Entry #2 Riley Grant

January 26, 2017

Day 2

I was very fortunate today to be able to sit in on a Parent Meeting about the 1:1 Chromebooks that have been distributed to all of the students at Mauldin Middle School. Our entire district is in the process of pushing out Chromebooks to all students in the district. This will, of course, become a part of my job in some way if I remain in Greenville County.

I thought the presenters did a very good job of trying to answer the majority of parent questions before they were even asked. They did their homework by talking with faculty members that are also parents of students with Chromebooks and asked what would be most beneficial for parents.  There was a great video that introduced Chromebooks and a preview of the school web page dedicated to Chromebooks. (LOVED this video...just enough snark!)

Kim Wylie, the faculty member in charge of Chromebooks, said that Chromebooks are, “an opportunity and a tool.” The team went on to add that the technology was not the answer to all education problems, but a resource similar to a textbook. This also meant that abuse of the tool was a discipline issue just as it would be for any other situation.

Finally, one of the most popular pieces of information for the parents was the introduction of www.myactivity.google.com. This allows parents to view all of his/her child’s activity as long as the child’s username and password are available. Since this technology is a school tool, usernames and passwords should be available to parents at all times.

This was a great presentation for me to see! It definitely gave me some tips for the future as a School Librarian…and parent. I made notes and have put them in my Big Notebook!

I also met two teacher that I will do a little work with. One has asked that as my collaboration project I introduce her class to website evaluation and applying the CRAP test….apparently middle schools love to say “crap” and get away with it! I will help the other teacher by preparing resources for her and her students for an upcoming unit. Both were very willing to work with me and

I struggle a bit with wanting to jump in and help and not wanting to get in the way…I think time and some experience will help that! I worry that I will be too primary for middle schoolers…I will need some help making sure I don’t present in a “too elementary”  way.

Here are some pictures J

Mauldin Middle School Media Center Expectations

 Stamping student's agenda to mark return date

 Book Display

Will work on changing to Black History Month display

Current Bulletin Board

Will change and continue to promote Mustang Books

 Graphic Novels

 Check Out Desk...Circulation Desk...what is the best label??

 The Library!

 Promethean Board  and Conference Room

Entry #1 Riley Grant

First Day of Internship
Jan 25, 2017

"I hope you have a great first day of school!"...a quote from my eight year old daughter. That is usually my line, but, today I began my internship as I work toward finishing my Master's in Library Science! I started the day confident and excited and had the, "I've got this" attitude. Then my daughter wished me well as I dropped her off at our school and that confidence started to fade. I started questioning all kinds of things. Did I time traffic right? Will my badge get me in the door? Do I remember where the office is? Do I remember where the library is? I am the grown up...why do I feel like a middle schooler on her first day of school?

Fortunately, I'm pretty brave and just asked for help and directions and the folks at Mauldin Middle could not have been more kind or helpful! 

It was a great first day with the following highlights:

-Mrs. Batson and Mrs. McVay graciously showed me around and took the time to answer lots of questions and give me a general look at how things operate. 

-I was able to sit in on a presentation by some of the administration and staff at MMS to other administrators and media specialists that will be involved in 1:1 Chromebooks next year. It was very interesting to hear how the Chromebooks rolled out at Mauldin and what some of the perks and glitches were. Definitely something to remember as all of the district goes 1:1 in the near future. I came home and wrote down notes for the future

-There were a lot of people to meet including the principal and some of the other administrators, a good many teachers and other staff--everyone was very friendly and welcoming.

-Mrs. Batson, Mrs. McVay and I had a chance to just talk on a personal level to get to know each other a little bit---share some stories and laugh! Again, I felt very welcome in their space.

-We were also able to make a rough timeline of tasks for the next ten weeks. (I will type it up and let Mrs. Batson review it and submit it with my next journal entry.)

-I also got to see some of my former students that I taught as Kindergarteners or First Graders. It made my day to get hugs from these students---some I have not seen in at least five years! It was nice to have some familiar faces and reconnect. All of my careers have been about building relationships and that is one of the many reasons I chose to pursue this path. It is my hope to build relationships in order to promote literacy and leadership. 

My checklist for the internship is a little daunting, but I felt much better about it after talking with Mrs. Batson today and hearing her suggestions for collaborating with another teacher, book talks, and other tasks. 

I had intended on taking some pictures, per my daughter's request, but got wrapped up in the day! I'll do better next time!

Riley Grant


**The Blog
So, originally, I thought I would keep it simple and just type up my journal entries and email them in. But, the other night in a fit of sleeplessness, my mind kept going back to the idea of starting a blog to document this experience and to carry on into a future librarianship position. I had once read from a blogger I follow that she often filmed in her car in the driveway as it was a quiet spot without interruptions from family and pets. This kept spinning in my mind and I thought at some point, I could do video book talks from my jeep...hence the name, Riley's Red Jeep Reads. Even today, I intended to just do simple emails, but then reconsidered as I knew I could do better..we will see if it sticks!