Librarian Interview #3
Sandra Brundage
Woodmont High School
Greenville, SC
Interview dates - September 21-November
4, 2020
Collaborate
I had the opportunity to observe Mrs. Brundage in her
capacity as the librarian of Woodmont High School as I worked with her in my
library internship. I spoke to Mrs.
Brundage regarding the National School Library Standards regarding the area of
Collaboration. Mrs. Brundage’s library
program has been severely impacted by COVID.
Greenville County Schools started the school year with students
attending face-to-face two days a week, with e-learning on the remaining days
of the week. A significant portion of
the student population had also chosen a fully virtual learning option. At the beginning of the school year, Mrs.
Brundage explained, “The teachers are only seeing their students half as much
as they used to, and they are trying to cover so much. They don’t want to ‘give up’ their class time
for lessons.” (S. Brundage, personal communication, September 28, 2020).
As the school year progressed, and teachers began to become
more settled into their routines, Mrs. Brundage was able to arrange some class
library visits and lessons from the librarian.
Mrs. Brundage attends professional development sessions and team
meetings with the Woodmont High School English department. Through talking with her colleagues, she was
able to entice most of the English teachers to visit the library for booktalks
to introduce the library program and the Young Adult Book Awards Program. After visiting for the booktalks, one teacher
asked Mrs. Brundage to present a lesson on research skills. That lesson went very well, and another
teacher asked Mrs. Brundage to present a similar lesson to his class.
Mrs. Brundage asserts that “word-of-mouth” and approaching
other teachers is her primary method of developing collaborative partnerships
with teachers. I try to approach them from
the angle, “I’m here. What can I do for you?”
she says. “When teachers do ask
me to come in, or ask to bring their students to the library, I ask them if
they will let me see their project. I
try to tailor my lesson to the project happening in their classroom.” I saw this in person with Mrs. Brundage’s
researching lessons. Mrs. Brundage
prepared a Google Slides presentation with information on SC DISCUS. The first time that I saw her present it to
students, she directed her focus to research databases and how to take notes,
cite sources and find the notes after searching. For the second teacher’s class, Mrs. Brundage
began with the same presentation, but by the end of the lesson, she focused
more on two particular databases, Gale in Context and Points of View Reference
Center. She also spent more time leading
students through a hypothetical search, even going through the steps of
highlighting notes and sending them to a folder.
I think that, like many of us, Mrs. Brundage does not want
to “toot her own horn” about how much she does in the library. When I first asked her about collaboration,
she said, “Well, most of what I do is with the English teachers,” but as I
worked with her in the Woodmont library, I observed her collaborating with
other teachers as well. Mrs. Brundage
has connections with other teachers in the school because her daughter has been
attending the school for three years.
She has a good relationship with many of the teachers on staff,
especially in the social studies department.
Mrs. Brundage acknowledged that she has presented lessons for social
studies and history teachers. I am also
looking forward to visiting the Child Development classes with Mrs. Brundage
before I leave Woodmont. She says that
she usually visits the classes to deliver a lesson on the importance of reading
books to young children.
Given the nature of the lessons that Mrs. Brundage delivers,
she usually delivers content in a whole-group environment. The teachers normally bring their classes to
the library for only one class period, so there is not much opportunity for
learners to work collaboratively. Once
classes are ready to begin diving into their research, then Mrs. Brundage can
be available to work with small groups or individuals.
Collaboration can spring from friendships and collegial
relationships, but collaboration is not going to happen by accident. An exemplary librarian should always be on
the lookout for an opportunity to promote the library and its programs in the
school environment. Collaboration is going to help the students, the teachers,
and the school as a whole – not just the library program.
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