We're teaching those skills here in the MPMS Media Center. eWISE, our research model, teaches students to take a topic or problem, look for an answer, and critically evaluate the information they find online. We teach students not only to use technology like iPads, Aurasma, screencasting, and infographics, we teach them in ways they can transfer their knowledge to new forms of technology as they come along. Communication skills are taught through various presentation programs that share knowledge, school email accounts, and effective, safe use of social media. Teamwork and creativity are taught through collaborative projects and group work, often with students having a choice as to how they set their groups up and what they accomplish in those groups.
There was an interesting opinion piece in the News & Observer on Sunday, 8/30. Written by Andy Overstreet, "Standards That Make Sense For Our Children" talks about the skills that our students will need when they are adults entering the working world. "The truth is," Overstreet says,"we don't really know what my 7-year-old granddaughter will face in her life and work 20 years from now. In fact, it's likely most of the jobs needed in 2035 haven't even been invented yet." He goes on to say, "According to the 21st Century Ed Tech website, recent surveys of employers indicate that critical thinking and problem-solving, information technology applications, effective communication skills, teamwork, and creativity are the most preferred skills." We're teaching those skills here in the MPMS Media Center. eWISE, our research model, teaches students to take a topic or problem, look for an answer, and critically evaluate the information they find online. We teach students not only to use technology like iPads, Aurasma, screencasting, and infographics, we teach them in ways they can transfer their knowledge to new forms of technology as they come along. Communication skills are taught through various presentation programs that share knowledge, school email accounts, and effective, safe use of social media. Teamwork and creativity are taught through collaborative projects and group work, often with students having a choice as to how they set their groups up and what they accomplish in those groups. Those of us in the workplace now have seen huge changes in how we interact and communicate with others. Jobs have changed tremendously, and will continue to change as businesses and technologies evolve. The skills we teach here in the media center prepare students for the occupations they will eventually have, many years from now.
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It's been a fun and productive week in the media center. We've begun library orientation sessions with 6th grade students (we will do 23!) as well as tech orientations. We've had a constant stream of 7th and 8th grade students in to check out books and log into their network and email accounts. We've helped teachers with computers, equipment, and things like posters and laminating. It's been a busy place.
Every year, I pinch myself, thinking that I must be dreaming. The students at MPMS are the best. New teachers are always commenting how pleasant and well-mannered our students are. The school year has gotten off to a great start. Remember the Bananarama song from 1984? Anyone?
It's been a great summer, but it's time to get back to the school schedule. Teachers have one more precious day to sleep in, relax, go to the pool, or spend time in beloved pursuits. Then, we will hit the ground running on Tuesday. The teacher workdays prior to the start of school will be spent in meetings, planning times, organization, coming up with new ideas, and putting into place everything that will happen this school year. There is an excitement at the beginning of the year that takes a while to wear off. We'll also have time to catch up with friends we haven't seen for the past eight weeks. It will be hectic, but fun. But, boy, is it ever hard to get up early in the morning! We are looking forward to seeing all of you in the media center for the 2015-16 school year. Eighth grade is beginning a fantastic year-long project called Genius Hour. Students get to pick a topic--any topic--they find intriguing and interesting, or feel passionately about. We've worked with language arts teachers to implement a research process called eWISE, which is being used by all Wake County Schools.
