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Creekview High School Media Center Annual Report May 2011

Buffy Hamilton and Roxanne Johnson, School Library Media Specialists

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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

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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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

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.

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

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.

FIGURE 1: PARTICIPATORY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

FIGURE 2: PD WIKI

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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

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

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.

FIGURE 3: MOODLE TRAINING, MAY 2011

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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

see a video of Hamilton and Johnson

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

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

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

FIGURE 5: EXEMPLARY PROGRAM

AWARD

FIGURE 4: AWARD

VIDEO

FIGURE 6: MOVER AND SHAKER

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Part 2: Instructional Partner

During 2010-11, The Unquiet Library has been

guided by three essential sets of questions as we

have contemplated the work in our collaborative

partnerships with teachers and students?

1. What did they (your patrons or those you

serve) learn through your library program and the

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?

We use tools like Google Forms, video, blogging

at WordPress, Poll Everywhere, information

dashboards created with Netvibes, multigenre

elements, wikis, Google Docs, and digital

portfolios as formative and summative

assessment tools. We share stories of learning

through our library YouTube Channel, our student

work SlideShare account, our library blog, class

Wikispaces pages that we facilitated for teachers

and students, and our mulitmedia monthly

reports hosted at LibGuides to showcase student

work and to share videos of students telling their

stories of learning; in our physical space,

students’ work was shared throughout the library

through assorted displays and “walls” of hanging

student work to showcase their learning artifacts.

By focusing on what students are learning, we

learn from their insights—what is working and

not working with my teaching methods, emerging

“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

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

center than I have since my Teach 21 days! Ms. Hamilton’s

excitement incorporating modern media into the classroom is

positively infectious. She had me completely captivated when we

began Environmental Science first semester with our Wiki Project

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.

The next adventure was aboard the Joides Resolution off the

coast of New Zealand. Yes! You heard me right!

FIGURE 7: LIBGUIDE PAGE FOR SKYPE VISIT

My Earth Systems classes and I arranged a Skype session with the

loving guidance of Ms. Hamilton. Many of us had never tried this

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

core samples of volcanic material. We were treated to a real time

tour of the ship including the research areas, labs, and the core

drill itself. For approximately an hour the students were able to

ask questions and interact with these scientists while they were

on the job doing actual scientific investigation. What a thrill!

With Ms. Buffy’s support I wrapped up the year with another

Wiki Project for my Earth Systems classes on Natural Disasters.

Because of my previous experience, I was able to be more

prepared, organized and helpful to my students. I also believe

their performance was much better this time and they learned

much more than I would have imagined. They thoroughly enjoyed

this project and were begging me to allow them to continue on

with another topic!

Of course none of these wonderful activities would have been

conceivable had it not been for the brilliance and creativity of our

Media Specialist. As teachers and students we are blessed with a

county that treats education as a top priority. They allow

education entrepreneurs like Buffy Hamilton to purchase the

equipment and software which supports the art of technology in

and out of the classroom. In my 13 years of teaching I have never

encountered a more helpful or knowledgeable colleague than

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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“As a teacher who is somewhat

challenged with the recent explosion of

technology, Buffy’s help has been

invaluable to me as I integrate

technology into my classroom in an

attempt to prepare students for the

world that awaits them. Buffy goes out

of her way to prepare student- friendly

pathways of research and to assist the

teachers along the way.”

Katy McManus, Foreign Language

Department

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.

So what are some of the key learnings of

Creekview High School students in 2010?

Here is a sampler:

How to effectively use social media tools,

such as blogs, wikis, and social

bookmarking to reflect, share, and

collaboratively construct knowledge.

How to use cloud computing and social

media tools to organize information

resources, to collaborate with classmates,

and to share their learning process within and

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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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

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.

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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.

