Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report 2010-11
1. Creekview High School Media
Center Annual Report May 2011
Buffy Hamilton and Roxanne Johnson, School Library Media Specialists
1550 OWENS STORE ROAD, CANTON, GA 30115 || 770-720-7600
HTTP://THEUNQUIETLIBRARY.LIBGUIDES.COM
2. Creekview High School Media Center
Annual Report May 2011
Part I: Roles and Responsibilities as Leader s
The Unquiet Library has demonstrated leadership through its focus on helping teachers and
students take an inquiry, participatory stance on learning and by collaborating with teachers
and students to integrate digital, new media, and information literacy skills seamlessly into
content area studies in 2010-11. This leadership is evident in the collaboratively planned
instructional units between the library and classroom teachers (which will be outlined in more
detail in the Teacher and Instructional Partner sections of this report) as well as professional
learning activities and resources designed by library staff.
In November 2010, the library and faculty members worked together to present a workshop on
integrating blogs and wikis into the classroom for engaged learning. What led to this learning
event? In August 2010, Buffy Hamilton reflected on her “ Unquiet Librarian” blog how
the Media 21 learning initiative has not only impacted student learning but has also sparked
additional collaborative partnerships with faculty members that emphasize information, digital,
and new media literacies while providing students the opportunity to think critically and create
content to reflect their key insights and learning. Hamilton’s focus in 2010-11 has been on
brainstorming with teachers to help them find new ways of redesigning projects, learning
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011
activities, and assessment tools to emphasize inquiry, collaborative knowledge building, critical
thought, and alternate ways of representing knowledge; consequently, more teachers in
multiple content areas have been exploring how technology tools for learning like blogs, wikis,
and multimedia web 2.0 applications can support these kinds of learning experiences. Not only
did Hamilton create research pathfinders on the library’s LibGuides platform and provide
technical assistance to support these projects, but she has also provided hands on instruction
to teachers and students in learning how to utilize these tools. Even more exciting, teachers
have gained confidence not only in these tools introduced to them by Hamilton, but they are
exploring other resources for learning on their own and sharing how they are integrating those
applications with the library as well as fellow department faculty.
Dr. Bob Eddy asked the library to develop an hour-long workshop for the November 2
professional development day. Hamilton decided to focus on blogs and wikis for the workshop
since those have been the most popular platforms this fall; in addition, she decided it would be
more powerful for the faculty to hear from their fellow teachers, my new experts in residence,
than just her.
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3. About a quarter of our faculty arrived at 10AM (some had other commitments to additional
meetings), including principal, Dr. Bob Eddy! Hamilton kicked off the workshop with a fifteen
minute conversation about the principles
of learning and today’s information
landscape that are shaping today’s
classrooms; rather than reinventing the
wheel, Hamilton used Kim Cofino’s
fantastic 21st Century
Classroom slidedeck to facilitate that
conversation with faculty .
The focus was on how learning goals and
benchmarks drive the instructional design
in the collaboration process; rather than
focusing on the “shiny” of technology,
Hamilton emphasized that curriculum and
standards for learning drive technology
integration. The other focal point
Hamilton’s talk emphasized how
traditional and emerging literacies speak
F IGURE 1: P ARTICIPATORY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
to each other under the larger umbrella of
transliteracy and how integrating these literacies into all content areas is a shared responsibility
we all must take on to close the participation gap.
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011 |
For the next forty-five minutes, the spotlight was on five teachers [Lisa Kennedy, English; Mary
Panik, Science; Jason Hubbard, Career Tech;
Meagan Biello, Social Studies; Susan Lester,
English] who agreed to help lead the
workshop as they shared their collaborative
learning projects facilitated by the library, the
positive outcomes, and the challenges they
encountered. Each teacher was passionate,
honest, and eloquent as he/she shared the
impact on student learning, tips for replicating
or adapting their projects, ideas for future F IGURE 2: PD W IKI
collaborative learning experiences supported
by the library, and how they worked with me to implement new strategies for teaching and
learning. The workshop generated discussion and questions that led our session to last about
an additional twenty minutes beyond the planned hour, but not a single attendee left early.
