Sharing Our Exemplary Work,
or Why We Should Promote and Publish Our Collaborative Lesson Plans

Presentation for the 12th Annual Conference
of the American Association of School Librarians

Every Student Succeeds
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
October 2005

Description of Program:
Let's create a DEMAND for collaboration! This panel of long-time teacher-librarians will share tried and true methods for spreading the word about classroom-library collaboration. From branding students' work with a Classroom-Library Collaboration @your library® stamp, to publishing lesson plans in newsletters at the site level, to publishing for NCTE/IRA/Marco Polo's ReadWriteThink.org, we'll give you ideas to implement in your library on Monday morning and long-range goals to reach for in publishing your exemplary collaborative work.

"Violets, violets. We don't want no shrinking violets!"

Barriers to Collaboration:
Gary Hartzell points out the weakness in classroom teacher and administrator preparation programs as well as features of school library work and our own failure to reach our colleagues through publication and presentations.

Hartzell, G. (2002). What's it take? White House conference on school libraries. Retrieved September 29, 2005, from http://www.imls.gov/pubs/whitehouse0602/garyhartzell.htm

Toot, Toot, Toot Your Horn
(Sung to the Tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")

Toot, toot, toot your horn.
Toot it every day.
At first they may not hear your toot,
but toot it anyway.

Beginning at Individual Student and Classroom Level (Debra LaPlante):

* Poetry and More - After school workshop for students, co-created with classroom teacher (Lesson plan pdf file)
* Impact: Teacher - Students - Parents
* Communication Methods: Brainstorm idea with teacher, morning announcements, flyers home to sign up students (limited number of participants/deadline), newsletters to parents, program replicated for three years increasing in size and including more staff, public performances to parents, community volunteers, to AASL proposal, to presentation Web site

From Individual Teacher to the Grade Level (Diane Skorupski):

* Margaret Knight: Girl Inventor by Marlene Targ Brill (Lesson plan pdf file)
* Impact: 3rd-grade Team
* Communication Methods: Personal visit to Amouskeag Mill; to PowerPoint presentation to grade level, library web page links, to AASL proposal, to presentation Web site

Continuing at the Grade Level (Debra LaPlante):

* Owls, Bats and Spiders (Lesson plan pdf file)
* Impact: 2nd-grade Team
* Communication Methods: Team meetings, co-created with teachers, published within district library meetings, to AASL proposal, to presentation Web site

From Teacher to Grade-Level Teams to the District Level (Diane Skorupski/Judi Moreillon):

* Water Dance by Thomas Locker (Lesson plan pdf file)
* Link to Library-Classroom Collaboration Labels (pdf file)
* Link to student work on the Maldonado Elementary School Web site: Water Cycle
* Impact: District Teacher-Librarians
* Communication Methods: Collaboration with literacy coach and classroom teachers to district teacher-librarian meeting presentation, to AASL proposal, to presentation Web site

From the School Web Site to Educator Journals, Educator Web Sites and the Children's Literature Community (Judi Moreillon):

* Peace Poems and Picasso Doves and Masks: Exploring Culture and Self through Art and Poetry - Published on ReadWriteThink.org
* Impact: Educators in the state and educators across the country/around the world
* Communication Methods: From school Web site to Arizona Reading Journal article to educators' lesson sample Web site

* Sing Down the Rain written by Judi Moreillon, illustrated by Michael Chiago - Published by Kiva Publishing
* Impact: 4th-grade Classroom to Classrooms in Arizona and classrooms across the country/around the world
* Communication Methods: Listing on author Web site pages (such as the one hosted by Murietta Valley School District in California) as well as this Web page and Judi's own homepage

Additional Support:

Classroom Teacher Feedback Form (pdf file) from Diane

Toot, Toot, Toot Your Horn
(Sung to the Tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")

Toot, toot, toot your horn.
Toot it every day.
When you toot and share your work,
they all will want to play!

updated: 14 October 2005