Media Mavens

As a student, have you ever been sitting in a classroom and feel "totally lost" while the student sitting beside you seems to understand everything??? Or maybe you have a friend who can recite every word from a poem or song that he/she just heard. There is a reason for this--diversity! Diversity means that we are all different—none of us are exactly the same. Some of us are blonde, others brunette. Some of us speak with a strong southern drawl, and others with a more northern accent. Some of us are visual learners, while others are more auditory learners. We are all special and unique--that's what makes us who we are. If we were all the same the world would be a very boring place! This is true of technology and the media center. The media needs to be a place full of an assortment of materials and technology to fit all needs, interests, and learning styles. For example, I absolutely LOVE reading books on history and politics. I find the topics fascinating and exciting. However, I would venture to guess that there are many of you who are thinking right at this moment “how boring!!” and would rather have the flu than sit down with a history book in hand. Let’s ponder for a moment--what if you went into a media center and all it seemed that was on the shelves were books on history and political science—would you be interested? Would you consider there to be a lot of variety? The answer is obviously a resounding NO! As media specialists we need to include materials on all subjects and interests. We also need to make certain that materials are available in different reading levels and formats. Due to different learning styles and varying languages spoken, materials should be accessible in audio format and video format, when at all possible. Media specialist need to encourage diversity through purchasing and providing materials that will meet the needs of ALL students, not just a select few. Bilingual students and students with special needs should be able to come into the media center knowing that they will find materials that will help and interest them. It is our responsibility as media specialists to make certain our collections are as diverse as the patrons who use them. Encouraging an open-mind and knowledge on different cultures, religions, faiths, and traditions are all part of supporting diversity in the media center. Materials should reflect the uniqueness of us all.

Technology is also a great tool in helping support diversity in media centers. There are many software programs and websites that can be used to help ESL and multilingual students with reading and spelling, as well as math and science. During my field experience, I observed ESL students using a website called Starfall.com. This site provided reading instruction by using reading games to help the students learn. Also, I watched as students with learning disabilities used a website called Raz-kids.com to help them learn to read. Other sites being used included BrainPop and WordBuilder, among many others. There is so many different websites and technologies to choose from to meet the DIVERSE needs of our students. As media specialists, we need to embrace our differences and make certain that we use a variety of software programs, websites, and materials to meet the needs and interests of all.

Diversity is one of those words that can – and should – have many definitions. At the very least, the word should have many interpretations. Limiting diversity to culture or race is a stereotype in itself.

Diversity is culture and race. It is gender, socioeconomic status, special needs, intelligence, language, and anything that makes us different. The thing is, diversity is all of these things and what is important is that we embrace them all.

I don’t mean this in a politically correct, “We Must Embrace Diversity,” kumbaya kind of way (although I’m not opposed to that). That is what the word has come to mean, I fear. But what I’m saying is we are all diverse. None of us is exactly alike and we should remember that when we are planning activities or lessons. My mom is an identical twin; and trust me the opinions and interests of my mom and my aunt couldn’t be more diverse.

What I have been learning over the last few semesters is that all students are diverse. Yes, they have different skin colors and some speak different languages; but they are all diverse learners and have different levels of intelligence and means of processing information. I have to write things down to absorb them into my memory. My friend Megan can hear a song one time on the radio and be able to sing it back to you a week later. Theresa and my brother both have amazing abilities to recall everything they read. This is diversity, just not the way we are told to think about it.

What has really made me think about diversity the last few weeks are the projects I’ve done for my other class – Media Programming. I’ve been working on my school-wide project and my two-year plan; both of which ask for activities for many groups around the school. This, I think, helps us think about diversity in programming. But Dr. Goldberg doesn’t limit us to thinking about certain cultures or races in either project. She wants us to think of activities for a wide range of groups within the school – all diverse and all important.

For the school-wide program especially, I tried to think of activities that fit within the theme – Adventures in Dewey – and worked with both state standards and a variety of different students. For example, I wanted art students working on Halloween masks that represented different cultures and religions. I had music students learning holiday songs in different languages. Special needs students read jokes and poetry, while at-risk students created a Valentine podcast for a loved one; and gifted first graders created a weather station. Different grade levels were included, different learning styles were embraced, and different ages did different levels of activities. But all of the lessons were aimed at celebrating the interests and ability levels of students.

