Summative+Essay

**My Journey as a Media Specialist** Four years ago I made a choice to leave the classroom and to pursue the job of a media specialist. Prior to accepting the job, I had spoken with my principal and was made aware of what my new job responsibilities would be as well as the vision that she had for our school media program. Even with a clear idea of the direction that I needed to head into in order to create a successful media program, this was a big change for me professionally. I have found this new position to be quite demanding and challenging on many different levels. In addition, I have also appreciated the support that I have received from my instructors and colleagues in theTowsoncohort program as well as the staff members at our school and the media/technology team in our county. As an information specialist I have grown from teaching 5th graders basic research skills to modeling efficient and ethical ways to seek information for students in grades Pre-k to 5 as well as teachers and staff members within our learning community. The coursework throughout this cohort experience as well as the hands on experiences have taught me that being an information specialist is more than just locating resources for research projects. I must also be knowledgeable of the organization of data bases, Web 2.0 resources and other current digital/print content. In addition, it is equally important for me to be stay up to date and to implement fair use policies that are created at the county, state and national levels. Furthermore, the overall goal of an information specialist is not just to be successful in teaching information literacy skills that are necessary for the modern world in which we live, but to also create a stimulating learning environment that encourages reading and lifelong learning. My role as a teacher has also changed and now includes adult learners as well as children. As a knowledgeable teacher I must be aware of my learners and their learning styles. During my undergraduate work as an educator, I learned various strategies on how to teach students with different learning styles. However, it was not until I took ISTC 702 Educational Leadership that I read about strategies and techniques to teach adult learners. While reading the assigned articles, I made several connections that related to the professional sessions that I was teaching at the time. Through these readings I was able to adjust my instruction, which allowed me to be more successful in accomplishing the goals and objectives of the sessions that I taught. Today the teaching of information literacy skills are still as much of a key focus of mine as they were when I took over in the media center four years ago. Through our coursework, I was exposed to several processes as well as instructional designs when it came to the teaching of information literacy skills. These different techniques such as Pebbles in the Pond and ADDIE have allowed me to experiment with different methods and tools to assist my students in their learning. In turn I have been able to share these strategies with other teachers when we co plan or design lessons for research projects. During our practicum class I also had the opportunity to go observe other media specialists at the secondary level. One of the lessons that I observed that I was most impressed with was a collaborative science lesson that was being taught by the media specialist and a science teacher at the middle school in our county. This lesson involved the teaching of content through a project based learning model and the use of the Big6 research process. I was fascinated by how well the teachers worked together and the techniques that they used to put the students in charge of their own learning verses just feeding them the information in a direct teaching approach. This opportunity and many others throughout our cohort experience have demonstrated the power of the media specialist as a collaborator and leader. I have always been willing and have actively pursued collaborating with other teachers, staff members and educators when it comes to achieving our school goals and objectives. One successful collaboration project that was completed this past year that came out of our Introduction to Research course was and action research project that was done with the pre-k students in our school. While working on this project, I was able to bring my expertise as an information specialist to the table by introducing the students to the Super3 Process. The pre-k teacher I worked with was able to model for me several strategies that she uses in scaffolding instruction for younger students. Our project showed potential for conducting future research projects as well as some strategies that could be used with primary teachers for professional development sessions that could be held this coming school year. Overall, I feel that the initiative that I have taken in our school in regards to working on becoming an effective collaborator and instructional partner has benefited me as a teacher and allowed others to see the value of our school media program. In addition to continuing my responsibilities of being the tech leader in our building, two years ago our school principal invited me to also become a member of our leadership team. This opportunity has provided me with many experiences that we discussed in our Educational Leadership and Technology course. Our online discussions provided me with many different perspectives and ideas that I look forward to using as I continue to grow as a leader and program administrator of the media program within our school. Finally, one of the most challenging roles as a media specialist that I think I have taken on is that of the program administrator. The reason that I feel that this role has been the most challenging is that there is only so much time that I can allocate to these responsibilities due to the fixed schedule that I have as an elementary media specialist. Time management is a key focus when it comes to managing the day to day operations as well as preparing a budget and organizing fund raising activities such as book fairs. The daily journals that we did in our practicum course allowed me the opportunity to reflect upon what I was currently doing on a daily basis in regards to the running of our school media program. Through these reflections, I have been able to come up with some areas in which I would like to improve upon this coming school year to make our program even stronger and to support some of the initiatives of the new core curriculum that we will be implementing shortly within our school. In conclusion, I can see that my journey as a media specialist is far from over, and that I will only continue to improve due to the knowledge and experiences that I gained by being an active participant in the Master's of Science for School Library Program at TowsonUniversity. To be a lifelong learner is not only what I believe makes a difference in my life, but it is also the value that I wish to impose upon my students.
 * Summative Essay**