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A Look at the Olympic Games of 1912
Send off of Olympic Athletes:
5th Olympic Games, held in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1912
Olympic Swimmers, 1912
New York City – 5th Avenue – Parade of Olympic athletes, Augustust 1912
-All images from the Library of Congress
Consider the following scenarios:
Fixed: Johnny can depend on the knowledge that he will be able to gain access to the media center and relevant instruction every Tuesday. He is excited that he will have opportunity to learn information literacy skills each week, without having to wait on availability of the media center to master these essential skills. As he visits the center weekly, he will begin to develop an appreciation for good literature and have a head start in developing lifelong learning skills.
Flexible: Johnny makes it to the media center with eyes bright and cheeks glowing. He can approach the media center any day he needs information, and today he’s anxious to use the OPAC to find out about dinosaurs, particularly the diplodocus. The media specialist takes time from her planning for a group of fifth graders that are coming in later to work with Johnny at this point of need. Since the need for specific information can occur at any moment, being able to access the “information center” is essential for Johnny and the other students.
What do the guidelines say?
In Georgia, the GA Department of Education addresses flexible scheduling in rule IFBD 160-4-4-01 which states that “A Georgia school library media program must include a plan for flexibly scheduled media center access for students and teachers in groups or as individuals simultaneously throughout each instructional day. Accessibility shall refer to the facility, the staff, and the resources and shall be based on instructional need. Flexible scheduling is maintained by allowing full participation of teachers and the library media specialist in collaborative planning and allowing students to come to the library media center at any time.”
Likewise, AASL has a position on this subject: “Schools must adopt the educational philosophy that the library media program is fully integrated into the educational program. This integration strengthens the teaching/learning process so that students can develop the vital skills necessary to locate, analyze, evaluate, interpret, and communicate information and ideas.”
What do YOU say?
Now, even though there is a Georgia DOE rule that media centers in Georgia should be flexibly scheduled, we are seeing that rule “broken” all across the state. Many media specialists feel that losing their ability to have classes and students come to the center at the point of need, for that “teachable moment,” has crippled their media program. Information should be available and accessible to ALL students in the school, at any time needed during the school day. If students need to conduct research, locate resources, or just check out a book for pleasure reading, they should be allowed to come to the center multiple times a week, or even a day, if necessary. To eliminate that opportunity literally limits acquisition of knowledge
Joy McGregor writes, “The conviction that flexible scheduling is a sound educational practice stems from the understanding gained through educational research into effective learning. Applications of brain research to the field of educational practice strongly suggest that because the brain learns by recognizing or finding patterns, it is important for learning opportunities to allow the learner to fit the new ideas into already existing knowledge.” Learning in this manner, through media center activities at the point of need, is paramount in teaching information literacy skills to our students.
Another point that should be considered, collaboration with teachers is only achieved when the flexibility exits for interaction and planning to take place between the media specialist and the classroom teacher. Collaboration goes hand-in-hand with flexible scheduling.
There is, however, a school of thought that supports the regular scheduling of classes in the media center on a consistent basis. Doug Johnson suggests “you can’t teach kids you don’t see.” So many times, students are not allowed to come to the media center when they have a question because they only come when their class is scheduled to visit. Yet when there is a consistent, positive presence of media services for students, they will internalize those information literacy skills with confidence.
With fixed scheduling, teachers who are not apt to use the media center make the library a routine part of their week. Even without a major upcoming project, students who wouldn’t get to attend the library can visit regularly to return books, hear stories, and learn media related skills. Consistency is a powerful tool for younger learners!
One of the best ways to create life long readers and learners is to encourage frequent library use. It is consistent, planned lessons that promote lifelong learning, not the random research experiences in the media center.
Finally, teachers who are on fixed schedules leave teaching media related skills and research methods to the skilled media specialist. Teachers on flexible schedules depend on the media specialist for the next major collaborative project. This leaves teachers to teach students what they don’t have time to learn from the media specialist. Only the media specialist is trained and prepared to teach information literacy skills most effectively.
Neither flexible nor fixed scheduling is a perfect solution. Should we consider a mixed “flex” schedule for media centers, where students can access the media center at the point of need AND on a consistent basis where they learn basic information literacy skills that will serve them as lifelong learners?
You decide!
Phyllis R. Snipes,
University of West Georgia
Johnson, D. (2001). Make your point – It’s good to be inflexible. School Library Journal, 47 (11). Retrieved April 18, 2008, from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA179495.html.
McGregor, J. (2006). Flexible scheduling: Implementing an innovation. School Library Media Research, 9. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmcontents/volume9/flexible.cfm#conclusions.
