Last year our media program in Minnetonka was formally reviewed by our School Board. It was the first time a comprehensive review of the media program had been done. Our media department is based on best practices and standards from AASL, ISTE, CSTA, and ITEM. Here is the slideshow from the Board presentation. Our media department co-chairs are Kelli Whiteside and Erin Carcamo.
In Minnetonka, we have one media specialist at each of six elementary schools, one who splits time at both of our middle schools, and one at our high school. Media Specialists at our elementary schools directly instruct students in grades 1-5 each week for about 25 minutes. Our media specialists wear many hats, from teaching to managing the print and electronic resources, providing staff development, being the first stop for technology troubleshooting, to being a building leader. Here is the job description for our media specialists.
As part of our work last year, we talked about the role of a media specialist and what makes for an effective media specialist in regards to collaboration, instruction, leadership and support. We agreed upon the following:
Collaboration - Collaborating with educators and students to design and teach engaging learning experiences that meet individual needs. Fostering partnerships within the school, District, and broader community.
What should media specialist collaboration look like in Minnetonka?
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As part of our work last year, we talked about the role of a media specialist and what makes for an effective media specialist in regards to collaboration, instruction, leadership and support. We agreed upon the following:
Collaboration - Collaborating with educators and students to design and teach engaging learning experiences that meet individual needs. Fostering partnerships within the school, District, and broader community.
What should media specialist collaboration look like in Minnetonka?
- Participates actively in a cross district PLC
- Promotes sharing of ideas and programs between media specialists
- Connects with grade levels and departments when they meet as PLCs and as teams to create a cohesive/coordinated instructional plan.
- Advocates for community connections such as partnerships with public libraries to create opportunities for lifelong learning
- Develops a quality library collection - print and digital resources, immersion and English programs, connected to classroom curriculum, quality literature
- Orients towards customer service - supports building efforts in important areas such as testing, assemblies, parent events, etc.
- Asks for feedback - conducts time studies, surveys, etc. to identify strengths and define goals
- Digital Citizenship/Internet Safety - Uses Common Sense Media and other instructional resources to teach key concepts
- Media Literacy/Literature Appreciation - Providing access to materials in all formats, including up-to-date, high-quality, varied literature to develop and strengthen a love of reading.
- Technology Operations/Concepts - Instructing students and assisting educators in using, evaluating, and producing information and ideas through active use of broad range of appropriate tools, resources, and information technologies.
- Research/Information Fluency - Instructing students and assisting educators in the knowledge, integration and ethical use of quality research tools, both print and digital as well as develop strategies to evaluate information found online
What should media specialist instruction look like in Minnetonka?
- Initiates opportunities to push into classrooms to teach and co-teach
- Maximizes the media specialist role as teacher - create opportunities to provide direct student instruction
- Covers digital citizenship, literature appreciation, research/inform. fluency and technology skills/concepts
- Leads school and works with district to promote good digital citizenship and educate parents, students and staff (includes Common Sense Media)
- Offers opportunities for students beyond classroom instruction (news broadcasts, book clubs, computer science clubs, collaborative work time with classmates)
- Develops and implements elementary, middle and secondary digital citizenship instruction
- Maximizes the use of District digital tools for instructional purpose (Develops and uses Schoology digital content, integrates iPads, especially 1:1, integrates Google Drive as a teacher and student production/creation tool, seeks to use other online tools to engage students)
- Advocacy - Advocating for strong school library programs as essential to meeting local, state and national education goals
- Initiative - Positively approach school and District initiatives and innovations and seek ways to support them
What should media specialist leadership look like in Minnetonka?
- Regularly checks in with building principal(s) to find ways to support building goals and efforts, remembering that principals supervise all teachers.
- Takes initiative and serves as a catalyst for new ideas and effective collaboration (Take initiative!)
- Communicates with parents using effective avenues and have a visible presence whenever possible (PTA/PTO groups, newsletters, curriculum night)
- Connects with District initiatives (For example - coding/computer science, makerspaces, innovation teams, idea hunts)
- Pays attention to and learn about future trends = personalized learning, makerspaces, genrefication, online learning
- “Yes and” versus “No but”
- Maintains a professional social media presence as both producer and consumer (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
- Leads technology initiatives and participates on building and District committees (Technology Committees, Digital Health and Wellness, Innovation, etc.)
- Organizes and leads buildings as they prepare for site visits
- Offers timely professional development and presents to teachers and staff during the school year, at August trainings, and at professional conferences
- Operates flexibly and responds positively to unexpected challenges
- Effectively uses the media budget to purchase materials that support District goals and curriculum
What should media specialist support look like in Minnetonka?
- Manages the physical curriculum including student and teacher materials
- Serves as the liaison between the building and district Technology Department to ensure technology is working smoothly
- Manages the physical library space - keeping it organized and ready for all patrons
- Works with the District office to help order, distribute, and track student and teacher curriculum materials, resources, and technology
- Design for Learning: MMW Media Center Update
- Media Center Redesign at Minnetonka Middle School West
- Sneak Peek at Two Minnetonka Public School Media Center Summer Remodeling Projects
- 3D Printing in Minnetonka Schools
- KRTS Elementary Student Daily News Show: Kids Run The Station
- More Minnetonka Schools Media Center Remodels
- Minnetonka Elementary Media Centers
- Minnetonka High School Media Center, "The Port"
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