We Are All In This Together

I am very much an independent learner.  I actively seek out professional development opportunities on my own time and at my own expense.  But what I have realized in my 15+ years of teaching is not all individuals are like this. Some individuals do not know where to look for professional development opportunities, they may lack the time or even lack some initiative.

From the Teacher Librarian courses I have taken so far it is interesting to see how often the Teacher Librarian is mentioned as a lead learner, school leader and a driving force for professional development in a school.  Since I have never worked in a school or district with Teacher Librarians before the Learning Commons is not a place where I would go to seek professional learning. Also, since my colleagues are in the same situation as I am they do not necessarily see the Teacher Librarian as a resource in the building.  This will be a challenge for me as well as an opportunity to pave my own path. Despite the fact, I have only been in the TL position for two months I have already been trying to work on professional development areas.  My administration allows me time at staff meetings to share information with staff. As a school we also send out a weekly e-mail to staff that includes important dates, events, etc and I have a space in this document where I can share resources, highlight the Learning Commons and any new professional development opportunities that may be coming up.

Personally, I do not feel very comfortable giving professional development sessions.  I am an introvert and find it very difficult to speak to large groups. In the past year, I have tried hard to step outside my comfort zone and offer some professional learning opportunities in my district to help overcome this fear.  I have offered a session on Makerspaces and STEM where I showed some of the resources and materials I use in my classroom such as ozobots, cubelets, etc. More recently, some colleagues of mine expressed interest in how I use Breakout EDU boxes so I did a presentation that took them through a lesson they might do with their students.

Although I do not give presentations, I feel many of my colleagues know they can ask me about professional development and I am willing to share whatever I might know or look into something further. For example, my colleagues know I am a Seesaw ambassador and a Google Level 1 Educator. They know they can ask me questions about these and I will share whatever I know or try to find out anything they need to know.

We have recently started a new school hashtag called #wyepl to encourage staff to share professional learning. As well, at the end of June last year, the entire staff received The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros (@gcouros).  The use of the hashtag was also to facilitate our thoughts and share our learning while reading the book. By learning together as a team it might help to shape a culture of learning.

Just this week, I taught my first group of fifth graders how to log in to Destiny Discover independently. This may not seem like a big deal to most, but it is a major step in our school as this has not been done in previous years. Our teachers are amazed that our students and themselves can access Destiny anywhere. I am realizing that these baby steps in my first year as a Teacher Librarian are okay. I am also realizing how important it is to meet the community where they are at as well.

The biggest thing I have learned over my career is that we are all in this together.  We must support each other in our professional learning and we must continue to share our best practices with each other.  I know my unique role will continue to push me in finding ways to support my colleagues.  I am looking forward to finding more ways to support the professional learning of my colleagues.