Lauren Caslen

Interview #2

I interviewed Misty Day from Long County Middle School.

Mrs. Day has been a media specialist for 7 years, and she was a classroom
teacher for 12 years before becoming a media specialist. When asked about her
past job experiences, she stated that when she was a classroom teacher, she was on
several different task forces (finance team, organizing fundraisers, PBIS team
leader, subject area grade chair) and because of those leadership opportunities as
well as just being a regular classroom teacher has prepared her for the job she has
now. Mrs. Day chose to pursue a degree as a school library media specialist
because she had been in the classroom for 12 years and was ready for a change.
She said she still wanted something to do with the kids, but this job allowed her to
still be with the kids but not deal with all the mundane tasks of being a classroom
teacher. She received her instructional technology and media degree from West
Georgia. She said she learned so much about censorship and she had no idea there
was so much to know and learn about what you could and couldn’t do. One thing
she wished she had learned in school is how to organize technology. She stated that
even though her degree in in technology, as well, the courses she took definitely
did not prepare her enough for that aspect of the job. As far as cooperative
planning with the teachers, Mrs. Day said this year has been a wash because when
classes come to the media center, the most they are in there is about 20 minutes. In
the past, she has collaborated with teachers on things that students are struggling
with. When answering the question about developing a strong team approach with
other teachers, she said that she personally likes a set schedule – even though every
class she’s taken has made her believe that a set schedule is not a good thing. As
far as reluctant teachers, she said – once again – in her experience the best way to
get teachers in the media center is to set a schedule and have the teachers stick to
it. When asked about reading programs for the school, she said that she believes
the library should be the hub of reading. She wishes to be a part of classroom novel
studies, classroom readings, and everything dealing with books even at the
classroom level. She said she thinks that as the media specialist, in order to
promote reading like it should be, she should be included in all of these things.
Mrs. Day promotes interest in the use of resource center materials by creating
videos, teacher newsletters, websites, Remind 101, and any communication
pushing out exactly what is offered in the media center. Speaking about
professional development, Mrs. Day said she is very comfortable with it, however,
it’s difficult for her to plan a PD session due to being a media specialist for two
different schools. When I asked Mrs. Day about her own professional growth as a
media specialist, she said she is a member of tons of social media groups from all
over the world and has gotten so many great ideas from that. She is also part of
First District RESA and meets with them from all 19 counties. Once a month, she
meets with the surrounding areas media specialist to collaborate. She would like to
further her knowledge by completing professional development for a program
called Clever that our county uses. She said it’s an excellent resource and she
would like to learn more about pushing out applications through the program. As
far as diversity, she said she thinks she already does that pretty well in her media
center. They have tons of levels of books for both sides of the media center. She
said they do a really good job at engaging all students. In order to include
resources for all students, Mrs. Day keeps class sets of books at all different levels
and keeps plenty of resources available to the teachers. The media center is using
a program called SORA where they collaborate with First District RESA and she
ensures that all students have equal access to the program through Clever.
Even though I work at the school where Mrs. Day is a media specialist, I had
no idea the work she puts in day in and day out since she is working for both
schools (McClelland Elementary and Long County Middle). Just hearing about the
things she “wishes” she could do as opposed to the things she has time for made
me sad for her. As a media specialist, my main job would be to serve the teachers
and students to the best of my ability and help them succeed. However, Mrs. Day
has a ton of great ideas and resources, but because she’s pulled in so many
different directions, it is a difficult task to just be a “media specialist”. I commend
her efforts for still trying and hope that she will – one day – get to do the duties and
things that she desires to do.