Summer Institute 2006
The Georgia Library Media Association’s Summer Institute
2006 has been hailed by the participants as a great learning
experience for the seasoned and the new media specialists.
The number of registered attendees was 115. This is a large
increase over last year’s attendance at Summer Institute
2005.
The Summer Institute got off to an early start on Monday afternoon
with a large group attending the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl planning
session. Tuesday morning started with a big welcome to everyone
with our theme for the institute, “let the good times roll
@ your library.” But Summer Institute coordinator Lynn
Strickland also added that we had to “let the good times
roll not only @ your library but also here at our gathering of
some of the top media specialists from around the state of Georgia.”
The auditorium of the Student Learning Building was a big change
from the small facilities that we have used with the past summer
institutes. It was a God send that we were invited to use the
facilities on the beautiful campus of Macon State College. You
have got to agree that the auditorium and the rooms in the Educational
Technology Building were fantastic.
Donna Milner, GLMA President, got things rolling with some special
words from the scriptures which helped to set the mood of our “summer
camp.” GLMA President-elect Rosalind Dennis had a few words
to share with our group which were wearing beads to create a
Mardi gras atmosphere.
There was nobody that would not agree that the lunches on both
days were totally delicious. The idea to do an eat-in buffet
was to give our good time revilers a chance to get to know each
other and spend a few minutes of quality time chatting and enjoying
the food. The potato salad and the fruit salad were real hits
with our group.
The good times continued to roll into the afternoon with our
planned sessions in the Educational Technology Building. Karen
Minton from GALILEO presented a session for each of the school
levels. Rebecca Amerson conducted an interesting presentation
on the Primary Reference Resources that are available from the
Library of Congress. Patrice Weaver from the Georgia Public Broadcasting
presented video streaming as a great school resource for the
classroom as well as other things available from GPB.
Some new “hot” technologies were demonstrated such
as the Interwrite pad and the Smartboard by the ETC staff as
well as some other interesting sessions that were well received
by the attendees. My old grandmother used to say that a good
time was had by all.
Some of the general session activities proved to be quite productive.
One of them was the “sticky note” issue boards. There
were five boards labeled with a topic that the attendees were
asked to respond by writing their comment on a post it note and
stick it to the board. The boards and notes were collected after
the institute and were compiled by topic. All these topics will
be listed on the glma-inc.org website with their responses under
the Summer Institute.
I thought I would share some of these responses with you. Under
the Evaluation board some of the comments were that it was a
productive, proactive, and professionally significant and politically
enlightening. The screen was hard to see so we need to learn
how to dim the lights in the auditorium and the ETC. There was
a need for the Summer Institute information to be mailed or posted
on GLMA website way ahead of time.
The suggestions for the Websites were many. Here are a few for
you to explore.
infopower.edublogs.org/2006/01/02/information-literacy-links & enchantedlearning.com
ala.org/aasl. One I liked from the Best Practice. Google lm_net
listserv for great lesson plan ideas. A really good hands-on
activity for 2 nd/3 rd graders to practice FIC/EASY books location,
you have the students use author last names and have them find
where their last name would be on the shelf as if they were an
author.
The fun sticky note board was the “you know you are a
media specialist when…”
Your job has made you ADD, You double-click the bar of soap
in the shower, A Newbery paperback falls out of your bag at Kroger,
If you go to Wal-Mart and you hear from two aisles over—“hey,
there’s the library lady.”
In the Ideas to Share, you need to always have something exciting
going on in the media center such as a new book display, multi-cultural
or other genres displayed, an art exhibit of borrowed pieces
from the art teacher—kids love to see their work on display
no matter what it is, have a Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl team,
all kinds of contests, special promotions, a special speaker
related to something that the kids are studying in the classroom,
have a demonstration done by say the karate students, these kinds
of things will really peak a students interest and desire to
be in the media center. Better yet, not only are you a hit with
the kids but the teachers will think of you as the most indispensable
staff members in the school so let’s let the good times
roll @your library.
I hope to see each and every one of you and a friend at next
year’s Summer Institute 2007.
Additional Information: