Finding a Focus

You know what today is?  It is supposedly the end of my third week of "vacation". Officially I have been off contract for three weeks as a school librarian, but you know how those three weeks have been filled? Each day I have done one of the following:

• presented at a workshop, 
• attended a technology conference,
• participated in planning sessions for staff development or programming for the 2014-2015 school year.

I jokingly refer to this month as my "pro-bono" month because, contrary to popular belief, teachers/librarians do not get paid for work they are involved in outside of their contract days. Somehow the ridiculous idea has been deeply embedded in those outside of education that a teacher's work stops when the students aren't there.  I have realized more than ever that is terribly, terribly incorrect. This past month, while I have participated in the conferences,planning sessions etc. I have also begun embracing the power of Twitter as a professional development tool.  The ideas that are swirling around in my head are so numerous that my head is beginning to hurt!  If you are an educator and have been reluctant to venture on to Twitter, "because who needs another place to stalk celebrities or old high school classmates?", then I respectfully ask you to reconsider.  I have used Twitter during the last month as a place solely for the purpose of professional development.  I follow leaders in my field, as well as authors and publishers, and my colleagues so I can share ideas on how to improve my effectiveness as a teacher/librarian and improve student learning.  It's amazing!  I once heard someone say "If you're the smartest person in the room, you need a bigger room!" While I don't profess to be smarter than anyone, Twitter has become for me the largest room in the world. It's sort of like attending a mini conference every day, listening to ideas, reading about the outcomes and sometimes seeing the plans in action.  It's fabulous and scary all at the same time.  There are so many wonderful ideas out there that I want to try them all, but how in the world can I do that? When will I have time to properly implement these great plans?  

I've come to the conclusion that I need to find a focus (shouldn't really be a lightening bolt moment, but there it is!), a way to zero in on some of the great ideas I've discovered in the last few weeks and months.  One of the great ideas I heard was from Dave Burgess who suggested teachers create a 5 word GPS (click on the link for his video explanation or watch the video below) for their year.  This 5 word GPS could help keep you moving in the right direction to accomplish your goals.

I LOVE the idea, but haven't managed to narrow it down to just 5 words, I'll share those as soon as I find just the right ones. What I DO have is 5 areas of focus and that's a start!

1. Arranging my library according to genres - I've completed that task, but now need to focus on how to promote that to my students.
2. I have helped create a framework for supporting my teachers with the use of iPads in the classroom - the follow through on that will be a year long task.
3. Using Twitter and Instagram to promote the library and it's resources to my students - this actually began last year, I just want to amp it up a bit this year and definitely include pieces on digital citizenship.  This can actually be combined with the genre promotion, so my focus is actually a bit more zeroed in - yea me, progress already!!
4. Creating a MakerSpace in the library - I think for the sake of my sanity, I need to limit that to a weekly session; perhaps during special "maker months".
5. Campus-wide Research Focus - looking for ways I can be in every class to instill, in both teachers and students, the idea that research isn't scary and it's actually something we all do every day - just informally.  However, we need to amp up those "formal" skills in every curriculum area.

Sooo, it looks like it will be another busy, but exciting year professionally.  I've decided to use the month of July as my month to zero in on my priorities.  I don't want to hear about ANY new ideas (please, my brain REALLY is hurting from all the exercise!!) - I just want look for people who have experimented with the ideas I have for the upcoming year.  I want to use this month as my preparation month, my build-a-plan-of-action month, my reflection month OHHH and by the way, I also want to spend this month rejuvenating myself, spending time with my family, preparing mentally for the fact I will have a daughter in high school next year (where did THAT time go?)!  One month doesn't seem long enough for the list of goals I want to accomplish by May 2015, but it's all I have left.  

So here's to the start of my real "vacation", may it be as restful as I need it to be and may it involve creating LOTS of great memories with my family.