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Assignment 8: Professional Learning Plan

Stanecia Roy Nelson

University of West Georgia

Dr. Bertha D’Alba

November 19, 2023

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Assignment 8: Professional Learning Plan for Marietta High School Media Center

This document also identifies the needs assessment of Marietta High Schools Media

Center and a professional learning plan that addresses the needs of the teachers and students of

Marietta High School in Marietta, GA.

Description of the Marietta High School Media Center

Marietta High School & the College and Career Academy media center serves about

2,700 students. Our student population is 38% Black, 37% Hispanic, 18% White, 1.3% Asian,

and 5.7 % Other/Multi. The media center is located on the 1st floor of the High School on the far

right end of the school. The media center just recently received a renovation to transform into a

Learning Commons Model (School Specialty, 2023). The media center received new furniture

that includes powered tables and collaborative learning seating. The media center consists of

study and conference rooms as well as areas for students to read, use computers, print, and work

on classroom projects or assignments. Also, the media center has 7 new desktops, 15 laptops, 15

Chromebooks, 30 iPads, 4 Viewsonics, and 4 large monitors for collaborative work. The

technology provided is equipped with excellent wifi and internet access, and all technology on

desktops and laptops uses Microsoft and Google Suite software.

Services & Resources offered by Marietta High School Media Center

Marietta High School is the only high school and Marietta City Schools, so what’s

offered at the district level is offered for our entire school and district. Our media center is

committed to providing a range of services and resources to support our teachers in their

classroom and curriculum needs. Below you will find a comprehensive list and description of the

services and resources offered, provided by our media specialist through our interviews and

discussions.
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Services:

● Library Orientation: We offer library orientations to help students familiarize themselves

with the layout, resources, and services available in their library. This includes tours and

explanations of how to use library catalog systems.

● Research Assistance: We provide research assistance to help our students find relevant

books, articles, and online resources for their projects and assignments. This sometimes

includes one-on-one consultations or class collaborative lessons on research skills.

● Technology Support: We provide technical assistance for students using computers,

printers, school-issued Chromebooks, and other technology resources in the LLC. This

can include troubleshooting common issues and helping with software applications.

● Interlibrary Loan: We facilitate interlibrary loans, allowing students to access materials

from our local public libraries if they are not available in your collection.

● Online Resources Access: We ensure that students have access to digital resources and

databases for research and learning purposes, both within the library and remotely. We

help students navigate and use these resources effectively.

● Book Clubs and Reading Programs: We organize book clubs or reading programs to

encourage a love of reading and literacy among students. These programs can promote

discussions and critical thinking about books. We currently have a TOME chapter that

meets one Tuesday a month to discuss the TOME “It Books” and are planning a field trip

in the Spring to participate in TOMECon at the University of Georgia.

● Study Spaces: We have created quiet and collaborative study spaces where students can

work individually or in groups. We have provided comfortable seating, study carrels, and

access to power outlets for electronic devices.

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● Events and Workshops: We host monthly thematic events, workshops, and games to

engage students in various literary and educational activities. These can include book

talks, creativity workshops, trivia contests, and cultural events.

● Curriculum Support: We collaborate with teachers to align our library resources with the

curriculum. We can help identify materials, texts, and digital resources that complement

lesson plans and learning objectives.

● Professional Development: We organize professional development sessions and

workshops tailored to teachers' needs. These sessions can cover topics such as

information literacy, using library resources effectively, and integrating technology into

teaching.

● Research Assistance: We're available to assist teachers with their research needs, whether

it's finding academic articles or curating multimedia resources.

● Collaborative Planning: We actively engage with teachers to co-plan lessons that

incorporate library resources. Together, we can design engaging, research-based projects

that foster critical thinking skills.

● Information Literacy Instruction: We provide information literacy instruction to students

in collaboration with teachers. These sessions help students become proficient in research

techniques, source evaluation, and citation.

● Collection Development: We continually curate and update the library collection to

ensure it aligns with teachers' curriculum requirements. We seek input from teachers to

make informed purchasing decisions.

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● Teacher Technology Support: We offer technical assistance to teachers, helping them

navigate digital resources, use educational software, and troubleshoot technology-related

issues.

