change a teacher, suggestions for change...

Hello,

Suggesting changes/activities for teachers was in fact a difficult task. The suggestions that the CBAM article offered to help teachers move up to the next level respectively were a few professional development activities such as peer monitoring and workshops. These are great suggestions but are limited in scope. I do realize that the suggestions were given to be general due to the nature of the topic and not knowing how each will use the writing. However, I would love to design some pro-d days that meet the typical inquiries and concerns of teachers in incorporating resource references into lessons. From my interviewing of teachers for this assignment I discovered that the teachers I talked to barely attended pro-d events during the school year. They did not want to appear arrogant but felt that pro-d activities could not benefit them due to not covering their particular subject matter or because the pro-d activities were too simplistic or obvious in content. I realised before this assignment that pro-d days attracted thousands of teachers and now realise that there is a big opportunity to design activities to benefit those interested in utilising library resources. Yes, many teachers use the library but I feel there are several that do not. This trend of teachers overlooking the resources of their school libraries deserves some recognition and needs to be changed. In the future I will begin to design pro-d activities in a captivating way to interest those teachers not taking advantage of the libraries resources.

Thanks.
-Regen

change a teacher, limitations of the CBAM article....

Hello,
The tables and descriptions offered within the CBAM article were a great help in getting the user thinking about particular categories that people fit into regarding new innovation use and concern. After interviewing each teacher and gathering information about their levels of use and concern the next task was to fit each teacher into an accurate ‘level’ or ‘stage’. This process was pretty straight forward but suggesting and creating a plan to move a particular teacher to the next level was a little more difficult and extremely unique depending on the teachers experience and personality. As I began drafting plans to get teachers operating at the next level I quickly discovered that I was referencing more of the teacher’s personality most. In a perfect world, all teachers would be ready to change and open to all suggestions but this is not always the case. Even thought the ‘Change a Teacher’ project involved fielding suggestions for change from the teachers being interviewed, it does not guarantee that these changes will in fact take place. I then realised that constant monitoring would also be required to be sure that focus and change both exist. For example, one of the teachers I interviewed was quite challenging because his outlook towards the library was quite negative. For me to convince him to attend a workshop would be great but if the particular workshop failed to meet his inquiries and concerns then this could reinforce his preconceived perceptions.
Thanks.
-Regen

change a teacher, how well you know someone...

Hello,

Another obvious detail that was going to help during the information gathering stage was the level at which I knew the teachers I interviewed. Typically in an interview, the 2 people involved have never talked together and there is a level of unfamiliarity that sometimes prohibits the person being interviewed from sharing truthful feelings. In my case though I realized that the teachers I chose to interview I had known for a while and had therefore felt perfectly comfortable in communicating truthful feelings regarding the use of reference resources in the classroom. Sometimes those being interviewed will try and tell the person interviewing them what they want to hear and sincerity is the lost. Again, in my case, I am totally certain that the comments and feelings shared with me by those being interviewed were very truthful and sincere. Hence, in the future if I am planning to interview someone regarding topics from the field of education I will remember that the answers I receive from interview participants depend on how well they know me and how well I phrase the questions. The teachers I come to interview know all of their beliefs and ideas, and it is up to me to try and extract that information in the most efficient and unbiased way.

Thanks. -Regen

change a teacher, interview skills...

Hello,

In the initial stages of this assignment it was obvious that good interview skills were going to help when it came to interviewing teachers from my school. As described in the Reidling text, good interview skills are an important characteristic of teacher-librarians in surveying students on their research goals. I therefore felt it would be good practice for me to try and interview these teachers to the best of my ability. During the interviews I was looking for information regarding their library resource use, and their attitudes towards using library resources within their classrooms. I quickly learned that as the interviewer I needed to read into each response in order to better form the next question to extract the most information. As I interviewed more teachers I began to get more comfortable with the process and began to think of the interview as a discussion and not so much a question and answer period. During the first interview I was frantically writing all the details but in the second and third interview I left most of the writing until after each interview. From a teacher-librarian perspective, interview skills would be more of a question and answer format, but when one is interviewing for information regarding personal thoughts and feelings then a more structured interview is more appropriate and beneficial.

Thanks.
-Regen