What Teachers Need from Researchers

Mary Fobbs-Guillory

ET

Saul, Roger. (2016) Education and the mediated subject: What today’s teacher’s need most from researchers of youth and media. Journal of Children and Media, 10(2). Pp.156-163

Roger Saul shares that the majority of today’s educators are still operating with archaic understanding of what young people are capable of and how to engage them in school.  He argues that researchers need to provide educators with a better understanding of their students’ potential to make meaningful contributions to their education.  He also shares that teachers may not realize they are marginalizing their students by not allowing students the opportunity to explore their identity and express themselves as they learn in school.

Saul has offers a balanced perspective in his argument as he shares that teachers too are regulated and may not have the autonomy to change how they address students needs.  He shares that districts need to trust teachers more and allow them to do what research says is best for students.  This was interesting to read as an educator because I often felt that in district schools, teacher’s don’t have much of a voice and they have to do what they are told or else find a new school to work at.  It is encouraging that some people see the need to empower teachers who can in turn empower students to be more involved and engaged in their education.

This Library is Going to the Dogs

Martin, Jeanette
ET - New Trends

Cottrell, M. (2017). Library Waggin' Train: Service dogs, therapy dogs, emotional support dogs: Which ones can come in? American Libraries,48(3/4), 24-25. Retrieved April 4, 2017, from americanlibrariesmagazine.org.

The article assists librarians in how to utilize service dogs in the library. It also explains the rights individuals have to bring their service dogs into the library and the rights the library has in questioning the owner of the animal. Many people buy a service vest for the animal to bring them into public places. Some animals have not been trained and can become a safety and health hazard. The law explains that a librarian can ask an owner of a dog if it is a service animal and what kind of service the dog provides to its owner. The law does not permit one to ask for a certificate or a letter to verify this.

Studies have shown the benefits animals animals can have on people. We are the largest school in the district with special needs kids. Twice a year a service dog comes into our schools library to provide emotional support to our students. It is very soothing to our students and gives our teachers a piece of mind that the students are calm. My son, while he was in college, had the opportunity to cuddle with service dogs during finals. It calmed him down so much he asked me to bring his dog on campus during finals week.

Co-teaching Relationships among Librarians and other Information Professionals

Alpers, Jessica

CO-Collaboration

Medaill, A., & Shannon, A. W. (2012). Co-teaching relationships among librarians and other information professionals. Collaborative Librarianship,4(4), 2.

Summary: The article begins by discussing librarians as teachers and then delves into collaboration. A table is presented showing attributes of successful collaboration. This is followed by a discussion of co-teaching, with an explanation. Much information is given on the topic, including factors for success. The article goes on to describe methods for co-teaching, and explain what works and does not work. Following this discussion is a set of guidelines for successful co-teaching.

Evaluation: This is a good article describing co-teaching between librarians and teachers. For someone who may not have a lot of experience co-teaching this is a good resource to begin with. The tips and guidelines are very easy to understand. For those who have more experience, it is a good resource to help strengthen your understanding and performance as a co-teacher.

Preparing Pre-Service School Librarians for Collaboration with Pre-Service Elementary Teachers

Esling, Kathleen

CO

Rawson. C. H., Anderson. J., & Hughes-Hassell, S. (2015). Preparing pre-service school librarians for science-focused collaboration with pre-service elementary teachers: The design and impact of a cross-class assignment. School Library Research, 18.
(accessible via SJSU King Library)

This article was very helpful for me as a new-to-librarianship student. The authors studied a program in which pre-service school librarians (PSLs) and pre-service teachers (PSTs) were matched up and instructed to collaborate on a science unit. The authors wanted to see if having librarians and teachers collaborate before they are actually librarians and teachers would help pave the way for more collaboration down the road, and this study also gave the authors a chance to see some of the issues that can arise in such collaborations.

The article also began with Patricia Montiel-Overall’s definition of Teacher-Librarian Collaboration (TLC):

“A trusting, working relationship between two or more equal participants involved in shared thinking, shared planning, and shared creation of innovative integrated instruction. Through a shared vision and shared objectives ,student learning opportunities are created that integrate subject content and information literacy by co-planning, co-implementing, and co-evaluating students’ progress throughout the instructional process in order to improve student learning in all areas of the curriculum. (2005a, 32, emphasis in original)” (as cited in Rawson, Anderson, & Hassell-Hughes, 2015, p. 3).

