Technology Program Administrator

Shannon Moore
Harlem Middle School
Media Center

Executive Summary

The Harlem Middle School Media Center continues to cultivate a love of learning,
reading, and technology. The limited staff, one media specialist and one clerk, puts on an added
pressure of achieving this goal. Even though the staff is restricted, their desire to share their
knowledge is never limited. Recently, HMS was equipped with Wi-Fi capabilities. This
enhancement will soon move the media center in the right direction of being able to provide
technology services better than before. Harlem Middle School may be a small school, but the
media center is doing big things.

Organizational Chart

Methods
Several methods were used while conducting this evaluation. Questionnaires were used when
interviewing the Media Specialist and Media Clerk, student surveys were given to one class per
grade level, and observations were conducted for each grade level as well.

Center Context and Goals

History: Harlem Middle School was built in the 1950s and began as a K-12 school house. Since
the establishment of the school the media center has been a constant. From a K-12 school to
now a standard 6th- 8th grade middle school, the media center still nurtures the love of learning as
it once did.
Mission: The schools media specialist and media clerk are devoted to teaching students how to
access and evaluate information in a 21st century environment. The HMS Media Center is
further committed to the common beliefs articulated in Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
by the American Association of School Librarians.
Goal: The Media Center is the learning hub of the school. The primary goal of the Media Center
is to integrate information literacy standards for the 21st century learner into the curriculum
through collaborative planning and cooperative teaching. The Media Center serves as a resource
for all school stakeholders. It is an integral part of all instructional programs and strives to foster
the love of reading and lifelong learning for all students.
Expectations set by the Media Specialist and Media Clerk are listed below:

The Media Center is for study, reading, checkout, information literacy instruction, and
research.

The Media Center is a classroom -- treat it as such by respecting the rules and its staff.

Gum, candy, food, and drinks are not permitted at any time in the Media Center.

Silence is not expected in the media center, but a quiet inside voice is!

Computers are off limits except when scheduled by a teacher or Media Center staff.

Students may sit in the quiet reading areas of the Media Center when given extra time by
the teacher.
Media Center Activities

Aside from the general media center activities such as book check-out, there are a host of other
activities provided by the media center. The media specialist, Mrs. Bowen, collaborates with
core teacher to provide resources, books, reference books, and computer access to all teachers for
a variety of lessons. Mrs. Bowen also co-teaches lessons with teachers and will assist teachers
when classes are held in the media center for projects or other assignments. The media center is
used for daily reading remediation classes, computer use for research, and for testing
accommodations as well. All of the activities that take place in the media center are for the
purpose of student engagement and enrichment.

Evaluation
Based on the evidence that I collected, I believe that the HMS Media Center is fulfilling its
mission and goals set forth by the Media Specialist and the Columbia County School System. As
mentioned in the goals, The primary goal of the Media Center is to integrate information
literacy standards for the 21st century learner into the curriculum through collaborative
planning and cooperative teaching., the media center is exceeding the standard. This is evident
by the constant collaborative planning that is taking place with all core content teachers, myself
included. On numerous occasions, I observed Mrs. Bowen and Mrs. Hunt encouraging students

to try new novels or a new genre. In all aspects of the mission and goals of the HMS Media
Center, I believe and it is confirmed by the evidence that this center is operating efficiently. My
recommendations to improve the operations of this center are outlined below.

Media Moments: Make the media center available to students for reading or
researching during their lunch period and/or after school until 3:30. This school is
considered a Title 1 school because of the number of students who are on free and
reduced lunch. The area in which the school is located has a large percentage of
socio-economic challenged families which also results in fewer technology
resources. If the media center is available to students who need the extra time, this

would benefit and possibly encourage their learning.

Wiki/Website/WebQuest: After discussing the issue of 21st century learning skills
with Mrs. Bowen, it was decided that for school year 2015-2016 we would
incorporate these skills into their media center time. At the moment, these skills
are not taught separately in any core class. These skills are crucial to students
technology success in a 21st century learning world. The plan is to develop an
online learning center that is age and grade appropriate. For each grade, there will
be specific task that students must complete. The task will center on games,
research/exploring, and project based learning using Web 2.0 tools.