Monthly Archives: January 2011
“We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Pogo said it well, didn’t he? But what did he really mean? Allow me to muse on this since it’s been on my mind as I look at the continuing dismal picture that is Georgia’s K-12 public education.
It is this writer’s humble opinion that Pogo was commenting on the fact that we are all personally responsible for the polluted waters in which we live. It reminds me of a concept in Zen Buddhism that says (and I’m paraphrasing) if you meet an obstacle in your path that does not yield in spite of your every effort to overcome, then you need to understand that you put it there yourself.
Every single day I see emails and hear stories from teacher-librarians about how things don’t work in their schools. The culprits range from uncaring administrators to micro-managing central offices to incompetent clerks to not enough money to… You get the picture. Yet in nearly every one I yearn to hear the suggestion of a solution. Take a look around this state at the teacher-librarians that are making their programs work and are making a difference in their schools and the one thing you will NOT find is an absence of any problems like those mentioned above. They work in spite of those things, folks. So what makes the difference in programs/teacher-librarians that work and those that don’t? I belive it is a kind of divergent thinking exhibited by those who are successful.
Do you have an uncaring administrator? Okay…maybe you’ve talked until you’re blue in the face but nothing has changed. Have you thought of a different approach? Maybe that administrator needs to be shown what you do, not asked if you can do it. Maybe that’s a person who will be impressed with results and turned off by complaints. Maybe you should take a moment and re-examine how you’ve dealt with this person in the past and get suggestions from your successful colleagues about how they’ve overcome this issue. It IS possible but the possibilities begin with YOU.
Do you have a micro-managing central office? How have you approached your building level staff for ideas and suggestions on implementing successful programs? Is there a colleague at your school that is able to get innovative lessons/ideas into practice that you could collaborate with? Sometimes approaching successful staff members with an attitude that includes admiration, respect, and “how can I help you make it even better” will go a long way to changing the status quo.
Do you have a clerk that has no training or experience in a media center? First and foremost, ask yourself what you have really done to bring that person up to speed. Maybe you’re working with someone who needs their duties spelled out in a list format prioritized by daily, weekly, or monthly tasks. Is it extra work? Yes, but isn’t it better than simply complaining that the assistant isn’t assisting? Working with someone who carries a bad attitude with them is probably the most difficult thing in the world and will bring you down quicker than almost anything else. Does that mean you throw up your hands and give up? Well, you could but how does that make YOU look? Find a spot in your school or your media center where you can go and center yourself. Take some deep breaths and repeat “I can handle this. I can rise above this. I can smile and do my job.” I’m not a Pollyanna, folks. I’ve been there. It’s hard. It’ll make you question if you’re really doing what you were meant to do and it’ll make you question whether you even want to get out of your bed and show up every day. But keep one thing in mind – you serve a purpose that is more global and far-reaching than just about anyone else in the building. Allowing one person with a bad attitude to subvert that purpose is ultimately on you. And, who knows, if you can find a way to shift your focus from problems to solutions you may find an administrator willing to entertain suggestions on solving the issue. Show that administrator how your program works, how it affects every single stakeholder in your school community, and how appropriate personnel makes a difference and you just might get some relief from an untenable situation.
These are difficult times made more trying by the economy and a social climate that places public education and public school teachers somewhere in the spectrum of used car salesmen. What are WE doing to change that? Look critically at your situation and determine where your realm of influence ends – then work backwards. Change your world and change the world of a student. That’s why we’re here, after all, isn’t it? To improve student achievement? To help them navigate the tangled overload of information thrown at them every day? To help them think critically about what they see or hear or read? Yes, there are problems – deep problems – but look at them in terms of solutions and you will soon find your focus in a different place. You do indeed have the power to move the obstacles, my friends. Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you and don’t be afraid to tackle it head-on. You make a difference when you choose to do so. What will you do differently today?
Google, Galileo and Cougars, Oh My!
Mrs. Powell, I thought a cougar was an animal!
When the information hit the GLMA blog that Supt. Barge suggested that Galileo was ‘nice but not necessary’, and did not include funding for Galileo in his budget presentation, my first thought was about what most elementary students cut their research teeth on: animals! So I did a search for cougar in Google and in my results list there was not an animal is sight… at least not the 4-legged ones our 2nd graders are looking for!
This is my letter to Supt. Barge and to my representatives. My example was a direct copy and paste – no editing to illustrate my point. I suspect others may have examples to share also.
“Dear Superintendent Barge,
I received information that in your budget presentation to committees Galileo was not funded. Please, as an elementary school library media specialist let me beg you to reconsider!
Again and again – as you know – education and educators bear the brunt of budget cuts. Galileo is a tool that provides our entire state with authoritative databases! Do we really and truly want all of our students and citizens to rely on Google or Bing as their authoritative on line tools? They are commercial search engines! The value of Galileo is beyond dollars; losing it is giving carte blanche to all students and citizens to become informed people based on which commercial group pays the most to become first in the search results list!
