Dear Barbara,
Thank you for your well reasoned response and practicle suggestions. So much better
than my missive dashed off before jumping on the subway. As I prepare for my
sabbatical, I am taking your advice to heart in documenting the library proagram
and curriculum for my replacement. We are in a moment of change, new president of
the college, new dean of our school, new director of the library, an opportunity
for growth and new vision. even for someone who has an extremely supportive
administration is a good idea to create a strategic plan in the three areas that
you have suggested. Thanks for the reminder. Lisa
Lisa Von Drasek
Children's Librarian
Bank Street College of Education
School for Children Pre-K- 8
610 West 112th St
NY NY 10025
lisav@bnkst.edu
212 875 4452
>>> Barbara Braxton <barbara.288@BIGPOND.COM> 02/29/08 3:46 AM >>>
Dear Crystal ( and others in her situation of receiving less-than-flattering
feedback)
I agree with Lisa in that you should try to turn this into a positive and use it as
a fabulous
opportunity to grow your career, particularly as you have only been in this
profession for two
months.
Put aside the hurt, ignore the politics and examine the feedback to identify the
areas that the
principal sees as being the cornerstones of your position. Group these into three
areas - curriculum
leadership and development; information specialist; and information services
manager and then list
the specific tasks (such as those Lisa mentioned) under its appropriate heading,
putting those
things you are doing well in one column and those things that need attention in
another.
This will help you see where your strengths are so you are not feeling overwhelmed
and negative
about the whole situation. Now, examine those areas of strength and work out why
you are stronger
in them - perhaps you prefer to work 1:1 with students than doing original
cataloguing. Apart from
preference, what knowledge and skills do you have that make those parts of the job
easier? How can
you transfer these to help support other areas of your work? Finally, for that
section, make one
goal for each strength that will give you a pathway to continue building on it.
For those areas which need attention (and every single one of us can make
improvements whether we
have been in the position 2 months or 20 years!), be honest and objective and
identify why things
are not working so well. If necessary, make an appointment with the principal and
ask for
clarification. Again, make one goal for each area, and, as Lisa says, seek the
appropriate
assistance to help you achieve them.
Use a document like the Australian School Library Association Standards of
Professional Excellence
(http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.htm) or the AASL one if there is one to
work out your
personal mission statement for your career and to identify what best practice looks
like so you are
shaping your goals and are continually moving forward professionally. Make your
goals S.M.A.R.T -
specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely (see
http://www.topachievement.com/smart.html)
and perhaps even short, middle and long-term so you are developing a professional
continuum of
development. If you can get hold of the Strategy column that I wrote for Teacher
Librarian February
2005 called Promises, Promises, you will get some other ideas about how to do this
as a team within
your school.
Now draw up a plan that shows your areas of strength, areas of need, their goals,
how you will
achieve them, who will help you and a timeframe and make THIS your response to the
principal. Make
an appointment and show him and ask him what assistance he is prepared to offer to
help you meet
your needs and his expectations. Schedule a series of observations so he can see
your progress and
commitment.
If I were the principal I would see this as so much more powerful and professional
than a defensive
dummy-spit; I would offer you my support because you clearly want to do things my
way and therefore
you are a potential ally, and I would be wary of NOT offering support because you
have some strong
documentation that you might be able to use against me in the future if I didn't!
Good luck
Barbara
Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
COOMA NSW 2630
AUSTRALIA
E. barbara.288@bigpond.com
Together we learn from each other
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