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 has an integral role in today’s changing education environment. The course focuses on examination of current critical issues facing the media profession. Topics include understanding, surviving, and impacting change, program advocacy, data collection and becoming a leader in technology integration.
Activities include harnessing the power of Google, applying innovative web 2.0 technology tools to support engaged student learning, and examining online professional development options for your staff. Participants will complete practical course projects that meet the unique needs of their own professional growth and their media program.
Media specialists just beginning their careers and those currently in the field will gain new ideas to apply in daily work and program development.
It’s been a tough year for many media specialists, but there is still work to do and much to learn. I’d love to have you join the discussion. Mary Alice
Learn more about this course | Read comments from past students
The next class begins January 25, 2010.
You will get recharged and reenergized!
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 like adding the Picture Trail Photo Flick code we embed already, and there are tags, too. Now I just had to try SlideShare. A few minutes later I had a PowerPoint show available for public viewing on our web site.
Why the quick success? 1. I had an immediate need to learn. 2. I have transferable skills.
Do you remember the first time you learned how to copy/paste? I do and I was terrified I’d mess up. Highlighting, using key combinations and watching text disappear to only reappear seemed so challenging in the Apple IIe, floppy disk days. Fortunately I had a kind, patient person helping me. Of course that’s a long time ago. Now every new web 2.0 tool or technology application we learn to use comes easier if we think about what we already know and how we can apply it in a new situation.
Minutes after my initial experience with SlideShare I saw a 4th grade student creating a “Memories of 4th grade” PowerPoint presentation. He downloaded photos from our web site photo gallery and made a slide show without adult direction because he has transferable skills. Next week we’ll move his “Memories” to Slide Share and embed the code on our web site.
By the way; this year’s 4th grade students caught on to the flying penguins gimick quickly and moved on to their research and PowerPoint slide shows even quicker and with greater success than the class a year ago. They do better every year because they have transferable skills.
Transferable skills belong in every student’s “learning hw to learn” toolkit. As media specialists we should keep building our transferable skills toolkkit and so we can help students and teachers build theirs.
The Challenges and Opportunities of NCLB
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: May 16, 2009
NCLB_and_Media_Programs (PDF) presentation created in 2007 for state media organization conferences in South Dakota and Kentucky.
NCLB and Media Programs.Multimedia & Internet Schools Article July/August 2004.
Love it, hate it. It doesn’t matter. NCLB is here to stay. Like many other media specialists, I am concerned that it has deprived us and the teachers we work with some of some fun and creativity. Yet, NCLB also offers opportunities to work dig into our tool boxes of ideas and resources as we seek new ways to work with teachers and help students succeed.
I’m back! Learning new things. Google Maps
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: April 5, 2009
Between working and teaching online courses and going to basketball games learning 23 things has taken a back seat. As so often happens, the great work of one of my students has inspired me. The driving factor was an upcoming tour of downtown Winona by a group of third grade students. At the same time the school will likely be getting white boards soon. I hope my first attempt at a customized Google Map will engage the students.
I’m back to attempt another go-around of 23 things. I just viewed the clip by the author of Here comes everybody, a book that’s been on my ” to read” list for a while. Some of the “things” I first explored a year ago are now routine–Delicious, Picture Trail, and Google Docs, especially. Flicks we make with Picture Trail are receiving rave response on our school web site. A teacher at our high school routinely has his students use Google Docs. At least a third of my online students have started blogs for their reflections, a higher percentage than I expected or saw a year ago. I’ve explored and added content to some wikis. A new tool I discovered is MyWebspiration, an online beta version of Inspiration. It makes a lot of sense, is easy to use and I look forward to seeing more. Stay tuned.
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 ago. He visited several media centers to see what made the media programs successful. The bottom line, according to him is, “you can have any kind of media program you want to have.” I really think that says a lot. If you want a quiet, traditional book place you can have that, if you want a centre of the school information center with lots of technology you can have that. Skills? Understand curriculum and teachers, ability to work well with people, be visionary, proactive, have good management skills. Take a role in instructional leadership and instruction, staff development, implementing change, understand the big picture, be skilled with technology, have a desire to help others grow. Good luck! I’d love to hear from you in the future about what you decide to do!
Inspire Data, Kidspiration, Inspiration
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: October 10, 2008
I’m inspired again. A group of us paticipated in a webinar about Kidspiration 3.0 so that we could have a common vision about the possibilities. It was interesting to learn that in one school district Inspiration was first used by School board members to develop flow-charts. The Board members are now using Inspire Data to look at District Data. Students are using Inspire Data to look at their own data.
We continue to be INSPIRED by Inspire Data!
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: September 11, 2008
I received this email from a math teacher who is using Inspire Data. I’m thrilled to see such excitement and SUCCESS on day 8 of a very, very hectic new school year. (new computers, new software, new media center COMMOTION and excitement everywhere):
Oh my gosh! [social studies teacher] and I were very impressed today with the slide shows that have been made with Inspire Data in our Chall Econ/stats class.
If you have some time tomorrow or Friday (1st period), come in and see what the kids have done. (We will have presentations at the beginning of each day.) We think that you will be impressed, too.
It was impressive to see the students present their first visualizations and analyize the data! The students were engaged.
Biometrics. . . continued
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: April 24, 2008
It’s working! Students at an elementary school and our high school are enrolling their fingers in the biometric system for media center checkout and school nutrition services! A few senior high students protested; most are eager and enjoying the experience as are many teachers. We have learned to use the proper teminology –Finger ID–Stay tuned as we progress!
Flying Penguins & Biometrics: A fun day in the media center
Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: April 12, 2008
Some of the best lessons are those spur of the moment, just for fun lessons that really get kids involved and thinking. As a 4th grade class was beginning to identify topics and resources for their annual rainforest Research/Powerpoint projects they watched the amazing BBC Documentary about flying penguins who fly from Antartica to the rainforest.
They shared what they saw and answered the question, “Why did we look at this?” They got it! A perfect lesson for introducing kids to age appropriate resources and the potential pitfalls of Internet research.
3rd grade students began the process of enrolling their fingers in a biometric check-out system. They are so excited! 