And that is what I think we have to remember as media specialists especially. Because we are in the unique situation of teaching all of the students; we must encourage and support diversity through our ideas and actions. Everyone is diverse and each person has strengths and weaknesses. If we take a student’s diversity and use the strength of it, we will help that student achieve so much more.

So how do I define diversity, or diverse? The same way I do unique – something everyone is and should strive to be.

As a special education teacher, when I think of the media center and diversity I quickly think of students who read at very low levels, but who want age appropriate materials. The media specialist must make sure that she has some of these books or at least, books with cds, so that these students can enjoy books appropriate to their age group. My husband use to read books for an organization called Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB &D). When one goes to the RFB & D website, a search can be made for almost any book or textbook that is used in school today. What is costly is that the playback machines are around $350 to $400. Of course, if a student has an Individualized Education Plan, the Special Education Department may purchase the equipment he needs. If not, the media specialist may want to talk to the special education teacher to see if funds exist in her budget for one of these devices if they do not exist in your budget.

Accessibility to the media center is the other topic that I think about. Is your library one that will allow a student who is in a wheelchair to comfortably come in and sit at a computer and do research? Is there a wheelchair ramp if your media center has stairs? How will this student access books on the third, fourth, and fifth shelves of your library? There are usually simple answers to these questions; however, one does have to think about them so she is not caught off guard when the occasion arises.

Of course, diversity extends way beyond the realm of special education. There are so many good books out today on multiculturalism and the different races that exist in the schools. Now that some schools are teaching languages other than Spanish, the media specialist can include books about those languages, too. And because children come from such blended backgrounds, I think we will be fascinated by the number of different students who will be interested in checking these books out.

Long, long ago, before the invention of the printing press, there were bards, minstrels, and scops. These individuals were the original storytellers, singing stories and poems to royal audiences. Equipped with nothing more than a lyre and an imagination, masterful storytellers were in high demand by the courts. Their stories of war and conquests, dragons and dragon slayers were embellished with each retelling.

At the time, the oral tradition was the only way to pass along stories from generation to generation. There were no records, and many times stories would die with their storyteller. The epic, Beowulf, is the oldest surviving poem.

Throughout the ages, grandparents have passed stories along to their grandchildren. Children, before they can even read, have come to enjoy story time and bedtime stories. Through stories, we learn about different cultures and traditions. As an added bonus, storytelling is cheap entertainment enjoyed equally by the young as by the old.

With the advent of the digital era came new ways to share stories. Although nothing quite beats a well-told tale around the campfire, students are becoming more aware of this new medium. Teachers are using digital storytelling to not only share information, but also to make an impact. Carefully selected images and audio tracks can pack a powerful message about historical events. Images and music may be used to summarize literary classics. They can even be used to demonstrate how to perform tasks in science and mathematics.

But teachers are not the only ones creating digital stories. Students have become quite adept at authoring digital content featured on the Net. Students who make digital stories use critical thinking and information literary skills to compile images and music for maximum effect. As they master the technology required to compile such artifacts, they are using their imaginations to tell a story of their own.

I know you might be thinking, “Wow, this is great!” The digital age makes so many things easy that were not even possible before. What if, however, some time in the future all content went digital? What would happen to library shelves filled with literature representing the written tradition? Even though I don’t see books ever disappearing, it is obvious that e-books are becoming increasingly popular.

In fact, I was channel surfing a couple of nights ago, and on pops a commercial for Amazon.com’s Kindle. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been eyeing these with keen interest. I am enamored by the concept of being able to download books in less than a minute. But the Kindle is expensive, and I can’t justify it. I’m even thinking they could be a trend. Their best sellers may only run between $7 and $13, but why spend money when there are resources out there such as ICDL and Project Gutenberg which are absolutely free. I thought storytelling and reading stories were suppose to be relatively cheap entertainment, after all.

I think there is a definite demand for e-books. I see media centers with online reference databases such as GALILEO. But after much thought, I really do not think that electronic resources and e-books are going to be replacing print books anytime soon. The main reason I feel this way is because not everyone will have access to digital resources outside of a school setting. To me, it seems impossible that a segment of the population will be totally denied when putting a book in a child’s hands is so easy.