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4. These teachers articulating and sharing their processes is the ultimate hallmark of learning as
they are now budding experts who can support other teachers who want to design innovative
learning experiences for students that meld together project based learning, inquiry, collective
knowledge building, and multiple literacies. Hamilton reflected, “I have no doubt that the
teacher perspective they brought to the table today was the most powerful testimonial I could
provide other faculty members; in addition, I included student videos sharing their perspectives
on our presentation wiki (today was a student holiday and they were not on campus to
participate). It was truly a pleasure to solicit the participation of my teachers and to share
ownership of the workshop with these faculty members as their instructional leadership will
help us, the library, scale out these conversations for learning.” As the workshop ended, several
teachers met with Hamilton and Roxanne Johnson to schedule planning time to get started on
new projects to integrate the learning principles and tools explored in the session; the
workshop resulted in new partnerships for student learning during the second semester of the
2010-11 academic year.
Hamilton also initiated and coordinated a professional learning opportunity for teachers
interested in creating a hybrid classroom for 2010-11 by inviting Dan Gagnon, Cherokee High
Social Studies teacher and CCSD Moodle instructor, to provide a 2 hour workshop on Moodle
basics. Hamilton and Johnson, along with teachers Susan Lester, Lisa Kennedy, Deborah Frost,
John Bradford, Meagan Biello, and Brenda Guyer, attended the May 2011 sessions and will be
working with Hamilton and Johnson to
grow their Moodle virtual classrooms to
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011
support the day to day learning
experiences in the face to face learning
environment; in addition, Hamilton and
Johnson hope to utilize the Moodle
classrooms as a new means to embed
themselves in the learning spaces of
classroom teachers and students to
provide richer support for instructional F IGURE 3: M OODLE T RAINING , M AY 2011
design as well as formative and summative
assessment of student learning. Hamilton is also working with Kennedy and Lester to
spearhead a 1:1 computing project that will put either a netbook or tablet device in the hands
of selected class sections to pilot a learning environment that will support their work of the last
two years to create a “networked learner” environment in which students are actively engaging
in inquiry, ongoing research, and content creation as part of a participatory learning
environment in which students are sharing greater ownership of learning goals and content.
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5. The library was recognized in August 2010 as one of two “exemplary” high school media
programs in the state of Georgia (please see
http://www.theunquietlibrary.libguides.com/exemplary for more information). Library Media
Specialists and GaDOE staff select the recipients based on
the school’s written application, the
principal’s narrative, a possible telephone
interview, and a probable on-site visit. This
program is an opportunity to describe how
the Library Media Program is meeting school
improvement goals and improving
student achievement. Use a free QR code
scanner to read the QR code to the right to F IGURE 4: A WARD
F IGURE 5: E XEMPLARY PROGRAM
see a video of Hamilton and Johnson V IDEO
AWARD
accepting the Exemplary Media Program 2010 award.
Hamilton and Johnson also demonstrate leadership through by continually growing their
professional growth through traditional and emerging learning spaces. Johnson utilizes
professional journals like Booklist and professional list servs, including the Georgia Library
Media list serv, to stay current; in addition, she has attended district media specialist meetings
this past year; she was also recognized as Teacher of the Month in December 2010.
Hamilton, whose instructional leadership was reflected in her being one of six finalists for CVHS
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011 |
Teacher of the Year 2010, uses professional journals as well as
Twitter, Facebook, Skype, and RSS feeds in her Google Reader and
iGoogle learning spaces to connect with educators and librarians
around the world to grow her professional knowledge and practice;
she also speaks nationally and internationally as a keynote speaker
and workshop presenter at library conferences. Hamilton was
recognized in March 2011 by Library Journal for her work as a “change
F IGURE 6: M OVER AND S HAKER agent” in the profession in the 2011 edition of Movers and Shakers. In
addition, Hamilton received additional professional recognition as:
2011 American Library Association (ALA) Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) Cutting
Edge Library Service Award
2010-11 GLMA/GAIT Georgia Library Media Association/Georgia Association for Instructional
Technology School Library Media Specialist of the Year
National School Boards Association Technology Leadership Network "20 to Watch" 2010
Tech and Learning's 100@30: Future Leader
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6. “I never dreamed I would try some of the most cutting-edge
technological advances in communication and education that I
have this year. If it were not for our media center the “Unquiet
Part 2: Instructional Partner Library” and the techno maven, Buffy Hamilton, I wouldn’t even
attempt it! With her expertise, patience and constant
encouragement I have learned more this year through our media
During 2010-11, The Unquiet Library has been center than I have since my Teach 21 days! Ms. Hamilton’s
guided by three essential sets of questions as we excitement incorporating modern media into the classroom is
positively infectious. She had me completely captivated when we
have contemplated the work in our collaborative began Environmental Science first semester with our Wiki Project
partnerships with teachers and students? of the Gulf Oil Spill tragedy. The students were so excited to
begin the year with such a nonconformist learning experience.
