Candidates are able to articulate the role and relationship of the school library program's impact on student academic achievement within the context
of current educational initiatives.
Reflection
As one of the largest spaces in the school, the library space is utilized for a variety of purposes. This can be challenging for a library program as it must meet the educational needs of the students while still meeting the physical demands made on the space. Over the last year the media specialists in my high school have noticed an increase demand on the space during unscheduled times of the school day. The administration believes that if the library is not being used by a scheduled class then it can be commandeered for impromptu closed meetings. In the months leading up to my internship the librarians were asked on numerous occasions to clear the library of students working independently so that the space could be used for another purpose. The media specialist challenged me, during my internship, to collect and analyze data monitoring the use of the media center during these unscheduled time periods.
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Artifacts
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One of the concerns brought up by the media specialist was the availability of space for special educators to work with their students. This has become the key purpose of the library space during unscheduled class time. We wanted to monitor the use of the space and look specifically at the number of students who use the media center during school hours. I created a media center data tracking tool that would allow the media secretary to keep track of traffic in and out of the space. We immediately noticed that the most common use was from the special education department for pullouts. With this knowledge, we sent a survey out to the special education department to better understand their needs. We found that they rely on the space as a pull out space to meet the academic achievement goals of their students.
The media center continues to collect data on the media use and intends to use the data to have a frank conversation with the administration about recognizing the media space as more than a formal classroom. As media specialists we must ensure that our mission and the mission of the school are met and that may mean finding alternative spaces to ensure that student's needs are met.
This project was a great learning experience for me because I was able to address a real problem that my school was facing. It also helped me understand how integral the media center is to the daily running of the school. On a daily basis our school provides services to hundreds of students outside of the classes that use the space. It is essential that students continue to have access to the space and resources they need to be successful in their academic endeavors. Someday when I have my own media space I will need to be cognizant to the needs of academic achievement and be able to share the needs and vision with the school community. I plan to regularly reflect upon my practices and the practices of the media center and continue to seek feedback from my stakeholders to make it a better place to learn.
The media center continues to collect data on the media use and intends to use the data to have a frank conversation with the administration about recognizing the media space as more than a formal classroom. As media specialists we must ensure that our mission and the mission of the school are met and that may mean finding alternative spaces to ensure that student's needs are met.
This project was a great learning experience for me because I was able to address a real problem that my school was facing. It also helped me understand how integral the media center is to the daily running of the school. On a daily basis our school provides services to hundreds of students outside of the classes that use the space. It is essential that students continue to have access to the space and resources they need to be successful in their academic endeavors. Someday when I have my own media space I will need to be cognizant to the needs of academic achievement and be able to share the needs and vision with the school community. I plan to regularly reflect upon my practices and the practices of the media center and continue to seek feedback from my stakeholders to make it a better place to learn.