I may be behind on the readings for this week, not sure.
I have just finished reading Todd's article on "The dynamics of classroom teacher and teacher librarian instructional collaborations". Todd, R. J. (2008). The dynamics of classroom teacher and teacher librarian instructional collaborations. Scan, 27(2), 19-28.
The main thing that came to mind is the difference between how I used to work in a pre school and how I worked in a school. In a pre-school you collaborate with the whole teaching team. The director, the SSO's and myself all sat down on the friday to plan ahead for the next week. We shared ideas about what we thought the children needed, how this could be achieved etc. Then I moved to a primary school, and I was on my own. No planning with anyone (there was no TL, or even a SSO to work in the library), everyone looked after their own curriculum.
I also don't recall alot of emphasis being placed on it at uni, or if any. I know we were taught to let the student's collaborate, but I don't recall anything on collaborating with other teachers of TL's.
I think what Todd highlighted at the end of the study was interesting. He asked the question "Was there a common goal that was driving the collaborative experience?" He concluded from the results that it was more a "I'm going to prove the importance of my role" type of thing. There wasn't much discussion on the learning outcomes for students, and that being the main reason why collaboration was seen to be something of importance.
I think there are many reasons why collaboration doesn't occur. Some were highlighted in this research, lack of time, lack of admin/principal support, working with another person who is different in teaching style/organisation. However, I think things like pride (I know everything I need to teach the children), lack of knowledge about collaboration and its benefits, and feeling overwhelmed are factors too.
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