FRIT 7331/GROUP 4

Sarah Penn
Krystle Leanza

Section VII: Planning for the Future

Long-Range Goal 1 - Professional Learning
The school library program at Sallas Mahone Elementary school will provide professional
learning opportunities for school staff to increase technology use and resource-based
instruction school-wide in order to sustain and increase knowledge and skills centered
on a formal plan (AASL, 2009, p. 43; Johnson, 2013, p. 38).
Rationale:
The media specialist can become a more visible leader on the new technology-based
instructional methods by helping to identify, coordinate, facilitate and lead professional
development opportunities for school staff. Working collaboratively with teachers and
other administrative staff to develop a long-term plan for professional development
also links the media specialist directly to student achievement (AASL, 2009, p. 43).
Allowing the media specialist to become a formal partner in the professional
development process provides school staff with a unique opportunity to influence and
benefit from technology-based trainings. The media specialist also becomes engaged
in ongoing current research and best practices in the field, and he/she can lead others
to the most effective planning and teaching strategies (AASL, 2009, p. 44).
During the evaluation process, it is important to use both direct and indirect assessment
methods. Using both written feedback and survey results from school staff is a
necessity. Collecting data during the evaluation process can help to inform the
ongoing process of the professional development plan: Through regular assessment of
the school library program, the school librarian can determine aspects of the program
that may be strengthened through training or other support (AASL, 2009, p. 43).
Stakeholders noted on the survey administered that they would like professional
learning in the following areas: Web 2.0 tools, Google Classroom, Digital Citizenship,
Promethean Board and Activslate, collaboration with teacher and SLMS, how to
integrate technology to prepare students for the 21st century and research tools.

FRIT 7331/GROUP 4
Sarah Penn
Krystle Leanza
Long-Range Goal 2 - Collaboration
The school library program at Sallas Mahone Elementary School will increase
collaborative partnerships between the SLMS and school staff to develop inquiry-driven
curricular units with the SLMS being both proactive and reflective (AASL, 2009, p. 20;
Johnson, 2013, p. 63).
Rationale:
Stakeholders noted on the survey administered, that many different strategies would
increase collaboration between the school library media specialist and the teachers.
Effective collaboration can be very challenging due to scheduling conflicts, comfort,
tradition and school culture (Johnson, 2013, p. 63). It is necessary for the SLMS to work
with school staff on a daily basis, not just on strategic, big-picture tasks in order to be
effective (Johnson, 2013, p. 57). Teaching 21st century skills to todays learners requires
collaborative partnerships in order to cover all aspects of teaching and learning.
Together, the classroom teacher and the SLMS must empower students to take an
active role and ownership in shaping their own learning (AASL, 2009, p. 20).
Long-Range Goal 3 - Virtual Learning Environment
The school library program at Sallas Mahone Elementary School will create a virtual
learning environment to be accessed by students and staff. This virtual learning
environment will include equitable and flexible access to collections of resources and
tools that support the curriculum and meet the diverse needs of 21st century learners
(AASL, 2009, p. 33).
Rationale:
In the mission statement it states that Sallas Mahones media center will provide
intellectual and physical access to materials in all formats to accomplish the goal of
ensuring that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information. Media
specialists must address the digital shift of information to help keep the library media
programs significant and effective. They must use virtual spaces to demonstrate the
powerful new ways people build knowledge in the 21st century (Johnson, 2012, p.
180). The most effective way to accomplish this goal is through the media centers
website. Digital resources should be promoted and displayed. The default page of any

