Section VII: Planning for the Future

In this constantly changing time of technology and education it is important for the School Library Media Specialist to show they are willing to change with the needs of the school and it’s goals. The media center is the heart and base of schools, so the SLMS must plan and evaluate the school library program based on the strengths, weaknesses and needs of the school. In the text, Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs (30) “The school library program is built on a long-term strategic plan that reflects the mission, goals and objectives of the school.” In order for the SLMS to know the strengths, weaknesses and needs of the school, an assessment must be conducted. The SLMS can complete this assessment by conducting a survey among teachers and administrators. Once the SLMS has the results of the assessment they can determine the goals of their media center.

The Harlem Middle School media specialist has determined the following goals for the media center. The goals, objectives, evaluation measures, and timelines for each goal are listed below. These goals are set to recover the weaknesses and build on the strengths.

Goal 1:

Improve the physical space of the media center to allow easier accessibility for handicapped and special needs students, encourage collaboration, and create quiet spaces for silent reading.

Objective 1a: Begin weeding nonfiction and fiction sections following the CCBOE Collections Policy on pg.30 of the Media Handbook.

Evaluation 1a:

SLMS will run circulation and history reports from the Destiny system on all nonfiction and fiction books in the library. Books that have not circulated (checked-out) in five years will be discarded. Complete weeding of books should take approximately three to four months.

Objective 1b:

Re-arrange, re-purpose, and/or discard bookcases to create new spaces for students. Evaluation 1b:

The current setup of the bookcases take up the majority of the space in the library. The bottom shelf on every bookcase is also not being utilized for shelving books. Therefore, the amount of bookcases that are currently in place are not needed to shelve books. Some bookcases will be repurposed for student centers, while others will be available to teachers for classroom use.

Objective 1c:

New areas will be added to the media center. These spaces will include multiple silent reading areas and collaboration areas for small and large groups as well as whole class instruction. New furniture will be purchased to increase collaboration efforts as well as accommodate wheelchair bound students.

Evaluation 1c:

SLMS will investigate options for updated furniture to include comfortable seating, tables, and chairs. The SLMS will determine the most appropriate furniture to purchase while keeping in mind the needs of our special education students, and the movability of the furniture. The SLMS will then develop a budget for the new items to present to the school principal for approval.

Goal 1 Timeline:

The media specialist will run circulation and history reports from the Destiny system on all nonfiction and fiction books in the library. Books that have not circulated (checked-out) in five years will be discarded. Complete weeding of books should be done within 4 months of beginning the weeding process.

The current setup of the bookcases take up the majority of the space in the library, and the length of the bookcases make it difficult for students in wheelchairs to navigate around them. The media specialist will rearrange the bookcases for to ensure better accessibility for all students. The bottom shelf on every bookcase is also not being utilized for shelving books. Therefore, the amount of bookcases that are currently in place are not needed to shelve books. The media specialist will evaluate the need for bookcases in the media center. Some bookcases will be repurposed for student centers, while others will be available to teachers for classroom use. Bookcases will be moved and repurposed once the weeding of books is complete. Rearrangement should take approximately two weeks, this will also allow time for re-shelving.

The media specialist will investigate options for updated furniture to include comfortable seating, tables, and chairs. The SLMS will determine the most appropriate

furniture to purchase while keeping in mind the needs of our special education students, and the movability of the furniture. The SLMS will then develop a budget for the new items to present to the school principal for approval. The estimated time for developing the list of new materials to include specific items with three price quotes from different vendors should take 2-3 weeks.

Goal 2:

Provide a technology device for each student to use during the school year.

Objective 2a:

Survey teachers and students to assess the preference of tech devices to include iPads, E-Readers, and Chromebooks.

Evaluation 2a:

SLMS will create a survey in which teachers and students will complete in order to show the need and use of devices.

Objective 2b:

Create a technology committee of teachers, students, administrators, parents and media specialist to establish a plan of action to obtain devices.

Evaluation 2b:

SLMS will recruit teachers, administrators, students, and parents to become a member of the technology committee.

Objective 2c:

The committee will research different resources for funds to obtain these devices for students.

Evaluation 2c:

The committee will look at different devices, budget sources including funding, donors, and grant proposals to purchase the devices, along with success of other schools in obtaining devices.

Goal 2 Timeline:

Providing students at Harlem Middle School with a technological device for the school year, allowing the school to become 1:1 aides in the transformation of the students becoming 21st century learners. Having the teachers and students take a survey to assess the preference of tech devices allows the media specialist to see which type of devices would better suit the overall student population. What are the teachers looking for in consideration as to how their students would use the device.

The media specialist will create a survey in which teachers and students will complete in order to show the need and use of devices. The link will be given to students and teachers to access and complete the survey within two weeks. The survey will be completely online and the media specialist will be able to interpret the data through Google drive.

The school media specialist will be responsible for recruiting teachers, administrators, students, and parents to become members of the technology committee. The estimated time for the SLMS to recruit for the technology committee is within one month from the time the survey was administered.

The committee will look at different devices, budget sources such as funding, donors, and grant proposals to purchase the devices, and research the success of other schools in obtaining devices. This will be an ongoing timeframe until devices have been obtained. The committee will choose to meet monthly or quarterly to give updates on progress. It could take one full school year or more to complete the process of obtaining all the devices.

Goal 3:

Develop a Professional Learning Network that consists of both physical and virtual resources, for teachers that will enhance student learning.

Objective 3a:

Survey teachers to assess the specific technology and resource needs.

Evaluation 3a:

SLMS will create a PLN survey for teachers. This survey will determine tools, resources, trainings, and materials that have been requested by teachers for general and specific needs.

