Mentoring Librarians

I often find goal setting a tedious task, perhaps because I don't feel well-practiced in setting goals and benchmarks for achieving them. While I constantly reflect on my programming and practice (internally), it is rare that I have the luxury of time to act on that reflection to make significant changes. In reality, external forces often drive the changes I must make ie; - adoption of a new set/type of standards or curriculum, scheduling or facility changes, district-wide initiatives, etc. And those external forces may not align with what I believe professionally is the most essential next goal to improve the library program or my own practice. I now am required to set two professional goals at the beginning of each school year. They must be connected to the supervisory union's continuous improvement plan, which is typically broadly connected to improving math or literacy scores on standardized tests. While I truly do not believe the validity of said tests nor the scores the...

I chose to watch case #980 on the Atlas/NBPTS site, of a middle school librarian conducting an introductory session with students making documentaries for National History Day. I used a blank framework and simply jotted down what I observed when I noticed that the librarian's actions matched up with one of the components in Domain 2 or 3. I had initially chosen just a single component, which is what I understood to be the task listed in the first step of the performance task "1. Select a component from Domains 2 or 3  ( from Danielson ) and collect evidence." However, I soon had to decide to broaden my approach, as there really was not enough evidence for just a single component. I believe that if I was using the framework for teachers, it would have been easier for this particular lesson, as it was really more of a classroom situation rather than an active library-use session. Reflecting on this point was meaningful for me, as I am frequently frustrated by the fact that ...

    It seems as if good mentoring is a lot like good teaching. There is an essential emphasis on the mentor-mentee relationship in a similar way that the best teachers create a strong and trusting relationship to connect with their students. This is absolutely essential for a trauma-transformed approach, which is an additional lens I now always use. Strong relationships and interpersonal connections create emotional safety, which is the first step in a student (or mentee) can then be open to making meaning of an experience. Unless that emotional safety is present, one cannot expect any growth to be possible.      Another way mentoring is similar to teaching is in the need to balance cognitive challenge with support. Understanding which stance to take in a mentoring relationship, and when to flexibly shift from one stance to another is paramount to providing that cognitive challenge with a supportive approach. If this is not accomplished, the mentee will likely e...

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When I first heard about what Lipton calls "I" listening, I thought about the fact that as school librarians we are often in problem-solving mode. In fact, my job (being combined technology and library) often has me in crisis mode, jumping from one crisis to another. This focus on solving problems and offering solutions is likely to be difficult to set aside when meeting with someone as a mentor. It will be a challenge to shift to another type of listening and approach things as being a supportive growth agent rather than problem-solver. My listening survey results clarified this as being true, because my scores on sections A, C and D are all low and indicate my ability to be an effective listener in those realms. My scores of 13 and 14 on sections B and E respectively indicate that I will need to concentrate on NOT interjecting my own stories or recommending specific solutions to my mentee. If I am able to do so, I believe I can be a supportive and effective growth agent.In ...