The beginning of August brings with it the excitement of another school year, a time of great adventures, many virtual places to visit, books to read and share with others, podcasts to produce, morning news shows to produce and more.
BUT WAIT! BES Media 2.0 - where life is taking on a new twist is about to happen in true twister form. I can hardly wait to return to school and get into the groove, to kick things into high gear. This return will be delayed a few weeks due to surgery a few weeks ago - total hip replacement. Here is a glimpse, a tiny one at that, of the vision I have for BES Media 2.0.
- Change in the landscape - the LMC sports a new look - pictures coming later.
- BES will have a new related arts special for grades 3, 4 and 5 - Media Technology. There will be an interesting mash-up of library information literacy skills, media literacy skills, technology skills, and project based learning. Simply put, Buzz Lightyear said it with "To the future and beyond . . . ".
- Puppet Patrol - temporary name for the moment as the kids will determine the real name for this troupe.
- Resumption of the weekly podcast show
- Revision and resumption of the daily morning news broadcast
I get so excited just thinking about all of the things the kids will do this year!
Here's to another fun-filled, adventure-packed school year where kids will explore, read, and learn about the world around them.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
March Madness is about to happen, and ???
It seems hard to believe that 2 months have passed since my last post. Being a library media specialist is akin to walking the Schuylkill Expressway during rush hour traffic in Philly. Always something to do, learn, ponder, research, and more. Speaking of Philly (my home town region), I'm watching a center city Philly piece on HGTV which makes me a wee bit homesick. I so miss my museums and the huge Philadelphia Library in center city.
Meanwhile, back in Beaufort I'm getting ready to spring March Madness at the Media Center upon my school community. I can hardly wait! Books are ready for the Read Across America book give-away. One of my two costumes is on hand. I'll be the chick with the blue hair at some point during the week. Friday, March 6th will be our Books, Blankets, Jammies and Reading Stuffies Day. Everyone, YES, EVERYONE puts on their jammies, stretches out on a blanket and reads. This will be an all morning event and Thing 1 will be on the loose, and maybe the Cat in the Hat, too! Kids will be challenged to read as many books as they can in March. Logs will be kept and the ones who reach their goals will be rewarded!
Next on the to do list will be the SCASL conference in Greenville, SC. I'm looking forward to this one as Doug Johnson will be there. Author Angela Johnson [The First Part Last] and others will be on site as well.
Now that I've told you where I'm going, I need to tell you where I've been. January and February have been busy months - like what month isn't, right? Many books to read and share, poets to introduce and more. This week was a classic example. To cap Black history month, I focused on Langston Hughes who was, in my estimation, a very compelling author. I shared two of his short poems with the kids: Dreams and Children's Rhymes. I read a newspaper article about St. Luke's AME Church in Lawrence, Kansas - the church Hughes attended as a child. It is in need of restoration and was added to the National Historic Register in 2006. Hughes stated that his church influenced his writings. Then I used Google Maps and the Google Dude to take them to Kansas and stand in front of the church. WOW! The kids were spellbound! After that we "flew" via Google Maps to visit President and Mrs. Obama. The only problem was we did not make a reservation and the Secret Service would not allow the Google Dude to stand on the White House grounds. UGH! Not to disappoint my young travelers, we used our Google Map "jetpack" and went a few blocks west to visit the Lincoln Memorial. One class visited Arlington National Cemetery. After that we sent the Google Dude to our Principal's office at our school.
Like I told the kids, you have to hang on to your dreams as dreams can and will take you just about anywhere. Without a dream, you have no hope. I shared what my 2 dreams were. #1 was to become a teacher when I grew up, and I did. #2 was to become a library media specialist, and I am living that dream now!
I do believe that this is the best of times to be an educator, and the greatest of times to be a library media specialist. I am indeed very fortunate.
So what if I miss center city Philly, the Franklin Institute Science Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Free Philadelphia Public Library, Independence Hall, and others. I may miss them, BUT with Google Maps and the Google Dude, I can stand in front of them whenever I want!
Til my next great adventure, read, read, read and dream!
Meanwhile, back in Beaufort I'm getting ready to spring March Madness at the Media Center upon my school community. I can hardly wait! Books are ready for the Read Across America book give-away. One of my two costumes is on hand. I'll be the chick with the blue hair at some point during the week. Friday, March 6th will be our Books, Blankets, Jammies and Reading Stuffies Day. Everyone, YES, EVERYONE puts on their jammies, stretches out on a blanket and reads. This will be an all morning event and Thing 1 will be on the loose, and maybe the Cat in the Hat, too! Kids will be challenged to read as many books as they can in March. Logs will be kept and the ones who reach their goals will be rewarded!
Next on the to do list will be the SCASL conference in Greenville, SC. I'm looking forward to this one as Doug Johnson will be there. Author Angela Johnson [The First Part Last] and others will be on site as well.
