1. Building Relationships
Strategies for Connecting with Students and Staff
Cindy Matthews, Teacher-Librarian, TDSB

2. Building Relationships
Establishing/Running a ‘Partners in Action’ School Library Information Centre:
pragmatic foundations
Learning-focused relationships with
students and staff: seeing the ‘big picture’
Practical Strategies for Collaboration: designing learning activities for
critical thinking and professional dialogue

3. Pragmatic Foundations
Flexible Scheduling: communication
Book Exchange: building independence
Collection and ICT Management:
accessing student leadership
Staffing Advocacy: using Research,
Annual Reports, Action Research,
Staffing Committees, Board leadership

4. Flexible Scheduling ‘Just Like Me!’: “I work at an elementary school.”
“I am a half-time Teacher-Librarian.”
“I have some flexible scheduling with ‘open’ Partners time.”
“I collaboratively plan and teach with teacher colleagues.”
“I share and update my schedule with colleagues using newsletters or .”

5. Book Exchange

6. Collection and ICT Management
Appreciative Inquiry: accessing internal resources to scaffold student leadership
Turn to your ‘elbow partner’ and take a moment to tell a story. How have you used student Library Monitors to keep your Library collection and lab tidy? Switch.
Join another pair. In a quad, introduce a paraphrase of your partner’s anecdote.

7. Staffing Advocacy
Paired Verbal Fluency or’ ’: How do you use research-based data, annual reports and action research to advocate for your library?
‘Here’s What! So What? Now What?’:
(data) (interpretations) (implications)
In what ways can Staffing Committees and Board leaders support our relationships?

8. Learning-focused Relationships
seeing the ‘big picture’: collaborative learning throughout the school
working with Students: selection and design of instructional practices
working with Colleagues: promoting professional dialogue based on student learning and skill development

9. The ‘Big Picture’ Asking Questions “Is it possible to teach students
to be critical thinkers and effective
users of information and
information technologies and
at the same time improve their
overall achievement levels?”

10. “Herein lie important foundations for the
building of an information literate school. …
We must develop a collaborative culture
in the school so teachers and
library media specialists
have opportunities to work together
as partners to design
excellent learning experiences.”
(Carol Koechlin & Sandi Zwaan)

11. Selection and Design of Instructional Practices

12. Intentionalizing Student Learning: Metacognition
“Effective learners engage the process
and the content simultaneously. …The
trick is to anticipate which strategies
support content learning and which
content knowledge makes strategy
learning memorable.”
(Lipton & Wellman, Pathways to Understanding)

13. Teaching and Promoting the Inquiry and Research Process
“As cross-grade, cross-curricular information coordinators,
teacher-librarians can assist teachers
to plan and implement
interdisciplinary curriculum
and help students see
the connections among subjects”
(OLA Information Studies K-12)

15. Promoting Professional Dialogue

16. Learning-Focused Verbal Tools

17. Paraphrasing ‘Focused Reading’: Paraphrase Passport
Got it. I know and or understand this.
! This is really important or interesting.
? I don’t understand this or this does not
make sense.

18. ‘5-3-1’
Individually jot down 5 words that come to mind regarding professional dialogue.
Each share your 5 words with your table group, round-robin style. Choose 3 words to represent everyone’s list.
As a group, choose 1 word which captures your thinking.

19. Practical Strategies Intersecting pedagogy and student engagement:
The Inquiry and Research Process
The Pathways Learning Model
Building Community: Tribes
Relating so as to support life-long learning:
Cognitive Coaching

20. The Pathways Learning Model
Pathways to Understanding: Patterns and Practices in the Learning-Focused Classroom
Laura Lipton, Bruce Wellman (
‘Just Like Me’
‘Paired Verbal Fluency’
‘Here’s what! So what? Now what?’
‘Focused Reading’
‘5-3-1’

21. Tribes
Tribes: A New Way of Learning and Being Together Jeanne Gibbs (
Community Agreements
Attentive Listening
Appreciation /
No Put Downs
Right to Pass
Mutual Respect

22. Cognitive Coaching
Cognitive Coaching: Foundation Seminar Learning Guide Arthur Costa, Robert Garmston (
The mission of Cognitive Coaching is to produce self-directed persons with the cognitive capacity for high performance both independently and as members of a community.

23. A Continuum of Interaction

24. Support Stances “Know your intentions and
choose congruent behaviours.”
“All staff are leaders at different times and in different circumstances.” (TDSB Staff Development Frameworl

25. Learning-Focused Verbal Tools
Attending Fully: pauses and wait time
Paraphrasing: “Listen to hear, not to speak.”
Mediational Questions
Plural Forms: “are”, “some”, “a few”
Exploratory Language: “might”, “hunches”
Positive Presuppositions: “As you consider, …”, “Thinking back, …”, “As you examine the data, …”

26. Holonomy acting independently and as a member of a community
(Cognitive Coaching Foundation Seminar: A. Koestler)
In the open seas of life’s learning there is an ebb and flow, between ourselves and others.
We share questions and observations; we listen and reflect.
These moments, big and small,
develop new understandings and
new waves of learning.

27. Shape Reflection An idea that struck me was …
Some thoughts going around in my mind are …
Three practical strategies upon which I can ‘base’
some Next Steps in my Library are…

28. Thank you!
Cindy Matthews