Interview Reflection: Ginger Durrence, Claxton Middle School

I had the pleasure of interviewing Ginger Durrence who is the current media specialist at

Claxton Middle School. The interview was conducted on October 27th, 2020. She is currently in

her seventh year as a media specialist at Claxton Middle School. Before becoming a media

specialist, Ginger was a classroom teacher for seventeen years. After a short four-year stint at

Reidsville Elementary School, she then spent the next thirteen years at Reidsville Middle School.

The biggest impact of past job experiences that have helped Ginger become a successful media

specialist is being a former ELA teacher and understanding the curriculum and what teachers

need when they come to the media center. Teaching gifted students for ten years also played a

major role in preparation for being the media specialist at Claxton Middle School, because gifted

students are who primarily use the media center at CMS. The major influence on the pursuit to

become a media specialist was the former media specialist at Reidsville Middle School who

persuaded her into the program. Along with the encouragement from the media specialist, Ginger

also stated when she was an ELA teacher that she enjoyed the days she would take her class to

the media center.

The educational preparation for becoming a media specialist for Ginger was her master’s

program in instructional technology. The major point of emphasis that she pointed out that she

did not learn during her program was the repair and troubleshooting of technology for the school.

Since she did not learn some of the skills needed to help repair technology needs at the school,

she uses the internet to troubleshoot problems before calling the technology department to fix the

problem. One of the skills she learned during the instructional technology program was the

cataloging process of the media center, but also stated that different systems use different

cataloging software. As it relates to cooperative learning and planning, Ginger is active on the
leadership team and also collaborates with teachers on things they need to improve instruction

for their classroom. District-wide, the media specialists in the Evans County School System all

conduct PLCs and plan collaboratively. Planning with the teachers, especially ELA, is

demonstrated at Claxton Middle School. Reluctancy is not a problem at Claxton Middle School,

and teachers are always wanting to come to the media center. The media center has been

established as the “hub” of the school, and Ginger has made an emphasis on making the media

center a fun, welcoming environment where students and teachers want to come and spend time.

Book talks are typically done when introducing a new book that has been added to the

library selection, or around the time of the book fair to encourage students to purchase books

from the book fair. For the research aspect of the media center, Ginger often does mini-lessons

regarding proper citations and having the students understand how to paraphrase when retrieving

information online from different sources. For the middle school level, students need to be

introduced to citing sources and plagiarism. For the professional development responsibility of

being a media specialist, Ginger typically performs a couple of technology-related professional

development opportunities for the staff members at the school annually. She states that at the

beginning of the school year, there is a day where teachers are on a rotation schedule between

different resources that can be used for enriching instruction, and she always has the opportunity

to present one of the resources.

Ginger continues to increase her personal professional development by attending at least

one of the media collaboratives each year offered through FDRESA. Along with the media

collaboratives, Ginger reads library and media specialist blogs and articles to stay up-to-date

with new trends and technologies that are used in the media center. One area of concern that

Ginger would like to improve in is virtual learning, which has become even more relevant since
the beginning of the global pandemic. As it relates to appropriate resources and accessibility for

all students in the media center, Ginger places a strong emphasis on ensuring that reading

materials are available to reflect the community and culture of students at CMS. She mentions

single-parent home life, same-sex parents, homosexuality, and other circumstances that would be

relatable for all students.

REFLECTION: ​Ginger provided a great perspective of the many roles of being a media

specialist, as well as collaborative planning and teaching within the media center. One of the

main points that resonated with me was the experience of being an ELA teacher and how that

experience has helped her become a better media specialist. While I am not an ELA teacher,

understanding the importance of writing and reading can be emphasized in every classroom, no

matter the subject. Students in my computer science classes are tasked with research and writing

assignments frequently. Another emphasis of the media center that relates to all classroom

teachers is the formal rules for research and citing sources. At the middle school level, this is

extremely important for preparing students for high school and college. This was a different

perspective from the interview I conducted with the media specialist from the elementary level.

Being apart of the leadership team at CMS also allows her to spend more time collaborating with

teachers on things they can be incorporating into their classroom, from technology to techniques.

Once again, being an ELA teacher for many years helped guide Ginger into becoming a media

specialist and has helped her flourish at CMS. Ginger offers wisdom on the many roles of the

media specialist by speaking on the different technology responsibilities she holds, even more so

this year due to the global pandemic. It is evident to hear that virtual learning will be something
that she needs to continue to develop her skills because the pandemic has changed the outlook of

education for the future.

This interview was extremely informative and has helped me gain a better understanding

of all of the roles of a media specialist, and how it differs between age levels within a school

district. The technology aspect of being a media specialist is something that excites me since my

background in computer science is one of my strengths. One way I will need to improve is in the

promotion of reading materials for the media center, I have never been a “reader” by nature, but

my love for books and vocabulary has grown the older I get. Ginger does a great job of

communicating with students to understand their likes and interests as it relates to reading

material, which is why broadening my range of reading materials is important for me to be a

successful media specialist. This interview was great to gain perspective from a very successful

and dedicated media specialist!