This has been a GREAT conversation, and as someone coming into the field just this
year (graduation May 10!!!), I've been very interested to hear the different
viewpoints on scheduling. From what I've experienced so far, I too see some
benefits to the fixed/mixed schedule. To go even a step further, the best
experience I've had with the fixed/mix schedule was at a K-4 elementary school
where library was treated as a special area class and the librarian saw every class
at least once a week for a class period of about 50 minutes. This offered ample
time for information literacy lessons, book talks, story time and a 10-15 minute
checkout. This school had a good atomosphere of collaboration, and while the
classroom teachers did not come and stay with the classes for library time, there
was plenty of communication between the librarian and the classroom teachers and
the administration was definitely on board. Perhaps, therein lies a key to making
a fixed/mixed schedule work-!
-commun
ication and collaboration--and then even MORE communication.
A while back I asked LM_Netters about whether they used lesson plans. I was
surprised at the diversity of answers--from those librarians who were required to
submit lesson plans every week to those who didn't do them at all. This may be my
naievete showing through, but it seems that, if there is concern about showing
"value added" to administrators and teachers who either don't know or who doubt the
benefits of a first-rate library program, taking the initiative to develop and
share library lesson plans --especially if they are NOT required -- might be a step
toward showing the lessons and how they fit into the curriculum. I'm not
suggesting that we hit people over the head with what we do, but that we document
the value-added ourselves, and show the correlation to the curriculum. Perhaps in
some environments, we might have to start small--finding just one teacher who we
can work with when we meet with resistance to collaborative efforts (for whatever
reason).
I would love to hear some ideas any of you have on ways to "start small"--ways to
incorporate the curriculum and bring teachers and administrators
together--particularly in environments that are perhaps resistant (again, for
whatever reason) to collaborative efforts with the library.
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