Phyllis R. Snipes,
University of West Georgia
Well, ladies and gentlemen of the library world. September is almost here in
all it’s glory! There’s something for all of us to celebrate in this 9th
month of the year. Visit my blog to see monthly, weekly, and daily
celebrations along with the birthdays of selected authors – of course it
comes complete with my wry comments/observations to put a smile on your
face! Enjoy!
Georgia Public Broadcasting will be launching a new digital education channel on October 1, 2008. This new channel, GPB Knowledge, will be available throughout the state of Georgia and will replace our existing delivery method of GPB Education Satellite Programming (formally PeachStar Satellite Programming). Much of the content will be available through GPB Education Streaming and the GPB Digital Library On-Demand, as well as on our new channel, GPB Knowledge. Educators will have the same recording rights as before.
To receive GPB Educational programs, Educators have the option of:
Schools will receive GPB Knowledge via
For schools without cable, commercial satellite or digital reception, a converter box is recommended. They may be purchased wherever electronics are sold and cost between $40 and $80 dollars. This will convert analog televisions - TVs with “rabbit ear” antennas - to digital format so you and your students may enjoy digital broadcasting.
In the event that your area does not have access to broadcast television and you’d like to watch GPB Knowledge, the channel may be accessed on your computer by using a USBTV Tuner.
GPB Education Streaming will continue to provide On-Demand delivery of over 5,000 full-length videos with segments and educator resources. Visit www.gpb.org/education for more information.
For a complete list of all GPB Education programs and where to access them, CLICK HERE.
Here is a list of the current programs you’ve come to rely on as classroom tools from GPB and where you may find them now:
Programs on the GPB Knowledge Channel:
Economics USA
Math for All
Road Trip
Road Trip Nation
English Composition: Writing for an Audience
American Passages: A Literary Survey
Art of the Western World
Careers for the 21st Century
Programs continuing on Georgia Public Broadcasting:
American History through Southern Eyes
Salsa
2008 Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest
Georgia Read More
Guiding Children Successfully
Parenting Works
Right from Birth
Going to School
Parenting Principal
Literary Visions
Keeping Kids Healthy
TV 411
A Child’s Bookshelf
GPEE Bus Trip Across Georgia
Programs available for streaming on GPB.org:
Achieving Excellence
Count On It!
Georgia Stories
GPB Classroom
Irasshai
Green Tree Frog
Youth Art: Reflections on the World
Instrumental Success
Programs available for download from
GPB Education Streaming:
Count On It!
Georgia Stories I & II
GPB Classroom: Chemistry
GPB Classroom: Physics
The Green Tree Frog: How a Bill Becomes a Law
Katherine Aiken
Digital Distribution & TIE Network Manager
Georgia Public Broadcasting
kaiken@gpb.org
www.tienetwork.org
Finding a new word or phrase that so perfectly captures an idea is always exciting. My best find over the past few weeks has been CPA: Continuous Partial Attention.
Of course one problem is that this isn’t really a new phrase-it’s attributed to former Apple and Microsoft employee Linda Stone, who says she came up with the term in 1997. I spent a very interesting 24 minutes listening to the audiocast of her discussion of this whole idea. Here’s some of what she said about how we operate in the anywhere/anytime/anyplace/always on world.
Stone started her audiocast by asking some very interesting questions about the impact of technology on our lives. She says that CPA isn’t a positive or a negative aspect of living in the 21st century-she calls it an adaptive behavior that is really “post multitasking”. Stone says that multitasking came about from a desire to be more efficient. I don’t know about you but I’ve patted myself on the back more than once when I manage to multitask without messing up any of the tasks. Stone goes on to say that continuous partial attention is motivated by a whole new desire-the desire to be a “live node on the network.” Media specialists spend a lot of time on the concept of time management. Stone says this:
Managing time is all about lists, optimization, efficiency, and it’s TACTICAL. Managing attention is all about INTENTION, making choices as to what DOES and DOES NOT get done, and it’s STRATEGIC. Managing time is an action journey. Managing attention is an emotional journey. (http://continuouspartialattention.jot.com/WikiHome)
Wow! I really love the idea of seeing attention as “the most powerful tool of the human spirit” (also from Stone’s wiki). It certainly gives me some new ways to think about how to manage my own attention and how to work with students whose world view is all about CPA.
Other sources:
Word Spy definition with some relevant quotes
How the Google Generation Thinks Differently
Continuous Partial Attention–Not the Same as Multitasking
I hope everybody’s school year gets off to a great start and that you manage to devote more than a little of your attention resources to doing some new and exciting Web 2.0 things to reach our learners where they live on the network node!
Judi Repman, Georgia Southern University
PollDaddy is a free, fun, and easy to use Web 2.0 tool for incorporating polls and surveys into your blogs, wikis, and web pages. Now there is a new image feature you can tap into to enhance your polls. Take a look at this poll we are currently running for our students and faculty!
