Diversity in the Media Center

The Library Media program is supposed to support everyone, including all stakeholders in the school. As such, it will necessarily touch a range of people from various backgrounds (consider: ethnicity, race, religion, gender, intelligence/special needs, socio-economic, etc.).
Personally, I think it is a mistake to identify specific groups and take great pains to celebrate them, as members of an identified group, in an overt way. In doing so, we will inevitably highlight our identification with some groups over others. This defeats the whole purpose of stressing diversity, in the first place, as we pick and choose which groups we highlight. This can pit supporters of one group against another, engendering an environment of jealously, rather than acting as a force for pulling all individuals together as part of the school identity and culture. We can appreciate the salad bowl, but should encourage assimilation stew, to the extent we are engendering a school culture. I think we do greater service treating our stakeholders as individuals, striving to meet their needs the best we can. We should consider issues as they come to our attention, and strive to address challenges as thoroughly, and in as timely a manner, as is possible.
A possible exception, if it fits the definition of an exception, would be identifying school based groups, classes, teams, and celebrating them as a part of our school and highlighting their accomplishments. I don’t believe that really fits the definition of highlighting diversity, though.
The reality is that diversity does not really affect access to information, as information is available in many forms, all of which should be available, regardless of diversity issues.
Special needs would bring up a different set of possible issues, as some students have legitimate problems accessing information; these situations should be addressed and these problems overcome, so we continue to provide equal access. This is really more an issue of access than diversity, but I tend to see the diversity issue through the lens of access.
As in other areas of our society, we have an obligation to provide equal opportunity/access, and to encourage all our stakeholders to avail themselves of our resources, but we err greatly, and do harm, when we shift from that noble aim towards attempting to provide equal outcomes/identification for various groups.
With this being said, I also feel strongly that we can quietly use what we learn of a person’s background to facilitate use of available resources, including reading for pleasure. I might notice a trend towards certain titles that a certain racial or ethnic group might like and make a point to keep those in the collection. I might highlight the items, making efforts to bring a particular group further into the fold of the Library Media Center, but I will do so quietly.
We should diversify our offerings and ensure access to all, but focus on meeting the needs of our individuals, as best practice in a school Library Media Center.

Technology, Diversity, and the Media Center--The Final Frontier

"Infinite diversity in infinite combinations... symbolizing the elements that create truth and beauty." --Commander Spock

I looked up quotes about diversity, saw this one on finestquotes.com, and--being a Trekkie--had to use it!  I could "boldly go where no man has gone before" and say that only by embracing diversity will we "live long and prosper."

Okay, now that I've indulged my inner geek, let me just say that diversity is, without a doubt, important for consideration in the media center.  It is inescapable in our world; the media center is no exception.  No two patrons--students, teachers, or others--are exactly alike.  It falls to us to do our best to meet the needs of the varying individuals we serve.  And these needs are constantly changing, making it difficult at times to predict what will be pertinent and timely.  However, using research, reliable blogs, and expert sources can help us in our quest to build a rich collection to both tempt and satisfy our customers!

What does diversity look like?  Is it race, gender, ability level?  Yes, yes, yes, and then some.  Diversity includes these differences in origin, demographics, interests, abilities, and so much more.  It keeps things interesting. Okay, back to Star Trek--just look at the crew of the Starship U.S.S. Enterprise.  On one team, you may see a Vulcan, an African American woman, an Asian man, a Scot, and more.  In the "Next Generation," the team would include an android and a Klingon.  Each individual possesses qualities which differentiate him or her from others and which contribute to the whole.

Now, look at the students in our schools.  Not only do we have students from numerous races and ethnic backgrounds, we also serve families from varying socioeconomic levels and make-ups.  For example, children may live with one or both parents, step-parents, same-sex parents, grandparents, and more.  Their interests and abilities vary, and their learning styles differ as well.  Their home life affects their attitudes towards school and learning.

Next, look at the teachers in our schools.  Within one staff, even within one grade level, you may see first year teachers, veteran teachers, and one-foot-out-the-door teachers approaching retirement.  You may see by-the-book teachers who are afraid to veer from standard pedagogical approaches, then look around and see a teacher standing on top of desks while kids lie on the floor!  Not only do teachers differ in their educational backgrounds, histories, and approaches, but they each have individual personal lives which can influence what happens in school as well.

What role does technology play?  Technology tools can be used for research about needs and trends and for collection development.  They can be used to vary learning activities and to scaffold for varying ability levels.  Web 2.0 tools can be used to communicate with others and evaluation programming and get new ideas, and also to create and share projects.

As media specialists, we should be the "experts" in our schools when it comes to instructional technology.  This is where the state of Georgia is going, by the way, according to my sources.  Gone are the days of simply checking out books and having story time.  Now, it's podcasts, wikis, blogs, and more.  It's collaboration with teachers to create technology-rich instruction.

