Description of site:

I live and work in Glynn County. The county is along Georgia’s coast

and is approximately 60 miles from Jacksonville, Fl or Savannah, Ga to the

north. The county was founded in 1777 and has one of the oldest school

houses in the country still standing. The county is 585 square miles,

although 163 of the square miles is water. In 2000, the census reported a

population of 67,568. In 2008, the estimated population was 75,884. With

intense growth, many families have moved into the area. This brings

diversity to the area. We have a median income level of about $39,000 and

15% of the population is below the poverty line. Glynn county school system

tries hard to meet the needs of the diversity of its learners several ways.

The school system is composed of nine elementary schools, four

middle schools and two high schools. Our operating budget in excess of

$100.9 million is allowing new schools to replace older ones and renovations

to be made where needed (Glynn co, 2009). Each school features a media

center and advanced telecommunication capabilities that help prepare our

students for the demands of the 21st century. The school I teach in is one

of the middle schools, Needwood Middle. It was built in 1998 and added on

to two years ago. The media center is connected with 21st century

technologies. Our school is trying to be recognized as an IB school, which

makes us an ideal location for new technologies global communications. Our

media center has a computer lab with 26 computers, a Smart Board, LCD
projector, a room to monitor student computer use, as well as audio/video

equipment storage, a room for teacher use of equipment, 3 mobile computer

labs, and a conference room set up for video purposes. The media center at

Needwood has over 9,500 titles. Of those titles 4360 were books, 2435

were videos, 111 were eBooks, and the rest were DVDs, computer software

programs, and CDs. The school has about 90 teachers who regularly use the

resources provided by the media center. The school is very fortunate that

it has had the funds to expand the broadband capabilities and create 21st

century or emerging 21st century classrooms throughout the school.

Description of Learners:

The student population at Needwood is diverse. The school has 681

students, almost half female and a few extra boys. The school has two

American Indian students, twenty-two Asian students, Sixty Hispanic

students, two hundred and eighty-five African American students, two

hundred ninety-five Caucasian students, and seventeen multi-racial students.

The sixth grade is broken into a similar demographic range as the school

with 197 students, almost half and half being males and females. We have

four Asian students, twenty Hispanic students, eighty-six African American

students, eight Caucasian students, and seven multi-racial students. In sixth

grade we currently have seventeen students who require extra support and

twenty two gifted students. There are sixty students who are labeled as

advanced or gifted, the rest of the sixth grade students are below average

readers and writers. Their STAR reading levels dip down to 2.2 and go as

high as 12+. There are 7 Spanish students in the ESOL program. The 7th and

8th grade teachers report similar findings with their students. The main
concern is the low students are very low. The variation between low to

average and average to high learners creates a need for an array of reading

materials from multiple sources and levels.

Curriculum Review:

I decided to use the sixth grade Earth Science standards and focus

on weather and climate. These standards are taught in the third nine week

grading period and usually over a period of 10-12 class periods. The

standards are:

S6E4. Students will understand how the distribution of land and oceans
affects climate and weather.

a. Demonstrate that land and water absorb and lose heat at different rates
and explain the resulting effects on weather patterns.

b. Relate unequal heating of land and water surfaces to form large global
wind systems and weather events such as tornados and thunderstorms.

c. Relate how moisture evaporating from the oceans affects the weather
patterns and weather events such as hurricanes.

Standard Will know Activities/ products/ Resources

S6E.4 Assessments
How a. Heat absorption Vocabulary blocks Textbook
distribution of is diff. on earth
land and and effects The students will create Internet
oceans affects weather patterns posters of Earth’s
weather and different climate biomes. Model
climate balls
 Students will create 3D
model with wind patterns Posters
illustrated, demonstrate
which were used by sailors Books

b. wind systems Vocabulary blocks Textbook

and weather
events caused by Students will produce a Video
unequal heating of weather show using
land and water satellite pictures and maps Internet
of the US. The show
should predict tornadoes Books
and at least two
hurricanes DVD

Students will diagram the Maps

difference between a land
and sea breeze.

Students will identify

strong storms of the past
and explain the
characteristics that
caused them to be strong

c. moisture Vocabulary blocks Textbook

evaporating from
oceans affects Explain what is happening Internet
weather patterns in the 7 day weather
and events. forecast provided. Books

- weather and climate web DVD

2.0 report
Collection Review:

I evaluated the collection using multiple assessment techniques. The

media specialist said Needwood was lucky financially and had a budget that

was more than fair. The actual numbers were not given, however the state

does spend $13.02 per student. Glynn County provides other sources of

funding. Initially, I wanted to examine the actual set-up of the media

center at Needwood. The computer area is located between the two doors

in two rows along the windows facing the main hall. The media specialist and

her assistant are able to monitor computer usage directly with their

placement. They are also able to monitor them remotely on their computers

and in the electronic “closet”. There is a small reading area at one end of

the computers where the magazines are located then the main door leading

to the front entrance of the school. The circulation desk is at the other end

of the media center and a door that leads to the main hub of the school (the

area where each hall opens to). Beyond the computers are eight tables with

six chairs each. Beyond the tables are the books. The books are arranged

with nonfiction on the short inside aisles and the fiction is on the perimeter

in tall shelves forming a U around the nonfiction aisles. The non-fiction

aisles are extremely helpful with the Dewey numbers at the head of each

aisle. Each shelf is also labeled with the corresponding Dewey numbers. The

reference section is on the outside non-fiction shelf. A large table is next

to the section so students can find the resources, use them, and put them

back.

