Standard+3.3+Educational+leader

//**Reflection - AASL Standard 3.3: Educational leader **//

“At the end of the second millennium, school library media service has undergone a radical change of emphasis. The focus of school library media programs has moved from resources to students to creating a community of lifelong learners. Students and their learning remain at the core of library media programs and services, shaping the functions of school library media specialists.’ This quote from **//__Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning__//** provides reason for why one of the main roles of a media specialist has evolved into that of an educational leader within the school. As a member of our school leadership team, I am involved in decisions and policies that affect all aspects of student learning. This leadership role requires me to run an effective media program that includes developing a collection to meet the needs of our learning community as well as provide quality instruction in regards to information literacy. In addition, I am also responsible for supporting other learning initiatives within our school that is determined by the leadership team.

In Educational Leadership and Technology ISTC 702 we were asked to complete a strategic plan that included the integration of technology into the curriculum. For my project I decided to focus on the use of Activinspire as a tool to improve the teaching of math skills for special education students. This proposal was designed based on the need that was determined by analyzing the previous year’s MSA math test scores. In this plan additional training would be given in regards to going beyond the basic skills of using Activinspire. Teachers and Special Education Teachers would be taught how to use the software to meet IEP requirements for their students and to provide intervention as needed. While designing this plan, I had to step outside of my media curriculum and focus on the math curriculum for grades 3-5. As an educational leader it is important to know other content areas, and how the students perform in these areas as well in order to assist in the achievement goals of your school.

While taking Research and Technology ISTC 685 we were reminded of the importance of keeping up to date with current research as an educational leader. Decisions in education as well as media programs and instruction need to be based on quality research and information that is located in professional journals. During this class we read and analyzed a variety of publications based on a topic of our own choosing. For this project I chose to design an action research project on the use of the Super3 Research Process with Pre-K students and the teaching of text features. The research showed that even with the publication of the AASL standards in 1998 for students in grades K-12 which focused on information literacy, a majority of primary students still lacked skills in this area.

To carry out this action research project, I worked collaboratively with the Pre-K teacher and her assistant. The research provided us with several findings in regards to how well the students were able to learn and use the Super3 process as well as the identification of text features in a nonfiction book. At the end of the year I presented my research report and a copy of the nonfiction book that the PreK classes wrote during this process to my school principal as an alternative evaluation. We discussed the findings and the implications of the research project as well as how they could assist the primary teachers in our school. It was determined that we would be doing some professional development based on this project next school year.

In conclusion, I feel fortunate as a media specialist that our job lends to us the opportunity to take on a leadership role within our school. For there is nothing more exciting than to be on the verge of change in the education profession and to make decisions about school media programs as well as school initiatives that make a positive impact on student learning.