FRIT 7331/GROUP 4
Sarah Penn
Krystle Leanza
web browser in the media center should be the media center website with active links
to digital resources, tools and communication methods (Johnson, 2013, p. 73). Virtual
access allows all the stakeholders to take advantage of the school media centers
resources after regular school hours and provides continual support for teaching and
learning: (AASL, 2009, p. 33). It has been proven that if a media center website is
carefully designed and regularly maintained, it can be a very powerful tool in reaching
more 21st century learners who may be more comfortable online.
In the analysis of the school library facility, we noted that the virtual component of the
library needed a major overhaul. In addition, many teachers noted that they do not
use the resources in the media center often. They commented that lack of time is their
biggest obstacle. Making more resources available in the virtual library will help solve
that problem.
Long-Range Goal 4 - Information Literacy Skills
The school library program at Sallas Mahone Elementary School will increase student
competence with information literacy skills that reflect current information needs and
any anticipated changes in technology (AASL, 2009, p. 8).
Rationale:
Information literacy curriculum is best taught through a process of several steps that
start with very young students and ret aught at increasingly more sophisticated levels
through high school and beyond (Johnson, 2013, p. 82). The school library profession
has long insisted that information skills not be taught in isolation and the best library
programs are designed around cooperative projects jointly taught by the classroom
teacher and the librarian (Johnson, 2013, p. 82). Therefore, to effectively teach the
information literacy skills it takes collaboration between both the classroom teacher
and the SLMS. This also goes along with our Long-Range Goal 3 on Collaboration.
The results from the survey administered to stakeholders mentioned students receiving
instruction with topics such as research skills as well as digital citizenship skills. Both of
these topics could easily be covered with collaboration between the classroom
teachers and the SLMS. If we want the students to be successful, then all stakeholders
must join together to accomplish this goal.

FRIT 7331/GROUP 4
Sarah Penn
Krystle Leanza
Goals

Objectives

Evaluation

Long-Range Goal 1:
The school library program at
Sallas Mahone Elementary
school will provide professional
learning opportunities for
school staff to increase
technology use and resourcebased instruction school-wide
in order to sustain and increase
knowledge and skills centered
on a formal plan (AASL, 2009,
p. 43; Johnson, 2013, p. 38).

Objective 1a:
The media specialist, along with
the library advisory committee
members, will create a longterm plan for providing
scheduled professional
development for teachers
focused on technology
resources and skills. This
professional development plan
will reflect teachers
instructional needs as well as
administrative and district-level
school initiatives.

Evaluation 1a:
By the end of the first
semester, the library advisory
committee will submit a
formal professional
development plan for
technology resources and
skills to administration for
review. The committee will
then work to revise the plan
according to administrations
recommendations.

Objective 1b:
The media specialist will
coordinate with the school
instructional director to offer a
minimum of two technologybased training sessions for
teachers per semester. These
sessions will be hosted on school
campus for teachers
convenience and should count
towards PLU credits.

Evaluation 1b:
The media specialist will assist
the instructional director with
submitting the necessary
paperwork to get staff-led
professional development
sessions approved for PLU
credit by the state when
necessary. This task should
be accomplished by the end
of the first semester.

Objective 1c:
The media specialist will seek
external, personal professional
development opportunities, in
the form of conferences and
workshops, in order to better
inform teachers and
administration of possible
training initiatives. He/She will
help identify new technologybased resources, trends and
techniques, and will also play a
vital role in deciding which of
these are pursued by the
school.

Evaluation 1c:
The media specialist will
attend at least one external
professional development
session per semester, either in
the form of a conference,
workshop or webinar.
He/She will bring skills and
knowledge back to teachers
by sharing what he/she
learned through informal
conversations and in
structured professional
development sessions.

FRIT 7331/GROUP 4
Sarah Penn
Krystle Leanza
Long-Range Goal 2:
The school library program at
Sallas Mahone Elementary
School will increase
collaborative partnerships
between the SLMS and school
staff to develop inquiry-driven
curricular units with the SLMS
being both proactive and
reflective (AASL, 2009, p. 20;
Johnson, 2013, p. 63).

Long-Range Goal 3:
The school library program at
Sallas Mahone Elementary
School will create a virtual
learning environment to be
accessed by students and
staff. This virtual learning
environment will include
equitable and flexible access
to collections of resources and
tools that support the
curriculum and meet the
diverse needs of 21st century
learners (AASL, 2009, p. 33).

Objective 2a:
The media specialist will create
a media committee of teachers
that are interested in
collaborative efforts to increase
student achievement.

Evaluation 2a:
The media specialist will
target and recruit teachers
to participate in
collaborative efforts to
increase student
achievement.

Objective 2b:
The media committee will
formulate a plan of action to
design activities and
assessments for studentcentered learning.

Evaluation 2b:
The media committee will
use data from previous years
to determine areas of
weakness. They will then
formulate and devise a plan
of action to implement in a
co-teaching setting. They will
also work together to create
assessments.

