National School Library Standards: Collaborate

Librarian Focus: Ms. Roxanne Spray, Ware Shoals High School

Years of Experience: 11 years

 

Interview Reflection:

Ms. Roxanne Spray is the librarian at Ware Shoals High School in Ware Shoals, South Carolina.  We have a close working relationship because we are employed by the same school district and Ms. Spray served as my supervising librarian for my internship experience during SLIS 794.  Ms. Spray has served as a library media specialist in all areas of K-12 education.  She was the librarian at a middle school in Columbia, SC, and she worked as the librarian at the primary and middle schools in the district we now serve in together.  We communicate often with the third librarian in our district to help navigate new learning platforms, for help in Destiny, and as a sounding board before we implement new ideas.  For example, Ms. Spray recently worked to genrefy her high school’s fiction collection.  She discussed several scenarios, pros, and cons with us before she made the decision to do this for her students.  She has been an invaluable resource for me during my journey through the MLIS program and as I have started my career as a school librarian.

Ms. Spray and I focused on the shared foundation, Collaborate, for our interview.  I gave Ms. Spray time to explore the National School Library Standards and then we discussed collaboration and how she implements the competencies of this foundation into her school library setting with her students at the high school.

As we began our interview, it was clear that Covid-19 has changed and shaped a new way to look at collaboration in the library.  Ms. Spray works with her colleagues often to provide co-teaching opportunities in the classroom and in the library.  However, true collaboration has been difficult due to the recent pandemic and new health guidelines our schools are following to protect student and staff health.

Although things are different, Ms. Spray is still working with teachers and students.  She is helping in as many ways as possible to still provide meaningful learning experiences for the high school students.  Part of “Think” under the School Librarian Domains and Competencies applies.  Ms. Spray mentioned that when students visit the library as a part of a co-teaching experience, a project has already been assigned by the content teacher.  Usually, her role is to help students locate sources, cite sources, and use those sources to help develop a final project.  If students pay attention, they learn these skills and the rest of their class period is spent using the skills they have learned.  She shared that other competencies within the “Think” section often don’t apply because once students have had the mini-lecture, they work independently and not as a group.

Within the other areas, Create, Share, and Grow, Ms. Spray works to provide communication tools and resources.  She usually begins the school year teaching and refreshing OneDrive skills and knowledge.  Due to a hybrid schedule the district has adopted, instructional time has been cut in half on campus and there hasn’t been time to hold sessions like this in the library this school year.  Part of the Share section highlights involving diverse perspectives in their own inquiry processes and Ms. Spray shared that many of the databases used at the high school foster different perspectives, especially Opposing Viewpoints in Context.  She shared that this has been particularly useful in argument assignments.  Group work is more of a challenge due to Covid-19, but Ms. Spray has made sure to make the most of co-teaching opportunities this school year.  She creates and facilitates group discussions when the classes visit the library.

Some resources Ms. Spray uses in her library to promote collaboration are OneDrive, SC Discus, Schoology, high school eBook collections, and the public library and school library resources.  OneDrive and Schoology allow collaboration as students are able to work together on assignments.  For example, students can create a PowerPoint in OneDrive together, adding and editing as a group.  In Schoology, the school’s learning management system, students are able to share resources and discussion boards are usually a part of all assignments.

Ms. Spray works with her colleagues on a daily basis.  She maintains a Google calendar and teachers use it to sign up for co-teaching experiences.  She may teach an English class how to find sources for a research paper one period, but may work with a history class the next block to properly cite sources. 

When we discussed challenges implementing the competencies from the shared foundation of collaboration, Ms. Spray mentioned that she hasn’t seen a lot of group work take place in the library.  She feels as if her role is to teach research skills and resources, and to be on hand to monitor progress and answer questions.  Specifically, Covid-19 has put a damper on the Collaborate domain, which emphasizes group work, especially when you are supposed to be six feet apart.

It is always a treat to work with Ms. Spray.  She has been instrumental in my journey through the internship experience, but also is a treasured colleague who always listens and offers great advice for the library world.  Overall, Ms. Spray shared that collaboration isn’t as up front and center as the competencies of this domain assume.  She is pleased with the group discussions she can foster during her co-teaching experiences, but she mostly helps students to complete work independently when they visit the library.

 

References:

American Association of School Librarians. (2018). National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. American Library Association.

Spray, R. (2020, November). [Personal interview].