Collaborative Planning
Students are encouraged to become lifelong learners through the collaboration and coordination of the library media program with classrooms and the community
Definition
Collaboration is intended to “promote the most effective teaching possible for the greatest number of students” (Pugach and Johnson 1995, 178). In the library field, Callison (1997) proposes that collaboration for SLMSs means “coplanning, coimplementation, and coevaluation” (37). Russell (2002) explains that collaboration is based on shared goals, shared vision, a climate of trust, respect, comprehensive planning, and shared risks. “The teacher brings to the partnership knowledge of the strengths and weakness[es] of the students and of the content to be taught. The [SLMS] adds a thorough understanding of information skills and methods to integrate them” (36). Donham’s (1999) suggests what true collaboration means for library media specialists and teachers. She states:
When teachers and library media specialists work together to identify what students need to know about accessing, evaluating, interpreting, and applying information; when they plan how and where these skills will be taught and how they relate to content area learning; when they co-teach so students learn the skills at a time when they need them; and when they assess the students’ process as they work with information as well as the end product, they have truly collaborated (21).
A definition proposed by (Buzzeo 2002) provides a guide for practitioners. It defines collaborative planning “as two or more equal partners who set out to create a unit of study based on content standards in one or more content areas plus information literacy standards, a unit that will be team-designed, team-taught and team-evaluated” (7).
[From: Montiel-Overall, Patricia. 2005. Toward a Theory of Collaboration for Teachers and Librarians
.]
Additional Reading
Buzzeo, T. 2002. Collaborating to Meet Standards: Teacher/Library Media Specialist Partnerships for K–6. Worthington, Ohio: Linworth.
Haycock, K. 2003. Collaboration: Because Student Achievement is the Bottom Line. Knowledge Quest 32, no. 1 (Sept. /Oct.): 54.
Lance, K. C. What Research Tells Us About the Importance of School Libraries. Institute of Museums and Library Services—White House Conference on School Libraries.
http://www.imls.gov/news/events/whitehouse_2.shtm#kcl
Wolcott, Linda Lachance. 1994. Understanding How Teachers Plan: Strategies for Successful Instructional Partnerships. SLMQ Volume 22, Number 3, Spring 1994.
Web Resources
New York City School Library System, The Library Learning Walk, http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/E76C2469-D2F0-4B98-85BA-BF05E7A8CB20/33509/LIBRARYLEARNINGWALKconsolidated.doc 
(111 KB)
School Library System Association of New York
Forms for Planning, Collaboration, and Documentation
http://www.slsa-nys.org/curriculum.cfm?subpage=612960
Collaborative Planning Organizer
Designed by: Stevan Kalmon, Senior Technology Planning Consultant and Nance Nassar, School Library Senior Consultant Education Technology Center and the State Library Colorado Department of Education; http://www.lrs.org/documents/lmcstudies/collab_plan_organizer.pdf 
(9 KB)
IMPACT: Guidelines for North Carolina Media and Technology Programs
IMPLEMENTING THE IMPACT MODEL
PHASE 3: Setting the Stage for Successful Collaboration
PHASE 4: Formal Collaboration
PHASE 5: Beyond the Classroom
http://www.ncwiseowl.org/IMPACT/implement.htm#phase3
NBPTS Library Media Standard IV: Integrating Instruction
“Accomplished library media specialists integrate information literacy through collaboration,
planning, implementation, and assessment of learning.”
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization formed in 1987 to advance the quality of teaching and learning by developing professional standards for accomplished teaching.
http://www.nbpts.org/userfiles/File/ecya_lm_standards.pdf (194 KB)
American Association of School Librarians (AASL)
Resource Guides for School Library Media Program Development, Collaboration
Small, Ruth. 2002. Collaboration: Where Does it Begin? Teacher Librarian (29(5), June 2002).
http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/tlmag/v_29/v_29_5_feature.html
Indiana Learns Collaborative Planning.
Collaborative planning resources, tips, and samples from the Indiana Department of Education Office of Learning Resources.
http://www.indianalearns.org/collaborative.asp
[Phtot credit: New York Library Association]