February 29, 2012

As Program Administrator, I am responsible for guiding and directing Library Media Center activities.  The following activity demonstrates my ability to successfully create and implement a school-wide activity promoting reading and the Library Media Center. During National Library Week each year, I organize activities and events for the school to celebrate National Library Week and School Library Month.  We show videos on the morning announcements each day, implement a Favorite Book Survey where students and teachers vote for their favorite books, sponsor a dress-down day where students purchase "Read" themed wristbands, and share "Caught Reading" pictures on our scrolling announcements that are broadcast throughout the school.   Below is a Glogster I have created for this year's upcoming event which includes some of the videos we show on the morning announcements.  The Glogster will be shared on both the school library website and the school library Facebook page.  I have also included a picture of the bacelets we purchased for the dress-down day.

        

February 22, 2012

As part of my library administrative duties I maintain two 'public' calendars in our school Outlook software for use by teachers and staff.  One is a calendar that maintains scheduling for the media center and its services.  Teachers may schedule time with me to use the library for research, collaborative teaching, computer use (typing, projects, research, etc.), and book checkouts.  The other calendar is for scheduling the use of our three Computers On Wheels (COW) laptop carts.  The COWs can be reserved for use in classrooms for a variety of purposes.  Everyone has access to both calendars to view times and resources available, but I, and the administrators in an emergency situation, are the only ones that can enter or change the information.  I also created instructions on how to access the calendars whiche were sent to all teachers and staff by email at the beginning of the year and are also located on the school Allstaff drive in the Media Center folder for easy access.  See samples below:



Media Center Reservation Calendar



       




COW Reservation Calendar

 
Reservation Calendar Instructions

February 15, 2012

Today I attended our February Media Specialist meeting at Jenkins High School.  All the media specialists meet once a month for at least an hour and a half to receive new information, updates, deadlines and criteria for ongoing and new programs.  The looming deadlines for media specialist right now are Fixed Asset Inventory and State Inventory.  Most media specialists are responsible for both of these inventories.  However, at my school, our school secretary/bookkeeper handles the Fixed Asset Inventory while I handle the State Inventory.  This Inventory basically keeps track of all the technology in our building including computers, digital cameras, camcorders, interactive slates, interactive white boards, LCD projectors, and CPS systems (clickers). 

Last year was the first year we created a spreadsheet of all the details of this information instead of just submitting totals for each of the items.  This year the spreadsheet is online and we access it through our district Intranet.  We check for any changes in room numbers or usage, make corrections to previous data, make any additions, or mark any equipment that as being condemned.  An additional column of information was added which notes the 'room type,' i.e. classroom, media center, administrative office, lab/fixed, or lab/CTAE.  It is a time consuming process, but it helps our district see where we are technologically.  Decisions to purchase new equipment and for which schools are based on these numbers. In addition, this year the numbers will be used to update or 3-year district technology plan.

February 8, 2012

I read a wonderful article recently by James Patterson called How to get your kid to be a fanatic reader on CNN.com.  After reading it, I shared it with parents and students on my Library Media Center Facebook page.  James Patterson is a popular author in our library and I also shared his ReadKiddoRead website with my students and parents a while back on our School Library Media Center webpage under the Reading Lists tab.  So I was anxious to read what he had to say about getting kids to read.

Patterson makes some excellent points in his article.  Foremost, he says that reading needs to begin at home with parental encouragement, support, and example.  Just as important, though, is having schools and school libraries encourage reading and reading choice each and every day.  One important truth Patterson points out is that "The more kids read, the better readers they become."  Our school curriculum is designed with just that thought in mind.  As a charter school, we have lots of leeway to design a curriculum that works best for students and student learning.  Eight years ago, our English Language Arts curriculum was divided into two separate classes.  All 6th, 7th and 8th graders have an LA class where writing, grammar, and spelling are taught, and a Reading/Literature class where reading skills and vocabulary are taught.  Students are required to have a book with them at all times because every day in reading class, students are required to read for 30 minutes.  This helps to increase their reading comprehension and vocabulary.

Another point Patterson makes is that kids should have a wide variety of books and freedom to choose what they want and like to read.  I have to agree with Patterson that "Freedom of choice is a key to getting them motivated and excited."  And the choices include magazines, graphic novels, vampire sagas, sports books and anything else that will grab their attention and get them asking for more.

February 1, 2012

Today is the first day of Library Lovers' Month!  To celebrate, I am having a quote read each morning on the student news program with a reminder that it is Library Lovers' Month.  In addition, I printed bookmarks on brightly colored paper with Library Lovers' sayings.  Students love the bookmarks and try to collect them all.  I also put up signs around the library and school reminding them of the event.  Our goal is that each student will come to appreciate their library and learn to love reading!! The quotes, bookmarks, and signs are shown below.

I also added our Media Newsletter to my OCS VSL.  This newsletter outline is provided by the GA DOE.