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AASL Standards |
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I am proud of my involvement in an SLM program that meets AASL accreditation
standards. I feel the rigors of the assignments that exceeded the competency
requirements were excellent preparation for my future service in an
elementary school media center. I met the departmental diversity requirement
by serving urban and diverse suburban populations in my prior work
experience, field experience, service projects, and internship. Although all
my assignments demonstrate competency in one or more of the standards, I've
chosen to align our program's "Super Six Assignments" with the four AASL
standards in the following chart. |
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Assignment -
Professional Development and Evaluation Plan |
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This foundational professional plan demonstrates competency in Standards 1,
3, and 4. As our group considered a philosophy and mission statement keeping
my current media center, school, and population in mind, we created goals
and objectives to improve the media program. This assignment also includes
an explanation of how personnel, budgets, and committees are managed, as
well as a plan for evaluation of the program. The resulting document
demonstrates knowledge in assuring access to information (Standard 1),
providing a stimulating learning environment (Standard 1), managing program
resources (Standard 4), comprehensive planning and assessment (Standard 4),
and encouraging instructional partnerships (Standard 3). |
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Standards |
Reflection |
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1: School library media candidates encourage reading and lifelong learning
by stimulating interests and fostering competencies in the effective use of
ideas and information. They apply a variety of strategies to ensure access
to resources and information in a variety of formats to all members of the
learning community. Candidates promote efficient and ethical information
seeking behavior as part of the school library media program and its
services. 3: School library media candidates provide leadership and
establish connections with the greater library and education community to
create school library media programs that focus on students learning and
achievement; encourage the personal and professional growth of teachers and
other educators, and model the efficient and effective use of information
and ideas.
4: School library media candidates administer the library media program
in order to support the mission of the school, and according to the
principles of best practice in library science and program administration. |
As the first major project in my graduate school schedule, the PDEP
appeared overwhelming. I soon discovered that this plan must be in place as
a framework by which any media center functions. Just as a business plan
guides a company, the PDEP provides the scaffolding to assess the population
served, the mission and philosophy of the community, manage money and
resources, and continuously evaluate progress. I feel it is important to
take time yearly to reflect on the progress or lack of progress toward the
stated objectives. In that way, a foundation is laid for the good
stewardship of the school's money, time, and curriculum support. We had good
ideas for supporting literacy, improving communication/collaboration with
the teaching staff, and increasing reading. They are all goals that are
easily attainable in my first year as a media specialist. Such goals will
positively affect the students' learning and achievement. I will tweak this
document to fit the mission and assessed needs of my new school in the fall.
With this framework in mind, I am already looking at the physical
arrangement and program with ideas for improvements. I feel that my
principal, staff, and media committee will be relieved to see that I have
such a plan to build on, with their input and consent. The goals could serve
as my RBES goals for the year. |
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Assignment -
Collaborative Unit
Planning Guide |
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This lesson plan guide was made in collaboration with a classroom teacher
and literacy coordinator with the focus of integrating information literacy skills into the
curriculum content (Standard 2). Standard 2 competencies are further
demonstrated by the knowledge of the learners and learning, and partnering
as an knowledgeable and effective teacher with another educator. |
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Standard |
Reflection |
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2: School library media candidates model and promote collaborative planning
with classroom teachers in order to teach concepts and skills of information
processes integrated with classroom content. They partner with other
education professionals to develop and deliver an integrated information
skills curriculum. Candidates design and implement instruction that engages
the student's interests, passions, and needs which drive their learning. |
We chose the I-Search process with a 5th grade class because of it's
compatibility to the Writer's Workshop already in place. This plan, along
with the curriculum map and lessons from another class, gave me a greater
appreciation of collaborative opportunities. Teachers seem willing to
collaborate as long as their students obviously benefit and they do not have
to commit more time and energy. This project also expanded my knowledge of
appropriate lesson planning. I see this type of collaboration as the weakest
point in most media center programs, perhaps due to lack of time and
communication. I hope to emphasize collaboration with my teachers by
developing relationships with at least one person per grade level the first
year. I will also observe and coordinate a curriculum map in order to
anticipate the direction of the curriculum during the year. I am also
looking at more inventive ways to incorporate information literacy skills
into the context of the curriculum, for I feel students learn better at the
point of need and in context. |
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Assignment -
Order |
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The Book Order required an assessment of and alignment with the PDEP
objectives and Selection Policy. Our group created an order of materials to
support our objectives, within the constraints of our budget. Standards 1
and 4 competencies are demonstrated as the order shows the goal of
supporting literacy and pleasure reading (1), and appropriate management of
information resources (4). We made a PowerPoint presentation to communicate
the reasons behind the order choices to the media committee. |
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Standards |
Reflection |
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1: School library media candidates encourage reading and lifelong learning
