Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30
I returned again, with enthusiasm to BRE. This was one of few days when there wasn't a class rotating in, so the ladies had a chance to get some much needed work accomplished. While there, I discussed my pleasure reading unit with the media specialist, my information literacy unit working with third grades teachers, and my ideas about a display highlighting GA writer Carmen Agra Deedy. We discussed my reading to some first grade students next week and the necessary connection to their standards. I also began physically going through the reference section looking for ways to bring this section up-to-date with much needed Atlases and Almanacs. This section is also about 20+ years old and the media specialist hopes to purchase some much needed items. I enjoy working on assignments that I know serve a purpose for myself but for this media center as well. The enthusiasm of the youngsters who come into the media center to check out books is uplifting!
Bound to Stay Bound Time
I spent a couple of hours today working on choosing books that directly correlate to grade level social studies standards. After looking at the age of the nonfiction section, it was determined that the average was 26 years, a little old for books that students are using to write about presidents and states. My task from the media center specialist was to go into Bound to Stay Bound, who has the GA standards aligned to specific books and pick out books that would buttress this section and help with the age of this section. I was able to locate 41 books and tentatively spend $741.00--not bad for this number. It was certainly different when I started looking at reference material, which are significantly more expensive, but that's for another day.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, August 25
I logged two hours in the elementary school media center today. During this time we discussed my information literacy plan, but the 5th grade teachers are not going to do their research until Janauary. Mrs. Media suggested that I consider a writing unit for the 3rd grade. She will check with the 3rd grade teachers for me.
Mrs. Media showed me how to do an analysis of her collection. We noted that the age of the collection is 21 years. She has weeded last year, but wants to add some more current books that will also support the curriculum. Mrs. Media showed me how to look at Follett and Bound to Stay Bound for ordering. Bound to Stay Bound even has a way to look at book titles that specifically address specific curriculum. I am going to work at adding books to the collection that address Social Studies standards for the first grade. Before I left, I help shelve the books that had been returned today. They average about 100 books daily.
Mrs. Media showed me how to do an analysis of her collection. We noted that the age of the collection is 21 years. She has weeded last year, but wants to add some more current books that will also support the curriculum. Mrs. Media showed me how to look at Follett and Bound to Stay Bound for ordering. Bound to Stay Bound even has a way to look at book titles that specifically address specific curriculum. I am going to work at adding books to the collection that address Social Studies standards for the first grade. Before I left, I help shelve the books that had been returned today. They average about 100 books daily.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Monday, August 23
I spent 3.5 hours in the elementary media center. When I arrived the media specialist was just finishing up a read aloud with a first grade class and they were moving into their check out mode. Once everyone had a book it was time to read together again. This is a new rotation that the media center is a part of this school year. Now each grade level rotates through the media center, guidance, and computer lab.
After finishing up with this group, we looked at the Renaissance program, the video room, movie room, and other media related places and tasks.
I was overwhelmed to hear about all of the media specialists "new" tasks. In additional to being a "teacher" "information specialist" a "researcher" and a "program administrator," she has picked up text books, is responsible for fixes assets and maintains the school web site.
We discussed plans for my literacy unit, my staff development unit, and my reading for pleasure unit. We discussed the best of group of teaches to collaborate with and how to tie in the media map with the class standards. I left with a schedule and a plan.
After finishing up with this group, we looked at the Renaissance program, the video room, movie room, and other media related places and tasks.
I was overwhelmed to hear about all of the media specialists "new" tasks. In additional to being a "teacher" "information specialist" a "researcher" and a "program administrator," she has picked up text books, is responsible for fixes assets and maintains the school web site.
We discussed plans for my literacy unit, my staff development unit, and my reading for pleasure unit. We discussed the best of group of teaches to collaborate with and how to tie in the media map with the class standards. I left with a schedule and a plan.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
New Year - Fresh Perspective
During the first two weeks of school, I logged 9 hours in the high school media center and 2 hours at the elementary level. I will begin my real hours on the 23rd of August in the elementary media center. I am excited about the life that I had seen in the elementary middle school last winter.
I spent a couple of my hours re-shelving books; it amazing that students could check out books during open house, but destiny was up and running and waiting for students.
I spent 3 hours working in destiny; this is the first year that the media specialists in our county as responsible for keeping up with textbook check out. Each book for every student had to be put into destiny so that a record was kept determining where all texts books were.
