The first article,"Less is more: Setting achievable Goals," specified how difficult it is for a librarian at the beginning of the school year. It specifically guides the librarian into completing the three most important tasks, which include collaboration, staff development, and taking a leadership role by joining committees. The article most important message was to simply to maintain a schedule and create achievable goals, which makes for a realistic schedule.
The second article, "Not enough time in the day: Media Specialists, Program Planning, and Time Management," was a highly interesting article that I will be printing and adding to my librarian reference booklet that I am creating for myself. This article openly addressed the issues pertaining to budgetary and time constraints concerning librarians, and gives dynamic advice. The article advises for the librarian to remember the mission statement or philosophy when chaos presents itself. Finally, the article addresses a six step plan to follow through in order to maintain order.
Citation:
Rosenfeld, E. (2007). Less is more: Setting achievable goals. Teacher Librarian, 35(1), 18-20.
Fitzgerald, M. K., & Waldrip, A. (2004). Not enough time in the day: Media specialists, program planning, and time management, part I. Library Media Connection, 23(1), 38-40.
Prompt Selected:
In the final reflection, draw upon your reflections across the semester to develop a statement of philosophy regarding the library program. Your statement should articulate your beliefs about the importance of school libraries in accomplishing the school mission (supported by citations to the professional literature), strengths you bring to a school as a professional school librarian, and your professional goals in relation to the school library and student learning. We have touched on over 50 topics related to school libraries this semester. This statement should be one page, single-spaced (or two pages, double-spaced). Remember that there is a rubric.
Reflection:
"The beginning of every school year comes with a flurry of activity, and in a burst of enthusiastic energy, we give ourselves too many priorities and goals, which then become unachievable within a few weeks. Perhaps at the beginning of this school year, we should embrace the "less is more" principle and set ourselves fewer priorities and goals and thus work to achieve a simpler, more doable agenda (Rosenfeld, 2007)." The author of this article must know me personally. I am definitely an overachiever in my personal life and private life. I consistently create goals that are unachieveable then become upset with myself when I don't accomplish ALL the goals I created. Some would call this self-sabotage, I prefer to call it getting more done than the average person. Seriously, I have now become more realistic in my personal life, and have expanded that into my professional life. This article was an eye opener, and I will ensure to photocopy it, tab it, and place it under my favorites because as a future librarian, I know I will go into a new building with the idea of attempting to make it perfect. With this article, I will constantly remind myself that perfection does not exist, and if I remain focused on the three items the article referred to as important, which are lesson planning collaboration, staff development (in small steps/groups), and in being a leader by joining and attending as many committee meeting that are important, I know I will be heading in the right direction if I get side tracked by my OCD.
“How on earth am I supposed to be a program administrator, teacher, instructional consultant, and information specialist all at the same time?
When am I going to have time to move our media program toward the goals set forth in Information Power? I don’t have time to think, much l less plan and implement a program based on lofty goals and standards (Fitzgerald. 2004).” This is the question that I asked my self as a teacher, educator, and now as a librarian. Teachers have always had to maintain all of these roles, with a minimal budget. Many times having to dig into our own pockets to provide students with what they need in order for them to be successful. This is also true of a librarian. How will I find the time to be successful with the main five roles of being a librarian? According to this article, a librarian must go back and review the mission statement he/she created to remain focused. “The mission of the library media program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information.” It is worthwhile to print this statement in an attractive and eye-catching font and post it as a mantra on the refrigerator or office door. When business really gets crazy, a moment to breathe deeply and reread the Some media specialists and media committees find it useful to write out a formal philosophy statement of school library service, and then to condense this philosophy down into a single mission statement. Only after doing this kind of thinking can program planning logically proceed." So, this is what I did. I went back to discussion number one, and located the mission statement I created when we began this class in mid January, which is as follows: "The mission of my library is to be able to assist all individuals in the pursuit of life-long learning through equal access to information, literature, and technology so that students and teachers are respected for their individuality, creativity, and personal needs by fostering learning, teaching, researching, and utilizing 21st Century skills through continued professional development (Hamilton, 2013)." My mission statement/philosophy was fairly aggressive, but is definitely the type of library I would operate. Assisting all individuals through equal access, would help me to ensure that the less privileged individuals in our population are provided with the CORRECT information, and are not turned away with subliminal rejection techniques used by the masses. Respecting each person, be it child, adult, the elderly, or the handicapped, I will ensure to embrace their differences and supply them with the same information I would provide to the average middle class majority class American. Finally, the use of technology is empowering or enabling. The reason why America exists today is because of technology. The slaves would not have been stolen from their native country, nor would the Native American's been almost extinct if they had a gun, which was essentially the highest form of technology. So, as a librarian, it will be my job to teach 21st Century skills to ALL races, ages, and colors of people because technology and information, not knowledge is the great equalizer. My philosophy will be posted and read daily as a daily reminder of my purpose as a librarian, and as a central element to organize my priorities when chaos rears it's uninvited head.
