Abstract

This research project explores the difficulties inherent in balancing two roles at the same time. A teaching administrator must support the needs of teachers and students in both roles. This paper describes the problems encountered and resolved during two years of a teaching administrator's career.

Context

The current scarcity of school administrators in Ontario, combined with the funding formula created for the education system, has created a new hybrid educator--teaching administrators. The role is a difficult one for a number of reasons. The ambivalence of identity between the role of teacher, and that of school administrator, is a strange place where you work with teachers as a colleague and yet, at times must remove yourself to make decisions that affect the entire school. Relatively flexible positions, such as learning resource teacher, librarian, or preparation time relief, work better when paired with the role of vice principal due to the occasional necessity to allow crises to dictate which 'hat' is worn, at what time. The split role issue is complicated for me due to my concern that my espoused values be evident in my practice. My study is based on a two-year investigation of my practice in which, through trial and error, I struggled to learn the various roles that I had been assigned while attempting to balance the required percentage of my time, in each role, as dictated by the funding formula.

Background

After nineteen years teaching secondary vocal and instrumental music, I earned a position as an elementary vice principal. My first placement was in an elementary school of 485 students. Schools of that size warrant a principal and a vice principal in the same building so this placement meant that I would have onsite support while I learned about the culture of an elementary school. The one drawback is that I was not a full-time vice principal. As a consequence, I was expected to devote 60 percent of my time to the role of learning resource teacher--another role that was new to me. During my first year in the position, I was also working on my Master of Education degree. My question for that study was:

• How can I improve my practice by valuing the voices of others?

Two component parts of my question were:

• How can I continue to value voice in my new role as vice principal?
• How can I continue to ensure that my values remain evident in my practice through the transition from secondary teacher to elementary administrator?

While I reflected on my practice during that first year for my degree, I concentrated more on myability to support teachers in my role as a vice principal and less on my role as Learning Resource Teacher. As a result, I found it difficult to begin this paper because I did not feel that I did an adequate job of my role as learning resource teacher, in that first year. I believe that it takes courage and confidence in some aspects of my professional ability in order to limit my reflections to only one aspect of my professional role. As Catherine Snow(2002) states, "The capacity to reflect on and analyze one's knowledge emerges only after considerable knowledge has been accumulated and seamlessly embedded into practice. Reflection is not for the beginner."

That first year, in the position as Vice Principal/Learning Resource Teacher, was a struggle.Knowing that I could be moved at any time to a position with greater administrative responsibility meant that I felt it was important to place a priority on learning the administrative aspect of my role. So, apart from doing the paperwork for the identified students assigned to my case load and reporting on their progress to parents and to appropriate special education staff, I did not do a great deal of remediation with students.

In January, 2002, I received a phone call telling me that I would be moved to another school and one of my responsibilities would be the library. After spending the first few weeks learning the routines of that school and the names of the students and teachers, I settled down to investigate the library and decide how best to balance the two roles. I registered for an additional qualification course in Librarianship. For that course I was required to write a reflective practice paper about some aspect of my practice. I decided to write about balancing my roles as vice principal and librarian, but as I wrote the paper for that course, I realized that the question I was considering was actually larger than I had originally thought. The bigger issue was not only fulfilling my administrative role in this school but finding a means of balancing the teaching load required by many principals and vice principals. I decided that there are some common factors streaming through both of my placements as vice principal. In this paper, I will describe the way I managed to deal with each situation and the manner in which that learning has affected my professional practice.

Data Collection

My data collection was similar in both situations. I used a variety of methods to collect information regarding the situation at hand, determining what changes were needed and what my method would be for ensuring that the necessary things were done. I interviewed various people--formally and informally. In my first situation, I interviewed the other learning resource teacher, a visiting secondary teacher and a teacher on staff. In my second situation, I was more informal and asked for opinions at staff meetings and relied more on my observations of the way in which the library was utilized. In both situations, I recorded situations, feelings, ideas and reflections in my journal. I place a great deal of importance on body language and the clues that I pick up intuitively. Rarely do people in the course of their day, make a point of passing on positive comments or constructive criticisms. I have learned to observe, listen and reflect on situations that occur in my day, to determine whether I am being effective in my role. The delicate balance is to place positive feedback in the proper perspective. Noting comments from other people as a means of determining my personal effectiveness could easily become my personal need for external validation of my practice without valuing my own voice.