Resources:

● Print Collection: We maintain a diverse collection of books, magazines, and journals

across different genres and subjects to support curriculum and student interests.

● Digital Collection: We curate a digital collection of e-books, audiobooks, and digital

magazines that students can access through e-readers, tablets, or computers.

● Online Databases: We subscribe to educational databases that offer access to scholarly

articles, research papers, historical documents, and other academic resources.

● Maker Space: We have created a maker space with tools and equipment for hands-on

learning and creative projects for teachers and students.

● Art and Craft Supplies: We keep a supply of art and craft materials that students can use

for creative projects and displays.

● Board Games and Puzzles: We offer board games and puzzles to promote critical

thinking, problem-solving, and social interaction.

● Online Catalog: We maintain an easily searchable online catalog where students can

browse and search for library materials.

● Quiet Reading Areas: We have designated quiet areas for students who wish to read or

study in a peaceful environment.

● Library Website: The media specialist have developed and maintained a library website

that provides information about resources, services, and upcoming events. It also serves

as a portal for accessing resources and information about services for teachers.
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● Extensive Book Collection: Our library houses a diverse collection of books, including

reference materials, fiction, non-fiction, and educational resources.

● Digital Resources: We provide access to a wide range of digital resources, including

e-books, databases, online journals, and educational software.

● Professional Journals: We offer some of our teachers access to professional journals and

magazines relevant to their subject areas and teaching strategies.

● Collaborative Spaces: Our library provides collaborative workspaces for teachers to meet,

plan, and collaborate with colleagues.

● Online Catalog: We maintain an easy-to-use online catalog where teachers can search for

library materials and access digital resources.

● Tech Loan Program: We offer a tech loan program, allowing teachers to borrow laptops,

iPads, and other tech tools for classroom use.

● Resource Guides: We create resource guides and pathfinders that curate relevant

materials and online resources for specific units or projects.

Reflection of Resources and Services of Media Centers

After reviewing the various resources and services, I feel that our library is well-equipped

and has the resources needed to influence visual and media literacy.es for visual literacy. The

media specialists are there to collaborate, assist, and provide teachers and students with the

resources they need to enhance their teaching and learning as well as support student learning

through media, including visual literacy.

Outside of District Resources

There is a partnership with Cobb County Public Library called the Library PASS (Public

Library Access for Student Success). The library PASS program offers students and teachers
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“access to all of our awesome resources at the public library, including 93+ online databases,

18,660+ eBooks, 7,270+ eAudiobooks, and 430+ streaming videos as well as 604,910+ physical

items in our collection” (Cobb County Goverment, n.d).

The Marietta High School Needs for the Media Center

In determining the areas of need, one media specialist and two teachers from Marietta

High School(MHS) were interviewed. I chose teachers who were in our ELA and ESOL

departments due to the finding that our English department uses the media center the most. A

poll was also taken in one of my Early Childhood Education courses at MHS that consists of

juniors and seniors.

The media specialist did a great job at identifying the services and resources we offer at

MHS, and based on the interview questions, she identified that there was a need for better

outreach to departments for collaboration and support, a strong reading initiative to increase

reading for enjoyment and to support our district’s reading initiative and a strong database of

interactive lessons supporting media literacy, research, and citations. At this time, the district is

working on a program to address these items. We are working on creating modules in Schoology

across all grade levels in the district by employing CommonSense Media Digital Citizenship

lessons. Our media specialist feels this is our largest deficit, and they are working hard with the

district to remedy it. Other than the lack of digital citizenship instruction in our schools right

now, the biggest obstacle for us is SB 226 and the challenge of books in our school libraries and

classroom curriculum. The most difficult component of this is the vague definition of materials

that are “harmful to minors.”

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After listening to the teachers discussing what they felt there was a need for, they

identified that they feel the media center has all we need; we as teachers need to get somehow

our students to see the importance of it. Both teachers were also aware of the resources and

services provided and wished other departments used the media center more. Marietta’s media

center provides the resources and overshares the services to our community and school, and our

students and teachers still do not use it to its full capabilities. This is becoming a trend for a lot of

different initiatives and programs at the school. Based on students' responses, they enjoy the

media center just for studying purposes and, a place to go to when they need to print,

troubleshoot their Chromebooks, and a place to eat that's not the cafeteria, as well as a safe place

before and after school. Those students who used the services and resources at the media center

stated that many students just don't care to notice, even with screens and posters around the

entire school and media center. Also, the ESOL teacher stated that she feels that we could always

do better at trying to reach our ESOL students when it comes to translating information to

Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, and Portuguese due to our high and diverse population of ESOL students.

