Media matters, Vol. 4, Issue 4 (Nov. 2005)

Media Matters
A monthly newsletter for people who love library media programs

November 2005 Number 4, Volume 4

Make plans to attend the GaETC Conference

Inside this issue:

Ferst Foundation

2

Holiday Cards

Library Media Specialist 3 of the Year

Georgia Peach Award 4 for Teen Readers

Focus on Strategies

5

Georgia Public Library 6 Services
GALILEO has a birthday 7

November Calendar 9

The 18th Annual Georgia Educational Technology Conference~~GaETC 2005~~will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park.
The conference dates are November 9 through November 11.
You can download the entire GaETC program at:
http://gadoe.org/doe/media/05/101905.asp
Hope to see you there!

Do you have a book club at your school? How is it organized? How did you create the club? How do you maintain it? Is it for students and/or faculty and staff? Send your information and details for publication in a future issue.
I like nonsense. It wakes up the brain cells.
Dr. Seuss

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Media Matters

November 2005

Number 4,Volume 4

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Betsy Razza of Druid Hills High School was named Georgia's Library Media Specialist of the Year at the recent COMO conference in Columbus. Congratulations Betsy!
Regional Library Media Specialists of the Year
District #1: Bernadette Weiss District #3: Anne Wallace District #6: Natalie Wilson District #8 Lynn Strickland District #9: Yyonne Stewart
Congratulations Ladies and Gentleman!

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Media Matters

November 2005

Georgia Peach Award for Teen Readers
The purpose of the Georgia Peach Award is to highlight and promote the best literature for Georgia high school students, to encourage young adults to read, and to promote the development of cooperative school and public library services for young adults.
Information about the Georgia Peach Award for Teen Readers can be found on the GaDOE website at: http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/pandp/media/peachbookaward.htm
Spotlight on one of the titles from the Peach Award list:
Imani in Never Say Goodbye. 272p. Enlighten, paper $15 (0-9706226-2-7).
Gr. 9-12. Seventeen-year-old Imani gets top billing once again in this companion to Imani in Young Love & Deception (2002). In fact, Imani is just one of several urban, African American teens whose lives intersect during a tumultuous senior year. As Imani, star of her high-school basketball team, struggles with the SATs and worries over how she'll pay for college, other girls in her crowd deal with grimmer problems, including single motherhood and drugs addiction. Hardrick's good intentions are obvious; she promotes higher education and clean living and casts the alternative in a uniformly squalid light. The novel even comes with discussion questions: "What are the financial, physical, mental, and social consequences of using drugs?" The abundant messages aside, many readers will respond to the dramatic plotlines and Hardwick's flair for dialogue ("Maaan, I got so many honeys it's gonna be hard pickin' just one") as well as the hop-hop vibe projected by the book cover. -- Jennifer Mattson
From the United States Department of State webpage.
Children's Book Week is celebrated November 14-20. Check out this website for activities and ideas:
http://www.cbcbooks.org/cbw/links.html

Number 4,Volume 4

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Susan Vanneman is a National Board Certified Teacher in Library Media and is the library media specialist at Robin Mickle Middle School in Lincoln, NE. I met Susan at the AASL Conference in Pittsburgh and asked if I could share her recent article in School Library Media Activities Monthly. The entire article can be viewed at: http://www.schoollibrarymedia.com/features/articles/index.html

A Focus on Strategies by Susan Vanneman
"It's in the Bag"
Students in the middle school age group have a real enthusiasm for research. Teachers and library media specialists know why information literacy skills are important and working with these students reinforced all the reasons. Students enjoy research projects because they have power over their own learning. They get to make many decisions and direct their course as their investigation unfolds and their product is developed. The learning experience, integrated with the application of reading and writing skills, is thus occurring in an authentic manner.

Students in this class learned that organization and process are central to the completion of a successful research project. Each student was given a brightly colored folder at the outset of the project. They used the outside of the folder for recording notes during instruction and used the folder to store notes, citation quick sheets, and rough drafts throughout the project.

Students especially enjoyed learning note-taking strategies. ABC LOU was introduced as a mnemonic device for effective note-taking tips: Abbreviations, Bullets, Caveman language, Lists, One word for several, and Use your own words.

