Wendell Middle Media Center

We survived 25...

2011-09-29T13:21:00.003-04:00

What a month it has been! We're 25 days into the school year now and what good news we have to report:

Circulations are booming, in spite of staff reduction. We checked out nearly 3000 books to our students in September.
Students are ENGAGED, asking lots of questions about reading
and books. They are requesting books for our library that they WANT to read.
We had 1080 students through orientation in five days. Whew! We started off the month by getting students the information they need to start using all their resources: Blackboard, Destiny OPAC and access to the school network.

We had two promotions this month:

We are finishing a successful collaborative Banned Books Week celebration. The American Library Association dedicates the last week of September to celebrating our Freedom to Read. In HOWL classes, students are learning all about the First Amendment, hearing famous authors read from their own challenged books, learning about the history of famous banned or challenged books, and answering questions about their own ideas of intellectual freedom. Our banned books list is nearly all checked out. Way to go, WMS!

The NC Smartest Card Campaign features Beaux Foy, the lead singer for local rock band Airiel Down. I played their Hurricane Warning song, most commonly known for the music our Carolina Hurricanes skate out to after each period.
Beaux supports literacies of all kinds by asking teens to visit thier local libraries for all the awesome programs that are available to them. I handed out many applications to students and will be excited to get their cards back to them when they arrive! Thanks, Beaux!

If I had to choose only one word to describe this year, I would choose 'overwhelming'. We are all working at a frenetic pace to keep up with shortages: teachers, support staff, administrators, students and parents. I am amazed each week at the level of teamwork we are achieving. Veteran teachers are reaching out to help new teachers. New teachers are making an incredible effort to catch up with policies and procedures while teaching a rigorous curriculum. Support staff are working long hours to keep up with it all. Students are coming to school prepared to learn. Parents are active in our PTA and volunteering more hours this year. Custodians are working overtime to keep the building gorgeous. Administration is very supportive of us all.

We strive for excellence in educational support at our WMS Media Center. I'm happy to report that students are feeling supported this year. Many new students have given positive feedback about our collection, learning space and resources. I have often heard "you have books I like to read" and "I'll be back later this week for more books". The efforts to develop policies to support readers, hours spent on research and collection development and constant collaboration have paid off! It is with great enthusiasm that I exclaim, "We are boy-friendly at WMS!"

Here is a great article by award-winning and favorite teen author, James Patterson to explain what I mean:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/opinion/patterson-kids-reading/

The Top 10 Checkouts in September were:
1. Naruto. Vol. 25, Brothers
2. Rurouni Kenshin. Vol. 28, Toward a new era : Meiji swordsman romantic story
3. Dragon Ball Z. Vol. 23
4. Pita-ten : official fan book. Volume 1
5. 3D optical illusions
6. Cut (McCormick)
7. French phrases for dummies
8. Tales from a not-so-popular party girl (Russell)
9. Diary of a wimpy kid : the last straw
10. Diary of a wimpy kid : Greg Heffley's journal

Some activities coming up in October

:
- Poe's

Masque of Red Death

reading for our 6th grade students
- Big 6! Research process review with all grades
- Spooky Books display
- Bullying Prevention Month book display

Creative Educating

2011-07-26T20:47:00.001-04:00

In the 2010-2011 school year, my Individual Growth Plan was to prove high circulations would bolster reading scores. I was able to prove an expected, yet interesting point instead: classrooms having more frequent interaction with the media specialist had notably more growth than those who didn’t.
This year, many school libraries will do without a team of media specialists. Most will have one media specialist and no assistant for up to one thousand students. At WMS, we are fortunate to have a part-time assistant, but still need to get creative to make this work.
How will we keep our program moving forward this year?
I can sit in my office and brood about the state of school libraries in the United States, but I choose to do anything I can to step out into the classroom and create a dynamic teaching experience for our students. By using the duo powers of teacher content experience and background knowledge with my resource knowledge and matching appropriate educational technologies, our students at WMS have a chance for a learning experience they will retain to develop themselves as lifelong information seekers. Working collaboratively is the key to provide an enriching classroom experience. Promoting the information center as the core of our school environment is essential.
You’ll see me in your department meetings, at leadership meetings, begging staff members to contribute by becoming active members of our Media Technology Advisory Committee. We will work together to find the best resources possible, create dynamic lessons, teach digital citizenship and work together to implement them for a successful school year.
This means that I will be less available to look up student logins already available on the network, troubleshoot technology issues and a/v problems, and write lesson plans by myself. I’m calling on teamwork to help our students succeed this year. I know we can do it, in spite of the impossible obstacles before us. We are a teaching and learning community. Let’s keep that in perspective and bring our best game this year.

