My friend and colleague, Mary Mehsikomer, a "recovering" state department of education worker and now gainfully employed as a telecommunications cluster director, sent this thoughtful response to "Wherre are the others?" She kindly agreed to let it me use it as a guest post.
I was in a workshop a few years ago where a trainer was working with a group of teachers and showing all the wonderful things that can be done with Google Earth and other online tools to make learning more engaging for students. One of the teachers said, with no small amount of exasperation in her voice, "look, I have two young kids at home, I'm in school all day, I correct papers at night, and so when am I supposed to find time to explore all this stuff and then figure out how to integrate it with my instruction?"
The trainer, who happened to be from a teacher preparation program in South Dakota calmly responded, "You no longer have a choice."
This conversation made me think about how perhaps that teacher is doing things the same way she has been doing them for several years - and maybe they've worked reasonably well-- but she has not really looked to see what could be done in a different, more effective way. She has not engaged with what might be a more relevant experience for her students. The "you no longer have a choice" response has stuck with me as I struggle in my own work to do things better, to do them differently, to do things that make a positive difference to the schools I serve.
By the way, I am not be a school library media specialist. I am, however, a huge school library media specialist advocate. I am very distressed by what I see happening to the profession. I agree there are people who are disengaged from this conversation, and that is very unfortunate. I am very active in a professional organization whose mission is to get school library media specialists to engage and to be strong, proactive, viable educators.
I have, however, also participated in and delivered a number of staff development programs to school library media specialists and classroom teachers. I am sorry to say I have observed that that such disengagement is often a choice. I am not just picking on school library media specialists, but I see this in classroom teachers and administrators as well.
I know in economic times like these, it is very hard for school library media specialists to get the training and time they need to keep up with all they are expected to know and accomplish. There is little money for staff development across the board. Positions are being eliminated right and left, many school librarians have been cut to part time or are expected to serve multiple buildings. They are being set up for failure due to high expectations and low support.
Yet I can't help but think, how much do we as humans perform tasks a certain way because "we've always done it this way." Because it is what we know. It is comfortable. It is what we believe. Is this maybe a big part of what is impacting the profession? The stereotype of shushing and card catalogs lingers on because our human nature inhibits the ability to look at what we are doing and make some hard decisions about doing things in a different way that might have a greater impact, be a better use of time, and provide a better experience for students? Do you suppose it is possible that the positions are cut because administrators and school boards do not have a good understanding of what a school library media specialist does because all they see, if they happen to visit the media center at all, is a person standing at a desk checking books in and out? This is not to say school library media specialists all need to be technology wizards or that those who believe reading is critical and love to promote books are doddering fossils in a Web 2.0 world. What really matters most is the impact on the student. What is the best way to achieve a visible, positive impact on a student? No matter what your belief system is about the nature of school librarianship, is that what your work is designed to do?
There will always be economic problems. We will never, ever have enough resources in our schools to do everything that needs to be done. There will always be politics, policies and work rules that interfere. But what we do have is the creativity, excitement, and passion that I see in many of my school library media specialist friends, their understanding of information and technology literacy skills, and their incredible base of knowledge - knowledge that is meant to be shared. With students. With other teachers. With parents. Not hidden under a bar code scanner.
School library media specialists are ESSENTIAL. Their relevancy might be questioned in this day of massive digital resources, but I shudder to think of an education system and society without their influence. So engage. In whatever way works for you. You only have the kids 30 minutes a week. So make the most of those 30 minutes. Your filter blocks social networking. Talk to your technology coordinator and see if there is another application you could use to accomplish the same goal. Invite your administrator in to watch you TEACH. Just please, please don't hide in your media center and wait for the world to come to you. There is no longer a choice.
Well said, Mary. We need friends like you!
Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 06:22AM 
