Thing 15. Collaboration

Just to follow up on an earlier post, I plan to collaborate a fellow MILI participant, Mark Anderson, Arlington's faculty technology advisor. The Criminal Justice Power Point Research project will take place in his lab, and I will rely on Mark's Power Point expertise during the project while I handle the research component of the project. As for the readings in Thing 15: Collaboration, I could not agree more with the spirit of the article from "Teacher Librarian" entitled: "Collaboration: Where does it begin?" by Ruth Small. Ms. Small accurately describes the divide between the teaching faculty and librarian/media specialists that exist in most schools. I believe one of the most important reasons for that divide is the fact that most teachers do not consider librarians/media specialists as fellow "teachers". It is patently obvious from this program that teachers have so much to learn from our colleagues in the library. Clearly, these colleagues should be used in collaborative activities. However, only a small minority could work collaboratively with librarians for any significant period of time because there are scores of teachers and one or two librarians in each building. What's the answer to that dilemma? At least three librarian/media specialists in each high school. I omit middle schools and elementary schools because of my ignorance of their needs vis a vis numbers of librarians. In the second reading, "Collaboration and Reflection: Proactivity and Reflection: Tools to Imporove Collaborative Experiences" by Doug Johnson (www.doug-johnson.com), the author speaking from the meida specialist position supports Small's premise, but provides strategies for gradually erasing that division. To his credit, Johnson emphasizes the necessity for relflection as a proactive tool to imcrease collaboration. Johnson, as have many others, correctly identifies the main obstacle to collaboration as the fact that most teachers prize their independent status to the point where if blocks collaboration between them and other colleagues in the building. I was quite interested in the third reading: "Toward a Theory of Collaboration for Teachers and Librarians" by Patricia Montiel-Overall of the University of Arizona as published in the School library Media Research section of the American Library Association (vol. 8, 2005). Why the special interest? Montiel-Overall comes from the perspective of a social constructivist (a student of Dewey and Vygotsky, et al). Social constructivism relies on collaboration as a foundation for learning. Social constructivists argue that without true collaboration true learning and teaching will not occur and that the losers will be the typically underserved members of society. This progressive notion of learning/teaching is over a century old and traces its roots to the pedagogy of Dewey and Montessori and the psychology of Piaget and Vygotsky. In this area, those of us who have studied in recent years at the Hamline University Graduate School of Education recognize the theory as espoused by Montiel-Overall. Most importantly, to the purposes of this MILI program which is collaborative as a premise is the argument, as noted by Montiel-Overall, that collaboration has been identified as one of the factors that contribute to improved research skills (and) this positive effect is one of the primary reasons collaboration is promoted (citations omitted). Collaboration is the buzzword at this moment in time in St. Paul. The question remains, as Johnson notes, will we take the time to actively reflect upon our activities. If not, I would say, the chances of long-term success are limited. Before turning to the fourth piece, I would note that Montiel-Overall makes a strong case for collaboration as essential to true integration of content and information literacy standards, as well as integrated instruction and integrated curriculum, in general. In short, this reading is highly recommended. As for the fourth reading "A Rubric for Collaboration", I will have to wait to comment on it until I use my laptop that has "Word". The blog prompts ask three questions. First of all, what do you see as barriers to collaboration? Time and space. . .conflicting responsibilities. . .lack of technological resources--we need a technology Marshall Plan for the public schools. . .lack of ongoing reflective activities. . .and, of course, failure of significant members of the faculty to buy into true collaboration. . .The second question is: How can the barriers be overcome?. . .more prep time devoted to collaboration. . .more SLMSs (School Library Media Specialists--I like that acronym). . .a technology Marshall plan. . .Finally, the third question: Is collaboration worth it?. . .(btw is that a rhetorical question?). . .Of course it is, We cannot survive as a group of independent contractors. . .Successful institutions are collaborative, successful teams are collaborative, successful relationships are collaborative--the list is infinite. . .However, when one's time to take care of one's personal responsibilities increases while the time to take care of professional responsibilities decreases, it becomes problematic. Without radical change to the working conditions of the teaching profession these essential collaborative activities will not have the necessary time to germinate and bloom. drfaust