Interview Questions
Content
Nicki Harrison Interviewed: Sonya Malphus (media center specialist)
Interview Questions What is the mission of the center? The mission of the media center is to support and enhance the curriculum by offering patrons (students and staff) resources and services that meet instructional and leisure needs. What are the goals of the media center? The goals for Instructional Media at Coffee Middle School The Coffee County School System will provide media that enrich and support the curriculum taking into consideration the varied students served. Media will be provided which stimulates growth in factual knowledge, literacy appreciation, aesthetic values and ethical standards. Also, media will relate to and support the basic educational goals adopted by the school system. Media will be provided that will give various sides of controversial issues so that young people may develop, under guidance, the practice of critical reading, viewing, listening, and thinking. Media will be provided that are representative of the many religious, ethnic, and cultural groups and their contributions to world heritage. Who are the stakeholders? There are many stakeholders in the Coffee County media center including parents, students, teachers, staff, board members, and community members all of which contribute to the overall success of the center. What are the job titles and duties of Media Center personnel? There is one media specialist (me Sonya Malphus) and 2 Media Assistants Ms. Jackson and Ms. Yogasundram. We work together to achieve all the goals set forth for the media specialist including: Coordinate the building media and technology committee Implement media policies and procedures in line with system policies Participate in curriculum development and implementation by serving on textbook committees, developing learning materials, recommending media and technology. Etc… Manage and ensure accessibility to media resources Maintain awareness of new developments in technology and provide relevant information to teachers and staff Seek professional development opportunities for self and school Coordinate activities facilitated in the media center
Assist in selection of media center staff (media specialist only) Adhere to federal copyright laws and make sure school follows system policy as well
What activities are provided by the school media center? Beginning of the year we offer 6th grade tours of the media center to make them aware of the different areas in the media center and the resources that we have to offer. We host meetings for yearbook staff, and student council. We also host a contest once a year to design a bookmark for the school. The winner receives a prize and every student will receive a bookmark with the winning design on it to help encourage reading. We also offer buddy pictures at the end of the year as a fundraiser to buy new book and technology for the media center. Provide a brief history of the Coffee Middle media center. The school opened in 2006 as a brand new facility combing East and West Coffee Middle School. When the school opened we were provided with a computer station of 30 computers so that we would have 1 full class set. We were provided one media specialist and one assistant. We now have two assistants in the media center because of the amount of students in the school. As the school continues to grow to almost 1800 students we have continued to add more technology in the media center especially through the use of mobile laptop carts that can be used in the center of checked out for classroom use. We have also had school wide wifi installed in the media center and on each hallway. The technology department is working to update wifi for more efficient use constantly. Because our library has not been opened long there has not been a huge shift from books to technology like I experienced at the schools I worked at before. From the beginning here we have been heavily focused on the emerging technology that exists and is being created and modified constantly. On top of the computers in the media center that I am responsible for we also have a 6th, 7th, and 8th grade computer lab and 4 classroom computer labs for technology classes. Each of these labs has approximately 30 computers to accommodate an entire class at one time.
Interview Questions What is the mission of the center? The mission of the media center is to support and enhance the curriculum by offering patrons (students and staff) resources and services that meet instructional and leisure needs. What are the goals of the media center? The goals for Instructional Media at Coffee Middle School The Coffee County School System will provide media that enrich and support the curriculum taking into consideration the varied students served. Media will be provided which stimulates growth in factual knowledge, literacy appreciation, aesthetic values and ethical standards. Also, media will relate to and support the basic educational goals adopted by the school system. Media will be provided that will give various sides of controversial issues so that young people may develop, under guidance, the practice of critical reading, viewing, listening, and thinking. Media will be provided that are representative of the many religious, ethnic, and cultural groups and their contributions to world heritage. Who are the stakeholders? There are many stakeholders in the Coffee County media center including parents, students, teachers, staff, board members, and community members all of which contribute to the overall success of the center. What are the job titles and duties of Media Center personnel? There is one media specialist (me Sonya Malphus) and 2 Media Assistants Ms. Jackson and Ms. Yogasundram. We work together to achieve all the goals set forth for the media specialist including: Coordinate the building media and technology committee Implement media policies and procedures in line with system policies Participate in curriculum development and implementation by serving on textbook committees, developing learning materials, recommending media and technology. Etc… Manage and ensure accessibility to media resources Maintain awareness of new developments in technology and provide relevant information to teachers and staff Seek professional development opportunities for self and school Coordinate activities facilitated in the media center
Assist in selection of media center staff (media specialist only) Adhere to federal copyright laws and make sure school follows system policy as well
What activities are provided by the school media center? Beginning of the year we offer 6th grade tours of the media center to make them aware of the different areas in the media center and the resources that we have to offer. We host meetings for yearbook staff, and student council. We also host a contest once a year to design a bookmark for the school. The winner receives a prize and every student will receive a bookmark with the winning design on it to help encourage reading. We also offer buddy pictures at the end of the year as a fundraiser to buy new book and technology for the media center. Provide a brief history of the Coffee Middle media center. The school opened in 2006 as a brand new facility combing East and West Coffee Middle School. When the school opened we were provided with a computer station of 30 computers so that we would have 1 full class set. We were provided one media specialist and one assistant. We now have two assistants in the media center because of the amount of students in the school. As the school continues to grow to almost 1800 students we have continued to add more technology in the media center especially through the use of mobile laptop carts that can be used in the center of checked out for classroom use. We have also had school wide wifi installed in the media center and on each hallway. The technology department is working to update wifi for more efficient use constantly. Because our library has not been opened long there has not been a huge shift from books to technology like I experienced at the schools I worked at before. From the beginning here we have been heavily focused on the emerging technology that exists and is being created and modified constantly. On top of the computers in the media center that I am responsible for we also have a 6th, 7th, and 8th grade computer lab and 4 classroom computer labs for technology classes. Each of these labs has approximately 30 computers to accommodate an entire class at one time.
