I did something that I thought was fun this week while teaching a 9th grade social studies class research skills. As they entered the media center, I had “Honky Tonk Women” by the Rolling Stones playing overhead. The students were very confused by this but I assured them that they’d understand everything by the end of the lesson. Once they were seated, I asked them if they knew who was singing the song and one student said, “the Rolling Stones.” I said, “Correct! Now, if Mick Jagger was to write a book about his life as a Rolling Stone band member and you had to do a research project about The Rolling Stones’s influence on rock and roll, would his book be a primary source or secondary source?” a student correctly said that it would be a primary source because it was an autobiography. I then held up a book titled A History of Rock Music and asked if that book was a primary or secondary source. Another student correctly replied that it was a secondary source. We went on to learn more about primary and secondary sources, ethical uses of information, plagiarism, and how to use GALILEO. When we got to the GALILEO portion of the lesson, I told them to remember back to how we began with the Rolling Stones. I asked them to enter “rolling stone” in the keyword search of GALILEO. Over 700,000 records were shown. I explained to them that GALILEO didn’t understand if they were looking for a band, a magazine, or actual rocks or stones, therefore, they had to use the advance search and the Boolean modifiers to help narrow down exactly what they were looking for. Long story short, the 9th graders actually understood what it was that I was teaching them and the session went great! I was so pleased!!!
It was prom week this week. All faculty are required to attend as workers/chaperone for at least 1 hour. I was lucky to have been given the first shift (7:00pm-8:00pm) and my job was to check the tickets of the students based on the list of those who paid. My artifact this week is my picture with our Teacher of the Year, Roddy Hatch. He is one of my favorite people at Windsor Forest and I will miss him when he retires in 3 years! I also worked on wrapping up the work for my professional portfolio this week. I can’t believe that I walk in graduation in May and this summer, I will finish up the 2 additional courses that will complete my time in the master’s program. I have learned so much about technology, resources for the media center, how to better myself as an informational specialist, and most of all, I learned that I had the stamina at age 43 to be a mother, a wife, a “taxi driver” for my kids and their friends, a team mom for 2 different teams because I have 2 daughters, a full time media specialist, and a full time student. Wow!
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I was on spring break this week, alone. I state that I was alone because I think it is important to point out that my 8 and 10 year old daughters have a different spring break than I do. We live in Effingham County and I work in Chatham County and our spring breaks are rarely during the same week, which is unfortunate because so many Chatham County BOE employees live in Effingham County. I was left alone to be able to work on what’s left of my practicum portfolio assignments and work on the dyslexia project for the exceptional child course, which I am also taking this semester. I was able to reflect this week on all that I have accomplished in the past 2 years while working as a full-time media specialist and being enrolled in a full-time master’s program at GSU. Currently, I have 1 assignment left to complete and another assignment that I need to write my reflection on and post the assignment. [I prefer posting the complete assignment with the reflection at one time so that I don’t forget anything]. Over the past 2 years, I have worked tirelessly transforming my media center and turning it into a 21st century learning commons, while being enrolled in a master’s program, shuttled 2 children from ball to piano to gymnastics to swim team, worked on 3rd and 5th grade projects and homework, and taught 2nd grade Sunday school. There is not a season that my children don’t play a sport and then this year, we added travel softball for my 10 year old, to my already busy schedule. That means that many of our Saturdays have been spent out of town, sitting at a ball park until midnight. As I sit cheering on my child, I secretly panic about what I have due for my practicum course. We stay gone more than we are home. As far as the media center is concerned, I have weeded almost 20,000 books over the past couple of years, taught classes, trained teachers, worked with the principal and other admin, attended out of town conferences, applied for and received 2 grants, ordered new books/equipment and added them to the collection, played UNO and backgammon with my lunch crowds, troubleshot equipment as needed, and worked on my fixed assets and media collection inventories, updating them all year long, just to name a few duties of mine. When I realized this week that I have only 1 assignment left to complete and a few loose ends to tie up, I sat on my bed and cried. I was so overcome with emotions - joy, relief, proud of myself for my perseverance, and disbelief at how much I’ve accomplished over the past 2 years. I am asked ALL OF THE TIME by everyone, “how do you do it????” and I always just smile, sigh and say, “I don’t know…..”. I want to thank everyone from my husband, children, parents, friends, co-workers, people at the softball field who listen to me complain that I have [GSU] work to do, pastor, church family and many for supporting me over the past 2 years. It has not been an easy journey, but the end is near and I will forever be grateful for this experience! My artifact this week is a picture of Madison at 12:35am (14 hours of softball) after her team won a softball tournament in Valdosta a week ago. Welcome to my busy life!On February 8th, I attended a Google webinar that discussed redefining learning through the utilization of Chromebooks. This was not the first time that I had attended a webinar. During the past few years, I attended several webinars about technology applications for classroom use, including A+ Learning in Schools, Google Classroom, Google Cloud, and Google Drive, just to name a few. Our Instructional Technology Department often sends invitations to media specialists to attend live webinars, and I have found that the webinars are valuable tools for learning. I also enjoy opportunities to learn and participate in a webinar from any location.