I spent 2 hours on freshman orientation. The media specialists schedule all 9th grade classes in the second weeks of school and familiarize them with what the media center has to offer and conducts a scavenger hunt so that students can get used to looking for specific resources.
I also worked with the media clerk on looking up and placing orders for teacher resources. Additionally, she showed me the financial aspects of the media center. Unfortunately, money is the one area that the county will fire its employees. It was interesting to hear about the additional responsibilities that the media staff takes on to assist both students and teachers. The media staff sponsors the junior class and with the obligation, they are responsibility for the junior/senior, which includes taking up money for prom tickets.
The media center also sponsors a relay for life team and that also requires them to keep up with monies that different members collect throughout the year. These additional duties provide a connection between the media staff and our students.
The 2 hours that I spent at the elementary school was meeting the media center specialist and watching many classes come in to check out textbooks for their classes. Rather than keying in books numbers, the elementary school was scanning in the student books. I talked to the media specialist about her responsibilities so that I could get a feel for how I use my hours to help her achieve necessary tasks. I look forward to getting a better feel for the elementary level.
I also logged an hour by attending the beginning of the year county-wide media specialist meeting. It was interesting to be privy to media dialogue. There was a log of conversation about books and book money. Several principals had paid out of their own accounts book loses, but some of the books had been paid for and the principals wanted to be reimbursed. I did not realize that this was common practice. There was also an interesting discussion about the role that the new superintendent of instruction wanted media specialists to play in instruction. He showed the end-of-year tests results and the AYP expectations. From this he challenged each media specialist to ensure that the 100% expectation could be met in 2014.
I spent a couple of my hours re-shelving books; it amazing that students could check out books during open house, but destiny was up and running and waiting for students.
I spent 3 hours working in destiny; this is the first year that the media specialists in our county as responsible for keeping up with textbook check out. Each book for every student had to be put into destiny so that a record was kept determining where all texts books were.
I spent 2 hours on freshman orientation. The media specialists schedule all 9th grade classes in the second weeks of school and familiarize them with what the media center has to offer and conducts a scavenger hunt so that students can get used to looking for specific resources.
I also worked with the media clerk on looking up and placing orders for teacher resources. Additionally, she showed me the financial aspects of the media center. Unfortunately, money is the one area that the county will fire its employees. It was interesting to hear about the additional responsibilities that the media staff takes on to assist both students and teachers. The media staff sponsors the junior class and with the obligation, they are responsibility for the junior/senior, which includes taking up money for prom tickets.
The media center also sponsors a relay for life team and that also requires them to keep up with monies that different members collect throughout the year. These additional duties provide a connection between the media staff and our students.
The 2 hours that I spent at the elementary school was meeting the media center specialist and watching many classes come in to check out textbooks for their classes. Rather than keying in books numbers, the elementary school was scanning in the student books. I talked to the media specialist about her responsibilities so that I could get a feel for how I use my hours to help her achieve necessary tasks. I look forward to getting a better feel for the elementary level.
I also logged an hour by attending the beginning of the year county-wide media specialist meeting. It was interesting to be privy to media dialogue. There was a log of conversation about books and book money. Several principals had paid out of their own accounts book loses, but some of the books had been paid for and the principals wanted to be reimbursed. I did not realize that this was common practice. There was also an interesting discussion about the role that the new superintendent of instruction wanted media specialists to play in instruction. He showed the end-of-year tests results and the AYP expectations. From this he challenged each media specialist to ensure that the 100% expectation could be met in 2014.
Finally Working in My Home School MS
I spent approximately 4 hours working in the high school media center. Unfortunately, I was only able to assist in shelving books that were being returned at the end of the year before the inventory took place. This media center has such an efficient media clerk, I had to compete with her (intended to be humorous) to get the time to work with the books. Unlike the middle school, they already had their books in series identified. I did, however, get a fresh look at how popular the graphic novels are in the high school media center. I also got to see that some of the books had not been checked out in such a long time that dust had found a permanent home in their pages.
Working with Middle School Books
I returned to the middle school media center to assist the media specialist is shelving books and putting series numbers of the books so that students can clearly see which book to read first, second, third, etc. I was surprised at the number of books that middle school students do read in a series. I spend approximately 5 hours working with this books finishing up all labels. The media had created color codes for the books by the same author who had multiple series to eliminate any confunsion. I enjoyed this tedious task, however, because I got to touch the books, see what middle school students are reading, and familiarize myself with the collection of this media center.
