Professional+Learning+Plan

Throughout my professional practice at Site 1 I have had the opportunity to witness many exemplary library practices in the areas of promotion of reading, collection development and collection management. The area of information literacy/ICT literacy is one that needs a lot of further development. At Site 1 I didn’t really get to observe a traditional library lesson as the TL there was a trained drama teacher and her time was used more in this way throughout timetabled sessions. My next SPP will need to be at a school that promotes standard library lessons, particularly I would like to go to one that effectively incorporates ICTs into the program.

Although I have observed a lot of different elements to the TL’s role, there is still a lot that I could learn. In particular I would like to be more educated on how to develop a budget, what allocations to make and how to determine best what to spend the allocated funds on. I would also like to see how other schools/libraries manage their collection i.e. what systems they have in place and are using in order to have a wide exposure to the different programs that are available. My experiences and exposure at Site 1 were in the context of a very large school, so next time it would be beneficial to compare this to a smaller school which will help to outline new and different challenges that the TL faces.

Things that I need to do:


 * Find a school where the librarian plays an integral role in information literacy/ICT literacy for my next placement


 * Continue research and investigation into best practice for Teacher Librarians


 * Seek out information on budgeting


 * Continue investigating effective ways of collaboration and how to develop good relationships between classroom teachers and the TL

Things that I still need to know:
 * Budgeting
 * Advocacy
 * National Curriculum
 * So much more, as I believe I constantly need to be learning and growing in this field.