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

Good Ideas! Briefs

Good Ideas! Home Page

Good Ideas! is published by CSLA

1499 Old Bayshore Hwy.

Burlingame

California

94010

(415) 692-2350

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

O'Farrell Community School --- Center for Advanced Academic Studies
San Diego

Here is a school site from the 1950s, changed to a middle school in 1989 and totally reevaluated, restructured, restocked, rejuvenated --- and rewired! Joining the staff as a member of the core design group, Diana Breidenstein spent a full year purchasing and planning, not only for the library media center, but for the entire school and its magnet concept.

Now O'FarreIl is a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools, with such partners as Apple Corporation, Cox Cable, Pacific Telesis, the Council for Parent Involvement in Education, and the Social Services Department of the County of San Diego. And Diana is slated to receive a certificate in Magnet Instructional Design in Technology from San Diego State University.

Seventh grade student Terry Gault and librarian Diana Breidenstein use Compton's Multi-media Encyclopedia.

The actual contents of the school and its library media center are secondary to the planning structure, one in which teachers make decisions, do counseling, collaborate on interdisciplinary design, and work closely with parents. Given this structure, maximum use can be made of the many books, laser disks, Videocassettes, microfiche, electronic indexes, remote data access systems, and online catalog stations located in the library media center. State-of-the-art hardware is also in plentiful supply, from FAX machine to modem to printers, microfiche readers, computers, and laser disk players.

The library media center is networked with the rest of the school site. The networking idea is more than electronic signals, however. Diana participates with teachers on all curriculum planning, teaches cooperatively, and packs them in at the media center.

School planners called themselves "The Dream Team." Theirs is a dream that should attract students and receive the support of the business and academic world.

• O'Farrell Community School --- Center For Advanced Academic Studies (Grades 6-8, enrolment 1,350)
  6130 Skyline Drive, San Diego; (619) 263-3009
  Bob Stein, CEO
  Diana Breidenstein, Library Media Teacher
  San Diego Unified School District