First Gaming Day

2011-05-01T21:46:00.003-04:00

As I quickly scratch off the remaining calendar days for this year, I am stunned to realize there are only 29 days left! We have been so busy in the media center, most recently to host our first gaming day.
Why should students play games in the media center? I had School Library Journal to thank for the idea. Over a period of three years, I have been reading about more schools, specifically middle schools, offering this activity to their students. Purpose varied from parent engagement activities to reading rewards. Ours was a data-driven decision.
As a member of our school's Literacy Data Team and Leadership Committee, I am immersed in discussions of data-driven planning. I wanted to see how our numbers could help drive student interaction. Our circulation data in December showed that our sixth graders were checking out an abundance of books (they will have their day soon, don't worry!), but our 8th grade was seriously lagging with an appalling 81 books for the entire grade level!
Consulting with the Language Arts teachers, I talked about ways we could boost reading interest in these students. Mrs. Senseney was excited about engaging her students, so we jumped right in to begin planning together. We drafted and implemented a Google docs student survey to target specific reasons students may not be choosing reading as an activity. Based on that data, we talked about ways to introduce students to books they may want to read.
I created a high-interest book pass with teen themes. On another visit, they learned about the Michael J. Printz award books we have in our collection. Ms. Senseney extended this reading encouragement in the classroom with discussions and reading logs.
April data showed that those particular students jumped 30% in their circulation! I was so proud of them, I honestly teared up! Mrs. Senseney and I were so excited for them, that we decided we had to do something to celebrate their efforts.
With the help of the invaluable Mrs. Stevens, our Media Assistant, we all got together to bring in our gaming systems and arrange for snacks. I put together a booktalk of all our books related to games and gaming. We kept it under wraps until the students were bursting with curiosity on the big day!
We had such great fun that the day went quickly. We had four classes of students beaming with happiness and pride in their efforts, and a school full of students asking how they can have this opportunity too. I am thrilled that it was such a success and hope to continue this tradition next year.

Spring Flings

2011-04-15T12:55:00.002-04:00

News and Observer: Eastern Wake News
Article published Apr 10, 2011
WMS Students Turn Media Center Into Poetry Jam

Another Scholastic Book Fair passed by this year.
To celebrate our Family Night, our staff teamed up to host a fun Literacy Night Event.
Although we would have liked to see more families participate, those who did visit were treated to a beatnik-style Poetry Jam. Our own student volunteers served coffee, soda and cookies in a cafe'setting. Student poets performed poetry they wrote and a poem from their favorite author. Some Jazz Band members kept the beat with keyboards, drums and a saxophone.
Dig?

Other stations included vocabulary instruction strategies, text summarizing, read-and-say-something, booktalks featuring books from our fair and EOG highlighting strategies. These all help our students and parents read to learn and learn to read together. We had some great parental compliments!

Overall, the book fair was a success, in spite of the gloomy economy. Students had a great time visiting and helping out with our Student Crew over the last two weeks. Although we missed our goal by only $24.00, we were able to get almost $1200.00 in books for the library and classrooms!! We also had some leftover cash that the PTA will hold for fun activities coming up...
Until next year, happy reading and enjoy all our new books in our

media center.

Wordle of the library life

2011-03-10T14:47:00.002-05:00

NHL All-Star Weekend

2011-01-31T17:23:00.000-05:00

This is my other professional life. When I'm not looking at books or computer screens, I'm looking at monitors and well, computer screens.

