School Library Media Activities Monthly

Keeping Current

School Library Media Activities Monthly/Volume XXIII, Number 2/October 2006

When Does Collaboration Start?

by Gail Dickinson

Gail K. Dickinson, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Curriculum and Instruction at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA. Email: gdickins@odu.edu

The concept of the library media specialist as a teacher of information skills has been present since the very beginning of the profession. Information Power presents the teaching of information skills as a function of the collaborative relationship between library media specialist and classroom teacher (AASL/AECT 1998). Another book, Library Power, reaffirmed the power of this collaborative partnership (Zweizig and Hopkins 2000). The research literature is helpful to library media specialists in understanding the process by which students develop skills in information use (Kuhlthau 2004) and in identifying the instructional methodologies helpful in the teaching of information skills (Eisenberg and Berkowitz 1988; Macrorie 1988). The research literature, however, is less helpful for new library media specialists who have not yet developed the relationships with classroom teachers on which collaborative information skill instruction can be built.

To find more assistance, we have to go outside the school library profession. Marilyn Friend and Lynne Cooke's writings are helpful for creating a scaffold for the collaborative teaching of information skills integrated into classroom content (Friend and Cooke 1996). They define collaboration as a "style for direct interaction between at least two coequal parties voluntarily engaged in shared decision-making as they work toward a common goal" (1996, 6). This definition of collaboration delineates a series of goals for beginning library media specialists to develop a relationship with classroom teachers where there are opportunities for direct interaction through face-to-face planning meetings, email, chat, or by other forms. Blanket memos to the faculty or general announcements at faculty meetings are not examples of direct action. Direct interaction is based on direct contact with one or more specific teachers for the purpose of establishing a collaborative relationship.

Inexperienced library media specialists or those new to collaborative processes may be daunted by the need for the process to be co-equal, for the decision making to be shared, and for the result of the shared planning to be a common goal. True collaboration, as defined above, does have those elements and can be achieved after years of experience and with increased confidence gained by successful collaborations as well as lessons learned from unsuccessful attempts. There is a continuum for collaboration that sets the stage for the collaborative experience scaffold. This continuum begins with Cooperation, moves into a more interactive stage with Coordination, and reaches the final level with true Collaboration (Callison 1999; Dickinson 2006).

The Handshake of Collaboration

If true collaboration can be thought of as a handshake, then the continuum of collaboration that follows might be helpful as an analogy:

Cooperation is two hands stretching towards each other, but with only the fingertips touching. The classroom teacher is reaching out to the library media specialist by acknowledging upcoming units or resources needs, and the library media specialist is responding by preparing lists of resources available or providing those resources at the proper time. The library media specialist may also develop isolated information skills lessons for the class in the hope that students may remember to apply the skills at the proper time. If the hands do not exactly meet, or if one hand retracts slightly, it does not affect the instruction on either side. The classroom teacher can teach without the resources, and whether or not the students learn the skills a week or a month before application is not a problem. Even if the unit is cancelled or abbreviated, the information skills instruction can be taught as planned. The students will use the information someday. Cooperation is important, but it is not Collaboration.
Coordination is a deeper level of the collaborative process and can be visualized by hands crossing at the wrist or arm. The library media specialist steers the information skills little red wagon to meet the classroom teacher steering the classroom content little green tractor. They plan to meet at the crossroads at the same day and same time. Coordination takes cursory planning and some level of interaction. It is a deeper level of collaborative planning than just Cooperation, but each instructional package is still separate. If the classroom teacher or the library media specialist arrives at the crossroads a little early or a little late, it doesn't matter. Each has a contained instructional goal that is only indirectly dependent on the other. Coordination is important, but it is not Collaboration.
True Collaboration can be thought of as a handshake. When two hands are clasping each other, it is difficult to tell where one hand stops and the other starts. The collaboration represented by the handshake is based on co-planning, co-teaching, and co-assessment of student learning progress in the mastery of classroom content and the process of information location and use. A handshake is a symbol of trust and of friendship as well as a reflection of common interest. So, too, is Collaboration.

