Media matters, Vol. 5, Issue 1 (Aug. 2006)

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Media Matters Volume 5, Number 1 August 2006
Exemplary Library media programs and library media specialist of the year honored at may 2006 state board meeting

Inside this issue:

Congratulations

2

SACS info (continued) 3

Welcome back

3

Increasing effective-

4

Websites

5

Novelist

5

21st century librarian

6

Laura Bush Award

8

Troup County!!

8

Ken Scott

9

Peach Award

10

Flexible Scheduling

11

August calendar

12

Pictured above: Kris Woods (Teasley Middle School, Cherokee County), Betsy Razza (Druid Hills H.S., DeKalb County), Melissa Johnston (Vickery Creek Elementary, Forsyth County), Jo Beth James (Royston Elementary, Franklin County)

SACS update information

The Board of Trustees of the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI) and the Board of Directors of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI) have voted to bring together NCA CASI, SACS CASI, and the National Study of School Evaluation (NSSE) into one organization that will serve as a national leader for quality education.
(Continued on Page 3)

http://www.sacscasi.org/

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More Honors and recognitions

MEDIA MATTERS

Shaneene Fannin, Library Media Specialist at S. L. Lewis Elementary School in Fulton County was selected as TOTY.
Media specialist, Mary Hickey of Brookdale Elementary in Macon, was her school's teacher of the year and one of the finalists for the Bibb County teacher of the year.

Sharon Joiner of Liberty County retired this past school year. Sheila Evans retired from Dalton City Schools. Helen Oliver (Catoosa) also retired at the end of the school year.

GAIT and GLMA are pleased to announce the following District Library Media Specialists of the Year for 2006-2007:
East Georgia District - Jennifer Newton Metro District - Ginny Harrell
South Metro District - Suzanne Mittenzwei Northeast Georgia District - Melissa Johnston
First District - Shannon Robertson West Georgia District - Jennifer Harkleroad
South Central-Michelle Beaufort North Central Georgia District - Rebecca Amerson
Middle Georgia District - Deborah Touchton Northwest Georgia District - Cawood Cornelius
Okefenokee District - Linda Davis

VOLUME 5, NUMBER 1

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SACS information (continued from page 1)
According to Terry Culliver, State Director, the overall approach to compliance makes a dramatic shift from "input" to "output." Instead of relying on numbers, etc., it focuses on evidence of quality output.
This unification creates the world's largest education community, representing over 23,000 public and private schools and districts in 30 states and 65 countries and serving over 15 million students.
NCA CASI and SACS CASI will maintain their brand names so that schools will continue to enjoy the brand recognition of our respective accreditation seals, while gaining access to a broader network of schools and greater resources.

O n ce a Me di a s pe c ia li st, always a m e d i a sp e ci al i st
Retired Coweta County media specialist, Geraldine Welch, loves the media center so much that she is returning to work full time this fall after being retired for six years!
She spent four years as an elementary school media specialist in the 1970s. She served as a middle school media specialist at Evans Middle School in Newnan for 22 years and retired in 2000. But Geraldine has missed the media center ever since. She heard about an opening and interviewed for the media position at Northside Elementary School in Newnan and will begin the second phase of her career in August.
Welcome back Geraldine!
Story submitted by Geraldine's daughter, Library Media Specialist Jennifer Harkleroad

It is wiser to find out than suppose. Mark Twain

The next three Georgia Read More posters are:
Dominique Wilkins, Keith Brooking, and Michael P. White. Some of the new Curriculum Directors picked the posters up in July and will deliver them to the elementary schools.
The DVD should be ready very soon!

