My early days as a Teacher Librarian felt overwhelming as I
sought to dig into every subject at every grade level to see how I could share
some of the expertise and training I had learned through my schooling and
district inservices. It took me a while (too long, actually!) to realize that I
did not have to, indeed could not, be the master of all new resources and
teaching methods; rather than expert, my role was that of facilitator, initiator
and cheerleader for my colleagues.
Once I realized the wealth of learning and experience my
professional colleagues had to offer, I began to explore how we could share our
ideas and learning together. According to the article Teachers Teaching Teachers, Professional Development that Works, if we are “not
capitalizing on the expertise of members of your school's teaching team, [the]
staff is missing out on the most effective professional development around. Its
professional development tailored to your school's culture and needs”. So,
my support model changed toward how to engage teachers to work together to grow
and share expertise, pedagogy and resources.
Jennifer Gonzalez has a helpful list of alternative PD activities that get teachers out of their comfort zones.
Image source: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/pd/
This is an excellent list, full of options for teacher learning. Some of these I have experienced. There are few I would add to this list:
Show and Share
This is a riff on the Lab Classroom concept. It is as simple as bringing the new professional resources
out from their hiding place in the closet and sharing about them in book talks
during staff meetings. This could be planned as TL moment during staff meetings,
an afterschool Appy Hour or Tech Talk or a noontime Punch and Lunch meeting to
demo new resources to teachers. This fun TL hosts afterschool Mocktail
parties to share new resources and practices with their colleagues!
Image source: https://twitter.com/NAEmmanuele/status/968945246074793985/photo/1
As I write this, I’m considering creating a quarterly
mailout with lists and photos of new professional resources, stories,
technologies/apps that can be used in the classroom. Every teacher has their
own way of implementing these and I would like to invite them to share about
how they use the resources in developing classroom lessons and student
experiences.
Students can even be included in the show and share events;
invite a few to stay after school for part of staff meeting to show off how
they can program Ozobots or create posters on Glogster and invite their teacher
to suggest ways of incorporating these resources into classroom lessons.
In a recent PAC event for my childrens’ school, the TL was
invited to come and guide parents through a Breakout EDU game which was a
wonderful way of presenting a new resource to the broader community to create
connection between home and school.
Another easy show and share idea is to give teachers first
‘dibs’ on new resources by creating a New Books table in the staff room.
Teachers can peruse the resources as they reheat their lunches. I sometimes
include bookmarks with notes on teaching ideas, possible themes the resources
may support, links to websites/videos and notes about how teachers have
previously employed these resources.
Peer Observation in Classrooms
Observation is a powerful tool for helping teachers take advantage
of the expertise and experience of their professional peers. A powerful way the
Teacher Librarian can demonstrate concrete support for their colleagues is to
offer class coverage to free teachers to observe their colleagues teach
specific lessons to learn what they can apply to their own work.
I have also made the library space available for this
activity so that multiple classes may come and observe. Once, a new teacher was
experimenting with oral storytelling using loose parts and many of our
colleagues were interested in her work. I encouraged her to set up a model
lesson in the library and invited other teachers to come with their classes and
observe her teach and then participate with her students in a workshop model to
build their own stories. It became a rich shared experience; not only did
teachers have an opportunity to see a lesson in action, they also observed the
details of classroom management, supplies and timing in real time.
Collaboration and Co-Teaching
The Standards of Practice for School Library LearningCommons recommendations encourage teachers to foster greater collaboration
between students as they work toward fostering a “greater level of engagement”
(p. 5). Deeper teacher engagement can also be fostered through
collaboration. The Teacher Librarian is a leader in initiating collaborative
opportunities with teachers to research and develop exciting lessons that can
be co-taught in their classrooms. This provides a rich opportunity for teachers
to explore new resources and pedagogies and practices with the support of a
teaching partner who may have more experience in the particular areas being
explored.
Reaching out to the Broader Educational Community
At a recent new teacher training event in my district, I was
introduced to the District Curriculum Support Teachers. Not only are they
trained in the newest technologies and pedagogies, they also have better
knowledge of our district’s valuable Learning Resource Centre. This team of
trained teachers implored new teachers to invite them into classrooms to share
their passions and expertise and to make use of the valuable support they
offer.
A TL can be a leader in initiating these visits by
discussing needs and new endeavours with their colleagues and inviting District
Curriculum Support Teachers to provide demonstration lessons in the school or
in the library for teachers.
References
Anderson, Laurance E. et al. Teachers Teaching Teachers: Professional Development That Works. Retrieved from:https://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin459.shtml
I can't even believe how many amazing ideas you have outlined in this blog! THANK YOU! I am very excited to read the Teachers Teaching Teachers article and have bookmarked it for later.
ReplyDeleteThank you also for giving space for observations of lessons. In classrooms full of students, we are so isolated from our peers and teaching partners. There is such a huge difference between having someone go over a lesson with you and actually seeing that lesson play out in a real world classroom. As a TTOC I am responsible for teaching other teacher's lessons and I always wonder after if I actually did what they pictured.
I remembered an activity we did during my teacher training. We each had a few minutes to build something secretly with Lego blocks and then wrote instructions on how to build it. We took the blocks apart and gave our blocks and instructions to a colleague to follow along and build. It really ingrained in me the importance of language and clear instruction, the importance of using a variety of types of instruction, and the differences in both output and perceptions.
Your blog is exceptionally helpful. I am in love with many of your ideas. I am particularly drawn to the idea of having a lesson on loose parts being taught and others observing. Almost everyone at my school finds they learn best when they see it in action. The problem with professional development days is everyone is "off" and not with their students so we are learning in isolation of students. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah, Thank you for your blog post. I found your thoughts and insights so helpful. I really identified with what you said about the TL being the 'facilitator and cheerleader', rather than the source of all content and practical knowledge. Being the person who recognizes others and gives them space and encouragement to share their expertise, is a role that is very appealing to me. Also, you highlighted a great point about professional development needing to be tailored to the needs and culture of the school. Also you have inspired me with your idea about students presenting to the teachers - the ownership that this could give students over their learning is incredible! I am definitely going to try and find some students who would be willing to share their expertise. Thank you for a great post!
ReplyDeleteMany excellent ideas here for supporting others and your entire school community of colleagues and fellow educators. You've outlined and described several useful strategies, communication lines, opportunities and choice around professional development with helpful links, resources, suggestions and ideas. Well done overview and engaging summary.
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