They also pointed to Montiel-Overall's four "facets" of Teacher-Librarian Collaboration. In order of least to most intense, those facets are:

1. Coordination
2. Cooperation
3. Integrated Instruction
4. Integrated Curriculum (Rawson, Anderson, & Hassell-Hughes, 2015, p. 6)

In the study, the researchers found that PSTs and their mentors did not have a clear view of what it is school librarians actually do, leading to assumptions about what was or was not possible. In one example, a mentor actually "vetoed" one of the collaborations' activities because an item on the PSL's agenda was something that the mentor did not think libraries did. Instead, they limited what the librarian was going to do, even when their mentees tried to explain what the PSL was planning.

Communication was also an issue between the collaborators, and it was a good view into how important communication is to make collaboration a success.

While this study did contain a lot of personal responses from the PSLs (and so should be taken with a grain of salt rather than as purely objective conclusions), I found this to be a good look at some of the issues school librarians can face in approaching teachers about collaboration. Many of my readings are finding that librarians really need to be able to self-advocate and say, "Yes we do help with [this topic]" and highlight that "teacher" role. The article was helpful to me as a "newbie," but it might be old news to someone with more experience. Overall, though, I do recommend this if you are looking at more information about collaboration.

Are Dewey's Days Numbered?

Litzinger, Vicki

CO, IL
Kaplan, Tali Balas; Dolloff, Andrea K.; Giffard, Sue; Still-Schiff, Jennifer (2012). Are Dewey's days numbered? School Library Journal, 58(10), 24-28, Retrieved from
http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=b46387fb-51f0-4951-ae36-db17395d954d%40sessionmgr102&vid=4&hid=118&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=83527019&db=llf.

Summary/Evaluation

This article explains the process from idea to conception of doing away with Dewey and creating a new system--categories, subcategories, order, call numbers, and labels--that met the needs of the users at Ethical Cultural Fieldston School in New York City. Two of their earliest questions were "Why are we using decimals in a children's library, when they don't learn that until fourth-grade math? And why are our picture books arranged by author, when most children are more interested in the content than in who wrote the book?" (p26) They turned to the work of Linda Cooper, a professor at New York's Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Science who studied the ways that children categorize topics and themes, and integrated students thoughts into the planning of the new system. They also developed three guiding principles to keep them on track. The new system had to be child-centered, browsable, and flexible. After two years of hard work, they have found that students, teachers, parents, and the rest of the community love the new system, and that they are "better able to collaborate and support the school-wide curriculum." (28)

It was very validating for me to read this article and discovering that colleagues have had the same questions as I have. For instance, one of my primary challenges has been teaching decimals to students who haven't learned them yet in their math curriculum! The authors explained the process, challenges, and opportunities thoroughly which would be very useful for others wanting to go through a similar process. They also mentioned the work of Linda Cooper, they also listed the URL for the website they created so others can share their ideas and work. Finally, there's plenty of anecdotal information to use if needed when discussing these changes with teachers, students, and administrators.

Kelly Roys

Herring, J. E. (2011). Improving students’ web use and information literacy: A guide
for teachers and teacher librarians. London: Facet Publishing. doi: 10.3233/EFI-2010-0888

Summary: Review of James Herring's new volume on information literacy skills includes the processing and evaluation on web usage. Herring is a professional who has been publishing works related to teacher librarians and theories for practicum in information literacy for over 30 years. The review of the book details the overarching themes to the nine chapters within the book. The beginning chapters of the book are detailed to introductory on web usage pre-Web 2.0. Herring's volume promotes a few models of theory for learning when using technology and the author reviewing the book notes that there are parts of the volume that not all will agree with and the reader should be made aware of these sections.


Evaluation: I found this review of Herring's book to be of value as it notes the background of the author, the preferences towards theories applicable to teacher librarians, teachers and students. The volume is practical and theory based, which allows the reader to both apply what they are learning in a contextual aspect. The review does not lean heavily to one perspective of the author and his work. The review describes the book for its application and relativity in relation to the topic and allows the reader of the review to make their own conclusion as to whether the volume will be of interest to them to read.

Collaboration: Critical Success Factors for Student Learning

Posted by Karen Kotchka

CO

Haycock, K. (2007) Collaboration: Critical Success Factors for Student Learning. School Libraries Worldwide, 13 (1), 25-35.