We all learned new things from each other every single day.
1. What did they (your patrons or those you The next adventure was aboard the Joides Resolution off the
serve) learn through your library program and the coast of New Zealand. Yes! You heard me right!
conversations for learning you facilitated? What
do you hope they will learn in 2011?
2. How do we know what they learned? What
tools did you use for assessment? Did the patrons
engage in metacognition and self-reflection on
what they learned?
3. How are you privileging and honoring what
they learned? Where are their stories of learning
shared in your physical and virtual library spaces?
F IGURE 7: L IB G UIDE P AGE FOR S KYPE V ISIT
We use tools like Google Forms, video, blogging
My Earth Systems classes and I arranged a Skype session with the
at WordPress, Poll Everywhere, information loving guidance of Ms. Hamilton. Many of us had never tried this
dashboards created with Netvibes, multigenre before and were so eager to be a part of this new exploration.
The scientists aboard the JR were drilling over Hot Spot areas for
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011
elements, wikis, Google Docs, and digital core samples of volcanic material. We were treated to a real time
portfolios as formative and summative tour of the ship including the research areas, labs, and the core
drill itself. For approximately an hour the students were able to
assessment tools. We share stories of learning ask questions and interact with these scientists while they were
through our library YouTube Channel, our student on the job doing actual scientific investigation. What a thrill!
work SlideShare account, our library blog, class With Ms. Buffy’s support I wrapped up the year with another
Wiki Project for my Earth Systems classes on Natural Disasters.
Wikispaces pages that we facilitated for teachers Because of my previous experience, I was able to be more
and students, and our mulitmedia monthly prepared, organized and helpful to my students. I also believe
their performance was much better this time and they learned
reports hosted at LibGuides to showcase student much more than I would have imagined. They thoroughly enjoyed
work and to share videos of students telling their this project and were begging me to allow them to continue on
with another topic!
stories of learning; in our physical space,
students’ work was shared throughout the library Of course none of these wonderful activities would have been
conceivable had it not been for the brilliance and creativity of our
through assorted displays and “walls” of hanging Media Specialist. As teachers and students we are blessed with a
student work to showcase their learning artifacts. county that treats education as a top priority. They allow
education entrepreneurs like Buffy Hamilton to purchase the
By focusing on what students are learning, we equipment and software which supports the art of technology in
learn from their insights—what is working and and out of the classroom. In my 13 years of teaching I have never
encountered a more helpful or knowledgeable colleague than
not working with my teaching methods, emerging Ms. Buffy Hamilton. What I have learned from her will stay with
me throughout my entire career. “
Mary Panik, Science Department
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7. patterns of gaps in understanding, student strengths, and new topics for exploration.
By paying more attention to what students are learning, we have a clearer insight into how we
are applying the ideas and principles of learning, multiple literacies, and information fluency
we’re reading about in journals, blogs, Tweets, and professional books as well as concepts
we’re dwelling in more deeply like participatory librarianship-learning and transliteracy. In
2011-12, student work, learning artifacts, and stories of learning will take an even more
prominent place not only in our monthly multimedia
reports but also in each research guide we create in
collaboration with teachers and students.
“As a teacher who is somewhat
challenged with the recent explosion of
So what are some of the key learnings of technology, Buffy’s help has been
Creekview High School students in 2010? invaluable to me as I integrate
Here is a sampler: technology into my classroom in an
How to effectively use social media tools, attempt to prepare students for the
such as blogs, wikis, and social world that awaits them. Buffy goes out
bookmarking to reflect, share, and of her way to prepare student- friendly
collaboratively construct knowledge. pathways of research and to assist the
How to use cloud computing and social teachers along the way.”
media tools to organize information
resources, to collaborate with classmates, Katy McManus, Foreign Language
and to share their learning process within and Department
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011 |
outside of our school community.
How to create their own subject guides or “research
pathfinders.”
How to represent key learnings through traditional texts and new media.
How to more thoughtfully and purposefully evaluate traditional and emerging authoritative
information sources
How to use writing as a tool for reflection and metacognition through individual learning
blogs.
How to demonstrate digital citizenship through the ethical use of information and through
the use of tools like Creative Commons licensed media.
How to engage in inquiry based learning as a community of learners.
How to create an individualized personal learning environment or information dashboard for
curating resources on a topic of interest or research using Symbaloo and Netvibes.
How to use eReaders and eBooks to support a love for reading.
How to discover an expert on a topic, evaluate that person’s credentials, and conduct a
professional interview with that expert.
