Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies:
Classroom-Library Instructional Partnerships
These are photographs and testimonials from classroom teachers and school librarians who field tested lessons from Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension: Maximizing Your Impact by Judi Moreillon (ALA Editions, 2007).
All photographs and testimonials used by Judi Moreillon with permission. For more information: [email protected]
Team Teaching Strategies One educator reads a text, the other records students’ ideas.
Jointly model the learning tasks.
Provide think-alouds with the goal of showing a diversity of responses.
Demonstrate cooperative learning, discussion procedures, and debating techniques.
Kindergarten Teacher and Teacher-LibrarianGrand Canyon School, Grand Canyon, Arizona
Using Sensory Images: Emerging Lesson (http://storytrail.com/Impact/Chapter_4/main1.htm)
Nancy to Kelley:Please remember to save some of the student work... THANK YOU for being willing to do this with me!!
Kelley to Nancy:I am saving the work. We can go over them together if you would like with the rubric. Whew! What a project!
Nancy to Kelley:So - I guess the question is - was it a project worth repeating next year??
Using Sensory Images: Emerging Lesson (http://storytrail.com/Impact/Chapter_4/main1.htm)
Kelly to Nancy:Yes, it will be very worth repeating next year and especially using it during the 5 senses PYP [Primary Years Program of International Baccalaureate] planner. We could go really far with it and I could do much more ocean theming up to that point.
Nancy to Judi:Success! Here's a side tidbit: I went into the speech therapist's office, and she had been working with a student from Kelley's class & saw what we were doing. So she continued with the theme during speech class! Yahoo! It's catching!
Kinder-First Grade Classroom Teacher and Teacher-Librarian
Monarch Academy in Oakland, California
Using Background Knowledge: Emerging Lesson (http://storytrail.com/Impact/Chapter_3/main1.htm)
Melanie to Keisa: Having two teachers made the lesson more
dynamic for the children. While the children needed a lot of support to fill out the Venn diagram, I think it’s an excellent way to introduce a new complex skill. The small groups made it easy for all kids to get plenty of support. I am ready to collaborate with you again!
First-grade Classroom Teacher and Teacher-LibrarianLela Alston Elementary School, Phoenix, Arizona
Making Predictions: Emerging Lesson (http://storytrail.com/Impact/Chapter_6/main1.htm)
Pamela to Judi: This was Rita’s first time using the media document
projector with an LCD projector and [an interactive whiteboard]. She was pretty excited about that! I felt like our coteaching helped her take that risk.
Third-grade Classroom Teacher and Teacher-Librarian P.S. 88, Bronx, New York
Using Fix-up Options: Advancing Lesson (http://storytrail.com/Impact/Chapter_8/main2.htm)
Pauline to Judi: The collaboration proved not only to be successful for this
project but collaboration in general. I am new to the school and the teachers have never used the library or LMS [teacher-librarian] before. Two years ago the library was in the hallway. Now I have the entire third grade collaborating with me on their non-fiction units. I want to thank you for allowing me this opportunity to show the school how worthwhile the library can be (March 2007).
Five months later, Pauline wrote: “Because the unit last year was so successful, the principal gave me an entirely flex schedule this year” (August 2007).
Teacher-Librarian and Fourth-grade Classroom TeacherRuth Powell Elementary, Safford, Arizona
Questioning: Advancing Lesson (http://storytrail.com/Impact/Chapter_5/main2.htm)
Sue to Judi: I feel this experience [of coteaching] has gone a long way
toward advancing our relationship into a more collegial, collaborative one. During our reflections, Kylee indicated a definite interest in attempting more collaborative projects. We are currently working together to prepare students for a choral reading of Sing Down the Rain with another Arizona school as part of a “Read Across Arizona” teleconference just before Christmas break. I am helping them make connections by researching the Tohono O’odham people; Kylee is helping them make props, and we are working together on the choral reading. In addition, Kylee has become an advocate for the collaborative process by telling others of our success. I think our relationship will continue to evolve and develop.
Questioning: Advancing Lesson (http://storytrail.com/Impact/Chapter_5/main2.htm)
Sue to Judi: My unique contributions [to the collaboration] were
keeping the lines of communication open and working out the logistics of delivering the lesson including gathering the materials, resources and equipment that made it run smoothly. From Kylee I learned that you have to be specific when proposing a project like this so that the other person knows what is expected. It turns out that Kylee wasn’t averse to teaching collaboratively; she just didn’t understand what was involved. Now I have to test this theory with other teachers to see if it’s true.
Second-grade Classroom Teacher and Teacher-LibrarianAnthem School, Anthem, Arizona
Using Background Knowledge: Advancing Lesson (http://storytrail.com/Impact/Chapter_3/main2.htm)
Melody to Judi: The lessons went great. I had never cotaught with this
teacher. She came from California where the schedule was fixed and they just dropped their kids off with the teacher-librarian. This was new to her, and we both had a great time. This is something we want to do more often. The teacher loved teaming with me, and the kids learned a lot and had fun.
5th-grade Classroom Teacher and Teacher-LibrarianP.S. 347, New York, New York
Questioning: Advanced Lesson (http://storytrail.com/Impact/Chapter_5/main3.htm)
Sara to Judi: I must admit that it is hard for me to give teachers the
lesson plan in advance; I often end up teaching it myself. Using published lessons helps me manage my time better. The lessons also give me strategies for involving the classroom teacher during any lesson I teach. It was exciting when I saw that the students chose Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride as one of their top ten favorite books of the year. I think it was because we went really deep in the lesson. We studied that book; it lingered in their minds.
Fifth-grade Classroom Teacher and Teacher-Librarian Anasazi School, Scottsdale, Arizona
Determining Main Ideas: Advanced Lesson (http://storytrail.com/Impact/Chapter_7/main3.htm)
Sherry to Judi: Collaboration is an ongoing process between a teacher-
librarian and a classroom teacher. A good working relationship between two teachers takes several projects before teaching styles and [criteria for] learning outcomes for both [partners] are understood. By using lessons with explicit directions as an opportunity to collaborate on specific topics related to key curriculum, we became motivated to try harder. Now all we really need is professional, non-student contact time in a school day to fine tune these lessons and make them as powerful as we know they could be.
