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Revised SWOT Analysis, Goals, & Plan
Sherry C. Cieutat
March 3, 2012
University of West Georgia
Strengths – I am a diligent, organized, and detailed worker. I pride myself on knowing my collection well and being able to find that “perfect” book or resource without even consulting the computer. Both students and teachers regularly request more “books like those” or “more by that author.” I work very closely with the students and teachers to maintain a collection that is informative, interesting, and engaging. I have informal conversations with students and teachers all the time about materials. During our discussions or emails, I write down the requested title, author, and student/teacher name on a Materials Request list that I keep close at hand for future consideration. I regularly ask teachers to evaluate books or videos pulled for a unit when I notice items that seem dated or “dusty” to help me with weeding and selection of new materials. I have mapped my collection several times over the years to help me recognize more clearly the weak areas of the collection to aid me in selection. I use standards searches when purchasing books from publishers to ensure that I am meeting the curriculum needs of students and teachers. It is imperative that I am diligent in my efforts and that I know the curriculum and the district and state goals and objectives in order to provide appropriate materials to meet the needs of the students and teachers.
I take my job seriously and am bold in my feelings and beliefs. Being assertive and willing to uphold high literacy and learning standards are necessary qualities for a teacher/leader, such as a media specialist. Effective teacher/leaders will be needed to advocate for radical changes as we progress through the 21st century and the advances in technology that dramatically affect all aspects of education and learning. Those of us in leadership positions need to fully support these emerging technologies that will allow students to take charge of their learning and make it personal and interesting to them. If we take the lead and advocate for effective practices, the students of today will have a fighting chance to one day compete globally among their technology savvy peers.
I am a good teacher who tries to create interesting lessons. Because I try to deliver meaningful learning opportunities, I believe that the students are gaining a different, sometimes deeper perspective of the subject matter. I expect students to use their brains to think and learn, often asking them, “Why?” I have high expectations for the students, the teachers, and for myself. Teaching students to think and holding them accountable for their answers is something that I try to model as I teach. I believe that as a media specialist, it is my responsibility to do what I can to help students develop into thinkers and problem solvers, knowing where to find the answers and how to uncover them. I work to regularly integrate technology into my media lessons to make the topic more engaging for students and to model technology use for teachers. I feel that the teachers appreciate my willingness to assist them in teaching the curriculum while also teaching necessary information literacy skills to students. Sometimes teachers enthusiastically ask me to share lesson resources or approaches. Occasionally teachers will send happy emails my way congratulating themselves on trying something new in their classroom after being exposed to the idea/resource during my media lesson. I believe that it is my responsibility to expose students to different educational experiences using technology and information literacy skills for their sake and for future’s sake. Students that have a firm grasp of information literacy skills will be equipped to identify effective resources, pull out answers and information from those resources, and utilize this information to construct new meaning and make new discoveries. Students who strive to learn and grow will push our society forward in this time of constant change and innovation.
Weaknesses – Over the years, I have attempted to pinpoint the problems I have with punctuality so that I can overcome them. I am not perfect, but I have made improvements over time. Because of my hard working attitude and logical brain, deep down I felt that not being punctual was a flaw that could be easily overlooked. However, I have come to realize that being punctual is my responsibility just as teaching the students is my responsibility. I have always felt that my willingness to dive into my work as soon as I arrive (even if it is 5 minutes past) doesn’t affect my work day. In my determination to correct this problem, I have found a renewed sense of accomplishment and a better morning attitude. These positive feelings help me focus on the tasks at hand in order to provide quality and meaningful experiences for the students each day.
In all my focus on what I want to accomplish in my lessons, I sometimes forget the students. In recognizing that I need to do a better job of putting students first when planning lessons, I have diligently tried to reconstruct many lessons to allow for more group collaboration and active learning for the students. I recognize that as a media specialist, I can be the catalyst of change that will help students develop the critical thinking skills they will need in the future. I believe that the students and teachers have appreciated my efforts to evoke curiosity and learning during media lessons. By focusing on this weakness, the students have benefitted from more differentiated and student focused lessons. Teachers, too, are more willing to try student centered approaches in the classroom after experiencing these successful lessons.
I am a stranger to tact and am matter of fact in my responses. I have been graced/cursed with the talent of saying exactly what I am thinking. As I have aged, and as I have been given opportunities such as this one to contemplate my character flaws, I have learned strategies to help overcome this weakness. I have come to realize that I do not always have to have an answer at that given moment. Delaying my response by biting my tongue and telling the person I’ll respond to them later has worked wonders for me. I have also learned that it is appropriate for me to asksomeone to send me an email for their request or politely asking several people to wait their turn rather than trying to “help” by answering numerous, bombarding questions at one time – with obvious frustration. It is also important for students to be taught life lessons while at school. Being an example for students in how to respond to others and how to maintain an appropriate attitude is a skill that will bode them well in their school and life experiences. Furthermore, I certainly don’t want students to hear my frustration and be wary of asking me questions or asking me for help. Maintaining a positive atmosphere all the time is an important quality of an inviting media center and one that I want to emulate.
Opportunities – While my first administrator was very visible and verbal about his appreciation and support of me and the media center, the current administration is never around except for a few minutes during morning broadcast. This opportunity creates a challenge for me to showcase the efforts of the media center and the impact the program is having on student achievement. Making an effort to seek them out and be prepared to comment on current and upcoming media activities is vital. It is imperative to keep the administration up to date on curriculum based lessons, purchases to support the standards, and reading promotion activities to ensure that not only they know the efforts I am making, but that they grow to understand the connection between the media program and student achievement.
The administrators say they are supportive but when it comes down to it, I usually get excuses or blank stares. This opportunity relates closely with the previous one concerning administrator visibility. If the only time the administrators hear from me is when I need their help and support then, I, as the media specialist, have done a poor job of establishing a quality relationship. It is vital to work continually to promote the media program throughout the school but most importantly with the school administration. Without administrator support, media budgets can be stripped away, other school duties can be assigned to fill what appears to be “dead” time, and the tremendous efforts to impact student achievement can go virtually unnoticed.
I have talked with both administrators about how to solve the problem of teacher buy-in. I want the teachers to feel like my lessons are their lessons by integrating the curriculum into media lessons and helping take some of the load off of them. The teachers say they are excited about this plan but seem frustrated when we have to schedule a time to meet to plan lessons. On the day of the lesson, half of them forget, and they rarely participate in the lesson, choosing instead to quietly work on paperwork while occasionally disciplining students. To remedy the problem with teacher buy in, I have tried to take on a new perspective. Since I do have high expectations of teachers, I need to forge aheadand realize that not every teacher will expect the same in return. I have tried not to take their actions personally and instead focus on what I can control, which is awesome teachable moments with the students. If I work to showcase student efforts and promote the superb happenings of the media center, I will keep the support of those awesome teachers and hopefully garner the support of some of the less enthusiastic teachers along the way.
Threats – Our school climate is a whip-cracking, nonstop schedule of demands, expectations, and meetings. You are expected to attend every, single, extremely, long staff meeting, PTO meeting, committee meeting, yearly school-based staff development meeting, and even Saturday PTO sponsored events. There is no respect for your time or outside life. This threat is all about attitude. I can attend all of the meetings that I am obligated to attend and not feel guilty about the rest. I can promote a positive demeanor and attempt to gain insights and share solutions to enhance the learning for students.
Aside from the few teachers too scared to do anything other than obey, teacher morale is bad. The administration has an “open door” policy, but no one is allowed to walk down the hall of the front office. We are told this restriction is due to confidentiality. This threat drives me to want to provide a media atmosphere that is even more inviting and welcoming. With more school positions being eliminated every year, district leaders, administrators, and support teachers are finding their responsibilities expanding due to fewer positions. Teachers feel the pressures of demanding administrators, testing mandates, pay cuts, and looming legislation. While educators are doing all that they can to remain positive and focused, it is a very frustrating time in our schools. We cannot control the actions of others, but we can consistently work to better ourselves. Our whole focus should be on what is best for students. Therefore, it is best if I can model a good attitude, a willingness to support the teachers, and a renewed focus on what really matters – the students.
Lastly, for me personally, my paraprofessional revolving door has been quite hard on me. In ten years, I have had six paraprofessionals and trained eight due to maternity leaves and student teaching absences. When you are spending all of your time training new people, it is very difficult to accomplish anything yourself. My first paraprofessional was phenomenal. We made a great team, sharing all of the responsibilities. I had no idea how vital this relationship was until I lost her. She moved up to a higher paying job following our awesome principal to his new school. Since that time, I have experienced people who could not follow simple directions like operating a computer mouse to people operating a home business during school hours. Again, a positive outlook seems to be the mantra for all of these “opportunities.” I cannot control the paraprofessional situation. What I can do is train them the best that I can, model effective practices, and work to develop a quality relationship with them. I believe that different people are placed in your lives at different times to help teach you valuable lessons, if given the chance. I reiterate that if my focus is on the students, then everything else will fall into place.
Goal #1 – Since tact is not my forte’, and that can create more tension when you add overburdened teachers, my first goal is to try more consciously to put myself in their shoes and choose my words carefully to help lighten their load.
Plan – I have strong feelings and opinions that I do not mind voicing. Although I have good relationships with the teachers and many of them are my personal friends, I have created a media cocoon that I need to emerge from. I am quite diligent in my work and my tendency is to sit at my desk consumed with emails, lesson plans, calendars, orders, programs, and resources. I do make time to eat lunch but I do that at my desk while catching up on emails I may have missed while doing other work. I help students and teachers whenever they need it but I have “trained” them to come ask me for help. During my paraprofessional’s one hour lunch and duties, I typically remain at my desk working while students and teachers come in to an empty media center. Over the years, I have come to realize that building relationships is possibly more important than any other aspect of my job, yet I have done little to focus on improving this area.
My plan is to eat lunch in the teacher’s lounge at least one day per week to quietly build stronger relationships with the teachers. Since I am a talker, I will make every effort to focus more on them and be as positive as possible in our casual exchanges. Furthermore, I will emerge from my cocoon while my paraprofessional is gone and sit at the circulation desk in order to be visible and welcoming for students and teachers. To combat my fear of downtime, I plan to save some work that does not require using my computer to work on while I am at the circulation desk.
Goal #2 – Having a strong work ethic is one of my strengths but punctuality is a weakness. To combat this misinterpreted habit, I will strive to improve and ultimately overcome this problem.
Plan – I will analyzemy morning routine and schedule in order to focus my efforts on getting to school on time every day. I plan to adjust my afternoon/evening schedule in order to provide ample time for me to prepare for the next day. I will make a commitment to get in bed earlier so that I will have the energy to get up and get moving in order to stay on schedule. Most importantly, I will change my casual attitude about the importance of overcoming this lifelong habit once and for all. Being punctual will inevitably reduce unnecessary, unintended frustration and stress for everyone involved. Feeling calm each morning will allow me to relax more with my children,concentrate on the work ahead, and be more consciously available for the students and teachers.
Goal #3 – I thought that I presented interesting lessons for the students. However, through some coursework for this degree, I have realized that I do a lot of talking during my lessons and do not engage the students enough. My third goal is to focus on creating student-centered lessons where students are active and engaged learners throughout the lesson.
Plan – I started out as a middle school teacher and loved teaching and interacting with the students. I have always tried to teach interesting lessons, many times foregoing the text book to create my own unit on a given subject. However, through more careful observation of my lessons, I have realized that I am expecting elementary students to sit and listen for 45 minutes, while maybe answering a few questions here and there.
My plan is to re-evaluate my lessons and update them to include activities for students to “do” rather than to “hear.” During a recent 3rdgrade lesson on Parts of Speech, studentsused library book titles to practice identifying different parts of speech. After reviewing the parts of speech through a PowerPoint and Brain Pop movie, I passed out stacks of predetermined books and worksheets. The students worked in groups to help each other discover the parts of speech found within each book title. The students were very active and the teacher was swept up in the lesson as well. Some groups worked better together than others, but overall they seemed to enjoy the lesson.
Another recent lesson with Kindergarten focused on “long ago” and “today” using a PowerPoint presentation. Normally students sit for 40 minutes listening to me talk excitedly about their recent field trip to the farm and how that relates to the long ago/today comparisons in the PowerPoint. To try and engage these learners, I printed copies of all the PowerPoint pictures and gave one to each child at their seats. Using my mysterious voice, I told each child to peek at their picture for a moment and then keep it hidden where no one else could see their picture. Then I explained to the students that when they saw their picture on the screen they would come to the front and be my special helper. Throughout the lesson, students were excited when I got to their picture and after helping me they proceeded to a T-chart poster where the teacher helped them place their picture on either the “long ago” or “today” side. I thought the lesson went well, but it was quite long.