Another source of data was reading professional literature to learn how other schools had dealt with inadequate library facilities. It was also important to me that I learn what current research indicated about the best use of time, space and resources to improve student learning. I have spent a great deal of time thinking about the two roles I was expected to master in each situation and knew that both could be full-time jobs if I was to do each properly.

A book that had a tremendous impact for me was, Schools That Work, by Richard L. Allington and Patricia M. Cunningham. Reading this book shortly after I moved to my second school, helped me realize that this school already exemplified several principles of the ideal in their model. Two main principles stuck with me. The first is that instructional minutes can be stolen very easily and added up very quickly so attention to that will have a positive impact.(Allington & Cunningham, p. 13) For example, starting the announcements five minutes earlier every day, will result in almost half an hour per week that is gained for student learning. The second issue was that of classroom libraries versus centrally-located collections of reference materials. As well, the use of small groups of computers connected to the internet in every classroom, versus the use of computer labs. This will help imply to children that reading and research are an integral part of life not just something that is saved for the library. (Allington & Cunningham, p. 86)

My Role As Learning Resource Teacher

There were a number of issues in the role, the first year.

• There was no official role description for the Learning Resource Teacher.
• The elementary teachers' collective agreement required a schedule from me to ensure that I was fulfilling the role of Learning Resource Teacher.
• Crises rarely happened according to my schedule.
• There was a reduction in the amount of Educational Assistant time assigned to our school.
• We were implementing a new Special Education model for the delivery of programming based on funding guidelines from the Ministry of Education. An extra wrinkle was that this new model was the first attempt to meld the mode of delivery in the three amalgamated school boards.

Coping With the Issues

The first hurdle was the myriad of perceptions surrounding the way in which a learning resource teacher (LRT) could best help the students in the school. Was it better to support students writing a test or be an 'extra brain' in the classroom during work periods to help students complete their work? Were we entitled to preparation time during the school day in which we could complete some of our paperwork? There were various meetings at which our presence was expected and some happened during the day. Was our support a form of preparation time to which each teacher was entitled or were we tied to students? From school to school, from teacher to teacher, and from LRT to LRT, the perception of the role varied greatly. Many teachers, unaware of the increased paper load, resented any time we spent away from students during our school day. According to my values, I believed that it was important to support the students while helping teachers program for those students with special needs. Sometimes it was necessary to prioritize and that was frustrating for me and for other teachers.

The second hurdle was developing a schedule that showed my time allotted according to the collective agreement between the board and the local branch of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario. The fraction of teaching time in my schedule was a position that could be filled by a teacher and therefore, came from the teaching funding envelope. Also, in my role as LRT, I was supporting teachers with identified students. If I was shirking that aspect of my role, the teachers and their students might not be receiving an appropriate amount of support.

Another problem was the fact that crises rarely happened according to my carefully planned schedule. When the principal was out of the building, I could be called away from remedial help to solve a school crisis. As a consequence, I planned to be more flexible in his absence by concentrating on remediation with students when we were less likely to be interrupted.

Gradually I began going into classes during certain lessons, so I could hear the teacher's instructions. I remained during the work time to help students having difficulty. This worked for many students, because there were a number of students who struggled in school but who were not identified. Going into the class was a much more efficient use of time because I was able to help a larger number of students in the same amount of time. When working one on one with a student, the danger is in giving the students too much help and causing them to become dependent on positive reinforcement for each very small step of progress.

A major help was the availability of educational assistants who withdrew groups to help with specific subjects. For example, the five identified grade 8 students who were split between two classes, were withdrawn together periodically for help with their math. Other than that withdrawal time, I was reluctant to withdraw them for other help. I was concerned that withdrawal was causing them to become further behind in another aspect of their school work. I know that I was overly sensitive to that issue, but that may be due to my secondary background. As a former music teacher, I was always annoyed that students were frequently taken out of music for English or Math remediation. Also, I did not want to add to the teachers' work loads by requiring them to catch the student up at a later date in another subject area.

The new Special Education guidelines received from the Ministry of Education dictated a greater accountability for the amount of support received by identified students. The Individual Education Plans (IEP's) were electronically generated and saved on the school board engine. There were a number of glitches that needed to be dealt with in that first year of implementation. That involved a greater amount of LRT time spent doing that paperwork and potentially less time being spent with the students. The issue was complicated by the fact that the Information Technology department was not able to give home support to LRT's that chose to write IEP's at home on their own computers. As a consequence, learning to work with the program was difficult and time-consuming. Teachers equated the ''s with their report cards and were unsympathetic to the necessity for Learning Resource Teachers to spend a large part of our day working on the computer program.

