Sending Sacred Cows to Pasture

As part of the fabulous School Library Journal Summit, I presented a “speed talk” on collaboration and librarians(see presentation below). Personally I find collaboration one of the most challenging aspects of our role as librarians–because collaboration is all about people, change, learning styles and growth.  But as librarians, inviting collaboration and working closely is integral to what we do–improving experiences for students. As my wise colleague Will Richardson, author of Why School, reminds us–“We need to be connectors first, and content experts second.”   As […]

Enabling Better Collaboration – an ISTE conversation

Part of the ISTE conference that I usually enjoy the most is the Unconference,( which after various name changes is  currently known as HackED Con), typically held on the Saturday prior to ISTE at the conference center.  If you aren’t familiar with the unconference concept, it is an all day, all voluntary conference organized by the conference attendees, who upon arriving, suggest and vote on sessions for the day. A series of conversations were selected for the Saturday, including personalized learning, makerspaces, global collaborations, etc. […]

13 ways to turn talk into action

In a FB discussion yesterday, a number of us (Buffy Hamilton, Diane Cordell, Beth Friese)  were interacting in a post about the frustrations of collaboration–  feeling the lack of an understanding  between ourselves as librarians and the teachers we work and plan with(a lack on both sides), a wondering about what the balance is with our instructional role, and exploring the contrast between what library schools teach librarians about collaboration and teaching as a integral part of their roles and what new educators (or even […]

How do we respond?

On her blog, TechnoTuesday, Cathy Nelson shared a dilemma many librarians (and tech staff) face. How do we keep from getting demoralized when we are truly attempting to raise the caliber of an assignment and teachers feel they are too busy or too concerned with an upcoming standardized test or just reluctant about accepting our feedback? Part of the problem, I think is that we aren’t partners with teachers in these sorts of situations.  Much too often, it feels as though we(both tech and library […]