Summary
This article gives an exhaustive list of the factors which predict success when it comes to collaboration in the school community.  Most of the factors have to do with good communication skills, common purposes and flexibility and adaptability.  Leadership is also seen as essential as well as staff, materials and time.  The benefits of collaboration are stated up front saying that collaboration ignites creativity among teachers and that creative fire spreads to students.  It also concludes by saying that collaboration is the single professional behavior for teacher librarians that can impact student achievement.

Evaluation

I liked being able to read through the various factors for successful collaboration so that I could use the article as a benchmark against my own school situation.  The article could be used by a teacher librarian preparing a case for increasing teacher collaboration.

Dweck's "Mindset" - Growing through Failure

Fluetsch, Christopher

IL

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, New York: Ballentine Books.

Carol Dweck’s Mindset is almost a decade old, but it is currently enjoying a revival of interest in education circles. A number of posts on this blog cover articles written about this book, but no post has yet covered the book itself.

Dweck’s book concerns her research into how people approach problems. Dweck maintains that people take one of two approaches to problems. They either have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

At its most basic level, a fixed mindset occurs when a person believes that intelligence, ability or skill in some area is fixed, that is that it cannot be significantly changed. The person considers themselves either smart or dumb, talented or not. For a fixed mindset person, a problem is an insurmountable obstacle. A failure indicates that the person is simply not good enough.

A growth mindset individual, however, believes in limitless human potential. A problem becomes an opportunity for growth, a chance to learn a new skill or a new approach to a problem. Dweck maintains that growth mindset individuals are more likely to be successful in the long term, as they continue to learn new skills. Growth mindset people are also more likely to be happy and content, as they never feel as if a problem is unsolvable.

The recent revival of this book is directly related to the need for students to learn the 21st century skills of adaptability and life-long learning. A common phrase in modern education is “We are are teaching our students skills they will need for jobs that have not even been created.” The basic idea is that the pace of change is accelerating, and people can grow and adapt to new conditions will be more successful than people who cannot.

Unfortunately, Dweck tends to reason beyond her data. She has a potent idea with some research behind it, but she extrapolates the idea into a binary worldview, where one either is fixed or growth. Everything bad comes from having a fixed mindset, everything good from growth. She oversells her idea, ruining a bit of her credibility.

Nevertheless, Mindset has some excellent advice for helping students cope with change. It is probably not necessary to read the entire book, as a number of chapters become repetitive. However, the first three chapters and the chapter on teaching are valuable additions for anyone’s reading plan.

A Look at Self Directed Learning at the High School Level

Maciejewski, Gloria

Blakeway, Kristi. (2014, Sept. 2) Blakeway: Riding a roller coaster – How self directed learning changed my views. P21 Blog, Volume 1, Issue 7, No. 20. Retrieved from: http://www.p21.org/news-events/p21blog/1490

This is a blog post written for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which, if you haven't check out, you should!  In a nutshell, Kristi Blakeway writes about her experience as a vice principal at Thomas Haney Secondary, a self-directed learning high school in Maple Ridge, B.C. Canada. She clearly outlines in her blog post the way this self-directed system is organized.
The school is part of the Canadian Coalition of Self-Directed Learning (CCSDL) which is an organization of secondary schools throughout Canada that are dedicated to the personalization of learning. She touches on the elements of inquiry, collaboration, how work spaces are designed and what test taking looks like. Admitting that she was bewildered at the seeming lack of structure she was used to in traditional education settings, Blakeway chronicles her emerging understandings of the self directed model.  Elements of the article that I found appealing were the descriptions of close teacher and student relationships, the amount of free or flexible time the students have and the strong collaboration that informed the practice on site. As someone who is always considering home-school (or unschooling) as an option for my own children, it was quite enjoyable to get a look at how a high school that values the individual learning styles of each unique student  looks like.

Engelbrecht, Shannon

CO

Montiel-Overall, P., & Jones, P. (2011). Teacher and School Librarian Collaboration: A Preliminary Report of Teachers' Perceptions about Frequency and Importance to Student Learning. Canadian Journal Of Information & Library Sciences, 35(1), 49-76.

Summary: This article is a bilingual (French and English) detailed statistical analysis of the results of a sixteen question self-adminstered survey for classroom teachers. It addresses four research questions regarding teachers' perception of the frequency and importance of teacher librarian collaboration and the value to students.

Evaluation: This article includes an extensive literature review that is the basis of research questions and the survey questions. Two conclusions struck me:

• "...teachers perceive all collaborative practices as important to student learning."

and

• "...teachers generally do not perceive that they frequently engage in collaborative endeavors..."