My book fair experience
I logged 4 hours going in early to the middle school media center to see firsthand how book fairs work at this level. The school is decorated with book fair flyers and students anxiously wait for the media center to open. The center of the media center is full of books and other related items that students can purchase. This school has raised $5.000 in the past having these books fairs and there's a place for teachers to fill out a wish list and parents to come in and fulfill those wishes. The book fair is so successful that the first bell forces the students to leave behind items that they didn't have to time to acquire. Even though I teach high school I find items of interest for my students. Some of James Patterson's "Max" books are included as well as Artemis Fowl and Harry Potter. It was nice to see some of the advanced level readers being able to find books that meet their needs as well as the lower level readers.
More Hours - 2
Media Visit (12 Feb) Elementary
I logged four hours on this date visiting the above mentioned media center. I chose this media center because it is in a different county and I could make use of furlough time.
This was my first experience in an elementary media center and I was quite impressed as well as surprised by its environment. Upon entering the media center you are welcome into a jungle-like setting where the lights are warm and inviting. I have taken a couple of pictures of accompany this narrative to share the environment.
Most of our day was spent checking out books for student participation in Accelerated Reader. Ms. Murray revealed that she checked out on average 400 books a week. It seems that most of the students participate in AR and that teachers are strong advocates of this reading program. As students came in and return their previous book, Ms. Murrah greeted each by name. She shared with me that she works hard to commit each student’s name. The students seemed genuinely excited about starting another book. They knew the AR level and quickly went to the specific shelves to select their books.
In addition to checking out books, we also helped teachers who wanted to show videos during the lunch period. Teachers have the opportunity to take their students back to the classrooms for lunch and watch a video. Since this was the Friday before Valentine’s Day many of the classes were having celebrations, so a Valentine movie was perfect. The media center has the capability of showing three movies as any time; the teachers just have to ask for a specific video.
Several teachers came in during the free time while students were at specials to talk about book issues with Ms. Murrah. Since she has been the media specialist, textbooks, including reading program selections, are included as part of her job. At first she found this difficult to handle; however, she found that if she went to the grade level meetings and knew what they were doing, she could offer more assistance. Considering the different reading groups included at each grade level, this seemed like quite a task.
Ms. Murrah’s additional tasks include school technology. She is the webmaster for the school website and is expected to assist teachers with their individual pages. When teachers can’t bring their students into the media center, Ms. Murrah takes the media center to them. She often finds this necessary in order to make sure that all students has fairly equal access to the media center.
What surprised me most about my conversation with Ms. Murrah was her budget. While I am accustomed to a school with a 20,000 yearly budget, Ms.Murrah revealed that she only has $2,400 to purchase new print resources. I noticed that the books in the AR section of the media center, 1/3 of their collection, were quite worn. Many of the books had writing in the books and the bindings were torn. Ms. Murrah is able to purchase additional resources for the media center with a book fair. On average she raises approximately $1,500.
I thoroughly enjoyed my elementary media center experience. So much so, that I am considering moving into that area. This was a level of enthusiasm that was contagious and I wanted to be a part of.
I logged four hours on this date visiting the above mentioned media center. I chose this media center because it is in a different county and I could make use of furlough time.
This was my first experience in an elementary media center and I was quite impressed as well as surprised by its environment. Upon entering the media center you are welcome into a jungle-like setting where the lights are warm and inviting. I have taken a couple of pictures of accompany this narrative to share the environment.
Most of our day was spent checking out books for student participation in Accelerated Reader. Ms. Murray revealed that she checked out on average 400 books a week. It seems that most of the students participate in AR and that teachers are strong advocates of this reading program. As students came in and return their previous book, Ms. Murrah greeted each by name. She shared with me that she works hard to commit each student’s name. The students seemed genuinely excited about starting another book. They knew the AR level and quickly went to the specific shelves to select their books.
In addition to checking out books, we also helped teachers who wanted to show videos during the lunch period. Teachers have the opportunity to take their students back to the classrooms for lunch and watch a video. Since this was the Friday before Valentine’s Day many of the classes were having celebrations, so a Valentine movie was perfect. The media center has the capability of showing three movies as any time; the teachers just have to ask for a specific video.
Several teachers came in during the free time while students were at specials to talk about book issues with Ms. Murrah. Since she has been the media specialist, textbooks, including reading program selections, are included as part of her job. At first she found this difficult to handle; however, she found that if she went to the grade level meetings and knew what they were doing, she could offer more assistance. Considering the different reading groups included at each grade level, this seemed like quite a task.
