So it seems that all of the other topics that we have blogged about are helpful by themselves, but none of them will be successful if we don't know how to best relate them to our specific students. What is diversity in the media center? The most obvious answer would be to have materials to support and engage students from different races. That is indeed a huge part of diversity. However, diversity can also be as simple as making sure the media center is accessible to students with physical handicaps. All different "categories" of diversity need to be addressed within the media center. For instance, gender, age, and language are all factors in our students' success. Accommodating those diversities does not only mean that we welcome the students into our library and have books for them, but it also means that we facilitate discussions, awareness, and understanding between our diverse population of students.
As the media specialist, we have the unique situation of being able to work with all of the students in the school. I definitely believe that the classroom teachers are responsible for teaching about diversity in the classroom, but they don't always get to work with a very diverse population. We should encourage diversity in the media center and collaborate with teachers to facilitate diversity in the classroom.
Technology can help us teach our students about diversity. When referring to diverse races, obviously the internet if full of information that can be shared with the students. Media center webpages and blogs can be forum to use to encourage diversity to the parents and reinforce the importance of diversity to the students. There are different technologies out there that are used to help students with disabilities. Making sure the media center has technologies for those students is very important in order to encourage participation from everyone in the school.
I don't think it is necessarily important that the media center is always stocked with the newest book or gadget that has come out. What I do feel is important is that the media specialist has "built" a media center that is designed to meet the needs of the diverse population at that school.
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Amanda--I could not agree with you more about that we facilitate discussion, awareness and understanding between our diverse population of students. Until we get in the position of a media specialist, we probably don't really understand that concept. Building a media center that meets all needs is essential for the success of the school.
ReplyDeleteGood post.
I enjoyed reading your comments. You're right, as media specialists, we have the unique opportunity of meeting the needs of all students in the school. This year, we have opened two severe autistic classes for children in our district. It has been a real eye opener and another great opportunity to meet the needs of these children. One child wears a helmet because he butts his head all day. It's a great feeling when one of these children simply connects for a page or two of a picture book.
ReplyDeleteI really agree that media specialists are in a position to work with a wide variety of students and that it is our responsibility to develop a media program that meets the diverse needs of the school. Our school has many speakers of other languages and our media center needs to contain resources that are not only in the speakers' first language, but books and materials that enable teachers and staff to communicate and support the students' learning and culture. The media center should reflect the student population in its approach and in the materials. Creating helpful technology resources can be helpful to teachers and staff and the media specialist is equipped to offer this assistance. The media specialist must certainly have skills in diverse fields herself.
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