Collaboration examples

Here are some of the different ways I have seen collaborative teaching in the SLRC:

Pioneer Literature Study-a collection of pioneer stories for an intermediate class. Students work their way through each story on a rotation basis, in small groups, and answer questions or complete a project based on each piece of literature. Classroom teacher and TL circulated and assist.

Research Writing -a grade four class learning research writing. Over 6-8 weeks the classroom teacher and TL teach step by step lessons from idea generation, to note taking, to completing a formal written document, using a writing program such as 6+1 traits. Both the TL and the classroom teacher bring their expertise of writing instruction to this unit of study, take turns presenting lessons, and circulate and assist.

Enrichment-Teaching a small group of grade one and two students, of higher ability, research writing on a simplified level. This is a big hit as these kids feel very special. Research is based on a subject/topic that is being taught in class at the same time.

Open library- having an open library where individual students, small groups, or whole classes drop in for help with research.. The teacher may be teaching a social studies project in the classroom, but students move back and forth to the library to gather research, and the teacher and TL move between classroom and library to assist. This is done on a very informal basis.

Research Units-intermediate classes coming into the library to do research and while the teacher monitors the physical media collection, helping students select resources and understand information, the TL is at the computer stations helping students search for virtual information while teaching information assessment skills.

Professional Development-TL working as a mentor to teachers. In one school the TL taught the new science curriculum to classes. The TL took the time to learn the new curriculum and taught it to all relevant grades in the library and the classroom teachers were able to become familiar with the new information through participation. (This TL brought dirt, water, food and all kinds of items into the library for research.) It depends upon the needs of the school but this was a fairly painless way for several staff members to receive professional development while students had their learning needs met.

Small groupings-Teaching grade six classes in smaller groups. Groups either do online lessons, individual research, or literature circles. Students rotate between stations. The TL is able to have time to observe the students during literature circles while smaller groups engage in independent research or an online activity. Small groupings occur in the classrooms at the same time and classroom teachers supervise. This situation works because of the scheduling in this school and does take some time to plan. All classes and the library need to have the same blocks open. Groups are small and engaged in one activity for short stretches of time.

Open Ongoing Collaboration Time-in one school the TL has all afternoon blocks open after book exchange and teachers can schedule collaboration time with the TL at the teachers convenience. The teachers let the TL know what they need, and then they both plan activities and the TL gather resources. The TL focusing upon purchasing resources unit and subject areas taught where teachers collaborate.

In all these cases, both the TL and the teacher have an understanding of the subject areas, lessons and unit plans being taught, and the curriculum. They have either jointly designed units or built upon existing units. I found that TLs who have held positions for long periods of time typically have designed research units for each grade and present them to the classroom teacher. The teacher and TL then teach the lessons together. Sometimes the TL takes the lead role and the teacher circulates or visa versa. Typically this is a lot of initial work for the TL, but once the units are designed they can be used from year to year and improved upon. Having prepared the units, the TL gains insight into what types of resources to add to their collection. In one school the TL always teaches the grade 3 classes a unit on the solar system with the classroom teacher. Every year new and better resources are added and this unit has become an anticipated event for the grade threes.

Several elements help in supporting collaborative teaching in these examples. In these schools the TL has been in their position for several years and has good report with the teachers. These schools also have full time TLs and the library is open all week which allows more flexibility in scheduling. In addition, each of the TLs keeps the library open before and after school, and at lunch. In one school there are telephones in every class, which is a great advantage because teachers can call on the spur of the moment and ask if the library is busy or not and drop in, change scheduling, and communicate freely with the TL. The TL in this school is also aware of what units and topics teachers are teaching and are very familiar with the curriculum.