As a substitute I actually bring a microphone and speaker to my media specialist jobs and make it part of the lesson plan, both to amplify and as an interactive tool with the class. (Last week I selected a few students to help read out around a picture book and it was very popular. Fifty minutes went by fast!) But beyond that, the idea that media centers should be quiet is a bit out-dated, especially with the introduction of technology. You can have 3d printers, morning shows, and more going on in that room, or nearby. I'd be a little worried if it was dead silent. :p

^ They aren't? How come? I don't really know havent been inside a school library in a long time.

Libraries aren’t really quiet places anymore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ES- Love our library and the media specialist and assistant. Kids coming in and out all day. It’s a bright, warm, welcoming space full of books.

MS- Don’t know the new media specialist but the prior one was great.

HS-Temperature control needs some work and it seems pretty blah. Not nearly as many books but maybe that’s because kids read/use them less. Kid has had a class or two meet there. If not already happening I would definitely encourage more teachers to use the space for seminar style classroom lessons and presentations.

Would students be able to do this using their library voices? Maybe that's why teachers don't use it as much for seminar style and presentations?

Out of the three schools, our MS is probably the best, tho I think I haven't gone in after a tour of the school once.

Create a room for it. It’s not like students are using stadium voice in classroom.

HS seems small, kid goes once in a while I heard.

Anonymous wrote:ES- Love our library and the media specialist and assistant. Kids coming in and out all day. It’s a bright, warm, welcoming space full of books.

MS- Don’t know the new media specialist but the prior one was great.

HS-Temperature control needs some work and it seems pretty blah. Not nearly as many books but maybe that’s because kids read/use them less. Kid has had a class or two meet there. If not already happening I would definitely encourage more teachers to use the space for seminar style classroom lessons and presentations.

Would students be able to do this using their library voices? Maybe that's why teachers don't use it as much for seminar style and presentations?

Out of the three schools, our MS is probably the best, tho I think I haven't gone in after a tour of the school once.

ES- Love our library and the media specialist and assistant. Kids coming in and out all day. It’s a bright, warm, welcoming space full of books.

MS- Don’t know the new media specialist but the prior one was great.

HS-Temperature control needs some work and it seems pretty blah. Not nearly as many books but maybe that’s because kids read/use them less. Kid has had a class or two meet there. If not already happening I would definitely encourage more teachers to use the space for seminar style classroom lessons and presentations.

My HS is in the library all the time.

MS--never seen it, but my bookworm kid apparently hangs out there a lot.

ES--PreK-2 has weekly media center lessons with a book exchange, 3-5 have them every other week. For the upper grades, the lessons are more about how to conduct research and digital citizenship. There are set hours for book exchange outside of lessons. The media specialist also runs a "Friends of the Library" club for 4-5th graders who stay in for one recess a week and reshelve books and maintain the library. My 4th grader wanted to be in it but apparently it fills up fast.

Anonymous wrote:How would you (or your child) rate child's school library? Do your children use the library at school aside from the 1-2x/week visit with their class in ES? How about MS? And in HS?

Our ES and MS libraries are excellent and used by our DC.
MS - there is Book Wars ( like book club) with a competition against other schools. Our DC borrows books from their library for that.

Both ES and MS librarian / media specialist have been amazing and are very involved.

We use our local ( MCPL ) a lot- and we put all the books we need on hold and pick them up.

At our elementary school, students in grades K-3 have weekly media lessons with the media specialist (book exchange is built into the 45 minute weekly lesson). Students in 4th and 5th grade have a biweekly book exchange, but no regularly scheduled weekly lesson (no time in the schedule as they already have four specials weekly). Additionally, our school has an open book exchange first thing in the morning. Students can come and go upon entering the building and up until the morning bell
rings (about 15 minutes). We have an amazing media specialist and the students are in the media center often.

MCPS libraries are generally pretty great. The media specialists work hard to create well rounded collections. I think you can get a bad seed here or there but that can happen anywhere.

Thumbs up for MS library. Spacious, bright and mostly important for ours, stocked full of new books. Visits after eating lunch.

My ESer only goes to the library with the class. My MSer, on the other hand, is regularly in the library. She heads to the library in the morning between when the bus drops off and first period, takes out books regularly from the library, and has biweekly Book Wars meetings there. She hasn't had any research projects thus far, unfortunately, so she has not used the library for any academic purposes--she just loves reading and loves the staff there.

How would you (or your child) rate child's school library? Do your children use the library at school aside from the 1-2x/week visit with their class in ES? How about MS? And in HS?