Their overall conclusion, aligned with previous studies, showed that:

"...a considerable amount of time working with teachers in traditional ways was needed to develop relationships and trust with teachers. Once these relationships and trust were established, high-level collaborative efforts between teachers and school librarians were more likely to occur."

Rather than deprecating the traditional work that is the daily work, it can be understood as the bridge to higher level collaboration.

ESL teachers and librarians

Greene, Shannon

CO

Naidoo, J. (2005). Informational Empowerment: Using Informational Books to Connect the Library Media Center Program with Sheltered Instruction. School Libraries Worldwide, 11(2), 132-152. 

Summary:

This article focusing on the use of informational trade books to increase collaboration between library media specialists and English as Second Language (ESL) teachers was published in School Libraries Worldwide. Dr. Naidoo's experience as a school library media specialist in a suburban Alabama elementary school that saw an increase from less than 5% of its population being English Language Learner (ELL) students to almost 1/3 of its students being ELL students inspired him to conduct his own literature review of the benefits of cooperation between ESL teachers and librarians. His article focuses on two areas of collaboration: 1) how library media specialists can provide informational trade books to ESL teachers to supplement textbooks and improve ELL students’ content and language acquisition and 2) alignment of TESOL’s ESL standards and the ALA / ISLMA Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning. 

Evaluation: His work was helpful to me because I am finding, that most of the discussions of collaboration don’t specifically note how ESL teachers and librarians’ can best work together. The school I work in has over 50% of our students are native Spanish speakers. His in depth investigation of how librarians can assist ESL teachers is also very significant as he gives realistic examples, discusses how the strategies improve student achievement,  and defines how these methodologies correlate to students achieving the standards.

Strengthening the Student Toolbox

Jennifer Brickey

CA—Curriculum and Assessment

CA--Assessment Strategies

CO--Overcoming Barriers

Dunlosky, J. (2013). Strengthening the student toolbox. American Educator, 37(3), 12

-21. Retrieved from

http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/fall2013/dunlosky.cfm

Dunlosky presents his findings on the most useful studying strategies that boost student achievement. Contrary to many teachers’ beliefs, highlighting and rereading show minimal return in student achievement when compared to practice testing and distributed practice, according to the research. Dunlosky found that practice testing can help students “boost long-term memory” (p.14) and “make better decisions about what needs further practice and what does not” (p. 14). Practice tests allow students to assess what they know and what they don’t know about a topic so they can make sure to review the areas they are weakest; this is a way to receive instant feedback. The second best strategy Dunlosky discovered is distributed practice. This method encourages students to study or practice every day rather than cramming the night before an exam. By doing so, “students will retain knowledge and skills for a longer period of time” (p. 15).

This article shines light on study strategies that teachers may or may not use. When considering how curriculum is acquired and how it’s assessed, this article offers specific approaches that work, show promise, and fall flat. This is a useful tool for any teacher considering how to incorporate studying skills into his/her classroom.

A Collaborative Community

 Kaelyn Shaw

CO

Montgomery, S. E., & Miller, J. (2011). The Third Place: The Library as Collaborative and Community Space in a Time of Fiscal Restraint. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 18(2/3), 228-238. doi:10.1080/10691316.2011.577683 

Profile of Rollins College’s Olin Library serves as a model for the campus library’s reinvention as a “third place” offering students a collaborative community-building environment in which they can both utilize library-stored learning materials, as well as share information in an informal and casual workspace.  Rollins College demonstrates that in spite of the “new normal” of budget constraints and space/staff reductions, a thriving learning community can and should be built to enhance student and faculty participation and interaction with each other and library materials.  Literature reviews suggests such a “third place” preserves the traditional library model while allowing space to increase community and collaborative learning. 

Reinventing Ourselves in the Digital Age

Jennifer Alfonso-Punzalan

ET
CO
IL

Hammond, J. & Barnabei, C.  (2013, May/June).  Reinventing ourselves in the digital age.  Library Media Connection.  31(6), 14-16.

This article is about Chris Barnabei, who is the teacher librarian for the Chambersburg Area Career Magnet School in Pennsylvania.  The high school is project-based and Barnabei helped to create the Knowledge Commons.  He writes about how he collaborates with teachers, the management of the 1:1 iPad initiative, partnerships with local businesses to identity real-life problems and solutions, etc. 

