School Librarians As Part of Professional Learning Communities

In this Knowledge Quest article, Sandra Hughes-Hassell (University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill), Amanda Brasfield (teacher librarian in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools), and Debbie Dupree (opening a new school library at Wake Young Women’s Leadership Academy) list ways school librarians can be a vital part of PLCs:

• Information specialist – Provide knowledge to PLC members by providing relevant professional literature and research; help teachers integrate technology into their classrooms; prepare for meetings by reading professional literature to anticipate topics or jump-start conversations;

• Staff developer – Provide mini-lessons or training to a PLC at their request to address a specific need;

• Teacher and collaborator – Create assessments with a PLC;

• Critical friend – Provide honest, positive, and/or critical feedback to PLC members regarding instruction or planning; meet with the PLC after completion of a collaboratively taught unit to refine lessons and make adjustments to the unit plan for the future;

• Leader – Take responsibility for extra assignments from the PLC, above and beyond what is normally expected; set the agenda for a PLC meeting;

• Researcher – Help colleagues move beyond anecdotal evidence by doing action research on literacy issues, for example, the efficacy of sustained silent reading;

• Learner – For example, delve into the Common Core State Standards and how they can better promote inquiry;

• Student advocate – Offer alternative teaching strategies or assessment strategies to address different learning styles or needs;

• Teacher/collaborator – Teach a portion of a unit co-planned with a teacher.

“Making the Most of Professional Learning Communities” by Sandra Hughes-Hassell, Amanda Brasfield, and Debbie Dupree in Knowledge Quest, November/December 2012 (Vol. 41, #2, p. 30-37), http://www.ala.org/aasl; the authors are at smhughes@email.unc.edu, amanda.brasfield1@gmail.com, and ddupree@wcpss.net. 

Also:

Professional learning networks for librarians – This LiveBinder is great for librarians who want to reach out to like-minded colleagues in other schools:

http://www.librarygirl.net/2012/07/pln-starter-kit.html 

“Power Up Your Professional Learning” by Jennifer LaGarde and Tiffany Whitehead in Knowledge Quest, November/December 2012 (Vol. 41, #2, p. 8-13)

From the Marshall Memo #461