Diversity in the media center is having the resources and support systems in place to help all students in the media center - no matter their race, gender, culture, language, or learning difficulties. I think that this concept is actually very difficult for a media center to accomplish. We need to have a wide range of resources for our students, including books on many different reading levels, technology that can assist students with sensory disabilities/difficulties, and resources that can used in different languages. What a media center needs and what a media center can get are two different things. It is difficult to rationalize spending the small budget we have on items that may only help one or two students, when we could spend the money for items that more students could use. I think what we have to remember is that without special resources, some of our students would not be able to use the media center at all. As a media specialist, it is important to remember that we need to make sure all our students are being served by the media center - we have to learn how to balance what a special population of our school needs and what the majority of the population of our school needs.
As media specialists, we should always encourage our students to find and discover information about what different people think and feel. We need to provide our students with a variety of resources that will enable them to form their own opinions and perspectives, while still appreciating and tolerating what others think and feel. I think that my school attempts to provide resources for our diverse group of students, but I know that we need to offer more to our students that speak other languages and to our students that may read on much lower levels than our general population. I also feel that my school tries to teach students how to look at problems and issues in the world from different perspectives, but in middle school this can be hard to get in the system because middle schoolers are, in general, pretty self-involved. I think we need to give our students the opportunity to learn in different ways and learn about different lifestyles than their own and help teach them acceptance and tolerance along the way!
I agree with you that we will need to prioritize when we are trying to decide what materials we should add to our collection first in order to help the largest group of students. The thing that is great about being in the media center is that we have the opportunity to add different types of materials in order to assist all of the different diversities of individuals that are at our school. It is extremely important for us to address the differences that do exist. By addressing the diversities, we all will have the opportunity to learn new things and grow as individuals. What is also great is the numerous resources that we have available to us through technology, by utilizing these resources we have a better opportunity of meeting many different needs that will exist at our school.
ReplyDeleteBy Cecilia:
ReplyDeleteTechnology, diversity and the media center….a very interesting topic. As media specialists, we can use technology to integrate diversity in the media center. For example, we use technology to read book reviews; solicit student book feedback from blogs or media center discussion groups; order books from publishers; use the media center web page to promote our collection. Any collection may be diverse, by virtue of the different book genres (mysteries, plays, poetry, novel, graphic novel, biography, historical fiction, etc.) or by different sections of the media center (fiction, Easy Reading/Everbody, Dewey Decimal, Reference, Biographies, Magazines). Our media center has a great Parenting section, which addresses learning disabilities, parenting children with depression, dealing with death, disciplining with love, etc. I’m not sure that most media centers have such a vast Parenting collection; if not, this would add to the collection’s diversity.) A media center may also be diverse in its information offering (e-zines, e-books, e-reference). Lastly, a media center may be diverse in relation to its school population and subsequent reading needs or preferences.
I agree that the media center should have resources that are available for everyone. Having diverse books and resources helps to accomodate all of the students. This not only helps with having books that relate to each different race represented in the school, it can help students learn about different cultures. In a diversity class that was part of my Master's, my teacher focused heavily on having books available for different races. Most books have illustrations with white children. Children who are not white might not be able to relate to the books because they do not "see themselves" in the pictures. Children will relate to a story more if they feel that it could be about them. Having illustrations of the child's race would help them be able to relate to the story.
ReplyDeleteI also think a good thing going for Media Specialists is that the state of Georgia has many standards that relate to many different cultures and backgrounds. It is easy to purchase materials that will benefit a whole grade level as well as a specific group of people. I know we have different famous Americans that we study in Social Studies in Third grade. These biographies can be purchased on different reading levels and will benefit the grade and other students who may look up to Frederick Douglass or Susan B. Anthony. Teaching history teaches diversity.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many ways to make a media center collection diverse. It is important to make sure we look at it from many different lenses.
I agree with you about the media center being diverse for ALL students. It is a difficult process with the economy and budget cuts. I think focusing on the standards, as Patti stated, is agreat place to start when getting a diversity of cultures. Also, there are so many free resources online that can be used in the media center as lessons or for student research. Being aware as media specialists is key to making your library diverse. I also think surveying the students and asking them about the technology and material weaknesses can enlighten the media specialist and even administration.
ReplyDeleteJana, I could not agree with you more about taking time to look at the WHOLE school picture in regards to budget. Like you said, it is tough to spend money on something that will only help a few students when that same funding could be used to help a large portion of the school. I think it is important to see what you have to help those smaller populations and be sure that there is something in place to better their educations as well. Using the new technology out there has made it much easier to provide a diverse media center. We now can listen to books in different languages as well as provide text in larger fonts for students who need it. As a media specialist, it is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with your school population and be sure you are serving all students.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what is ideal and what is realistically possible are always two totally different things. The only way to work with our current budget constraints is to prioritize and do the best we can with what we have. I don't think the media budget should be expected to cover all accommodating technologies. My system is really good about covering some of those needs out of different funds. This makes it easier to make our dollars stretch and cover all student needs.
ReplyDelete