Standard 10. Teachers reflect on their practice and assume responsibility for their own professional development by actively seeking and participating in opportunities to learn and grow as professionals.
Teachers…
10.1 solicit feedback from students, families, and colleagues to reflect on and improve their own teaching
10.2 explore and evaluate the application of current research, instructional approaches and strategies, including technologies to improve student learning
10.3 take responsibility for their own professional development and improvement of their students’ learning by participating in workshops, courses, or other individual and collaborative professional development activities that support their plans for continued development as teachers
10.4 take responsibility for learning about and implementing federal, state, district and school initiatives to improve teaching and learning
Artifact #1: Rhode Island Library Association’s Information Literacy Action Round Table (ILART)
Description:
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend and participate in the Rhode Island Library Association’s Information Literacy Action Round Table (ILART) Lesson Swap. I was selected to present my 2nd grade penguin collaborative project for the lesson swap. There were four presenters: 2 from a University setting, 1 from a public library, and myself. The purpose was to present our lessons as if we were teaching and for the audience to learn about a new lesson they may want to teach themselves. I created a google slide presentation highlighting the steps I took with my students and described how these different elements progressed through many class sessions. I also setup accounts in the online presentations tool websites for participants to try out parts of the lesson first hand.
How artifact demonstrates meeting the standard:
This artifact demonstrates meeting standard 10 because the lesson swap gave me the opportunity to learn from the other lesson swap presenters, gain confidence in presenting myself, and allowed me to teach my library community colleagues. The participants had great feedback and seemed genuinely excited to try ThingLink. I set up accounts for them to try it during class and later some of the participants thanked me and said they wanted to try it with their students too – the best compliment I could have received! I look forward to continuing to present, learn, and teach in a similar capacity at future lesson swaps, conferences, and webinars.
Why I chose this artifact:
I chose this artifact to demonstrate mastery of standard 10 because I was excited to share how these “little” second graders learned to do research in PebbleGo, type it up in a Google Doc, find an image to use that had appropriate permissions, then bring it all into ThingLink (or Buncee) using copy/paste. I found myself laughing a bit throughout the presentation realizing how crazy this all sounds to be doing with 2nd graders, but I kept emphasizing that I was surprised also and how that was one of the biggest lessons for me – I can teach these young students how to do amazing technology projects, just one step at a time. I also learned that teaching them how to do research the right way now vs later when we think they can handle it, will be beneficial in the long run. In addition, I was able to gain additional knowledge from the other presenters during the lesson swap. Sharing with fellow librarians and teachers has been really helpful at the beginning of my career and I plan to continue learning from my peers at each opportunity that arises and seek out new ones as much as possible.
Hi Sue,
I am amazed at what you are able to accomplish with second graders! Thank you for sharing your ideas with us. I went home to find that my fifth grade son had a TERRIBLE homework assignment from his health teacher – full of bad web sites and broken links. We really need to direct information literacy to the teachers next! Maybe we can take the Lesson Swap on the road?
I would like to share the presentations on the ILART web site. Could you send me a link to your presentation, or attach it to an email?
Thanks,
Maura
______________________________
Maura E. Keating
Research and Instruction Librarian
Douglas and Judith Library, Bryant University
Smithfield, RI 02917
(401) 232-6299
Here is the feedback from the comments we got from the ILART Lesson Swap Evaluation:
Interesting to hear about your success with the students. A very good presentation.
School librarians always know the best new tools!
Kudos, and thanks again for a great presentation.
Artifact #2: Blended & Personalized Learning Conference (BPLC)
Description:
I attended the Blended & Personalized Learning Conference (BPLC) on April 7, 2018 to meet with different vendors, see the technology demonstrations, and attend creative sessions. I specifically met with Rhode Island Society of Technology Educators (RISTE), CoreAtlas, Buncee, Capstone and PebbleGo. I was inspired by the opening session with the student panel and learned a great deal from the following workshop sessions: Enabling Student Voice and Choice with Buncee, Strategies for Student-centered Learning and Student-led Classrooms, Sharing and Learning with Library Media Specialists, Practice Playground, Using Research Projects to Teach Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship, and Elementary School Classroom Simulation.
How artifact demonstrates meeting the standard:
This artifact demonstrates meeting standard 10 because it shows my commitment to seeking out professional development opportunities. Attending the BPLC Conference is an example of me taking responsibility for my own professional development and improvement of my students’ learning by participating in workshops and collaborative professional development activities.
Attending the BPLC Conference also allowed me to explore and evaluate different blended and personalized learning strategies such as centers, group work, and student choice. Another highlight from the conference was the opportunity to explore and test different technologies that I am interested in using to improve student learning in my library.
Why I chose this artifact:
I chose this artifact to demonstrate mastery of standard 10 because it was my first of hopefully many professional development conferences. I was thrilled to attend and felt inspired with every person I met, listened to, or watched. I connected with many valuable vendor contacts and saw great examples of technology in the classroom that I am interested in implementing in my library. Lastly, I made connections with fellow librarians and shared ideas about library advocacy, lesson plans, and keeping students engaged with different centers. Not only did I learn a tremendous amount while I was physically present at the conference, but the contacts I made will be available forever and further my learning in ways I can’t even guess yet.