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8. How to create visually interesting presentations (presentation zen) that are content rich and
how to deliver those insights effectively to their peers.
What does this picture of learning look like in terms of the AASL Standards for 21st Century
Learners?
1.1.2: Use prior and background knowledge as a
context for new learning
1.1.4: Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources
to answer questions
1.1.6: Read, view, and listen for information in any
format in order to make inferences and gather
meaning
1.1.8: Demonstrate mastery of technology tools for
accessing information and pursuing inquiry.
1.1.9: Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding
2.1.1: Continue an inquiry based research process by applying critical thinking skills to
information and knowledge in order to construct new understandings, draw conclusions,
and create new knowledge.
2.1.2: Organize information so that it is useful
2.1.4: Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information
2.1.5: Collaborate with others to exchange ideas, develop new understandings, make
decisions, and solve problems
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011
2.1.6: Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create
products that express new understandings
3.1.1: Conclude an inquiry-based research process by sharing new understandings and
reflecting on the learning
3.1.2: Participate and collaborate as a member of a social and intellectual network of
learners
3.1.5: Connect learning to community issues
3.1.6: Use information and technology ethically and responsibly
4..1.2: Read widely and fluently to make connections with self, the world, and previous
reading
4.1.3: Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres.
4.1.6: Organize personal knowledge in a way that can be called upon easily.
4.1.7: Use social networks and network tools to gather and share information.
4.1.8: Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning.
7
9. In the last academic year, The Unquiet Library has continued to help our students create a
learning environment larger than just our library; several students reflected, “…my
learning environment is the world.” Students learned ways of connecting and transacting with
information through many modes and points of access as well as strategies for organizing those
resources and creating content. Students learn that the library is a place where questions and
risk-taking are valued and that their contributions to conversations for learning are respected
and valued.
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011 |
This focus on student learning is reflected in our mindmap of program goals and themes for
2010-11 created in Mindomo (available at http://bit.ly/lJRn8q). Although we fell short of
incorporating gaming into instructional partnerships for learning and hope to
revisit that goal in 2011-12, we succeeded in our efforts to implement
ereaders with our Kindle program (see
http://www.theunquietlibrary.libguides.com/kindles for full text and
multimedia documentation), our focus on student content creation, greater
student reflection and evaluation on the use of specific information sources,
an increased emphasis on students creating alternate genres of learning
F IGURE 8: M OBILE L EARNING @ artifacts, mobile resources for learning, and the increased presence of the
T HE U NQUIET L IBRARY librarian as an embedded co-teacher in the classrooms of with our
8
10. “The school library
collaborating teachers. The library cultivated richer
media program is partnerships with a pool of faculty that built on the
guided by regular pedagogical principles of the Media 21
http://theunquietlibrary.libguides.com/media21 ]from 2009-10.
assessment of student
We also met our goal of taking a more active role in the
learning to ensure the assessment of student work. While we
continued our previous work in helping
program is meeting its
teachers develop rubrics and evaluating
goals.” student work, the library placed a greater
emphasis on formative assessments in
Empowering Learners, Guidelines for School
Library Media Programs,
2010-11. The use of tools like the shared F IGURE 9: NOODLETOOLS
FOR ASSESSMENT
assignment dropbox in NoodleTools,
American Association of School Librarians, 2009
presearch graphic organizers, peer review of digital research
projects, discussion and commenting tools in
Google Docs, and more specific video and
written reflections (with more specific
scaffolding by the classroom teacher and librarian) by students were new
strategies we incorporated into the learning process.
We also introduced Flubaroo to English teacher Lisa Kennedy, who incorporated F IGURE 10: V IDEO
the grading script into a Google Form she created for her final exams, a I NTERVIEW ON G RAPHIC
summative assessment, in May 2011. Not only could Ms. Kennedy get the results OSSESSMENT FOR
A
RGANIZERS
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011
of her exams quickly, but we discovered we could easily generate an analysis of
each test item and use the data not only to reflect on student learning for this past semester,
but we realized we had collected data we
could share with the students’ upcoming
senior English teachers in July to help the
department pinpoint student strengths and
weaknesses.
In addition, the increased number of student
projects shared openly and transparently via
Wikispaces and Google Docs has increased
dramatically this past academic year;
consequently, the opportunity for peer
review and for other teachers to see student
work is a powerful one.
9
11. Part 3: Information Specialist
Technology integration/inclusion in instruction
Technology continues to play a major role in library instruction at Creekview High School and
transparency of our practice at The Unquiet Library. In addition, we continued to tap into the
powers of Wikispaces, YouTube, Flickr, LibGuides, WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter to
communicate with our patrons and to facilitate
instruction. Our media center blog, “The Unquiet
Library Blog”, continues to be popular. We use our
“The library’s staff and blog, Facebook, and Twitter accounts for posting
resources support my announcements, favorite resources, podcasts, videos,
world literature class and RSS feeds to our favorite resources. Our
with expert instruction LibGuides portal,
http://theunquietlibrary.libguides.com, is our primary
in the use of digital and
platform for creating research guides/pathfinders for
print materials. The
every collaborative project we create with teachers
only reason we can and students; LibGuides is the cornerstone for
infuse our classes with housing our instructional resources and information
web 2.0 tools is sources for each collaborative project.
because of our library. Use of electronic resources
Our students are
Our databases are valuable information sources for
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011 |
beginning to our students providing organized information portals
understand how they to reference articles, periodicals, videos, podcasts,
will be expected to primary sources, images, and statistics. Our Gale
learn and to databases are accessible 24/7 through a regular
demonstrate what they computer or through a mobile device with the free
Gale AccessMyLibrary mobile app. We now feature
have learned all
over 300 titles in our Gale Virtual Reference Library;
because of the
additional library purchased databases include Gale
teamwork between the Global Issues in Context and Gale Literature Resource
classroom and the Center; the Cherokee County School District provides
library.” our students access to Gale Discovering Collection
Susan Lester, English and Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Department
10
12. Gale Database Usage, August, 2758
2010-11 September, 1464
October, 2533
November,
2554
Total, 25610
December,
1015
January , 3090
February , 3818
March, 4447
May, 1425 April , 2506
Although our GALE databases continue to be very popular for student research, usage dropped
by approximately 10,000 sessions in 2009-10. In 2007-08, our total GALE was 37, 752; our total
GALE usage was 35,948 for 2008-09. Our total GALE database usage for 2009-10 was 36, 950;
this year’s usage is 25, 610. Reasons for this drop in usage may include but are not limited to:
The introduction of the Sweet Search Engine for Students across multiple subject areas,
which has been popular with many students
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011
The introduction of the district provided Facts on File streaming video database
Continued usage of Google News
A shift in some research assignments from teachers that traditionally relied more
heavily upon Gale Virtual Reference Library
A decrease in the number of science and social studies teachers utilizing library
resources in 2010-11
An increase in research assignments in which the library and classes utilized EBSCOhost
databases from GALILEO, Georgia’s state virtual library
The increased utilization of print resources in research assignments
A decrease in the number literary criticism research assignments
Usage by database sessions included:
Gale Opposing Viewpoints: 5,563
Gale Global Issues in Context: 3,979
Gale Virtual Reference Library: 10, 443
Gale Literature Resource Center: 3303
Gale Discovering Collection: 1,605
11
13. We will share this 2010-11 Gale database usage data with faculty to determine which resources
we may need to update or discontinue to in order to meet the information and curricular needs
of our school. Although we are somewhat surprised by the drop in the Gale resource usage, we
also recognize that we are incorporating a broader range of traditional information sources and
emerging authoritative sources into research assignments.
Circulation Data
Our circulation trends for 2010-11 are somewhat consistent with the circulation data for the
last two years. Our ninth grade patrons continue to show the greatest number of checkouts;
however, for the first time since we opened, senior circulation is comparable to that of
sophomores and juniors. Please
2010-11 note this data does not take into
12th Grade, Circulation account the number of books
1560 Data read on the Kindle eReaders.
10th Grade, 11th We saw another slight drop in
1502 Grade,
circulation in 2010-11 to 8311
1712
from 8595 in 2009-10; we believe
Total circulations this decrease is related to the
Total 9th Grade continued waning popularity of
circulations, anime, manga, and graphic novels
9th Grade, 10th Grade
3848 8311
with the students. We will
11th Grade continue to actively solicit input
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011 |
12th Grade from our students and teachers as
we strive to grow a print and
digital collection that reflects the
needs and interests of our
patrons.
Ethical use of information in all formats (Teachers and Students)
We continue to use our mini-lessons and individualized citation
assistance with NoodleTools as a springboard for conversations about
ethical use of information and intellectual property. The use of the
assignment dropbox feature this year has provided another medium
for the library to provide individualized virtual feedback to supplement
the face to face assistance we offer teachers and students. In addition,
these mini-lessons are a medium for discussing forms of plagiarism and
academic honesty.
