Analyze problems and propose solutions through the application of evidence.

 

3.1 Identify Professional Problems

 

3.2 Gather and Evaluate Evidence: Gather and evaluate a variety of types of existing and/or new evidence

 

3.3 Apply Evidence to Design Solutions: Identify, describe, propose, implement & assess-criteria for levels.

 

3.4 Apply Evidence to Select Appropriate Technology Tools

 

Evidence

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•  LIS 693 SMART Goal Project

  • 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4

• LIS 693 Professional Development Lesson

  • 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4

 

Professional development happens at both the personal and school level. This portfolio represents my own professional development (SMART goal) for my current position and a professional development workshop that I led for staff at my school to educate them about the state of the library. Below is description of the two of these pieces of evidence.

 

Professional development requires an assessment of current practice and the identification of any weaknesses or challenges that can be addressed via structured training, interactive workshop exercises, direct observation of teaching practices, and time set aside for personal reflection. A SMART goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. As a new school librarian at a school that had been without a librarian for some months, I set my SMART goal to increase circulation by 5% in my first month by employing a variety of strategies including organizing the collection, reeducating students about how to use the library, and simplifying check out. SMART goals have been well-researched as an evidence-based practice for measuring and monitoring professional development goals.

 

The LIS 693 Professional Development Lesson was the initial step in an ongoing series of professional development activities I led to educate current staff about resources, policies, circulation, and challenges at our elementary school library. As the school librarian at an elementary school that hasn’t had a librarian for months, one of my first challenges was to understand these issues and provide a “state of the library” report to faculty. This served two purposes: to ensure all faculty were aware of current policies and practices, and to get their feedback on which of these challenges were most pressing and their opinions on a variety of decisions that needed to be made. The workshop involved a summary presentation of major findings of my Follett Destiny analysis, including distributions of books by category and circulation by category with special attention to a subset of books in our Spanish language section. Based on a survey that I conducted at the end of the workshop, participants felt much better informed about resources within our library and current circulation. Respondents had clear opinions regarding the solutions to a number of current challenges and those suggestions will be put into practice in the future. Thus, what started as a professional development session led by me, eventually became a professional development lesson for me myself.

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References

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Gretes, F. (2013). School library impact studies: A review of findings and guide to sources. https://cdn.ymaws.com/pala.site-ym.com/resource/collection/FAAEA358-CF27-4976-889B-2F95015B1AEC/School_Libraries_at_Risk_-_Library-Impact-Studies.pdf

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Kachel, D. E. (2021). Data speaks: Addressing equity of access to school librarians for students. Teacher Librarian, 48(3), 49–52. https://libslide.org/pubs/Kachel-DataSpeaks-TL%20Feb2021.pdf

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Lance, K. C., & Kachel, D. E. (2018, March 26). Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell us. Kappan. https://kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/

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