I am now trying to work on the script/content of my video and I am realizing that I will have to focus my topic much more then I initially realized. I would like to show my video to my principal and staff but I would especially like to share it (ideally) with senior school board staff -superintendents, trustees, etc - the people who are making decisions about how much time and money is allotted to TL jobs in our district. I would love them to watch my video and think that maybe, just maybe, TLs are really making a difference in student learning and worth investing in.
Thinking about the needs of my audience was an interesting thing to consider. In last weeks blog post and in my initial notes about why my school needs a full time TL, I realized that it was a bit too "me" focused. My audience doesn't care about me! What they care about is how an increase to my job is going to improve student learning. I think for them that is the bottom line. We as TLs know what we can do, but at the end of the day my video will need to be less focused on "endless possibilities" and more focused on concrete information. They don't need another inspirational quote written over a photo of a sunset - they need facts.
I will need to do some research! I will want to make sure that I create an advocacy video that “not only clearly (and simply) articulates the role of school libraries and librarians in supporting student learning, but also to makes sure their message is received and understood by the right people….” (Ray) My rationale will need to be based on qualitative and quantitative information on how having a full time teacher librarian will benefit student achievement. It will need to be clear, concise and effective and hopefully persuasive!
Some key ideas I'm reflecting on for my video are:
*Teacher Librarians helping with the learning goals presented in the new curriculum
*TLs helping with implementing new technologies and skills for 21rst century learning
*How more time allotted/support to collaboration will benefit students!
I need to continue to focus and narrow my topic and continue to make is relevant for my particular audience and school.
Works Cited
Ray, Mark. "Aiming Higher for Successful Advocacy." Teacher Librarian 41.5 (2014): 61,62,71. ProQuest. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
Excellent focusing of your vision to the really important and intended audience of decision makers. This is a very important re-direction of your vision to ensure it has maximum effectiveness in teaching others of the important role and work the TLs can do. It is so vital that the "higher-ups" know about our role, our work, our directions, our support, our needs to best be able to ensure that this role is properly staffed and funded to enable our schools. Very impressive discussion and reflection.
ReplyDeleteI am also focusing on advocacy and struggled with trying to decide who the target audience will be for my video. You are right about the facts. I loved your quote, "they don't need another inspirational quote over a pretty sunset". Solid facts about the importance of Teacher-Librarians and the value they add to the education system is what we need to showcase. I am looking forward to your final vision. I'm sure your video will make a difference in some way.
ReplyDeleteHi Tamara,
ReplyDeleteI think we do care about you, your classmates and your intended audience. However, I think that what we all want to understand is how our dreams, roles and plans affect one another. If you think you want to show it to the people who makes decisions, it is a good idea to keep them in mind when you are planning. Still, I think that the people who make decisions only have a small amount of time to spend on other peoples visions. I recommend keeping your focus on your school community because they are the people who connect most directly with your vision and the results of seeing it through. I commented on a vision process in the previous post. I think that you could really focus yourself by asking students and staff how they "see" your key idea points. If you represent the ideas of your school, you make it not just about you, and you invite a wider audience to be invested in the result. Of course, whatever way you approach it, your words and images will matter to all of them. I just wonder what you might discover by asking a few key questions of your students and staff. I did something like this today for the Spiral of Inquiry submission for my school, and I was wowed. It never ceases to amaze me how much I learn when I take the time to speak with individual students about what matters to them.
Smiles,
Andrea