aera 2015 witte gross
TRANSCRIPT
Preservice Collaboration of Teachers and Librarians to Teach 21st Century Skills
Melissa Gross Shelbie Witte
Florida State University2015 AERA Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL
Collaboration between Teachers and Librarians
• Important for student learning (Kaplan, 2010; Lance, 2002; Lindsay, 2005)
• Largely missing from the education literature (Hartzell, 2002; Kupfer, 2012; Montiel-Overall, 2010)
• Large projects have focused on continuing education (Harada, n.d.; Montiel-Overall, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013)
• Can be promoted by incorporating it into pre- service education (Small, 2002)
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Exploratory Study
• Two master’s level classes (one in library and information studies and one in teacher education) studying young adult literature
• Worked in small teams that met and worked outside of class time using their choice of communication technology
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Assignment• Produce a week’s worth of cumulative
learning activities related to the novel Swamplandia! for a high school classroom.
• The lesson plans were to bring together both English Language Arts content and information skills.
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Collaboration is a trusting, working relationship between two or more equal participants involved in shared thinking, shared planning and shared creation of integrated instruction. Through a shared vision and shared objectives, student learning opportunities are created that integrate subject content and information literacy by co-planning, co-implementing, and co-evaluating students’ progress throughout the instructional process in order to improve student learning in all areas of the curriculum. (Montiel-Overall, 2005, Section A: Defining Collaboration, para. 9)
Students were required to demonstrate
• Their role as co-teachers • Shared integration of instruction through the
use of Common Core and Standards for the 21st Century Learner
• Shared implementation: All group members should be in the classroom for the delivery of the lesson plan
• Co-evaluation: all group members shared responsibility for student assessment.
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Significance• Contributes to the fields of teacher education and
library and information studies in regards to methods of employing teacher/librarian collaboration to ensure the attainment of information skills among adolescents
• Addresses the lack of current research on educating pre-service teachers and librarians to collaborate in professional practice
• Helps researchers and educators increase their understanding of opportunities for pre-service educators to work with pre-service librarians
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• Involves collaboration at both the instructor and the student levels
• Supports the integration of librarians and educators as full partners in teaching and learning in academic communities
• Provides data that can inform best practice as well as future research related to how to best educate pre-service professionals to collaborate as full partners in teaching and learning contexts
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Research Questions1. In what ways do students in teacher education and library and information studies collaborate to form common assignments for adolescents?2. What are students in teacher education and library and information studies perceptions of collaboration on common assignments for adolescents?3. What factors facilitate collaboration between students in teacher education and library and information studies when required in an assignment?4. What factors limit collaboration between students in teacher education and library and information studies when required in a common assignment?
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Data Collection and Analysis• Data Sources (11 groups)– Weekly group reports – completed lesson plans– personal reflection essays– peer evaluations
• Unit of analysis = group level• Qualitative content analysis using constant
comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Lincoln & Guba, 1985)
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• When I...discovered we were going to do this project a chill ran down my spine. Those ominous words, group project, brought back all sorts of unpleasant memories of high school and undergrad where “group project” meant” “lots of work for me” because I care about my grades more than others do (L, Group 2, Reflection).
• I know from my teaching experience what an asset to a school and to an English teacher a good librarian is (T, Group 4, Reflection).
• Every term in this master’s program students are required to work in teams, and every term I am shocked by how much I appreciate my teammates by the end of the project (L, Group 2, Reflection).
1. In what ways do students in teacher education and library and information studies collaborate to form common assignments for adolescents?
1. Work together on all aspects of the assignment (2 groups)
2. Work together to get started, then make individual assignments that are later reviewed, edited, and approved by the group (7 groups)
3. Meet in order to divide up the lesson plans and then work independently (2 groups)
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2. What are students in teacher education and library and information studies perceptions of collaboration on common assignments for adolescents?
• Students perceive collaboration as shared responsibility for a product
• The need for individual group members to carry their weight in the collaboration was a point of great importance
• Responsive communication between group members is important
• Constructive relationships are important
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I think I learned a lot about collaborating with others, being flexible, teaching for our strengths (while not ignoring our weaknesses), and generating creative lessons for students (T, Group 8, Reflection).
