Media matters, Vol. 7, Issue 10 (May 2009)

Volume 7 Number 10

May 2009

MEDIA MATTERS
A NEWSLETTER FOR PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT LIBRARY MEDIA PROGRAMS

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Dorchester

2

Academy

TOTYs

3

MSOTY

4

Peach Award

4

GaETC

5

Lexile

5

Congratulations

6

COMO is coming

8

Vendor Fair

10

Georgia Voyager

11

SAT Online

12

Bragging Page

13

Media Specialists 14

Calendar

15

Have a safe, restful, happy summer and I will see you when school begins again.
Read, rest, and enjoy your well deserved vacation.

DORCHESTER ACADEMY: THIS PLACE MATTERS
See more information on page 2.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has placed Dorchester Academy (located in Liberty County) on the list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2009. The academy was established after the Civil War as a school for freed slaves and was used in this capacity until the 1940s.

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Volume 7 Number 10

The story of Dorchester Academy, one of the earliest schools for African Americans in the state of Georgia and a National Historic Landmark, is forever linked to the cultural and political forces that shaped our nation's history. Founded in 1871 as a school for freed slaves, Dorchester started humbly in a one-room schoolhouse with a student body ranging in age from eight to 80. As the school grew, boarders joined day students, many of whom walked miles to fulfill their dream of learning how to read. In later years, the school played a pivotal role in voter-registration drives and as a center of activity for the civil rights movement.
Dorchester Academy was established by the American Missionary Association (AMA) at the urging of William A. Golding, a former slave who became a state legislator. By the 1920s, school enrollment fluctuated between 220 and 300 students, and by the 1930s, the school housed the Dorchester Cooperative Center store and credit union, which helped local residents buy homes and open businesses. When the Academy ceased operating as a school in 1940, the innovative spirit of the institution continued with the opening of a community center housed in the old boys' dormitory.
During the 1940s, the school was the site of African-American voter registrations. At the height of the civil rights movement, Dorchester Academy hosted Citizen Education Workshops sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to train grassroots leaders from all over the South and to send these leaders home to instruct their neighbors about their legal rights and responsibilities. Later, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Ralph Abernathy, and Dr. Joseph Lowery spent time at the Academy preparing for the Birmingham march, and Dr. King also wrote and practiced portions of his "I Have a Dream", speech at Dorchester Academy.
Updates April 2009: Today, the only remaining building on the Dorchester campus, a red brick, Greek Revival structure built in 1934 as a boys' dormitory, is deteriorating and structurally compromised. The community that has done its best to nurture and sustain the academy since its earliest days does not have the financial resources to rescue the building.
While some repair and stabilization work has been completed through the combined efforts of community donations and a $50,000 grant from the state, damage to the dormitory still extends from the roof to the basement, and is compromising the structural support beams and foundation.
The cost of completely restoring the building has been estimated at $1-1.5 million. The vision of the Dorchester Improvement Association is to complete this task and create a world-class museum and community facility.
From the National Trust for Historic Preservation website: http://www.preservationnation.org/travel-and-sites/sites/southern-region/dorchesteracademy.html

Media Matters
MEDIA SPECIALISTS ARE TEACHERS TOO! THESE MEDIA SPECIALISTS WERE CHOSEN AS TOTYS AT THEIR SCHOOL OR IN THEIR SYSTEM. CONGRATULATIONS!

Kimberly Sharp
Wayne Clark Sayra Stone-Harris Vanessa Fortenberry Rebecca Bishop Brenda Humphrey Margaret Melton Cindy Taylor Amy Altman Connie Van Brackle Julie Richardson

Ivy Creek Elementary School Top 20 Semi-Finalist for Gwinnett County!
Moore Street Elementary Dublin City Schools Sand Hill Elementary Effingham County Stoneview Elementary DeKalb County Spring Place Elementary Murray County
Parker Mathis Elementary: Lowndes County White County Middle School Pine Grove Elementary Lowndes County Statesboro High School
Lee County Primary School 2008-2009 (not included last year) Jones Middle School: Gwinnett County

Were you left off the list? Let me know. Several emails were sent asking for this information but we can make it up to you
(see Connie's name above).

