Change.
A lot of people are hesitant about change. Some people embrace change. As the saying goes, the only constant is change.
Awhile back I wrote a blog post about placements sheets- the method in which educators rank their choices of assignments for the upcoming school year so that admin can build the school's organization. Then I blogged about being grumpy. And being a naturally reflective person (is that a fancy way of saying I'm an over thinker..) it all stuck with me.
It's been 5 years since I transitioned from the role of a classroom teacher to teacher-librarian. I have learned a lot about inquiry mindset, maker culture, pedagogical documentation, dismantling anti-Black racism, cultivating genius, teaching from an anti-oppression, anti-colonialism and anti-bias lens, Indigenous knowledge and land based learning... and so much more. One of the privileges that comes from being in a non-classroom role is that you often have more time (and thought capacity) to embrace professional learning, to seek out PD books and workshops, to engage with multiple educators and co-plan and co-teach.
What you often don't have in a non-classroom role is a consistent source of time to work with students through the many stages of inquiry and learning. And over the last few years, due to numerous reasons, I have had even less time with students. I miss them.
And so to avoid burying the lead too much...
I am headed back into the classroom in September in a Grade 3/4 class.
So many people have asked why. So here are a few excerpts from my cover letter:
My most recent experience as a teacher-librarian has afforded me the opportunity to learn and grow as an educator in the areas of equity and social justice education. I believe that it is of vital importance to embed pedagogical practices rooted in literacy and multi modal texts to consistently be teaching and co-learning with students from an anti-oppression, anti-racism and anti-colonialism lens in all areas of the curriculum. After spending the past five years in the role of teacher-librarian I am eager to return to a classroom role so that my own pedagogical practice is rooted in the experience of daily co-planning, co-learning and co-assessing alongside students.
I have never seen myself staying in the library until I retire. I have at least another 15 years (and, no I don't know my retirement date. That's a conversation for another day, eh Aviva!) and that's a long time to be in a non-classroom role, in my opinion. Since I moved into the library there have been revisions to the Social Studies, Science, Math and soon the Language Arts curriculum. To really know the curriculum you need to be working with it daily. I believe that teacher-librarians have a wide view of the curriculum because they are constantly curating, collecting, co-planning and co-teaching with educators from all grade levels but I miss the deep embedded experience of curriculum that comes from exploring a topic from start to finish through an inquiry lens with students.
I believe in the intentional practice of working with students to build their capacity for critical cultural consciousness. I have attended a number of workshops with Dr. Andrew Campbell from OISE and have heard him say that “the opposite of tokenism is consistency”.
Embedding a variety of differentiated instructional practices and processes is central to helping students learn about themselves as learners. I am hoping to explore digital compositions (i.e. podcasting, video/vlogs, visual literacy) with students in a classroom space so they grow as creators and consumers of media and informational texts. I believe that it is important that students’ learning within the school is grounded in not only their experiences beyond the walls of the classroom, but the current events that are shaping our world.
The past few years have brought HUGE change and awareness to educators around issues of diversity, building critical cultural consciousness, embedding anti-racist and anti-colonial pedagogy and I am proud of the work that I have done in the library to help educators. I am proud of our "Live from the Library" read alouds that have been curated and built using Gholdy Muhammad's HRL framework from Cultivating Genius. I am proud of constantly seeking out how we might approach a topic with an inquiry mindset and help students to see the wonder and joy of their own interests. I am proud of layering provocations and sparks connected to multi-modal texts and loose parts to help students share their voice and ideas.
And now I want to take that learning and work with students directly. Often in the library you get to spark an inquiry with students, you get to support the research or exploration stage, or you get to take part in the creation of products related to the learning. I want to be a part of all of it all the time.
As I have slowly shared this information with friends and colleagues close to me many people have said something along the lines of "Oh, wow! That's amazing for the kids but what a loss for school libraries." And while it's lovely to be thought of in this way I really, truly wonder if it is a loss?
I mean, I still have all my knowledge and experience about school-libraries and what I believe them to be. I am still a passionate advocate for school libraries and the role they play in supporting students, educators and the community. I have the 5 years I spent sharing that vision with the school I worked in and now a new passionate school library advocate will take over the role of teacher-librarian. Will it be the same? Of course not but that doesn't mean it's a loss.
I spoke with the educator who will likely be taking over the role and we discussed that the school librarian role and the school library itself is unique to each school community. What they bring to the role is their own set of skills and strengths. They bring their own professional network of collaborators that may have never connected with me. They bring their experience and knowledge of being a classroom teacher through the pivots to online/remote learning, of supporting students as they transitioned back into the building and learning within a classroom space.
If we believe in each student's capacity for genius then shouldn't we also believe in each educator's capacity for genius as well?
One person does not a school library make. A school library is a living, breathing, ever changing entity of the school community. It reflects the beliefs and values of a school. It reflects the diversity and culture of a school. It reflects all the hopes of what we believe our school system can be to support the learning of all stakeholders.
Will I return to the school library someday? I hope so.
Will I continue to be a passionate and vocal supporter of school libraries and role of teacher-librarians? Damn right, I will.
But until then, I will be finding my joy in my own little classroom as I continue to grow and learn as an educator.
