Katie uieving

LI 876 - Elementaiy piacticum

Inteiview with the piincipal

Ni. Lee Beineiikson, the piincipal at Chinn Elementaiy, was so kinu as to sit
uown to answei a few of my questions ielating to how he views the iole of the
libiaiy meuia specialist as a valueu contiibutoi in the school enviionment.

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o Being willing to collaboiate with all of the othei teacheis in the
builuing is the numbei one thing I woulu look foi, especially with the
flex scheuule. (At the time, Bi. Beineiikson was woiking haiu to
cooiuinate scheuules with teacheis at Chinn so implement pait-time
flexible scheuuling foi Nis. 0if, the meuia specialist. Nis. 0if began
hei flexible scheuule in }anuaiy 2u14.)
o I'u also look foi someone who's willing to uo what's best foi kius
iathei than what's best foi them in teims of planning, using
technology, anu so foith. }ust looking foi that focus.

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o Theie's uefinitely been a shift fiom books to e-ieaueis, laptops, anu
computeis anu away fiom books as iesouices foi ieseaich. Eve
iecently got a giant foi 2S new e-ieaueis, anu we'll get those some
time in the spiing. I think that leaining anu becoming moie familiai
with that technology will help kius when they'ie expecteu to know
how to use it at Plaza (the 6
th
giaue facility in the uistiict), in miuule
school, anu high school.
o Anu also, the haiuback books aie still impoitant as well.

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o Reseaich-baseu websites - N0T Wikipeuia - but sites that pioviue
goou, ieliable infoimation.
o I think that's also pait of the libiaiian's job: to teach the stuuents how
to finu those souices, how to use them, anu how to evaluate the
infoimation they'ie given. We uon't want oui stuuents thinking that
eveiything they ieau is fact, especially not online. We neeu to teach
them to question theii souices anu to think ciitically about the
infoimation they'ie given.

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o I think those aie all impoitant, but the language aits skills to a lessei
uegiee. Stuuents also neeu to leain about plagiaiism anu copyiight
laws anu the impoitance of citing theii souices. That's a skill that will
be valuable to them as they uo ieseaich thioughout theii time in
school.
o Pioject-baseu leaining is something we ieally stiive foi heie (at
Chinn) - tying in the technology anu ieseaich pieces with piojects in
science anu social stuuies that ieally biing home the concepts foi the
stuuents when they cieate something uigitally foi theii piojects.
! PBL miiiois moie of what stuuents will face in the job maiket
- they will have to use what they know anu use tools to finu the
infoimation they uon't know to cieate a pioject within a given
timeline. In essence, theie won't be any woiksheets. (Pioject-
baseu leaining is) the leaining expeiience we want to give
stuuents eaily anu often using technology.
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o We've nevei hau to ueal with one heie, but the challenge woulu come
to Eve fiist, anu then she woulu iefei it to me, anu I woulu iefei it on
to Cential 0ffice. If theie was still an issue beyonu that point, it woulu
go on to the Nissouii Boaiu of Euucation.
o At each step, theie woulu be a meeting with the peison louging the
complaint to tiy anu iesolve the issue. No one wants a book challenge
to go to the Boaiu of Eu. Bettei to hanule it locally as much as
possible.
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o I woulu want to know what components of the libiaiy !"#$ value anu
see as impoitant. If I get a canuiuate foi a libiaiy position who says, "I
just ieally like to check out books," we'ie not inteiesteu. We'ie
looking foi a libiaiian who is looking to uo moie than sit behinu a
uesk anu check out books.
o Those technology skills anu that knowleuge of uigital iesouices is so
impoitant. Eve (0if, the libiaiy meuia specialist at Chinn) uoes a
fabulous job of integiating technology into hei libiaiy lessons anu
shaiing hei iesouices with teacheis to help enhance theii lessons.
Those aie the skills I oui stuuents anu teacheis can ieally benefit
fiom.