Introduction

[Joni J Rathbun <jrathbun@orednet.org>]

I'd like to introduce myself to the list. The last time I was a subsciber to
LM_Net, I was an elementary media specialist working with K5 students
in two elementary schools here on the Oregon coast.

Tomorrow, I begin my second year as a high school media specialist. I
was transferred to the high school because of my strong interest in
technology as well as my involvement in curricular and instructional ...
reform I guess I will call it. The high school position has proven to be
quite a challenge, but I've fallen head over heels in love with working
with high school kids and am looking forward to the year ahead.

For comparison sake, my high school has moved to a 4-block schedule.
I teach 3 of those 4 blocks. I am teaching a course we have dubbed
"Electronic Publishing." This includes yearbook, journalism, and world
wide web design. I'm really only teaching one class - but because my
hardware resources are limited, that one class was divided among three
blocks. Some of the kids come 2nd, some 3rd, some 4th block. And some
of the kids are signed up for journalism, some for yearbook and some
for web. They did tend to register in groups - so that most the yearbook
kids are there 2nd period, most the web kids are there 3rd, and so on.
Still, it should be an interesting experiment in flexibility!

Meanwhile, we are building a new high school. The library-media center
is being *connected* to the tech-ed department. That is, we will be
sharing one wing of the school, not a traditional move. The library
will "flow into" a multimedia development lab which, in turn, will
"flow into" the cad-drafting lab and all will be next to the broadcast
video studio and distance ed/conference center. We did this so that
we can share resources and any technical expertise we two instructors
may have; so that we can share classified personnel; so that we can
share students and so that what we all do is highly visible to staff
and visitors alike. There WILL be part of the library reserved for
*quiet* space and an additional *quiet* conference room is also available.
On the other end of our "media center" we connect to our career/
counseling center  so that we can also share resources with that
department.

Finally, inspite of my move to the high school level, I'll be spending
much of this year developing a www site for Northwest Regional
Education Labs focusing on children's literature - K5. This is to be
a site that provides ideas for using various children's books in the
classroom as well as ideas for integrating children's lit activities
with technology (to make a long story short).

My memory of LM_Net is that it is one of the most active and most
helpful/useful listservs to which I have subscribed. My mailbox the
last couple of days confirms the *active* part. I'm certain that many
of the questions I've accumulated after moving to the high school level
will be addressed here as well. And hopefully, I'll be able to contribute
as well.

Here's to a great new year!



--
Joni Rathbun, Media-Tech: Taft High
jrathbun@orednet.org
If you need a vacation, you should see the state I'm in!