Design

Describe your action plan and how each of your four chosen competencies will influence its design and implementation. 

My action plan is straightforward. In my pursuit of professional development opportunities for school librarians, I must take several steps to organize an in person one day conference, as well as an online course through our Office of Public Instruction’s online Learning Hub. 

My Association Pathway- Organizational Leading with Skill is critical for this project. Last year, I organized the Summer Retreat but not with any great skill. The Capstone Framework will guide my efforts and help my co-chair learn to lead since she will be in charge next year. 

Technological Facility is paramount to this project. The majority of the planning is conducted over email and text messages.  Communicating with the membership is done through a listserve, and advertising is done over the listserve, on the MLA website, and on Facebook. I will need to take two online courses to learn how to design an online course, effectively engaging in Continuing Education, which is the crux of the project. The final pathway, Cultivating Socially Just Classrooms influences the project because a lack of equity in professional development for school librarians is driving this project. I am attempting to create professional development that meets  the needs of school librarians from all over the state.

How will your leadership leverage the strengths and address the needs of diverse stakeholders to support the action plan, develop capacity, broaden decision-making, and learn collaboratively?

By surveying membership about the topics that were of interest to them, and then sharing those topics with potential presenters, I will address the needs of the stakeholders, the librarians who will attend and present. Sharing the topics of interest with membership can motivate a presenter who has the knowledge about one of those topics to offer to present. Last year, I did not send out a survey like this. I will also present and man a table at our MFPE Educator's Conference in Billings, MT to promote MLA and the Summer Retreat. 

How will you use collaboration, questioning, data, and reflection during implementation of your plan?

Collaborating with my co-chair is critical. We communicate via email, texting, and phone calls.  I am the senior co-chair, and I have prior experience with planning the Summer Retreat. However, since the event is evolving, I am open to all ideas. Surveying the membership is really the only and best way to discover what librarians want from the Summer Retreat. Once the Retreat has happened, we will survey attendees about their experience to grow and improve for next year.  I will create a planning checklist to aid future SLD co-chairs.

How will you address obstacles that you may encounter in implementing your plan

Potential obstacles for the retreat include difficulties in securing a location that is available free of charge; securing enough proposals to create a full schedule of presentations; getting the message out about the retreat to boost attendance. Potential obstacles for the online course include being told that I cannot design a course because I am not an OPI employee. Addressing any and all of these obstacles requires flexible thinking and perseverance on my part. 

How will you know if your action plan is successful?  What evidence would support your claim?

My action plan is successful if the Summer Retreat has a full day of presentations and if we see a boost in attendance. Success also means OPI publishes my course to the Learning Hub website. 

Design: Evidence 1-4

Collaboration via text