Vision and Philosophy
Vision and Philosophy:
I am a firm believer that information is the key to opening up a
world of possibilities for anyone. Most people want to be right or at least
strive to find the right information for their purpose, whether it be where to
park for a UGA football game or which university to attend. Many students today do not look past high
school. The reality that high school is over and there is something else on the
other side does not really hit some students until a few weeks after graduation.
Are these students prepared to face the world?
As an educator, I believe the media center is the single place in
every school that has the potential to impact students the most. I want my
media center to be the door to unlimited information in print and nonprint
resources. It will support the curriculum by selecting materials that teachers
and students can use as well as having an open-door policy. The media
specialist and classroom teacher should exist in a partnership to best educate
each student as well as assisting teachers and other staff. It is vital for
information literacy skills to be taught in the classroom as well as be
reinforced in the media center or vice versa. So much of what students do in
school revolves around being able to locate the needed information in a timely
manner. As a media specialist, I believe this is one of our single most
important duties in assisting students today. If we can equip students with the
information literacy skills necessary to locate and analyze information, then
they should be able to address with confidence any problem they encounter
outside the classroom walls.
I would like for the media center to be fun. If this means a mild
roar is necessary then so be it. Students and faculty should always feel
welcome in the media center. If they feel welcome, then the first step of
getting them through the door is accomplished. After that everything else will
fall into place.
Program Goals: At first I didn’t really know
what I was getting myself into. My goal was do get a masters degree and find a
job. As I went through my first semester of classes, I began to form ideas
about what a 21st century media specialist should be and where I
wanted this program to take me. As I completed each assignment, I began to see
the big picture and how each assignment contributes to a successful media
program. After my first semester, my program goals evolved into a working
philosophy, which I stated above. Other goals I had for this program were:
To learn how to teach information literacy skills and incorporate
them into a fun and inviting media center.
To learn how to change the perception
of a traditional media center through marketing and promotion strategies.
To be exposed to a variety of
young adult literature.
To be exposed to and learn about new educational technologies.
To become better at web design.
To find a job as a high school media specialist.
I feel that I have met my goals through this program. I learned
how to teach and incorporate information literacy skills through EDIT 6360:
Information Literacy and through EDIT 6170: Instructional Design. In EDIT 6170,
I was able to design a web site evaluation lesson and incorporate the
information literacy skills we learned about in EDIT 6360. I took my EDIT 6170
lesson, adapted and taught it during my internship this spring. I have learned
many ways to improve and change the traditional perceptions of the media
specialist. Many of these ideas occurred through peer sharing and reading
professional journals like Knowledge
Quest. During my internship, I was exposed to educational technologies in a
variety of ways. The school where I did my internship was fortunate enough to
have all brand new equipment and the newest wireless technology. It was a
wonderful experience experimenting and learning how to operate it. In addition,
I became better at web design out of necessity. I had no idea I would be doing
at least 5 web pages during this program. I really enjoyed the extra exposure
to web design software in EDIT 6150. I am very excited about producing an
incredible media center web page for my school next year. I did find a job as a
high school media specialist and this can be attributed to everything I learned
along the way in this program. I feel
that this program has thoroughly equipped me with the necessary knowledge to
enter my job next fall and take the media center to the next level.
Goals for next fall: To work with my teachers, parents,
and administration to create an interactive media center website that is the
number one on-line information source for the students. When it comes to
completing assignments, I want the media center webpage to be the page they
visit first. I want to do read-a-louds in literature classes using the Georgia
Teen Book Award Nominees. I also want to learn to speak Spanish well enough to
communicate with Hispanic students in their native language.
Life Goals: 1) To
maintain a successful career while supporting and loving my family. 2) To be
thought of as hardworking and kindhearted. 3) To contribute to those in need
and give back to my mankind.
Site created by Adria Gravely
adriag@uga.edu
Last updated 3/19/2005