Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
Active, engaged learning . . . always
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: November 8, 2009
A photo of middle school age students wearing headphones, viewing action on a small screen and looking like they are having fun was haunting me. I had to find it. I did! I also found a photo of four students sitting at a media center table working with books and notebooks; in the background are [...]
Being a guru in the “old days” was easier than today. . . .
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: November 1, 2009
A tech savvy, energetic student in the Innovations and Opportunities for Media Specialists class is frustrated with the pace of implementing web 2.0 tools in the curriculum. It looks like she is doing quite a lot already. I’ve been thinking about this myself, too. Why are so few teachers are adapting 2.0 tools or rushing [...]
Have you ever been a coach? You always have such upbeat suggestions. . . .
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: October 23, 2009
Someone asked me that today. I have never been a coach. Like many media specialists these days, it’s easy to whine now and then. We get frustrated with policies, declining budgets, limited time, NCLB, and a multitude of daily challenges.
There’s been a fair amount of discussion (and whining) lately about the Valenza/Johnson article Things [...]
Still thinking about those transferable skills
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: October 13, 2009
I am no longer providing any direct instruction to elementary or middle school students; I miss those opportunities to remind them how they can easily how to use new computer applications just by remembering how they used the same skill in another application. A speaker at a conference listed skills she expects studentes to learn, [...]
Leadership or Management
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: October 13, 2009
In his October “Head for the Edge” Column (LMC Connection) Doug Johnson addresses “Leadership or management.” I related to his comments. For quite a while I’ve been thinking that all the emphasis on collaboration has left too many media specialists feeling guilty for not collaborating as much as they think should. Many find fewer [...]
What are you doing? What do people see you doing?
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: September 18, 2009
No, I’m not sending a tweet. Many years ago a school superintendent spoke at our state media conference. A few words stuck with me:
When people see you checking out books and doing clerical tasks they think that’s what a media specialist does.
Today’s version: An administrator asked a media specialist this question:
How will you use your [...]
Your media center’s web site. An essential tool for advocacy and visbility
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: August 23, 2009
How’s “your’ media center web site doing these days? Is it a “Let’s stop here first” shopping center for information? Is it current? Or, has it been left behind as you move forward with nings, Twitter, blogs, wikis or other web 2.0 tools are there for us to use? Or, [...]
Get recharged! Innovations and Opportunities for Media Specialists
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: July 22, 2009
In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” With the beginning of each new school year, media specialists have a chance to start fresh.
Innovations and Opportunities for Media Specialists is your opportunity to get recharged and energized to deliver a media program that [...]
The value of transferable skills
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: May 16, 2009
Today I learned how to use SlideShare, one of those web 2.0 tools I had considered but never used until a teacher required about alternative ways to display student work on our school web site. Bingo! Our content mangement system provided simple directions for embedding SlideShare code; Umm. . . that looked just [...]
What is a media specialist?
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: January 6, 2009
“Some of the questions that are currently on my mind are: What is a library media specialist? What skills do they have, and how can I be sure I will fit into this career? ” I so often come back to a statement made by a professor friend many years [...]