F IGURE 11: N OODLE T OOLS FOR E THICAL
U SE OF I NFORMATION
12
14. Our mini-lessons on presentation zen style PowerPoints and Web 2.0
tools such as Wikispaces, Glogster, Animoto, and VoiceThread have
been authentic vehicles for discussing copyright rules related to
digital images, music, sound, and other creative works. We have
continued our instruction on Creative Commons licensed multimedia
in 2010-11 across subject areas in the context of research
assignments and content creation mini-lessons.
F IGURE 12: P RESENTATION Z EN R ESOURCE
P AGE
“I am very excited that my students’ zen presentations
were thoughtful, organized and demonstrated mastery of
the content of their research paper. The use of images
reflected their knowledge and forced them to delve into a
complete understanding of the research. When polled
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011
about whether they found the experience helpful to their
learning, they were all in agreement that this was much
better than a PowerPoint/poster or any other type of
extension of the project.”
Deborah Frost, English Department
13
15. Part 4: Teacher
Collaboration and Research Projects (Teachers and Students)
December,
Class Sessions, 2010-11 September, 156
60
October, 173
August
August, November,
221 184 September
October
Total, 1577 January , November
111 December
January
March, 221 February
April , 181 March
February ,
169 April
May
Total
May, 101
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011 |
We served 1,577 class sessions between August 1, 2010 and May 20, 2011 in our media center;
this number represents a new high for the library program. While our peak usage had been in
October for the last two years, August and March were our busiest months with 221 class
sessions each.
In spite of the loss of our full time clerk due to district budget cuts, we continued operated on a
flexible schedule during 2010-11 with library hours of 8:00—4:00 daily. The addition of a
teacher duty during the second half of lunch and a rotating schedule of clerical help from our
school secretaries, along with a student helper two periods of the day, helped us to maintain a
flexible schedule although full time help from a clerk designated solely for the media center was
missed as we saw an increase in the number of class periods in which scheduled three to four
classes at a time. Although students were able to visit without a lunch pass during all three
lunch periods first semester, continued behavior issues, primarily with freshmen, caused us to
require students to complete a pass before coming to use the library at lunch during the second
semester. August, September, October, and March were our busiest months for student
visitors during lunch or class sessions.
14
16. “The Unquiet Library
We have continued to create research guides with LibGuides for played a major role in
every collaborative partnership with teachers and students. helping my Honors
Research guides may include: World History students
this year. As a Creekview
Teacher and/or librarian handouts in PDF format teacher, I was able to
collaborate on a few
Rubrics or assessment tools
projects throughout the
Widgets that serve as gateways to research databases or school year. Before
other district information sources, including the Facts on File administering these
video database projects, Ms. Hamilton
Recommended web resources and Ms. Johnson set up
LibGuides pathways that
Examples of student work played a vital role in the
Video tutorials success of my students!
Featured books from the print collection or virtual collection These pathways
Content area and information literacy standards included TONS of
recourses (Fiction &
Photo galleries from the learning experience
Non-Fiction books,
Video interviews with teachers and/or students Databases, Internet
A widget for our library blog to point students to the latest links, etc), final product
library news examples, how-to
guides, project
Our LibGuides pathfinders have received over 63,000 hits in the first guidelines, and rubrics.
six months of 2011 alone; this platform is popular with students and Ms. Hamilton and Ms.
Johnson were always
teachers. LibGuides is an important resource in the library’s
there to help answer
collaborative efforts to facilitate teaching and learning with the questions and lend a
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011
Creekview community. hand! As a result, many
of my students WAY
We have openly documented our collaboration with teachers and exceeded my
students once again this year through the use of multimedia expectations.”
