When deciding how to focus my graduate coursework, I thought about my time as an elementary school teacher. I reflected upon my favorite subjects to teach and the ones I felt most passionate about. One day, after reading A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon to my first graders, I watched my students sharing their ideas on Camilla's love of lima beans with partners. I then realized that talking and writing about books with students were the most enthusiastic, energetic, and enjoyable moments of the day for me, as well as my students. After making personal connections to the story, the students asked if I could find more books by David Shannon. We went to the school library the next afternoon and found the books together. I knew that if I could spend my entire day focused on books, reading, and students in the entire school that it would be the most rewarding and enriching way to spend the rest of my career.

The school library media center and program should be the nucleus of the school. According to Information Power, it should be "a dynamic program that challenges students to create personal meaning from information" (59). An article that provided me with an overall vision for the school media center was Mike Eisenberg's article "This Man Wants to Change Your Job," especially when he discusses advocating your program and being a teacher-librarian He makes it the media specialist's responsibility when he says "As librarians, it's our job to ensure that administrators, teachers, parents, and decision makers fully comprehend that effective library programs are critical to boosting student learning and achievement." This made immediate sense to me and helped me start to define what my role will be as the school media specialist.

My primary goal as a media specialist is to be a teacher. The teaching role is the most important aspect of this position, and it is the one role that has been overlooked for decades. I embrace the opportunity to make the entire school my classroom and foster an information literate society of learners. My passion for working with children and my experience in a school setting makes me believe a position in a school media center is where I belong. My media center will pulse with students, books, technology, and discussion all day long. Being a school-wide leader and expert in state standards are areas that I take great pride in. The role of a media specialist involves being "a leader of leaders" (Wilson and Lyders 2). Fostering collaboration and supporting the staff are very important to me. Being involved with professional development is also an essential part of being an effective teacher and leader that I look forward to.

I have spent my career gaining knowledge of how children learn to read and how to develop lifelong readers. Most importantly, my exposure to children's literature and resources has allowed me to have engaging discussions with students about reading. My graduate coursework has helped me learn about information literacy standards and technology, aspects of which I have already attempted to incorporate into my daily classroom teaching. Leadership experiences, such as working with our district's Director of Elementary Curriculum on professional development for teachers, have prepared me to be an active and cooperative leader as a school media specialist. While these experiences have most certainly provided the foundation and passion for an active career in the library field, my continuing desire to seek professional activities and development will further my growth and strength in the profession.

Resources

AASL & AECT (1998). Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. Chicago: American Library Association.

Eisenberg, Mike. (Sept. 2002) "This Man Wants to Change Your Job." School Library Journal. 47-50.

Wilson, Patricia Potter, & Josette Anne Lyders. (2001). Leadership for Today's School Library. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.