by stimulating interests and fostering competencies in the effective use of
ideas and information. They apply a variety of strategies to ensure access
to resources and information in a variety of formats to all members of the
learning community. Candidates promote efficient and ethical information
seeking behavior as part of the school library media program and its
services. 4: School library media candidates administer the library media
program in order to support the mission of the school, and according to the
principles of best practice in library science and program administration. |
I enjoyed the practical nature of this assignment. I became very familiar
with the book titles, authors, and how to navigate the Follett website,
which is the most used resource in my county. I was able to get a Titlewise
collection analysis of my current media center, so it was a real-life
situation with real needs. Too bad the budget we were given was not real! I
am impressed with the need to act responsibly and with adequate planning
when dealing with taxpayer money. I saw how important it is to choose
material according to the curriculum and specific learner needs. Poor
planning may result in a resource on the wrong reading level for the
specific curriculum topic. I have already started a consideration file of
teacher requests and needs I've observed. I've also observed the difficulty
caused when a valued resource is weeded without planning access to an
appropriate replacement. The lack of SACS money this year in the county was
an eye-opening experience for me. My new school will be a Title 1 school, so
I expect some funding. I find it increasingly important to have a selection
policy and purchase goals prioritized according to assessed needs. |
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Assignment -
I-Search Process and
I-Search Project |
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I-Search is a research method initiated by a learner-chosen topic, resulting
in a project in which the learner presents information discovered while
analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating various research materials. Proper
documentation and the personal examination of information literacy skills
demonstrate competency in efficient and ethical information-seeking behavior
(Standard 1) and use of the information literacy curriculum (Standard 2). |
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Standards |
Reflection |
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1: School library media candidates encourage reading and lifelong learning
by stimulating interests and fostering competencies in the effective use of
ideas and information. They apply a variety of strategies to ensure access
to resources and information in a variety of formats to all members of the
learning community. Candidates promote efficient and ethical information
seeking behavior as part of the school library media program and its
services. 2: School library media candidates model and promote
collaborative planning with classroom teachers in order to teach concepts
and skills of information processes integrated with classroom content. They
partner with other education professionals to develop and deliver an
integrated information skills curriculum. Candidates design and implement
instruction that engages the student's interests, passions, and needs which
drive their learning. |
While the other assignments were incredibly helpful for my future position
as a Media Specialist, this I-Search was the most intense and
personally satisfying project in my program. In contrast to the old-school
type of research process, I experienced the I-Search as my young students
will. Choosing my own topic was extremely motivating. I wish I had more time
and definitely plan to return to the topic of the history of the Early
Church in the near future. The search was long and involved, but I learned
to analyze, synthesize and evaluate resources, rather than just finding
minimal information to comply with the teacher's requirement. I learned a
great deal, and satisfied most of my questions. As a participant in a
graduate student's research project, I added extra DED's and learning logs.
I have never reflected my thoughts as much as I did with this project!
Personally working through the research process was helpful for my future
information literacy skills lesson plans. I also was impressed with the huge
amount of investment required on the part of the teacher/guide. Dr. Pappas
modeled an encouraging, knowledgeable guidance that I would like to emulate
one day with my own students. |
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Assignment -
Internship |
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My internship opportunity was unique in that I had many opportunities
working in the media center full time to make connections with the library
community - not only with the staff and students, but with families and the
public library system (Standard 3). I assisted in staff development
information literacy lessons (Educational leader, Standard 3). Additionally,
I planned and taught an information literacy review lesson prior to the 5th
grade CRCT. |
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Standard |
Reflection |
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3: School library media candidates provide leadership and establish
connections with the greater library and education community to create
school library media programs that focus on students learning and
achievement; encourage the personal and professional growth of teachers and
other educators, and model the efficient and effective use of information
and ideas. |
In my role as a media clerk, I have daily responsibilities that provide so
much experience for my future job as a media specialist. However, for many
tasks, I needed to be viewed in the teacher librarian role rather than clerk
role. I am very thankful my media specialist allowed me to do so on many
occasions. My on the job experience and internship requirements put me in a
unique position to be considered for an MS job in Gwinnett County. I
observed the importance of space and time scheduling. I now have a better
idea of how to relate to and manage a clerk working for me, volunteers,
administration, students, and most of all, my teachers. I have found that a
pleasant, knowledgeable, cooperative, and helpful spirit goes a long way in
meeting the competencies in this standard. I want my media center to be
considered not only "the place to go when you want to know", but also the
heart and hub of the school. The hardest part may be simply curbing my
enthusiasm! I realize I will need to carefully assess and prioritize or I
may be completely overwhelmed with ideas of what could be done in my
first year. |
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Assessment - Praxis for Certification |
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Competencies for all four Standards are demonstrated by my passing scores on
the Praxis, June, 2006. |
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