Fleming County High School

Student Media Assistant Course Syllabus I

Mrs. Olivia Paige Sloas, Library Media Specialist
http://fchslibrarymediacenter.weebly.com/
http://www.facebook.com/FCHSLibrary
Instagram and Twitter: @paigesloas
Email: [email protected]
Course Overview
Welcome to FCHS Media Center. Working in the school media center is a great opportunity to learn valuable
skills that cross into other subject areas and into the real world. I am excited to offer responsible students the
opportunity to work in this environment for the trimester and to assist students in improving their skills in
organization, customer service, technology, and information literacy.
In order to work in the media center for academic credit, specific goals must be met and certain artifacts must
be turned in to the students portfolio. Students will learn the basics of library operation including organization
and maintenance of materials, circulation, reference and research, use of equipment, and digital media.
Students will shelve books, shelf read, circulate materials, maintain an assigned area of the library, deliver
equipment and other materials to classrooms, process materials, complete digital projects, use various computer
applications, read books, and other necessary tasks. Characteristics of a good student media assistant include
the ability to work independently, self-motivation, attention to detail, willingness to learn new technologies,
and the desire to seek information.
Grading
A students grade each twelve weeks and the overall trimester grade will be calculated based on the following
criteria:
12 Week Participation -5%
Book Care Management-5%
Portfolio Projects-75%
Final Exam -10%
Self-Reflection-5%
Daily/Weekly Participation (5%) grades will come from attendance, promptness, and working to ensure the
media center is kept in great working order. Activities may include helping with the circulation of materials,
processing new materials, storing periodicals, laminating materials, shelving books, assisting patrons with needs
and requests, helping the Media Coordinator and faculty members with miscellaneous requests and customer
service skills. Students will be required to keep the media center looking presentable by assisting will some
light cleaning in the media center such as cleaning tables, pushing in chairs, making sure floors are free of trash,
and straightening/dusting furniture/shelves. In the event of an excused absence, the media assistant has the
opportunity to make up missed classtime before or after school.
Book Care Management (5%) grades will come from students properly learning how to the following:
Barcode
Stamp
Genre Label/Sticker
Lexile
Call #
Paperback Cover/Hardback Cover

Portfolio Projects (3 % each) are expected to demonstrate the curriculum objectives for the high school media
assistant. These objectives focus on:
evaluating information and resources in various formats
connecting information to real life experiences
using effective research methods
identifying technology and its impact on media
demonstrating ethical behavior when using technology
exploring a variety of technologies
promoting books and reading
Portfolio Projects
1. Order in the Library Students will complete the online tutorial called Order in the Library found at the
following link:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070116121210/http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/s2s/utopia/library4/src/library4
.swf
As each level of the tutorial is completed, students must print out the certificate of completion. These
certificates will count as points toward your grade for this portfolio project.
2. Digital Drivers License: https://otis.coe.uky.edu/DDL/launch.php something new, going to try it out.
3. OPAC-Students will be asked to access the FCHS Library Database and get acquainted with the system and
how to search for books, tell if the books are in the library or checked out, how many copies of the book we
have, etc. After getting acquainted with the system they will be given a QUIZ-to take alone for this project
grade.
4. Digital Citizenship- Digital Citizenship is an umbrella term that covers a whole host of important issues.
Broadly, it's the guidelines for responsible, appropriate behavior when one is using technology. But
specifically, it can cover anything from "netiquette" to cyberbullying; technology access and the digital
divide; online safety and privacy; copyright, plagiarism, and digital law, and more.There are nine elements
to digital citizenship. Students will work in groups to create a poster over one of the nine elements which
will be assigned by Mrs. Sloas. Posters will be displayed in the library.
http://digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html
5. KBA BookStudents will select a 2014-2015 Kentucky Bluegrass Award Nominated book from our media
center to read. This needs to be a book that the student has never read. Time will be available in class to do
the reading on Fridays. Upon completing the book, students will create a book trailer, similar to a movie
trailer, about their selected book. . The book trailer must include the title and author of the book and it must
present information about the book without spoiling the ending. The purpose of a book trailer is to entice
others to read the book. To create the book trailer, students will use Animoto: http://animoto.com/
6. Banned Books- Banned Books Week is an annual celebration. What better way to make reading cool than
to make it an act of rebellion, right? Students will pick a banned book that they have read. Once theyve
chosen a book, they will examine what caused the book to be banned. Does that coincide with any historical
change or social issues relevant to that time period? Students will be asked to create a flyer/advertisement
using Microsoft Publisher on their banned book. Flyer should contain a picture of the book, author and title,
year it was banned and reasons for being banned.

7. KYVL-Student Research Center (powered by EBSCOhost)- Students will be asked to acquaint

themselves with the program by clicking on links and researching whatever they choose to research and read
about. When students feel that they are comfortable researching and using the program, then Mrs. Sloas
will give them a specific topic. They will need to find and print a html full text article based on that topic,
read it, and summarize it. Summary can be written or typed.
8. Create a QR Code- Students will be asked to create lots of QR Codes for the library. Once students are
finished creating their Gamis they will be asked to create a QR code to link to their Tellagami video. This
QR code will be put up on beside their section for patrons to scan. They will create a QR code for a book in
their section of the library. They will create QR Codes for Bathroom Reads, and tons more!
9. Evaluating Websites As part of helping other students find accurate information, media assistants must be
proficient at determining if online information is valid and reliable. Students will read and take notes on
evaluating websites and then to practice this skill, students will evaluate 10 different websites and record
information on each site.
10. Library Section/ Tellagami -Students will be given a section of the library, after completing the order in
the library assignment. It will be the students responsibility to make sure their section of the library is in
perfect shape every day. They will shelve books, clean the shelves, remove old books from the collection,
and whatever else Mrs. Sloas thinks needs to be completed. Students will be asked to use the library iPad to
create a Tellagami- a short animated movie called "Gamis." Their Gamis will need to introduce their
section of the library to students.
11. Profile Publisher- Students will use the Profile Publisher to mock up or draft an online social networking
profile, yearbook profile, and newspaper or magazine profiles for themselves. This will printed off and
given to Mrs. Sloas only and not published online. There will not be a social networking or etc. site used.
This is an assignment for Mrs. Sloas to get to know her students personally. They will be asked to share with
the class. http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/profile/
12. Biography Book Students will select a biography from the FCHS collection to read and promote. After
completing the book, students will use the Cube Creator tool to create a Bio Cube on the person they learned
about in the book. The Cube Creator can be found at the following link:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/cube_creator/
13. College Plagiarism Policies-What are the consequences for plagiarism at _____ University?
Students will be able to work in pairs, if needed for this assignment. They will be asked to choose a
college/university, of their choice, and to research that specific colleges plagiarisms policy. Once they have
read and understand the policy they will be asked to create a flyer using Microsoft Publisher to advertise
what would happen if students plagiarized at the college level.
14. Pathfinder Students will select of topic of interest and create a pathfinder for that topic based upon
resources available through our library. Pathfinders serve as a guide for research projects and contain
information on valuable and reliable websites and print resources,. For this project, students may wish to
select a topic that might assist them in another class. The pathfinder should include full bibliographic
information for each resource and a short annotation for each source. Various types of sources should be
included and websites should be hyperlinked. Students will use Microsoft Word to create the pathfinder.
The pathfinder should include at least 10 sources; 5 books and 5 websites. Pathfinders will be published
online.

