GEORGIA DEPARTMENTOF EDUCATION Media Matters VOLUME 3, NUMBER 3 OCTOBER 2004 The Georgia Department of Education's Technology Leadership Conference is scheduled for October 27-29, 2004 at the Classic Center in Athens, GA. The conference theme is "21st Century Leadership & Learning Environments." The conference includes four 21st Century Model Classrooms, a variety of general sessions, breakout sessions, and hands-on training lab sessions ranging in topics from the GLC/MLS Launching Update, State Student Information Systems (SSIS) Update; Lotus Notes 6.5 Upgrade, Windows XP Service Pack 2; Securing and Creating a Security Policy; Dealing Effectively with Spyware, Adware, Viruses; Securing Windows Server 2003; and many others! Keynote speakers include: Dr. Mike Hall, the new Deputy Superintendent for Information Technology, Georgia DOE Tim Magner, Deputy Director, Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education Angus King, Former Governor of Maine Senator Kip Holden, Louisiana Terry Smithson, Education Marketing Director for North and South America, Intel. INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Gordon Central Open 2 Carrollton 2 Elementary Open House Why students love the 3 media center The LMC and 4 different cultures GLC 5 GALILEO 6 Georgia Children's 7 Book Award October calendar 8 Georgia Council of Media Organizations 2004 Conference L=A4 Libraries=Academics, Achievement, Access, Athens: COMO XVI October 13-October 15, 2004 PAGE 2 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 3 Exemplary Library Media Program Open Houses Gordon Central Open House When: Wednesday, October 20 Time: 1 PM to 4 PM Where: Gordon Central High School Media Center 335 Warrior Path Calhoun, GA 30701 706-629-7391 For more information contact: Cawood Cornelius ccornelius@gcbe.org or Sue Gable sgable@gcbe.org For directions access the school Web page at: http://www.gcbe.org/gchs/GCHSHome/gchs_home.HTML Carrollton Elementary Open House When: Wednesday, November 17 Time: 9 AM until 2 PM Where: Carrollton Elementary ,401 Ben Scott Blvd. Carrollton, GA 30117 770-832-2120 For more information contact:Jane Toth at Jane.Toth@carrolltoncityschools.net For directions to the school go to: http://employment.carrolltoncityschools.net/directions.html MEDIA MATTERS Thanks to Jane Toth (Carrollton Elementary) for these quotes from her students about why they love the Media Center. PAGE 3 The media center is fabulous because it has almost every book in the world." Chloe, grade 2 The media center is fantastic because you can look up almost anything. Rhett, grade 2 The media center is fun because we have the book fair every year. Jasmine, grade 2 I love the media center because it has a lot of books that I like. It has an awesome media specialist. Josh, grade 4 I love the media center because if you name a book, the media center has it. Caroline, grade 4 I love going to the media center because it is big and it is quiet. I also like the media center because it has all the books you look for. I also like the nice people that work there. Zachary, grade 4 I love going to the media center because it is quiet and you can use your imagination any way you want. Taylor, grade 5 I love going to the media center because I just LOVE the books. Kane, grade 5 I love going to the media center because it is a wonderful place to relax and calm down. I love to read, so it's great to have a place to sit and read. Cheyenne, grade 5 I love going to the media center because there are so many books. No matter what you are interested in, there's always something for you. Brittany, grade 5 I enjoy the media center because reading is fun and easy. Also you get to participate in fun programs like "Georgia Reading On My Mind." Kenya, grade 5 PAGE 4 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 3 Library Media Centers and Students From Different Cultures Juliana Anglada Five Forks Middle School When you enter any school in Gwinnett County, one of the first things you notice is our great diversity. Our schools find themselves educating children that speak many languages other than English, who are in various stages of learning English, and who are in the process of learning about United States culture. Library Media Centers have a big part in educating these children. We consider that it is the mission of the Library Media Center to ensure that all students are effective users of ideas and information. Promoting literacy is a good place to begin. Our media centers need to be, first of all, welcoming, comfortable places. People from other cultures sometimes do not have a clear understanding of our conception of libraries and media centers as places that are free for all, places that can help them with schoolwork, that can help them learn. Schools and media programs are in a continuous process of learning how to best design their program to support learning for these students. In my media program I have used a picture book by Pat Mora, Toms and the Library Lady, to help explain about libraries in our country, and the impact that books and libraries can have on a person's life. I have strived to develop a program that supports the acquisition of English, a program where I collaborate as much as possible with ESOL teachers. I am in the process of adding to our collection books in languages other than English, books that represent our multilingual and multicultural makeup. I interfile those that I have purchased in Spanish and French among the rest of the collection, identified with a label. This way, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in English sits beside our copy in French, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is available on the same shelf in English and in Spanish. Books of bilingual poetry are among the rest of the poetry collection. My theory has been that if students see these books among other titles, they might be encouraged to pick up another