monthly reports generated with LibGuides; all monthly reports for
Brenda Guyer, Social
2010-11 may be accessed at http://bit.ly/bggFoS . Each monthly Studies Department
report includes:
A traditional text report with monthly library program highlights, visitation data,
circulation data, database usage, and a list of all collaborative projects with teachers
Student video interviews
Teacher video interviews
Links to every collaborative research pathfinder for the month
A photo slideshow of the month’s activities in the library
Special videos that may have been created for that month’s report or a special library
event
Links to the posts for the month from the library blog as well as Ms. Hamilton’s
professional blog
15
17. Although we have collaborated with slightly fewer teachers in
“Working with you and
2010-11, we have once again seen an increase in the quantity and
the media center is
depth of our collaborative research projects with teachers. This
always a wonderful
experience. I always walk year’s collaborative partnerships have been more intense and
away with some new sustained. We have worked with a core group of faculty who have
knowledge in some new worked with the library to take incorporate more of an inquiry
media style used for our stance on learning and to cultivate more of a participatory
presentations and learning environment as the boundaries between classroom and
projects. I love how it library have begun to dissolve in these extended partnerships for
takes the students, and learning. Topics and skills included but were not limited to:
myself, out of our usual
comfort zone by getting Cloud computing tools such as Prezi, Dropbox, and
away from using the old VoiceThread
tried and true methods of Google Sites, Gmail, Google Docs, Google News, Google
putting projects together Alerts, Google Books; a heavy emphasis has been placed on
that tend to become Google Docs in many content area classrooms
boring and mundane. We Weebly for website creation
may run into glitches here RSS feeds
and there but there has Symbaloo for information management/information
dashboards
never been anything you
Multigenre instruction
guys couldn’t fix and keep
Evaluating forms of social media
moving smoothly. You
Database instruction
and your staff always
Creative Commons License---what it is and how to evaluate
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011 |
provide EVERYTHING
a license for using a work licensed under this agreement
need for my classes to
Presentation Zen design and presentations
use and organize their
Citation creation and management with NoodleTools
work with these new
Social bookmarking: Evernote
programs and delivery
Collaborative knowledge building and learning portfolios
media. That keeps the
with Wikispaces
stress off of the teacher
Blogging skills (etiquette, appropriate commenting, privacy
and the fear of trying settings) in Wordpress and Tumblr
something new minimal. Skyping with authors and content area experts
I would encourage every How to locate, correspond with, and interview an expert
teacher, no matter the on a topic for primary research and how to vet an expert with
subject are, to work in a Google searching and LinkedIn.
project in the media Video skills with Moviemaker and Animoto
center. We can all benefit Using Flip cameras
from it. “
For a complete list of subject specific topics, visit each monthly
Jason Hubbard, Career Tech report at http://bit.ly/d0oeMJ .
Department
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18. Professional Development Trainings and Conferences Attended
Buffy Hamilton and Roxanne Johnson Cherokee County School District Media Specialist
/CHAMPS 2010-11 meetings
Buffy Hamilton, American Library Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC; presenter
Buffy Hamilton, Internet@Schools West and Internet Librarian, Monterey, CA; presenter
Buffy Hamilton, ALA Midwinter, San Diego, CA; presenter
Buffy Hamilton, keynote speaker and featured speaker at four state school library conferences
and the Quebec Library Association, Montreal, Canada
Publications
“What Kind of Teacher Are You?”, May/June 2011 issue of Knowledge Quest, Buffy J. Hamilton
A sidebar companion mini-article on the social media streams and Learning Commons for AASL
2011 in Alice Yucht’s “Conference-Going Strategies, Redux” in Knowledge Quest, Buffy J.
Hamilton
“Creating Conversations for Learning: School Libraries as Sites of Participatory Culture”,
May/June 2011 issue of School Library Monthly , Buffy J. Hamilton
Hamilton, B. J. (2011). School. In R. D. Lankes, The atlas of new librarianship (pp. 368- 70).
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Press
“Are librarians missing the point on libraries”, ALA Direct, May 18, 2011
"In age of digital, she keeps library relevant", April 30, 2011 issue of The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution
The Kindles Are Coming: Ereaders and tablets are springing up in schools—and librarians are
leading the way, School Library Journal, March 2011
Cutting-Edge Library Award Goes to Buffy Hamilton's Media Center, School Library Journal,
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011
January 26, 2011
ALA recognizes four library programs as top cutting-edge services in second annual
contest, American Libraries, January 5, 2011
“Digital and Media Literacy Action Plan” featured in the November 17, 2010 issue of American
Libraries Direct
“Kindles Arrive at The Unquiet Library” featured in the November 10, 2010 issue of American
Libraries Direct
"Unquiet Library Has High Schoolers Geeked" , June/July 2010; "Next Steps" column by Brian
Mathews, American Libraries
Service
Roxanne Johnson, Challenged Materials Committee, Cherokee County School District
Buffy Hamilton, GLMA Communications Chair
Buffy Hamilton, Social Media Chair, 2011 AASL National Planning Committee; Interdivisional
Committee on Information Literacy (AASL/ACRL); ALA/OITP Digital Literacy Task Force; ALA
Learning blogger
Buffy Hamilton, School Library Monthly Advisory Board and Library Media Connection Advisory
Board
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19. Part 5: Program Administrator
Management of media staff, program budget, equipment and facility
Program Budget
Our total budget for the 2010-11 year was approximately
$23,000; this amount does not include our local school account
that is set up for monies collected through fines and donations.
