Follett Export and Ordering
Today I spent one hour at my base practicum school and then headed to one of my secondary schools. While at the secondary school, I assisted a teacher in creating a Google form. The teacher was using the form to post discussion questions for her students to answer. Many of the teachers do not know how to use the Google App system installed by the county and have not had any training. I have had to opportunity to use Google Apps for a few years and am able to use teach-able moments to help both teachers and students overcome obstacles and move into the digital world of cloud computing with Google Apps. The second thing I did today was export the MC Marc records to Follett Titlewave. This was done so that we could see any gaps in titles the MC may or many not have. While many of the titles are older than suggested, there seems to be very few gaps in this MC's collection. We did briefly look at suggested titles, but found that to be somewhat overwhelming. We also discussed how some of the resources would be outdated very soon after purchase, so the decision was made to look for online resources that would meet the same or similar needs.
Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010 (2 hrs) - Running Total: 237 hours
Discussion with MS about MS as leader presentation.
My mentor MS was very pleased with my presentation on Monday. We discussed some of the events surrounding the meeting and other issues effecting the implementation of a district-wide comprehensive move to collaboration. There seem to be many factors at play with the movement to more collaboration among students and teachers. Friction from certain individuals in the county office may make it more challenging to implement the AASL standards dealing with full collaboration when using technology. It is a sad state of affairs, but one that needs the disposition of preserverence and not an attitude of despair.
My mentor MS was very pleased with my presentation on Monday. We discussed some of the events surrounding the meeting and other issues effecting the implementation of a district-wide comprehensive move to collaboration. There seem to be many factors at play with the movement to more collaboration among students and teachers. Friction from certain individuals in the county office may make it more challenging to implement the AASL standards dealing with full collaboration when using technology. It is a sad state of affairs, but one that needs the disposition of preserverence and not an attitude of despair.
Monday, Oct. 25, 2010 (7 hrs) - Running Total: 235 hours
MS as Leader
I performed regular circulation desk procedures during the morning hours and then headed to the county office for the quarterly MS meeting. I was the last presenter in the meeting and taught the MS as Leader lesson for the practicum. This lesson consisted of an overview of Web2.0 technologies being taught to MS candidates at GSU. The main part of the lesson was two-part. Part of the lesson focused on the instructional technology applications of the county's adopted Google App domain. Within this portion of the lesson, I provided reasoning behind the reason why Google Apps was a step forward in meeting the AASL and ISTE standards. The second half of the lesson consisted of teaching the MS how to use the collaborative and organization tools of Google documents so that they could then pass that knowledge on to teachers and students. The presentation was a success and I am relieved that it went so well! I have since provided instruction to several teachers one-on-one regarding other Google App tools.
I performed regular circulation desk procedures during the morning hours and then headed to the county office for the quarterly MS meeting. I was the last presenter in the meeting and taught the MS as Leader lesson for the practicum. This lesson consisted of an overview of Web2.0 technologies being taught to MS candidates at GSU. The main part of the lesson was two-part. Part of the lesson focused on the instructional technology applications of the county's adopted Google App domain. Within this portion of the lesson, I provided reasoning behind the reason why Google Apps was a step forward in meeting the AASL and ISTE standards. The second half of the lesson consisted of teaching the MS how to use the collaborative and organization tools of Google documents so that they could then pass that knowledge on to teachers and students. The presentation was a success and I am relieved that it went so well! I have since provided instruction to several teachers one-on-one regarding other Google App tools.
Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010 (4 hrs) - Running Total: 228 Hours
Today was an average day in the media center. I assisted with circulation procedures and observed 8th grade classes using the computers and media center database resources to research topics for an upcoming debate unit. The main resource students were observed using were Google search and the school-purchased GaleNet database - specifically the opposing viewpoints portion of the database. These classes will continue to utilize the media center over the next several weeks as they work on their debates. In addition, I was able to speak with the teacher I am collaborating with for my practicum unit on GA Authors. She seemed excited about this unit even though she rarely infuses technology within her units.
Monday, Oct. 18, 2010 (4 hrs) - Running Total: 216
Morning Announcements featuring Booktalks
This morning the first of five of the booktalks was presented in conjunction with my planned reading enrichment unit. Reflection upon the unit: The unit has received much enthusiasm by the administration and staff. I would undertake some of the steps differently when I repeat this unit. I would, periodically throughout the year, ask individual students to give booktalks. I would record these booktalks and build up a library of booktalks and store them on the school's server for later use. During the Teen Read Week (or another week depending on age level), I would play a booktalk each day of the week on the morning announcements. Otherwise, I would sporadically plug in a booktalk every 3-4 weeks on the morning announcement as space/time allows. I would also show students previous examples of booktalks and the length of written text needed to create a short, 1-minute talk. Most students feared they would have to write pages of a summary to make the booktalk 1 minute in length, when in actuality, it requires only one paragraph. The survey portion of the booktalk was fun and I believe the students and staff enjoyed finding out which books made the school's top ten list.
