Supporting my Own Personal Learning, Development, and Network


                     Supporting My own Personal Learning, Development, and Network

 

There are many different ways that I can continue to develop my skills as an educator. Virtually, all of these ways of learning are dependent upon forming and maintaining connections with a community of fellow learners.

Firstly, I meet regularly with other teacher librarians in my district in both large and small groups. For our last Pro D day, 20 of us or so met and shared two resources each that we enjoyed using in our libraries with students. One of the resources, based on the picture book "Snowflake Bentley", allows students to create their own snowflakes online. It is a moment of wonder for students. The website for this is https://dangries.com/rectangleworld/PaperSnowflake/


I also have the good fortune to have several teacher librarian mentors. Being able to visit their library set ups has been so incredibly useful. Seeing how they have set up wireless check out scanners, organized their collections, advocate in their schools, and even what tapes they use, are a few of many ways that they have positively influenced my development. 

 JVCC BOOK-20CC Crystal Clear Book Repair Tape: 1 in. x 72 yds. (Clear) : Amazon.ca: Office Products

JVCC BOOK-20CC Crystal Clear Book Repair Tape: 3/4 in. x 72 yds. (Clear) : Amazon.ca: Office Products 

JVCC BOOK-20CC Crystal Clear Book Repair Tape: 2 in. x 72 yds. (Clear) : Amazon.ca: Office Products

I also have made a point of staying in touch with colleagues from a variety of different schools that I have worked in over the years. At our school currently there is a debate about whether the school should celebrate Family Day or Mother's and Father's Day.  My side of the argument did not win the day unfortunately. But I wanted to support my colleagues who were eager to change to celebrating Family Day. I reached out to the last school I worked at that had made this change a few years ago and was graciously provided with two resources (listed below) to share with my new colleagues. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdyGAjj2xAw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeSdQmO51Ps

I also have found local public librarians to be an invaluable source of information. There is a huge demand among students at my school for Manga. However, I know very little about Manga and what is appropriate for an elementary school population. The local public librarian in charge of purchasing very kindly spent 20 minutes with me walking through her Manga collection  and what might be appropriate for an elementary school.

Another key source of my continuing professional learning is the students I work with.  A few years ago, I made short films with students based on the popular craze of Mannequin Challenges. The students delighted in showing me how versatile the filming function on their phones were. More recently, that project changed into using Tiktok to film with. Again, students showed me so many different functions on Tiktok that allow for amazing film making.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjOJjcReCXc

Finally, the best way that I have found for creating professional growth is by sharing my thinking with colleagues. For example, I email my principal a weekly set of highlights from my library program. Knowing that I am going to do this each week makes me accountable to always be doing the most interesting work possible. Likewise, I seek out colleagues who share similar goals and then learn with them. This is particularly true for guided reading in my school. There are several of us who are relatively new at leading guided reading sessions so we are all very motivated to learn and share ideas with one another. 

To be a teacher is to be a learner. One of my favourite things about this job is that there will never be an end point of learning when I know all that I need to know to be a good educator. Instead, as I become  more experienced, I ask better questions about how and what I teach. On the day I retire, I will still have so, so many questions.






Comments

  1. Kim18 February 2022 at 05:20

    It sounds like you have a really strong PLN Soren! Being able to grow with other colleagues is so helpful, as you all know how things actually work in your own school, as well as the individual students and their needs. Is your principal responsive to your weekly messages?

    I think you make a great point with learning from your students as well. I am always so jealous of the way students will just try things out with technology- I feel like with adults, we are less brave to just try things and this can hold back our learning.

    And also great that you can go to your public library. In the past, the libraries around us haven't been very responsive, but they are starting to be open to connecting with us and I think there is potential to start working together more. I can't remember- do you partner with them for things like library accounts or inter-library loans?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sonia Aston19 February 2022 at 12:20

    Hi Soren,

    I loved your blog. I think being able to grow and learn from other professionals is very important. I also find that I get a lot more growth from students! It's great to hear that you do as well. Students know a lot about technology and are very eager to help us learn more.
    Partnering with your local library is a great way to learn more about various topics. I am glad you are able to forge a connection with them. Have you thought about asking your local library to send you library cards for your students so that they can access those resources as well?

    Best wishes,

    Sonia

    ReplyDelete
  3. Erin21 February 2022 at 18:51

    Hi Soren,
    I really enjoyed your post. I love how you mentioned how much you learn from your students! I have also found students to be a great resource, when we listen to them and their input we are teaching in a way that they will likely find more engaging and meaningful. I also appreciated your comment about connecting with the local library about specific books and getting recommendations from them. I found Manga challenging as well because that is a genre I have never read and some of the content seemed a little mature but I had no experience with it. I had not heard of Mannequin Challenges but loved the Youtube video you shared, what a great way to find ways for students to create projects using mediums and styles that they enjoy! I learned a lot, thanks for sharing!
    Erin

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown22 February 2022 at 13:45

    Hi Soren,
    I loved the way your blog post outlined the ways you access your PLN while sharing some of the gems you've gathered from it over the years. I am going to use the online snowflake maker because I often use Snowflake Bentley as a mentor text for biography writing! I also appreciated how you mentioned having mentors in the TL community. Lately I have been thinking about how I will learn all of the small but important practical aspects of the job like how to use the automated library system or what kind of tape to use! Thank you for reminding me of the importance of making contact with fellow TLs. Keeping in touch with former colleagues is my most valuable source of professional development also.
    -Keri

    ReplyDelete
  5. D.McNee25 February 2022 at 06:14

    You have outlined some good strategies for continuing to grow your ICT skills. I appreciate the practical examples you share. I love how you end this post. I feel the same way. For your next post, some academic reading and research as well as a bibliography at the end of your post would complement your work.

    ReplyDelete

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