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

artifacts, mobile resources for learning, and the increased presence of the

librarian as an embedded co-teacher in the classrooms of with our FIGURE 8: MOBILE LEARNING @

THE UNQUIET L IBRARY

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collaborating teachers. The library cultivated richer

partnerships with a pool of faculty that built on the

pedagogical principles of the Media 21

http://theunquietlibrary.libguides.com/media21 ]from 2009-10.

We also met our goal of taking a more active role in the

assessment of student work. While we

continued our previous work in helping

teachers develop rubrics and evaluating

student work, the library placed a greater

emphasis on formative assessments in

2010-11. The use of tools like the shared

assignment dropbox in NoodleTools,

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

the grading script into a Google Form she created for her final exams, a

summative assessment, in May 2011. Not only could Ms. Kennedy get the results

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.

“The school library

media program is

guided by regular

assessment of student

learning to ensure the

program is meeting its

goals.”

Empowering Learners, Guidelines for School

Library Media Programs,

American Association of School Librarians, 2009

FIGURE 9: NOODLETOOLS

FOR ASSESSMENT

FIGURE 10: V IDEO

INTERVIEW ON GRAPHIC

ORGANIZERS FOR

ASSESSMENT

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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

blog, Facebook, and Twitter accounts for posting

announcements, favorite resources, podcasts, videos,

and RSS feeds to our favorite resources. Our

LibGuides portal,

http://theunquietlibrary.libguides.com, is our primary

platform for creating research guides/pathfinders for

every collaborative project we create with teachers

and students; LibGuides is the cornerstone for

housing our instructional resources and information

sources for each collaborative project.

Use of electronic resources

Our databases are valuable information sources for

our students providing organized information portals

to reference articles, periodicals, videos, podcasts,

primary sources, images, and statistics. Our Gale

databases are accessible 24/7 through a regular

computer or through a mobile device with the free

Gale AccessMyLibrary mobile app. We now feature

over 300 titles in our Gale Virtual Reference Library;

additional library purchased databases include Gale

Global Issues in Context and Gale Literature Resource

Center; the Cherokee County School District provides

our students access to Gale Discovering Collection

and Opposing Viewpoints in Context.

“The library’s staff and

resources support my

world literature class

with expert instruction

in the use of digital and

print materials. The

only reason we can

infuse our classes with

web 2.0 tools is

because of our library.

Our students are

beginning to

understand how they

will be expected to

learn and to

demonstrate what they

have learned all

because of the

teamwork between the

classroom and the

library.” Susan Lester, English

Department

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August, 2758

September, 1464

October, 2533

November, 2554

December, 1015

January , 3090

February , 3818

March, 4447

April , 2506May, 1425

Total, 25610

Gale Database Usage, 2010-11

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

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

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Total circulations,

83119th Grade,

3848

10th Grade, 1502

11th Grade, 1712

12th Grade, 1560

Total circulations

9th Grade

10th Grade

11th Grade

12th Grade

2010-11 Circulation Data

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

note this data does not take into

account the number of books

read on the Kindle eReaders.

We saw another slight drop in

circulation in 2010-11 to 8311

from 8595 in 2009-10; we believe

this decrease is related to the

continued waning popularity of

anime, manga, and graphic novels

with the students. We will

continue to actively solicit input

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.

FIGURE 11: NOODLETOOLS FOR ETHICAL

USE OF INFORMATION

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“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

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

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.

FIGURE 12: PRESENTATION ZEN RESOURCE

PAGE

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August, 221

September, 156

October, 173

November, 184

December, 60

January , 111

February , 169

March, 221

April , 181

May, 101

Total, 1577

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

Total

Class Sessions, 2010-11

Part 4: Teacher

Collaboration and Research Projects (Teachers and Students)

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.

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We have continued to create research guides with LibGuides for

every collaborative partnership with teachers and students.

