Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report 2010-11

Creekview High School MediaCenter Annual Report May 2011Buffy Hamilton and Roxanne Johnson, School Library Media Specialists 1550 OWENS STORE ROAD, CANTON, GA 30115 || 770-720-7600 HTTP://THEUNQUIETLIBRARY.LIBGUIDES.COM

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, learningCreekview 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. 1

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 speakF 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. 2

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 toCreekview 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. 3

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 “changeF 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 Learnings 100@30: Future Leader 4

“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 forCreekview 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 5

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. 6

 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 problemsCreekview 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

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 learningF IGURE 8: M OBILE L EARNING @ artifacts, mobile resources for learning, and the increased presence of theT HE U NQUIET L IBRARY librarian as an embedded co-teacher in the classrooms of with our 8

“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 RGANIZERSCreekview 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

Part 3: Information SpecialistTechnology integration/inclusion in instructionTechnology continues to play a major role in library instruction at Creekview High School andtransparency of our practice at The Unquiet Library. In addition, we continued to tap into thepowers 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

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 studentsCreekview 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: 1,60511

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 THICALU SE OF I NFORMATION 12

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 polledCreekview 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 Department13

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

“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 aCreekview 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 blog15

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 andthe media center is depth of our collaborative research projects with teachers. Thisalways a wonderfulexperience. I always walk year’s collaborative partnerships have been more intense andaway with some new sustained. We have worked with a core group of faculty who haveknowledge in some new worked with the library to take incorporate more of an inquirymedia style used for our stance on learning and to cultivate more of a participatorypresentations and learning environment as the boundaries between classroom andprojects. I love how it library have begun to dissolve in these extended partnerships fortakes the students, and learning. Topics and skills included but were not limited to:myself, out of our usualcomfort zone by getting Cloud computing tools such as Prezi, Dropbox, andaway from using the old VoiceThreadtried and true methods of Google Sites, Gmail, Google Docs, Google News, Googleputting projects together Alerts, Google Books; a heavy emphasis has been placed onthat tend to become Google Docs in many content area classroomsboring and mundane. We Weebly for website creationmay run into glitches here RSS feedsand there but there has Symbaloo for information management/information dashboardsnever been anything you Multigenre instructionguys couldn’t fix and keep Evaluating forms of social mediamoving smoothly. You Database instructionand 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 agreementneed for my classes to Presentation Zen design and presentationsuse and organize their Citation creation and management with NoodleToolswork with these new Social bookmarking: Evernoteprograms and delivery Collaborative knowledge building and learning portfoliosmedia. That keeps the with Wikispacesstress off of the teacher Blogging skills (etiquette, appropriate commenting, privacyand the fear of trying settings) in Wordpress and Tumblrsomething new minimal. Skyping with authors and content area expertsI would encourage every How to locate, correspond with, and interview an expertteacher, no matter the on a topic for primary research and how to vet an expert withsubject are, to work in a Google searching and LinkedIn.project in the media Video skills with Moviemaker and Animotocenter. We can all benefit Using Flip camerasfrom it. “ For a complete list of subject specific topics, visit each monthlyJason Hubbard, Career Tech report at http://bit.ly/d0oeMJ .Department 16

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 Hamiltons 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 Board17

Part 5: Program AdministratorManagement of media staff, program budget, equipment and facilityProgram BudgetOur total budget for the 2010-11 year was approximately$23,000; this amount does not include our local school accountthat 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 testingMedia Center StaffOur media center is staffed by two fully certified media specialists, Buffy Hamilton, Ed.S. andRoxanne Johnson, M.Ed. Ms. Hamilton and Ms. Johnson share the responsibilities of teachingwhile Hamilton primarily handles the lesson plan design. Johnson maintains the integrity of thecard catalog and coordinates all contests and special displays while Hamilton maintains thesocial media presence for the library and the administrative tasks. 18

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 houseCreekview 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

Part 6: Program Goals/Future Directions for 2011 -12We will need June and July to fully process the strengths and weaknesses of the program, so we will notformally 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. 20

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Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report 2010-11

by Buffy Hamilton on May 30, 2011

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Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report 2010-11 Document Transcript