[LM_NET] re pecking order....

[Mike Eisenberg <mbe@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>]

Tom - 

You are right - there is a pecking order. So, how can teacher-librarians
be in that inner core?  By being responsible for a core curriculum - the
information literacy curriculum. Yes, this curriculum is implemented
through integration with the subject area curriculum, but achievement of
the information literacy curriculum is just as important as reading,
mathematics, science, or social studies.  

I know what I want for my grandchildren - learning process (information
skills/literacy/problem-solving - including technology) is one of the
most important parts of an education.  

We need to champion this curriculum in every way - including articulate,
explain, document, assess, and teach effectively.

Mike




Date:    Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:18:35 -0500
From:    Tom Tomporowski <ttomporowski@PERHAM.K12.MN.US>
Subject: Re: School Librarians Obsolete

Unlike a nurse or a cook, the value of a school librarian is not
necessarily self-evident.  That's the way it is with many modes of
gainful employment.

Even within the school system, when it comes to staff cuts, there is a
pecking order of value.  The inner circle, the highest value, at high
schools especially, contains the classroom teachers of the "core"
subjects.  Barring declining enrollment, those inner circle teachers are
typically the "untouchables."

Within the several circles or rings of school employee importance,
nearly all librarians fall into the space which resides a ring or two
removed from that inner circle.

It appears that school librarians nowadays will need to become more like
professor Harold Hill (The Music Man, for you youngsters), who swept
into town and rather quickly convinced the town-folk into believing that
they desperately needed what he had to give them.=20

There are some school librarians who have the personality, the dynamism,
and, yes, the charisma, to easily do that convincing.  I can hear that
dynamism coming through the postings from some of you fellow LM-Netters.
(I do also wonder, however, how some of you can balance the time you
spend towards your school life compared with your non-school life.)

So, as others have stated very well, it is both an individual and a
collective task to make our value self-evident, so that we at least stay
close to that inner circle, or, heaven forbid, even possibly enter that
inner sanctum.


thomas neil tomporowski
Perham High School  LMC
Prairie Wind Middle School LMC
Perham, MN , USA 56573
ttomporowski@perham.k12.mn.us
www.perham.k12.mn.us/phs/staff/ttomporowski
=20

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