I'm always a little taken aback by the "art versus science" debate since I think there's an implication that one is learned and one is inherent, when in reality I think both art and science are a little of both. Which I guess is also how I approach teaching. I think that there are inherent qualities that make someone an excellent teacher. An ability to read your audience, patience, and a natural knack for communication are a few of these qualities. That being said, I also believe that having these and more qualities isn't enough to make someone a good teacher. A good teacher will also have done their research on how different students learn best, what different ways to assess student's work is, and how to organize a lesson plan. Skills like these I believe are learned, not inherent. Also, teachers in public K-12 settings particularly have to have some understanding of the curriculum guidelines of their specific state, and also know how to best "teach for the test" - while this might not be a positive, there's still no doubt that governments are judging teacher quality on standards assessment, so a "good" teacher needs to be aware of what these standardized assessments are and can't just rely on creative lessons and good rapport with students to succeed.
So I guess ultimately I think the best teaching comes from inherent and learned skills. I think teacher librarians have a little more wiggle-room as they're often not faced with the same students day after day, and can be a little more flexible with lesson planning and engagement with the students. There are two sides to this - on the one hand, I think this is why so many school libraries are facing closure - it's difficult to assess a libraries effectiveness in K-12 education. On the other hand, when a library is supported by its community (including parents, teachers, students, and board of education) it can be a place where students and teachers can really think outside the box and collaborate with librarians on projects that supplement the "standardized" educational experience.
I agree. I think natural talent, which we seem to equate with "art", can only take you so far. You need to have the theoretical and practical foundation as well in order to really succeed. That theoretical foundation is something that evolves over time as well, so teaching is ultimately a continuous learning process as you gain new experiences. Teacher librarians do have more wiggle room as often our instruction is supplemental to the classroom teacher's, but that also provides us a challenge because we do not know the students as intimately as their regular teachers. We can't know their needs and specifics as a result, so we have to rely on the teacher's feedback to really know if our instruction was beneficial in the long run.
ReplyDelete-Kristin Laughtin
I think school librarians are leaders who are deeply integrated in and committed to student learning. They recognize the importance of collaborating with staff members to co-plan, co-teach, and co-evaluate student work. In some regions, the local government may have stricter standards for the education and certification of school librarians, than for other librarians, and the educational program will include those local standards.
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