The term "diversity" typically refers to differences in culture and race, but really includes anything that can make us different from one another, such as intelligence, learning style, socio-economic status. As media specialists, we are in a unique position to bring diversity into a school through our collections. Materials should appeal to all students, no matter what learning level, race, language, or gender, for example. A variety of materials should always be available and abundant to serve our school's population, depending on its particular structure. Not only can we build collections to appeal tot he students population, but also professional collections to help our teachers serve students the best way possible. This can include technology materials to assist any impairments that exist in our children - visual, hearing, learning disabilities, etc.
Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to serve any disabled students where I am. Our population is an interesting mix of a male majority (we are a STEM-magnet elementary school, grades 3-5) and majority African-Americans and sub-continental Indians. Our media center, where I am the parapro, has a number of biographies on famous African-Americans, more than the school where my mentor is. Unfortunately, we don't have any books, fiction or biographies, that are stories about Indian culture. I understand there isn't much available, but more fiction is being written for the upper grades about Indian families and culture. We also have a wide-variety of AR reading levels represented in the collection because some children are classic left-brained strong math students, but somewhat weak readers. We have something for everyone, strong readers included. Finally, our media center is quite small. I am sad to say that if we had students who were in wheel chairs, they would not find our library so easy to navigate.
We are a STEM-magnet school, so technology plays a strong role in our curriculum. However, because we don't have any special needs students, I don't believe wee have any assistive-technologies on campus. I have never seen support in action, although the school my mentor is in just began housing an autism program. I am not sure how often these students visit the media center, though - I'll have to ask Lynn after our Thanksgiving break...
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The media center at the school in which I am employed purchased books with audio for not only special education students but also for other students who would enjoy listening to books instead of reading the books. We have several listening centers in our media center that the teachers can check out and the students love them. I let my third grade students listen to a book on tape once a week during reading centers and it is their favorite center. As they are listening to the story they will read along in some parts and work on improving their fluency.
ReplyDeleteMedia specialists do need to think about accessibility to the media center. I had a little girl in a wheelchair last year and her favorite place to visit was the media center. She was able to get around very well because our media center was very accessible to her, which made her feel special.
Jessica is right. Audio books might help some of those left-brained students enjoy reading a little more. Often those students can listen and absorb information. We have several boys who enjoy listening to the book and following along. They are not neccesarily poor readers, but it helps them concentrate and not become distracted with their surroundings.
ReplyDeleteFor the Indian books, we have had several donated to our library. I think they were donated through some program at UGA. Your media specialist might want to check into that.
Lisa, I love how you point at the diversity isn't just about race or gender. I think sometimes we all forget that. Just the other day my students were discussing how little diversity we have at our school, but once again we were simply considering race, gender, ethnicity, etc. We weren't considering learning styles, socio-economic status, family structure, etc. I am sure if we had been considering that, our school is just as diverse as any other.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that the media center is the place where all diversity comes together. There should essentially be something for everyone. Honestly, I think that may be one of the harder responsibilites as a media specialist. There are so many qualities to consider (disabilites, learner needs, reading levels, interests, beliefs, etc.) that I'm afraid somewhere, somehow, someone will be left out. Even though I consider it to be a hard responsibilty, it is one that I really look foward to. I want to see the look on a child's face when they realize there is something in there for him/her, not just something they have to settle with.
Pointing out that having a "physically" diverse media center is something I had not given much thought too. There is no way a student in a wheel chair would be able to navigate our media center. Our aisles are too narrow and some of our shelves are too high. We did recently order another 20 set of head phones for our mobile lab. This was in reaction to teachers wanting to accomodate the students who comprehend some materials better when read aloud. Not only do they refer to ebooks, but also brainpop videos and other interactive programs they use in their curriculum. We are fortunate that as 21st century educators we have access to so many resources including print, non-print, multi-media, and other technical tools to help us with this goal. I will be interested to see how school systems will handle these accomodations with their budgets. We also do not have disabled children at our school. Does that mean we should always remain equipped for them or get tools as we need them? I am sure this question would ignite different opinions from educators and society.
ReplyDeleteLisa,
ReplyDeleteI think that we all have to realize that diversity can be a number of different things. We as teachers and media specialists need to keep all of the differences in mind. Through my years of teaching I have been exposed to assistive technologies for students from a portable vision machine to a cordless hearing aid. We need to take all of these different types of diversities in mind when planning our lessons and teach to the different learning styles of all of our students.
Lisa wrote, “The term ‘diversity’ typically refers to differences in culture and race, but really includes anything that can make us different from one another.” I think that statement does a good job in explaining diversity, Lisa.
ReplyDeleteWe are ALL diverse in one way or another—our races, our cultures, our interests, our heights, our weights, our ages, our abilities, our physical attributes, our family structures, our dialects, our hair colors! One size does not fit all. When we celebrate diversity, we actually come together to put a positive spin on being different. We learn it’s okay to learn at different speeds, in different places, or in different languages. A person can learn by reading a book or poem, looking something up on the Internet, listening to an audiobook or sound clip, talking to a trusted adult, watching a video, or making a recipe or craft.
As media specialists, we make the decision to explore different ways of learning. We augment the books with visual and audio extras that keep the interest up and strengthen the learning for those who may not be able to read very well or understand all the English in the text. We include or seek out materials that enrich the content or extend it beyond the classroom or schoolbook. We try new strategies like podcasting or news writing to catch the eye or ear of the reluctant or shy learner. In the media center, a student can feel free to express displeasure or delight in the venture, but the goal is always to learn in a personal, positive way.
I must concur about audio books. They are my saving grace with my 2 gender-based boy’s classes. I allow them to choose the books they want to read as a group and then, purchase the audio to accompany. This, in conjunction with good 'boy' books, is the only way that they are able to stay focused for more than 2-3 minutes. I used to think that they were just lazier than my girls classes. But, I whole heartedly feel differently, now. They are a unique and challenging group of learners that require much more pushing and nudging and the use of any and all technology that can be incorporated.
ReplyDeleteOne strategy that I have used with my special ed students is using BrainPop. BrainPop provides fun mini-lessons across several disciplines. What I found was that my boys responded just as well, if not better. They are very excited when they see the mini-lesson pop up on the Promethean Board. They know that in 4 1/2 minutes they get to take turns using the Interactiv Pen with the quiz that follows. Imagine having students begging for another quiz!
assistive technology is definately a a part of diversity and I strongly believe that differentiated instruction can help to bridge those gaps. Technology is a great way to incorporate differentiation and because our world wide weeb is actually world wide, it helps our students become more understanding of our many differences.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up a great point when you mentioned professional collections that can help teachers to learn about, accommodate diverse groups of learners. In my first year teaching, I became very frustrated because I had a child with severe behavior issues, and I struggled to reach out to him and help him to grow academically because I had no previous experience with a child with those needs, and got very little support from the administration at my school. In the years that followed, I encountered students who were developmentally delayed, extremely gifted (one knew her multiplication tables through the 9's in pre-k...and knew what they meant!), and from a variety of cultures and familial backgrounds. Each of these students had different educational needs and learned in different ways, and while no professional material is going to tell the answer to facing every challenge, I feel that if my schools had provided such materials through the media center, that I could've gotten a few ideas for adapting my teaching to accommodate all of my students.
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