schaffer a collection_development_plan_part_1

Collection Evaluation and Development Plan

Autumn Schaffer

Georgia Southern University

FRIT 7134

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Site Description

Description of county demographics.

Lamar County is located within middle Georgia, approximately sixty miles south

of the capital. It is composed of the cities of Barnesville and Milner, and also includes the

smaller towns of Aldora, Liberty Hill, and Johnstonville. According to the 2008 U.S.

Censes Bureau, the county inhabits approximately 17,000 citizens. The Caucasian

percentage is approximately 70 percent, while the African American population stands at

28 percent. One percent of the population is made up of Hispanic families, which are

considered to be of full Hispanic origin. This population, also including those of mixed

Hispanic origins, is growing monumentally. About three percent of the population speaks

another native language other than English. One major alert within the county’s statistics

is the high school graduation rate, which is, shockingly, only 71 percent. This trend is

continuously followed as those holding a bachelor’s degree only comes to 11 percent.

The Lamar County School System provides the county with four schools. These

schools educate students from the grades of pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. Pre-

kindergarten through second grade are housed in the second oldest building, built in

1993. The elementary school, housing third through fifth grade students, is the newest

school building in the county, being constructed in 2006. The middle school, housing

sixth through eighth grade students, is 11 years old. The local high school is the oldest of

the buildings, being built in 1973. Each school contains its own media center complete

with a certified media specialist and media clerk.

Description of school site and analysis of learners

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Lamar County Primary School is a Bronze Aware winning school, due to its high

level of students meeting and exceeding standards. This particular school has met the

annual yearly progress goals, as designated by the state, for six consecutive years.

Approximately 440 students participated in the testing, but the school actually educates

about 200 more students within the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten grades. As an

estimate, the school educates 654 students in grades ranging from pre-kindergarten to

second grade. 65 percent of students educated within this school are considered to be

“economically disadvantaged” and receive free or reduced lunch services. The school,

following in the county’s demographics, houses 60 percent Caucasian students, 35

percent African American students, and 3 percent Hispanic students.

All of the teachers employed at Lamar County Primary School are considered to

be “highly qualified” by Georgia state standards. Fifty percent of the employees,

including teacher, paraprofessionals, and other related staff, have obtained bachelor’s

degrees. Forty percent have master’s degrees while ten percent have specialist and higher

degrees or certifications. There are thirty-five classroom teachers employed at this

school. All pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers are accompanied by a

paraprofessional. There are five pre-kindergarten classrooms, ten kindergarten

classrooms, ten first grade classrooms, and ten second grade classrooms. Each grade

level, expect pre-kindergarten, contain two Early Intervention Program (EIP) classrooms.

Each of these classrooms contains twelve to eighteen students, while the other classrooms

contain approximately twenty to twenty-two students. With the exception of pre-

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kindergarten, which strictly educates one-hundred students, the other grade levels educate

approximately two-hundred students within each grade level. The school is also

supported by one self-contained special education classroom, one gifted-area teacher, one

special education pre-kindergarten classroom, one reading intervention specialist, and

four activity teachers.

While this school has met AYP for the past consecutive years, it has a wide

variety of students. Each grade level contains two EIP, or Early Intervention Program,

classes. This is approximately forty students per grade level who are at a learning risk in

reading and possibly math. These students do not have IEPs, or Individual Educational

Plans. They also still complete the state-wide exams, some with just minor modifications

such as having longer time or reading the test aloud to someone. In general, these

students are able to complete most grade level work; they simply need more one-on-one

aid as well as more strategic reading interventions. From a literacy standpoint, these

students benefit from easy-readers as well as text focused on prediction or ones that are

slightly below grade level. The pre-kindergarten students within the school also use the

media center. The majority of them cannot read and are in need of picture-based books.

According to the media specialist, these students still check out text with words, but they

tend to focus on those with appealing images on each page as well as some words that

they identify. It seems that these students would also benefit from picture books or easy

reading text.

The school also educates students who are reading above grade level. For this

reason the media specialist within the school has actually purchased higher level chapter

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books for the students to check out. The school contains one gifted class that twenty first

graders and twenty second graders visit once a week. These students would benefit from

higher level text or possibly more detailed informational books.