This morning the first of five of the booktalks was presented in conjunction with my planned reading enrichment unit. Reflection upon the unit: The unit has received much enthusiasm by the administration and staff. I would undertake some of the steps differently when I repeat this unit. I would, periodically throughout the year, ask individual students to give booktalks. I would record these booktalks and build up a library of booktalks and store them on the school's server for later use. During the Teen Read Week (or another week depending on age level), I would play a booktalk each day of the week on the morning announcements. Otherwise, I would sporadically plug in a booktalk every 3-4 weeks on the morning announcement as space/time allows. I would also show students previous examples of booktalks and the length of written text needed to create a short, 1-minute talk. Most students feared they would have to write pages of a summary to make the booktalk 1 minute in length, when in actuality, it requires only one paragraph. The survey portion of the booktalk was fun and I believe the students and staff enjoyed finding out which books made the school's top ten list.
Monday, Oct. 11, 2010 (6.5 hrs)- Running Total: 212 Hours
Reading Enrichment Unit Continues...
Once again I was 'stood up' by my booktalk participants. After having a short pity party for myself, I engaged in one of those MS dispositions called perseverance and hunted down my students. Both students later showed up in the day after having forgotten our pre-planned meeting time. They were both prepared for the booktalks which were fabulous! In addition, the survey for the BMMS Top Ten Teen Read books is officially underway after guiding several students to the link in which they successfully voted for their favorite book! Mass voting will occur over the next three days from all three grade levels. I will compile this information on Friday (a teacher work day) and prepare the final electronic presentation for this unit. The final presentation will be looped on the Mac display computer as well as booktalks run on the morning announcements through-out the week of October 18-22.
Collaboration with the 8th grade reading teacher for the collaborative unit lesson began today. A decision was made to incorporate the GPS standards regarding Georgia authors with student produced wikis. I am excited about this unit, but am unsure of how much I will be able to actually teach due to time constraints. However, I will present the unit with as much flair and gusto I can muster to show how great collaborating with a MS can be!
Once again I was 'stood up' by my booktalk participants. After having a short pity party for myself, I engaged in one of those MS dispositions called perseverance and hunted down my students. Both students later showed up in the day after having forgotten our pre-planned meeting time. They were both prepared for the booktalks which were fabulous! In addition, the survey for the BMMS Top Ten Teen Read books is officially underway after guiding several students to the link in which they successfully voted for their favorite book! Mass voting will occur over the next three days from all three grade levels. I will compile this information on Friday (a teacher work day) and prepare the final electronic presentation for this unit. The final presentation will be looped on the Mac display computer as well as booktalks run on the morning announcements through-out the week of October 18-22.
Collaboration with the 8th grade reading teacher for the collaborative unit lesson began today. A decision was made to incorporate the GPS standards regarding Georgia authors with student produced wikis. I am excited about this unit, but am unsure of how much I will be able to actually teach due to time constraints. However, I will present the unit with as much flair and gusto I can muster to show how great collaborating with a MS can be!
Friday, Oct. 8, 2010 (4 hrs) - Running Total- 205.5
Continuing Booktalk Reading Enrichment Activity...
Today I was able to videotape the third student for the reading enrichment unit. This unit has required much more work than anticipated, but the learning curve is about over and I feel that if I were to undertake this project again - perhaps as an ongoing part of my media program- I would have this streamlined in no time. Discussion again occurred with the MS pertaining to the upcoming observed Practicum lesson. We have thrown back and forth a few ideas, but have yet to nail down and specific areas. One potential snag came when we both realized that the week of the observation was the main field trip week for all grade levels. Luckily, only 1/3 of the 8th grade classes will be gone during that week; therefore, leaving the remaining 2/3rds for my lesson. In addition to planning while at my practicum site, I continue to man the circulation desk, perform book-shelving and book-repair duties, and offer assistance to students.
I love my job! It is not even a 'true' job yet!
Today I was able to videotape the third student for the reading enrichment unit. This unit has required much more work than anticipated, but the learning curve is about over and I feel that if I were to undertake this project again - perhaps as an ongoing part of my media program- I would have this streamlined in no time. Discussion again occurred with the MS pertaining to the upcoming observed Practicum lesson. We have thrown back and forth a few ideas, but have yet to nail down and specific areas. One potential snag came when we both realized that the week of the observation was the main field trip week for all grade levels. Luckily, only 1/3 of the 8th grade classes will be gone during that week; therefore, leaving the remaining 2/3rds for my lesson. In addition to planning while at my practicum site, I continue to man the circulation desk, perform book-shelving and book-repair duties, and offer assistance to students.
