INQUIRE Interview

     My first interview was with a practicing librarian of nine years. She has worked in several schools, but in her current position for two years. Ms. P teaches at a Title 1 elementary school in a suburb of Columbia, SC, with about 560 students in grades 4K-5th.  

The following questions guided our discussion:  

1.  What are some of the ways that you implement the “inquire” foundation into your library program?  

a. Is there a certain research or inquiry method/model you use to help teach students? (Is it school wide?) 

b. Do you feel that your schedule is beneficial or detrimental for promoting inquiry? Why?  

2. What are some of the resources you use to help implement the competencies for this foundation? (Can be with students or for yourself) 

3. Do you ever collaborate with teachers to implement these competencies? Can you give me some examples?  

4. What are some of the challenges you face when trying to implement the competencies of this foundation?  

5. Is there anything else you would like to tell me about your experience or general thoughts about the “inquire” foundation and its competencies? 

 

Many of Ms. P’s responses related to how challenging it is to incorporate the inquire foundation in conjunction with classroom teachers. After having a fixed schedule last year, she has been experimenting with a flexible schedule this year. 4K and 5K still come in for weekly lessons, but the other grades come in weekly only for book checkout, with the option for teachers to reach out for additional lessons or support. With the previous schedule, she was able to see the students on a regular basis and ensure they were being taught requisite research and inquiry skills. However, this year’s flexibility has offered mixed results. It started out fairly well, but then teachers started using her as an “activity” when they had a substitute, rather than a pathway to classroom content. Due to the inconsistency, she has recently started going to grade level meetings to offer ways she can help, which include research skills for the upper grades. She feels the current perception is that collaboration is “an extra thing” on teachers’ plates.  

As she was talking about how hard it was for teachers to buy in, I started thinking about my own teaching experience. I was a first-grade teacher in two different schools with three different librarians and not one of them ever talked to me about what I was teaching and how they could connect it to what they were doing. It is important to note that we were always on a fixed schedule, but what was going on in the library seemed to be a separate entity from what was happening in my classroom. I would have loved for one of my librarians to offer their expertise in research skills, especially since my students were so young and needed so much help with how to begin.  

I like that Ms. P is going to teams and offering her services. She has even come up with a half-page flyer for teachers to hold on to that lists examples of different types of lessons and activities she can help with. Personally, I would like to meet with teachers from the beginning, if I am fortunate enough to have a flexible schedule that allows me to use that time. However, if I am on a fixed schedule, the communication with teachers may look different. I would request access to their long-range plans so I could try to align inquiry lessons with what they are doing in the classroom, while using email to ask about specifics. In a school that does not have a history of doing this, I think starting with one grade level, or one or two teachers, would be most beneficial. Others could see the results and potential in a more concrete way.  

The other thing I found surprising during my interview is that Ms. P has never used a specific inquiry model during her teaching. She mentioned that other librarians she talks with do not use a certain one either. From her classroom teaching, she noticed that when students started learning acronyms or structured steps for things, they focused more on memorizing what things stood for, rather than what they should be doing. She prefers to teach students in a more natural way, using a logical progression, but not having specific names for each step.  

As a former teacher myself, I can understand that perspective. However, even if I choose not to use a particular model, I think it will be important to have certain skills that I expect from each grade level, as she does. That continuum would be something to discuss with grade level teachers as well. Vertical alignment of those skills would elevate everyone’s instruction and help prevent teachers from teaching the same thing in multiple grade levels.  

Ms. P’s favorite resource to use with students conducting inquiry is SC Discus. Having taught and been a librarian in North Carolina, she said the quality and variety of the resources for our state is unmatched. She has found that teachers do not know much about it beyond one or two resources though. I used some of the databases during my collaborative unit plan in 742 and was surprised to find that the 2nd grade teacher I worked with (who had previously taught 4th), was not familiar with more than a handful of the databases. I want to take that knowledge into account for my future position. Quality professional development could occur around learning the different search methods and content for the resources provided by SC Discus. Especially as nonfiction sections in the physical library space are quickly outdated, knowing where to find accurate and timely information is essential.  

My conversation with Ms. P gave me some things to think about in my future library, no matter what grade level that may be. Clear communication with teachers and administration is going to be a big key to success!