Mrs. McClure

Welcome to the Palmer Middle Media Center!

My name is Janell McClure, and I am the Media Specialist here at Palmer.  Betty Eldridge is my Paraprofessional and together we are the Media Center staff.  We both love to read the books in our library and share this passion with our students.  Our primary goals include teaching information literacy and encouraging reading for pleasure. 

As a former teacher, my favorite part of the job is collaborating with staff to create thematic units that not only include curriculum content, but information literacy skills as well. Take a moment and visit!  We are happy to share the wonderful things happening at Palmer!

Practice

Practice post

Favorites

Cobb Virtual Library

Palmer Middle School

Palmer PTSA

Nettrekker

Big 6 - Information Probelm Solving Strategy

Picasso

Trackstar

Fall 2006

We hold our annual Scholastic Book Fair every Fall during Conference Week. As always, it was a huge success with all profits directly benefiting our media center collection. This year, Conference week will be Janurary 22-26, 2008 and the Book Fair will be open at that time.

We want to thank everyone who supports the Palmer Media Center through this fundraiser! 

Policies and Procedures

Ø      Students may check out two books for three weeks.  A due date card will be placed in the back of each book as a reminder.

Ø      If a book is overdue, students must return the book before they can check out another.  If the book is lost, the student needs to pay for the book before check out privileges will be restored.

Ø      Overdue notices are sent to homerooms every Wednesday and a hard copy will be sent home with progress reports and report cards.  Please look for these as a way of ensuring student responsibility.

Ø      Students may check out magazines for two nights only.  We have found that students lose them more often when kept much longer.

Ø      If students want to visit the library they must have a signed pass in their agenda.  When they enter the media center, the agenda is to be placed on the counter until ready to leave.  This helps us know who is there in case of an emergency.

Ø      The media center is open before school from 8:15-9:05 for research/work completion and 8:45-9:05 for check out with a pass from the study hall monitor.  We close each day at 4:15.

Citing Sources

Even though websites exist that will cite a source for you, I feel that teaching them the old-fashioned way helps them to better understand the morality of the plagarism issue, as well as how to accurately find the information about a source to use for the citation.  We practice with websites, databases, books, and reference sources, and we follow an MLA format. 

Download source_note_sheet_final.doc

Download works_cited_organizer_for_practice.doc

Scavenger Hunt

We use the Scavenger Hunt with 6th graders after we have introduced them to reference books and the Cobb Virtual Library.  They work with a partner and learn quickly that other sources exist besides the Internet and encyclopedias.  My favorite part of the lesson is when they realize how to use and read an index!  Light bulbs everywhere!

Plagarism Pirates

It has been my experience that eighth graders (and, well, middle schoolers in general) do not always paraphrase their research but instead, copy word for word or cut and paste from their sources.  In an attempt to emphasize the seriousness of this offense and to teach better note-taking skills, we created the Plagarism Pirates, modeled after the DisneyWorld ride "Pirates of the Caribeean."  Essentially, students are sailing on a voyage to the Island of Academic Honesty.  After a brief exercise, they are led through a room where we have set up "pirates" (skeletons in Halloween costumes) who are plagarizing while listening to the Disney CD that has the voice from the ride warning them not to go in the direction of the pirates.  They totally think it's corny but they always remember it! 

During this lesson, students will:

• Define and compare/contrast summarize, paraphrase, quote, and plagarism
• Recognize acceptable examples of paraphrasing and summarizing and be able to explain why other examples are unacceptable
• Paraphrase an article on Blackbeard using two column notes (www.timeforkids.com)

Download script_for_voyage.doc

Download treasure_map_with_background.doc

Pictures

Past and Present

We are proud of the many lessons and units coordinated through the Media Center!  Collaboration with teachers is a primary focus of our media program and because of our involvement, we constantly create new ways to teach information literacy and support our School Improvement Plan. 

Please take a few moments to see the wonderful learning that happens when teachers work together!

Citing Sources

Scavenger Hunt

Plagarism Pirates

Evaluating Websites

Mathematics

Peace Corps

Juvenile Crime

NCAA

Reading

ESOL

Veteran's Day

Mrs. Janell McClure

Before becoming a Media Specialist, I was a classroom teacher for ten years.  The first four years of my career were spent in a little rural town called Crawfordville, Florida, right outside the Tallahassee area.  I taught eighth grade Language Arts, Reading, and Math.  I then moved to Georgia where I landed a job as a 9th and 10th grade English teacher at Campbell High School.  I missed middle school terribly, though, and transferred the next year to Smitha Middle School.  The first two years at Smitha I taught Speech and Drama to all grade levels as a Connections class.  The class was cut from the curriculum, however, and I went back to my roots as an eighth grade Language Arts teacher.  It was during this time that I started the coursework to become a Media Specialist.  In 2003, I transferred to Durham Middle School, worked as an eighth grade Language Arts teacher, and finished my School Library Media certificate.  The followng year, I was very fortunate to be hired as the Media Specialist for Palmer Middle School. 

As I complete my third year in this position, I am constantly reminded of the pure joy that accompanies this profession, and I am truly thankful to be a part of it!