Learning how to record citations opens the door for a discussion of honest and ethical researching. Sixth graders easily understand that they will be honest users of information if they paraphrase and use their own words, use two or more sources, and credit their sources. Providing "reference quick sheets" for the collection of source information and developing bibliographies in a systematic way help students develop the organizational skills that make ethical use less problematic. Sixth graders enjoy using www.noodletools.com as an aid to bibliography development.

After much discussion, the students were more than eager to begin researching. During four one-hour class periods, they delved into exciting, colorful nonfiction books, reference books and online encyclopedias, e-books, and preselected websites. At the end of the period each day, students shared unique discoveries about their topics. These discussions provided motivation and momentum that helped sustain interest from day to day.

After the students completed their notes, the next step was to spend a class period discussing how to write the reports. Characteristics of paragraphs and reports were shared. The library media specialist shared examples of notes and a final report as a model, generating even more discussion about paragraph and report writing. The researchers went to work becoming writers. Students wrote, edited, and then word processed their works into a final format. They learned to insert a picture into a computer document and use text boxes to create an attractive cover page. The bibliography was created on www.noodletools.com--and they were done and proud!

Oh--the topic of the reports was endangered species, but no matter what the topic, these students now own a process that puts them on the path to lifelong learning!

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Media Matters

November 2005

1970 Twin Towers East 205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive Atlanta, Georgia 30334
Phone: 404-657-9800 Fax: 404-657-6822
Email: judy.serritella@doe.k12.ga.us
We will lead the nation in improving student achievement.
Projections of education statistics to 2014
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pub sinfo.asp?pubid=2005074
This NCES report provides projections for key national education statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures of elementary and secondary schools; and enrollment, degrees, and expenditures of degree-granting institutions. The report also contains state-level projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to

Mark your calendar now for the
Children's Services Annual Conference
February 10, 2006
Macon Centreplex
8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
School media specialists and teachers are invited to enjoy an information-packed day with public librarians.
The day is filled with an array of programming choices. Michael White, local illustrator and author, created the artwork for the 2006 Vacation Reading Program, the annual reading program held during the summer months. A sample of his art is located at:http://www.georgialibraries.org/lib/child.html under the heading "clipart." He will present the keynote address and one breakout session, "HowOne Idea can Create a Story."
Nationally known storyteller Bobby Norfolk's closing speech "Literacy through Storytelling" will solidly link storytelling and literacy. His breakout session will concentrate on "The Art of Storytelling" and bringing characters to life.
Other programs of interest are "Science Programs for Tweens","School/Public Library Cooperative Programs", "Programming for Teens","Read to Pets at the Library", and "Programming for Babies". No matter the age you teach, there is a program of interest.
Look for registration information in the near future on the

Performance Directory from Georgia Public Library System
The purpose of the Children's Services Performers Directory database is to provide a starting point in identifying presenters and performers that are appropriate for public libraries. Inclusion in this listing does not constitute an endorsement or promotion by the Georgia Public Library Service or Georgia public libraries of any individual, group, product, or service listed. It is the responsibility of each library to check references before hiring anyone.
This list was developed for the public libraries in the state, but school library media centers will find excellent resources here also. You can search by age group, resource, and zip code.
http://www.georgialibraries.org/lib/child/childdirectory.html

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Media Matters

GALILEO Celebrates Tenth Year
Karen Minton
When GALILEO first came online on September 21, 1995, the Internet was new and Internet Explorer and Google were not even conceived. In 1997, GALILEO became available to public K-12 schools. In her testimonial at the GALLEO birthday party at the Sloppy Floyd Building, Judy Serritella pointed out that " since 1997 the K-12 community has searched GALILEO's databases over 20 million times!" Judy joined others in wishing GALILEO a happy tenth anniversary, including Chancellor Corlis Cummings, Governor Sonny Purdue, Regent Doreen Stiles Poitevint, and Senator Seth Harp. Participants also included many media specialists from various school systems.
Representatives from GALILEO's six user communities (K-12 public schools, public libraries, technical colleges, University System of Georgia, Atlanta-Macon private academic libraries, and Georgia private academic libraries) gave testimonials on the importance of GALILEO to their communities. Dawn Adams, chair of the DTAE Library Council, gave a nod to Turner South Broadcasting then continued describing "My GALILEO":
My GALILEO is information from around the world, not just the South.
It is there when I need to read a Georgia Supreme Court case after I get home from my second shift job . . .
When my instructor requires four resources for my project, and there are only three in the nearest library, I can count on my GALILEO . . .
From a critical essay on William Faulkner for my literature class to a discussion of the latest government efficiency standards for air conditioning, from maintaining turf grasses in a water shortage to how to banish the worst irritations in Windows XP it's all there in my GALILEO.
Governor Purdue joined the birthday party by video and commented on the advantages of the collaborative purchasing of resources.
"Through this collaborative approach, GALILEO provides greater access to more materials at less cost than if each library had to purchase these resources individually," said Governor Purdue.
(continued on next page)