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Volume 7 Number 10

The Peach Book Award for Teen Readers Winner is IMPULSE by Ellen Hopkins
The two Peach Book Award Honor Books are UGLIES by Scott Westerfeld RIGHT BEHIND YOU by Gail Giles
Please visit the Georgia Library Media website, Peach Award page, for all the resources you'll need to encourage reading and voting on the next field of 20 nominees on which teens will vote between now and March 2010. There are some wonderful books, and we would love to have your teens' input both on which titles should win and what new books we should consider for our next round of nominees. http://www.glma-inc.org/peachaward.htm

Media Specialists of the Year!

Amy Altman Janie Cowan Julie Richardson Karen Liebert
Karen Pitts Marie Yelvington Mary Kay Harris W. Robin Wofford

Statesboro High School: Bulloch County Settles Bridge Elementary : Forsyth County Jones Middle School: Gwinnett County International Studies Elementary Charter School: Dougherty County Alexander High School: Douglas County Centennial High School: Fulton County Luella Middle School: Henry County Allatoona High: Cobb County

Media Matters

Georgia Educational Technology Conference GaETC 2009: The Challenge of Change
November 4-6, 2009 Georgia International Convention Center
College Park, Georgia

Page 5

Information on Workshops and Special Events will be coming soon! Go to http://www.GaETC.org to register and check back often for new information as it becomes available!

Teachers have a unique opportunity to counteract unhealthy influences in a pupil's early childhood....While parents possess the original key to their offspring's experience, teachers have a spare key. They too can open or close minds and hearts of children.
Haim Ginott

According to the research, if we can encourage our students to read 5-8 books over the summer that:
1. they are interested in 2. are on their Lexile level
the effects will be the same as going to summer school. Encourage your students to use the public library this summer.
The "Find a Book" website on the Lexile webpage can help parents and students find books that meet the two criteria above. http://www.lexile.com/findabook/
It is helpful to have the student's Lexile score, but the Lexile number is not required. The student can choose areas of interest and the Lexile website will suggest books and even tell him/her (based on your IP computer address) the nearest public library where he/she can find the books.
Happy Summer and Happy Reading!

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Volume 7 Number 10

Alicia Franco Ann Shaw

Congratulations Retiring Educators!
Mason Elementary: Gwinnett
Gray Elementary : Jones County

Anne Hogan

DeKalb

Barbara King Becky Ferguson Beth Beasley

Hickory Hills Elementary: Marietta City Garden Lakes Elementary : Floyd Mathews Elementary : Muscogee County

Beth Sudderth

Sugar Hill Elementary: Gwinnett

Brenda Murray Carmen Redding Carol Taylor
Claudia Leach

Dorsett Shoals Elementary: Douglas
Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary : Clarke County
Director of Educational Media and Technology: Richmond County Commerce High: Commerce City

Debra P. Graham Diane Gavin

Stewart Co. Middle/Stewart-Quitman High Effingham County High

Enid Hanson

Memorial Middle : Rockdale County

Gina McEachern

Ben Hill Primary : Ben Hill County

Jan Case Jane Rabey

Nesbit Elementary: Gwinnett DeKalb

Judith Cabbage Katherine Elizabeth Lunsford

Screven Elementary: Wayne County Westwood Elementary :Dalton City

Kathy Blackburn Kathy Eleanor McAllister Linda Mobley

Stewart County Elementary Park Creek Elementary: Dalton Public s DeKalb

Mark Drexler

Tolbert Elementary : Whitfield

Mollye Cook

DeKalb

Continued on next page
Retired educators! I don't remember creating such a long list that I needed two pages in this newsletter!

Did you get left off this list? Several email requests were sent over the last few months, but if you missed the notice, please let me know and we will include you in the next issue.

