My Professional Development Plan:
OBJECTIVES—List the objectives of your plan.
 Increase the circulation numbers of library materials among students and teachers.

Increase the amount of collaboration that occurs between teachers and the media specialist.

Advocate for my media center so that people understand its value and its worth to student
achievement.
1. Professional Memberships—List the professional associations you have joined. Example: MASL, ALA,
AASL, ACLS, YALSA, IBBY, IASL. Identify their representative listservs and online resources you will use.
AASL: Advocacy Toolkit, Webinars, eCOLLAB, Twitter, Knowledge Quest
ALA: Summer Reading Lists; Great Websites for Kids; Children’s Notable List; Advocacy; Book, Print, and
Media Awards
MASL: Black Eyed Susan Award Winners
2. Professional Articles and Books—Identify the journals you will read. Identify and annotate specific
articles that will meet your professional plan. Identify and annotate new books.
Journals: Knowledge Quest, Learning and Leading with Technology, Library Media Connection, School
Library Journal, School Library Monthly, School Library Research, Teacher Librarian
Journal Articles:
Barach, Lauren. "The League OF EXTRAORDINARY LIBRARIANS. (Cover Story)." School Library Journal
58.11 (2012): 24-27. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 June 2014.
This article examines some of the many ways that media specialist across the nation are integrating
technology in their school, and discusses some of the many technology applications available for use.
Buzzeo, Toni. "Make The Move From Collaboration To Data-Driven Collaboration." Library Media
Connection 27.3 (2008): 28-31. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 June 2014.
This article takes collaboration to a new level by urging teachers and media specialists to consider
instructional data available and use it as a tool to drive the collaborative process.
Harvey II, Carl A. "Collaboration -- It's Not Just A Library Thing." Knowledge Quest 40.4 (2012): 4-5.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 June 2014.
This article stresses the importance of collaboration between all members of a school community.
McNair, Ellen. "Print To Digital: Opportunities For Choice." Library Media Connection 30.6 (2012): 2830. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 June 2014.
The article discusses some of the positives and negatives of both print and digital resources, and allows
readers to think about which resources might be best for their collections.
Truett, Carol, John Tashner, and Karen Farthing. "Collaboration And Collection Development To
Enhance Student Learning In A 3-D Virtual World." Library Media Connection 32.1 (2013): 4245. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 June 2014.
This article discusses some innovative ways to incorporate technology into the media center, and it
encourages the use of technology to increase student learning.
Books:
Toor, Ruth, and Hilda K. Weisburg. New on the Job: A School Library Media Specialist’s Guide to
Success. Chicago: American Library Association, 2007. Print.
This book is a guide for new media specialists that focuses on concepts ranging from finding a job to
strategies to lead at the school level (including collaboration with others) and grow in your career.
Weisburg, Hilda K. School Librarian’s Career Planner. Chicago: American Library Association, 2013.
Print.
This book is an excellent resource to help new media specialists with the many aspects of their jobs
including collection development, collaboration, and technology.
3. Webinars, Websites, Social Networking—Identify and annotate the webinars you will take; the books
you’ll read. Identify and annotate the blogs and twitter accounts you’ll follow.
Webinars:
Ballard, Susan. “Lives Change Through Collaboration (and so Does Professional Practice).” American
Association of School Librarians. AASL, 26 Mar. 2014. Web. 5 Jun. 2014.
<http://www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab/change-collaboration>.
This webinar discusses the importance of collaboration and specifically addresses some of the barriers
and obstacles that threaten it.
Gover, Emily. “Wanted: Information Literacy Skills in a World of Google and Wikipedia.” American
Association of School Librarians. AASL, n.d. Web. 5 Jun. 2014.
<http://www.ala.org/ aasl/ecollab/wanted>.
This webinar focuses on the importance of teaching students to discriminate between those sources
that are credible and those that are not.
Johns, Sara Kelly. “Flipping the Switch: Everyday Advocacy for Your School Library Program.”
American Association of School Librarians. AASL, 23 Apr. 2014. Web. 5 Jun. 2014.
<http://www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab/everyday-advocacy>.
This webinar provides suggestions that media specialists can easily use to develop their own advocacy
plans for their program.
Lewis, Kathryn and David Loertscher. “Powerful Partnerships: Libraries, Technology, and the Common
