Inquiry Blog Post #3: The Lit and Pit of Pro-D

I thought about the topic of Professional Resources on my run this morning. Sloshing through the snow around Elk Lake, I was feeling a little Canadian and a little inspired. The sky was full of clouds and rain and snow. I had on my toque plus three shirts. Life looked pretty closeup and as in focus as a wet West Coast snowflake -- clear and fast and headed somewhere.

When my foot broke through slush to find its way into yet another puddle, books started to seem irrelevant. We need to 'do,' I felt. Development requires immersion.
 
Home and in a giant housecoat, I still feel similarly, today's teachers -- likely any day's teachers -- require authentic experience as part of growth and change. At the same time, with my feet in warm slippers, my hands itch for a book and I must acknowledge that literature remains an important part of Professional Development. It is important that teachers have a number of tools provided for their growth and personal exploration. Furthermore, teachers need to be able to access these tools.

Ultimately, my approach to professional development support, is two fold. The first focus area is literature and the second is participation.

Literature

While crucial to developing new ideas and accessing points of view, Pro-D literature is often difficult to access for the following resources:

1. Clutter- Often, the Teacher Resource of a school library is a neglected shelf. Like a dirty house, it has gathered a generation of dusty articles.  Teachers are hesitant to approach the shelf as they know they're going to have to pick through a bunch of junk to find an item of value.

2. Timeliness- We've all seen it, the 1970's physical education manual with short-shorts basketball players wearing knee-high striped socks. It's 2014... Need I say more?

3. Location- My current Teacher Resource is tucked in a backroom on a shelf so high I need to stand on a chair to reach it. This is not convenient or inviting.

4. Cost- Usually, what we're looking for isn't there. The book, text, video, whatever that we want costs fifty dollars. We forget about it.

I don't think these issues exist in every school. BUT in the last three years I have worked in four different libraries. Each suffered from at least three of these maladies.

As Web 2.0 aficionados, we know that many of these problems can be surmounted. Last year I had the distasteful pleasure of weeding and reorganising a Teacher Resource section.  First I rolled up my sleeves and tossed all the 1970's Phys Ed literature along with other outdated texts. Next, I restructured the shelf. A couple teachers had complained to me, 'you can never find what you're looking for. Why are the same-subject resources never together?' Indeed, why not? I wondered. So with Dewey as my guide, I reassigned numbers to match books to subject areas. I then applied labels so that teachers could quickly see where to find math or science or counselling  resources.

Simple.

Super Effective.

People started checking stuff out.

Wow.

Of course, Pro-D literature is not limited to print resources. As we are learning in this course, a whole world of resources lives on the web. In fact, in my last post, I list some of the resources I found helpful in regards to my own professional development. Different teachers will be interested in different sites. As a teacher librarian, my role is to provide access and opportunity for staff to find these resources. Options might include a staff resources page on the school library website, a list of resources in a staff access folder, or a Wiki for staff use and sharing. In my school, likely an online list housed on our website would be the simplest way for teachers to access information. In my experience, teachers are far more likely to use resources that are easily accessible.

Participation

In addition to literature, hands-on experience is crucial to teachers' development. Our district seems to enjoy a number of school-based Pro-D days. Here presents an opportunity to provide workshops hosted by members of our staff who are engaged in interesting learning initiatives, other members of our district who have stories and resources  to share, or educators and specialists from other districts.

Similarly, teachers have much to share in terms of providing tools and dialogue to their colleagues. A place to share discussions and conversation is coveted in schools. We often complain that we haven't the time or space to collaborate. The teacher librarian might provide a virtual version of this space through a Ning or Wiki. For example, this Ning focuses on the Project Based Learning.

Finally, allowing my library door to literately and figuratively always be open has allowed for some of the richest sharing and staff discussion opportunities. While I settle in at my new school, I look forward to forming the strong bonds that I have shared with teachers wherever I find myself.