Objective 2c:
The media specialist and
teachers will implement the
plan of action by co-teaching
using the activities and
assessments that were created
by the committee members.

Evaluation 2c:
The media committee will
utilize Google calendar to
schedule co-teaching
information literacy sessions.
Assessments will be
administered to determine
student achievement in the
different areas.

Objective 3a:
The media specialist will design
and maintain a library website
that provides 24 hour access to
digital information resources,
instructional interventions,
reference services, links to other
libraries and academic sites,
information for parents, and
exhibits of exemplary student
work.

Evaluation 3a:
The media specialist will
create a minimum of three or
more tutorials for emerging
technologies each year. The
media specialist will be
responsible for determining
the first tutorial during the first
quarter of the school year.
Effectiveness of this strategy
will be evaluated on the endof-year student and teacher
surveys.

Objective 3b:
The media specialist will
promote and support student

Evaluation 3b:
The media specialist will be
responsible for gathering

FRIT 7331/GROUP 4
Sarah Penn
Krystle Leanza

Long-Range Goal 4:
The school library program at
Sallas Mahone Elementary
School will increase student
competence with information
literacy skills that reflect current
information needs and any
anticipated changes in
technology (AASL, 2009, p. 8).

use of technology.

student feedback through

pre and post surveys to
gauge effectiveness of
tutorials during the first
quarter of the year. This data
will provide convenient ways
to spark conversations about
how changes could be
implemented in improving
the program.

Objective 3c:
The media specialist will work
with the public relations
committee to consistently
update communication
strategies with students, parents
and teachers.

Evaluation 3c:
The media specialist and
public relations committee
will be responsible for setting
up and editing the Facebook
fan page. This will be done
at the beginning of the year.
User data reports will be run
each semester to monitor the
effectiveness of the strategy.

Objective 4a:
The media specialist will design
and implement a series of
lessons on digital citizenship and
internet safety skills.

Evaluation 4a:
The media specialist will
evaluate student progress on
digital citizenship and
internet safety through an
online assessment to be
administered at the end of
the lessons. The data from
the survey will be analyzed to
determine the effectiveness
of the lessons.

Objective 4b:
The media specialist will design
and implement instructional
modules to be placed in the
virtual learning environment for
student, teacher, and parent
access which contain key
information literacy standards.

Evaluation 4b:
The media specialist will be
responsible for monitoring the
progress of the modules by
individual students, staff, and
parents. Feedback will be
gathered bimonthly of the of
the modules impact on
information literacy skills. The
last section of each module
will administer an assessment

FRIT 7331/GROUP 4
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Krystle Leanza
on skills taught, and also ask
for feedback.
Objective 4c:
The media specialist will work
with students in the media
center to familiarize them with
research strategies in a variety
of different formats.

Evaluation 4c:
The media specialist will
evaluate and analyze
student test scores in the
area of English Language
Arts to determine if the
instruction on research
strategies increased
proficiency of information
literacy skills.

Advocacy
The media specialist will review and outline the Strategic Management Plan with the
faculty of Sallas Mahone Elementary School. The media specialist will put together a
media committee of staff members that contain diverse positions and viewpoints. The
committee will help with planning and implementing media center activities. The
media specialist will create a weekly newsletter that is sent to staff with information on
the media center happenings each week. The media specialist will make staff aware of
programs offered as well as promote collaboration. The SLMS will put together a folder
on the shares drive (which is accessible by all staff) which will contain information
pertaining to the media center such as the lesson schedule and the Strategic
Management Plan. The media committee will also work on creating opportunities for
community involvement such as a school literacy night which will highlight all of the
resources available by the school library. To promote student involvement, the library
will advertise programs on the morning announcements. There will also be many
appealing displays in the media center which will make patrons aware of
programs/resources offered such as the online modules and the website for the school
library.

FRIT 7331/GROUP 4
Sarah Penn
Krystle Leanza
References:
American Association of School Librarians. (2009). Empowering learners guidelines for
school library media programs. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.
Johnson, D. (2013). The indispensable librarian: Surviving and thriving in school libraries in
the information age (Second ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC.