Resnik

Heidi Resnik
Dr. Maria Pacino
Library 530
January 17, 2015

Professional Development: Synthesizing Standards

Creating this professional development activity pushed me in new ways even though I
consider myself to have extensive experience in this arena of education. I served as the Staff
Development Coordinator at my former school for 11 years. What made this experience unique
was my being hired as the SD Coordinator at a brand new comprehensive high school. I
interviewed for the position of English teacher; however, I simultaneously interviewed to be
hired as a SD Coordinator at Pacifica High School in Oxnard, California. I went into the
interview with a vision, a plan, and practical ideas about how a SD Coordinator would and could
function on a school campus. I argued that by building this position into the certificated staffing
hires, we would be building a culture of collaboration. The administration would send the overt
message that professional development is a vital component of the daily goings-on on our
campus, and that collaboration about standards, strategies, and lesson design would be a top
priority. My principal subsequently hired me for both positions.
During those 11 years, I learned about leadershipthe good, the bad, and yes, the ugly. I
planned activities and workshops and sometimes failed. I reflected, corrected, and grew. I
planned activities and workshops and often succeeded. I reflected, corrected, and grew. I always
asked for feedback at workshops, and though colleagues can be honest and encouraging in
constructive feedback, some can be downright mean. Still, on all feedback, I reflected, corrected,

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and grew. Thankfully, my principal, a charismatic educational genius whom I respect (and the
finest principal for whom I have ever worked), mentored and trained and chastised and praised
me. At one point during my tenure at Pacifica High School, I was teaching three periods of
English and working on Staff Development for two. With 130 teachers on staff, the principal saw
the need for this level of support. I worked with department chairs, associate principals, the
librarian, and the counselors in my leadership position. I created and developed a New Teacher
Program designed to assist and acculturate new teachers in the profession and to our school. I
also worked with any teachers who wanted or needed support in any capacity. Of all the areas of
professional development in which I have been involved, my passion is and continues to be
curriculum and lesson design. I earned my Masters degree in this area, and since the advent of
standards, my classroom and SD Coordinator focus has been to create meaningful lessons
anchored firmly in the standards. Not as a means to an end, namely high stakes testing, but
because what the standards aim to accomplish is righteous and worthy. Though I did not always
agree with all the former standards, and I understand many people are upset with the CCSS
(which I absolutely do not understand), I believe as educators our moral imperative is to respect
the Department of Education and teach our students to meet the standards of expectation so we
as a society stand on common ground. My years in SD have thus far been the highlight of my
career. I felt gratified with the balance of working directly with students in the classroom and
working directly with teachers as they worked in their classrooms. I felt I became a respected
leader, one on whom all staff could count. After my time at Pacifica High School came to a close
due the hiring of a new principal three years ago, I transferred to a sister school in the district,
Adolfo Camarillo High School, the school at which I taught for seven years prior to opening
Pacifica.

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This timeline is important to reflect upon because what I knew, but unfortunately forgot,
is that though schools share the same district, they do not share the same culture and expectations
for their staffs. At Pacifica, we designed a philosophy of collaboration and built in the value of
professional development, so this mindset was the norm. We intentionally designed the school to
be a place where growth and taking professional risks is safe, honorable, and expected. The staff
was fairly young, and those with many years experience possessed the growth mindset.
However, my current staff could not be more opposite. Even after 11 years and all the
pedagogical and bureaucratic changes that took place, the pervasive mindset at ACHS is one of
cynicism, individualism, pessimism, and a shared fixed mindset of how education works and
how kids are. Though of course not all teachers or departments embody these traits, many do,
and unfortunately the English department lacks the most leadership and progressive mindset.
Despite these challenges, my second year back, I became the lead teacher for the six
freshmen English teachers. I was in charge of organizing collaboration meetings, and inspiring
our team to design common lessons and assessments. Using all my experience, enthusiasm, and
expertise in the classroom, I organized my first meeting. I created a tight agenda, which I
emailed out days in advance. I provided snacks on the day of the meeting, we had a round table
discussion (move the desks in a circle), and we focused on where each team member saw him or
herself in terms of transitioning to the CCSS. Well, the meeting was a disaster! My colleagues
were on cell phones, chitchatting about their personal lives, talking about how students do this or
dont do that, and two people left early. I was frustrated and shocked at the waste of time and
lack of professionalism. Apparently, immediately following the meeting, people went to the
principal complaining about my style, my personality, my intensity, and my focus for the team
standards based lessons. While they all did not have enough professional integrity to approach

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me directly to share their concerns, my principal did. He spent an hour with me helping me
understand how the culture works at ACHS. Thankfully, I have worked with him for 16 years (8
years at Pacifica); he knows me well and respects me as a teacher and leader. He understands my
heart and passion and the source of my intensity. After our talk, I had the opportunity to
apologize to the team, ask for forgiveness, and share that I hoped we could embrace this bump in
the road as a learning situation and move on together. Things calmed down a bit but not
completely. Once again, I learned a great deal and have made monumental adjustments in my
style and communication with the staff. Currently, I have backed out of leadership for the most
part. Right now, as I have shared before, I am working with one new teacher. We are teaching
lock-step lessons, collaborating, sharing, and having a blast working together! As far as my
services for other members of my department, I share my lessons when they ask or provide a
copy of a DVD. That seems to be enough.
All this aforementioned reflection has been my filter of consideration when I began this
lesson. Without all this knowledge, understanding, and broad perspective of what factors must be
considered prior to creating a viable professional development activity for my staff at ACHS, I
fear there would be a negative outcome. I have spent the past year and a half focused primarily
on my own classroom and developing and improving my own lessons with regard to the
standards. I am networking for my position as a teacher librarian by connecting with people on
an individual basis to earn their trust and respect. So far this strategy has been working more in
my favor. All this has led me to the professional development activity for this assignment. I
wanted to create something real, a plan I could take to my principal to see if he would be open to
my presenting it.

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The professional development activity on which I will focus is Synthesizing Standards.

The diverse partnership is between the teachers and the teacher librarian. My idea for this
workshop came out of the survey data from my previous assignment. The data (though a very
small sampling) revealed that a significant disparity existed between teachers perceptions of
what a librarian does or should do and if she is effective or not. This information has prompted
me to examine that gap and figure out a way to bridge it. My analysis, brainstorming, and
visiting with teachers have guided me to focus on standards as a way to begin building that
bridge. To me, transformative education must be rooted in the deep understanding of the
standards. Since I have begun this program, I have learned of the many different standards that
exist today. For this professional development workshop, I will focus on helping teachers to
integrate the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and other content standards not in the Core
(for PE, performing arts, social science, health, business, etc.), the College and Career Readiness
Anchor Standards (CCR), and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner into a lesson for their classrooms. I would like for the teachers at
my school to see the importance and relevance of these standards and how they work in
conjunction with one another to educate our students to become productive citizens, one of our
school goals.
I want this workshop to be useful and positive for the staff. I will schedule it on a
minimum day designed expressly for a professional development workshop; this way, the staffs
expectations will be set already. The workshop will be an hour and a half long. It will take place
in the library for the entire certificated staff: three associate principals, 80 teachers, six
counselors, one nurse, and one librarian. We all fit in the library fairly comfortably, and this is
the usual venue for our faculty meetings. We will start the workshop as one large group as I go

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over the standards and explain the task. Then people will break into groups of twos or threes by
department to collaborate and fill out a chart together. I will have the APs, the nurse, and the
counselors join different groups in the departments they choose. I will provide fruit, homemade
cookies (some gluten free), tea, coffee, and water as a treat. I will send the agenda out two days
in advance, so people will know what to expect and what to bring to the meeting (I carefully
planned the aesthetic layout of the agenda keeping in mind the mindset of the staffit is clear,
concise, orderly. I also carefully selected the quote and graphic to send tacit messages). I will
start and end the meeting on time. I have built in extra time to each section of the agenda to
accommodate for questions and comments. I have experience in working with a large group and
keeping them moving; however, I will ask my principal to work with me to ensure this happens.
Upon entering, staff will sign in, pick up the AASL and CCR handouts, get their snacks
and proceed to the meeting area. As a group, I will welcome everyone, go over the meeting
norms (no paper grading, cell phones away, respecting and listening to colleagues), the agenda
(attached), the expectations (to participate fully and acknowledge the goal of the meeting: To
appreciate the way in which the CCSS & all Content Standards, CCRs, and the AASL Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner work in unison to foster student learning), and the outcomes
(objective: To work collaboratively to complete the chart integrating standards from each
document into a lesson, and fill out a quick feedback form).
Then I will have everyone turn his or her attention to the AASL Standards for the 21stCentury Learner. I will explain a brief history of these standards and ask for a quick show of
hands indicating whoever has ever heard of standards for the library. That should foster some
brief discussion. Then I will show the staff how the standards are constructed (this took me a
while to figure out on my own). I will walk them through the document and share that the

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standards are divided into four categories, then those standards are sub-divided into four
categories, and each of those categories has a number of specific standards. The categories are
organized as follows:
Learners Use Skills, Resources, & Tools to:
1. Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.
2. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and
create new knowledge.
3. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our
democratic society.
4. Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
The sub-categories are:
1. Skills: Key abilities needed for understanding, learning, thinking, and mastering
subjects.
2. Dispositions in Action: Ongoing beliefs and attitudes that guide thinking and
intellectual behavior that can be measured through actions taken.
3. Responsibilities: Common behaviors used by independent learners in researching,
investigating, and problem solving.
4. Self-Assessment Strategies: Reflections on ones own learning to determine that the
skills, dispositions, and responsibilities are effective.
To engage people, I will ask questions for table discussions. I will point out how these standards
support the CCSS and the CCRs, and ask for table discussions about how teachers already
integrate some of these standards into their curriculum without their knowing it.
Next, I will ask that people turn their attention to the College and Career Readiness
Anchor Standards. Our staff is fairly familiar with these, but I will take time to remind everyone
that the CCRs are the same as the ELA CCSS and they are the same K-12. Not everyone knows
this. After that I will pass out the charts (I will not have these out on the counter initially because
people may start filling them out early and individually rather than as a collaborative effort). I
will go over the chart (attached), and then ask people to move into groups of two or three by
department (this incorporates a stretch and brain break, too). Working with departments is the
focus for beginning to integrate the content standards. Everyone (hopefully) will have brought a

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copy of his or her content standards; if not, the library computers will be available. Then I will
explain the assignment and let the staff work for the next 20 minutes. The principal and I will
circulate and assist as needed.
When the charts are completed, I will collect them. I will pass out a sheet
feedback/evaluation form to see if I met my goals. Asking for opinions and feedback sends a
message of empowerment to the teachers. I will ask a couple colleagues to collect these in order
that they remain anonymous. Then I will adjourn the workshop at 2:55; ending early is always a
positive way to begin to gain respect as a leader.
I hope after going through this exercise that teachers will see the value of the AASL
Standards for our students and how they support content standards across the curriculum. My
goal as a TL someday is to post these standards in the library in a large aesthetic way, to post
them on the school website, and to inform parents and all stakeholders of their existence through
newsletters and meetings. In addition, I want to help change the perception that the teacher
librarian is separate from the curriculum, but rather, she is a teacher, who also has standards for
her realm of the profession. Ultimately, I hope teachers see the librarian as a partner with whom
they can plan standards-based lessons. I will use the collected charts as data and mine precious
gems of information for my future planning of professional development workshops and
activities.