Media Matters

Congratulations Retiring Educators!
Part II

Myra Crosby Nancy Crawford Pam Swift Patricia B. Mosley Paula Y. Lee Peggy James Rosetta Moses Sally Suzanne Sparks Sharon Buckner Sharon Tonge Sheila Levie Sue M. Buckalew Susan King Valena Price Wynelle Washington Scott

Sand Hill Elementary : Effingham DeKalb County Griffin High : Spalding County
Marbut Theme : DeKalb County
Ithica Elementary : Carroll County
Crabapple Elementary: Fayette County Irwin County
Roan Elementary: Dalton City Northside Elementary : Dougherty
Commerce High and Commerce Middle : Commerce City Macon County Elementary
Meadowcreek High : Gwinnett
Alexander High: Douglas
Pine Street Elementary : Rockdale Maynard Jackson High: Atlanta City

Page 7

Thank you for all of your years of service. I wish we had totaled up the combined years of service and experience that we will lose when you all retire....but if I know educators.....you won't be idle for long. Best wishes.

The people playing the parts are more important

than the parts.

David Irving

Page 8

Mark your calendar!

Volume 7 Number 10

Your name Your school
When we think of a great teacher, most often we remember a person whose technical skills were matched by the qualities we associate with a good and trusted friend.
Ernest Boyer

Media Matters

Page 9

While some of us are winding down our libraries for the end of the school year, COMO XXI is gearing up!
COMO XXI will be held in Columbus, Georgia, October 7-9 and this year's theme is "Connect, Collaborate, Communicate." We are looking for public, academic, and school librarians who would like to present their best practices at this year's conference. Have you created a program that exceeded your expectations? Your colleagues want to know! Have you made a collaborative relationship work in novel ways? Your colleagues want to know! Have you discovered ways to incorporate Web 2.0 tools into your program? Your colleagues want to know!
The 2009 conference is an exciting professional development opportunity co-sponsored by GLA, GAIT, and GLMA. Members of sponsoring organizations get a discount on their registrations, and presenters will receive a $10 cash rebate on site as a "thank you" for sharing your expertise. Click on the link below and enter your proposal online. Deadline for proposals is MAY 31, 2009!
If you have any questions about a proposal, please feel free to get in touch and I will be happy to help. Please consider sharing your "stars" with the rest of us at COMO XXI in Columbus, Georgia on October 7-9!
www.georgiacomo.org
Susan Grigsby, Teacher-Librarian President, GLMA Elkins Pointe Middle School Roswell, Georgia susan.grigsby@gmail.com

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Volume 7 Number 10

Media Matters

Page 11

The Georgia Voyager Magazine is giving all teachers, students, and friends of the Georgia Voyager a free sample of our new ONLINE magazine.
In this issue of the magazine we spotlight Georgia history, a Profile in Character of Beverly Hall, the superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, and famous women authors. We have new page turning software as well as links directly into other websites and even audio of interviews with famous people. We hope you will enjoy our new online magazine with teacher resources as well as fun activities to download and even a free practice for the CRCT.
Just click on http://www.gavoyager.com and use gvoyager as your user name and your password. Let us know how you like our new product! We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Cathy Hodge Editor/Publisher 220 College Ave. Athens, Georgia 30601 Toll-Free:1-800-243-6991 C: 404-5188728
Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.
Andy Rooney

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Volume 7 Number 10

Georgia Department of Education 1754 Twin Towers East 205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive Atlanta, Georgia 30334 Phone: 404-657-9800 Fax: 404-656-5744 Email: jserrite@doe.k12.ga.us
We will lead the nation in improving student achievement.
SAT Online Prep Course available free for all Georgia students Grades 9-12
For the fourth consecutive school year, the state has made available to all Georgia students, grades 9-12, the SAT Online Course. This web-based, personalized online course offers students review lessons and quizzes designed by the maker of the SAT exam, an immediate essay scoring feature, and 6 full-length SAT tests with immediate scoring and individualized reports for students and teachers. Each public high school in Georgia receives instructions in August for registering all students in SAT Online.
Private high schools must register through the SAT unit at GaDOE to receive registration access. Private schools may initiate this process by clicking the appropriate link located in the SAT
RESOURCES box on this page. For further support, private schools may contact Georgia McSwain at GaDOE at 404-657-9799.
Home schooled students may obtain access to SAT Online by clicking the appropriate link located in the SAT RESOURCES link below. For further support, home schooled parents may contact Bonnie Marshall at GaDOE at 404-656-6854.
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_iap_satap.aspx?PageReq=SATOPrep

Media Matters
BRAGGING PAGE.... W H AT D O YO U H AV E T O S H A R E ?