A book about Nothing by Janne Teller

2011-01-26T18:47:00.001-05:00

Nothing is a morbid, philosophical mind-bender by Janne Teller. Denmark is the setting for Teller's story, and the name she chose for the town is thought-provoking itself. Taering is a Danish word for "corrode, consume and eat through". The young teens in the town assimilate to their town's namesake.

Pierre Anton is a nihilist who walks away from his schooling to while away the hours in a plum tree. He accosts his former classmates on their way to school with his doctrine that life has no meaning. "Nothing matters, so nothing is worth doing." he proclaims. This infuriates his former classmates, who first try to pelt him with stones to change his perspective. When this fails, they vow to collectively build a "heap of meaning".

They found an abandoned sawmill where they decided to create their heap. At first, they brought favorite items like Dungeons and Dragons books, earrings, and sandals. Resistance began to develop as more meaningful items were suggested for the heap. Suggestions soon became vengeful demands. Their demands for each other became more and more insidious, until morbidity began piling on the heap: a child's exhumed coffin, a sacred prayer rug, the town church's large crucifix, and other horrifying, life-altering sacrifices.

By stripping themselves of their most valuable or sacred items, the teens sank to demoralizing behaviors. Their trials to create a heap of meaning irrevocably changed the teens' personalities. Sophie was a girl who became eerily calm in the process of brutalizing, macabre actions. "...she was rubbing off on the rest of us. What was to happen was a necessary sacrifice in our struggle for the meaning." Everyone had to participate in losing something precious to them for all to experience the loss. Their ultimate loss occured with Pierre Anton's reaction to their sacrifices.

Nothing is a read-alike for Lord of the Flies lovers. Teller's style of repeating words and using reverse superlatives throughout the book help the reader pause to experience the emotions of the characters: "little bit, tiny, little, smaller, nothing." Although the content is far too morbid and grotesque for the middle school ages, I would love to see a teacher take on the challenge of using this with an advanced high school literature course. Existentialism is a difficult concept to teach, but this novel paints a vivid picture of the experience.

January 2011

2011-01-08T12:12:00.001-05:00

What a whirlwind month! We hit the ground running right after our winter break.
The entire 8th Grade worked on a Causes of the American Civil War project. This team-based activity required teams of students to research a topic with quality print and online resources, find and properly credit photos and correctly cite all their sources in MLA format. Students were required to take hand-written notes to help process the information, rather than the common copy-and-paste method of acquiring information. We have some more work to do in that area, but the project was an overall success!

I am currently teaching my very favorite lesson - The Camera Eye. I come from a family of amateur photographers, myself included. I have a photography 'museum' set up where students can see, touch and read about the various types of cameras, film and editing tools from 1908 through today. Students learn about the history of the camera, use the SMARTboard to touch and learn about the anatomy of the human eye, and how the parts of the eye are similar to the mechanics of a camera. The students have so much fun touching real film and looking at the parts of the camera. Next week, the science teachers will work with the students dissecting a cow eye... ewwww! The local newspaper even came out to do a story on our lesson! I have a great time sharing my passion for photography and my family history.

All our teams are now on a rotating schedule to ensure that all our students have access to quality reading materials. It is so important to allow students to take ownership in choosing what they want to read. It helps them develop their identity as readers.

January continues to be a busy month with so many activities planned! We will the 6th and 7th grade classes for an inferencing lesson using "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" and Charlie Chaplin films. Renaissance research is up next for our 6th Grade Social Studies classes. We have Computer Skills testing and a WCPSS workshop planned in January too!

Our Battle of the Books team is in the home stretch for the upcoming Battle of the Books competition in early March. Most of the books on the list have been read, we are meeting twice weekly to drill on our questions and we try to sneak some fun activities in too, like popcorn and a movie next week. The movie is based on "My Dog Skip" by Willie Morris, but it is still fun to point out how the movie script is different than the text.

Ms. Craig, Ms. Shepard and I are moving forward on a new venture to create a local "Guys Read" chapter at WMS. Guys Read is a program created by award-winning author Jon Scieszka, who believes that boys will find interest in reading if we can teach them how to find books they will be interested in reading. This boy-friendly club will focus on hands-on reading and making literacy fun.

