Do Media Specialists Specialize in Media?
Do we? Are we?
There’s an awesome heartfelt discussion here , which thanks to today’s viral MEDIA and the alert of CASL Board Member Nancy White, her monitoring of Twitter, and Littleton HS’s Karl Fisch, has been brought to your attention.
As a teacher of media, will you weigh in on this discussion?
How well are we doing in Colorado at raising the issues of new media, integration to ‘media specialist’ jobs, and the ability of the certified (or not…) librarian to bridge technology and learning??
Tags: 21stCentury, Valenza, Leadership, school librarians
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May 22, 2009 at 2:32 pm
As part of the initial twitter conversation (I’m @beckyingj on Karl Fisch’s post), I have been thinking and worrying about this issue for several weeks. Two days ago, I found out that a retiring middle school Teacher Librarian’s position in my district is going to be filled as a part-time position. The person hired will be teaching part-time Social Studies AND filling in as the Teacher Librarian. This is devastating, especially since the retiring librarian was an instructional and technology leader whose library program was outstanding. I’m trying to come to grips with how this could be allowed to happen (and what to do about it). But it does boil down how Teacher Librarians are perceived by our principals, our teachers, and our community.
In Joyce Valenza’s April 30 SLJ post: What’s the Point (http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1860043986.html) She says, “In my mind, if you are not an expert in new information and communication tools, you are NOT a media specialist for today.”
How do we make sure that all Teacher Librarians (School Librarians, Library Media Specialists)are on board with 21st Century technologies and their role in learning and instruction. What can and will CASL do? No easy answers here.