Summary:
The first article,"Less is more: Setting achievable Goals," specified how difficult it is for a librarian at the beginning of the school year. It specifically guides the librarian into completing the three most important tasks, which include collaboration, staff development, and taking a leadership role by joining committees. The article most important message was to simply to maintain a schedule and create achievable goals, which makes for a realistic schedule.
The second article, "Not enough time in the day: Media Specialists, Program Planning, and Time Management," was a highly interesting article that I will be printing and adding to my librarian reference booklet that I am creating for myself. This article openly addressed the issues pertaining to budgetary and time constraints concerning librarians, and gives dynamic advice. The article advises for the librarian to remember the mission statement or philosophy when chaos presents itself. Finally, the article addresses a six step plan to follow through in order to maintain order.
Citation:Rosenfeld, E. (2007). Less is more: Setting achievable goals. Teacher Librarian, 35(1), 18-20.
Fitzgerald, M. K., & Waldrip, A. (2004). Not enough time in the day: Media specialists, program planning, and time management, part I. Library Media Connection, 23(1), 38-40.
Prompt Selected:
In the final reflection, draw upon your reflections across the semester to develop a statement of philosophy regarding the library program. Your statement should articulate your beliefs about the importance of school libraries in accomplishing the school mission (supported by citations to the professional literature), strengths you bring to a school as a professional school librarian, and your professional goals in relation to the school library and student learning. We have touched on over 50 topics related to school libraries this semester. This statement should be one page, single-spaced (or two pages, double-spaced). Remember that there is a rubric.
Reflection:
"The beginning of every school year comes with a flurry of activity, and in a burst of enthusiastic energy, we give ourselves too many priorities and goals, which then become unachievable within a few weeks. Perhaps at the beginning of this school year, we should embrace the "less is more" principle and set ourselves fewer priorities and goals and thus work to achieve a simpler, more doable agenda (Rosenfeld, 2007)." The author of this article must know me personally. I am definitely an overachiever in my personal life and private life. I consistently create goals that are unachieveable then become upset with myself when I don't accomplish ALL the goals I created. Some would call this self-sabotage, I prefer to call it getting more done than the average person. Seriously, I have now become more realistic in my personal life, and have expanded that into my professional life. This article was an eye opener, and I will ensure to photocopy it, tab it, and place it under my favorites because as a future librarian, I know I will go into a new building with the idea of attempting to make it perfect. With this article, I will constantly remind myself that perfection does not exist, and if I remain focused on the three items the article referred to as important, which are lesson planning collaboration, staff development (in small steps/groups), and in being a leader by joining and attending as many committee meeting that are important, I know I will be heading in the right direction if I get side tracked by my OCD.
“How on earth am I supposed to be a program administrator, teacher, instructional consultant, and information specialist all at the same time?
When am I going to have time to move our media program toward the goals set forth in Information Power? I don’t have time to think, much l less plan and implement a program based on lofty goals and standards (Fitzgerald. 2004).” This is the question that I asked my self as a teacher, educator, and now as a librarian. Teachers have always had to maintain all of these roles, with a minimal budget. Many times having to dig into our own pockets to provide students with what they need in order for them to be successful. This is also true of a librarian. How will I find the time to be successful with the main five roles of being a librarian? According to this article, a librarian must go back and review the mission statement he/she created to remain focused. “The mission of the library media program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information.” It is worthwhile to print this statement in an attractive and eye-catching font and post it as a mantra on the refrigerator or office door. When business really gets crazy, a moment to breathe deeply and reread the Some media specialists and media committees find it useful to write out a formal philosophy statement of school library service, and then to condense this philosophy down into a single mission statement. Only after doing this kind of thinking can program planning logically proceed." So, this is what I did. I went back to discussion number one, and located the mission statement I created when we began this class in mid January, which is as follows:
"The mission of my library is to be able to assist all individuals in the pursuit of life-long learning through equal access to information, literature, and technology so that students and teachers are respected for their individuality, creativity, and personal needs by fostering learning, teaching, researching, and utilizing 21st Century skills through continued professional development (Hamilton, 2013)." My mission statement/philosophy was fairly aggressive, but is definitely the type of library I would operate. Assisting all individuals through equal access, would help me to ensure that the less privileged individuals in our population are provided with the CORRECT information, and are not turned away with subliminal rejection techniques used by the masses. Respecting each person, be it child, adult, the elderly, or the handicapped, I will ensure to embrace their differences and supply them with the same information I would provide to the average middle class majority class American. Finally, the use of technology is empowering or enabling. The reason why America exists today is because of technology. The slaves would not have been stolen from their native country, nor would the Native American's been almost extinct if they had a gun, which was essentially the highest form of technology. So, as a librarian, it will be my job to teach 21st Century skills to ALL races, ages, and colors of people because technology and information, not knowledge is the great equalizer. My philosophy will be posted and read daily as a daily reminder of my purpose as a librarian, and as a central element to organize my priorities when chaos rears it's uninvited head.