Core.” American Association of School Librarians. AASL, 2014. Web. 5 Jun. 2014.
<http://www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab/achieve-ccss>.
This webinar shows media specialists how to have an “idea swap” with their school community to
develop a plan that puts the media center at the “core” of the Common Core movement.
Moreillon, Judi and Susan Ballard. “Coteaching.” Knowledge Quest. AASL, 10 Apr. 2012. Web. 5 Jun.
2014. < http://www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab/coteaching-web>.
This webinar focuses on the benefits of collaboration between teachers and media specialists while
providing an array of practical examples of successful collaborations.
Subramaniam. Mega. “Changing Lives Through Informal Learning.” American Association of School
Librarians. AASL, n.d. Web. 5 Jun. 2014.
< http://www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab/informal-learning>.
This webinar highlights the realization that there are so many ways to measure the impact of the media
center on a school besides test scores.
Blogs:
Hamilton, Buffy. “The Unquiet Librarian.” Wordpress, 2014. Web. 5 Jun. 2014.
<http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/>.
This blog is maintained by a high school media specialist in Georgia. The blog offers a variety of tips,
resources, and reflections based on experiences that she has in her own media center.
Jones, Gwyneth. “The Daring Librarian.” Blogger. 2014. Web. 5 Jun. 2014.
<www.thedaringlibrarian.com>.
The blog provides information about events going on in her media center, and it also offers a window
into different ways to collaborate with classroom teachers.
Winner, Matthew. “The Busy Librarian.” Blogger. 2014. Web. 5 Jun. 2014.
<http://www.busylibrarian.com/>.
This blog offers literature reviews, podcasts with authors and illustrators, and so many more resources
for media specialists to take advantage of.
Twitter Accounts:
Edudemic (Edudemic). 2014. Twitter Feed. <https://twitter.com/edudemic>.
This Twitter feed provides access to a variety of ideas that can be used to enhance and improve
instruction, including the infusion of technology based resources.
Edutopia (edutopia). 2014. Twitter Feed. <https://twitter.com/edutopia>.
This Twitter feed offers resources on their Twitter feed that helps teachers and media specialists alike
learn about recent trends in education that are beneficial for students.
Library Journal (LibraryJournal). 2014. Twitter Feed <https://twitter.com/LibraryJournal>.
This Twitter feed offers a variety of news, ideas, and book reviews that are beneficial for public,
academic, and school librarians alike.
4. Conferences—Identify and annotate the conferences you will attend.
American Library Association. 2014 ALA Annual Conference. ALA, 2014. Web. 3 June 2014.
<http://ala14.ala.org/>.
The annual conference will be held in Las Vegas, NV from June 26-July 1, 2014, and the theme will be
“Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves.” While this conference will have programming available for
librarians in a variety of different settings, including school libraries. Programs will focus on various
genres of literature, advocacy for school libraries, web 2.0 tools, and so much more.
Maryland Association of School Librarians. Overview: Maryland Association of School Librarians.
MASL, 2014. Web. 3 June 2014. <http://maslmd.org/conference/overview/>.
The annual conference will be held on October 17, 2014, and the theme will be “Level Up Your Library!
Take Your School Library Program to the Next Level.” Keynote speakers will include Jennifer LaGarde, a
media specialist from North Carolina, Stacey Montgomery, a media specialist from Prince George’s
County, and author Chris Grabenstein.
5. Participation in School and District Committees, Data collection, research.

School Improvement Team Member
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Collect data from teachers about the ways that they use technology and inquiry in the classroom
as a means of creating a focused professional development program with an emphasis on
collaboration.

Facilitate action research to examine the benefits of collaboration, integrating technology, and
inquiry based learning in terms of student achievement.
OUTCOMES—What will occur as the result of this professional development? How does your plan
support current School Improvement efforts. How will you, your students, and your school benefit?
 Teachers and students will check out more print and nonprint resources from the media center
to read for pleasure or enhance the instructional program.

More teachers will collaborate with the media specialist and focus on integrating technology
applications into their instruction, as determined by a collaboration log.

Develop an advocacy program that highlights the benefits that the media center offers to the
school community.

Students will make informed decisions to join book and technology clubs offered through the
school library media center to increase their capacity as readers and users of technology.