Tracey Hill

Module 3
CONT997
Putting It All Together

What I believe are the most critical elements that make a teacher librarian an exemplary instructional
partner are how well they cultivate their relationships with staff as well as their knowledge of the
curriculum. Without these two elements how well could a partnership work? Some characteristics of a
highly effective collaborator are someone who takes the time, listens, asks the right questions, seeks to
find the answers, builds relationships, is knowledgeable and gives/expects trust. By cultivating
relationships and learning the curriculum as well as up to date information/resources we become an
exemplary instructional partner.

Cultivating Partnerships
Building a strong relationship early on in the year with classroom teachers and school staff can help open
the door to collaboration. Deborah Levitov stated in her article Getting Beyond Superficial that “school
librarians must undertake ongoing communication that builds a new attitude towards what they do and
how they do it.” (Levitov, 2014/2015) Communicating often and in various ways helps build a
relationship as well as an awareness to what a teacher librarian can offer. This can be through offering
professional development opportunities, talking at staff meetings, joining planning meetings, circulating
handouts on all the ways a teacher librarian can support them, etc. By building this relationship comes a
willingness to collaborate. As the relationship grows so does learning vital knowledge about what is
going on in each classroom, including learning styles which will better inform the lesson planning. Chris
Kennedy believes that “In schools that are moving forward, it is very often the teacher-librarian,
working side-by-side with teachers on staff, who find new ways of working with students.” (Kennedy,
2011)

Knowledge of the Curriculum Including Literacy

In learning and becoming familiar with the curriculum content and competencies, the teacher librarian
becomes better equipped with collaborating with teachers to enhance their lessons as well as being able to
incorporate complimentary library lessons. Martin and Panter discuss the benefits to students when
teacher librarians have solid content knowledge and a strong partnership with teachers in The Paradox of
Our Profession when they said, “Instructional partnerships transform learning by integrating literacy
skills and core dispositions into curriculum content.” (Martin, Panter 2015 p. 57) Knowing the content
will also aid in ordering books for the library that tie in with the curriculum and competencies. This will
be an advantage when finding the perfect books for teachers that are up to date and in a variety of formats
to ensure no learner is left behind.

When discussing collaboration with teachers, Goldhawk said in the article As Media Landscape Changes,
Librarians Take On New Roles, "because it's (content)always embedded into something we just
completed or something that's coming up. It always feels like it's purposeful." It is not a side library lesson
but embedded with what the classrooms are already doing. (Will, Madeline, 2016) This further supports
the need to know the curriculum in order to provide lessons that compliment what teachers are already
doing in the classroom instead of a string of stand-alone lessons. By having more in-depth knowledge of
the curriculum, the teacher librarian becomes an invaluable partner to teachers. Jenny Kemp’s thoughts
on the teacher librarian’s curriculum knowledge in her article 10 Ways to Advocate For Your Role As
Teacher Librarian, state a teacher librarian’s “broad knowledge of learning across the school can
contribute to curriculum mapping, connecting the work of individual subjects to facilitate
interdisciplinary teaching opportunities.” (Kemp, 2017) This will help lessen the load for classroom
teachers and have them more willing to collaborate.

In conclusion, without taking the time to build relationships with teachers and getting to know what they
are teaching, their students’ needs etc. how can we expect them to trust us and seek out our help? If we
don’t have a strong understanding of the curriculum or stay current in our knowledge of resources how
 Tracey Hill
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CONT997
can we provide relevant and innovative ideas to assist the teacher and students? I feel these are the
foundation of an exemplary instructional partner.

References

Samepage. 2016. 10 Top Qualities of a Great Collaborator. [online] Available at:

<https://www.samepage.io/blog/10-top-qualities-great-collaborator> [Accessed 15 March 2021].

Freeman, J., 2021. Teacher Librarian Partnerships. [online] Scholastic.com. Available at:

<https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/teacher-librarian-partnerships/> [Accessed 14 March
2021].

Kemp, J., 2017. Ten ways to advocate for your role as a teacher librarian. [online] http://www.scisdata.com.
Available at: <https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-103/ten-ways-to-advocate-for-your-role-as-a-teacher-
librarian/> [Accessed 14 March 2021].

Kennedy, C., 2011. My Take on Librarian. [Blog] Culture of Yes, Available at:

<https://cultureofyes.ca/2011/05/23/my-take-on-librarians/> [Accessed 14 March 2021].

Levitov, D., 2021. Getting Beyond Superficial. School Library Monthly, p.4.

Martin, A. and Panter, S., 2015. The Paradox of our Profession. Knowledge Quest, 43(4), pp.55 - 60.

Tilley, C., 2013. Reading Instruction and School Librarians. School Library Monthly, 30(3), pp.5 - 7.

Will, M., 2016. As Media Landscape Changes, Librarians Take on New Roles. Education Week, (12).