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MEDIA MATTERS

1 0 Ways to i nc re a s e e ff e c t iv ene ss i n you r library media center
1. Is your library inviting? 2. Is your library useable? 3. Is your library organized? 4. Do you know your stuff? 5. Are you having fun? 6. Are you working smarter? 7. Do you have a lifeline? 8. Do you bfan*? 9. Are you taking care of yourself? 10.Do you remember that some days are like that, tomorrow is another day,
and the students are not an interruption of our work; they are the reason we have a job.
Reprinted with permission from Deborah B. Ford's resource handbook Increasing the effectiveness of your school library program: creative, inviting, budget-friendly ideas.
*bfan: make a big fuss about nothing

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Benjamin Franklin
(Thanks to Rebecca Amerson for sharing this quote)

VOLUME 5, NUMBER 1

PAGE 5

Check out these websites

http://www.bobbikatz.com/
Bobbi Katz is having a contest just for kids and the winning prize is...her! She will come to your school and spend the day (she will need travel expenses). But check out the site. You may find more activities you can use with your students.

http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/ngm /wildcamgrizzlies/wildcam.html
Check out grizzly bears in Alaska.
Daily Camera Operating Hours: 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Alaska Standard Time. For best views, watch from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Alaska time when a Pratt Museum interpreter will maneuver the camera.

The best moments in reading are when you come across something--a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things--which you had thought unique and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours.
Alan Bennett
Novelist reader's advisory feature
NoveList/Notes on GALILEO is a monthly e-mail mailing designed to help you use particular features of NoveList. This month's Notes demonstrate how NoveList and NoveList K-8 can help you find books with a strong sense of place or books that are set in a specific location. By using a variety of search strategies, you can travel around the world.
To see previous issues or to subscribe to /NoveList Notes/, click on the "Readers' Advisory" tab from within the NoveList database.
Please remember not to post your GALILEO password on your school's website.

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MEDIA MATTERS

You know you are a 21st century librarian if you . . .

1.Make sure your learners and teachers can access developmentally and curricular appropriate databases, portals, and websites.
2. Have the skills to create a blog or website to pull together the resources to meet the information needs of your learning community. You organize the Web for learners.
3. Think outside the box about the concept of "collection." That collection might include: ebooks, audiobooks, open source software, streaming media, and much more!
4. You think Web 2.0. You know the potential new technologies offer for interactionlearners as both information consumers and producers. You are thinking interactive service: materials suggestion forms, book review blogs, online calendars, etc.
5. Consider new interactive and engaging communication tools also for student projects. Are we looking at digital storytelling, wikis, podcasts, streaming video as possibilities beyond paper and PowerPoint?
6. Consider just-in-time, just-for-me learning as your responsibility and are proud that you own the real estate of one desktop window on your students' home computers 24/7.
7. You are concerned about what you can do that Google cannot. What customized services will you offer that will not be outsourced to Bangalore?
8. You read both edtech journals and edtech blogs, not just the print literature of our own profession. You learn by visiting the webcast archives of conferences you cannot attend.
9. You consider your role as info-technology scout. You look to make "learning sense" of the authentic new information and communication tools used in business and academics. You figure out how to use them thoughtfully and you help classroom teachers use them with their classes.
10. You consider ways to bring experts, scholars, authors into your classroom using telecommunication tools like Skype and Internet2.

(continued on next page)

VOLUME 5, NUMBER 1

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11. Grapple with issues of equity. You provide open source alternatives to students and teachers who need them. You lend flash sticks and laptops and cameras and ....
12. You consider new ways to promote reading. You are exploring downloadable audio books. You (and your students) are creating digital booktalks.
13. Model respect for intellectual property in a world of shift and change. You insist on documentation for media in all formats and recognize the growing number of copyright-friendly portals. You understand Creative Commons licensing.
14. You know this is only the beginning of social networking. Students will get to their MySpace accounts through proxy servers despite any efforts to block them. You plan educationally meaningful ways to incorporate student excitement (and your own) for social networking. This is social networking too!
15. You seek professional development that will help you grow even if you cannot get Act 48 credit (or other credit) for that growth.
16. Even if you are a digital immigrant you learn the language of digital natives AND you consider what you want to unpack from that trunk you carried from the old world. Rigor and information fluency matter no matter what the medium. So do excitement, engagement, and enthusiasm.

