Instruction and Collaboration · 5 min read
Instructional Planning and Collaboration
Skill 1.2 has three parts: the components of the instructional planning process, the school library media specialist's work as a member of the instructional planning team, and methods for keeping current as instructional materials change. A typical question presents a planning situation and asks for the best first step or the action that shows the highest level of collaboration.
Components of the Instructional Planning Process
Sound planning follows backward design: identify the desired results, decide what evidence will show that students reached them, and only then plan learning activities. Choosing the assessment before the activities keeps every lesson aimed at the standard; planning that begins with a favorite activity often produces work that is engaging but unaligned.
| Component | Question it answers | Media specialist's contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Standards and objectives | What will students know and be able to do? | Pairs the content benchmark with a B.E.S.T. research benchmark and a FINDS step. |
| Assessment | How will we know they learned it? | Designs formative checks and a rubric that scores the research process as well as the product. |
| Learning activities | What will students do? | Plans mini-lessons on searching, evaluating, and note-taking at the point of need. |
| Resources | What will students use? | Curates print and digital resources at several reading levels; schedules space and technology. |
| Reflection | What should change next time? | Reviews student work with the teacher, revises the unit, and notes collection gaps the unit exposed. |
The Media Specialist on the Instructional Planning Team
AASL names instructional partner as one of the five roles of the school librarian. In practice the media specialist attends grade-level and department meetings, joins the literacy leadership team, and brings knowledge no one else on the team has: the full range of resources, the progression of information literacy skills across all grades, and the technology available. Partnership requires initiative, so the media specialist approaches teachers with specific offers of help instead of waiting to be asked.
Curriculum mapping records what is taught, and when, in each grade and subject. The media specialist uses the map to find units where research fits naturally, to check vertical alignment (skills build from grade to grade) and horizontal alignment (skills are applied across subjects within a grade), and to purchase materials before a unit begins.
Levels of Collaboration
Montiel-Overall describes four models of teacher and librarian collaboration, ordered from least to most intensive. Exam items describe an interaction and ask which level it represents or which change would raise it.
| Model | What it involves | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Coordination | Sharing schedules, space, or materials with little joint planning | A teacher reserves the school library media center and the media specialist pulls a cart of books. |
| Cooperation | Dividing tasks toward a similar goal while planning and teaching separately | The media specialist teaches a database lesson for the teacher's unit; the teacher handles the content. |
| Integrated Instruction | Jointly planning, teaching, and assessing a lesson or unit that combines content and information literacy objectives | Both educators co-plan, co-teach, and co-assess a research unit. |
| Integrated Curriculum | Integrated instruction across the whole school, supported by the principal | Every grade level has co-planned inquiry units recorded in the curriculum map. |
Co-teaching takes several forms, chosen to fit the lesson's purpose. In co-assessing, the teacher scores content understanding, the media specialist scores the research process, and both review the results to adjust instruction.
- One teach, one observe: one leads while the other gathers data on students.
- One teach, one assist: one leads while the other circulates to help individuals.
- Station teaching: students rotate through stations led by each educator.
- Parallel teaching: each educator teaches the same content to half the class.
- Alternative teaching: one works with a small group for reteaching or enrichment.
- Team teaching: both deliver instruction together to the whole class.
Conditions That Make Collaboration Work
Keeping Current with Changes in Instructional Materials
Florida adopts instructional materials by subject area on a rotating state cycle. The Department of Education publishes the adoption schedule and the list of state-adopted materials, and districts then review and select materials through their own adoption processes. Each new adoption changes what teachers need from the collection, so the media specialist tracks the schedule and updates resources and lessons to match. CPALMS, the state's official online source for standards and course descriptions, shows the benchmarks the materials must address.
| Method | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Serving on district or school instructional materials committees | Early knowledge of changes and a voice in evaluating accuracy and alignment. |
| Reviewing sources | Professional evaluations in School Library Journal, Booklist, The Horn Book, and Kirkus Reviews. |
| Vendor previews and trials | Hands-on testing of digital resources with teachers and students before purchase. |
| Professional journals and associations | Knowledge Quest (the AASL journal), School Library Journal, and FAME and AASL conference sessions. |
| Curriculum maps, pacing guides, and team meetings | Notice of new units, revised benchmarks, and teacher requests. |
Finished reading?
Lock it in with a quick Instruction and Collaboration quiz.