Media Center Mission Statement
The mission of the school
Media Center Vision
My vision for the media center is
for it to be the center of a community of learners that includes teachers,
students, parents, and community members.
The media center will facilitate the academic exchange of information
and ideas while providing a framework for teaching the processes for successful
information searching. Instructional
resources will align with the curriculum material needs of the school and
information literacy will be a focus for all community learners.
Patrons will be introduced to the
importance of life long learning and be exposed to cross cultural backgrounds
and ethnic diversity through literacy and practical learning experiences. Synthesizing information searches and
understanding how new knowledge constructs are connected to local and global
communities will be a focus of teaching.
Patrons will be encouraged to promote collaborative, instructional, and
learning relationships that include the local community. Everyone will be instructed on how to utilize
information communication technologies to maintain and extend these
educational partnerships beyond geographical boundaries.
Educational Philosophy
My educational philosophy centers
on social constructivist theory with a focus on collaborative construction of
knowledge from real-world settings and social context learning. I believe by teaching students how to access,
search, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize the cultural and contextual
information which makes up their world, we can embolden students to construct
their own unique understanding of the principles and knowledge they need to
learn. Applying this pedagogical
philosophy enables students to be owners of their own learning and take
responsibility for acquiring the knowledge, information, and answers to solve
the complex problems facing our society.
Media Center Philosophy
Learners from all communities will
be sought to participate in the practice of information literacy which empowers
learners to become intelligent consumers of information. Administering equitable intellectual and
physical access to information and ideas in a variety of formats will be the
guiding principle for the media center.
The media specialist will foster collaborative educational partnerships
for delivering best practices in learning strategies. The media specialist will lead in utilizing
technological resources for instructional purposes and in teaching students
search strategies for exploring information from academic databases and the Internet. Systematic methods for
diverse learning experiences that honor intellectual freedom and expose
learners to a range of socio-economic and ethnic diversity will be
employed.
Program Goals and Objectives
The learning experiences in the School Library Media program
have taught me the skills, concepts, and principles to be a successful teacher,
lifelong learner, instructional partner, program administrator, and
information literacy advocate.
First, my
internship this past spring enabled me to have direct teaching
opportunities. The internship afforded
me a mentor who introduced me to live classroom instructional strategies. My mentor encouraged me to carry out these
strategies by reading to students and teaching electronic catalog use. The real world experience of teaching
positively influenced my overall understanding of the role of a media
specialist. I enjoyed preparing an information
literacy lesson plan on guide words with the special education teacher. We taught the lesson together to her special
education class which was composed diverse races. The word “diversity” truly developed more
personal meaning when I taught a multi-cultural special education class made up
of Asian, African-Americans, Arabic, and Latin students. Although the lesson for the students was on
guide words, my teaching it internalization a personal understanding of what diversity means.
Second, I
credit the program with preparing me to be an instructional partner. The curriculum mapping project allowed me to
connect a classroom teacher’s lesson with resources in the media center. Introducing the media specialist to the
classroom and the classroom to the media center are essential components for a
media specialist. I believe the
curriculum mapping process provides value by allowing teachers and media
specialists to compose lesson plans in which their academic resources align and
to understand where collaborative partnerships should occur.
Third, the
Program Development and Evaluation Plan developed my view behind administering
a media program. I learned how to
effectively govern the media program by making decisions within a committee
framework. Also, I understand the
cyclical process behind curriculum renewals and managing budget requests so
that they are approved by the media committee and other stakeholders. What I have learned about being a program
administrator has given me the skills to develop a mission, vision, and
philosophy for my own media program and to manage it efficiently.
Lastly, I
am an information literacy advocate. I
am educated in prescribing a system for searching for information and can
utilize an information search process model to teach patrons how to effectively
find information. I realize that part of
being a media specialist is being a caretaker of access to information and I
am responsible for teaching lifelong skills for accessing, evaluating, and
synthesizing information.
Overall, the program has well prepared me for the future by giving me a deep understanding of the role of technology in accessing information, changing pedagogy, and providing leadership through collaboration. The principles and concepts that I have obtained to guide student learning will assist me in my own lifelong quest for knowledge. I have been well equipped for the challenges ahead and I feel that the program’s goals have been met in preparing me to be a successful teacher, lifelong learner, instructional partner, program administrator, and information literacy advocate.
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