Digital Storytelling
Storytelling.

I’m no expert on history – but to me storytelling has been around as long as people have had a voice and a tale to tell. Even drawings on cave walls were stories, though the voice wasn’t audible and maybe the language not as defined.

Our textbook says “the word ‘storytelling’ connotes something primitive, even childlike. It brings to mind sitting around a campfire being delightfully frightened by a ghost story, or sitting on a rug in kindergarten listening to classmates show and tell” (Diaz & Fields, 2007). Campfire stories and “story times” I’ll give them as being childlike, and well, I suppose you could call our cave-dwellers’ drawings primitive. But I see storytelling as neither of these descriptors.

According to my friend Megan Almon, a seminary student and leader of our weekly Bible study, much of the Old Testament of the Bible was passed down from generation to generation through oral retelling. Yes, eventually someone wrote everything down, but for many, many years the Bible was passed down through storytelling (M.Almon, personal communication, November 12, 2009). Some of the recitation may have leaned more towards formal oral history; but I’m betting that some of the stories like Moses parting the Red Sea, Noah and the ark, Joseph and his brothers, and Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son Isaac were told with some passion and dramatic inflection.

Being a born and bred Georgia girl, I think of storytelling as a southern thing. My mind conjures up pictures of Mark Twain spinning a tale of mischief and humor; Lewis Grizzard relating a history of growing up in a small, southern town; or Uncle Remus (Joel Chandler Harris) relating the antics of Brer Rabbit. All of these men I see speaking aloud, in front of a rapt and adoring audience – and how I wish I could have been among them.

A Google search, however, tells me that I am wrong. Yes, there is a strong storytelling presence in the south. The Magnolia Storytelling Festival at the Bulloch House in Roswell, GA and the Smokey Mountains Storytelling Festival in Pigeon Forge, TN are both well-known. But there are festivals in California, Utah, New York, Connecticut, Nebraska, Texas, and even Manila. Storytelling is universal!

What is also universal is how to tell a good story. From our earliest days of elementary school we are taught to both listen and to create. The Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) puts these more succinctly than I could, so the “Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling” are:
1. “Point of View
2. A Dramatic Question
3. Emotional Content
4. The Gift of Your Voice
5. The Power of the Soundtrack
6. Economy
7. Pacing” (University of Houston, 2009).

Except for maybe the soundtrack, these are not new steps. Every creative writing classes, scriptwriting classes, even my dad the newspaper publisher, have all stressed (in some way or another) the critical elements to a good story. And honestly, the scriptwriting classes tell you to think about the soundtrack too, so that’s not new either.

So the question is not how can we use digital storytelling in schools, but how can we not use it in schools. Digital storytelling is just the latest medium in the storytelling timeline. We have progressed from drawing on cave walls with berries and sticks to the pen and pencil to the printing press to the typewriter to the computer to electronic sound and video files. Of course, through all of this, oral storytelling has never gone away, but I’ll stick with digital storytelling for now.

The aspect of digital storytelling that I think would appeal to educators (it certainly does to this future educator) is that it speaks to so many learning styles. The University of Houston’s site (2009) also mentions this. Students who learn through writing can create their own script, or storyboard as we are doing for our project. Students who learn visually will see the images or video telling the story. Students who learn best through auditory means can use the soundtrack to get their point across. Artistic students, well, they’ll just have it all. And I even believe that students who learn kinetically can still thrive through the movement and potential action or animation through the story. It is a win, win, win, win, win situation.

Then too, students are learning to communicate, to create, to think about their audience; while they are also learning writing skills, art skills, technology, and information gathering.

Maybe it is because I simply love language and stories, almost regardless of the presentation style. But I believe digital storytelling is an amazing tool, and one I can’t wait to learn more about myself.

Ebooks
I don’t have an iPhone or even an iPod. My friends have told me they love reading books on their Kindle, but I confess I don’t know what one looks like or how it works. I have used http://www.austen.com/ to read Pride and Prejudice for probably the tenth or twelfth time, but that was because a fellow Jane Austen fan found the site and we decided to read a chapter a day just to get a different perspective of the book. I highly recommend it!