My Learning While Solving the Issues

Over time, the LRT issues began to fall into place. The amount of educational assistant time allowed at our school was reduced, therefore, it was incumbent on me to find another way of coping with the students in need of extra classroom support. This was another reason that working in a classroom with students was effective in compensating for the lack of remediation that the EA's had been able to deliver the year before.

I could not provide the same level of withdrawal support that had been available in the 2000/2001 school year. However, at the reviews held in the spring, two different parents requested that their children not be withdrawn for remedial support, because there was some negative peer pressure for students that needed the extra support. It just so happened, that some teachers were very adept at creating various reading groups within their classes so the needs of many identified students could be met without withdrawing them. Also, the resulting improvement in self-esteem of those students who were able to stay in class to work was an extra benefit. One teacher sent the identified students to visit me, on occasion, when they had done especially well on some assignment or exercise.

I continued going into some classes to work with students to fulfill my schedule obligations. Thatworked for a couple of reasons. When I was in a classroom, I was not visible in the office so those issues that could wait were postponed until I was back in the office to deal with them. Another benefit was that if I was needed to handle a situation in another area of the school, my departure was less disturbing for the students than if I had withdrawn the student and he/she had to pack up and return to class. Thus, learning time was maximized for the students (Allington & Cunningham, p. 13).

I began to realize that if I concentrated on my vice principal role when the principal was out of the building that usually balanced the percentage of time required in my schedule for administration time. Then, I could concentrate on remedial help when he was present and there was less chance of interruption.

My Role as Librarian

My second position involved balancing the vice principal responsibilities with that of the library. As I entered that role, I wanted to observe the way in which teachers used the library with their students so I could begin to work within structures that were already in place. I saw many teachers walk their classes up to the library, exchange their books then walk back to their classroom. Not every teacher availed themselves of that privilege and when I questioned the practice, I learned that many teachers had their own classroom library. I filed that information away for future reference and reflection.

When I went into the library, I saw a poor use of space, books displayed in a way that was not visually appealing and furniture that was left over from other areas of the school and used in the library by default. There were no computers. The computer lab, such as it was, upstairs in a former storeroom. There was a teacher section of resources in what would have been the cloakroom in the library's former life as a classroom. Many things were covered in dust, including the record player. Some of the resources were no longer appropriate and have been revised to reflect the philosophy of our amalgamated school board. Again, I asked some questions but wanted to tread slowly and carefully, not make huge changes all at once.

I was concerned about my means of learning about the library and how to do the various jobs. However, I have to admit it was not a priority. Since coordination of the materials were looked after by the respective classroom teachers, I did not want to make drastic shifts until I felt I understood the school culture sufficiently to make the library work more of a priority.

This brings my next point. Another reason that I was finding it difficult to take my library resources seriously, was the fact that there has been a great deal of movement of principals and vice principals over the previous few years. A shortage of qualified people to fill the roles caused the situation. Frequently, retired principals were brought back temporarily to fill in some gaps. Within my first week, the custodian looked at me and stated, "You have to remember, people that work for me always get promoted!" We both laughed as he carried on his way but knew there was a grain of truth in what he said. A week or so later a teacher told me, "We train new principals, you know. We know it and we'll teach you what you need to know." Again, we laughed. Both people were not being unkind or particularly critical of the situation, just putting a slightly different slant on reality. Knowing that, I think I half hoped that the library would look after itself until I was moved on and someone with library qualifications would be moved in.

What Was Already Working

First, I had to decide what needed changing and what I could change in a short period of time. As part of my assessment, I had to decide what was already working. The classroom libraries made more sense to me after reading Allington and Cunningham (2002), for two reasons. Rather than a replacement for the school library, the classroom collections provided an answer to the space limitations in the library, and meant that students who finished their work early could make better use of their time by reading. Over the course of a day or a week, that could add up to a substantial amount of time spent in self-selected reading.(Leonhardt, 1998, p. 29) Cullinan (1998) has written that qualitative and quantitative research indicate that "students who do a substantial amount of voluntary reading demonstrate a positive attitude toward reading" (p. 2). In the same article, Cullinan (1998) states that independent reading has been "found to relate to growth in vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal fluency, and general information" (p. 2). Later in the same article, building "background knowledge" (p. 7) is stated as another reason to encourage independent reading.

As mentioned earlier, there was a parent-volunteer who had experience working in a library. She spent a great deal of time, two or three days a week, filing and supervising the student library club. She showed me some of the basics of cataloguing and discussed a number of the decisions necessary in that process. Jeri checked on the student work with reshelving books and in May, began methodically checking the shelves so that inventory would be a smoother process.