Our purchases included:
Additional fiction and nonfiction titles requested by
students and faculty (approximately 1000 + new titles)
Junior Library Guild subscription
Additional titles added to the Gale Virtual Reference
Library
Renewal of Gale Global Issues in Context
2010-11 Print periodical subscriptions based upon student
and teacher requests
Renewal of database access fees for GALE Literature
Resource Center and GALE Virtual Reference Library
Bookmarks and posters from ALA
Two new displays pieces of furniture
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011 |
Ten Kindles , ten Kindle covers, and 130+ student
requested Kindle eBooks
Book display materials
Additional steel book trucks/carts
Two iPads for administrative and teacher field
testing
Media Center Staff
Our media center is staffed by two fully certified media specialists, Buffy Hamilton, Ed.S. and
Roxanne Johnson, M.Ed. Ms. Hamilton and Ms. Johnson share the responsibilities of teaching
while Hamilton primarily handles the lesson plan design. Johnson maintains the integrity of the
card catalog and coordinates all contests and special displays while Hamilton maintains the
social media presence for the library and the administrative tasks.
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20. Media Center Program Activities
Our media center patrons have enjoyed many exciting and fun
activities this past year. Highlights include:
National Teen Read Week festivities and Teens’ Top Ten
Voting
New displays featuring Peach Book Award and Teens’ Top
Ten nominees/winners/honor books F IGURE 13: S PRING A RT S HOW V IDEO
Poetry Month celebrations
Skype visits with author Allan Stratton as well as Skype visits with research scientists off
the coast of New Zealand and an emergency room physician
Presentation Zen in the library
Promotional contests
Kindle eReader program
Hosting of the Harlem Renaissance Museums for Ms.
Carden and Mr. Lawson
Hosting of the
Annual Spring Art Show
with Ms. Linda Nicholson
and her students
Exemplary media program open house
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011
Continuation of the Media 21 program with a second
cohort of sophomores
Introduction of alternative research tools, including
the search engine SweetSearch for Students
F IGURE 14: H ARLEM R ENAISSANCE M USEUM
V IDEO
2010-11 Inventory
We have completed inventory of our collection as of Friday, May 27; the inventory will be
finalized on Wednesday, June 1, 2011. This year’s inventory reflects a minimal number of
missing or unaccounted for materials. We also used inventory as an opportunity to complete
the first official weeding of the collection since the nonfiction and reference collection
contained materials that were aged or no longer timely; most materials weeded were related to
outdated career information, science/medicine, and current events.
19
21. Part 6: Program Goals/Future Directions for 2011 -12
We will need June and July to fully process the strengths and weaknesses of the program, so we will not
formally articulate or outline program goals/themes and action steps until late July 2011. However,
here are initial ideas that are informing our thinking and practice:
Increasing our presence as embedded librarians in our
educational partnerships with teachers and students through face to
face means as well as virtual learning spaces.
Developing a systematic set of information literacy
benchmarks all students should be able to demonstrate at the end
of each grade level.
Utilizing new tools for curating information and
intensifying our efforts to help students cultivate their own
curation skills as they cultivate a personal learning environment.
Taking a larger role in helping teachers explore
strategies that will support students’ ability to generate ideas
and take more ownership of developing research projects and
learning plans based on Jim Burke’s book, What’s the Big Idea?
Taking a larger role in helping teachers in all content
areas develop digital writing projects through a variety of
mediums and exploring the concept of the library as a digital
writing workshop.
Continuing our efforts to participate more in formative and summative assessment of student
Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011 |
work as part of the learning experience.
Developing workshops for teachers to help them tap into the power of social media and cloud
computing for professional development.
Expanding our eReader program by adding additional Kindles and color Nooks to our collection
as we hope to pilot a subscription to Overdrive, a subscription eBook service that will allow
students and teachers to check out books digitally and read them on their own devices or on a
library circulated device (such as a Kindle or Nook).
Facilitating more independent and student selected reading through collaborative classroom
partnerships as well as library supported initiatives.
Increasing our participation of student bloggers who will write regularly for The Unquiet Library
blog.
Incorporating gaming as a tool for formal and informal learning; we hope to pilot a gaming
project aligned to the AASL Standards for 21st Century Learners.
Utilize ethnographic research to analyze trends and challenges in the library program.
A continued emphasis on student meaning making and content creation.
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