To say I have nothing against ebooks would probably be an understatement. I strongly support anything that helps a person develop a love of literature. And far be it for me to dictate the method one chooses to read a book. I’m currently listening to Hugh Laurie read Great Expectations and marveling that this man plays “House” every week on television. Listening to the first Dickens book I ever read is also stirring up my need to read every Charles Dickens book ever written and finish my quest to read the entire Narnia series and Jane Austen’s works.

So I readily admit that different formats are perfectly wonderful.

To me though, there is something about the weight of a book in your hands. There was a joy in the weight, the heft, of holding that last Harry Potter book in my hands the day it arrived that was comforting – even if it was the last time. I even love inexpensive paperbacks that you can bend all the way back and just see one side at a time, sitting in a lounge chair on a beach. I read Sense and Sensibility for the first time this way two months ago. (But don’t worry, I always buy cheap paperback books for the beach.)

Still, as I said, I will take stories any way I can get them. And on the Guttenberg site, I saw a long list of Louisa May Alcott stories that I need to investigate. I might even download Eight Cousins, because it’s my favorite and I like to have as many copies of it as possible.

One thing I appreciated about the Guttenberg site was the books in various languages. How helpful that would be to a school with a small budget that doesn’t have a lot of money for ESOL materials. Students could read books in Spanish to help with some of their language arts assignments. This was true of the International Children’s Digital Library site too, and I think it is an amazing resource.

My favorite parts of the International Children’s site are the amazing graphics and the fact that you can see the book covers and the actual pages with illustrations. I got hooked in the Award Winners section and loved the artwork for The Cricket Who Could Not Sing.

My (field experience) media center does not circulate ebooks, although I’m certainly going to share these sites with my mentor after the Thanksgiving holidays. We do however use electronic resources, the primary one being GALILEO. She will start teaching GALILEO to the classes beginning in January. And even though I’ve heard Dr. Child teach GALILEO for the last two years and I’ve used it countless times in my media classes; I always learn something new whenever I hear her teach or search for a new topic. It is truly an wonderful resource.

So I guess you can say that my eyes have been opened. Not that I was ever against ebooks, but I can certainly see more uses for them – especially when you can get free ebooks in today’s budget-terrorized schools. I can also see them appealing to students who prefer technology to paper, or even audio to reading. I did notice a few of the Gutenberg titles were audio, and this would help students with vision impairments. This can also be said of the fact that the International ebooks can be magnified.

I’ll still always love holding a book in my hands, but now I’m curious about the world of ebooks. Does anyone know where I can find a Kindle?



Diaz, K., & Fields, A.M. (2007). Digital storytelling, libraries, and community. In N. Courtney(Ed.), Library 2.0 and beyond: Innovative Technologies and tomorrow’s user (pp. 129-139). Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited.

University of Houston. (2009). The Educational uses of digital storytelling. Retrieved from http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/index.html