In elementary schools animal research is a very common beginning search lesson. I just typed ‘cougar’ into Google and here are my unedited results:
Cougars on the Prowl
Older Women Seek Young Studs Message & View Profiles Free!
mycougarfling.com
Cougars For Younger Men
It’s Easy, Join Now for Free and Meet A Cougar in Your Area Tonight.
www.cougars.net
Cougar Life
Where Sophisticated Cougars Meet Younger Men. As seen on ABC & NBC
cougarlife.com
Search Results
Urban Dictionary: cougar
7 posts – 7 authors – Last post: Feb 17, 2010
An older woman who frequents clubs in order to score with a much younger man. The cougar can be anyone from an overly surgically altered …
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cougar – Cached – Similar
Get more discussion results
Cougar – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The cougar (Puma concolor), also known as puma, mountain lion, mountain cat, catamount or panther, depending on the region, is a mammal of the family …
Cougar (disambiguation) – North American Cougar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar – Cached – Similar
Age disparity in sexual relationships – Wikipedia, the free …
”New Study Claims No Cougar Trend, Dating Websites Attempt To Show …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_disparity_in_sexual_relationships – Cached – Similar
This is real life in our schools! Is this really where we want to take our elementary students? REALLY?
Without access to authoritative databases this is exactly what will happen. And who knows what will be next in pop culture? While searching for ‘bear’ it’s one thing to guide children between information for bears the mammal and bears the football team, but do I really want to guide them through bear is a common word in gay culture? That is the 2nd hit I get in Google in my search of bears.
Please, please, reconsider this recommendation. Google and Bing are great commercial search engines but they are not expert sources for academic use. As the highest elected proponent of solid education in our state please recognize these valuable tools in education… for the WHOLE STATE!”
Martha Powell
Library Media Specialist, Roswell North Elementary School
This entry was posted in Uncategorized
Being There: Attending the ALA Youth Media Awards
No, I didn’t don a full-length gown and gloves for what some call “The Oscars of Children’s Literature.” I hadn’t packed festive attire for the occasion since I was supposed to be home in Atlanta before the big announcements. But, thanks to the southern snow and ice, I was stranded in San Diego long enough to see the ALA Youth Media Awards a couple of weeks ago. It turned out to be a good thing that I wasn’t wearing a gown, since I ended up sitting on the floor of a crowded ballroom along with scores of other youth librarians and literature lovers.
You can check out the full list of winners here, and reactions to the awards by avid children’s literature aficionados are scattered across the web. For this post, I wanted to share the experience of attending the awards in person. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be very exciting. In past years, I have listened to the announcements online or watched the twitter stream, so I knew how the program would go. But from the moment I sat down on the ballroom floor and started listening to and tweeting the awards I realized that participating virtually, while wonderful, could not convey the electricity in the room.
It is amazing to be surrounded by people who are deeply committed to youth, libraries, and literacy. Clearly, many in the room had read lots of this year’s potential honorees. The whispers and murmurs (and sometimes squeals and screams) gave the event such an air of excitement. There were books that were clearly loved and celebrated by many, and honored books that many people had not heard of (yet). The winners were greeted with warm admiration.
Each award is selected through the work of a dedicated committee. Being at this event, where the committee is recognized after each award is announced, rekindled my interest in serving on one of these committees one day. Have any of you ever served on an award committee? Do you hope to serve in the future? Which award would you choose? Two of my recent favorites are the Geisel Award (likely because my youngest child is learning to read so I read a LOT of beginning reader books) and the Schneider Family Book Awards. I reference these lists in my literacy courses often. I hope you’ll share your thoughts on the awards and the committees you’d love to work with in the comments.
As for the awards announcement, it was an energizing experience. I think we all left with good memories, not to mention longer reading lists. It will be wonderful to roll out the red carpet for the Youth Media Awards when ALA’s Midwinter Meeting is held in Atlanta in 2017. (Yes, it’s a ways off, but plenty of time to save up for that Oscar-worthy outfit!)
Beth Friese
Ph. D. Student
Department of Language and Literacy Education
University of Georgia
GLMA District Chairs Needed
GLMA is looking for library media specialists from around the state to serve on the GLMA board. Please consider being a district chair if you live in one of the following areas. We need district chairs to represent the following areas:
South Metro
Counties: Henry, Butts, Spalding, Pike, Lamar, Upson, Fayette
Volunteer needed
Southeast
Counties: Coffee, Atkinson, Bacon, Ware, Pierce, Brantley, Camden,
Charlton, Glynn, Clinch
Volunteer needed
This is a great way to network, contribute to your profession, and become involved in GLMA. (In some districts, two LMS share the position.) This is also a great leadership opportunity and an opportunity to make a difference in our profession. What do our GLMA district chairs do?
1. They encourage LMS in their district to apply for the Library Media
Specialist of the Year award so all districts can be represented in this
state competition.
2. They attend GLMA board meetings and report on events in their district.
3. They hold a meeting in their area, when possible, to discuss concerns
and encourage networking.
Please email me if interested.
Betsy Razza
BETSY_RAZZA@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Betsy L. Razza, M.Ln., Ed.S., NBCT
GLMA President-Elect
Teacher-Librarian and Webmaster
GA Library Media Specialist of the Year 2005
Druid Hills High School
1798 Haygood Drive
Atlanta, Ga 30307
Important GLMA Legislative Alert: Advocating for GALILEO
- How students use GALILEO
- What information students can find on GALILEO
- How Google or other commercial search engines cannot replace GALILEO if K-12 no longer has access to it’s databases
JLH Consulting
Decatur, GA 30030