15. Library Orientation Video Students will use the Web 2.0 tool, Go Animate to create an animated video
tutorial introducing students the FCHS media center. The video should demonstrate knowledge of each area
of the media center and how it is used. Imagine that students who have never been in our media center will
be using this video to learn about our library. Transitions should be smooth and information clear and
concise. Be creative and informative. Present the media center as a welcoming and inviting place that
offers students resources and assistance in getting their assignment completed.
16. Graphic Novel Students will select a graphic novel from the FCHS collection to read and promote. After
completing the book, students will use the Trading Card tool to create a card on the fictional character they
read about in the book. The Trading Card generator can be found at the following link:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/trading_cards_2/
17. Library Bookmark Media Assistants will create one book mark to add to our collection for our patrons.
Bookmark topics are completely your choice. They can center around one book, a genre, a magazine in our
collection, or a theme based upon books in our library. Artwork can be original or can be used from online
sources (copyright guidelines must be followed). Use the template provided for you on the media
EDMODO page. Once the book mark is complete, copies should be made on cardstock, laminated, and cut
out for our patrons to use. (Microsoft Publisher)
18. Dewey Collage Poster Students will work in pairs/groups to create a unique poster that represents a
certain Dewey Decimal Section of the Library. Mrs. Sloas will give them their section and they will be able
to use AutoCollage program to create their collage digitally. If they would like they can create the collage
using magazines to cut out pictures that represent their area. The Cricut machine and other resources will be
available, if needed.
19. Wordle-Students will be asked to create a Wordle over their library section. Wordle is a toy for
generating word clouds from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that
appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color
schemes. After creating the Wordle, students will print it out and laminate to display near their section of the
library. http://www.wordle.net/
20. Author Study Students will select one author from our media center collection to research. Students will
use Prezi to create their presentation. The presentation should include all facets of the authors life: birth
and death dates (unless author is still living), place of birth, childhood, family life, education, how they
decided to become an author, current facts, photos of the author, book cover photos from at least three of the
authors books, and common themes in their literature. This presentation should be created in such a way
that the viewer would be interested in reading the authors books. Make it exciting and appealing.
21. Hints about Print- students will evaluate print resources that contain the facts they need for compiling their
research. The tool asks prompting questions to guide young researchers in the process of their work. Having
students participate in this critical-thinking process early in their school experience promises to enrich
further study and enjoyment of nonfiction texts. Students will be asked to go to the following website and
watch a tutorial before beginning. http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/hints-on-print/
Then they will be given a non-fiction text from Mrs. Sloas and asked to evaluate the resource using a premade document outline.
22. Fractured Fairy Tale- Students will turn a familiar fairy tale upside down and inside outand have fun.
This interactive tool gives students a choice of three fairy tales to read. They are then guided to choose a
variety of changes, which they use to compose a fractured fairy tale to print off and illustrate. Students will
find this useful for learning point of view, setting, plot, as well as fairy tale conventions such as they lived
happily ever after, this tool encourages students to use their imaginations and the writing process at the
same time.

23. Book Spine Poetry-Students will create a poem by stacking a series of carefully selected book titles, which
create a short poem when the spines are read in descending order. Students must send the following to Mrs.
Sloas for this assignment: the poem typed, digital picture of the stack of books creating the poem and a
bibliography of the list of books used to create the poem.
24. Career Inventory
25. Job Qualifications

Final Exam Test (10%) grades will be based on information involving the Dewey Decimal system, library
organization, library terminology, library ethics, and the online library automation system (Atrium).
Self-Reflection (5%) Students will take time in class to reflect on the library media class, their assignments, the
library, and give feedback on how the class can improve. There are no wrong answers for this assignment.

Bonus Opportunities
Scholastic/CoffeeTree Book Fair-Students will be expected to assist in the set up and packing up of the book
fair, creating decorations, planning the events, etc.
Helping with Library Events during the school day

Rules and Consequences

Students are expected to comply with the student handbook at all times.
Be on time and ready to participate in media assistant duties.
Maintain a reasonable volume in the media center.
Always practice good manners and fabulous customer service skills to all patrons using library.
Always clean up after yourself and leave the circulation desk neat, clean and organized.
No food or drink around books or in the main library stacks area.
No talking on cell phones or texting while working in the media center.
Cell phones, MP3 players, headphones are allowed out while working in the media center, but should be
put away when working with patrons. If you are asked to put them away, then you should do so
immediately.

1st offense warning

2nd offense parent contact
3rd offense after school detention or suspension of privileges
4th offense office referral and possibly taken out of library media class
Certain behaviors may warrant an immediate detention or discipline referral without previous warnings from the
media specialist. Disrespect to a teacher or staff member, fighting/threats against other students or staff, etc
are examples of behavior that will immediately receive a consequence.
Please sign and return to Mrs. Sloas within 1-3 days.
I understand the class syllabus and all rules and consequences.
___________________________________________________
Student Signature

__________________
Date

___________________________________________________
Signature of Parent/Guardian

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Date

Information for Parent/Guardian to complete:

Name (Please print) _______________________________________________________
Email address ____________________________________________________________
Cell phone ___________________________