We invite our community leaders to stop by to see how much our students benefit from our School Library Media Center. Feel free to call me to set up a visit. We can also use male guest speakers to talk with our Guys Read club about the importance of reading in your daily life. My office number is (919)365-1677.

Winter 2010-2011

2010-12-03T10:54:00.000-05:00

Our media center has been buzzing with activity this year!
Our 6th Grade explored Elements of Fiction through writing
their own picture book, used SAS in Schools Technology to write
a short story, researched ancient Greece,and participated in Book Passes
in various themes.

Our 7th Grade have selected novels for book reports, researched Middle
Eastern Conflict using a Pathfinder and writing their problem/solution
paper on the topic.

8th Grade learned about a Colonial Trade through extensive research and
discovered hands-on non-fiction elements through interactive stations.

Our school-wide literacy initiative is moving ahead with lots of staff
development on reading, vocabulary and writing strategies. We are training
our staff to be highly qualified teachers who employ instructional technologies
for engaging, 21st Century lessons. So far this year, teachers have gotten
instruction or refreshers on SAS in Schools, Destiny OPAC, Today's Meet chat tool and SMARTboard training for our classroom SMARTboards. Every room has one now!

We just started a new method of getting books into the hands of our students.
Students in all grade levels visit our media center at least once each three weeks
to have access to text they choose. We share our reading experiences through
Destiny's rating system, displays and signs. Currently, our staff members are displaying "What I Am Reading" signs throughout the building. The idea is to share
great books and other forms of text with out students, showing them that literacy
lasts a lifetime!

Our Battle of the Books team is in full-swing, hoping to raise our
performance standing a few more notches this year! We are reading and
creating questions, then using technology to dig deeper. During our last
meeting, students used remote responders to answer questions about five
of the books on our list. We will be working with Voice Thread to summarize
stories after the winter break.

The Stage Crew has gotten their introduction to the audio and video equipment in our gorgeous auditorium. We will continue working toward the goal of working independently and effeciently to produce and broadcast in-school events.

We are excited to welcome 6th and 8th grade in December to explore the Middle
Ages and the world's Oceans through research and project-based learning. We have
guest speakers planned to talk about sound and technologies of video games. What
will January bring to our media center?

2010-08-09T08:37:00.002-04:00

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Welcome to the 2010-2011 School year!

We have more students than ever this year and look forward to the challenge of serving everyone with great books, excellent resources and fun activities.

We exist to support staff and students by providing and supporting resources for your curriculum. We have tens of thousands of print and online resources to provide quality information tools for staff and students. Remember that the librarian does not own the library, the patrons do!

We need support!

Do you enjoy learning new technologies? Do you want to be involved in planning our school’s direction toward 21^st Century Teaching and Learning? Do you love to read? Please consider helping out by volunteering. We need support for our Battle of the Books team, the Media Technology Advisory Committee, event planning and organization needs.

We can help.

Do you need help finding that just-right print or online resource for your project? Do you need advice on how to start that overwhelming project you were just handed? We use the Big 6! Research Method at WMS to help you get organized easily. You can start with a simple e-mail to ldextre@wcpss.net, or just stop by the media center to ask for help!

Don’t forget print.

With millions of online options, many often do not realize that quality information can be found in minutes within the pages of a book. I am an expert in determining with efficiency whether print or electronic resources will match your needs.

Orientation

Within the first two weeks of school, we need to get all students through the media center for an orientation. You will receive your network login, blackboard login, barcode and learn all the policies for using the media center. We will plan this through the language arts programs.

Website

I am the school webmaster. If you need information posted on our site, please send details via e-mail. PDF files work best. I usually update over the weekend. I will not be offended if you find any mistakes – I would much rather correct them!
http://wendellms.wcpss.net

Policy Stuff

Our library media center is here to support our learning community. We are not a lounge or baby-sitting service. Please be sure ALL students have their own agenda, signed by a teacher, to enter the media center. Students will keep pertinent information in their agendas, including the barcode used for circulation and userid/passwords. They will punch a time clock upon entry and exit to track movement in the building.