Interviewee List

● MHS Media Specialist: Mrs. Laura Gary-Michel

○ Email:lgary-michel@marietta-city.k12.ga.us

● Teacher 1: Mrs. Monica Brooks PSC: 741664

○ Email: mbrooks@marietta-city.k12.ga.us

● Teacher 2: Ms. Di’Onna Burley

○ Email: dburley@marietta-city.k12.ga.us
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Professional Learning Plan

Professional Learning Objectives

1. Objective 1: Have teachers identify if they use the media center ‘s resources and services

provided by the media specialist of Marietta High School.

2. Objective 2: Develop a comprehensive flyer to share with teachers and Professional

Learnign Communites(PLCs).

3. Objective 3: Have teachers of PLC’s identify a resources or service that can benefit them

or their students that they can receive training or guidance on.

4. Objective 4: Implement professional development sessions using resources or services

from the media center that would benefit each PLC.

Professional Learning Plan Objectives, Action Steps & Evaluations

Objective 1 Introduction. Professional Learning Plan(PLP) Supervisors and

administrators will share the formative assessment to the staff to collect data on what resources

and services provided by the media center and specialist that teachers are already aware of and if

they use the media center website. The PLP Supervisors will analyze the data from the formative

assessmnt and share data with administrators and identify PLCs who have the most need of

information about resources and services provided by the media center and specialist.

Objective 1:

Have teachers identify if they use the media center ‘s resources and services provided by the
media specialist of Marietta High School.
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Stakeholders: Timeline:
Administrators October 2024 Monthly
Teachers Staff/Faculty Meeting
Professional Learning Plan Supervisors (Media Specialists
& Stanecia Roy Nelson)

Action Steps Evaluation

1. Create a formative assessment to see if teachers use MHS Media Center Resources -
to collect data on what teachers use the media center Teacher Formative
resources and/or services
2. During staff meeting have all teachers respond to the
formative assessment using a QR code in the staff
presentation.
3. Data will be organized by PLC’s to determine what
teachers and PLCs use the media center the least and
who needs to be informed of the services and
resources provided by the media center and media
specialist.

Objective 2 Introduction. Professional Learning Plan Supervisors will develop and create

a flyer to share physically and electronically with administrators and teachers/PLCs. Teachers

will add the electronic version to their Schoology pages for students to use as a resource and the

flyer will also be posted in a visible place in each classroom. All teachers will be instructed by

their adminstrator and department heads/instructional coaches to complete a formative

assessment/checklist to complete by the end of the week that notifies PLP supervisors that all

flyers are posted and students have been made aware of the resource.
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Objective 2:

Develop a comprehensive flyer to share with teachers and PLC’s to create an awareness of

the resources and services provided by the media center and media specialist.

Stakeholders: Timeline:

Administrators Create and disburse to teachers

Teachers (PLCs) at the end of November 2023

Professional Learning Plan Supervisors (Media Specialists

& Stanecia Roy Nelson)

Students of Marietta High School

Action Steps Evaluation

1. Using the data collected through the needs Teacher Formative Checklist

assessment, PLP supervisors will create a flyer of

the resources and services provided by the media

center and specialist for teachers to use as a

resource and share with students during

Wednesday advisements.

2. PLP supervisors will add flyer to media center and

high school website.

3. Administrators will email electronic version to

faculty and staff and instruct them to add to their

Schoology pages.
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4. PLP supervisors will print and disburse to teachers

by putting multiple hard copies in their mailboxes

to use as a resource and hang in their classroom.

Objective 3 Introduction. Professional Learning Plan Supervisors and administrators will

share results of the checklist from Objective 2 with each instructional coach and department lead

the responses of the formative checklist. Department leads will then will be instructed to

collaboratively discuss with PLC and determine which resource or service that they would like to

recieve instruction or more knowledge on from the media specialist based off of their PLCs

responses.