After the overview of the media center, I found the area that housed

the non-fiction titles dealing with weather and climate. Unfortunately, the

section was small. I counted twenty-five titles dealing directly with the

topics of weather and climate. There are four sixth grade Earth Science

teachers and this provided less than seven books per teacher during the

unit. We are closely aligned in our daily activities; because of this the actual

number of books we could use per section of the unit was more like two

apiece. This is not terrible, however, if a student wanted to find a book to

check out for further learning, they would have very little to choose from

about their curriculum. The reference section was scanned and almanacs and

encyclopedias provided relevant information about weather events. These

resources were current and in good shape, but they remain in the media

center. The reference section was strong in this area; however, very few

students find and utilize these sources in order to independently learn. They

are used mainly for assignments. The next step was to analyze the

available materials based on their conditions. Here, Needwood’s media staff

was great. The non-fiction books were all in good condition. Four had never

been checked-out and seven had been used less than three times. I thought

the condition of the books was interesting because half the books appeared

virtually unused by the students or the staff. The oldest book was twelve

years old and the newest was published in 2009. The majority of books

about the climate changes affecting Earth were from 2006-2009. I thought

the collection could have included more documentation of events affecting

nations, people, and cultures. In recent years events have been covered

extensively in the media, but very few, two of the same books about

Hurricane Katrina, dealt with current events. I will deal with that issue in

my materials purchase request. I thought as a collection the non-fiction

titles were relevant and in good condition. I would like in the future to have

a bigger section dealing with the weather and climate, as it is a very

important aspect of life.

The fiction section was very easy to search. The media center uses

the Destiny search, so I easily located titles using the subjects of weather

and climate. I found twenty-eight novels that pertained to weather and

climate. The novels were a mixed bag of old and new. While titles merely

mentioned storms, others formed their plots around weather and climate

events. I did not find many multicultural novels. The plots tended to be

fantasy based or hurricanes from the south, primarily in Florida settings.

The media specialists do an excellent job of weeding and I found no books

that were too worn or abused. The fiction section was decent. I think more

titles dealing with issues in other places and other events would be welcome

and be of interest to our students.

I found 27 audiovisual sources dealing with the weather and climate.

There were only two titles that dealt with weather events outside of the

U.S. Over half were titles dealing with very science based information.

These types of movies are not especially engaging to our population and their

check-out histories acknowledge this fact. The rest of the movies were

highly engaging and dealt primarily with natural disasters in the U.S. Of

these 13 titles, ten were movies documenting hurricane activity. I

understood this since we live in an area faced with hurricane threats,

however, because of that I think there should be more of an array of

choices for the teachers to illustrate Earth’s weather and climate patterns.

I am aware that teachers can also utilize Safari Montage and United

Streaming and because of those resources there is not a high need for in-

house DVD titles. The county also houses an extensive materials center,

which for this project I did not include.

Next, I decided to examine the books and their connection to the

students’ curriculum. The novels, nonfiction books, audiovisual materials, and

reference books located did a great job of covering the topics involved with

the standard. The areas were all covered by multiple sources. I think the

only concern with the non-fiction selections (other than size) was the

readability. Many of the students are low readers and most of the available

books are written on an advanced reading level, sometimes too science

oriented for even myself. The books were much more detailed and in-depth

than the sixth grade standard I used and that was a positive.

The positives of this collection were definitely noticed. Fortunately,

the negative components were also identified. The budget will be spent on

adding resources to the collection and providing a multicultural aspect to the

collection. Lastly, I think finding resources that cater to all reading abilities

is something to consider in my purchases.

 Number in MC Checked-out Average age
Non-fiction 93,959 4,223 13 years
Fiction 104,615 10,219 15 years
Reference 517 63 11 years
Weather and 25 7 8 years

climate
Totals for MC 198,574 39,857 11.8

The table suggests the weather and climate sections are not used very

often. The media specialist appears to keep the information relevant;

however the students are not utilizing these resources.

Budget Summary:

I attempted to add an additional twenty-five books to the non-fiction

and reference sections. I wanted to add an additional ten to the fiction

section. Instead of adding to the audiovisual section (because of teacher

access to other avenues of video), I wanted to add eBooks to the collection.

I did not use all of the funds, taking into account the materials available and

not used. After reviewing three vendors, I believe I have created a more

usable collection with avenues for multicultural needs as well as ability levels.

The addition of these materials will benefit the students and the teachers.