Now that I've told you where I'm going, I need to tell you where I've been. January and February have been busy months - like what month isn't, right? Many books to read and share, poets to introduce and more. This week was a classic example. To cap Black history month, I focused on Langston Hughes who was, in my estimation, a very compelling author. I shared two of his short poems with the kids: Dreams and Children's Rhymes. I read a newspaper article about St. Luke's AME Church in Lawrence, Kansas - the church Hughes attended as a child. It is in need of restoration and was added to the National Historic Register in 2006. Hughes stated that his church influenced his writings. Then I used Google Maps and the Google Dude to take them to Kansas and stand in front of the church. WOW! The kids were spellbound! After that we "flew" via Google Maps to visit President and Mrs. Obama. The only problem was we did not make a reservation and the Secret Service would not allow the Google Dude to stand on the White House grounds. UGH! Not to disappoint my young travelers, we used our Google Map "jetpack" and went a few blocks west to visit the Lincoln Memorial. One class visited Arlington National Cemetery. After that we sent the Google Dude to our Principal's office at our school.
Like I told the kids, you have to hang on to your dreams as dreams can and will take you just about anywhere. Without a dream, you have no hope. I shared what my 2 dreams were. #1 was to become a teacher when I grew up, and I did. #2 was to become a library media specialist, and I am living that dream now!
I do believe that this is the best of times to be an educator, and the greatest of times to be a library media specialist. I am indeed very fortunate.
So what if I miss center city Philly, the Franklin Institute Science Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Free Philadelphia Public Library, Independence Hall, and others. I may miss them, BUT with Google Maps and the Google Dude, I can stand in front of them whenever I want!
Til my next great adventure, read, read, read and dream!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Time Flies or what?
I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted on my blog. Well, I'm back for a quick post for now. The first semester has concluded, and the second has begun. I feel like I've been caught up into a time warp called library media and more. I'm enjoying and savoring every moment of every day. I'm in a constant learning mode, and when time allows, inventive/creative mode. In short, I really do believe I have found "the job" for which I was wired by the Creator.
What's it like being a library media specialist? Hmmmm....hard to put into a few words. I love books, technology, diversity, creativity, kids, and people in general. Now if you take these raw ingredients and mash them in the media center, life gets very interesting. I am always exploring with my school kids, constantly looking for that new, something special twist to put on the learning ball to minimize the learning curve for the kids and the teachers.
Books are a great adventure, and when coupled with learning projects, it creates a very royal cranial explosion of ideas, thoughts, and products. Take the past week as an example. I meet with a small group of 4th graders daily to work on ELA skills. These are the classic digital natives who really come to life when given anything of the digital kind as their tools of choice. The task was learning about a variety of evergreen trees. This mini project started when they had a short story to read about the red mangrove tree a.k.a. the walking tree. It is in the evergreen family and yours truly decided that these kids needed to expand their depth and breadth of knowledge about all things evergreen. They were busy researching using virtual library resources as well as traditional reference books in the media center. Once they had learned all they could possibly learn, they created and communicated that new found knowledge using PowerPoint. I must say that they did an awesome job. Little do they know that this is their first digital artifact for their e-portfolio. They are true 21st century knowledge workers.
Stay tuned as I hope to update more frequently about my life in Library 2.5 or the 21st Century Library Media Center. I really don't think it can get much better than this. But with emerging technologies and intelligent kids, it surely will.
Linda
What's it like being a library media specialist? Hmmmm....hard to put into a few words. I love books, technology, diversity, creativity, kids, and people in general. Now if you take these raw ingredients and mash them in the media center, life gets very interesting. I am always exploring with my school kids, constantly looking for that new, something special twist to put on the learning ball to minimize the learning curve for the kids and the teachers.
Books are a great adventure, and when coupled with learning projects, it creates a very royal cranial explosion of ideas, thoughts, and products. Take the past week as an example. I meet with a small group of 4th graders daily to work on ELA skills. These are the classic digital natives who really come to life when given anything of the digital kind as their tools of choice. The task was learning about a variety of evergreen trees. This mini project started when they had a short story to read about the red mangrove tree a.k.a. the walking tree. It is in the evergreen family and yours truly decided that these kids needed to expand their depth and breadth of knowledge about all things evergreen. They were busy researching using virtual library resources as well as traditional reference books in the media center. Once they had learned all they could possibly learn, they created and communicated that new found knowledge using PowerPoint. I must say that they did an awesome job. Little do they know that this is their first digital artifact for their e-portfolio. They are true 21st century knowledge workers.
Stay tuned as I hope to update more frequently about my life in Library 2.5 or the 21st Century Library Media Center. I really don't think it can get much better than this. But with emerging technologies and intelligent kids, it surely will.
Linda
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