I love my job! It is not even a 'true' job yet!
Wed. Oct. 6, 2010 (4 HS hrs) - Running Total: 201.5
Weeding
Today I helped weed part of the computer/technology (003/004/005) section and the Social Science sections, specifically the 320's-328's. We were able to narrow down which areas to weed using the Follett collection analysis program. We then went book by book to look for relevance and ended up weeding all the computer/technology books which were outdated by at lease 15 years. We were also able to weed approximately 1/3 of the 320-328 section because of outdated information. I must admit that while looking for relevance within the texts, I became swept up in reading the books and was amazed by how much and by how little some things have changed. I wonder if everyone has this problem when weeding? I was also shocked by how long ago the last check-outs were on these books (10 or more years since the last check-out) - some of the books had never been checked out and were virtually brand new! The process took us approximately 3 hours to weed through about 200 books. This was just the beginning of the weeding process for this high school MC which has an average collection age of 1986.
I was also able to briefly speak with the history teacher I am collaborating with for the 11th grade historical figure unit. It is apparent that he feels bad to not be able to give me more time. I am beginning to see that many teachers are apprehensive to letting others teach their classes and some teachers have no idea what we, as MS, even really can or are capable of doing! This is when those dispositions of a MS need to kick in!
Today I helped weed part of the computer/technology (003/004/005) section and the Social Science sections, specifically the 320's-328's. We were able to narrow down which areas to weed using the Follett collection analysis program. We then went book by book to look for relevance and ended up weeding all the computer/technology books which were outdated by at lease 15 years. We were also able to weed approximately 1/3 of the 320-328 section because of outdated information. I must admit that while looking for relevance within the texts, I became swept up in reading the books and was amazed by how much and by how little some things have changed. I wonder if everyone has this problem when weeding? I was also shocked by how long ago the last check-outs were on these books (10 or more years since the last check-out) - some of the books had never been checked out and were virtually brand new! The process took us approximately 3 hours to weed through about 200 books. This was just the beginning of the weeding process for this high school MC which has an average collection age of 1986.
I was also able to briefly speak with the history teacher I am collaborating with for the 11th grade historical figure unit. It is apparent that he feels bad to not be able to give me more time. I am beginning to see that many teachers are apprehensive to letting others teach their classes and some teachers have no idea what we, as MS, even really can or are capable of doing! This is when those dispositions of a MS need to kick in!
Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010 (7.5 hrs) - Running Total: 197.5 Hours
The Reading Enrichment Unit continues...
Spent a majority of the day locating and tracking down students for the video booktalk reading enrichment unit. I set up a few before school meetings after having to practically beg students to agree to do a booktalk! These kids are busy! I feel bad that they are so busy that they don't even have time to read or write a short paragraph for a booktalk. I am hoping and praying these students meet with me before school on Thursday and Friday. I need to have all the booktalks video-taped and edited by mid next week. I believe this entire unit is much more difficult than anticipated. The reason for the difficulty stems from my not being immersed in the school on a constant/daily basis; therefore, I am not able to see all the students. I was able to videotape one student's booktalk on The Ruins of Gorlan - this student just happened to be my son!
Spent a majority of the day locating and tracking down students for the video booktalk reading enrichment unit. I set up a few before school meetings after having to practically beg students to agree to do a booktalk! These kids are busy! I feel bad that they are so busy that they don't even have time to read or write a short paragraph for a booktalk. I am hoping and praying these students meet with me before school on Thursday and Friday. I need to have all the booktalks video-taped and edited by mid next week. I believe this entire unit is much more difficult than anticipated. The reason for the difficulty stems from my not being immersed in the school on a constant/daily basis; therefore, I am not able to see all the students. I was able to videotape one student's booktalk on The Ruins of Gorlan - this student just happened to be my son!
Monday, Oct. 4, 2010 (7.5 hrs) - Running Total: 190 Hours
Due date for booktalk forms from students....
And only one student (out of 30) turned in the forms. I was a little frustrated and decided to go to plan B. Plan B consists of calling on individual students to present booktalks. This was a valuable lesson learned! I have learned that you must speak to each child personally and explain what you want - even though I handed out a form. I think I may have enough students to complete my booktalk unit and keep diversity in genre. Hopefully this week will get better.
