Thank you all---I had suggestions that I would never have thought of. I knew that
you all were helpful people, we are librarians after all.
JaKay
Original inquiry:
What do you ask for when you would like a letter of recommendation from your
principal? He wants me to tell him what areas to comment on. I dunnnnnnnnoooooooooo.
Givens are:
Battle of the Books
Working with teachers on units
Knowledge of books
And then, I draw a blank.
Wonderful responses:
How about including any work you've done on committees (school improvement,
curriculum, grade level), anything you've done to impact school climate, any
kind of outreach to the parents/community, supervision of parent volunteers,
and technology integration.
Creating an atmosphere conducive to learning. Volunteering for various
committees, etc in your middle school. lAssisting students after hours you are
closed. Setting the bar high for all students ...setting them up for success!
Your geninue
love of books and kids and your ablity to connect kids with some reading material
to enhance their lives!!
Work ethic
Relationship with colleagues
Teamplayer
Attitude
Acts of collaboration with other teachers and integrating technology into the
curriculum are always great to have someone talk about or mention in a Letter of
Recommendation...
Areas that an administrator would be interested in:
knowledge of children's & YA lit
behavior management skills
interpersonal relationships with admin, teachers, support staff &
students
administrative/management skills shown in LMC
technological leadership
staff development capabilities
professionalism & personal appearance
work ethic
creativity in programming
instructional and lesson design skills
What are your strengths? Are you good at working with colleagues and
children and parents? Do you serve as a leader in the school? Are you a
self starter, a good problem solver, reliable, creative? what ever your
strong points, why not ask him to comment on those aspects of your
performance.
I am in the middle of getting a letter of recommendation from my
principal. He asked me for a list of the achievements I had done during
the 5 years I've been working for him. I finished it and it's much
longer than expected.
What he really wants you to do is write the letter for him (grin), so
take this opportunity to
A) categorize what you do/have done into the four major areas (as
defined by AASL) of
--Program Administrator
--Instructional Partner
--Teacher
--Information Specialist
and then
B) provide bulleted lists of accomplishments for each category.
And do not be overly modest!!
Do you have an evaluation form that has specific areas? We have a two
page form and a booklet of guidelines for teachers, guidance counselors
and media specialists. One of the pages is for all and two are tailored
to each group above.
How about "promotes positive relationships between students and library",
"responsible for selection of library materials that correlate to curriculum
and are appropriate to school's needs","ability to work with library budgets
and manage library's financial accounts","cultivates excellent relationships
with staff, parents, district personnel and vendors" and "excellent
organizational skills allowing for flexible use of library facility"?
I would want something about my organizational skills (assuming, of course, that
you are organized :) - at least in your own way - as most of us librarians are!).
Also, you might want comments about promoting reading and use of the media center
and its materials with staff and students, any extra curricular activities you were
involved in, committees served on, being responsible for the media center budget,
and submitting reports on time (my district has quite a few required reports to
submit). Just a few thoughts.
You will definitely want him to comment on:
* Your professional work within the school and the collaboration with
teachers on specific units of instruction.
* Your involvement in outside activities that directly relate to the
school's program--- anything that you might have done to help with
activities directly related to students or groups (those things that take a
TEAM effort but that are NOT directly related to the library----this shows
your willingness to help with the overall school program).
* Your contributions to the library that involved things such as grant
writing, program development, mentoring, instruction to students, innovative
ideas that defined new programs adopted by the school.
* Programs that you developed that will be kept by the school such as: web
pages, classroom units, webquests, booktalks, blogs, bookfairs, author
visits, etc.
I'm sure there are other things...perhaps others can offer some suggestions!
Regardless of what you find in your letter of recommendation from your
administrator, be sure to include those other things that you have done
(that he doesn't recognize or realize that you did) in your resume!
(Writing journal articles, books, instruction, presentations to state and
local library associations, etc.)
How 'bout:
--integration of technology into lessons
--integration of information skills into the curriculum
--design of curriculum which meets national standards (mention ALA
Information Power here, if desired!)
--collaboration with faculty on lesson planning
-management of library facility, including maintaining a fine collection
which supports instruction, and promotes recreational reading among the
students
Find a nice job description of the librarian's role here:
http://www.ala.org/aaslTemplate.cfm?Section=informationpower&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=19930
What about the categories in Information Power.
The Roles Of a School Library Media Specialists :
Teacher
Instructional Partner
Information Specialist
Program Administrator
For more detail, you can go to rhe following website:
<http://www.ala.org/aaslTemplate.cfm?Section=informationpower&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=19930>.
JaKay Greer
Highly Qualified Teacher/Professional
Teacher-Librarian
Damascus Middle School 503.658.3171
http://damascus.gresham.k12.or.us/
McCarty Middle School 503.665.0148
http://mccarty.gresham.k12.or.us/media_center/mccarty_media_center.htm
Gresham, OR
jakay_greer@gbsd.gresham.k12.or.us
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