Blog 3 Media Center Web Pages

Belinda Callahan

MEDT 7477

Blog 3: Media Center Webpages

I love designing and using my webpage for my classroom. I had a class webpage before it was required in my district. I even created web pages for some of my teammates. They joked I should charge for my services. Honestly, if I could get paid to do it and still spend time with the students, I would! In my opinion, it isn’t enough to just slap information down and never update or use it. Nor is it acceptable to use cute graphics without substance. My webpage does have a great deal of information, but it is also part of my lessons and resources. My students know and use my page to access other sites and their assignments. But my webpage still isn’t interactive. The platform my county uses for web pages does not allow for it.

I was interested to see Creekview’s media center site. I teach in Cherokee county and wasn’t sure how they were able to create such a great site. They do not use the platform provided by the county, and use Google. It is linked to the school site.  Although the county site doesn’t allow for students to comment and interact with the media specialist, it has tons of information, much more than I’ve seen on many sites. I wonder if students are using the Pathfinders and resources provided. I hope the media specialist is instructing teachers and students about what information is there and how to use the information. If you look over her site, notice that she has added photos to enhance the text, remember the platform limits the size and shape of fonts.

On the bottom right, there is a list of resources and information. The information is very important to the Creekview students with information on senior projects, research guides, and social media. When my daughter was working on her senior project there wasn’t any information provided by the media specialist. My son now goes to the same school and he couldn’t even find the summer reading list on the site. I finally was able to locate it. It almost seemed hidden under titles that didn’t really pertain to a summer reading list, and finally the list turned out to be incorrect.

So this brings me to my first point about media center webpages, you must have relevant information that is easily located and correct. It wasn’t a disaster for us, he read an extra book, but it is a problem. I doubt my son will ever go to the media center website for information. I believe it is the media specialist’s job to make sure her information is correct and up to date. If she/he’s not sure, they need to ask the teachers or remove the information. I am a classroom teacher, now it is in an elementary setting, but still the duties and responsibilities of the classroom teacher have become overwhelming. I could go on and on about it, but we must understand this. Every time there is a cut in staff, there are jobs that still must be done, and at least in my experience, it often falls onto the classroom teacher’s lap. My point being she/he are most likely juggling many things and may not always think to inform you of changes. Should they? Of course, but if you are providing the information on your site, you need to make sure it is correct.

Another point to be taken from this is that you need to think about the placement of information. Unfortunately, most people and especially students when seeing a large amount of text skim or give up and don’t even read it. You must make your site user friendly. Just because it makes sense to you that the reading list should be under extra activities doesn’t mean someone else will think to look there. Ask your students. They will tell you. When my fifth graders can’t find something on my site, I ask them where did the try to look and what were they thinking. Then I know if I need to make something clearer. As a teacher, we are to assess and adjust. You need to have this mindset with your webpage as well.

I think incorporating social media is interesting. It isn’t something we would use in the elementary setting, but I can see how it would appeal to older students. It is definitely an area to explore and to use to promote your media center. It may reach students and individuals who otherwise wouldn’t think to go to the media center page.

I want to revisit the idea of making your page interactive. When I read the blog 2 posts on Wikis, it really got me thinking of possible uses for my classroom and the media center. I think using Wikis for book clubs, reviews and mini-lessons is a very promising idea. Most students love to teach others, and in the process they learn as well. Most schools participate in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, but there is a limit on the number of students who can participate. If you had the team members write reviews to post on a Wiki, not only would they be practicing for the bowl, but they would also spark interest in books for other students.

Our school libraries are now media centers and we must be ready to use many types of media and adjust to how our students enjoy learning. We want to make the media center the heart of the school where knowledge is obtained and exchanged. Our webpages are one place to use to achieve this goal.