Page 13

I am happy to say I just found out that one of our fifth grade students is the 2008-2009 first place winner of the Georgia Poetry Society contest for grades 1-5! The contest is the Margery Carlson Prize, to which I sent four entries from our school. The prize is $15.00 and publication in the Society's Youth Contest book entitled The Reach of Song.
The media center sponsored a poetry competition at school and sent four entries to the Georgia Poetry Society contest this winter. Here is a link: http://www.georgiapoetrysociety.org/youth_winners.html
I had another teacher to help read the entries and narrowed it down to four. There is no entry fee for student contests, and the society sponsors a contest for middle and high students as well. Also, they provide Poets in the Schools for no charge. We had an area poet come for our recent Fine Arts Day and gave the organization an honorarium since they were so gracious to provide a poet for the whole day.
Wanda Dunn Library Media Specialist, NBCT Pate's Creek Elementary Stockbridge, GA

The Lexile Framework for Reading
Check out this new page on the GSO website concerning Lexiles. There is information for both parents and educators.
https://www.georgiastandards.org/Resources/Pages/Tools/LexileFramework forReading.aspx

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Volume 7 Number 10

The PAGE article on 21st century media centers is out and online.
For the story the reporter interviewed Tommie Tatum (Adairsville Middle in Bartow), Buffy Hamilton and Ruth Fleet (Creekview High in Cherokee), Kris Woods (Teasley Middle in Cherokee), Debbie Hanenkrat (Cass Middle: Bartow), Dale Lyles (Newnan Crossing: Coweta), Anne Wallace (Luella Elementary: Henry), Susan Grigsby (Elkins Point Middle: Fulton), and Paula Galland (Georgia Virtual School).
This reporter could have interviewed almost any Library Media Specialist in the state and would have come away impressed, dazzled, and in awe of what you do all day/every day for our students.
http://viewer.zmags.com/showmag.php?magid=157069#/page6

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.
John Steinbeck.

The Game Show Network is having a contest! You can vote for "The Smartest Game Show contestant (Kathy Cox is one of the nominees).
http://tinyurl.com/gameshowcontest

May 2009

Georgia Department of Education

Su nday

Mond ay

Tuesday

3

4

5

Birthday of

Horace Mann Birthday ofLeo

Yehuda Amicha: born: 1796-1859 Lionni: 1910-

1924-2000

1999

Wed nesday

Thu rsday

Fr iday
1

Satu rd ay
2

Empire State

1936: Manuscript

Buil di ng

ofEdna St. Vinc-

dedi cated: 1931 ent Mi llay's Conversations

at Midnight

destroyed in

hotel fire

6

7

8

9

Birthday ofWillie 1812: Robert Bro- What does t he Birthday of

Mays: 1931-

wning i s born "S" stand for i n Wi lliamPene

Harry S Truman? DuBois:

1916-1993

10 11
1869: Transcon- Who is Irving tinental Railroad Berlin? complet ed

12
Edward Lear born: 1812-1888

13 14 15

Norma Klein born: 1804: Lewis and Who is L. Frank

1938-1989

Clark depart

Baum?

16
Margret Rey born: 1906-1996

17 18
Supreme Court Mt. St. Helen rules in Brown v. erupts: 1980 Brown: 1954

19
1943: FDR and Churchill plot D-Day

20 21 22 23

1873: Blue jeans American Red

pat ented

Cross founded:

Birthday ofCarol 1881

Carrick: 1935-

1859: Sir Art hur Conan Doyle is born

Birthday ofScott O'Dell: 1898-1989
Margaret Wise Brown born: 1910-1952

24 25

1935: Major league baseball has first night game

Ralph Waldo Emerson born: 1803-1882

26 27

1897: Bram

M.E. Kerr born:

Stoker's novel 1927-

Dracula goes on

sale in London

28 29

1935: Tortilla Fl at Wi llow Davi s

is publi shed

Roberts born:

1928-

30
1st automobile accident: 1896 (Wear your seat bel t!)

31
Bri thday ofWalt Whi tman: 18191892

April S M TW T F S
1234 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Ju ne S M TW T F S
123456 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

In every child who is born, under no matter what circumstances, and of no matter what parents, the potentiality of the human race is born again. James Agee