I saw this description of a clinical practice (practicum? internship? student-teacher placement?) at The Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Web page entitled Cooperating Teacher-Librarian Roles and Responsibilities in Clinical Practice.
Ok ... wouldn't it be cool if all student teachers got a chance to do even a small part of this as their pre-teacher preparation?! Scroll down to the heading: Suggested Activities/Projects: Curriculum and Instruction. Some of these things teachers should/could already be doing, so why not let them experience it from both the teacher and the teacher-librarian's perspectives? For example,
- Develop a bibliography and/or pathfinder for a class unit of study
- Plan/implement library instructional experiences: book talks, information literacy skills, literature enrichment
- Respond to reference requests by students and teachers
- Develop a modified lesson plan for a special needs student based on a consultation with a special ed/resource teacher
Even in the heading under Collection Development, what beginning teacher wouldn't benefit from the following exercise? "Select one state standard in one content area, evaluate materials currently available in the collection to support that area, and make recommendations for new purchases." Or under Technology and Production, "Shadow district Director of Technology for one day."
I know I'm "preaching to the choir" when I'd really prefer to be "preaching to the converted," but see if you can follow this train of thought:
IF Information Power and Library Power stress cooperative planning and instruction,
AND by definition, cooperation takes two or more people,
THEN instruct all of the cooperating parties how to optimize their collaborative efforts!
(Hey! Principal & supervisory certificates could be made contingent on teacher-librarian orientation activities, too!)
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