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Diversity in the Media Center

Encouraging and supporting diversity in a school's media center is a multi-faceted issue. The school media center should have resources that meet the academic needs, and promote a love of reading, for ALL of its patrons. As the school clientele changes, the media specialist should be aware of these changes when choosing new materials for the collection. At Hampton Elementary School we have had a large increase in students with Mexican heritage, in response to this population we have worked to develop a Spanish section and books that have both Spanish and English portions. These are very popular among all students as are the English/Spanish dictionaries--helping to promote diversity.
Another important aspect to keep in mind are materials that promote outdated or offensive stereotypes. When my mentor, Jane Mobley, took over the media center at HES, the collection was outdated and neglected. She found many titles using the term "Indian" instead of "Native American" and chose to weed and replace these books (they were old and in poor shape). Maintaining inventory and consistent weeding/collection management (and being familiar with the collection) can circumvent these problems.
Special needs students are another important population to consider when organizing and "stocking" the media center. Can all students see/reach materials? Do special education students have high interest materials (that support the standards) on their reading levels?
Diversity is a complex issue that is vital for a successful media center. Being familiar with your patrons and collection is the key.

Digital storytelling is another opportunity to grab our student's interest and engage them in learning. By creating a "movie" instead of an essay, we are merging the ages-old art of story telling with today's cutting edge, easily accessible technology. The root of digital storytelling is still the story. The academic purpose of creating a such a project is quality writing and mastery of information. Creating a digital storyboard allows students another option for demonstrating mastery at the end of a unit.
I believe that the kit we are putting together for class will be the key to success when students are creating such a project. Having the resources ready will circumvent many of the problems students could face, such as internet blocks or becoming frustrated or distracted while searching for images or sounds. Students can focus on the actual project and not the process, which often gets in their way.
The only ebooks that I have used have been from sites like "Tumblebooks" and "Storylineonline" which I hadn't considered ebooks. Students love to use these sites, and they foster a love of reading. I spoke with my mentor, Jane Mobley from Hampton Middle School which is a new school this year. She ordered several ebooks from Follet for HMS-- She told me that the teachers and students have not shown much interest in them. I think this is such a new resource that most teachers and students will need to be introduced to their value.

Twenty-First Century Stories…

The electronic age has brought us into a whole new world of storytelling. Every era of mankind, the story “telling” changes, but the story remains the same: the common themes of human experience. The paper and binding of books, I think, will never be replaced, but there are now options that enable people access to books anywhere, anytime. I have to admit that downloading a book as I did last night on Ereader.com was pretty cool. A Barnes & Noble company, current books are not exactly cheap, but there are bargains to be found, and even over a hundred free titles (‘romance’ and classics). I downloaded Little Women for free and it displays brown text on a beautiful creamy parchment background. Very nice to read. And it could have been sent to a PDA such as a Blackberry or IPhone. So there’s another free source for books we can use in our media centers, along with others such as Project Gutenberg, Free-ebooks.net, etc. This is a list of places offering free books on the Internet Public library’s site: http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hum60.60.00/ I think our media centers would really do well to come into this new age of electronic books. My school helps students research and use the Gale and Galileo databases that we have access to including the online reference materials and encyclopedias, but has not delved into electronic books. An issue that needs resolved, though, is the feeling of immersing yourself in an electronic book will never be experienced unless you can get comfortable and read in your lap. Sitting in a hard chair looking up at a screen just doesn’t lend itself to reading for long. Some students could use their own PDAs to download books they need for class. But the media center needs to invest in some laptops, netbooks, or Kindle type devices for this to become viable. But I can see it coming, hopefully soon, and it’s exciting!

Learning how to make digital stories on Movie Maker seems straightforward enough, but learning how to include our emotions and express our thoughts in them is another. As Library 2.0 says, picking the most relevant images and clips is a part of it, but I believe the key is the background score and soundtrack. Finding the right music is so important. I think of movies like Titanic and Star Wars, they would be so much less without their music. Would Gladiator have been such an amazing epic without the Hans Zimmer score? Not only music, but a well placed clip of a speech can hit just the right note. Being mindful of the copyright laws for time plays a part too. It’s true that the movie we saw in class on the Sixties overplayed the one song, far exceeding the 10% rule, and it would have been so simple to have four or five shorter sound bites. Movie Maker enables volume fade in and out as we put them together, making the sound flow well with the visuals. Digital storytelling enables teachers to create them for teaching and students to create them for learning. Guiding the process is a media specialist who is knowledgeable with finding the resources and presenting the story.