This is a fascinating look at how one teacher librarian is at the cutting edge of what we have been discussing in our LIBR 250 class.  It is an exciting read because it shows the potential of what communities can do to engage their students and solve real-life problems.  One thing that I noted was that the magnet school is competitive and only some students are allowed entrance.  I wonder how project-based learning could apply to everyone in every public school.

One helpful thing was that he has an app libguide that he mentions in the article.

Collaboration: What it is, What it Takes, and Problems

Cooper, O.P. & Bray, M. (2011). School library media specialist – teacher collaboration: characteristics, challenges, opportunities. TechTrends, 55(4), 48-54.

CO

Cooper and Bray supply readers with a great amount of detail in the different roles that teacher-librarians can play in schools. They spend equal amounts of time covering the different subtopics they identify in the title. One of the greatest portions was the characteristics of collaboration. They draw readers attention to the fact that often times collaboration is used as a broad overreaching term to apply to many different scenarios. It is their belief that true collaboration is not often achieved in schools. They do make that point that if teacher-librarians want to be viewed as indispensible, they will have to make their skills/ abilities and contributions known to the administrative personal just as often as they do with teachers. They also caution that the end result of collaboration is not just collaboration, but collaboration has result in increased student achievement. I found a great amount of merit in the portion Cooper and Bray spend in helping readers understand what true collaboration is. I think too often the term is tossed around without really examining what it is or what it takes. They offer a quote from another author that fully explains “true” teacher and teacher-librarian collaboration, one that I think is the best I have encountered yet:

When teachers and library media specialists work together to identify what students need to know about accessing, evaluating, interpreting and applying information; when they plan how and where these skills will be taught and how they relate the content are learning; when they co-teach so students learn the skills at the time they need them; and when they assess the students’ process as they work with information as well as the end product, they have truly collaborated.

Posted by Jessica King

Online Collaboration: Opportunities, and Opportunities for Conflict

Shapiro, Brian

CO

Robinson, K. (2013). The interrelationship of emotion and cognition when students undertake collaborative group work online: An interdisciplinary approach. Computers & Education, 62(0), 298–307. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2012.11.003

This article explores the emotional and cognitive impact of online collaboration. The researchers completed a qualitative study, pulling four main themes from the feedback they received—two focusing on the experience of group work, and two focusing on the influence of motivation and learning. “The findings were considered from two perspectives of the role of emotion in learning: the socio-cognitive model of self-regulated learning and the community of inquiry framework (COI)”  (Robinson, 2013). Robinson addresses the awareness of educators of the power of collaboration and the great need for online collaboration skills in the present and future world in which we live. But, her research indicates that despite its intrinsic value, many students view online group work with hostility and apathy. Because research shows that emotions and learning are closely related, in order to have online group work effective for all, we must address the emotions students have and create solutions for greater investment. The writer makes suggestions, based on her research, for increasing student appreciation for the value of online group work, and the technologies used to facilitate this work. Those suggestions will be the focus of this review.

All group work opens up a variety of opportunities for conflict, and Robinson explains that the additional challenges that technological group work can present often compound those conflicts. Technical breakdowns, disruption of online communication, and the delay of responses in a conversation are all issues avoided in a traditional classroom setting. Students also reported that the impersonal aspects of communicating online made them feel more apathetic or disconnected. Robinson argues that immediacy or the socio-psychological distance between two parties is the barrier that most makes people feel disconnected from others during online group work—this inability to “see” the group members as whole and real people. She then goes on to argue that we can achieve immediacy in an online environment by increasing aspects of our communication skills.  Robinson (2013) writes, “Immediacy can be communicated verbally by adopting an informal writing style, using slang, abbreviations and colloquialisms, by describing ongoing thoughts about ambitions and impressions, by describing life events even though they are unrelated to the task in hand  and by using figurative language."  Perhaps by using less formal language, group members will be able to “see” one another as whole and real people.

Another issue that Robinson found was that students who felt intimidated or not at the same level as the other writers or posters in the class, but may be reading everything and participating—albeit more passively, need to find support in the process. In collaborative work, these silent voices could be a source of frustration for other group members who may see this person as disengaged. For example, by offering tagging tools, tools that are hints and suggestions to learners as to how they might compose the next contribution. The implementation of such tools would need to rely on artificial intelligence (AI) methods and techniques so that the students who might benefit from access to such tools can be identified.  Once again we find that although aspects of online technology may cause barriers, it is also innovations in technology that can help students overcome these barriers.  She goes on to suggest that this type of data collection could highlight the students who are reading everything, but not writing as much, and teacher or tutors could intervene with those students on a one-on-one level. This would also help personalize the experience for these of students.