Each classroom had four or five computers which were connected to the internet. This was dueto the fact that the library did not have enough room, but the computer infusion budget meant that a certain number were allotted to our school so we had to find the space. Placing the computers in the classrooms, were positive for two reasons. Again, the proximity meant that a few students could be researching on the internet while the teacher was working with the rest of the class. Since students took their turn on the computer during other activities in the classroom, this provided more opportunities for students to work online under a teacher's supervision. As a consequence, many students were very adept at researching online. Also, computers in each classroom send an implied message that research is an important part of life not something reserved for the library.

Actions

Clearly, I had to develop some priorities for the library. First, I was concerned about updating the student collection and getting the most for our book-buying dollar. I needed to keep in mind that many students lived in homes with a shortage of print resources. There were many resources that weren't being used because they were out of date. Doing these things take time and that is a very scarce commodity, so I had to consider who would be making some of the changes especially since some might not happen before I am moved to another school.

I wanted to expand the student book collection. Classroom libraries work well due to proximity for students but I still believed that we needed more books. "In 1975, the American Library Association set minimum standards for elementary school library collections (about 20 volumes per child)" (Allington & Cunningham, 2002, p. 102). We had a great number of books, yet many were outdated and needed to be weeded and replaced with more contemporary books. If the grade partners worked together, they could stock their classroom libraries with different books then swap the libraries halfway through the year (Allington & Cunningham, p. 104).

I had two opportunities to increase our library collection. A group of teachers accompanied me to a book sale where we were able to purchase a large number of books at greatly reduced prices. Some of the books we bought would never be classed as quality literature, but we bought with the idea of encouraging independent reading. Besides, "before setting out for a week-long vacation, few adults go to the local university bookstore" (Allington & Cunningham, (2002), p. 55). We agreed that to balance the collection of better literature, we needed to purchase some paperback series books to foster independent reading, especially for the boys in grades 4 and 5. I liked Ross'(1997) point about series books being based on a comfortable formula containing known characters, so students are making a safe selection and may read more, as a consequence.

The second bonus was a special infusion budget for Junior level students. We were able to bolster our collection of "Literacy Place" units without depleting our school budget. They are sold in packages of thirty books--10 copies of each of three novels. The three novels are based on a similar theme but are chosen due to three different reading levels. This resource facilitates the division of students into reading groups at the junior level.

Another means of helping with the larger library tasks, is tapping into the neighbouring high school. Every high school student has to earn forty hours before graduating with their diploma. To help with inventory, our parent-volunteer/librarian brought in her daughter who was in high school and needed some volunteer hours for her community service credit. Kerri worked for almost four days and so I was happy to sign her sheet stating that she had worked for eighteen hours.

Another library job tackled while I was at that school, was to clean out the staff section. As mentioned earlier, there was a record player that was covered with dust and the teachers each had a compact disk player in their classroom. Needless to say, the record player was no longer used. There were also binders of resource material that was labelled with the name of our former board. Many of these resources have since been replaced and/or updated to align with the new curriculum and our emphasis on improved literacy. We sorted the items that were left, and decided how to catalogue them and store them in a more user-friendly manner. (Erikson & Markuson, p. 24)

Results

The first thing I had to remember is that I should only do what only I can do. Ken Haycock stated that "the circulation of materials" (p. 64) could be done by parent-volunteers. That remark was terribly freeing because I stopped beating myself up for not being in the library reshelving books. Therefore, my position meant that I could investigate the various means for obtaining funds to spend on updating the collection.

One of the criteria for completing the Librarianship Part I course, was planning a collaborative unit with another teacher. Due to the timing in the year, many units had already started, however, one teacher (when approached) was glad to have me help her students organize their research. In retrospect, I would have liked to help plan the unit from the outset, but I enjoyed the opportunity to work with small groups of grade 5 students as they organized their research on ancient civilizations, in preparation for their end-of-year speeches.

I also had my own belief affirmed that more can be accomplished by working within a structure, first. Beginning that way builds trust and personal credibility so the bigger changes that may need to come later, will happen more readily and with less resistance. Once teachers saw that I truly listened to their suggestions and had begun to act on them, they began coming to me with other ideas and suggestions.

