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Longitudinal Case Study

Two Heads Are Better than One:
Influencing Preservice Classroom Teachers' Understanding and Practice of Classroom-Library Collaboration

Judi Moreillon: Home | Author | Educator | Advocate

Two Heads Are Better than One: Interventions During Participants' Preservice Education

Two Heads Are Better than One:
The Factors Influencing the Understanding and Practice of Classroom-Library Collaboration

Classroom-Library Collaborative Unit Plan Deconstruction

During the second course I facilitated for the study participants, Integrated Literacy I: Developmental Literacy and Language Arts in the Elementary School (fall semester 2004), we deconstructed a classroom-library unit plan I had co-taught a few years previously with a team of first-grade classroom teachers. The focus of the lesson was oral language experience (nursery rhymes); the organization of instruction was small group centers. I shared with the preservice teachers highlights of the planning process and together we examined what and how students learned in this unit of study. After our discussion, study participants were asked to work with a partner to create a Venn diagram that showed their understanding of the benefits of collaboration to students and to teachers as compared with a single teacher striving to teach these same concepts with a small group, center format or with a whole class organization for instruction.

All of the study participants' Venn diagrams showed they deduced that when educators collaborate they generate more ideas and creativity and can cover more learning standards or integrate more material. They felt that these learning activities would be more interesting to children because of the variety. Preservice teachers noted that children could receive more one-on-one attention and instruction, and one group pointed out that students wouldn't have to wait as long to have questions answered as they would with just one teacher. One group observed that there was shared responsibility between the adults for guiding and monitoring the children's work. Two out of ten diagrams noted that working toward a common goal was a positive aspect of this model. Three groups felt that the collaborative structure was more time and effort efficient.

Only one team specifically noted that children would learn better. Considering their pre-preservice education surveys in which 100% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that collaboration should result in higher student achievement, one might expect more groups to cite this benefit. This finding, however, is consistent with research related to preservice teachers' readiness. Research has shown that new teachers, and by extrapolation preservice teachers, tend to focus on their own actions within the classroom rather than on what the children are learning (Darling-Hammond & Hammerness, 2005, p. 400).

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Last updated: 18 September 2007


Judi Moreillon: Home | Author | Educator | Advocate