Friend and Cook also provide some clarity in the definition of co-teaching (1996, 45). Team teaching, where the classroom teacher and the library media specialist are present in the same physical space and share the responsibility for joint instruction, is not the only definition of co-teaching. In any of the stages described, the approach to co-teaching may also be teacher/support in which either the classroom teacher or the library media specialist takes the lead in instruction. These roles may alternate based on whether the instruction is content-based or information skills-based. Another common practice is to approach collaboration by station teaching, i.e., by dividing the class so that some students remain in the classroom or another part of the library media center for content instruction while some are under the supervision of the library media specialist for information skills instruction or research.

Teaching Collaborative Processes

Skills are best learned when the application is direct and immediate. That holds true for student learning of information skills and it is also true for pre-service library media specialists learning the skills for collaboration. Preparation of information skills lessons and practice teaching to other prospective library media specialists are useless in the most important part of the collaborative process—the direct interaction with a classroom teacher to propose an integrated information skills unit. The continuum of collaboration applied to school library media preparation could be the following:

Cooperation. In the Cooperation stage, school library candidates (students in school library media preparation programs) would learn ways to provide resources for teachers and to teach students (PK-12) in the school library program. Some sample activities might be creating newsletters and webpages to advocate for school library media programs, learning about children's and young adult literature, and learning about information skills processes including the development of isolated information skills lessons.
Coordination. When the prepared candidates move to the Coordination stage, they can apply the content curriculum to the provision of resources or instruction, or to specific student or teacher needs. Sample activities might be development of mediagraphies based on state curricula, the performance of storytelling or booktalking to PK-12 students, or preparation of instructional lessons to coordinate with classroom content.
Collaboration. In order to ensure that library media specialists are prepared for true collaboration, they must have had at least one true collaborative experience. Development of a co-planned, co-taught, and co-assessed integrated information skills unit in conjunction with a practicing classroom teacher and then taught to PK-12 students provides the only authentic experience to ensure that candidates are prepared for the job. Many school library media programs require that the instruction is videotaped so that the supervised experience can provide the highest level of value as a learning experience. Because teaching in a library media center is different from teaching in an enclosed self-contained classroom, some classroom teachers find the transition to library media specialist difficult.

When to Start Collaboration

The collaborative information skills instruction scaffold can be applied to classroom teachers as well as library media specialists. Library media specialists may want to map the teachers on the scaffold and identify who are at the cooperation stage, who have progressed to the coordination stage, and who are true collaborators. Some teachers, of course, are off the scaffold entirely because they have never acquired the trust in the first place or have lost the trust necessary to cooperate with any education professional outside of their own classrooms. Victories come in small stages�maybe seeing collaborative relationships move from one stage to another or being able to place a teacher who was previously uncooperative at the beginning level.

The job description of the library media specialist as teacher does not specify a waiting period before beginning collaboration. The collaborative continuum must start with day one on the job. To do otherwise would be equal to a fifth grade teacher deciding to put off math instruction until the second or third year of teaching, when he or she has a better understanding of the curriculum, the students, and the instructional processes of the school. It doesn't work that way for classroom teachers, and it shouldn't work that way for library media specialists. The job of the library media specialist is to become familiar with the curriculum, the collection, and the students and, at the same time, perform all functions in the job description at the highest possible level. We can't wait several years to become familiar and confident at program administration duties before fulfilling the rest of the job description. Students of all ages stream in and out of our library media center doors. We have one chance, just one year, to catch them at each grade level. An opportunity lost is a generation lost.

References

American Association of School Librarians/Association for Educational Communication and Technology. Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. ALA, 1998.

Callison, Danny. "Collaboration." School Library Media Activities Monthly 15, no. 5 (January 1999): 38-40.

Dickinson, G. K. Achieving National Board Certification for School Library Media Specialists; a Study Guide. ALA, 2006.

Eisenberg, M., and R. E. Berkowitz. Curriculum Initiative: An Agenda and Strategy for Library Media Programs. Linworth, 1988.

Friend, M., and L. Cooke. Interactions: Collaboration Skills for School Professionals. 2nd ed. Longmans, 1996.

Kuhlthau, C. C. Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services. 2nd ed. Libraries Unlimited, 2004.

Macrorie, K. The I-Search Paper. Boynton/Cook, 1988.

Zweizig, D., and D. M. Hopkins. Lessons from Library Power: Enriching Teaching and Learning. Libraries Unlimited, 2000.