After working for a couple of weeks (and inhaling A LOT of dust) I'm finished with the bookroom. We are going to talk up the bookroom to our staff at our upcoming faculty meeting. It feels so nice to go into the room, and actually be able to see what we have!!! Here is the final product:

Today I finished my Dr. Seuss Oh, the Places You'll Go! When You Read a Book school wide theme display for the media center. The display informs students about the Reading Across America events that will be at our school, a list of Dr. Seuss books housed in the BUES media center, different Dr. Seuss websites, and our Dr. Seuss website that I created for the school. I added pocket charts so that students can place answers to the Dr. Seuss trivia question of the day located on the website. This display will also be a part of the reading enrichment unit that I am developing. Here are some pictures of the display:

Today I went to my first media committee meeting. There were six other faculty members from BUES and Mrs. B attending the meeting. I could not have picked a better meeting to go to, because we worked on a three year 21st Century Technology Implementation and Learning Plan. Mrs. B discussed our district vision statement for 21st Century Learning which is: Students will have access to and be engaged in the use of a variety of technology tools to increase opportunities for collaboration, problem solving, innovation, and research in order to prepare them for post-secondary education and/or skill of a global workforce. To develop our school's three year plan, we discussed the current technology that we are using on a regular basis, and the way in which it is being used by teachers and students. We also discussed the ways in which the technology we are using is having a positive impact on our students. I think that the most crucial thing that I got from the meeting was that our school has an abundance of technology, but our staff has not been trained properly on how to use it. For this reason alone, most of our staff is either using the technology incorrectly or not using it at all. When I become a media specialist I will emphasize the importance of properly training teachers on the technology that we use.

Today Mrs. B showed me how to process items into our system. She informed me that all of Douglas County uses Destiny. She said most counties used this system. The first step in processing an item into the automated system is to go to the catalog tab. Next you go to the tab link and the location link to find your county. After you have found your county you go to add copies and then scan the barcode. Since I am extremely lucky, I was able to experience processing items when the barcode is broken (which by the way is also a lot of fun when you have to check students in and out of the library as well). Anyways, so I had to type in the barcode for each item, and hit add copies. Most of the book are already entered into the system since it is so popular. I processed 10 teacher resource books. I gave each book a school specific barcode and call number for our school. Since our label maker is also broke...I had to write these on a sticker and place them on the books temporarily. For example, one book's call number was PRO 372 PAV. I entered the new call number and barcode into the system. In addition to the normal processing procedure, since we are a Title I school if the books were purchased with Title I funds we have to put that into the system as well. I am glad that our county uses Destiny, because I feel like it is very user friendly. Ten books down...I hope many more to go!   : )

I spent time creating a website for BUES that would give students access to some web 2.0 tools. In the next couple of weeks we are going to launch an initiative at our school to encourage students to read for enjoyment. We are going to tie this in with Dr. Seuss' birthday. I am going to create a bulletin board to put in the media center. I want to incorporate technology into my bulletin. The website will be put on the bulletin, and will serve as a type of social networking site for our school. I want to have students chat, be involved in polls, have interactive questions of the day, give information about Dr. Seuss, and include links to other websites or resources for student enjoyment. I am naming the initiative "Oh, the Places You'll Go...When You Read a Book". Here is the link to our school website:
http://classjump.com/b/braun/

I feel that my first week has been successful. I have also spent some time organizing and planning for all that I want to accomplish this semester. I want to be involved in as many roles as possible, because I want to have the true experience of being a media specialist. I just have to prioritize my tasks and focus on my mission statement so that I can be successful. 

Today I had the opportunity to begin tackling the book room...ahhh! Mrs. B and Mrs. T asked if I could help them organize our leveled readers that are located in a back room of the media center. Being a Title I school, we have so many resources, but the book room is a perfect example of how good resources can go to waste without organization. 
As soon as I tackle this project, I will add a picture. I am organizing the books by reading level. As you can see, there is no organization whatsoever now. By organizing this area, the book room will be opened up which will allow us to maximize the space we are given. I am interested in seeing if these resources will be used more once teachers can actually find what they are looking for or merely become aware of all that we have to offer them.
Here is a picture of the book room:

I have been brainstorming ways to incorporate technology into the morning announcements that Mrs. B does daily. Students run and act in the closed circuit broadcast. The announcements are very repetitive and students do not pay attention while the announcements are on. I asked Mrs. B and Mrs. T if I could become more involved with the announcements, and they happily agreed. I discovered that we are very limited due to the outdated broadcasting equipment that our school has. Me and Mrs. B have discussed writing a grant to help us acquire new equipment, but until then I want to spice up our announcements. After doing some research, I have found a website that is an excellent example of a morning announcement show. Amherst Middle School uses technology in their daily program to get the audiences' attention. Below is the website for the Amherst Middle School morning show.
http://amhersttechtv.org 
I would like to incorporate some of the ideas into our program. I am currently doing research on using podcasts to create the announcements. Also, I have been throwing around the idea of video taping the announcements and uploading the video to an editing program such as iMove. We could broadcast the announcements using the computer instead of using the broadcasting equipment we currently have. This will decrease the many of the obstacles we are now facing. I believe that a project like this will challenge me, and allow me to discover even more web 2.0 tools that I will be able to use in the future.

Today I had the opportunity as playing the role of a leader in our media program. I was asked by Mrs. B and my administrator to lead a training on an instructional technology program that we use at our school. This program is called AIMSweb, and  is used to progress monitor student learning.I have been using the program for a few months, and I have taken the initiative to train myself on the ins and outs of the program. I felt very comfortable redelivering information about technology to our staff at BUES. Although I found that it does have its challenges, First of all, I was unaware of the number of teachers who are very unfamiliar with technology. Also, many of the teacher came into the training unprepared (i.e. not knowing login/password info, coming late to the training, etc.) I know that the more experiences I have in this type of role, the more knowledgeable I will become about handling these types of situations. I look forward to becoming an intricate part of training staff members at BUES and teaching our school about the technological advancements of the 21st century.

Today was my first experience logging hours in our school media center. I spent some time collaborating with Mrs. B about the things that I want to accomplish this semester. She seemed excited about the ideas and help that I am offering, because this is her first year as a School Media Specialist. After we talked, I was ready to jump in and help out. The media clerk, Mrs. T., was overjoyed and had plenty of things ready for me. I spent some time shelving books in the easy section of the media center. I also has a hand at shelving some books in the nonfiction section as well. As I was shelving books, I realized that the markers in the easy section are difficult to see. If this is a problem for me I know that this is not the best marking system for young students. First order of business...brainstorm a more effective labeling system. I am overly excited about getting my hands dirty so to say.