Getting and IDT Position and Succeeding at It

I am currently teaching 5th grade Math at a small elementary school in Allen, Texas. I am enrolled in the Masters program for Educational Technologies and Library Science.  I chose this program because I simply love the library.  I love what a librarian position has evolved into over the past several years from a Circulation desk position to a media/technology/research/ circulation position.  No longer is a librarian's biggest job helping students find books.  While that is clearly an important role that will always be part of the position, there are so many more hats that a librarian wears as the career continues to morph into more of a technology based position. 

Having said that, obviously my goal is to find a librarian position in a technology-rich school.  I would prefer to continue working in an elementary school, but would consider secondary if that position was available.  I would like to be in a school where the librarian plays a major role in the school's technology department and serves as a liason between the classroom and the many resources available to aide in learning.

 

 I have toyed with the idea of continuing in a classroom teaching position as that has evolved into a very technology-forward position as well.  In my current classroom, I use lots of technology and my students love that!  I have also considered moving back to the secondary level again but in the technology field rather than math.  The bottom line is that I have not decided what my ultimate dream position would be. 

 

Using the WorkMatrix, I do see myself continuing in a first-level service position of teaching whatever type of classroom that ends up looking like.  Of course, should I transition into a librarian position, that shifts on a regular basis between first and second levels of service as a teacher of students and a teacher of teachers in a professional development role.  The features of work that is most important to me is the geographic location.  Working in the field of education, I am able to have some options on location as my daughter goes through high school and starts looking toward college.  I don't plan to be the parent who follows her child off to college, but I do want to have the option of being near her should she decide to pursue a career away from the DFW area which is highly likely based on the field she wants to study.

 

The skills that I need to be successful in this field are many!  The Masters program that I am enrolled in is highly regarded for preparing its students to be ready to move into a technology or library position.  Because the program focuses on librarians who want to work in an education field of service, I believe that it is the best preparation for me to reach my goals.  When I was preparing to begin a Masters program, I researched several options.  Many schools offer a Masters of Library Sciences, but that type of program is not specialized for working in the field of education.  These programs are designed to give students a wide range of library information from medical libraries, government libraries, corporate libraries, and school libraries.  For me, the Education field is a non-negotiable, so choosing a specialized program was an easy one.  I will need to take a prep course for the state certification exam for school librarians, but there are no other courses that are not already part of my degree plan.

I am a firm believer in continuing to learn to better yourself and your profession.  In working to always learn more about my field, I know there are so many professional organizations that support the field of education in addition to working with veteran teachers and technologists. One organization that I believe is a must for teachers is the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).  As we have discussed since the beginning of this course, technology and education go hand in hand and that trend continues to increase with every passing school year.  ISTE supports seven specific areas of education including multi-media focused educators.  ISTE sponsors the National Educational Computing Conference as well as publishes two journals devoted to integrating technolgoy into education.  A second professional organization that would benefit teachers who are working to incorporate technology into the classroom as well as Library Media Specialists is Association for Educational Communications and Tecnology (AECT).  AECT works to connect educational professional who are working to apply educational technologies to learning.  The organization provides many specialized conferences and trainings as well as monthly and quarterly publications supporting educational technology.  Both of these organizations would further my knowledge of effectively integrating technology into my curriculum for the benefit of my students by linking me with other professionals who are working toward the same goal.  Additionally, I would have access to information about new technologies and ideas that are available for educators.