Research guides may include:

Teacher and/or librarian handouts in PDF format

Rubrics or assessment tools

Widgets that serve as gateways to research databases or

other district information sources, including the Facts on File

video database

Recommended web resources

Examples of student work

Video tutorials

Featured books from the print collection or virtual collection

Content area and information literacy standards

Photo galleries from the learning experience

Video interviews with teachers and/or students

A widget for our library blog to point students to the latest

library news

Our LibGuides pathfinders have received over 63,000 hits in the first

six months of 2011 alone; this platform is popular with students and

teachers. LibGuides is an important resource in the library’s

collaborative efforts to facilitate teaching and learning with the

Creekview community.

We have openly documented our collaboration with teachers and

students once again this year through the use of multimedia

monthly reports generated with LibGuides; all monthly reports for

2010-11 may be accessed at http://bit.ly/bggFoS . Each monthly

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

“The Unquiet Library played a major role in helping my Honors World History students this year. As a Creekview teacher, I was able to collaborate on a few projects throughout the school year. Before administering these projects, Ms. Hamilton and Ms. Johnson set up LibGuides pathways that played a vital role in the success of my students! These pathways included TONS of recourses (Fiction & Non-Fiction books, Databases, Internet links, etc), final product examples, how-to guides, project guidelines, and rubrics. Ms. Hamilton and Ms. Johnson were always there to help answer questions and lend a hand! As a result, many of my students WAY exceeded my expectations.”

Brenda Guyer, Social Studies Department

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Although we have collaborated with slightly fewer teachers in

2010-11, we have once again seen an increase in the quantity and

depth of our collaborative research projects with teachers. This

year’s collaborative partnerships have been more intense and

sustained. We have worked with a core group of faculty who have

worked with the library to take incorporate more of an inquiry

stance on learning and to cultivate more of a participatory

learning environment as the boundaries between classroom and

library have begun to dissolve in these extended partnerships for

learning. Topics and skills included but were not limited to:

Cloud computing tools such as Prezi, Dropbox, and VoiceThread

Google Sites, Gmail, Google Docs, Google News, Google Alerts, Google Books; a heavy emphasis has been placed on Google Docs in many content area classrooms

Weebly for website creation

RSS feeds

Symbaloo for information management/information dashboards

Multigenre instruction

Evaluating forms of social media

Database instruction

Creative Commons License---what it is and how to evaluate a license for using a work licensed under this agreement

Presentation Zen design and presentations

Citation creation and management with NoodleTools

Social bookmarking: Evernote

Collaborative knowledge building and learning portfolios with Wikispaces

Blogging skills (etiquette, appropriate commenting, privacy settings) in Wordpress and Tumblr

Skyping with authors and content area experts

How to locate, correspond with, and interview an expert on a topic for primary research and how to vet an expert with Google searching and LinkedIn.

Video skills with Moviemaker and Animoto

Using Flip cameras For a complete list of subject specific topics, visit each monthly

report at http://bit.ly/d0oeMJ .

“Working with you and

the media center is

always a wonderful

experience. I always walk

away with some new

knowledge in some new

media style used for our

presentations and

projects. I love how it

takes the students, and

myself, out of our usual

comfort zone by getting

away from using the old

tried and true methods of

putting projects together

that tend to become

boring and mundane. We

may run into glitches here

and there but there has

never been anything you

guys couldn’t fix and keep

moving smoothly. You

and your staff always

provide EVERYTHING

need for my classes to

use and organize their

work with these new

programs and delivery

media. That keeps the

stress off of the teacher

and the fear of trying

something new minimal.

I would encourage every

teacher, no matter the

subject are, to work in a

project in the media

center. We can all benefit

from it. “

Jason Hubbard, Career Tech

Department

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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, 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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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

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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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

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

Continuation of the Media 21 program with a second

cohort of sophomores

Introduction of alternative research tools, including

the search engine SweetSearch for Students

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.

FIGURE 13: SPRING ART SHOW V IDEO

FIGURE 14: HARLEM RENAISSANCE MUSEUM

V IDEO

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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

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.