Have you ever asked other teachers for help with a new technology offered to you in your school or classroom and received an "I'm sorry, but I don't know how to work it either" reply? Or to make things even worse, you go to your media specialist and ask for help only to hear "I have no idea, I am sorry." Well, I don't know about you, but I have been in those situations and found them VERY frustrating! As a teacher I wanted so desperately to utilize all the tools available to me in order to enrich my lessons and address all my student's learning styles. However, I was not trained on the new technology given to me and neither were my colleagues or the school's media specialist. During faculty meetings we, the teachers and media specialist, would ask the administration for some type of training on the new equipment. Each time we made the request we were told that the budget would not allow for tech trainers to come in and explain the equipment to us. Not only was this irritating, but it just did not make any sense. For one thing, why spend the money on equipment if the teachers and media specialist can not be trained to properly use it? If fiscal issues are the reason for lack of technology training, why would the equipment be purchased in the first place? Doesn't it seem like a waste of money to have equipment just sitting and not being used? We asked ourselves how can we remedy this situation? There must be a way to solve this problem so that we can use the great technology available to benefit our students. After all, we were eager and willing--and as the old saying goes "where there's a will, there's a way"!! We (the teachers and media specialist) decided to take matters into our own hands and be resourceful. We all put our heads together and made a list of people that we knew personally who worked with the newest in educational technology--in particular the new Promethean boards and LCD projectors. We soon found out that between all of us we knew no less than 10 people that worked in the field. We made some phone calls and before we knew it we were having technology training in our school. This training was offered in the evenings and periodically on weekends. Best of all--the training was FREE! The technology trainers donated their time to the school community. You may be thinking what is the meaning of all this?? What is the big deal? WHY IS TECHNOLOGY TRAINING SO IMPORTANT??? Let me explain...
Upon receiving the proper training on the use and set-up of the new technologies offered in our school, teachers began using the equipment on a daily basis. Student achievement went up and enthusiasm for learning became evident. Students seemed to enjoy learning with the new Promethean boards. It was a great change from the old overhead projectors the teachers had been using. Communication between teachers and students increased and students became more interested in the lessons being taught. If technology training had not occurred, the equipment would still be sitting there unused, resulting in a waste of funds and a waste of educational opportunities.
Technology training is a MUST in schools with the latest in educational technologies. From Promethean boards to LCD projectors, teachers and media specialists need to understand how to use them. School administrators need to recognize the importance of such training and do whatever is feasible to insure that teachers and media specialists have the training they need to properly utilize the equipment. At the very least, media specialists in the schools need to be taught how to use the equipment so that they can instruct teachers on how to use the technology. This is a great way to encourage collaboration between media specialists and teachers. Media specialists should actively inquire on in-services that teachers have interest in attending so that their time is utilized to the greatest extent. No one like for his/her valuable time to be wasted. A needs assessment should be completed to see what the needs of the faculty are in regard to technology. For instance, what do they want to learn more about? What technologies do they have in their classrooms that they do not know how to use properly? Once the media specialist knows what the faculty want, he/she can better create an in-service to address these needs. The main goal is technology training. It is my humble opinion that all schools need to offer it!

Having taught upper elementary students for many years, I was used to taking my time to prepare lessons from curricular objectives, available textbooks, library resources, and whatever audio-visual materials I could rustle up. When I became a media specialist, I had organized myself to be ready for the cataloging, checkout, book mending, and minor technical repairs that most media specialists encounter. As Lanham and Truelove (2009) write, "In addition to all the 'old' duties of librarianship, today's media specialist now has to be concerned with much, much more! Information Literacy Standards, new and emerging instructional technologies, collaboration, curriculum teaming, administration of the media center, coordination of technology, writing grants, on and on" (Lanham & Truelove, 2009 PowerPoint presentation).

During that first fall of my tenure as media specialist, however, I was quickly brought into the world of inservice training through the "baptism by fire" method that many new media specialists find themselves. Yes, I was equipped with my trusty Sears and Dewey books, Demco book tape, and label protectors. Collaboration? I had begun some informal discussions and planned a media survey for later in the month. I felt I was ready to go. What I, as a new media specialist, was clearly NOT prepared for was the August 2:00 afternoon call from my principal asking me to be ready to show everyone how to run our new LCD projector for the 3:00 faculty meeting that same afternoon. I mention here, also, that I had JUST learned to run it myself about 1:30 that day! Quickly perusing the projector manual, jotting down a few notes, and frantically unwinding the seemingly endless cord, I put together a 10 minute "gun and go" short course on the "Dukane Model 8755E." Knees together, head up, I was immediately thrust into the inservice limelight, introducing a projector with which I had barely nodding acquaintance! Inservice "technical expert"? That would be a resounding "No!" Laughable now, but as I view my "tech time to go" from a three year perspective, that afternoon a novice media specialist met a receptive, welcoming faculty with a desire to learn about the new projector, capable of forgiving my inadequacies, and a willingness to try it out themselves in the days following. I know now how lucky I was to have such a congenial audience!

That afternoon cemented my intentions as a media specialist and technological coordinator--stay flexible, be open to learning about new things and technologies, and be prepared for just about anything! I have found that the ready reply, "Yes, I will try," or its alternate, "Yes, I think we can do that!" are good responses to administrators who want information on the latest technologies or your help in setting up yet another presentation to parents, teachers, or other administrators.