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Number 4,Volume 4

November 2005

GALILEO's Birthday (continued)
Collaboration means equitable access for all Georgia students. Judy Serritella pointed out, "GALILEO levels the playing field in Georgia schools. From the rural systems to the urban, from those systems with the fewest resources to those with unlimited funds, the databases offered to the K-12 community across the state are accessible to all students, staff, and teachers."
Today GALILEO is available through 2,500 institutions and is a partnership among many state agencies, school districts, public libraries and private educational institutions. Projects under the GALILEO umbrella include the Digital Library of Georgia, which offers 60 different digitized collections from more than 40 libraries, archives and museums and from 80 agencies of state government. K-12 students find the Vanishing Georgia collection and the New Georgia Encyclopedia particularly useful for their research, as well as entertaining.
The GALILEO Kids' Page rolled out in 2002, making GALILEO more navigable to students in the third through fifth grades. Future implementations of the GALILEO web site will make GALILEO more accessible and navigable to older students, as well.
Looking ahead to the next decade, Merryll Penson, Executive Director for library services for the Board of Regents, said future improvements to GALILEO would mirror the increased expectations of savvy Internet users. "The Google experience has shaped users' expectations for accessibility and convenience," said Penson. Consequently, a three-year upgrade of GALILEO will improve the initiative's search function, improve and broaden existing electronic links between databases, and provide greater access to content and features from various GALILEO library web sites.
To keep up with these exciting improvements, subscribe to the GALILEO e-mail list at http://www.usg.edu/galileo/help/library/list.phtml
Please remember: you should not distribute passwords on open websites, in public newsletters or mailings. An institution may provide a mechanism for online password distribution only if that mechanism requires all users to verify their affiliation with that institution before receiving the password. Each library is responsible for the distribution of passwords to verified students, faculty, staff, and patrons only.
For K-12 schools, password changes occur on these dates: March 24, May 15, August 31, December 12

Sunday

Number 4,Volume 4

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November 2005

GaDOE Library Media Services

Monday

Tuesday
1
U.S. Weather Bureau established: 1870

Wednesday
2

Thursday
3

Friday
4

Saturday
5

Mildred Ames

Birthday ofBetty Birthday ofStephen Shirley Chisholm

born: 1919-1994 Bao Lord: 1938- Crane: 1871-1900 elected to Cong-

Will Rogers' birth- ress: 1968

day: 1879-1935

6

7

8

9

10

11

John P hilip Sousa F.D.R. elected for Lewis & Clark Berlin Wall opens: Seseme Street

Veterans' Day

born: 1854-1932 a 4th term: 1944 reach the Pacific: 1989

premiered: 1969

1805

12
Auguste Rodin born: 1840-1917
Sammy Sosa's birthday: 1968-

13

14

Children's Book Birthday of

Week!

Claude Monet:

Robert Louis Steph- 1840-1926

enson born: 1850-

1 89 4

15

16

Daniel Pinkw ater Jean Fritz born:

born: 1941-

1915-

Georgia O'Keefe Robin McKinley

born: 1887-1986 born: 1952-

17

18

19

Suez Canal: 1869

Antarctica discovered: 1820

Gettysburg Ad dres s delivered: 1863

20

21

Birthday ofEdwin Hubble: 18891 95 3

Mayflower Compact signed: 1620

22
Kennedy assassinated: 1963

23
Pencil sharpener patented: 1897

24
Than ks giving

25
Marc Brown and Crescent Dragonwagon born.

26
Death ofSojourner Truth: 17901883

27
America's 1st university opens: 1779

28

29

WilliamBlake born:Birthday ofC.S.

1 75 7-1 82 7

Lewis and

Louisa May

Alcott

30

October
S M TW T F S
1 2345678 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

December S M TW T F S
123 4 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 31

We don't buy glasses; we buy vision. We don't buy a newspaper; we buy information. We buy something or pursue something, not because we want the thing itself, but because we want what that thing will give us or do for us. Max Anders