Balance is key!

Retrieved from 123rf.com

The concept of balance

I am currently still in the process of completing my 30-day yoga challenge and wanted to bring up our word of the day, as I find it very fitting to this topic. We discussed the word balance; which is defined as a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions (dictionary.com). When you are living with balance in your life, you are living with peace and harmony every day. This is something I have been continuously working on within my life. Balance comes in physical, emotional and spiritual forms. For me, having a balanced life means creating time for the things I have to do and the things I like to do. It can be hard to create harmony between our lives responsibilities while finding time for activities that rejuvenate us and bring us pleasure. I am currently balancing three course, teaching 4 days a week, working at a brewery every other weekend, while trying to incorporating yoga, friends, and family into the mix.

Retrieved from tinybuddah.com

Motivation

One thing that makes this somewhat easy is being forever grateful that I get to continue my education. Teaching has always given me joy, and one of the reasons I feel in love with teaching is the idea of being a lifelong learner. This course in particular has got me thinking about how I will continue to seek a balance of self-development and exploration throughout my life. We will not always be asked to partake is self-exploration, where we get to explore and learn different strategies weekly, as seen in LIBE 477. This has actually affect me the past couple years as I found myself in a rut subbing for my 5^th year in a row, going job-to-job doing the best I could. My life left like something was missing and to be honest it was self-exploration and motivation to learn more! I had lost that drive somewhere in-between finishing my education program and my journey as a TTOC. This ultimately led me back to school, as a way to help foster my motivation to learn.

Networking

I think one of the most important networks you can create is through your district. I plan on connecting to other teacher librarians. As I am not currently a teacher librarian I have been networking myself throughout my district. Every school I TTOC at I make a point to drop in at the library and introduce myself. I have been sharing my journey with other teacher librarians discussing what I have been learning within my program. By doing this I am able to share resources with other librarians as well as grain resources myself.  One librarian told me about her connection with the library association. She was nice enough to add to me their mailing list so I can partake in these meeting. I joined with group with the hopes of creating a life long resource of development within my practice.

 Retrieved from earnmydegree.com

Blogging/social media 

This course in particular has helped show me we can continue our own professional development through blogs and social media! Our professor Aaron Mueller created a course, which allows for more in-depth self-exploration and has helped remind me of the importance to continue this aspect of teaching.  I never saw blogging as a way to help develop skills and professional development. Writing my own blog has helped me understand my own learning process and reading other blogs has ultimately gotten me excited about all of the amazing ideas out there. There are so many teacher librarians in the world and blogging proves to be a great way to share and connect ones knowledge.

Currently I have started following a few suggested Instagram accounts,  Teachergolz  and thebookwrangler. I am starting to explore different bloggers and am excited create a feedly account dedicated to follow other teacher librarians. I also hope my fellow UBC LIBE 477 class will continue to use their blogs as a way to share their learning and progress as I love this process of collaboration and learning with and through each other.

Professional development/Workshops

Finally,  professional development days are also an amazing opportunity for teacher librarians to continue their learning. My school district offers many different programs where I plan on growing in areas like implementing technology and STEAM within the library. My school district provides many different avenues when perusing your professional development. I have always loved having the flexibility to pick an area of personal interest. I am proud to work in such a district, which incorporates educational days for teachers. With an industry which promotes the importance of being a lifelong learner it is important teachers are encouraged to attended professional development days as a way to work with colleagues to further our skills and engage in a wide range of activities, workshops, conferences or school based discussion groups. 

I am also currently trying to enrol in the insignia training workshop, as this is something a fellow librarian explained to be important in our district. It is the main portal teacher librarians use within my district and in order for me to be qualified to TTOC for a librarian I must have this course completed (workshops).

Overall I think it is important for teacher librarian to find balance within their lives and make sure they have time saved dedicated to self-development. This is an important aspect of the job as we are forever learners and it’s nice to share our journey with our staff, students, and fellow teachers librarians as a way to help foster that love for learning.