Objective 3:

Have teachers of PLC’s identify a resources or service that can benefit them or their

students that they can receive training or guidance on.

Stakeholders: Timeline:

Instructional Coaches or Head of PLCs/Departments December 2023 PLC

Professional Learning Plan Supervisors (Media Specialists & Weekly/Monthly Meetings

Stanecia Roy Nelson)

Teachers/PLCs

Action Steps Evaluation

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1. PLP supervisors will share the results of the Teacher PLC Resource Selection

Formative Checklist with administrators, instructional

coaches, and departmend heads.

2. Instructional Coaches or Department leads will share

the results of their PLCs checklist with their PLC and

collaboratively discuss with the PLC to determine

which resource or service that they would like to

recieve instruction, training or more knowledge on

from the media specialist.

3. Department Heads/Instructional Coaches will submit

their PLCs’ selections to the media specialist by

completing the google form by a designated timeline.

Objective 4 Introduction. Professional Learning Plan Supervisors and administrators will

share results of the checklist from Objective 2 with each instructional coach and department lead

the responses of the formative checklist. Department leads will then will be instructed to

collaboratively discuss with PLC and determine which resource or service that they would like to

recieve instruction or more knowledge on from the media specialist based off of their PLCs

responses.

Objective 4:

Implement professional development sessions using resources or services from the media

center that would benefit each PLC.

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Stakeholders: Timeline:

Instructional Coaches January - April 2024

Media Specialist

Teachers/PLCs

Administrators

Action Steps Evaluation

1. After the deadline for instructional coaches or PLC Training Summative

department lead submission, PLP supervisors will

gather data and share with adminstrative teams.

2. PLP supervisiors will then make a plan to implement

the needs of each PLC.

3. PLP supervisors will collaborate with instructional

coaches and department heads to plan a date for PLC

trainings.

4. In a 3 - 4 month span, media specialist will instruct

PLC on the resource or service that they feel will

benefit them or their students.

5. After each PLC training, each teacher will submit a

summative assessment on the resource or service from

the media specialist.

6. Media Specialist will use the data to plan for the

summer and next school year on implementation of

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resources and serices of the media center along with

the support and guidance of the administrative team.

Evaluations

The evaluations throughout this professional learning plan help collect data for

administrators and the Professional Learning Plan supervisors that include the media specialist

an myself. The action steps in Objectives 1-3, all include a formative components to collect data

from teachers and department heads so that PLP supervisors can identify what teachers already

know about the resources and services provided by the media center and specialist. In Objective

3, PLCs will decide on a resource or service they would like more trainig on to implement into

their curruiculum or courses. After the training has been selected and implemented, teachers will

complete a summative assessment over the training or resouce knowledge provided by the media

specialist. The data from Objective 4’s summative evaluation will help media specialist

determine if the training was effective and did the teachers learn more about the resources and

services provided by the media center and media specialist.

Reflection of Professional Learning Plan

The process of creating a professional plan was challenging in the beginning fo rme

because I feel I began to overanalyze what I could implement. The other main concerns

addressed in the needs assessment was something I could not interfer with due to it dealing with

the state rules and regulations, as well as matters that the Superintendent and Marietta City

Schools school board would have to implement. Our Superintendednt is implementing a process
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and plan forour media specialist to review over 10,000 books to make sure their isnt any sexually

explicit and what theboard deems as inappropriate for students.

This led to to me focusing on the need to identify what teachers know and dont know

about our medica center resources and services. Once I made up my mind to use that as my plan,

it was easier to focus on the simplicity of it. This assignment is a great refresher as an educato,r

to continuously reassess the needs and resources needed to be successful in the classroom and to

grow professionally.
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References

Cobb County Government. (n.d.). About the library pass program. About the Library PASS

Program | Cobb County Georgia.https://www.cobbcounty.org/library/learning-programs

/library-pass/about

School Specialty. (2023, February 8). Marietta High School Media Center Renovation

[PowerPoint slides].https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/Meetings/Attachment.aspx?S

=4110&AID=1491277&MID=106916