Learning through Books, Media and Technology

ARTICLES THIS ISSUE:

1993 Administrative Leadership Awards

Accentuating the positive

1993 President's Award Winner

The energy of synergy

This is my country --- an my school

We are the world: our success is yours

Social sciences and technology --- a natural combination

No question of relevance

Inspiring students to speak out

Big ideas prepare students for the future

Open doors, open minds

Good Ideas! Home Page

Good Ideas! is published by CSLA

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This is my country --- an my school

Fort Washington Elementary School

A "Multicultural Continuum" at Fort Washington Elementary School calls for in-depth study of countries of the world. Each classroom studies a country for the school year; each grade level selects a country for a school-wide activity; within a grade level, each class specializes in an aspect of a country's culture --- crafts, legends, foods, dance, music. Research on the countries is done systematically at the library media center, also an integral part of the social science curriculum. In an annual grand finale featuring the many countries studied, there are student performances and the involvement of many parents.

Brenda Smith provides assistance to students at a laser disk station with hypercard stack

As a National Blue Ribbon School (1991-92), Fort Washington bas demonstrated a model of shared decision-making, shared responsibilities, and shared resources. Within the library media center, results of that sharing are obvious. In collaboration with third grade teachers, an introduction to note-taking is integrated into the study of immigration through the use of 10 small "kiosks" that lead students. into recognition of key-word concepts from pre-selected information. Fourth grade classes design a large matrix for the study of California missions, then individual students develop their own matrices. Resources used are varied, including direct telephone calls to the chamber of commerce and to other community sources (a process that not only. provides additional information, but gives practice in telephone etiquette).

Through interlibrary loans, Brenda Smith (library media teacher and 1992 CMLEA President's Award recipient) adds to the collection as needed. This is not to say that the collection at Fort Washington is inadequate; resources there are rich, including many print and nonprint materials, and helpful people to assist in their use. A smart lab of 13 computers with laser printer, two CD-ROM players, and a modem is available to students and staff. Brenda has developed hypercard stacks for units of study and is working toward student-developed stacks. Often the laser disk station features task cards to direct student activities. The basic book and reference collection has been under concentrated development for the past four years and has proven to be very useful throughout the curriculum.

School library media centers have traditionally taught information-finding. Fort Washington's program gives equal emphasis to analyzing the value of. the information collected to the task at hand, and then guiding students to think carefully about how to compile and present the selected information coherently

• Fort Washington Elementary School (Grades K-6, enrollment: 776)
  960 E. Teague, Fresno 93720-1704; (209) 439-8171
  Janet Young, Principal
  Brenda Ruiz Smith, Library Media Teacher
  Clovis Unified School District