This was part of my emerging philosophy as a vice principal and as a librarian and touches on various aspects of the Standards of Practice from the Ontario College of Teachers ( 1999). I believe that it is important to treat the teachers as partners on a professional team. They knew what their students needed and were excited about helping them be the best they could be. Providing release time and resources for teachers to address the needs of their students meant we all worked together. As a consequence, teachers could engage in a "range of teaching methods to address" (p. 7) the learning needs of their children and put their curriculum knowledge to work. Together we found ways to "manage time for instruction" (p. 10) as was needed by various students with special needs. Their reflection on their professional practice allowed them to "modify and refine teaching practice using a variety of sources and resources" (p. 12).

As far as my role as librarian, I've realized that the role is huge yet, the flexibility allows for my role as vice principal, as well. However, both roles required of me, are big ones and can get bigger if I do not set the boundaries. My priorities were to provide as many fiction resources as possible because I want children to learn to love reading as much as I do. I needed to ensure that the resources were organized and filed correctly and that there was someone to do that. My reluctance to tackle care and maintenance of the library was not meant to slight the importance of the library in a school nor my value of reading. It was a means of setting some boundaries in my role(s) so I would have some hope of coping with the myriad of demands.

Setting boundaries in my role as vice principal, in my second school, was not as difficult probably because I had some previous experience in that role and working from my priorities. Also, the teachers were very autonomous and as a consequence, handled many student concerns themselves. They seemed to take great pride in that ability. I appreciated their independence and their willingness to keep me informed in case more intervention was needed.

The biggest thing I learned through this process is that the position of teacher-librarian is probably different in every situation, as is the role of a teaching administrator. The needs of the community, the available space, resources, funding and student ability are all variables that affect the first few months maybe even the first year in a new library and in a new school, in general. As a consequence, it is important that the teaching administrator decides on the particular impact that is achievable in each situation.

I tried, in the five months in the role of teacher-librarian and vice-principal at that school, to ensure my espoused values were evident in my practice. Did I succeed? As word began to circulate that I was being moved, one mother came in to see me and she said, "You took the time to get inside my son's head and figure out what makes him tick. That's not happened before." A staff member told me that through my five months, my caring for the kids was always evident.

As I write up my results of my reflections and study of the last few months, I realize that I've only scratched the surface of the role of teacher-librarian. There is a great deal more to be learned yet this September, I will be a principal and may no longer be directly responsible for a school library. Regardless of the direction of my career path, I take with me a different view of the work involved in the role of teacher-librarian and the necessity of keeping research resources, technology, quality fiction and magazines up to date thus continuing to attract students to the library and to properly meet their learning needs.

Final Thoughts

I have realized many things as I reflected on the last two years of my professional practice. I dohave an entry plan for my next school although it may need to be adjusted depending on the particular situation. It is very important, for me, to work from my values and not let the situation dictate the type of administrator that I will be, although, I tend to be more critical about my ability than others are. I strive to value the dignity of the individuals with whom I work--both teachers and students--while valuing their voice and opinions.

As I enter a new school, I take my time by building relationships with staff, students and parents.I ask questions about systems in place, so I can understand without judging. I try to meet teachers and students, one on one, so I can get to know them on an individual basis. I take time to evaluate and gather sufficient information before making any changes. While balancing the two roles of a teaching administrator, I have learned that I cannot be all things to all people and still gain some personal satisfaction of a job well done. I only have energy to give, if I strive to maintain a careful balance between valuing the voices of others while also valuing my own.

References:

Allington, R.L., Cunningham, P.M. (2002). Schools that work, Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Atwell, N. (1998). In the middle, Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook.

Cullinan, B.E. (1998-2000). Independent Reading and School Achievement. A manuscript commissioned as part of a national study, Assessment of the Role of School and Public Libraries. Available online: www.ala.org/aasl/SLMR/vol3/independent/independent_main.html.

Erikson, R., Markison, C. (2001) Designing a school library media center for the future. Chicago: American Library Association, p. 23-27.

Haycock, K. (2000). What works: Effective search strategies. Teacher Librarian. 28 (2), 37.

Leonhardt, M. (1998). Make lemonade: How to sweeten your school's climate for reading. School Library Journal, 44(11), 28-31.

Ontario College of Teachers (1999). Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession. Toronto: Ontario College of Teachers.

Richardson, M., West, W. (1995). School library resource book. Vancouver: EduServ.

Ross, C. (1997). Reading the covers off Nancy Drew: What readers say about series books. Emergency Librarian, 24(5), 19-25.

Snow, C. (2001). Knowing What We Know: Children, Teachers, Researchers. Educational Researcher, 30(7), 3-9.