Tech Training

At HES we do not have an Instructional Technology Specialist, these duties fall to the media specialist--me. Teacher buy in is essential. Creating a survey/questionnaire to determine the teachers' abilities and interests can allow the trainer to tailor the session to meet the needs of the teachers. Ability levels will vary, and differintiation is mandatory when it comes to technology training. Often one group of teachers is interested in learning to use Web 2.0 technologies and have their students create podcasts or write blogs, while another group only turns thier computers on to take attendance or only check their email a few times a week. You have to meet teachers where they are, and present only as much as they are able/willing to recieve. One of the "easy" things I try to do with my teachers is passing along some of the Tech Tips and websites I learn from this class (and others). Simply emailing along an interesting, easily incorporated website takes just a few minutes and the teachers can review it at their leisure (ha ha--leisure!).
I was inspired this past week by one of the media specialists at Ola Middle School in Henry County. She, the other MS at the school, and the school's ITS created a staff development inservice that teachers partook in during their planning period (Ola teachers have common planning by grade level for 55 minutes each day). The training took place in the media center and refreshments were provided. The teachers were broken into four groups and rotated through four stations that lasted seven minutes each. The "Connect It" station was led by the ITS and demonstrated how to connect the various cords for hooking up the LCD projector, digital cameras, and other technology devices. The "Flip It" station was self directed with a power point leading the group through the uses and wonders of the Flip Video cameras new to the school. The "Click It" station was lead by one of the media specialists (Christi Harp) and highlighted several websites including Brain Pop, United Streaming, Nettrekker, GALILEO, and others. Finally, the other media specialist (Emily Salmon) shared several new professional resources acquired this year. Christi told me that the feedback (a short questionnaire) was overwhelmingly positive with several teachers stating that they had never used the projectors because they were unsure HOW to plug them in, or they hadn't realized the school had a subscription to BrainPop (they have for several years), and there were many requests for encore sessions.
This was a successful training session for several reasons. The size of the group was manageable for the facilitators--only 3 to 4 people per group. The length of the session was ideal--only 30 minutes total with a change every 7 minutes. And the topic was useful for everyone.
I plan to attempt something similar at Hampton. We are receiving 5 new "Tech Carts" with a laptop, LCD projector, document camera, Flip Video Camera, and InterWrite Board. Teachers will need to know EVERYTHING about this technology. A rotating training session would be ideal. Of course, a single session will not be sufficient. Many teachers will need multiple opportunities to practice using these items. I know I would!

Technology--Spread the Joy!

At LHS, we have three teachers who are paid a supplement to be the go-to people for technology issues. If you have a question about your computer, printer, or showing something on your monitor to students, your first line of defense is one of them. If they can’t fix your problem, then a trouble ticket is sent to our county person. However, they don’t provide much in the way of training or developing a technology-rich climate at the school. Our only technology training in the last two years: we needed training on the new Infinite Campus system. Four teachers went to be trained as trainers and then came back and held several sessions to teach us about the gradebook and portal systems, nothing unusual but not very exciting. Nothing to make the teachers think "Oh, boy! Another tech training, I can hardly wait!" And as far as the media specialists go, they answer questions and show teachers how to use our computer resources and AV equipment, but don’t offer any formal training. They mostly provide the beginning of the year tours, and orientation sessions to groups of researching students. My mentor says with teachers feeling so overwhelmed and short of time, there isn’t much interest in any scheduled meetings to discuss technology. Time, energy, costs involved, and the desire to participate really are obstacles in promoting and teaching technology.
But look at all the technology ‘tips’ we have shared with each other. Some of them we’d never heard of, some of them we were already familiar with, but didn’t understand their potential uses. These sites and mini-trainings are too good not to share! We need to spread the word, even if just using an emailed "Tech Tip of the week," with a one page pdf quick guide emailed out to teachers. Or, more personally, I’d love to offer an informal, “technology happy hour” every week or two for a half hour after school. I’d have cookies and punch or coffee, and just whoever came that week could join in for a look at a website or two, some new software, the new video cameras, or a few novel uses for sites such as Delicious, Slideshare, Audacity and so on. This could be good way to strengthen relationships with the teachers and help introduce then to technology they can incorporate into their lessons in a non-threatening way. They don’t have to make a big time commitment to a long meeting which is a big hurdle for most teachers. My ‘ticket out the door’ every week would be a mini survey on whether they wanted to learn more, or whether they had other requests for training. I think this could also lead in to more in-depth trainings being offered in the future, depending on which technology the teachers were most interested in. At that point, I could recruit help from the system or school tech person, if needed, and further trainings offered.

Video Distribution / GPB Resources

At Hampton Elementary School our Richardson Distribution System is located in the A/V Room. We have 7 VCR's and 2 DVD players. The system has cable access. Our morning news program is played live over the closed circuit system. We have nearly 500 videos (mostly VHS) that teachers can request to be shown over the closed circuit system. The teachers should be able to control the videos over the phone system, but this hasn't been used for many years, and no one knows how. So instead we start and stop them in the media center. The system works for us--and the administration likes the control.

An internet accessible computer is also connected to this system so (theoretically) we should be able to play online videos and podcasts--unfortunately the computer is very slow and in need of a major upgrade. I have been told that, with the current economic situation in my county, this will not likely happen. For the anniversary of "The Very Hungary Caterpillar" the literacy coach and I created a video using the Flip Camera; however, when it was uploaded onto the computer--the audio and video were out of sync! The county technician told me it was because the computer simply didn't have enough memory. It's very disappointing! I have tried downloading videos to a DVD--but the players in the system are so old that they won't play them! All of our teachers have TV-Ator's (a little box that links the computer to the TV in the classroom) or a connecting cable running through the ceiling, so saving the videos to the shared drive enables them to be shown in the classrooms.

The GPB website offers many great resources for both teachers and students. Since the site is produced locally--the resources are aligned to the GPS. United Streaming is a WONDERFUL resource, but it isn't used a great deal at Hampton. I plan to host a training session (or better yet--create a podcast!) to remind the teachers of what a great resource this is. My favorite feature is the GPS search, which gives teachers the ability to tailor their searches by the standard and strand of the lesson. With the teacher resources and black-line masters, this source should be being used regularly.