Performance Task: Professional Goal Setting

How do you identify possible goals to improve your school library, teaching and learning, or your personal growth as a librarian?

This is such a big question for me and one that requires bringing in a lot of different pieces, some of which change over the years, to set the most relevant goals for myself that will best serve the students and staff.  I always pair my goals with the needs of the school, the places where there may be a void that I can fill with my expertise, experience or unique initiative.  I feel strongly that the role of the librarian is to serve the community and that looks different depending on the community.   

When thinking about setting my own goals,  I incorporate my schools mission and initiatives for the year (and beyond), I consider the districts goals, AASL and my personal passions around teaching, literacy, books and technology.  My role as librarian is paired with the job of Farm to School educator and I also embed this into my goal setting.  But ultimately, it always comes back to the needs of my community. 

In thinking about how I can best serve my library community I often set goals that help to provide the most support for them.  I try to accomplish this using a few different methods. 

 For instance, before the beginning of the school year (often around early August) I will send out a very simple survey to classroom teachers asking what worked well for their students in library class the previous year and what needs would they like addressed in the upcoming year regarding literacy and technology.  The responses are varied and often depend on the strengths and weaknesses of the teacher.  If a teacher loves technology then their request may have more to do with literacy or vice versa.  Since I work in a rural, K-6 school - my goals can vary by grade too.  Once I have gathered this information I reflect on my own practices and how I can pair classroom needs with my library curriculum and deliver information to kids through the best means available.

My district uses Danielson as a tracking tool for teaching and goal setting.  After over a decade of use I am a professional at navigating the website, teaching my co-workers how to do so and accomplishing the administrative pieces required by Danielson.  I do not feel like this is the best method for developing my person goals, I do think it is helpful for our district to be aligned in this process and I do see the value in Domains and the breakdown of the Competencies.  While I am able to form and follow through with the formalized Danielson goals and rubric it is not my preferred method of goal setting.  Conversly, I find it helpful for evaluating my goals and familiarizing myself with the district expectations and standards.