COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado—Does every insect deserve our respect? Beetles, bees, and even cockroaches find advocates among second-grade scientists as they learn how insects contribute in essential ways to the web of life.

Each spring, second-graders at Longfellow Elementary School study insects. Usually their lessons end with the final module of the hands-on curriculum their teacher uses, but this year things wound up differently when teacher Jodi Williamson and library technology educator Becky Zenthoefer collaborated on a culminating learning experience.

As they planned an interdisciplinary finale, the educators capitalized on students' passion for anything related to insects. Teachers challenged small groups of students to understand one insect's environmental niche so well that they could persuade their classmates that the insect is essential to a balanced ecosystem. The lesson furthered their life science studies, and advanced information literacy and writing skills. "Students had to come up with three compelling reasons why their insect was important and should be protected, and then convince their classmates," Zenthoefer relates. "One group even made a case for cockroaches."

Each team studied its insect using at least one book and one electronic resource from a list of sites Zenthoefer selected for them. Williamson taught a research and note-taking process uniquely suited to her students' skill level. To focus their research and capture their learning, each team was given a manila folder with library pockets pasted on it. The library pockets were coded with main ideas such as "habitat" or "food." As students studied their insects, they took simple notes on strips of paper, and then categorized their paper-strip notes by placing them into the different pockets. Once their ideas were sorted in this manner, students could write simple paragraphs that supported their claims. In a final showcase, students presented posters illustrating their topic and read their persuasive essays to classmates.

At Longfellow Elementary, Zenthoefer manages a "Power Library." This media center is part library, part technology lab, and all learning. "I imagine the library as the learning hub of the school," Zenthoefer says. She collaborates with teachers to plan instruction, and helps determine the places where technology and research will promote learning. Information and technology literacy are not usually on a teacher's list of required standards, but by planning together, Zenthoefer and her teacher colleagues are better able to address literacy in a natural learning context. "This is not a drop-off library, a drop-off computer lab," she says. "We plan together what the students are going to learn and how they're going to go about learning it."

How do Zenthoefer and her colleagues find time to collaborate? One answer came in joining the Colorado Power Libraries Project, a consortium of schools taking a new approach to information and technology literacy. To become part of the consortium, a school team consisting of a librarian, classroom teachers, and principal receive training on "principles of information power," which encompass leadership, collaboration, and technology integration. The teams are given time to apply new understanding about information literacy in lessons they design together. Save Our Insect! is one of the curriculum products from the Longfellow team.

What compels educators to continue working together beyond this professional development opportunity? One reason is student learning outcomes. "We've learned that schools with Power Libraries achieve better scores on the statewide tests than those without them, by about 18 percent," Zenthoefer says. Another reason is the satisfaction that comes from working with a colleague toward a shared vision. "Some of my best ideas come from working with other teachers," she says.

In her teacher librarian role, Zenthoefer can help teachers stretch the resource of time. "Teachers learn how powerful it is working with a teacher librarian. There just isn't enough time in the day to develop quality learning experiences, but I can help make it happen," she says. With a background in special education, she can also help adapt lessons. "Teachers welcome the assistance," she says, and students "get excited about learning. There is a lot of power in having two teachers work together."

When asked about other projects in the works at Longfellow Elementary, Zenthoefer describes an ambitious one, a schoolwide reading of the poetry of, who else? Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Learn about the Central Colorado Library System Power Libraries Project at www.cclsweb.org/PowerLibrariesMain.htm*.