Reflection 3.2
3.2 Instructional partner
Candidates model, share, and promote ethical and legal principles of education and librarianship. Candidates acknowledge the importance of participating on school and district committees and in faculty staff development opportunities.
As an instructional partner at Willards Elementary School it is important for me to participate on school committees and to lead professional development with my school population when possible. Currently, I am in charge of the Accelerated Reader program and its instruction with both teachers and students. At the beginning of each year, I provide grade 1 and 2 teachers with an AR packet, including a chart with colored dots, their corresponding reading levels, the results of the Star Reader tests (for grade 2), and each student’s goals for that year in increments of 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%. I also have led staff in the use of our OPAC system and Grolier Online.
As a teacher in our ‘specials’ area, I am a member of the Willards Integration Network (WIN team). I work with some amazingly talented people (gym, music, and art teachers) in coordinating our arts immersion activities with each of our grade levels throughout the year. Our school has been nominated by the Kennedy Center as a model arts integrated school. The final results will be announced in the fall.
Next year, as I am finishing my degree in SLM, I hope to be included on our school ILT team. I do read the meeting minutes and try to assist where possible to reinforce weak benchmark areas in math or reading. I was able to collaborate with second grade teachers during my Practicum to implement a lesson unit on the comprehension skills of author’s voice, context clues, and compare and contrast.
One of our assignments during ISTC 702 (Educational Leadership and Technology) was to investigate google docs and put together a report on how it could be used in a school setting. I was placed into a group with three strangers and we worked together to discover what benefits there were in using google docs and then how to best present those ideas to our online class. This artifact is entitled Google Docs: A New Way to Collaborate and shares thoughts for its use within classrooms, with teachers, media specialists, and students to increase literacy, work collaboratively, and integrate technology.
As a member of our Reading Day committee, I oversee this celebration of reading. This is quite an event at our school with over 50 community members coming in and out of school. We stagger readers throughout the day and into every grade level for half hour time slots. The day begins with Sherman visiting for the kick-off assembly along with members of the Shorebirds baseball team.
I daily manage the Axis TV Bulletin Board throughout the school. It is assimilated with the Smart Boards and includes all announcements of upcoming events, pictures of past events, AR goal achievers, and anything the teachers, administration, or I would like displayed. Within that system, I am responsible to introduce our teachers in the use of videos and dvds and how they play from a central computer. It has been reinforced by our instructional technology department that only G rated movies which integrate with our curriculum can be used.
The Library Selection Policy and Procedures Manual for my school was developed in ISTC 615 (Collection Development) with the goal of providing high quality resources for the Media Center, a plan for its continued development, and a guide for its daily operation. It was also developed to strengthen the position of the media specialist by stating what procedures are used for selection, weeding, gifts, damaged items, and complaints about materials. It will serve as a statement to the larger school community if ever a policy is called into question. Also, in its local application, it will be a valuable resource for every incoming media specialist in the future of Willards Elementary School.
3.2 Instructional partner
Candidates model, share, and promote ethical and legal principles of education and librarianship. Candidates acknowledge the importance of participating on school and district committees and in faculty staff development opportunities.
As an instructional partner at Willards Elementary School it is important for me to participate on school committees and to lead professional development with my school population when possible. Currently, I am in charge of the Accelerated Reader program and its instruction with both teachers and students. At the beginning of each year, I provide grade 1 and 2 teachers with an AR packet, including a chart with colored dots, their corresponding reading levels, the results of the Star Reader tests (for grade 2), and each student’s goals for that year in increments of 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%. I also have led staff in the use of our OPAC system and Grolier Online.
As a teacher in our ‘specials’ area, I am a member of the Willards Integration Network (WIN team). I work with some amazingly talented people (gym, music, and art teachers) in coordinating our arts immersion activities with each of our grade levels throughout the year. Our school has been nominated by the Kennedy Center as a model arts integrated school. The final results will be announced in the fall.
Next year, as I am finishing my degree in SLM, I hope to be included on our school ILT team. I do read the meeting minutes and try to assist where possible to reinforce weak benchmark areas in math or reading. I was able to collaborate with second grade teachers during my Practicum to implement a lesson unit on the comprehension skills of author’s voice, context clues, and compare and contrast.
One of our assignments during ISTC 702 (Educational Leadership and Technology) was to investigate google docs and put together a report on how it could be used in a school setting. I was placed into a group with three strangers and we worked together to discover what benefits there were in using google docs and then how to best present those ideas to our online class. This artifact is entitled Google Docs: A New Way to Collaborate and shares thoughts for its use within classrooms, with teachers, media specialists, and students to increase literacy, work collaboratively, and integrate technology.
As a member of our Reading Day committee, I oversee this celebration of reading. This is quite an event at our school with over 50 community members coming in and out of school. We stagger readers throughout the day and into every grade level for half hour time slots. The day begins with Sherman visiting for the kick-off assembly along with members of the Shorebirds baseball team.
I daily manage the Axis TV Bulletin Board throughout the school. It is assimilated with the Smart Boards and includes all announcements of upcoming events, pictures of past events, AR goal achievers, and anything the teachers, administration, or I would like displayed. Within that system, I am responsible to introduce our teachers in the use of videos and dvds and how they play from a central computer. It has been reinforced by our instructional technology department that only G rated movies which integrate with our curriculum can be used.
The Library Selection Policy and Procedures Manual for my school was developed in ISTC 615 (Collection Development) with the goal of providing high quality resources for the Media Center, a plan for its continued development, and a guide for its daily operation. It was also developed to strengthen the position of the media specialist by stating what procedures are used for selection, weeding, gifts, damaged items, and complaints about materials. It will serve as a statement to the larger school community if ever a policy is called into question. Also, in its local application, it will be a valuable resource for every incoming media specialist in the future of Willards Elementary School.