From Joyce Valenza's NeverEnding Search:
http://joycevalenza.edublogs.org/2006/07/26/you-know-you-are-a-21st-centuryteacher-librarian-if/

1970 Twin Towers East 205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive Atlanta, Georgia 30334 404-657-9800 Fax: 404-657-6822 Email: jserrite@doe.k12.ga.us
We will lead the nation in improving student achievement.

VOLUME 5, NUMBER 1
Congratulations Troup County!!!
The United States Department of Education recently announced the 2006 grantees for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program. Troup County was our only Georgia recipient. In total, only 78 grants were awarded in only 26 states. To view the list of grant awards and abstracts, visit: http://www.ed.gov/programs/lsl/awards.html
The Department of Education's November 2005 evaluation of the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program found it has been successful in improving the quality of school libraries. Numerous studies show there is a clear link between the quality of library media programs in schools staffed by an experienced school library media specialist and student academic achievement.
The Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program is a competitive one-year grant for school districts in which at least 20 percent of the students are from families with incomes below the poverty line.

L au ra Bu s h awa r d r ec i pi e n t s
Austin Thomas Walden Middle School Atlanta Benjamin S. Carson Honors Preparatory School Atlanta
Cedar Shoals High School Athens Ed S. Cook Elementary Atlanta Gainesville Exploration Academy Gainesville Humphries Elementary School Atlanta John Hope Elementary School Atlanta Kelley Lake Elementary Decatur Moore Elementary School Griffin Terry Mill Elementary School Atlanta

Ken Scott, Magician!
Ken Scott, Comedy Magician/Illusionist, recently entertained the GaDOE Staff at their monthly staff meeting. Ken entertains students all over the state and has a special "reading themed" magic show. You can contact Ken at: 770-252-1516 or his website at: http://www.kenscottmagic.com/schools/ schoolsinfo.htm

MEDIA MATTERS

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.
Anna Quindlen

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MEDIA MATTERS

Spotlight on The Georgia Peach Award for Teen Readers
The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon. Brent Runyon was fourteenyears-old when he set himself on fire. This is a true story. In The Burn Journals, Runyon describes that devastating suicide attempt and his recovery over the following year. He shares his thoughts and hopes and fears about what it means to want to kill yourself and how it feels to struggle back toward normality.
For more information check out: http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/pandp/media/peachbookaward.htm
http://www.burnjournals.com/content.html http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375826214 http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375826214

2007 Exemplary Library Media Program details will be announced in the near future!
Please consider applying for this award. Last year's recipients are featured on the 1st page of this issue of Media Matters along with the current Library Media Specialist of the Year.
It is OK to toot your own horn. Sometimes that is the only way to be heard.

