Kathlyn. LLED 462 Module 7 Discussion Forum Post. Canvas, UBC, 18 Oct. 2023. https://canvas.ubc.ca.

Mackley, Allison. (February 7, 2021) Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. Retrieved from: https://www.psla.org

Madsen, Erin. LLED 462 Module 7 Discussion Forum Post. Canvas, UBC, 18 Oct. 2023. https://canvas.ubc.ca.

Merga, M.K.(2019).Collaborating With Teacher Librarians to Support Adolescents’ Literacy and Literature Learning. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,63(1),65–72.

Ray, Mark. (June, 7, 2016). Changing the conversation about librarians. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IniFUB7worY

Students Need School Libraries, (October 15, 2018). Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKtZ_unsHHo

Surrey Teacher Librarian's Association (BCTLA). (December 17, 2019). "What can collaboration with a teacher-librarian look like?" British Columbia Teacher Librarian's Association. Retrieved from: https://bctladotca.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/teacher-librarian-infographic-final.pdfLinks to an external site.

bethanyleng — 2023-10-26 22:48:55 UTC

Mark Ray says:

librarians have a responsibility as educational leaders to show students and staff that they are part of the future, not the past
instead of "What can you do for us?", ask "What can we do for you?"
librarians need to strategically become experts in various fields in order to demonstrate they are indispensable
librarians need to be future-ready, flexible and ok with uncertainty, ie: story of Tracy who was shifted her library and didn't know what exactly it would look like in a year's time

Teacher Librarians are collaborators.

bethanyleng — 2023-11-01 22:14:53 UTC

They might collaborate in preparation, action, or reflection.

Where are the collaboration strengths between our TL and others within the school? Where do we need growth?

bethanyleng — 2023-11-01 22:21:01 UTC

Which school-wide initiatives or events could we get involved with in order to build new relationships or strengthen established ones?

bethanyleng — 2023-11-01 22:28:59 UTC

Teacher Librarians are curious and flexible.

bethanyleng — 2023-11-02 15:39:51 UTC

Teacher Librarians are literacy experts.

bethanyleng — 2023-11-02 15:41:18 UTC

Teacher Librarians are both learners and teachers of technology.

bethanyleng — 2023-11-02 15:41:52 UTC

Teacher Librarians actively work to ensure equity and belonging for all.

bethanyleng — 2023-11-02 15:43:24 UTC

TLs "collaborate with classroom teachers to infuse information literacy instruction in learning experiences to ensure deep understanding of content." (LLSOP 17)

bethanyleng — 2023-11-02 15:55:11 UTC

They also "...[lead] the school community in the design of information literacy learning strategies and processes in order to empower independent learners." (LLSOP 17)

The TL "leads the school community in designing learning for transliteracy." (LLSOP 17)

bethanyleng — 2023-11-02 15:56:47 UTC

"The TL teaches students digital rights and responsibilities to build their digital skills...[and] empowers students to take ownership of their digital responsibilities." (LLSOP 17)

bethanyleng — 2023-11-02 16:00:07 UTC

The TL designs the SLLC program to contribute to the creation of cultural literacy. (LLSOP 17)

bethanyleng — 2023-11-02 16:02:30 UTC

In the discussion forum for Module 7 of LLED 462, a number of classmates referenced the fact that many teachers in their schools think the TL's job is to check out books and provide resources when asked. How might we communicate to teachers the full extent of collaborative possibilities with the TL?

bethanyleng — 2023-11-02 16:07:04 UTC

TL persistence

bethanyleng — 2023-11-02 16:10:20 UTC

Teachers are so busy and may not take the time to consider how they might partner with the TL. The TL can use a variety of ways to connect and suggest ideas to teachers - a sticky note with an idea for a way to use a resource, including additional resources to those that were asked for, lunch and learn sessions, brief workshops inserted into already scheduled staff meetings etc.

Support from school leadership

bethanyleng — 2023-11-02 16:11:59 UTC

“the support of school leadership as [being] integral to the success of school library programs” (Merga 68)

In the discussion forum for LLED 462 Module 7, Kathlyn Dekens also stated the importance of administrative support. If the school's leadership values, prioritizes, and expects collaboration amongst teachers, and including the teacher librarian, it will happen. "We all thrive on clear expectations," she said. In our school, collaboration time is built into timetables as well as the professional development calendar. Our administration expects that we will collaborate in order to achieve the best possible educational results for our students, and as much as possible ensures they give supports where needed.

bethanyleng — 2023-11-03 21:01:42 UTC

"Teacher librarians might be problem solvers, complementary promoters of reading engagement, supporters of students with high literacy needs, curriculum and literacy leaders, contemporary literature advisors, or a number of other roles." (Merga)

Teacher Librarians help classroom teachers encourage students to love reading.

bethanyleng — 2023-11-04 21:26:56 UTC

In the Module 7 discussion forum for LLED 462, Erin Madsen said "[Teacher Librarians] are the source of good reading materials to build interest and the classroom teacher can then better help the student develop their competency. We're a team!"