While it is certainly possible to do a short inservice "on the fly," as described above, it is definitely better for a media specialist's blood pressure to have some prior notice and time to prepare. Since most schools are tightening the strings on the budget purse and can't afford to hire consultants or outside speakers, many have gone to the "train the trainer" style of inservice delivery. In this model, media specialists are sent to training sessions or hooked into phone/computer webinars to learn about new procedures or technologies they will later present to the faculty. Jurkowski (2006) says, "We can either find outside professional development opportunities for teachers and staff, or we can coordinate the sharing of skills and information among everyone already in the school" (p. 184).

How do we begin to address the skill levels and needs for information among our teachers? How do media specialists start the technology/information ball rolling in their schools?

As media specialists, we can plan successful, useful technology training for our faculties by including teachers in the decision-making process in choosing topics, making sure our inservice time stays on message but maintains interest, and keeping our teachers' differentiated learning styles in mind. Jurkowski (2006) has some ideas on planning inservice sessions. "Ask teachers what they want to learn . . . a detailed survey with possible suggestions is an ideal option . . . linked to new software or hardware that the school has obtained or ideas, trends, and techniques that are uncovered at conferences, during reading the literature, or visiting other schools and participating in professional organizations. This may also include observing teachers and seeing how they interact or don't interact with technology in their lessons" (p. 185).

Reluctant teachers may feel that inservices are time-wasters, or that what they've always used is all they'll ever need. A new media specialist, fresh from the informational explosion of college courses, listervs, technology conferences, and e-subscriptions to all the latest techie magazines, will be eager to show others how to turn their classrooms into educational entertainment extravaganzas. We are just so raring to go!

Sometimes, though, we as media specialists, need to take time to focus our attention on what teachers really want to know. We must assess needs, either by printed or electronic survey to find out WHAT teachers WANT to know and WHAT they ALREADY know. Teachers may not be ready to learn about a mimio(tm) if they have not learned how to set up a computer projector. While not wanting to dampen my own enthusiasm and eagerness in sharing all this exciting technology, I have found that it is helpful to remember that not all teachers are as willing to accept all this "newness" in a rapid-fire light and sound show. After a LONG day in the classroom trying to get students to the next level with performance standards mandated by the state, many teachers want this technological information but need it in smaller doses.

It is the thoughtful, perceptive media specialist who will want to make the idea of "another inservice" something inviting and useful to teachers who may never have darkened the door of a technological demonstration or felt they needed to change anything. Mindful of teachers' many other teaching and nonteaching duties, it is important to keep inservices to shorter, meaningful packets of time, on point, and interactive. Planning for that 10-15 minutes of inservice time your principal may give you during a faculty meeting is easier if you bullet main points on a short agenda or presentation and give the teachers time to stretch and touch the equipment you are exhibiting. We media specialists are glad for the exposure and really don't want to wear out our welcome by coming on too strongly.

How can media specialists bring new technologies or strategies to reluctant or energetic teachers? Based on a few of my own experiences, I have a few suggestions for the longer inservices we may be asked to plan for professional learning days or half-day planning sessions.

1. Remember to bring teachers into the planning of inservices with informal discussion and survey. That brief talk in the hall about netTrekker(tm) or Discovery Streaming might be a great place to start. A more formal written or electronic Google survey can list media center technologies available (but unused) or Web 2.0 technologies may pique interest among the faculty. Work with team leaders, department chairs, and the principal to find good times to meet with small groups or whole groups for inservices. We need to keep our professional colleagues in the loop.

2. Prior to the actual inservice day, give brief written and/or online handouts that highlight the topic and its usefulness to teaching with GPS. I like to include handouts as attachments to initial emails announcing an upcoming inservice. Mention of door prizes or give-aways heightens interest, too. Earlier notice of your inservice may help to eliminate that dreaded response (Fill in the blank--"___Again!") and begin to set a more positive mood about your inservice, get the teachers thinking about the technology or topic ahead of time, and give them time to put this event on their calendars.

3. Keep the inservice atmosphere light--have a short fun activity related to the technology and/or GPS to engage the group in beginning or ending the session. Small door prizes or give-aways are mood brighteners.

