In these times of economic uncertainty, it seems like it would be more important than ever to ensure that your media program has a mission that clearly aligns with the mission of your school AND that your colleagues are aware of this mission.
Is anybody in a school where that kind of mission exists today?
What steps would you take to create such a mission?
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ReplyDeleteOur media center does not have a mission that is currently aligned with our school's mission. Zmuda and Harada state that a mission should motivate and measure. The first thing I would do in creating a mission statement aligned with our school is to create it in a language that students can understand. The mission would encourage the success of everyone and include ways that student success can be measured. It is important in these economic times to show how necessary resources like the media center are and present them as an important hub of knowledge in the school.
ReplyDeleteThe media center in my elementary school does not have a mission statement, but chapter 1 gave me insight into the creation of one. My mission statement should be a brief statement supported by teachers and administrators and centered upon the successes of the students. In the statement, goals and learning principles will be provided for the students. These goals and principles will focus on preparing students for life beyond school and measured by an assessment tasks. My mission in the media center must align with the mission of the school to ensure we are headed in the same direction. We need to share in the process of educating and preparing all students to become productive citizens in the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteThe elementary school where I am completing the majority of my practicum has a pretty sound mission statement:
ReplyDelete"It is the mission of the ____ Elementary Media Center to enrich the curriculum and promote a lifelong love of reading and learning. By providing services, materials, access to information, and a welcoming and enthusiastic environment, the Media Center stimulates and supports productive, focused learning."
I think that it is basically in line with the missions of the school and the district. The media plan that follows the mission statement is much more specific in terms of addressing curricular goals and helping to increase student academic achievement. It is a shame that this statement is not displayed more prominently to remind the school administrators and teachers of the role of the media program. For instance, it is not displayed anywhere in the media center or on the school Web site - just in a formal document.
I'm sure that my media center has a mission statement. Unfortunately, I haven't been made aware of it in the 4 years that I've taught at my school. After reading chapter one, I realize what a shame that is. Teachers, parents, and administrators need to know the mission of the media center. They need to see how the media specialist makes such a great impact on student learning. Before taking classes to become a media specialist, I had absolutely no idea the extent of what a great resource a media specialist can be, a great asset to student learning. I think in these days of extreme budget cuts, it's more important than ever to not only develop a mission statement but to broadcast it. The more people have a clear idea of why the media specialist is there, the more people will rely on him/her. The more valuable the media specialist is in student learning/academic achievement the more secure the position becomes.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to develop a mission statement that "defines the purpose of schooling in terms of what students will accomplish" with the help of administrators and teachers who are movers and shakers (11). This will ensure that more staff members get on-board. The statement on page 2 of our text supports this approach, "Improvement begins only when the mission statement becomes a disciplined mindset that drives the purpose of every staff member, student, parent, and board member."
It takes the whole learning community working together to make the greatest achievements and mold our children into the most they can be. Having a mission statement, making others aware of it, and encouraging that everyone stick to it helps "eliminate the waste, turbulence, and distractions caused by individuals working in isolation" (4). The school then becomes a team working together to ensure that students reach the stars.
My school's mission is as follows;
ReplyDelete"The mission of _____ Elementary School is to provide the foundation for our students' life-long learning by furnishing opportunities for them to flourish academically, physically, artistically, socially and emotionally in a nurturing, yet rigorous environment"
The mission of the media center is as follows:
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I will actually have to add this later because I thought it was found on the website, but it is not. However, I have looked at the mission statement before from a previous assignment and noticed that the mission of the school and the library media center does line up.
Unfortunately, when asking teachers about the school's mission statement, none of them know it. Also, none of the teachers even realized that the media center has a mission statement.
The school's mission statement is highly visible online on the school's website and in the handbook. The media center's mission statement can only be found in the media center's handbook in the media center.
However, not only the school's mission statement but the media center's mission statement would benefit from each of them being placed in a highly visible area in the school for all teachers, students, and parents to see.
Unfortunately, the mission statement of the school is not the primary focus of faculty, staff, and students. There was a quote found in the textbook that mentions "perpetual turbulence" caused by "mixed messages". This is how I feel about my school. Every aspect of school should be checked for alignment with the school's mission statement in order to have "continuity of focus".
Guidelines found in Chapter 1 of the textbook offer an excellent "check sheet" of sorts for analyzing current media center mission statements and for creating a new one:
describes specific long-term goals for all learners, goes beyond knowledge and skills to address the larger picture as to what school should aim for, can be used to easily address aspects of curriculum, assessment and instruction, and commits stakeholders to the mission statement.
It also states that it should be collaboratively designed. Unfortunately, my school's mission statement was not collaboratively designed.
The mission statement of our elementary school media center is this:
ReplyDeleteTo promote a life-long love of reading, and thus, a life-long love of learning.
While it is fairly innocuous, it does nothing to provide either measurable assessments or a clear idea of exactly what’s going on in our media center. Our school’s mission statement is pretty vague as well, “Exposure to excellence promotes excellence,” and there is only a tenuous connection between the two statements. This is dangerous for many reasons, the most important being a lack of clear vision for the media center.
In today’s tough economic times, it might seem frivolous to focus on something like a mission statement. However, at my school (and schools across the state I would posit), this lack of a clear vision statement has led many to question the necessity of having a media specialist at all. No one at our school knew the mission statement for our media center and this discussion seems to have touched a nerve. When what you are doing is not clear, it is very easy to eliminate your position. While I understand that there are state guidelines requiring media specialists, I think we are beginning to see the argument of “drastic times call for drastic measures.” I know that my school system is looking into becoming a charter system, thereby freeing us from state regulation for 5 years. One of the proposals (if we are granted charter status) is the elimination of full-time media specialists and replacing them with full-time media clerks. With only four schools, this would save our system more than $250,000/year. While I don’t agree with this, you can see where the argument is coming from.
I also think that we can’t hide behind state guidelines to protect our jobs. As a Spanish teacher, I can tell you that the new high school graduation requirements (foreign language no longer being mandatory in high school as there is no longer a college prep diploma) drastically changed life for foreign language teachers. Just because you think something is guaranteed….. Look at the teachers who thought that they would have National Board salary supplements for 10 years. Unfortunately in times such as these, it seems to become every man for himself. Log on to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (www.ajc.com) and read all of the recent headlines regarding teacher layoffs. Look at the comments in their Get Schooled blog. It’s not a friendly time for media specialists.
That’s the one of the unfortunate things about difficult economic times. It seems to focus attention on the negative and pit us against one another. However, I think we should also see this as an opportunity that will bond us together and force us to find new solutions. We can no longer afford to be complacent.
I found a mission statement for my school, my school district, and our district-wide media mission statement, and a school-wide media objective. According to Zumada and Harada, staff and administrators should collaborate and have a "mission-centered mindset" (p.14). As far as I know, the school media center mission was created by the media specialists who worked here (years ago)...I'm new and was not here when it was being developed.
ReplyDeleteThe District-Media Center Mission in my county says, "The purpose of the library media center is to support the philosophy, goals, and instructional programs of the C. County Schools". Our school-wide objective is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information. To be quite honest, I had to look these missions up because it isn't on the top of my head all the time. I know my personal mission and role as a media specialist; this is what drives me. I would guess that the other teachers at my school would say the same thing.