What can I do to help?

A blog post in which Diana shares her correspondences, a change in schedule, and admits to hating a beloved children's classic ...

I've had a lot of poignant email and in-person conversations lately. I am honoured that others see me as someone who can help solve problems. Many of these talks fall along similar themes. Be it C through my work email, M in my non-work email from the AQ, M in my DMs, or even C at the grocery store - all of them are reaching out for assistance on explaining aspects of teacher-librarianship to those who aren't in the role, and managing the role itself.

As I told my principal recently, my father used to have a saying: "If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem". (I'll circle back to this later.)

I've been a TL for a long time, which means I know a lot of people and have had many years of dealing with different kinds of people and situations. Here are some things I have done, can do, and will do to make things better.

Collaboration = if you need some examples of what collaboration can look like, feel free to look at this blog from 2021 describing a few types of collaborative teaching experiences 

The Role of the TL = I am considering making some generic (as in, can be used by any school board) slide decks that can be used to explain what a TL does and why this is not a waste of resources and time. If I do this, I'll post them here for people to use. If anyone wants to work with me on this, send me a note.

If you need something on the role of the teacher-librarian right away, you might want to check out a recent ETT Teacher Talk podcast on the School Library Learning Commons. I haven't had a chance to listen to the speakers, but the descriptor sounds like the participants worked hard to capture all the important elements of the job. (Plus, Rabia was one of my Library Part 1 AQ students!)

Visits = If I promise you that I'll come to your school to take a look around and help with planning, physical set up, or programming, know that I am good for it. Remember to email me to book a time.

Scheduling = This is the thing that I can do to help that doesn't fill me with delight but is the best course of action. At my own school, I will relinquish my open collaborative time this year. As my dad's motto rang in my head, "if I'm not part of the solution, I'm part of the problem". This is what I can do right now. I'm disappointed but I am old enough to know that there are cycles. In fact, I wrote in my capping paper for my Masters of Education degree about how, the year after I received Canada's highest honour for school librarianship, (the 2008 Canadian Association of School Libraries / Follett International Teacher-Librarian of the Year) circumstances changed.

In the 2009-2010 school year, the majority of my collaborative teaching time was removed due to declining enrolment at my school and the reduction of required minimum teacher-librarian time board-wide. My teaching position now included being the junior and intermediate special education resource teacher for literacy and numeracy in addition to being the teacher-librarian. My library schedule only held six periods available for collaborative teaching time with class teachers, the lifeblood of a healthy school library program; all the rest of my library time was designated for providing preparation time for class teachers by taking groups for book exchange and teaching isolated library skills instruction for every class in the school. I was very disappointed by this turn of events.  

I lost the teacher-librarian position entirely in 2020-21 when my board eliminated the position in elementary schools because of  the COVID-19 situation and reaction. It's not ideal but I remain hopeful that in the future, there will be a better timetable that will allow for co-planning, co-teaching, and co-assessing. Last year, I was able to be involved with 19 collaborative units, even with getting pulled occasionally to deal with the supply teacher shortage. I remain optimistic that the pendulum will swing back, and I'm willing to take the hit this time.

Some may see this as being too sacrificial. Some may even compare it to the famous picture book, The Giving Tree. This is where I'll shriek "NOOOOOOO!" A major reason for my objection is because I actually despise that book. 

I am not the only one that dislikes this book. Reasons why this book is disliked, as mentioned on a Quora thread, and on a Reddit thread, include the toxic relationship between the tree that constantly gives and the boy that constantly takes, and the exploitation of nature

This image was posted by user "thissucks32" part of the Reddit group r/raisedbyborderlines

By the way, I still have a copy of the actual book in the school library where I work, even though I don't like the main message. The removal of certain titles from school library collections cannot be based on personal preferences. Make sure you read the statement by Canadian School Libraries on book challenges. (I won't write about the criticism the Peel District School Board has faced for its deselection practices. That's worthy of a separate post.) My blog post on deselection from this July describes the actual process.

Oh, and I can't stand The Rainbow Fish either. (This article on Medium sums up most of the objections.) 

This image comes from Kidspot. The original images come from two TikTok accounts labelled in the collage image.

I'll stop here, before you get the idea that I am a crank that hates all famous picture books! Just remember, I'm willing to provide assistance if you need it. Just let me know what I can do to help.