4. Tie newer technologies to practical inclusion with teaching the standards mandated by the state. As teachers see real world application of newer tools to help them teach, they may be more inclined to try these new strategies.

5. Offer time to practice with the technology during the inservice presentation so teachers can have hands-on interaction before trying the technology later by themselves. Potential "bugs" can be identified or eliminated right away during this practice time.

6. Have a post-inservice assessment discussion and/or sheet ready for the participants before they leave. Teachers will be more inclined to give accurate feedback when the session is fresh in their minds. If this is not possible, have a Google Doc survey available online through email very soon after the inservice. Turner and Riedling (2003) add, "[that] at the close of the inservice, the presenter will often be exhausted and faces the many tasks that were put aside in order for the workshop to be possible . . . [but] an effort should be made to evaluate the effectiveness. A simple feedback form can provide the basis for this evaluation. Notes jotted down while giving the workshop can be organized. Making a brief list of things to add or delete the next time can significantly add to the effectiveness of future workshops" (p. 67).

7. Offer to help with implementation of the technologies during the school day, at planning periods, before or after school. Make yourself and your email available for questions or comments as teachers actually use the materials, equipment, or online technologies.

8. If technical installation is needed, especially for the Web 2.0 plug-ins, be ready to help teachers get through the process by submitting help tickets to the tech department in your district for them. Teachers need to know you as the go-to person for help with all media center needs and technology.

Will I have more "tech times to go"? Inevitably, there will more times when I will need to have a 10 minute seminar ready to go at breakneck speed. During those short and sweet hands-on sessions I want to be confident enough to suggest that with sufficient teachers' interest, I could do an expanded version on our next work day. I can also hope that I will be able to plan and construct longer technological inservices that teachers will need, enjoy, learn from, and eventually ask for more. As I continue to think about possible topics for tech staff development, I will try to be mindful of teachers' time, needs, and levels of progress with technology. I will also remember that "involvement as an instructional consultant, if approached in a sane, deliberate, and nonjudgmental manner, can be a real force for excellence in the education of our children and young adults" (Turner & Riedling, 2003, p. 68). We CAN make our technological resource training relevant, fun, and informative--real tech times that not only go, but succeed!

Resources

Jurkowski, O. (2006). Technology and the school library. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

Lanham, R. & Truelove, C. (2009). The school library media specialist today: Changing old perceptions [PowerPoint(tm) presentation]. Retrieved November 13,2009, from http://www.loogootee.k12.in.us/high/mediacenter/conferenceresources.htm

Turner, P. & Riedling, A. (2003). Helping teachers teach. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

The current state of skills that are possessed by the faculty at the school in which I am being mentored ranges from people knowing very little about technology and hating the fact that they have a Smartboard in their room because they do not know how to use it all the way to teachers that use every kind of technology that they can get their hands on. I feel that there will always be those who are fearful and resistant to learning about new technology, especially since it is always changing is becomes outdated so quickly. What is also a constant factor is sometimes teachers will go to a conference and learn about a great software or technology that can be used in their classroom only to find out that the school system they are in cannot afford to purchase it. When I first learned how to use the Smartboard, my school system would only buy it for the ninth grade academy. What was especially unfortunate about this is the students became accustomed to using the Smartboard in ninth grade, and then they had to go back to the boring overhead projectors or dry erase boards once they went up to tenth grade.

In Madison County, staff development is provided during teacher work days or during preplaning. New teachers come in during preplanning. Some training is held during planning periods and some occurs after school. If it were my responsibility to provide technology training, I would have it during planning periods as much as possible. Teachers already have enough to do after school and need their time during preplanning to get ready for their classes.

One thing I would do before giving an inservice on technology is give a survey to see what my staff is interested in learning about so that I am not wasting their time. I would probably be best to do this on-line using Google Surveys so I would get a good number of responses back. Jurkoski suggests using the same things that we do with our students: handouts (1-2 pages) with simple directions, various fonts and colors to keep things interesting, images & Clipart (2006). Do not just lecture. Give teachers the opportunity to practice what they have learned with partners or in small groups.

Jurkowski, O.L. (2006). Technology and the school library. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.