Ms. Murrah’s additional tasks include school technology. She is the webmaster for the school website and is expected to assist teachers with their individual pages. When teachers can’t bring their students into the media center, Ms. Murrah takes the media center to them. She often finds this necessary in order to make sure that all students has fairly equal access to the media center.
What surprised me most about my conversation with Ms. Murrah was her budget. While I am accustomed to a school with a 20,000 yearly budget, Ms.Murrah revealed that she only has $2,400 to purchase new print resources. I noticed that the books in the AR section of the media center, 1/3 of their collection, were quite worn. Many of the books had writing in the books and the bindings were torn. Ms. Murrah is able to purchase additional resources for the media center with a book fair. On average she raises approximately $1,500.
I thoroughly enjoyed my elementary media center experience. So much so, that I am considering moving into that area. This was a level of enthusiasm that was contagious and I wanted to be a part of.
First Days
2/3/10 (4 hours) (middle school media center)
I chose to spend the morning with Mrs. K to get a feel for a middle school media center. I currently teach at the high school level, so I am familiar with the high school media structure, and I have arranged with spend a day with an elementary media specialist, so this was my first glance at the middle school media center.
Mrs. Kaigler has worked at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and her favorite is the middle school. She shared with me some of the different expectations of the three levels. For example, as part of her job at the middle school is keeping the I-grade password system up-to-date; each year as new sixth graders some to the middle school, she has to enter them, issue passwords, and distribute these passwords. She is also responsible for tracking the fixed assets for the school—a large task for a new middle school who has the most up-to-date technology (Smart Boards, LCDs, and Promethium Boards in each classroom). This is Mrs. K’s second year at this media center; the school opened last year and she has the task of establishing a new media center. She used her experience at the high school (went through their media center) to determine what she needed to place on her list to order for her own media center. Mrs. K and her clerk, Mrs. Clark also host a monthly book club and they have two books fairs each year. Rather than just having a book fair, the create a theme and decorate the media center space in preparation for the book fair These books fairs take place in the fall and spring and last a week. Mrs. K informed me that they are very successful. They are fortunate to have parent volunteers who are willing to come in and monitor the book fair materials during the week while she continues her job of assisting teachers and students.
While I visited I was able to experience some of the expectations of the media specialist. For example, every two weeks, the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders come into the media center to check out books. The Parent-Teacher Organization sponsors a reading initiative where they provided treats to the kids of read and to the class who has read the most. The grade level who reads the most books is awarded movie passes; second place gets a ice cream party, and first place is award a Chic Filet breakfast—there are no losers. As each student turns in documentation of reading, he/she also gets a “sweet” treat. A couple of young ladies had read 6 books in the past three weeks. It certainly appeared that reading was taking place at this school.
In addition to classes coming in to check out books, there were several groups of students (groups of 3) coming into the media center to work on group projects. The teachers had signed up to utilize the media center, so the ladies knew who to expect and when. It was surprising to see these small groups come in unsupervised and work on their task. In addition to the 12 computers in the media center, there are 2 computers labs; one lab is for 6th grade, while the other is for 8th grade. There is currently space for a third lab, but the funds to complete the lab are not available.
One behavior that I noticed while watching the students as they worked, was the use of ThinkQuest; a document storage site. Some of the kids has been taught how to use this site earlier and were still making use of it. Mrs. K did tell me, however, that many of the students forgot their log-in and password, so they were having major issues with being able to use this. She felt that since these students were going to be using USBs at the high school level, that it was fair for the middle school to expect them to have such a device. The media center does sell these devices in their school store. The school store was something that Mrs. Kaigler realized that she needed to establish. One practice of the schools that helps with the success of the school store is open house. When Stalling Island has open house, the students pick up books and school needs. Parents quickly head to the media center to purchase these items, so both parties benefit from this resource.
I also paid attention to the kinds of books that the middle school group chose to check out. They were definitely reading for pleasure. I had to wonder if the high school’s circulation drops because of all the “required” reading we do. I can honestly say that the enthusiasm for reading is much more apparent in the middle school. None of the students who came in seemed to resist the idea of selecting a book.