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MEDIA MATTERS

Flexible Scheduling -- what it is and what it isn't
Flexible Scheduling is addressed in the GaDOE rule IFBD 160-4-4-.01. A Georgia school library media program must include a plan for flexibly scheduled media center access for students and teachers in groups or as individuals simultaneously throughout each instructional day. Accessibility shall refer to the facility, the staff, and the resources and shall be based on instructional need. Flexible scheduling is maintained by allowing full participation of teachers and the library media specialist in collaborative planning and allowing students to come to the library media center at any time.
Flexible Scheduling is any schedule that is controlled by the library media specialist in collaboration with the classroom teachers to meet the needs of the students at the students' point of need. A schedule that is mandated and/or controlled by the school administration is not flexible. The media program is not to be used as a means to provide planning time for teachers.
Flexible scheduling is not having a sign up sheet available and allowing teachers to sign up for the media center. A flexible schedule works in partnership with collaboration. The media program shall be a collaborative effort between the classroom teacher and the library media specialist. Collaboration is essential to a quality K-12 media center instructional program. Flexible scheduling is essential to an effective K-12 media center program that recognizes the importance of collaboration. One cannot exist without the other.
The American Library Association and the American Association of School Librarians position statement is that schools must adopt the educational philosophy that the library media program is fully integrated into the educational program. This integration strengthens the teaching/learning process so that students can develop the vital skills necessary to locate, analyze, evaluate, interpret, and communicate information and ideas. When the library media program is fully integrated into the instructional program of the school, students, teachers, and library media specialists become partners in learning. The library program is an extension of the classroom. Information skills are taught and learned within the context of the classroom curriculum. The wide range of resources, technologies, and services needed to meet students learning and information needs are readily available in a cost-effective manner.
The integrated library media program philosophy requires that an open schedule must be maintained. Classes cannot be scheduled in the library media center to provide teacher release or preparation time. Students and teachers must be able to come to the center throughout the day to use information sources, to read for pleasure, and to meet and work with other students and teachers.
Planning between the library media specialist and the classroom teacher, which encourages both scheduled and informal visits, is the catalyst that makes this integrated library program work. The teacher brings to the planning process a knowledge of subject content and student needs. The library media specialist contributes a broad knowledge of resources and technology, an understanding of teaching methods, and a wide range of strategies that may be employed to help students learn information skills. Cooperative planning by the teacher and library media specialist integrates information skills and materials into the classroom curriculum and results in the development of assignments that encourage open inquiry.
The responsibility for flexibly scheduled library media programs must be shared by the entire school community.
For more information see: http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/pandp/media/FAQ1.htm#Flexible

According to the legal department at the Georgia Department of Education, the word "shall" in GaDOE policy 160-4-4-.01 means "mandatory."

August 2006

GaDOE Library Media Services

Sunday

Monday

July
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

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

1

2

3

Herman Melville Birthday ofJames born: 1819-1891 Howe: 1946 James Baldwin born: 1924-1987

Columbus sets sail: 1492

Friday

Saturday

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5

Percy Shelley Conrad Aiken born: 1792-1822 born: 1889-1973

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7

8

9

10 11 12

Alfred, Lord Tennyson born: 1809-1892
Matt Christopher and Barbara Cooney born: 1917

Birthday ofBetsy Byars: 1928
Ralph Bunc he born: 1904-1971

Marjorie Rawlings What did P.L. Herbert Hoover's

born: 1896-1953 Travers write? birthday: 1874-

Sara Teasdale

She was born on 1964

born: 1884-1933 this day in 1902.

Birthday ofAlex Edison invents Haley: 1921-1992 the phonograph: 1877 Walter Dean Myers born: 1937

13 14 15 16

Berlin Wall begins Birthday ofRuss ell Sir Walter Scott's Birthday ofMatt

to beconstruct- Baker: 1925-

birthday: 1771- Christopher:

ed: 1961

1832

1917-1997

17 18
Gov. John White Paula Danziger returns to Roano- born: 1944ke to find the Who is Virginia settlement des ert- Dare? ed: 1590

19
Ogden Nash's birthday: 1902
Orville Wright born: 1 87 1-1 94 8
Who is Philo T. Farnsworth?

20 21 22 23 24 25

Leon Trotsky is When did Hawaii fatally wounded become a state? in Mexico: 1940

Ray Bradbury born: 1920-
The Mona Lisa is stolen fromthe Louvre: 1911

Who is Edgar Lee Who is Jorge Luis Why is Leonard

Masters?

Borges? Today is Bernstein

his birthday.

important?

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Animal Farmby George Orwell is published: 1946

27 28
Theodore Dreiser Rita Dove and born: 1871-1945 TashaTudor were born on this date.

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Oliver Wendell Holmes born: 1809-1894

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Birthday ofRoy Wilkins: 19011981
Donald Crews, Mary Shelley, Virginia Lee Burton born.

WilliamSaroyan born: 1908-1981

September S M TW T F S
12 3456789 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Wri ti ng and readi ng is to me synonymous wi th exi sting. Gertrude Stei n