ERIC Number: EJ1195492
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1094-9046
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
They Let Us Teach Adults? Making the Leap from Pre-K-12 to Higher Education
Collins, Karla B.; Spisak, Jen R.
Knowledge Quest, v47 n2 p16-21 Nov-Dec 2018
In this article, two teachers describe their transition from pre-K-12 schools to higher education, where they teach college students to be school librarians. Both were at points in their pre-K-12 careers at which they were comfortable and felt good about their abilities, but both were ready for new challenges. While they no longer see the direct results of their teaching on young children, they get to see a bigger impact as college students take classes to learn new skills as future school librarians. They enjoy being able to visit students who are completing their clinical experiences and take advantage of school visits to look around and see what is new and talk with the librarians about innovative practices. As library educators, they have met a whole new group of people and found a whole new purpose in attending conferences related to the three main responsibilities of college faculty: teaching, scholarship, and service. One of the lessons they have learned is that schools are different in different parts of the state, pre-K-12 students are often defined by where they grow up, and courses available to students vary greatly depending on the school system. They have also learned that some school librarians have great autonomy and are able to experiment with new ideas and build school libraries that are sensitive to the needs of their respective schools, while others have very limited flexibility in what they are able to do based on the structure of the school system for which they work.
Descriptors: College Faculty, School Libraries, Librarians, Library Education, Elementary School Teachers, Secondary School Teachers, Library Role, Career Change, Teacher Role
American Association of School Librarians. Available from: American Library Association. 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Tel: 1-800-545-2433; Web site: http://knowledgequest.aasl.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Elementary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A