The Savannah-Chatham County School District has begun to depart from Microsoft operating systems and is moving more toward using Google Chrome operating systems in the classrooms. Google Chrome products, such as Google Drive and Google Docs, are more versatile for teachers because students are able to log into their Google Classroom or Google Drive when they are away from school. At Windsor Forest High School, we have five Chrome carts with 32 Chromebooks in each. The carts are checked out on a daily basis, so it is imperative for me to continue learning about the services that are offered through Google Chrome and Chromebooks in order for me to inform the teachers of new services and trends. With the ever-evolving world of technology, library technology media specialists and teachers are always looking for the “next best thing” to use for teaching. Chromebooks are affordable and usable offline, so teachers and students don’t always have to connect to the Internet in order to use them. This particular webinar presented live demos of four categories that included content creation tools, literacy and numeracy tools, STEAM tools, and communication and understanding tools. The webinar provided additional insight into services that Chromebooks can offer to both teachers and students. As the media specialist, I welcome any opportunity to participate in webinars and presentations to increase my knowledge and skills, because teachers depend upon me to stay informed about the current trends in technology. I hope while reading my blog that you, the viewer, have begun to see the pattern (or lack thereof) of my daily life as a library media technology specialist Windsor Forest High School. This week was much of the same. I originally set goals for the week in mind and by Monday at noon, my plans were changed. My principal approached me in the hallway to ask if I would be interested in meeting him Tuesday at a leadership mini conference in downtown Savannah. I immediately said yes because I don’t want to ever say no to my boss and because I saw it as an opportunity to network with other leaders within my district. I sat in three interesting sessions and my “take aways” (that I emailed my principal) were:
I was asked an interesting question while I was in the first breakout session. Our former choral director became the fine arts director in our county in October (just a few short months ago). He and I were sitting at a table together and he turned to me and asked, “Why are you at this leadership conference? I don’t usually see media specialists here.” [Please keep in mind that he’s only been considered a “leader” for 6 months now] He is not an unkind man and I don’t believe he meant anything by that question, however, it made me pause and think for a minute. Was I out of place? Should I not be at a leadership conference? I was beginning to doubt myself and then I thought AND responded, “Why shouldn’t I be here? I serve almost 1100 students, 81 teachers, and the remainder of the staff every single day. I am the hub of the school. If I’m not supposed to be here, who is?” With that, he smiled, and said, “of course!” That interaction made me think about how others must view me and this position as well. I must continue working hard to make sure that my position in the school is seen for what it is … I am a leader in this school. Moving on …. Wednesday went as scheduled. I was already planning to attend our RESA meeting in Hinesville. I was given new information about programs that I didn’t know much about and was able to interact with other media specialists within our RESA district. I think these meetings offer very important networking opportunities and allows me to collaborate with other media specialist who give me great ideas. Friday, I helped with a student/faculty basketball game that was held during 4th block. I took tickets from students as they entered and kicked out those who didn’t purchase the tickets. The game was a fun way to end the week and it was the last day before spring break. Beginning Monday, I’ll be off for a week and will catch up on some much needed rest and down time!!!!! 1. Turning negatively framed statements into positively framed statements: negative/positive“We’re not going to have another day like yesterday, are we Jason?” / “Today will not be a repeat of yesterday because we’re going to be positive, productive and have a great lesson. Right, class?”