We may not know everything (just almost everything...), but we should maintain a toolbox of resources, both human and nonhuman, for locating information to answer the information needs of our patrons....at "warp speed."

eBooks and Digital Storytelling

My school does not circulate ebooks but we do have access to online encyclopedias and other reference materials through GALILEO and the Cobb Virtual Library. We do have subscriptions to online resources that have some books like Scholastic's Book Flix. All of our textbooks can be accessed online and each student is able to access these books from home with a password. None of these are specific "ebooks" that require a different device for showing the material. Any home computer with internet access can access these books with the proper passwords.

I would love to see something for kids to use that is inexpensive to purchase. It would be fun to have some ebook readers at a school to give students in the elementary school access to the technology and maybe gain a love for reading with the unique twist. I know many people are scared that this will make the media center even more likely to be cut because there is no need for circulation but I believe that there will always be a need for the media center, whether it be for technology, media, reading, or information. There will always be a need for the support for teachers and students.

Digital Storytelling is something that many schools have not seen or been exposed to. Students learn best by showing and telling what they have learned. This process can be used for students to explain what thye have loearned or teachers can use it to introduce a topic. The University of Houston's Digital Storytelling website gives great ideas and a much better idea on what digital storytelling is. When I become a media specialist, I would love to use this resource to support teachers and promote collaboration.

Tech Training

Like most schools, ours has a faculty with technology skills that run the gamut from entry level to advanced. It is amazing to me that we still have faculty who have not mastered some of the more basic technology items, such as email and file management, but they definitely exist. Most of the technology-reluctant are typically older individuals, who reached adulthood with little to no exposure to technology. But to be fair, it is safe to say that we have many faculty members of the same age range, who have worked hard to learn, at least the most basic technologies. The technology natives, who grew up with technology as part of their day-to-day lives, are usually the most willing to embrace new technologies, but everyone has their own quirks as to what they like, what they most want to learn/use, and what causes them the most frustration.
Technology training is available to faculty at my school in three basic ways: district led in-service, media specialist led in-service, and we are seeing more and more offerings through online based, video lessons. As the budget has shrunk, so has the number of instructional technology professionals. They are spread thin and have many responsibilities that go beyond direct instruction. They make good-faith efforts to meet the needs of the faculty, divided into two groups: information technology and instructional technology. As a counselor, I deal more with the informational technology, looking at individual student information, running reports for groups of students, etc. Most faculty are using more of the instructional technology, including word processing, PowerPoints, electronic grade books, LCD projectors, Smart boards, etc.
With instructional technology, the media specialist does get involved with teaching and supporting faculty learning and use of things like web-sites, wikis, LCD projectors, spreadsheets, cameras, clicker systems, Smart boards, etc. The information technology specialist will typically come for a series of in-service and small group and individual help sessions throughout the year, with the media specialist providing supplementary opportunities for extra help for small groups or individuals. Honestly, there are few barriers to faculty getting the instruction and help they need with technology. The biggest one is time, but I find the faculty who make technology a priority get all the help they need. Others choose to complain about having no time, or offerings being inconvenient, but while I sympathize with the time issue, I know the tech training is offered in so many different ways and times (summer, during school planning, after school, and online, as well as individual support when the media specialist can make herself available) that excuse is really less than convincing.
If I were in charge, I would follow a similar model, offering training based on faculty expressed needs, as often as possible, using a variety of types of training, at various times of the day and year. I would like to use more training staff for more lessons and more individual and small group follow-up sessions, but the budget realities must be faced and dealt with in the most constructive ways possible. I also think providing more opportunities for the trainers to attend more of their own continuing education would help ensure that out trainers are able to keep pace with the changes in technology and better help the faculty adjust to the changes, like with the recent changes in the Office suite that have been so frustrating for so many. The biggest DO’s would be to always be patient with faculty, whatever their level of understanding, and to ensure that the media specialists and instructional technology specialists have the support necessary to keep up with the changes in technology, so they can be better helpers to the rest of the faculty. The biggest DON’T would be – never lose your patience with faculty, even when they may be showing a poor attitude towards technology training. There will always be some technology reluctant faculty. We need to embrace a positive attitude towards all our customers when it comes to technology training. We will never win over everyone, but we will do a much better job, overall, when providing a positive atmosphere, respecting others' struggles with technology.

GPB Resources and Video Distribution

At Pickett's Mill Elementary, we have a closed circut cable system. It is through the cable provider and we no longer use the satelites at any of our schools. We use the system for our daily news (PBS--Pirate Broadcasting System). The fifth grade students run the news and both cameras. There is a board that the "producer" stands at to switch sounds and cameras as needed. There is a teleprompter in the room for the "anchors" and an area for the weather. The head in system also has 2 dvd players and can be played on two different closed circut channels. The county has the stations set and those channels can be watched in any classroom. The teachers have no control over what cable channels are picked for the schools. Sometimes a bookfair video or video created by a grade level will be broadcast on one of the channels throughout the day. Another channel is hooked up to the computer and has a scrolling bulliten board for the school events and information. We will soon be changing to a system that gives the teacher the choice of cable channels through the classroom computer. I have only heard rumbilings of this so I wasn't able to get many details on which system or how it was exactly going to work.

