Interview of Site Supervisor

Julia Cagle
Media Specialist
The Dalton Academy / Dalton Junior High School

Courtney: What is your name and title?

Julia: I’m Julia Cagle and my title is Media Specialist.

Courtney: Talk a little bit about your setup and how you have two schools. How does
that work?

Julia: Obviously we have a unique situation. We’ve got junior high grades 8 and 9, and
high school grades 10 through 12 in our building. Our high school has a different
program. We have a newcomers academy for new to the country students who have
gaps in their education, and then we also through the high school we have our virtual
academy for those students this is their school of record. So when you look at that as
the media center along with the junior high programming we really do have to kind of
attack together. I say that because we are a shared entity and we are one of the only
shared entities within the school besides the cafeteria. And so the teachers in the
building and the staff in the building look at us as one. So while she might be staffed for
Dalton Junior High and I might be staffed Dalton Academy, we really just tag team
everything, and that has been our best work flow. Because if we were to have a junior
high teacher walk in here and Beth may not be available, what we do to try and help our
staff understand is that we send out weekly information. Not as lengthy as a newsletter,
but short little snippets of what is happening within the upcoming week. So we send it
out for our staff and then we have a student one for students. So that’s another thing,
we share students. So we might have ninth graders in the building that are junior high
students that might be academy students as well. It gets a little bit hairy in that regard
so we try to give enough information so that people know what we provide. Even with
that, I feel like we are constantly marketing ourselves. We are still kind of on our island
on our own, and we want to say we are here, we are available, use our space, use
us.Beth and I work really well together it's kind of like a tag team mentality. IF an email
comes in, we just see who can get to it first. We keep a calendar to make sure we stay
organized.

Courtney: What type of degree is required for your position?

Julia: The state of Georgia does require that Media Specialists have a media specialist
degree, our district has written a waiver for me. I have an Instructional Technology
degree, a specialist and a masters in teaching and they were able to do a waiver under
my instructional tech degree. So that is what I have been working under for the last few
years.

Courtney: What are your job responsibilities? I know you said you and Beth share, so
what does a typical day look like for you both?

Julia: So I would say the biggest responsibility that is in my mind is supporting teachers
and students in instructional technology. So that can mean staying informed of new
trends. Understanding our district resources and subscriptions as to what we have
available in our building so we have to be the specialist. We are expected to be the
ones who know the most about our LMS. We get lots of questions about Infinite
Campus, basically anything technology related people look to us as an expert. So, we
do spend most of our days doing that. So whether that be immediate troubleshooting,
we certainly see a lot of that, a lot of that actually. Students come in with stuff they need
help with. I think a lot of it is working alongside teachers to integrate technology. I have
a teaching background and so I lean heavily towards that piece and I work a lot with
teachers in embedding technology into instruction. Not even technology, but I am
working with a teacher right now with a project based learning unit. So, it an be putting
out fires, or whatever the immediate need is but it is also reaching out to those teachers
who have shown interest in x,y, and z whether it be a resources or a particular way of
teaching and then getting with those teachers and sitting beside them and planning a
unit or working with them.

The other side is the normal media specialist stuff. Inventory, keeping up with all the
resources- I’m looking over at my headsets, you know, it’s making sure batteries are
working and fixing things when they are broken and all of that.

Courtney: The next question is on remote learning, which you do have the virtual
academy so how are you meeting the needs of faculty and staff, or students, during the
remote learning?

Julia: Well l;uckily a lot of that work our district has put in over the last 11-12 years now,
and so students are prepared from elementary school as to what to do on their devices
as far as Canvas and that kind of thing. So what we do at this point because our
students are so well versed is we are that defense line. So it could be help desks
coming in from our students, it could be phone calls coming in from students and
parents. And then working with our technicians to make sure our students are served
appropriately./ And the other side of that is making sure our teachers know how to use
Canvas or other applications they are using. We do PD sessions with teachers.
Courtney: Do you have a budget that you control? How do you make decisions on
selecting resources for your stakeholders?

Julia: The short answer is yes we have a budget that we can control, and that is kind of
a unique situation for us because we are a shared entity and we have 2 budget lines
coming in. One budget is usually much larger because we have more students at that
school. OUr bookkeepers have been really wonderful because they deal with the
headache. When we have something to purchase whether it be for DJHS or TDA, the
bookkeepers work it out among themselves. For example, if we are buying resources
that are going to be shared amongst both schools, we might turn the request into DJHS
but then they will write a check to TDA to keep their books aligned. There needs to be a
better solution for that long term, but that is how we are doing things now.

Courtney: What is the best part of your job?

Julia: No lie, that I never know what to expect within a day. I love coming in and doing
what seems like a million and one things, and then going home and thinking I don't
even know what I got done, but I supported people and I was able to play with some
really cool technology tools and was able to teach some people some new things.
That’s what I love. I get to use my creativity every day and I love it.

Courtney: It’s interesting that you say that because I feel like that is what is the most
difficult with my job. I am a list person and I feel like I’m not getting my list done and that
really bugs me. So it’s interesting to look at it from a positive perspective. Because I am
that way too, I want to use my creativity I want to help people, so that is interesting to
put that in a good way.

Courtney: What do you find to be the most challenging part of your job?

Julia: Well it’s funny because I would almost say that what I just said is the most
challenging. A lot of what you just said. I’m a list person too, I am a perfectionist, and
whatever I do, I want to do really really well. When everyone is asking me something I
want to do my best. While that is the most exciting part, I do find it frustrating too. And I
will say something else I find frustrating and I shouldn’t take it personally but I think the
misconception of what media specialists do is frustrating. It is like the assumption that
we don't do very much. And I guess it is just a different way of thinking about things.
Just because I am behind my computer working, doesn’t mean I am not doing anything.

Courtney: Yeah, I agree. Or I think you know, I love my job, and I don’;t shy away from
telling people that I have the best job. But that doesn’t mean that it is an easy job. I think
people think you know, oh they are just having fun decorating and all this stuff, but no,
we do have the best job in my opinion but that doesn't mean it is an easy job. But I
think that is why advocating is so important. When you advocate, people can see what
you are doing.

Courtney: What advice would you give to a new instructional technology teacher?

Julia: I would say don’t forget to get back out alongside teachers. I think we can be so
consumed by other things, but it is important to get back outside in the classrooms,
work alongside teachers n PLCs so we still have our feet actively in the middle of things
and we can understand potential struggles and things.