“Just a minute, Jane. Absolutely no one is giving you their full attention except Noah and Beth.” / “Noah and Beth, I want to thank you for showing Jane some respect by being attentive while she’s responding. The rest of the class should mirror your behavior.” “I need the tapping to stop.” / “When everyone is still and quiet, we will begin.” “I’ve asked you twice to stop slouching, Jasmine!” / “Class, I need everyone sitting up straight and eyes forward!” 2. Most wanted specific behavior traits in my classroom:Paying attention: “Make sure everyone is listening carefully because you will be seeing this again.” “Is everyone listening closely to what I’m saying?” “Thank you to those of you who are sitting up and listening to me.” Being respectful when someone else is talking: “Thank you for not talking when Madison was speaking.” “I appreciate your silence while Megan answers the question.” “You all did a great job working in groups today. I observed all of you respectfully listening to and participating with your group members” 3. Emotional Consistency scriptWhen a student is being loud in the media center: “We do not behave like that in the media center.” When a student is eating in the media center: “Food and drinks are not allowed in the media center.” When a student is skipping in the media center: “Don’t forget. We must have a pass from your teacher in order to be in the media center.” 4. I believe there’s already a Joy Factor in the media center:Fun and Games: I play UNO with the students and have several board games for them Us (and them): there is a wide variety of students that visit the media center. I’m always high-fiving a student or giving them a pat on the back. Drama, song, and dance: I play music in the mc all of the time, especially on Friday’s. At Christmas time, I show a Christmas movie each week (sometimes 2 a week) from after thanksgiving until we get out for Christmas break. I drop my big projection screen down and project it throughout the school day. We laugh in the media center all of the time. Students tell jokes, we tease each other, etc. I always want the students to feel like the library is a fun place to visit. Other joy factors: I bought a café style table with backgammon, checkers, and chess engraved on it. The students love it! Students enjoy our seating area where they can sit and hang out with a friend or sit and read. Students often want to share their accomplishments with me, so I make sure I keep something in here to reward them with like a pencil or bookmark. I keep candy stashed in my file cabinet for the 2 pre-k students who visit me every afternoon (their moms are teachers here). I greet everyone with a smile. Rarely do you see me mad, angry or upset. I may be one of the only smiles a student sees during his/her day, so I make sure that my smile is always there. I acknowledge students as they come in. Students like when I know their name. I think it maybe makes them feel like they stand out enough for me to learn their name.
Let me first start off by stating that my media clerk is out this week because she has driven to Pennsylvania to move her elderly mother to Savannah to live with her. That leaves me with a part time support specialist who leaves daily at 11:00 am and then I am alone for the remainder of the day. It is definitely a challenging task to service a school with 1100 students and 80+ teachers all by myself.