Students will develop some solid researching skills, such as choosing a topic, developing essential questions, locating good resources and evaluating them to be sure you're getting the best information out there, organizing that information, creating a great presentation, and citing sources. These skills can be used throughout school, for any topic or subject. We're creating short videos to help students implement the steps in the process, and you can see them here. Learn more about the eWISE model here (scroll down on the page). The best thing about Genius Hour is that it engages the students through critical thinking and inquiry-based learning. Watch this short video about Genius Hour, and then ask your 8th grader about it. You'll be amazed at the high level of thinking that is going on, and the passion and engagement of the students. Welcome back to school! I know we've been back for four weeks now, but it's amazing how much there is to do in the media center at the start of a new school year. There's been no time for blogging! We have hit the ground running, here at MPMS, and the media program is going in full force. Some data from our first month back:
We've also been busy meeting with groups of teachers, preparing a budget, and troubleshooting lots and lots of computers and printers. There's much more to do, but we're having a blast working with the great students and staff here at MPMS. I recently had the privilege of bringing several MPMS students to the NC Technology in Education Society (NCTIES) Conference in Raleigh. These students were representatives from our after-school book/tech club, the Media Minions. They were able to see the latest technology being used in classrooms throughout North Carolina, from pre-K through the post-graduate level. They were also able to meet and interact with leaders in the educational technology field. The Media Minions participated in a Student Showcase where they presented some of the multimedia projects that they have created through the club including Vines, Animoto book trailers, and the Augmented Reality app, Aurasma. As soon as the showcase opened, they were mobbed with questions from attendees and they showed a great deal of poise under pressure. They were amazing! They handled the questions with aplomb and really put themselves out there to showcase their hard work. They charmed everyone with their knowledge and enthusiasm. They were the buzz of the conference! Later in the day, Melanie Farrell and I gave a presentation on using Augmented Reality in schools. When we were surprised by a standing-room only crowd, the Minions stepped up to help us demonstrate the Aurasma app. They showed all of the traits that we hope our students are learning – collaborating well with peers, problem-solving, application of skills, flexibility, good digital citizenship, and (perhaps most important of all) bravery! These children were fearless fielding questions from a room full of technology experts. They were excellent representatives of our school and I was so proud of them. Do you remember school libraries of the past? I, personally, was afraid to walk into the library in my junior high school. We weren't allowed to talk and the librarian, who I thought was 120 years old, was really mean. *** Thankfully, times have changed. Today's school libraries are turning into "Learning Commons," with a different configuration and purpose from in the past. A Learning Commons is a "common or shared space that is both physical and virtual. It is designed to move students beyond mere research, practice, and group work to a greater level of engagement through exploration, experimentation, and collaboration. A Learning Commons is more than a room or website. A Learning Commons allows users to create their own environments to improve learning. A Learning Commons is about changing school culture, and transforming the way teaching and learning occur" (Loertsher, Koechlin, and Rosenfeld 2012). Today, Ms. Dowd's and Ms. Fanney's 8th grade language arts students are in the media center working on their United Nations Memorial Project and, boy, are we a Learning Commons! The teachers are facilitating while students use books, ebooks, and computers, take notes, type, discuss, work in groups, use their own devices for research and notes, create presentations, and more. In this project, students are investigating issues of social justice from around the world (genocide, women's rights, slavery, child soldiers, etc.). They are conducting research and finding facts, but that's not the end of it. They are using the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and synthesizing all the information to form their own opinions of the importance and global impact of their topics. Then, to tie the project with next week's field trip to Washington DC, they must come up with an idea for a DC-type memorial for their topic/event, and argue for the building of their memorial. In addition to all that, they have to take notes, use at least five resources, cite those sources using MLA format, create a visual representation of their memorial, and present all their ideas to their classmates. They will also evaluate one another's presentations and memorials. Whew, that's a lot! Student engagement is tremendously important for learning. The 8th graders are curious and eager to learn more about their topics. They've been focused throughout this beautiful spring day, even knowing it's report card day! Not only have the students learned a great deal about these timely global topics, this project will make their DC trip even more meaningful. We have new books! The media center recently added 430 new fiction books, with a mixture of fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels. Some of our most popular purchases:
And lots, LOTS more! Stop by and see all our new arrivals. The new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have changed the focus of writing in middle school. In the past, more emphasis was put on narrative writing–telling a story with a plot, rising action, and a climax, while including rich, descriptive details. This type of writing is still important, and language arts teachers still teach it. However, there are two other types of writing that are of equal importance and more rigorous instruction in them will help make our students more college and career ready.
Informational writing, the type commonly done with research projects, is another writing focus under CCSS. There is a lot of this going on at MPMS, on both a large and small scale. Teachers have students do informational writing all the time after they have done a bit of research on a variety of topics. The third type of writing is being taught right now in an exciting, thorough way through 7th grade language arts classes. Augumentative writing introduces a claim, and includes evidence to support that claim. In the past, it’s been called persuasive writing, but the difference lies with the evidence. Students must fully understand their topics and cite textual evidence to support whatever claims they are making. In the 7th grade classes, each student came up with a societal problem. Some examples are: gang violence, pollution, animal abuse, discrimination. Students conducted research over several days, and are in the process of writing essays about possible solutions to the problems. This type of writing can be used for many functions as students go to college and on to the career world. You can see an explanation of the different types of writing and some great student examples at the CCSS site. My name is Melanie Farrell and I am excited to be here at Mills Park Middle as the Instructional Technology Facilitator. Working with teachers on how best to integrate technology into their curriculum is what I am most looking forward to. The teachers here at Mills Park Middle are already proving to be an exceptional staff to work with!