I also moved forward with the collaborative unit for the high school history teacher. Originally, I had two days to teach this unit. Now I have one class period! He felt that my teaching his kids was taking away from his valuable teaching time. I guess I am getting firsthand knowledge on what it feels like to try and collaborate with teachers who feel stretched to the max. I will do the best I can with one day even though I will not be able to fit in all the content for the entire unit I need to complete for my reference class. There is opportunity for me to possibly teach the same students at a later date and time.
And only one student (out of 30) turned in the forms. I was a little frustrated and decided to go to plan B. Plan B consists of calling on individual students to present booktalks. This was a valuable lesson learned! I have learned that you must speak to each child personally and explain what you want - even though I handed out a form. I think I may have enough students to complete my booktalk unit and keep diversity in genre. Hopefully this week will get better.
I also moved forward with the collaborative unit for the high school history teacher. Originally, I had two days to teach this unit. Now I have one class period! He felt that my teaching his kids was taking away from his valuable teaching time. I guess I am getting firsthand knowledge on what it feels like to try and collaborate with teachers who feel stretched to the max. I will do the best I can with one day even though I will not be able to fit in all the content for the entire unit I need to complete for my reference class. There is opportunity for me to possibly teach the same students at a later date and time.
Friday, Oct. 1, 2010 (4 hrs) - Runnning Total: 182.5 Hours
Continuation of MS as 'Leader' unit:
I continued to work on the staff development unit as well as performed everyday library services. Book repair was a big item on our list- how in the world do books get damaged so fast? It feels as though we are constantly tending to book repairs. In this day and age of budget cuts, it is important to repair books and keep them in circulation for as long as possible!
I continued to work on the staff development unit as well as performed everyday library services. Book repair was a big item on our list- how in the world do books get damaged so fast? It feels as though we are constantly tending to book repairs. In this day and age of budget cuts, it is important to repair books and keep them in circulation for as long as possible!
Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010 (4 hrs) - Running Total: 178.5 Hours
MS as a 'Leader' Unit
I continued to put together the idea for the staff development lesson. To date, I am working on a Google Doc presentation but have a lot more work to get it completed. I believe my time limit will be 45 minutes to an hour and will consist of hands-on training. I am excited to teach this unit, but also realize that some of the MS may already know this information, but I believe there will also be many who will not! My hope is that I am able to correctly portray the importance of colleague and student collaboration.
I continued to put together the idea for the staff development lesson. To date, I am working on a Google Doc presentation but have a lot more work to get it completed. I believe my time limit will be 45 minutes to an hour and will consist of hands-on training. I am excited to teach this unit, but also realize that some of the MS may already know this information, but I believe there will also be many who will not! My hope is that I am able to correctly portray the importance of colleague and student collaboration.
Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2010 (7.5 hrs) Running Total: 174.5 Hours
Manifesto for the 21st Century:
Today the MS and I discussed Joyce Valenza's Manifesto for 21st Century School Librarians. We also set up an outline for what would be discussed at the October 25th county MS meeting in which I will be presenting a staff development lesson titled 'In the Cloud'. This will be a tutorial on how to incorporate the county adopted Google system into collaborative units with teachers. This unit will also focus on educational benefits of using Google docs to collaborate among colleagues as well as the benefits for student collaborative use. In addition to the above planning, I assisted in the everyday running of the Media Center.
Today the MS and I discussed Joyce Valenza's Manifesto for 21st Century School Librarians. We also set up an outline for what would be discussed at the October 25th county MS meeting in which I will be presenting a staff development lesson titled 'In the Cloud'. This will be a tutorial on how to incorporate the county adopted Google system into collaborative units with teachers. This unit will also focus on educational benefits of using Google docs to collaborate among colleagues as well as the benefits for student collaborative use. In addition to the above planning, I assisted in the everyday running of the Media Center.
Monday, Sept. 27, 2010 (7.5 hrs) - Running Total: 167 Hours
Continuation of Reading Enrichment Unit:
Received approval from the assistant principal to move ahead with the reading enrichment unit which includes booktalks given by the students to be aired over the morning announcements during the week of October 18, 2020. I am titling this unit - BMMS Teen Read Week 2010.
Below is a copy of the document handed out to students who have volunteered to give book talks.
Below is the general plan for the BMMS Teen Read Week 2010
Received approval from the assistant principal to move ahead with the reading enrichment unit which includes booktalks given by the students to be aired over the morning announcements during the week of October 18, 2020. I am titling this unit - BMMS Teen Read Week 2010.
Below is a copy of the document handed out to students who have volunteered to give book talks.
Below is the general plan for the BMMS Teen Read Week 2010
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