One interesting conversation we had concerned “appropriate” books. Mrs. K told me that she was very methodical in purchasing the books that were available in the media center. She had already had a parent question the “Twilight” series because she didn’t want her daughter to read those books. She also had a group of books that had pulled from the shelves because she was concerned with the content. These were information books on STDs, Assisted Suicide, Toxic Shock Syndrome, Gay Marriage, and other fiction works that contained some questionable, age-appropriate material. These books had not been challenged; however, Mrs. K was concerned about the wrong student taking home one of these books and the parent’s reaction. As a matter of fact, she told me that she doesn’t let the kids check out books on drugs unless they happen to be doing a report on that subject. Have we gotten to such a point where we have to censor to avoid challenges to valuable literature?
I chose to spend the morning with Mrs. K to get a feel for a middle school media center. I currently teach at the high school level, so I am familiar with the high school media structure, and I have arranged with spend a day with an elementary media specialist, so this was my first glance at the middle school media center.
Mrs. Kaigler has worked at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and her favorite is the middle school. She shared with me some of the different expectations of the three levels. For example, as part of her job at the middle school is keeping the I-grade password system up-to-date; each year as new sixth graders some to the middle school, she has to enter them, issue passwords, and distribute these passwords. She is also responsible for tracking the fixed assets for the school—a large task for a new middle school who has the most up-to-date technology (Smart Boards, LCDs, and Promethium Boards in each classroom). This is Mrs. K’s second year at this media center; the school opened last year and she has the task of establishing a new media center. She used her experience at the high school (went through their media center) to determine what she needed to place on her list to order for her own media center. Mrs. K and her clerk, Mrs. Clark also host a monthly book club and they have two books fairs each year. Rather than just having a book fair, the create a theme and decorate the media center space in preparation for the book fair These books fairs take place in the fall and spring and last a week. Mrs. K informed me that they are very successful. They are fortunate to have parent volunteers who are willing to come in and monitor the book fair materials during the week while she continues her job of assisting teachers and students.
While I visited I was able to experience some of the expectations of the media specialist. For example, every two weeks, the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders come into the media center to check out books. The Parent-Teacher Organization sponsors a reading initiative where they provided treats to the kids of read and to the class who has read the most. The grade level who reads the most books is awarded movie passes; second place gets a ice cream party, and first place is award a Chic Filet breakfast—there are no losers. As each student turns in documentation of reading, he/she also gets a “sweet” treat. A couple of young ladies had read 6 books in the past three weeks. It certainly appeared that reading was taking place at this school.
In addition to classes coming in to check out books, there were several groups of students (groups of 3) coming into the media center to work on group projects. The teachers had signed up to utilize the media center, so the ladies knew who to expect and when. It was surprising to see these small groups come in unsupervised and work on their task. In addition to the 12 computers in the media center, there are 2 computers labs; one lab is for 6th grade, while the other is for 8th grade. There is currently space for a third lab, but the funds to complete the lab are not available.
One behavior that I noticed while watching the students as they worked, was the use of ThinkQuest; a document storage site. Some of the kids has been taught how to use this site earlier and were still making use of it. Mrs. K did tell me, however, that many of the students forgot their log-in and password, so they were having major issues with being able to use this. She felt that since these students were going to be using USBs at the high school level, that it was fair for the middle school to expect them to have such a device. The media center does sell these devices in their school store. The school store was something that Mrs. Kaigler realized that she needed to establish. One practice of the schools that helps with the success of the school store is open house. When Stalling Island has open house, the students pick up books and school needs. Parents quickly head to the media center to purchase these items, so both parties benefit from this resource.
I also paid attention to the kinds of books that the middle school group chose to check out. They were definitely reading for pleasure. I had to wonder if the high school’s circulation drops because of all the “required” reading we do. I can honestly say that the enthusiasm for reading is much more apparent in the middle school. None of the students who came in seemed to resist the idea of selecting a book.
One interesting conversation we had concerned “appropriate” books. Mrs. K told me that she was very methodical in purchasing the books that were available in the media center. She had already had a parent question the “Twilight” series because she didn’t want her daughter to read those books. She also had a group of books that had pulled from the shelves because she was concerned with the content. These were information books on STDs, Assisted Suicide, Toxic Shock Syndrome, Gay Marriage, and other fiction works that contained some questionable, age-appropriate material. These books had not been challenged; however, Mrs. K was concerned about the wrong student taking home one of these books and the parent’s reaction. As a matter of fact, she told me that she doesn’t let the kids check out books on drugs unless they happen to be doing a report on that subject. Have we gotten to such a point where we have to censor to avoid challenges to valuable literature?
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