Objective 4.2: Professional Development
Indicator: Candidates plan for ongoing professional growth.
Image taken from: libraries.ne.gov
At the tender age of 14, at 5’0 tall, my doctor told me that I was “done growing.” Distraught by this news, I sought comfort in my mother. She assured me that just because I wouldn’t get taller didn’t mean that I was done growing; I would grow as a person every single day. This same theory applies to my desire in being a librarian—although I have reached my goal by becoming an educator, I still have a lot more growth ahead of me.
Professional development can be a wonderful resource to educators. When professional development opportunities are planned with the audience’s needs in mind, I feel that they are a very effective way to share information and encourage new ideas. Creating a Professional Development Plan allowed me to use content curricular knowledge and design strategies in which I could best establish collaborative opportunities with staff members. This assignment also gave me the chance to examine the many support resources available in the library community. Reviewing this information helped me to make the decision in joining organizations such as Young Adult Library Services Association as well as Maryland Association of School Librarians. I also learned of many conferences, free webinars, and other online resources that encourage us to continually build our library toolkit. This assignment helped me realize that I have to be very aware of the ongoing developments in the field. In a profession where technologies and teaching strategies change so often, I can think of no better way than to rely on professional development sources in order to shape me into a strong resource for my school. Aside from devising a plan for continuing my growth as a librarian, I also consider reading literature about our field to be crucial for my program’s success. While completing research on teacher-librarian collaboration, I created a literature review of articles from various publications in order to learn the importance of this subject. Any sort of reading, whether it is a reflection of school librarians who tried specific teaching strategies or a study filled with data, will help me to better understand the factors that shape my role as librarian. By immersing myself in literature, I was able to tap into excellent resources to use as a future school librarian. I found many helpful sources, such as Library Media Connection, as well as came to see a new value in electronic educational journals, such as ProQuest; all of which I fully intend on using when I am establishing my own collection. Each professional development publication is a terrific way to share amongst colleagues a variety of strategies to encourage student success. All of these resources will allow me to build a program that is centered around best practices for learner needs. By continuously participating in professional development opportunities, I challenge myself to grow as an educator. Such occasions give me the chance to gain new information, internalize its value, and adapt it to best suit the needs of my school community. These resources can only help me to expand my professional relationships, and increase my potential to be an essential resource in my building. |
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