I was an Instructional Technology Specialist in Fairfax County Public Schools for several years when I lived in VA. I have a Masters Degree in Education in Instructional Technology. My experience and education have led me to where I am now in WCPSS. After having my own children in WCPSS for the past 8 years, I am happy to be part of this school system to help make a difference in your children's lives. Mrs. Farrell Sixth grade students have been coming to the media center for a lesson about plagiarism and cheating. It's a topic that will become more and more important as they go along in school. Elementary schools have done a good job instructing students about plagiarism, but it's a message that needs to be repeated each school year. We don't want to scare the students, but they have to know what plagiarism IS so they know how NOT to plagiarize.
Students discussed definitions of plagiarism, ethics, personal integrity, paraphrasing, and cheating. Scenarios were given, and students had to determine the right thing to do. Here are the examples we discussed:
How did you do? Here are the answers:
All MPMS students sign an honor code each year. Younger students will get a parent signature, too. Now that students are aware of what plagiarism and cheating are, as well as ways to avoid them, we can all Show Our "SPOTS" with our ethical behavior. ~ Mrs. T. It's always wonderful to see the new 6th grade students coming to check out books for the first time. One thing I've noticed is that they are most enthusiastic about checking out those books that weren't in their elementary libraries. There has been a rush to scoop up books they've heard about but haven't had a chance to read; titles like The Hunger Games, Twilight, and anything by Rick Riordan.
It can be especially tough to purchase books for middle school students. Although there are only three grades at the school, the difference in maturity and development levels is every bit as varied as in elementary school. Maybe more. We choose books for students ranging from our youngest 6th graders--who are often still 10--to our oldest 8th graders--who might be 15. There's quite a difference there, developmentally. The media center has to provide engaging, thought-provoking, high-quality books for all MPMS students, regardless of age, reading level, interests, cultural differences, or maturity levels. It can be tempting to take the easy road and buy only "safe" books, to ensure that students are never surprised by material they aren't ready for. But, if we did that, many 8th grade students would never voluntarily walk through the door. It's important to provide the books older students crave, too. This is why, at their very first visit to the media center, we talk with the younger students about how to choose the best books for themselves. I often think we don't give young children enough credit for their ability to do this. They are actually pretty savvy about finding books. We discuss what criteria to use when choosing a good book, and things to look for to tell if a book will be the right one for them. Things like: the title, the cover, the summary on the outside of the book, using the five-finger method, looking for favorite authors or genres, asking for help from a teacher, librarian, parent, or friend. We tell students that, if they begin to read a book and find it's not the right book for them, they can always return it the next day and find something else. I use myself as an example; I just don't like scary books or books with a lot of violence, and have stopped reading plenty of books when I've found they are too intense for me. Our goal is for students to learn to choose literature for themselves. That's the pathway towards being a life-long reader. Sometimes it involves allowing students the leeway to make a mistake for them to learn how to choose great books on their own. We are especially fortunate at MPMS to have such a fantastic collection of books--about 20,000--to help ensure that we provide the right book for the right student. Parents, keep discussing their books choices with your students. Read along with them, steer them toward great books, and get in touch with us if you ever have questions about how to help students choose good books. --Mrs. T I knew many of you when I was the Media Coordinator at Mills Park Elementary School, but for those of you I haven't yet met - I am Mrs. Fiedler. I have been teaching in Wake County since 1998, but for the last two years I have lived in Bratislava, Slovakia! My family and I enjoyed our travels in Europe, but we are SO happy to be back home in Cary. Of all the things I missed while I was away, being with my students was #1 (English-language books was #2!). I am very excited to see my old students again and to meet some new friends. I can't wait to hear about all the new books you have been reading and to share some that I've picked up on my travels (here's a teaser - did you know there is a British version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid?!)
See you soon in the Media Center! :-) Mrs. Fiedler P.S. If you want to get a glimpse of what Slovakia looks like, check out this video clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFFJ4Zil0Vc Though your alarm clock probably rang awfully early this morning, the new school year has gotten off to a great start today! We've been working on an orientation presentation for 6th grade classes, as well as getting teachers set up with all their equipment. Orentation classes will start on Wednesday and continue for the next few weeks. Whew, there are a LOT of students to get through media center orientation, but each day another team will come to check out books. We'll see you all SOON.
7th and 8th grade students--we are open for business! Come on in and start checking out books. --Mrs. T |
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