Beyond book knowledge
School libraries offer the latest
technology with Turning Point and other tools
By: REID CHAMPAGNE/Special
to The News Journal
Posted: February 26, 2009
At the library in Alfred G. Waters Middle School in
Middletown, an eighth-grade class uses the power of the Internet to prepare and
publish a PowerPoint presentation comparing the other planets in our solar
system to Earth.
And at the Media Center in the new Appoquinimink
High School in Middletown, a 10th-grade science class is using digital
transmitters to record individual answers to questions on that day's class
material, ensuring 100 percent class participation.
Modern school libraries have evolved. Today's
school librarian isn't even called a librarian anymore. Library media
specialists today are charged with advancing students' knowledge base with a
combination of the latest technology and developing the analytical tools and
know-how to get the most out of that technology.
The media specialists at all three of the above
schools have in recent years been named Delaware Library Media Specialists of
the Year for their work.
"We started our morning news broadcast program as a
way of developing and improving our students' speech skills," said Courtney
Kaczka, who has been Townsend's media specialist for 10 years and received the
statewide honor in 2001.
"Our fifth graders learn how to operate the video
camera, the electronic 'smart board' that is the backdrop of the broadcast and
to read from a prepared script."
During the five- to eight-minute broadcast, the
news team reports on a thought-provoking quote, that day's birthdays, lunch
menu, weather and other pertinent announcements. Some students who become part
of the broadcast team keep dress clothes in their lockers for the days they will
appear on camera, according the Kaczka.
Waters Middle School media specialist Christine
Payne (state winner in 2008) coordinates a pre-lesson program designed to
improve student note-taking and source-citation skills prior to embarking on a
six-step research and problem-solving model that Payne has developed.
Special projects and programs tell only part of
their story as well. Kazcka has broadened the appeal of the library's holdings
by including different textual formats, such as graphic books to appeal to a
broader spectrum of young readers.
"We've also instituted visual icons that aid both
teachers and students in finding related books and materials throughout the
inter-library catalogue system," Kazcka said.
Payne has developed what she calls literary
circles, allowing students to blog to share information on what they're reading.
Payne was also coordinator of a program to keep
school libraries open over the summer. It included traditional projects (help
with district summer reading and research assignments) and non-traditional ones
(camp-outs and performers).
When she worked at Olive B. Loss Elementary in
Bear, she supervised an electronic yearbook and Delaware's only elementary
school newsletter produced by students.
Appoquinimink's media specialist Maria Gregors, who
won the statewide honor in 2005, sees herself as the school's technology
coordinator.
"My goal is to get teachers to use more of the
software and technology that is available here," she said.
At Appoquinimink High, that technology includes a
24-station computer section in the library proper complementing a separate
20-station computer lab, mobile labs containing 14 laptops, multimedia carts
containing an LCD projector, a document camera and PC, as well as a host of
high-tech tools lendable to all classrooms.
Gregors' Turning Point program allows teachers to
pretest their students on classroom material prior to the actual written test.
The program involves an LCD display and individual transmitters provided each
student.
"The idea is to test students' knowledge of the
material prior to the written test," she said.
The program allows instructors such as ninth- and
10th-grade science teacher Brian Conley to determine where his class stands as a
whole, and allows him to identify weaknesses in that knowledge to strengthen
when they return to the classroom.
"Turning Point calculates the percentage of correct
student responses, so that instructors know where to focus their teaching,"
Gregors said.
Special projects and programs tell only part of
their story as well. Kazcka has broadened the appeal of the library's holdings
by including different textual formats, such as graphic books to appeal to a
broader spectrum of young readers.
.
Gregors said simply, "My job is to incorporate
real-world problems into focus for students by drawing on digital tools and
resources that support that objective."
But don't forget, kids. Technology aside, you're
still fined for overdue books.
Picture: Townsend Elementary
School fifth-graders Rahkwon McKnight (left) and Lindsey Koch prepare to read
the school's news live under the direction of media specialist Courtney Kaczka
(right) in the library's broadcast studio, while computer teacher Lou Jara
operates the video camera. Kaczka has been working at Townsend for 10 years and
was named Delaware Media Library Specialist of the Year in 2001.
Photography by: The News
Journal/JENNIFER CORBETT
