Learning through Books, Media and Technology

ARTICLES THIS ISSUE:

Chico High School: Uning the library media center and its tools to push out the walls of the classroom

What do you do with 4,000 students? A Great library media center helps!

Library as learning laboratory — for students and teachers

From local access systems to global dialog

Helping students and staff connect

Restructuring: getting to the heart of the learning process

Making the most of learning resources, from human to technological

Winning combinations — kids, technologies, teaching partnership

A "logical place" for applications of information technology

The "Dream Team" at work: changing ideas of how we prepare students for the future

From library to "Discovery Center" — a marriage of tradition and technology

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Chico High School

Using the library media center and its tools to push out the walls of the classroom

Nancy Gelbert, CSHS instructional media aide, instructing students in the use of the video editor in the library media center

Information Power drives the Chico Senior High School library media center. It involves groups, individuals, and classes. It works!

• An ambitious partnership with 12 teachers of sophomore English provides 400 students (including those in special education) with cooperatively taught research and literature-based projects.
• Lesson plans on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, developed cooperatively with a humanities teacher, include "how to" sessions on making presentations. A scheme for cooperative evaluation has become a model for new partnerships.
• Infusion of literature into four sections of U.S. History has been a natural project for collaboration. A teacher-prepared bibliography was supplemented by the library media teacher, who analyzed the existing collection, ordered new or additional copies, and made these materials instantly --- and knowledgeably --- accessible to students.
• Art comes alive for advanced writing classes with guest lectures by the library media teacher (her self a former art teacher). Research allows further use of this expertise and of the art slides prepared for identification.
• Dialog is introduced through use of an LCD panel. Writing classes then break into small user groups in the media center's computer room. Searchware is used to help students set up their searches.

Technology is not a separate curriculum at Chico High. It is viewed simply as a collection of learning tools. The media center has automated circulation, a networked computer center an online catalog, an extensive microfiche collection, online search capabilities via Dialog, and video production equipment. Library media teacher Nancy Rowell says: "I see teachers who cooperate in... cross-curricular planning as having a vision of education and a sense of how learning takes place that reflects the real world. They understand that in real life content is not compartmentalized or isolated… They push the walls of their classrooms out as far as they can go… They know that the school library media center is a natural extension of their own class-room' and a natural part of their students' learning environment."

• Chico High School (Grades 10-12; enrollment 1,200)
  901 Esplanade, Chico 95926, (916) 891-3026
  Roger Williams, Principal
  Nancy Rowell, Library Media Teacher
  Chico Unified School District