GPB resources and videostreaming is used frequently at my school. Each teacher set up an account and we were trained our first year at the school. We have bought very few videos because of this resource. Administration feels that we should be using video clips and not full length videos in lessons so this is a great resource. Also, we believe that we pay for it out of county media funds so we should be using it. Just this week I am using GPB for a grammar lesson. It is on adjectives. The video clips even have "quizzes" that the students can take. It gets them involved and excited about learning. It is easy to download. I do suggest downloading because in my case I always want something when the internet is down. So, I try to prepare lessons ahead of time and download the video for the lesson and then delete it. It makes for easy transitions and there is no wait time for the streaming or buffering. I love using this resource and use it at least once a week in my third grade classroom. The one thing I love is Magic School Bus! The kids love to watch that for indoor recess and they are learning at the same time!

VDS & GPB--No, they are not communicable diseases...

My school, Marietta Center for Advanced Academics (MCAA), uses closed circuit video distribution to broadcast our daily morning news show into the classrooms.  This news show is produced in the media center by a crew of 8 fifth-grade students, directed by the media specialist.  Before the news show, a titlemaker scroll runs across the screen with the day and date, lunch menu, and character traits of the month and week.   When the news show is not on, the display shows a digital clock screen saver on the news room computer.   This way each classroom in the school runs by the same time.  Occasionally, the broadcast system is used to show recorded programs, such as President Obama’s address to U.S. students, and videos, such as end-of-the-year videos shown at awards programs, book fair promotions, or the principal’s skydiving video from last year!  Teachers do not typically have input into what is broadcast.  This is generally determined by the principal and the media specialist.

I am not aware of much use by our school or district of the Georgia Public Broadcasting resources.  I have been learning more about these resources, however.  We have used Discovery/United Streaming some in the past, but our school primarily uses the SAFARI Montage video collection from Library Video Company.  This is available through a site-based server, with a subscription purchased with media funds.  Through exploring the GPB website, I discovered their Digital Library and the “Georgia Stories” feature.  I viewed a video about the civil rights movement in Georgia.  It was interesting and I learned some new information about this subject.  I was intrigued by this since I am currently reading the book, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, on my Kindle.  The setting for this story is Mississippi in 1962, when the ideas of desegregation were beginning to grow.  Viewing the episode of “Georgia Stories” also gave me some ideas for the Digital Storytelling project we will be doing for this course and for the Pathfinders we learned about in the References course.

In addition, I was reminded about the “Teachers’ Domain” educational video resources available for teachers.  I have explored this some in the past but forgot that it was provided by public broadcasting.

I looked around but was unable to find access to Discovery/United Streaming through the GPB website, but I went to the Discovery Education website, http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/, and accessed the resource.

Social Networking

Social networking in schools....that is a huge discussion and debate in many schools. We just had a discussion as a staff about this topic when school started. There is a feature on the new Destiny Quest that allows students to have "friends" and suggest books to each other. The problem with the idea is the "cyberbullying" and inapproprate use of words that has started because of it. Schools were then given the option to get rid of the option on Destiny and not allow "friends". In our school, we chose to keep the option for the moment and do more teaching of what is right and wrong when using a feature like this in the school setting. We figure if we monitor it and deny use to students who are misusing it, we can really get students interested in books. Right now, I am "friends" with all the students in my third grade class. They suggest books to me and I suggest books to them. We read books together and rate them. They write me reviews and post them to Destiny. It has opened the door for learning about books in my classroom. It has also has gotten them interested in the use of the library again.
I do believe that students need to be taught how to use social networking sites appropriately. There can be a role for them in the classroom if they are being used for educational purposes. Our district does not allow social networking sites other than Destiny Quest. The students are unable to "chat" using this site. The district does have a firewall or filter that does not allow social networking sites to even open up on a school computer. The thing I see is that students now a days have it all loaded on their cell phones anyway and some would say it would be better to teach them how to use is appropriately. Then you have others that say we are already "parenting" these children, why do we have to teach them how to use a cell phone or internet. I can see both sides of the arguement. I can see it being used well and I can see it being used poorly. It all depends on the plan and the ground rules that are laid down.
As a media specialist, I can see social networking being used to promote the media center. It could be used to promote a workshop for teachers or a study group for students. It could also be used to promote new materials that are in circulation. It is a different way to get stakeholders involved in the media center. It makes the students feel like they are a part of the media center and they want to take part in more events in the media center. It can also be used to relay information to students, teachers, and administrators. The only problem I see with it is making sure it is updated regularly. I have seen many blogs that get a great start and then fizzle down to nothing because the teacher or media specialist jumps on some other bandwagon. It would be interesting to see which of these "fads" or ideas will sustain and still be around when I retire. :)