Montiel-Overall, P. (2010). Further understanding of collaboration: A case study of how it works with teachers and librarians. School Libraries Worldwide, 16(2), 31-54.
Below is my review of the article, and below my review, is Katherine Halpern"s review from 4/24/11.
This article has significant ramifications for librarians seeking to collaborate with teacher/educators in a school system. Although the study was conducted in the 2007-2008 academic year, and more educators and school administrators may now be familiar with collaborative processes and the idea of including librarians in curricula design, it is a warning that schools may not be enthusiastic about spending time on collaborations that involve the school librarian. Librarians are generally perceived to be outside the teacher-principal relationship.
The stated goal of this study to was to "gain insight into collaboration among teachers/educators and librarians and to examine teachers'/educators' understanding of teacher and librarian collaboration…" (p. 35).
Several factors affected the successful and less successful attempts at collaboration. Relationship building and becoming comfortable with others in the group was essential for sharing ideas. Cultural differences required long deliberations to work out. Preconceptions about "roles" of teachers and "roles" of librarians interfered with the progression of meetings and projects. Administrative concerns involving time, scope, and interference with keeping to dictated local, state, and federal standards, limited teachers' willingness to collaborate on new ideas with librarians. Unfamiliarity with the idea of collaboration, collaborative tools, and collaborative processes resulted in time having to be spend educating participants about the basic idea and its benefits.
Collaboration is perceived as having a payoff of more ideas, but, in practice, is extremely difficult, with a large cost in time and "pain."
However, one interesting finding is that the space for collaboration is important—the environment is important for collaborative success. This ties in with some of the other readings I have found related to collaboration, including the Steve Johnson TED Talk "Where Good Ideas Come From" http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html that was noted by Jennifer Gulassa on 10/31/10 and the Matt Ridley TED Talk "When Ideas Have Sex" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLHh9E5ilZ4 (see my blog post on Matt Ridley's TED Talk).
However, one interesting finding is that the space for collaboration is important—the environment is important for collaborative success. This ties in with some of the other readings I have found related to collaboration, including the Steve Johnson TED Talk "Where Good Ideas Come From" http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html that was noted by Jennifer Gulassa on 10/31/10 and the Matt Ridley TED Talk "When Ideas Have Sex" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLHh9E5ilZ4 (see my blog post on Matt Ridley's TED Talk).
This study shows that during the 2007-2008 academic year, the role of librarians as collaborators was not well understood by teachers and that teachers do not value adding skills taught by librarians (citing sources, understanding a research process) into the curriculum. The article also mentions a study by the MetLife Foundation (2010) on collaboration in schools that reports interest by teachers about collaboration with each other and with principals. However, the 131-page report does not mention librarians at all.
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Katherine Halpern's Review (4-24-11)
Montiel-Overall begins by explaining that even though school librarians recognize that collaborating with teachers is one of the central tenets of their job description, teachers do not yet seem to recognize this new role for school librarians. Teachers also do not have much experience with the type of 21st-century collaboration that teacher librarians want to engage in. Montiel-Overall conducted a study about teacher-librarian collaboration and its effect on science informational literacy among Latino 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. A team of experts planned workshops for their teachers and librarians that were “designed to improve instruction through teacher and librarian collaboration” (p. 34).
The model the experts used was the TLC model which discusses collaboration on all levels from low (coordinating schedules) to high (integrating library instruction into the teaching of the subject material). At the start of the study, the teachers generally did not understand what the role of the school librarian was or what collaboration between a teacher and librarian could look like.
Three key factors for success were: coming up with a common goal; building relationships with the other collaborators; and overcoming differences in working styles. For instance, the librarians in the study were very comfortable working in a group situation with no clear leader, whereas the teachers generally preferred to work with a clear plan and designated leader. Using the TLC Model for Collaboration, the researchers studied the level of collaboration attained by the teachers and librarians. Though it was much easier for them to attain low-level collaboration (such as scheduling or sharing responsibilties), eventually the groups (with much difficulty) did succeed in created an integrated lesson.
A major takeaway from the study was that teachers generally do not understand what librarians do and do not understand many of the terms (like integrated instruction or information literacy) used by librarians. The researchers suggest that librarians must take it upon themselves to educate their peers and build the relationships necessary to engage in true collaboration. -- Katherine Halpern, 4/24/11
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