My intent with this blog was to post weekly but life happens and so here we are with two weeks having passed since I last posted. I'll hit the high notes of the last two weeks because we were able to do some REALLY cool things in the Media Center in the last two weeks. Please notice I said we. I can't do any of this stuff on my own. I deeply value the partnerships I have with our teachers because without them, there are no classes coming for me to teach and no one to bounce ideas off of.
At our school we have the only ASD (Autism) unit in our District. Ms. Irwin, their teacher, came to me and asked if I could do a Digital Citizenship lesson with her kiddos. Of course, I jumped at the chance and I had just been to a training on Nearpod so I asked her if I could try it out with them. They came in and we used one of the pre-done lessons from Common Sense Media . I adjusted it a little bit for what they needed and we jumped right in. Nearpod is really cool because it works like a presentation but you build in interactive activities and videos and the students really love it. This class really poured themselves into the activity where it asked them to begin drawing and completing a chart. It was the highlight of the week!
This week we had several really awesome things that happened.
Monday I had the pleasure of attending each of our lunches to announce some really BIG news! Kwame Alexander, the most read author of our school, is coming for an author visit on October 2, the day his new book Swing launches. The first 200 students that log one of his books successfully into our 20 Book Challenge will have the opportunity to be in the Media Center during the visit. Our students freaked out! They were so excited and there has been a buzz all over school since Monday. Student are logging books like crazy.
Friday morning before school I offered a session to our teachers on Grant Writing Basics. I was unsure of it any teachers would show up as it was completely voluntary but they did! We had about 15 teachers show up. I went through a presentation on the basics of it and gave them copies of some grants I had written and they all left with smiles, so I believe it went well.
Right after that I had Mrs. Watkins's classes come in. Her first class of the day is an all ESOL class and they've been reading The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya which is a great read for them because it has so much Spanish in it and so much Hispanic culture that helps them feel more comfortable and at home. They've really loved it! We pulled out some of our maker space materials and had them build a replica of the restaurant from the story. They could work alone or in a group. They had a blast!
Her other classes have been reading Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and had just finished it. We did a great activity with them that I got from Jarred Amato , the founder of Project Lit Community. The students had to create a 6 word summary of the story that would make people want to read the book but wouldn't spoil the story. They did a really incredible job!
Finally, Saturday, I was able to host our FAME Regional Meeting at Southwest. We gathered together with over 60 other Media Specialists all over the state for a 3 hour professional training. It was so wonderful! WE covered topics like Collection Development, Florida Power Library, the new AASL Standards, and so much more! It was a wonderful way to connect with others on a Saturday.
Overall, we've had an awesome two weeks in the Media Center and I'm really excited to start this week because I have some cool projects coming up that I can't wait to share with you! Stay tuned!
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