You can create your own account for free at http://www.polldaddy.com/ . This tool is great for getting feedback from your patrons from everything to a favorite book, a question of the day, or as a “ticket out of the door” after a mini-lesson or research project. Enjoy!
Buffy Hamilton, Media Specialist
Creekview High School
http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com
As you know, the server for the georgiamedia list passed away at the beginning of the summer, after 8 years of faithful service. (The list service itself is some 12 years old.) I think things are now ready to resume. To get started, however, we need everyone to subscribe again. User data backup files were corrupt, and we could not with certainty rebuild them, so it seems best to just get a fresh start. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Click here for information and to subscribe to georgiamedia.
Let me know if you experience any difficulty.
Thanks
O. P. Cooper
Media Specialist, Carrollton High
Media Coordinator, Carrollton City Schools
Instructor, Media and Instructional Technology, University of West Georgia
Have you ever wanted to create the ALA style “READ” posters but did not have the money in your budget to purchase the software? Or perhaps you have the software, but you want to create the posters on the fly without having to take the time to edit the templates in Photoshop Elements?
ALA is now offering a free READ Mini Poster Generator! This generator, created by the folks of Big Huge Labs Flickr Toys, allows you to easily upload your own photos and choose one of four templates to create your very own READ poster image. Once the image is created, you can easily upload the photo to your website, blog, or Flickr account. What a wonderful way to promote reading!
Many thanks to “The Shifted Librarian” for sharing this wonderful gem with the rest of us! You will also want to check out how she is using this tool for creating graphics to promote alternative forms of reading and digital literacy.
Buffy Hamilton, Media Specialist
Creekview High School
http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com
As summer draws to a close and schools open their doors to students and teachers, your GLMA lobbyists continue to monitor legislative happenings.
On August 1st, the Governors Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) issued a memo announcing that agencies will be directed “…to submit reduction plans of 6%, 8% and 10% for both Amended FY 2009 and FY 2010.” Additionally, “State employee pay raises will be deferred until further notice.” (Link to memo Here)
According an article published by InsiderAdvantage, pay raises for teachers who have already contracted with school systems appear safe. Like many things in politics, however, this is another wait and see. (Click here for InsiderAdvantage article)
During the session, the legislature voted to restore $50,000,000 to the austerity cuts in education. As an appropriation, OPB can release up to $50 million toward restoring the cuts. If revenue shortfalls and budget cuts continue, it is possible OPB may not release all of the restoration funds. Right now, conversations about the budget crisis are happening at a pay-grade above principals, superintendents and lobbyists. We will keep you informed as information comes our way.
Upcoming Education Finance, Teacher Training and Tax Policy Meetings
The Senate Education Finance Study Committee has rescheduled its meetings over the summer, but now plans to meet August 20th. Sen. Dan Moody (R-Alpharetta) will chair the committee that was formed by SR 1213. An agenda has not yet been set for this meeting.
The Joint House and Senate Study Committee on Teacher Training and Certification will meet on August 27th. This study committee was created by HR 1103 and will be co-chaired by House Education Committee Chair, Rep. Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) and Senate Education Committee Chair, Sen. Dan Weber (R-Dunwoody).
On September 11th, your lobbyists will attend a conference on Property Taxes and Proposed Policies. Sponsored by the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, it is expected to draw legislators and other key state budget leaders. This event will serve as a networking opportunity where we hope to gauge the current financial climate and listen for upcoming legislation on the funding horizon.
The Legislative Session – 2008 and 2009
The 2008 legislative session was filled with controversy over tax and healthcare issues, along with several education issues including the most anticipated IE2 Task Force recommendations via legislation. The IE2 Task Force legislation (HB 1209) passed, along with a return to work bill (SB 327). We expect some of the more controversial issues to re-surface in 2009, and will be prepared. The Amended FY 2009 and FY 2010 budgets will fall into the “controversial” category as all anticipate the budget cuts.
It’s time to rework legislative priorities for the 2009 session. Send your thoughts to Lasa Joiner or Michelle Crider in the GLMA Executive Office: lasaj@jlh-consulting or michelle@jlh-consulting.com.
Meanwhile, stay tuned…
Lasa Joiner & Michelle Crider
Do you have a new school in your district that needs a Teacher Passcode to access the GPB Education Streaming resource?
With the 2008-2009 school year starting, many school districts are contacting GPB Education to set up their new schools.
In order to add an individual school to the streaming database, please complete the following:
Email the bulleted information below to Brad Walse (brad_walse@discovery.com) and the Education Sales Team education_sales@discovery.com at Discovery Education.
After receiving the required information, Discovery Education will enter the new school account into the streaming database, the account will be created and the Teacher Passcode information will be sent to Contact Name you provide.
If you have any questions, please contact Discovery Education at 1-800-323-9084.
Have a fantastic school year!
Jascenda Pasley, Administrative Assistant.
