SLIS 794 Blog Post 1 Collaborate

 Mrs. Angela Durham at Oak Pointe Elementary School showcases the Collaborate Shared Foundation. Collaboration is the undercurrent of everything that Mrs. Durham does in her library because she is on a flexible schedule. Students do not have a set time to come to the library which means that classroom teachers are giving up class time to have library lessons. 

In order to implement collaboration in her library, Mrs. Durham begins meeting with teachers before school starts. She sits down with grade levels to determine what days and times she will see each class. During these planning meetings, Mrs. Durham and the classroom teachers decide what units that she will teach each semester. She tries to do one large project with each grade level a semester. As standards change, these projects evolve too. 

Mrs. Durham also collaborates to provide professional development sessions for the staff. This year she worked with the literacy coach to help create a Diversity Cafe program for the school. This initiative is year long. During the first part of the year, she polled the teachers to see what diverse titles they already knew about. She then curated books that showcased diverse characters. Then, the staff took part in the Diversity Cafe to learn about the books and how these books could be implemented in classroom curriculum. Mrs. Durham checks in with teachers which books they have been using in the classroom. These meetings are not always formal meetings. Usually, she stops in the hallway for a brief chat because teachers do not always have time for a formal structured meeting. 

Mrs. Durham also teaches the students how to collaborate. She has them work in pairs as much as possible with the current COVID restrictions. Technology helps students to collaborate and maintain the CODID protocols. Students work together to code the robots or to discuss the stories that she reads to them. The online book club also allows for student collaboration. Students meet to discuss the book award nominees that they are reading. Mts. Durham secures community sponsors for this program which helps engage the community as well. During a normal school year, these sponsors would be invited to the Battle of the Books culminating trivia game at the end of the school year. 

Mrs. Durham is an excellent example of collaboration. She involves the students, staff, and community in her library. She does note that it takes time to learn to collaborate effectively, and that collaboration does not happen over night. Relationships with teachers takes time to cultivate and grow, but once when teachers see how the library can help enhance classroom instruction, they are more apt to collaborate. Collaboration does not need to take lengthy planning meetings either. Time is valuable in a school building, so often email collaboration works just as well as a more formal meeting. Mrs. Durham was a wealth of knowledge and I am thankful that she mentored me this semester.