TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR

Technology Program Administrator

FRIT 7739

Dr. Elizabeth Downs, Spring 2020

Dana Ryal
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Executive Summary

Fairmount Elementary School’s media center is used by many people. The

administration, academic coaches, teachers, support staff, and community members all use the

media center at Fairmount. Most importantly all 409 students at Fairmount use the media center

in many different ways. The media center is used for lessons, STEAM/STEM lessons, faculty

meetings, professional development, and much more. There is one media specialist at Fairmount

Elementary School. Her name is Mrs. Katy Waters. Mrs. Waters has many responsibilities as the

media specialist. She is in charge of teaching classes each day to pre-kindergarten through fifth

grade students. She is also the go to for technology questions and problems for the students and

staff. After observing in the media center and interviewing several different people around

Fairmount, it is very clear that everyone loves visiting the media center. Everyone mentioned

how welcoming it is now that Mrs. Waters has made some changes. In my observations and

interviews I also learned that the media center is going through many updates. From the look of

the media center to the resources that are available in the media center, there are big changes

happening. One of the main technology updates is that all of the Dell desktop computers have

now been switched to iMac computers. The media specialist at Fairmount is really working hard

to move toward the media center goals of creating engaging activities and growing creativity.

Organizational Chart

Fairmount Elementary School Media Center Jobs

Media Teach Check Purge old Input new Troubleshoot Purchase

Specialist STEAM in/out technology technology technology- new

lessons books for into the ipads, Apple items/

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students system TV’s, manage

projectors, media

etc. center

budget
Volunteer Shelve

Books

Methods

I collected my data about the Fairmount Elementary School media center in many

different ways. I completed observations of lessons and activities in the media center. I also

interviewed Mrs. Waters and other staff members to collect data. I interviewed the media

specialist, Mrs. Waters several different times. The staff members that I interviewed were

kindergarten, first, and fourth grade teachers.

Center Context and Goals

In 1920 Fairmount Elementary School opened. It was not an elementary school at first

though. Fairmount School was kindergarten through twelfth grade. It did not change to the

elementary school that we know now until 1990. It was then only kindergarten through fifth.

Fairmount Elementary School now has two pre-kindergarten classes also. Fairmount is a Title I

school. Mrs. Katy Waters is the media specialist at Fairmount Elementary School. She taught at

Fairmount first, then taught in another county for a year before becoming the media specialist.

She began as the media specialist in August of 2019. The media center has seen many

technology updates. One of the main changes is that the Dell desktop computers have been

switched out for iMacs.

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Mission Statement

The Fairmount Elementary School media center has a mission statement. The mission

statement is to form an inviting community where students can explore, create, collaborate

inquire, and think critically about different subjects.

Goals

 Create an inviting community for students by providing more flexible seating, painting

the walls, and adding murals on the walls.

 Update the resources in the media center. This is be done by switching out the old

technology for new technology. This will also be done by weeding out the old resources

(technology and books) and replacing with new books and resources.

 Creating activities for the students to participate in that are hands on engaging activities.

Stakeholders

Mrs. Katy Waters is the media specialist at Fairmount. Her job is to teach lessons in the

media center, including STEAM lessons, check books in and out for students, purge old

technology, enter new technology into the system, troubleshoot technology problems for students

and teachers, and manage the media center budget. Fairmount Elementary School has 409

students that visit and use the media center on a regular basis. Fairmount also has 2

administrators, a math coach, a literacy coach, 32 teachers, 7 support staff, and a counselor that

all use the media center. The media center is also visited by parents and community members.

Media Center Activities

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 Mrs. Waters teaches classes in the media center each day. She has 5 classes a day in the

media center. Mrs. Waters teaches all students pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. She

loves incorporating STEAM lessons into her curriculum.

 Mrs. Waters hosts two book fairs a year for Fairmount in the media center. She normally

hosts one book fair in the fall and one in the spring. These book fairs are Scholastic book

fairs and they last a week long. The students visit the media center to shop at the book

fair during their specials times.

 The media center is also used for staff professional development. The two administrators

or 2 coaches normally lead these staff professional developments. The staff brings their

Macbooks and the leader of the staff development uses the Apple TV and flat screen TV

to project his/her computer for the staff.

 Mrs. Waters leads the TOME club for 3rd-5th grade students. TOME club meets in the

media center once a week. The TOME club is where students come and read specific

books together. They then participate in games and other interactive activities about these

books. The students love TOME club.

 Character breakfasts are held in the media center. Character Breakfasts are where

students are awarded with a certificate and breakfast for earning the character word of the

month. The student’s parents can join them for the character breakfast award ceremony.

 The Local School Governance Team also meets in the media center. The Local School

Governance Team is made up of an administrator, two teacher representatives, and three

parent representatives.

Evaluation
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The media center at Fairmount Elementary School is a very important place for students,

staff, and the community. It is visited by pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students. All 409

students visit the media center at least once a week, sometimes twice, for specials. The media

center has a mission statement. The mission statement is to form an inviting community where

students can explore, create, collaborate inquire, and think critically about different subjects.

After observing classes in the media center, I can tell that students love visiting the media center.

They get to participate in engaging and fun hands on activities in the media center. Mrs. Waters

loves getting special guests to surprise the students also. One day when I observed Mrs. Waters,

she had a guest come in dressed as The Cat In The Hat and teach the students about Dr. Suess.

The guest totally played the part and acted just like The Cat In The Hat. The students loved it.

During another observation, she had the students working in teams with the robotics kits. The

students really loved this activity. They loved being able to create things and see how the

finished product worked. These observations and the many more that I had, show that Mrs.

Waters is really following her mission statement. The students love Mrs. Waters and the media

center.

Mrs. Waters became the media specialist in August of 2019. She has only been at

Fairmount as the media specialist for a short period of time, but she has made a huge impact.

While talking to her, she mentioned to me that the media center had not been purged in over 10

years. This being said there were so many old programs, books, technology, and other resources

that no one used anymore that really needed to go. Mrs. Waters went through book by book and

purged all of the books that were published before 1994. There were tons of books. She purged

them out of the system, and gave them to students to have. She also went through and got rid of

tablets, keyboards, literacy programs, and much more that were very outdated and could not be
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used any more. Mrs. Waters had five Dell desktop computers that the students could use while in

the media center. These have now been replaced with iMacs. She has replaced her smartboard

and with a flat screen TV with an Apple TV. All of these updates show that Mrs. Waters is

working toward her goal of updating the resources in the media center.

If I could suggest one thing for them to do in the media center it would be to give Mrs.

Waters some extra help. I know that they do not have the money to hire a paraprofessional just

for the media center, but if they could work on getting regular volunteers or have fifth grade

student helpers then this could really help her. The volunteers could work on checking books

in/out and shelving books while she focuses on teaching and troubleshooting technology.

Another suggestion for the media center would be to keep adding different kinds of

flexible seating. Mrs. Waters has started doing this slowly already and the students love it. The

students love that they get to choose what kind of seat to sit in each time they visit the media

center.

Interview Questions for Teachers

1. Do your students enjoy visiting the media center?

2. When do your students get to visit the media center?

3. Do you take your classes to the media center outside of specials time?

4. In what kinds of ways is the media center used?

5. What do your students love most about the media center?

Interview Questions for Media Specialist

1. How long have you been teaching?

2. How long have you been at FES?

3. How long have you been a media specialist?

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4. How many classes do you teach?

5. What age groups do you teach?

6. What is the media center mission statement?

7. What are your job responsibilities?

8. What do you feel like is the best part of the media center?

9. What could improve in the media center?