We have lots of 21st Century Tools for classroom learning: wireless tablets, Smartboards, RF remote responders, digital video and still cameras and document cameras. Students must have parents sign a waiver before they can check out cameras - these are same-day checkouts. Laptop carts are available on each floor. Students are held to Policy 6446 and are accountable for damage from misuse. Students are required to stay on task, or will lose their computer privileges at WMS.

February and March

2010-02-22T20:33:00.003-05:00

We are hopping in the media center! I had a great interactive lesson with Mr. Krieger's 6th grade classes using the SMARTboard and document camera to learn about primary resources from Library of Congress on the Dust Bowl. We learned about Dorothea Lange and John Steinbeck's work with the FSA and some of the causes of the great American tragedy.
All 6th grade Language Arts classes had a fun outing to North Hills Theatre to see The Lightning Thief, thanks to the efforts of Ms. Kent for reserving the theatre just for us! We all learned how Hollywood puts their own twist on literature!
We will have a Percy Jackson learning event in the media center as the culminating activity. We will have six stations such as: Medusa freeze tag, Greek Art Center, Reader's Theater, Ambrosia and Nectar refreshment center and online activities. We will have such fun with our costume contest!
The next day is the launch of our spring book fair, "All You Can Read". Our student crew is working diligently to produce a whirlwind 1950's event, including a talent show on Thursday, March 4 at 6:30PM and our very own book fair sock hop in the cafe' on Thursday, March 11th at 7PM.
The show must go on, however. I am teaching inference through reading "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" to Ms. Craig's 6th grade classes. They will also have an opportunity to see Charlie Chaplin's silent films to learn about making inferences.
Ms. Nunn's classes will choose their own books for their next reading unit. Non-fiction and graphic novels are a "novel" choice in this upcoming book pass lesson.
Mr. Krieger's classes will see the hundreds of choices we have in World War II print materials, choosing their very favorites to read on their own!

What a busy and exciting month we have ahead. Stop by for our community events and pick up a copy of YOUR favorite book!

Ms. Ennis will take a winning team to our first Battle of the Books competition in the history of Wendell Middle. Our competitors have been reading diligently to make their mark in WCPSS middle school history. Go team!

Check back to our blogspot regularly to see new and exciting learning events coming up this year.

October Events

2009-10-18T21:23:00.000-04:00

We have had a busy month so far. Look at our entrance display of gripping tales of terror, teeth and terabytes. We have a big selection of books guaranteed to keep you turning pages!

Our National Disability Month display also has a broad range of books that will engage and enlighten you. Learn about Asperger's Syndrome, read about famous Americans with disabilites and read a great story of overcoming an obstacle on the road to success.

Mr. Krieger's classes just finished a big project on South America studies. Students learned many details about their designated country, created a brochure, poster or Powerpoint about the who, what, which, when, where, why and how of their country. We completed the project with a book pass activity on the Amazon Rainforest, followed by an online interactive lesson from SAS in Schools.

Our 8th Grade Social Studies classes completed a research project on Colonial American Occupations, learning how to tan hides, how a slate was used and what a livery did.

We look forward to a week-long learning adventure with our 7th grade science classes. They will be researching to learn the causes and effects of air pollution.

As always, students are visiting with great frequency. They are excited to read our quality materials and have requested books that are in shipment as you read this! To date, we have checked out over 4,000 books since the beginning of the school year! We are thrilled to have such interested readers at Wendell Middle.

First Five Weeks

2009-09-26T08:43:00.000-04:00

We are officially open, whether we are ready or not! We have worked with over 608 students last week during class research. 8th Grade is working with Colonial American occupations and Mr. Kreiger's 6th grade classes are researching countries in South America to make a travel brochure PPT.

We have checked out over 2100 books so far this year, and saw all 865 students for orientation. In the last two weeks, we have seen over 80 students each morning during HOWL time. We're exhausted, but happy!

Ms. Ennis, Ms. Hopkins and I are thrilled that you are as excited as we are to work in the media center. I have worked very hard over the last two years building a quality collection that would serve our middle school needs and interests.

Books YOU requested are on our shelves and in the hands of your friends! Thanks for being a big part of our learning hub at WMS. We continue to be happy to serve your needs this year.