Robin+Holt

Robin Holt

Support needs to be a two way street, all who are involve need support and need to be supportive, allowing everyone to benefit. Stakeholders would include administration, teachers, staff, students, parents, community members, and other librarians. Ways that I have built stakeholder support are finding what interests the students and using that as “bait” to keep them interested and learning. Also working with other teachers to discuss ideas and plan lessons together, this helps bring new ideas to the table and allows for those involved to stay informed of what is going on. Checking in with administration and letting them know what is going on to keep them “in the loop” keeps them aware. Newsletters to parents and inviting them to the classroom shows the parents what their child is doing in school. By inviting community members to volunteer or be part of a project is a great way for students to see community members as role models and the community to see what is happening inside of our schools, and possibly advise us and give us ideas. By working with other librarians you are better able to stay updated on new ideas, and share materials if necessary
 * Have you built stakeholder support? If so, how? **

Some ways that I have promoted my current program of business education include a variety of things. As a department (3 teachers) we collaborate together and bring our 3 classes together about once a month and do a team building day. The activities are business related and it allows the students to see another aspect of business other than the class that they are enrolled in. We also send out a monthly newsletter to parents that recaps what the students have been doing in class, or what they will be doing. We have students write articles and put in the school newspaper showcasing the best work. Pictures are taken and displayed of students working on projects or on site visits and competitions. A survey is given to the students at the end of each semester about the class, letting the teacher know what the students enjoyed and what they didn’t or what they suggest to do, if they plan to enroll in another business class, why or why not. We set up a display when parents and future students are visiting the school along with a teacher there to help with any questions that come up. We like to showcase students work in the hallways. We have done competition at pep rallies sponsored by the business department. We have an advisory committee made up of teachers, students, and community members, that meet twice a year to discuss what is going on in the classroom and suggestions to the teachers. Some ideas I have about promoting the library. Having different community members once a month come in and read from their favorite book or story; inviting students, staff, and community members. I will be visible and active in the school and the community. I want to build relationships with teachers, students, and anyone involved. I will stay up to date with technology, find what interests the students and use that to keep them enthused. Working with computers and how fast everything changes and gets up dated we decided we wanted to get the newest version of Microsoft to teach the students. Although getting new software on 50 computers and books to go with it is not cheap we did research to see what other schools were doing, we found that some were making the switch, some were not, and some were still using an older version. We decided that the switch was worth it for our students. When we brought this to the CTE coordinator of our school district he was on board. The CTE coordinator is always in the loop of what is going on in our classrooms and extracurricular activities we are involved in. We make it a point to keep him aware that way he is more helpful when we have questions and suggestions
 * In what ways have you promoted your school library? **
 * Have you experienced success with your advocacy efforts? **