Objective 3b:

Virtual Space: Develop and maintain a virtual PLN that is easily accessible and user friendly to teachers.

Evaluation 3b:

The SLMS will create and maintain a PLN that will host a curated variety of resources; tutorials, lessons, Web 2.0 tools, databases, etc. This PLN will be linked to the Media Center’s webpage under the Teacher Resources tab for ease of access. Teachers will be encouraged to create their own PLN to be shared on the webpage.

Objective 3c:

Physical Space: Provide hands-on training workshops and an updated Professional Learning section in the media center for teachers.

Evaluation 3c:

SLMS will attend vertical team and departmental meetings to establish a focus for purchasing new Professional Learning material for core content areas. The SLMS will also provide a calendar of scheduled learning workshops for teachers to attend at their convenience and research having a professional trainer come to the school.

Goal 3 Timeline:

The media specialist will create a PLN survey for teachers. This survey will determine tools, resources, trainings, and materials that have been requested by teachers for general and specific needs. The media specialist will share the survey with teachers with the expectation that it will be completed by them within two weeks.

The SLMS will create and maintain a PLN that will host a curated variety of resources; tutorials, lessons, Web 2.0 tools, databases, etc. This PLN will be linked to the Media Center’s webpage under the Teacher Resources tab for ease of access. Teachers will be encouraged to create their own PLN to be shared on the webpage.After the survey has been completed, this will be an ongoing process (seeking new resources and posting them to the PLN).

SLMS will attend vertical team and departmental meetings to establish a focus for purchasing new Professional Learning material for core content areas. The SLMS will also provide a calendar of scheduled learning workshops for teachers to attend at

their convenience and research having a professional trainer come to the school. This will be an ongoing process.

Goal 4:

Create opportunities to collaborate and co-teach lessons and/or units using the media center resources.

Objective 4a:

Survey teachers to assess the interest of collaboration and co-teaching with the SLMS.

Evaluation 4a:

The SLMS will create a survey in which the teachers will complete to show the interest they have to collaborate and co-teach with the SLMS.

Objective 4b:

Based on the results of the survey, SLMS will determine the focus of collaboration and co-teaching with teacher.

Evaluation 4b:

Teachers that are interested in collaborating with the SLMS will provide a “needs assessment” to the SLMS. What areas are students struggling with? How can the SLMS provide assistance to the teachers in a collaborative lesson? Objective 4c:

Based on the results of the survey, the SLMS will facilitate the organization of collaboration times as well as collaborative lessons with teachers by using an asynchronous shared calendar.

Evaluation 4c:

Using the Outlook or Google calendar, teachers and the SLMS will schedule collaborative lesson planning times. Since time for planning is a concern, SLMS and teachers will plan collectively when face-to-face meetings are not possible by

● Using e-mail for communicating quick moments of reprieve● Inputting information in a planning template that will allow everyone’s input to be

shared and passed around until the template is satisfied by all● Creating a collaborative curriculum unit plan template together

Goal 4 Timeline:

The media specialist will create a survey in which the teachers will complete to show the interest they have to collaborate and co-teach with the SLMS. The survey will be administered over a two week period at the beginning of the school year.

Teachers that are interested in collaborating with the SLMS will provide a “needs assessment” to the SLMS. What areas are students struggling with? How can the SLMS provide assistance to the teachers in a collaborative lesson? The needs assessment will be turned in by each participating teacher over the next two week period after completing the initial survey. Once received, SLMS will review the information within one week and provide the teachers with the suggested focus of collaboration and co-teaching by the end of the following week.

Using the Outlook or Google calendar, teachers and the SLMS will schedule collaborative lesson planning times. Since time for planning is a concern, SLMS and teachers will plan collectively when face-to-face meetings are not possible by

● Using e-mail for communicating quick moments of reprieve● Inputting information in a planning template that will allow everyone’s input to be

shared and passed around until the template is satisfied by all● Creating a collaborative curriculum unit plan template together

At the first face-to-face meeting held one week after the needs assessment is received, teachers and SLMS will create a planning template to be used as the guide for collaborative teaching. Collaborative lesson planning will be set to quarterly face-to-face meetings in order to revisit the plan and determine if there are any necessary changes that need to be made. In between, everyone can communicate via e-mail. This will be the process until the end of the school year.

Advocacy:

At the first faculty meeting of the school year, the SLMS will share the details of the

strategic plan, goals, objectives, proposed budget, and timeline to all stakeholders at

Harlem Middle School. Each stakeholder will be provided with a copy of the strategic

plan and also given the opportunity to ask questions regarding the plan. Throughout the

year, at quarterly faculty meetings, the SLMS will update stakeholders of the continued

progress of the strategic plan. Information will be provided using a detailed report of the

previous three months operations, changes, and progress of goals. In between quarterly

progress reports, a brief newsletter/flyer will be distributed electronically to promote the

amazing things that are happening in the media center. A calendar of learning

workshops, displays of student work from collaborative lessons, and tech tips will also

be included in the newsletter/flyer. The Media Specialist will continue to encourage all

stakeholders to support the efforts of the SLMS and promote the goals of the HMS

Media Center to improve student learning and achievement within the school library.

References:

Columbia County School District SiteCCBOE Collections Policy

Empowering learners guidelines for school library media programs. (2009). Chicago, Ill.: American Association of School Librarians.

Survey used for creating the Goals: Stakeholders surveyResponses from the survey were used to create goals for Harlem Middle School

http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/D0544E4C-45EC-4038-BA78-616DB87C193A/33406/Section24.pdf