one, perhaps in English this time. Books are also easy to locate by using the appropriate subject heading in the media center catalog, such as French Language. Other successful media programs have chosen to create separate collections of books in other languages and this has worked very well to fulfill their students' needs. I have also purchased reference books in other languages to supplement those provided by Gwinnett County Media Services as part of our Media Research Web page. These reference books, such as a Spanish encyclopedia, allow students to participate in research assignments and experience a measure of success. Student learning is our ultimate goal, and everything possible is done in the media center program to help each student achieve his or her fullest potential. One book that I have found particularly helpful in designing programs for English learners is Serving Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students: Strategies for the School Library Media Specialist, by Melvina Azar Dame, published by Neal-Schuman in 1993. Accompanied by many suggested activities, it clearly presents the issues that we all are addressing with our students from so many varied countries and cultures. Do you have a great idea or an innovative plan? Write an article for Media Matters like Juliana. MEDIA MATTERS Take a look at our new, updated page on Georgia Learning Connections. The September newsletter has been added as well as the FAQ feature. Check it out at http://www.glc. k12.ga.us/pand p/media/ PAGE 5 Already online! PAGE 6 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 3 Training Materials Available in GALILEO Databases Karen Minton Library and Customer Information Services Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia The addition of new databases to the public K-12 menus has made GALILEO an even better place to go for reliable information delivered in an age-appropriate way. Learning new databases, and even keeping up with old ones, takes time busy media specialists may not have. Many vendors offer training materials and handouts to help you not only learn about the resources but also help you teach students. Below are some links to training and information materials for some GALILEO databases. Britannica databases http://corporate.britannica.com/training Note special materials for language arts, math, science, and social studies. This site includes materials for: Britannica Online School Edition Enciclopedia Universal en Espaol Annals of American History SIRS databases http://www.proquestk12.com/lsm/default.shtml Click on the database to find PowerPoint presentations, research strategy worksheets, user guides, and more. SIRS databases include: SIRS Discoverer (articles and reference for elementary-middle school) Discoverer WebFind (Web sites for elementary- SIRS Researcher (articles and reference for upper SKS WebSelect (Web sites for older students) SIRS Interactive Citizenship Gale Kids InfoBits Navigation Guide (PDF) http://www.gale.com/pdf/navguide/infobits_nvg.pdf For more help, click on the Teacher Toolbox link in the Kids Infobits interface. MEDIA MATTERS PAGE 7 The Georgia Book Award was established in 1968 by Sheldon Root, Professor of the Department of Language Education in the College of Education at the University of Georgia. The purpose of GeBooArogwkiaard the award is to foster a love of reading in the children of Georgia, and to introduce them to a collection of books worthy of receiving an award for literary excellence. Teachers and librarians are encouraged to present the books in appealing and mean- ingful ways, to read the books aloud, and to develop activities that will connect the literature to the curriculum. The award is given in two categories picture books and novels and is chosen from a list of titles suggested by a committee of librarians, teachers, and children's literature specialists. The books receiving the most votes from children in grades K-4 (picture book category) and 4-8 (novel category) are the winners. The authors and illustrators of the winning books are often featured speakers at the annual Conference on Children's Literature held at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education in Athens, Georgia. Ellen Gadberry Department of Language Education University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602 Did you know that 55 Georgia Library Media Specialists have earned their Ph.D.? (source GaDOE) We will lead the nation in improving student achievement. October 2004 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 1 2 Jimmy Carter Birthday of born: 1924 Graham Greene: 1904-1991 3Birthday of: 4Julia Thomas Wolfe, Mollie Cunningham Cone, James Herriot born: 1916 5Louise Fitzhugh born: 1928-1974 6 Thor Heyerdahl: 1914-2002 7 James Whitcomb Riley born: 1849-1916 8R.L. Stine: 1943 Barthe DeClements; 1920 9Johanna Hurwitz: 1937 10James Marshall born: 1942 11Russell Freedman's birthday: 1929 12 Columbus Day 13 Birthday of Arna Bontemps: 1902-1973 14 ee cummings born: 1894-1962 Lois Lenski born: 1893-1974 15 16 Birthday of Birthday of: Frederick Noah Webster, Nietzsche: 1844- Oscar Wilde, and 1900 Eugene O'Neill 17 18 Birthday of Birthday of Child Hassam and Susan Jeschke: Arthur Miller 1942 19Ed Emberley's birthday: 1931 20 Wylly Folk St. John born: 1908-1985 21Ann Cameron born: 1943 Ursula LaGuin: 1929 22 Birthday of George Beadle: 1903-1989 23 Michael Crichton: 1942 24Birthday 25Anne Tyler of Barbara born: 1941 Robinson: 1927 26Pat Conroy's birthday: 1945Steven Kellogg's birth- day: 1941- 27Birthday of: Dylan Thomas, Constance Greene, Sylvia Plath, 28 Statue of Liberty dedicated: 1886 29 James Boswell born: 1740-1795 30 Ezra Pound born: 1885-1972 31Birthday of John Keats: 1795-1821 1952 Twin Towers East 205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive Atlanta, Georgia 30334 Phone: 404-657-9800 Fax: 404-657-6822 E-mail: judy.serritella@doe.k12.ga.us