Re: [LM_NET] Thank you and let's keep discussing the role and future of libraries and librarians

[Linda Martin <lindamartin423@GMAIL.COM>]

What wonderful, provocative questions Paula!

I worry about our future in this time of shrinking economy and standardized
testing.  I hazard to guess that most districts would choose to keep the
instructional coaches before us if there was a choice to be made.  I strive
to include myself, as often as possible, in conversations about school
goals, student achievement, curriculum, and learning.

We all know there are some teachers we will never reach.  Joyce Valenza made
a statement I just love - "Don't water the rocks."   I try to cultivate the
new teachers and let them know how much help a librarian can be.  I model
the role of an insructional partner and it pays off in wonderful ways.

It is difficult for many of us to toot our own horn, but if we don't learn
how to promote the many ways we are directly involved in increasing student
achievement, we will go the way of the dinosaurs.  How many of you have
written your legislators asking for support for the SKILLS Act?  How many of
you went to the AASL Institute on Assessment this month?  It was amazing.
We took away specific plans to utilize student data in planning our library
programs.  I hear people say that they won't go to conferences unless the
district pays for it. (Soapbox moment) I'm sorry people, but those days are
fast leaving us.  If you were taking a trip and knew you were heading for
icy roads, would you wait for somebody else to give you chains or snow
tires?  Don't we have a certain responsibility to ourselves and our clients
to keep our skills up to date?  I look at those trips as an investment in my
future.  I am modeling for my students that we NEVER stop learning,
that education is a journey, not a destination. (Stepping down off soapbox)

Can you, today, share with an administrator or teacher a  bit of data or a
positive collaborative experience with another teacher? Can you make a
single page report for your principal that tells these stories
and demonstrates how you are using student data to drive your collection
development plan?


-- 
Linda Martin
Teacher Librarian and Storyteller
2007 Georgia Library Media Specialist of the Year
Gainesville, GA
lindamartin423@gmail.com
www.lindamartin.us

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