I think this project] was valuable because, I, being an education major learned more about library resources and more of what librarians actually do. I think that the librarians also learned more about what teachers do, and perhaps in a real life setting, the teacher and librarian would have a much easier time collaborating in lessons (T, Group 12, Reflection).
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I loved how our ideas grew as we shared them and each would add their thoughts and ideas. Our project is definitely a representation of three minds working together (L, Group 8, Reflection).
I had fun doing this project and thinking like a librarian, a teacher, and a student all at once. It gave me a new respect for all the work teachers go through to make lesson plans, that’s for sure! (L, Group 11, Reflection).
3. What factors facilitate collaboration between students in teacher education and library and information studies when required in an assignment?
• good working relationships (ability to give and receive feedback)
• a well-structured process (for tasks and communication)
• good communication (ability to listen and to compromise)
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4. What factors limit collaboration between students in teacher education and library and information studies when required in a common assignment?
• Differences in specialty and skills• Time • Competing responsibilities• Understanding professional roles, knowledge,
and skills of each profession
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One of our weaknesses is a bit of confusion to incorporating the librarian in the lesson planning – we have found it to be awkward. I suppose this is because we don’t have much experience as students where the teacher and librarian co-taught. (Group 1 progress notes)
One education student commented that, “Librarians don’t know their own standards or Common Core” (T, Group 5, Reflection).
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I believe there should be more cross-training in schools to facilitate collaboration. Librarians and teachers both need to have a greater familiarity with the challenges of the other’s position (L, Group 4, Reflection).I think assignments like this are actually great to facilitate future collaboration between teachers and librarians. It not only gives much-needed cross-training…but also allows teachers to learn how working with librarians can enrich their curriculum (L, Group 4, Reflection).
Limitations
• Required course work– Different motivation– Desire to please the instructors
• Not generalizable
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Implications for Research and Practice • Lack of experience with librarianship and
traditional views of the teacher can inhibit collaboration
• Good communication, good working relationships, structured process are key to success
• Need to educate for collaboration. Content on communication skills, time management, project management and professional roles need to be explicitly taught.
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• Collaboration between education and LIS faculty provides a professional model for students.
• School principals and administrators can help by encouraging and supporting collaboration.
• New models of responsibility for student learning are needed.
• Don’t forget academic, public, and other library specialties.
References• Glaser, B. G., & Stauss, A. L. (1967), The discovery of Grounded Theory, Chicago: Aldine.• Harada, V. (n.d.) Pathways to excellence and achievement in research and learning (PEARL).
Retrieved from http://www.hawaii.edu/lis/pearl/• Kaplan, A. (2010). School library impact studies and school library media programs in the
United States. School Libraries Worldwide, 16(2), 55-61.• Lance, K. C. (2002). What research tells us about the importance of school libraries
[Supplemental issue]. Knowledge Quest, 31(1), 17-22• Latham, D., Gross, M., & Witte, S. (2013). Preparing teachers and librarians to collaborate to
teach 21st century skills: The views of LIS and education faculty. School Library Research, 16, Available at www.ala.org/aasl/slr
• Lincoln, Y., & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications Inc.• Lindsay, K. (2005). Teacher/teacher-librarian collaboration – A review of the literature. School
Libraries in Canada, 25(2), 8-21.• Montiel-Overall, P. (2005). Toward a theory of collaboration for teachers and librarians
[computer file]. School Library Media Research, 8.• Montiel-Overall, P. (2010). Further understanding of collaboration: A case study of how it
works with teachers and librarians. School Libraries Worldwide, 16(2), 31-54.• Russell, K. (2011) Swamplandia! New York: Knopf.• Small, R. V. (2002). Collaboration: Where does it begin? Teacher Librarian, 29(5), 8-11.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank:– Our doctoral students Stephanie Smith and Jose Paco
Fiallos for their assistance in the data evaluation phase of this project and for their interest in furthering collaboration between teachers and librarians.
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