A Co-Teaching Example

Robillard, Gail

Cohen, S. (2015). Coteaching. Teacher Librarian, 42(5), 8-11. Retrieved at http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1ae20cc1-8add-48df-8132-d57e135aca98%40sessionmgr104&vid=8&hid=116

After documenting the research that supports the benefits of co-planning, coteaching, and coassessing student learning outcomes to improve instruction and student learning, author Sydnye Cohen describes a ninth grade social studies unit she was involved in as a humanities librarian at New Canaan High School in Connecticut in the 2013-2014 school year. The content of the unit was the reasons for the collapse or survival of ancient civilizations. Collaboration for the unit was instigated by the department chair and ultimately involved 5 out of the 6 social studies teachers and the author. The teaching group decided on essential questions and goals, including having the students work collaboratively in small teams to research and share their findings using multiple platforms. It was also important to the author that the students learn how to appropriately evaluate and cite their sources. 

Two aspects of the article were of  particular interest to me. First, the author identified and discussed very specific choices that were made when designing the coteaching structure. For example, students were required to use the CRAP test to determine a sources's authority, and while each social studies teacher assigned his or her own weight to this assessment, it was the author who graded the works consulted and provided feedback to the students so they could improve on the next phase of the project. The author included a diagram of the hierarchy of coteaching. These and other coteaching choices really provide almost a template for successful coteaching. 

Second, the author noted several assessments and tech tools that I want to investigate, such as the CRAP test, Tools for Real Time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (TRAILS), smore.com infographics, padlet.com electronic whiteboard, and lucidpress.com as a collaborative platform. 

Adriana Lugo

CO

Curry School of Education (2012-2014). Retrieved from http://faculty.virginia.edu/coteaching/video_5formats.html

This video demonstrates 5 co-teaching lesson formats and their components. It demonstrates skills used by teachers to communicate with each other. It's a great video to show a positive collaborative lesson to teachers.

Adriana Lugo

CO

Stripling, B. (2008) Inquiry-based teaching and learning—The role of the Library Media Specialist. School Library Media Activities Monthly XXV (1). Retrieved from 6/14/2017 /http://www.teachingbooks.net/content/InquiringMindsWantToKnow-Stripling.pdf

Explains inquiry based learning as well as how librarians can collaborate with teachers as well as use it to define their collection and teaching. It is a very informative article.

Strategies for collaboration

Katy Golden

CO

Kabal, C. (2014). Strategies for successful collaboration. Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/kriscia-cabral/strategies-effective-collaboration/

I really enjoyed this article because it's clear, concise, and written by a teacher about her experiences. She gives strategies about how to collaborate with a variety of specialists, not just media specialists.

This author encourages teachers and other educational professionals to "work smarter, not harder" through collaboration, and gives several strategies for collaborating. She encourages you to start by creating an actual document that serves as a working agreement for the entire year - this would be for a completely cotaught classroom, obviously- that clearly defines roles and responsibilities. While this might not be necessary for a single cotaught experience, it still might help to have clearly defined roles for the media specialist and classroom teacher. She also stresses the necessity to "communicate, communicate, communicate" and to connect with your students and coteachers in many different ways.

I'm excited to have the opportunity to coteach this fall and will definitely be using some of these collaboration strategies as I do!

De Rego, Tania

CA

Stripling, B. K., & Harada, V. H. (2012).   Designing learning experiences for deeper understanding.  School Library Monthly, 29(3), 5-13.  Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=632edacc-6b07-46b1-ad42-f145cd468a6c%40sessionmgr4007&vid=45&hid=4106 

Suggests collaboration with teachers to develop units based on C.L.E.A.R. G.O.A.L.S.  Gives example of a collaboration session with a teacher and the development of a unit together that covers both 21st Century Standards (AASL) and Common Core Standards.  

Useful article for picturing what a collaboration session with a classroom teacher would look like and also how to build a lesson.

Loertscher, D.V. (2014). Collaboration and Coteaching. Teacher Librarian, 42(2),

         8-19.
Summary-This article discusses the importance of a teacher librarian in the classroom and how they can be an integral part to the instruction of students.  The role of the librarian has been changed a great deal.  We have gone from just checking books in and out to being involved directly in instruction. This can be done by collaborating with teachers in classroom instruction, PLCs, and professional development. 

Review- I really liked this article because it is true.  I have been working as a teacher librarian for over 5 years now and I do all of these things.  I work collaboratively with the teachers and staff here at the library.  I also am directly involved in coteaching the classes with the classroom teachers.  This article is timely and relevant.

An Example of Co-Teaching

Mary Fobbs-Guillory

CO

Ainsworth, L. (2016). Teacher and teacher librarian collaborative inquiry. Teacher Librarian, 44(2), pp. 28-31.

This article gives a detailed account of a co-teaching experience between a 5th grade teacher and a teacher librarian in Canada.  The class was studying Inuit culture and the skill of questioning.  The article documents the process of the professionals planning the lesson together and then teaching the class in two groups.  This method is also called Station teaching because the students rotate from being taught by one professional to the next.  The teacher librarian created a short video on challenging vocabulary for students to view ahead of time and posted it to the class blog.  The teachers taught how to ask questions and provided them with question builder frames and rubrics.  They read books, facilitated discussions, and provided artifacts and art prints from the local museum for the students to analyze and develop questions about.

This article gave a very detailed account of the lesson, I felt as though I watched it.  It gave me a full picture of what co-teaching looks like and how fun and powerful it can be.

MOREILLON, J. (2016). Making the Classroom-Library Connection. Teacher Librarian, 43(3),  

8-18.  Retrieved from:  http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?

url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=113222008&site=ehost-

live&scope=site

This article discusses how classroom teachers are often unprepared or unknowing of how to collaborate with librarians.  This makes it difficult for teacher-librarians because classroom teachers often feel uncomfortable with collaboration. This article discusses some of the issues that are experienced by classroom teachers and teacher librarians and it also discussed some possible remedies to these issues.  This article explains possible options that can be offered to teachers to help them understand what the teacher librarians can offer their classes.  It includes information on how the librarian can provide workshops to help teachers learn to work in tandem with the librarian.

Collaboration in High Schools

Martin, Jeanette
CO-Collaboration Strategies

Long, D. (2007). Increasing Literacy in the High School Library: Collaboration Makes It

     Happen. Teacher Librarian, 35(1), 13-17.

 

Many of today's high school teachers have received little or no preparation in teaching students to read. Many of these teachers work in isolation, and struggle to provide the reading instruction that students need to succeed in their content areas. (Long, 2007). At Merced High School in Merced California, the literacy coach along with the librarian and Civics and English teachers decided to ban together to collaborate in teaching literacy skills needed to complete a combined project. A template was created on notetaking, summarizing and predicting text.  A template was also created for a works cited page, that the students followed. The results were as followed: the template improved the teachers’ skills on instruction of research as well as teaching students’ how not to plagiarize. The librarian was able to create a works cited template that was later utilized throughout the school. The webmaster was able to use the information in the collaboration of literacy to create links and pages useful to students’ research practices. In closing, Rodger, 2007, states the importance in having an open mind and create value in a library host system. Librarians must understand their host systems; they must understand the source of their claim to being a legitimate part of that system: and they must do their work well so the system is better because they are there. It’s usually far more a matter of asking and listening than it is of telling and pleading.”

This is something that has been reiterated over and over in the MLIS program at San Jose. Being such an integrate part of the school system that the district and the school wouldn't think of cutting such an integrated and valuable asset such  as the school librarian.