Teacher-Librarians Collaborate with Classroom Teachers to improve Reading Comprehension

Goodin, S. (2004). Libraries and secondary literacy—the missing link. CSLA Journal [serial online]. Spring2004 2004; 27 (2): 13-14. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 8, 2011.

Goodin (2004) asks the question: “Why and how are library media teachers tied to the development of reading proficiency at the secondary level?” “The missing link” is the reading comprehension and the development of proficient reader strategies according to Goodin (2004). Goodin (2004) offers suggestions about how teacher-librarians can collaborate with teachers to enhance reading comprehension. First, practice metacognition, which is becoming self-conscious of the ways you approach difficult text; second, practice comprehension strategies in collaboration with content area teachers, such as illustrating differences in text structure, modeling the think-aloud strategy, and providing training in graphic organizer software, creating note-taking exercises, and tying mini-lessons to comprehension strategies; third, provide the resources for study. “Above all, recognize that you, as library media teacher, are the missing link” (Goodin, 2004).

Once again, collaboration is the key to success between reading comprehension strategies and the success of struggling readers. "Learners need an array of reading strategies to access and comprehend information to solve the learning problems they have at school and in their daily lives" (Doiron & Asselin, 2005, p. 80) Teacher-librarians must be pro-active and collaborate with classroom teachers. We must apply our knowledge of reading strategies and demonstrate their use with the research projects that students are doing in the library. The collaboration project that Shannon and I worked on for assignment two is evidence of a strong collaborative approach to using reading strategies with non-fiction and fiction resources. "By collaborating for instruction, teachers and teacher-librarians can better provide students with opportunities to acquire the knowledge and skills to become information experts" (Doiron & Asselin, 2005, p. 80). It is my experience from working on this project and collaborating with other teachers that the teachers and students are enthusiastic and engaged in the learning process. Shannon and I are positive that the collaboration assignment was much better using my experience as a teacher-librarian, as she was not familiar with the non-fiction side of the resources, web site evaluation, and database training. There is definitely an improvement in comprehension and achievement. I also get the added benefit of learning about other subjects besides English, which I find fascinating. Collaboration with classroom teachers to improve reading comprehension strategies is a win-win situation for all.