Although the literature shows a direct correlation between this type of collaboration and student achievement, the barriers are many and difficult to overcome. Administrators and teachers don't often seem to understand the role of the SLMS or have the time to commit to developing a collaborative partnership, media specialists themselves often feel overwhelmed with all they have to do, and schools are increasingly cutting library support staff and even media specialists themselves. Yet the stakes, especially now with the adoption of Common Core, have never been higher. Some of the studies I cite do show that with a supportive administration, dedicated time for structured planning, and the right partnership, collaboration can happen and be very effective, but getting all of those elements in place is rare.
In terms my own study, I am curious to see not whether there are barriers at my own school (I know there are as the same ones seem to exist in most schools), but rather how the teachers who do collaborate were able/willing to overcome them. I've decided to survey just the 46 teachers who do collaborate with our SLMS to get a sense of the "type" of teacher who collaborates in our building and the factors that encouraged them to do so. I'll start to develop questions this week and will probably focus on the following aspects:
- What they were taught/not taught about collaboration in teacher ed
- If they had worked with with a media specialist in a previous building
- Their teaching style/personality
- Their understanding of the roles of an SLMS
- The degree to which they feel administration supports this collaboration
- Professional development experience
- "Marketing" by SLMS or others who collaborated with her in the past
These look like good questions to ask!
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