Staff Development

Staff Development at my school is fairly difficult. Our classroom teachers have a TON on their plates right now, so they don't have much "free time" to come and listen to me. Also, we have a technology integrator who covers a lot of the technology inservicing. Needless to say... I keep trying. I strongly believe we need to advocate for our position and prove to be indispensable to the teachers!

The last "big event" I did with/for my staff was an ebook inservice. I was given some time on an early release afternoon. I showed ebooks and how to use them in the classroom. The teachers were soooo excited! I then handed out wish lists to them to write down titles or subjects they would like to see on ebooks. The bummer was that I couldn't find a lot of what they requested. There seems to be a lot more non-fiction available, and my teachers wanted fiction titles that support their reading/writing curriculum. I sort of feel like I bombed with this. Needless to say I consistently am on the lookout for ebooks that match the requests.

I also did an inservice on Discovery Streaming with my tech integrator. That was great, but teachers are not finding the time they need to "explore" and find useful content.

Some other things I've done with/for my staff:
* Newsletters- sharing new books, cool web sites and important updates in the library
* Emails when I find great sites or something to share
* "Books & Breakfast"- to highlight new book orders (of course I bring in food)
* "Open door policy"- we are always open and willing to help. Teachers (hopefully) feel comfortable coming to me when they need help.