Many online classes have built in a synchronous discussion forum in order to create a sense of true conversation—and than can be effective for many students. But keeping in mind that most people opt for online learning programs because they have busy schedules that they have to work around, this attempt at creating community can backfire by creating resentment for the students who miss the synchronous discussion. Robinson explains that, “The inbuilt delay of asynchronous technology means that students have time to reflect before responding and this can benefit both task and relational aspects of group work.” Although both have their benefits to students, perhaps the benefits of the space and time to reflect and participate outweigh the attempt to have “real” conversations.

More Authentic Assessment Requires Collaborative Efforts

Michelle Windell

CA
CO

Boss, S. (2012). The challenge of assessing project-based learning.District Administration, 48(9), 46-50.

This article presents a number of different project-based learning projects from schools around the country. It refers to the Common Core as the impetus for the shift in pedagogy from the old teacher lecturing method to project-based learning. Assessments necessarily must shift to allow students to demonstrate critical thinking and deeper learning. What I like about this article is the suggestion that teachers will collaborate to assess student work, because assessment will require discussion about what good work is. This professional collaboration will (hopefully) extend nationwide and beyond as teachers create online networks for sharing projects, rubrics, and anchor work. In my own experience, I have found that a lack of anchor work (student samples of different rubric ratings) makes for huge discrepancies in teachers' assessment standards, even within one school setting in which teachers are using the same rubric.

A Collaborative Oasis in the Desert

Michelle Windell

CO

Kilker, J. (2012). School and community connections for collaboration and coteaching.Knowledge Quest, 40(4), 38-45.

In this article, the author articulates how she transformed the 1950’s style, hardly used library at her inner-city Phoenix HS into a thriving environment for learning. She tells of her journey to promote collaboration with teachers by reaching out to them and showing them how she could be a valuable resource to them. For example, she would create hotlists of web resources to go along with teachers’ instructional units. Deeper collaborations on lessons ensued, with co-planning and co-teaching, shared assessment duties, and more. Helping teachers become comfortable with technology, first by introducing web 2.0 tools into lessons, and then by offering teacher trainings, moved her solidly into the center of instruction. This librarian helped to link teachers and students to the community in many ways, including arranging evening and weekend field trips to museums and historical sites, and on one occasion, a tour of some sites in a historical novel read by many English classes, with the author serving as docent.

This article helped me to get a sense of how to move forward with putting myself at the center of teaching and learning, one step at a time. Eventually, the momentum will build.

Make Friends with the Principal...S/He's Lonely at the Top

Michelle Windell

CO

Ray, M. (2013). The same difference.School Library Journal, 59(2), 20-23.

This article is written by a guy who was a TL and is now an administrator. He speaks of his rare but positive relationships with principals while he was a TL, and of how the two jobs have many similarities. Most notably, unless they reach out to teachers, they work in isolation. The author also speaks of how TLs can help principals. Often times principals get a bad rap for policies that aren’t theirs; teachers tend to think of principals as the enemy conspiring some evil plot against them. TLs can help by offering to assist in the presentation of new policies (such as Common Core Standards) and to remind teachers of their availability as a resource. In addition to being of service to teachers and to principals, TLs can share with principals the good work they see going on in classrooms. TLs can help bridge this gap between administration and teachers, and move the whole school forward.

I liked this article because I do tend to generalize the principal's role as one of District Henchman. I find it empowering that I can move myself to the center of educational reform by forging a new kind of relationship with my administrators.

Thoughts on Differentiated Instruction

Parker, Linda

ET
CO

Huebner, T. A. (2010). Differentiated instruction. Educational Leadership, 67(5), 79-81.

Since I didn't really know anything about this topic, I found this article provided a good platform for describing differentiated instruction.  The old school way of doing things was to mold the child to fit the curriculum, however, under principles of differentiated instruction, the curriculum is molded to fit the student.  Everyone is different and, therefore, brings to the table unique background knowledge, influences, learning styles, language, and cultural issues which impact their learning.  Differentiated instruction is an attempt to take all of these factors into consideration to maximize the learning experience for all ranges of students within the same classroom - from learning disabled or challenged to gifted students because a "one style fits all" approach to learning/teaching seems to be less effective.