I love my new job!  I'm so busy and things are at times very hectic but I truly love what I'm doing!

I got a media specialist position! Hard work and patience have finally paid off. I am so excited to start working at Pine Hill Middle School!

As of today, my teaching certificate has a new field (Media Specialist) and has been upgraded to a level five.  I am SO excited to be a media specialist!  :~D

My MEd diploma arrived in yesterday's mail. In addition, I also received my passing scores on the two media specialist GACE exams!  So, it's official!  I am a certified, licensed SLMS!!!  Hallelujah! ...now to find that job...

I can see the light...the proverbial light at the end of my practicum tunnel, that is.  

I will be observed by my practicum professor tomorrow, and I'm actually looking forward to teaching my lesson to the few teachers who might show up.  Although I still have to write a grant application, produce a distance education module, and write my professional philosophy, I am feeling fairly confident that I will be able to finish all of these tasks on time.

If all goes as I plan, I will finish my portfolio by next Thursday, present it on November 27th and be a certified SLMS...albeit, I'll still be one in search of a job... :~D

When I asked my media specialist what sort of display I might create for this portion of my practicum, she suggested that I come up with something related to our accelerated reader program.  Since she is using a "train" theme in our media center, I decided to use train tracks and cars in the display I created.  For the technological component of this checklist item, I photographed the new AR books we recently received and put them into a PhotoStory to be shown on our school's daily morning show.  Hopefully, our students will be encouraged to come in and check out the new materials we have available.

I recently attended a technology coommittee meeting where the items discussed were, in order of priority:
1. Updating the computers in the computer lab
2. Equipping all classrooms with digital projectors and promethean boards
3. Adding an additional mobile lab and iPads to the school's circulation.
The committee is composed of the media specialist, the principal, teacher representatives from each grade level (and one special education teacher), two parents, one student, and one community representative.
The media specialist highlighted upcoming events, as detailed on the "Annual Media Program Plan" below.

Whew!  I have been busy teaching my UbD unit to a fifth grade class, planning my professional development lesson, producing a PhotoStory, and spending the day in the media center at one of my secondary sites. 

I enjoyed most the day in the high school media center.  I bar coded some books and added call number labels to the spines.  I asked a lot of questions and felt that the media specialist was happy to give me information.  One thing I liked was the fact that, rather than simply sending her an email, she has a form for others to fill out when they request technology support.  The form asks several questions which serve as a trouble shooting guide of sorts.  This sometimes prevents her having to go check out a machine. (See the form below.)  

The SLMS, her assistant, and I spent several hours updating computers in one of the school's computer labs.  We thawed all of the computers, then uninstalled, downloaded, and updated various programs.  We then put all of them back into deep freeze.  This was a lengthy process but we finished much more quickly because three of us were working together. 

Spending time in another MC was interesting.  I will spend the day in a middle school media center later this week.  I look forward to discovering the similarities and differences in various sites.

Well, I did manage to complete, on time, my 4 (standard) essays and reflections for the artifacts and tasks that my portfolio contained at that point.  After accomplishing those assignments, I completed my UbD unit which I am teaching to a fifth grade class this coming week.  I also added to my portfolio the student and teacher information on ethical uses of information.  I still have a LONG way to go before November 16th though...but I MUST be finished by then because I'm scheduled for surgery on that day.  It's a good thing I have no children at home right now because if I did, they would be as neglected as my dogs and house are right now...

My primary accomplishments this past week were to teach my Reading Enrichment unit to a fourth grade class and to add a lot of material to my PLN.  The reading enrichment unit was fun to teach and the children seemed to really enjoy it too.

Just yesterday, I discovered that I my practicum Netvibes dashboard was not public and that I could not make it so.  However, I did learn that I could easily move my tabs to my original (public) dashboard and delete the tabs I wanted to replace.  I believe that my practicum PLN is now public, that all of my tabs are set up correctly, and that there are at least the minimum number of items under each tab.  I will continue to add to this as I find material I want to keep up with or share with others. 

During week 9, I also completed reflections for all but one of my artifacts and for the task items I have included in my portfolio so far.  I have yet to compose my essays (which I know are due tomorrow) and am still anxious about getting those written.  Although I planned to work on them all weekend if necessary, other issues requiring my attention have prevented my working on them until now.  At this point, I hope I can get some serious writing in today... (And did I mention that it is absolutely GORGEOUS outside?)