Teaching what we've learned.

This week’s visits to school media centers left me pondering the question of what happened to the theories learned in library school. I know that district and school politics play big roles in what a media specialist does in her media library, but I still wonder how the theories are being applied. This week we are learning about search engines, Internet searching methods and how a library catalog can be efficient, but will we be able to teach it to our students? Will we be able to equip students with the necessary technological library tools for high school, college and beyond?
Some of the librarians I spent time with, told me there wasn’t time for curriculum based learning. Others said the teachers just wanted to send the unruly students to the library and the library is not a detention center. And while I agree with them, I squirm a little inside of me and I hope for that something “extra” to be taught in school media centers. (I say “extra” because the librarians are doing what they can while being limited by all sorts of red tape). But more needs to be done to teach the knowledge we are learning.
Oh boy! Have I opened a can of worms with these comments? I can imagine some of the media specialists shaking their heads at me and saying “just you wait”. But I have high hopes, and I hope to be able to share the lessons of this course with my students when the time comes.
Fortunately for me that plea of hope was answered when I saw a library media specialist prepare a lesson on searching for books by call number this week. I could’ve cried for joy. It was truly one of the highlights of my day.