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Why Collaboration is Important
The school library plays many roles. We are here to help students, support teachers in your teaching and instruction, and fulfill our own curriculum. Collaborating on lessons and instructions allows us to both support subject area curricula and the library essential skills and standards. Working together, we can make sure students are prepared to be successful users and consumers of information!
Because we work on a flexible schedule (meaning we only have time in front of students when we collaborate with classroom teachers, not dedicated library time), we have limited time with students and a lot of information to disseminate. Therefore, when we have classes in the library, we want to do as much advance planning as possible and put structures in place to make sure the class time is used for teaching more than management.
What Co-Teaching Looks Like:
Our goals are to have as much time in front of students as possible and keep the library lessons feel more like co-teaching than “guest starring.” You know your students better than we do, so there are certain things you will know/can do that will help make things run smoothly.
PLANNING PHASE:
Meet at least once prior to bringing students to the library.
Identify the goals we are both aim to meet.
Identify the parts of the the lessons for which we each will be responsible.
Create presentations/handout/etc. in collaboration.
INSTRUCTION PHASE:
Be present (mentally and physically) so students know you are invested and they should also be invested
Jump in when necessary to help make connections between library lessons and classroom content.
Take a look at the slides (or wait until you’ve seen the class once) to make sure we’re not overlapping.
Help with getting students logged into MyBib, finding things on iPads, etc. is great.
Join turn-and-talk/group activities that would benefit from teachers going around to different tables.
Keep an eye on kids on iPads to make sure students are on-task.
If there are moments when students are zoning out and you have a way to check them back in, please do so.
Troubleshoot activities that are not working in the moment.
Work with support staff to mananage student behaviors as you would in the classroom.
When we work together, please provide:
Provide seating charts (seating charts are a game changer because it allows us to call on students by name!)
Provide behaviors and be-aware-ofs
Provide other important info: LC/Pronouns/don't-call-ons/EL/etc.
Let us know about material needs: translations, enlargements, online-only, etc
Have the students meet in the library
Let me know about any time you need for classroom routines (trivia, homework, etc.)
Avoid handing things back on library days, but if there is something that NEEDS to be handed back, please do so at the end of the class period.
Avoid assigning students other homework on library days
Make sure all present students are able to participate in lessons (this is not a chance to work with students who need to catch up).
Plan to be present on days when you are bringing your students to the library.
What Else Can the Library Do For You!?
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