A common misconception about media specialists is that we just sit in the media center with little to do and occasionally, we check out/check in books. A lot of teachers I have interacted with over the years seem shocked that a media specialist has to have a master’s degree to work in this position. With that said, below is a glimpse of my week as a media specialist at Windsor Forest High School: I gave teachers the carts they signed up for before school starts and then I went to unlock the labs for the teachers who signed up for them (daily). I straightened up the media center (daily). Wednesday – Friday, I rolled 2 small carts, with 5 chromebooks on each, to the cafeteria during 2nd block so that one of my assistant principals can work on next year’s scheduling for students. I also had to pick them up. I created this presentation for a social studies class that will be coming to the media center next week to work on a research project: primary and secondary resources. I put together 2 chairs (shown below) for my principal. I added 12 new book titles to destiny, printed barcodes and spine labels, and got them ready to be checked out. I helped a student print an SAT ticket. I weeded some older professional books. I walked with a teacher to the copier in the teacher’s lounge so that she could use my copy code. (We are given an allowance for copying each month and I usually don’t use mine, so I help teachers by letting them use it – I don’t give them my number – I sign in for them). I entertained the soccer team before they left to go to a soccer game. We played uno. I began scanning the books in the professional section of the media center. I scanned the DVD section in the media center (just trying to get ahead). I worked on my practicum. I worked with the pre-k students Wednesday morning. I read to them and they worked on a coloring sheet. ELA teachers had a planning day in the media center Thursday. I assisted and collaborated with them all day, as I was available. I added 5 ipevo document cameras to my collection and checked them out to the social studies department chair. I had a leadership team meeting. I was the “first casualty” in our active shooter training Monday because I was in the hallway and the intercom system doesn’t work on the hallway I was on, so I didn’t hear the announcement. I was in the hallway because I was helping a science teacher with his projector issues. His mounted projector suddenly quit working, so I had to take a projector cart to him and set it up. (Most teachers – at WFHS -- are not technology savvy, so I have to assist them a lot!) I entered my final purchase orders for the year. I had to use my budget before the end of March. We have a newly built construction lab. I had to meet with the teacher to go over his inventory and add his equipment to my fixed assets inventory. I judged 8 short films for the IB film teacher. I hosted softball coaches from around the county so they could meet to discuss next years schedule. I was “given” an autistic student. He will come here every day during 4th block to work on A+ (a self-guided software program that enhances learning) because his regularly Finally, as I was just writing this, I had to stop because one of my students walked in and was hungry, so I gave him a pack of crackers. Being a media specialist isn’t just about sitting at a desk reading and checking out books. My day hardly ever goes as I plan for it to. I am interrupted constantly, rarely have a minute to myself, and usually eat my lunch standing up working on something. For me, this job is fun, exciting, challenging and rewarding and I am so blessed to be able to say that I work in a job that I love. 1. Nonverbal communication for common off-task behaviors
R – respect others. Nonverbal - finger to mouth to indicate they need to quiet down O – on task, all of the time U – use soft voices. Nonverbal - hand pushing towards ground to get them to lower their voices P – participate actively S – stay with your group Chapter 9
Teach Like a Champion 2.0: Reflection and Practice
Daily, I get a phone call from at least one teacher asking me how to do something: “How do I change your message on my phone?” “How do I use Galileo?” “How do I put in a work order?” “Where do I find resources on ….?” “Where do I find student logins on the G:drive?” I’ve decided to create “how to” instructions and will send them out as needed. These instructions will be (should be) self-explanatory and easy to follow. The first one I have created is instructions on how to use Galileo. This week, I was busy scheduling teachers for UNIFY testing and working with the counselors who were finishing up working with the students with Bridge Bill. UNIFY, also known as Performance Matters, is a way to measure students’ knowledge and progress in a subject. Teachers can use the test scores to see where a student is lacking knowledge in a certain content area. Bridge Bill (House Bill 400) is used to help students begin planning for their future outside of high school. The media center was full all week with students and teachers using our computer resources. The math teacher I collaborated with a few weeks ago is ready to move forward with her budgeting project. She met with me Friday to give me a copy of the lesson and she and I will meet Monday morning to discuss which web 2.0 will best work for her students to present their findings in the budgeting project. I will introduce her to Glogster, Smore and Google Slides. I began making a plan for how to use the remainder of my budget money. All orders have to be submitted by the last day in March. I’m thinking that I’m going to order more camera resources. We have several teachers that like for their students to use our flip cameras for projects. Students aren’t allowed to check them out but I do allow teachers to check them out for their class, but the teacher is responsible for them. I’ve seen some really great projects from the students, using the flip cameras, over the past 2 years.
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2018
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