There is a growing Hispanic pollution is growing within the school system as well

as the county. It is still relatively low as compared to the other surrounding counties. Still,

several families have recently enrolled within the school that only speaks Spanish. For

this reason, for the first time in the school’s history, it has developed an ESOL class in

which these fully-Spanish speakers learn the basics of the English language. With little

support at home, however, it is difficult for these students to learn to read English. For

this reason, multi-lingual literature, or at least those that expose the students to other

cultures, is needed within the library.

In general, a common trend within this school system is building its technology

database. The school has received a Reading-First Grant for the past four years seeing as

it has adopted and followed its rigorous reading curriculum. This grant has provided a

supplemental budget for the media center as well as the technology lab for a total of five

laptops to be checked out to second grade teachers to be used during the scheduled

reading block. The media center was also given a supplementary budget to purchase

literary materials, including print, non-print, and technology-based literary works, for the

appropriate grade levels. These materials, however, must support the Reading-First

program and the Georgia Performance Standards for reading. This allowed the media

specialist, however, to use the rest of the budget, which would normally be used to buy

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reading materials, to purchase other instructional items to support the new social studies

and science curriculums.

The media center within the primary school functions based upon the aid of one

certified media specialist and one paraprofessional media clerk. Both have been working

in their positions for eight years. At one time, four years ago, this media specialist and

clerk supported the same library when it housed kindergarten through fifth grade. Four

years ago, however, these two individuals were responsible for weeding and

redistributing the appropriate materials to the new third through fifth grade school, while

reorganizing the remaining materials in the now pre-kindergarten through second grade

school. The media center houses 16, 250 books within the library, which comes to

approximately twenty-five books per student. The media center has purchased an influx

of e-books, or books that contains correlating DVDs. It currently has fifty-two within its

selection, but many of them are related to stories within the curriculum units of the

Reading-First Program. E-books related to the other standards within math, science, and

social studies, are not adequately covered. This media center also contains eighty books-

on-tape packages as well as approximately thirty classroom sets of various types of

literature. These sets vary for age and ability.

The media center also contains an activeboard and LCD projector used for

information literacy instruction. There are also three desktop computers used for student

research located within the library. The five laptop computers funded by Reading-First

are also available for check out within the library. Two movable televisions with VCRs

are available for check out as well. Finally, the media center contains a media room in

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which morning and afternoon announcements are hosted, recorded, and stored.

Incorporating technology to produce such videos is available within this area.

Description of other local resources

Outside from the school system, the county has limited resources available to

enhance student’s education experiences. The county is small, as well as its surrounding

counties. Lamar County does support a local community college, which has actually

advanced into offering several four-year programs. Gordon College currently offers

Bachelor’s program within Early Childhood Education, Nursing, and Biology. In the past

the college has been supportive of allowing students to access their library for research.

Many of these texts, however, would not be appropriate for the reading levels of the

primary school students, but they would be able to use the images and databases within

the system. It also provides them with authentic research opportunities to enhance their

information literacy skills. Gordon College also hosts activities on the weekends for the

community. Many of them are targeted for younger learners. Several science based

activities, including those from Project Wet, Project Wild, and Project Learning Tree, are

held every few months and are open to the public.

Lamar County also has a public library that is open to its citizens. This library is

open daily from 8:00 until 5:00 as well as until 1:00 on Saturdays. The library contains

print sources for students of all ages as well as adults. It contains five computers

complete with internet capabilities to be used by adults. There are four computers

available for students to use with accompanying software, such as LeapFrog and other

child-friendly educational CD-ROMs. During the summer, special guests are invited to

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entertain the community’s children every week. Some of these individuals have included

magicians, musicians, ethnic storytellers, puppeteers, church ministry drama groups,

historical reenactors/storytellers, and several groups performing various scientific

experiments.

Barnesville, which is the main town within Lamar County, has a historical

heritage of being named the “Buggy Capital of the South” during the 1800s and early

1900s. It was during this time that the town contained the largest horse-drawn carriage

manufacturing company within the southern United States. To document its heritage, an

“Old Jail Museum” was established during the 1980s. It is actually housed in the town’s

old jail used until the 1980s, when a larger and more modern facility was established. The

museum changes its exhibits about four times a year, all incorporating models, objects,

and photos of Barnesville through out the years. This is a common site for children to

visit, especially during field trips.

Outside of Barnesville is a small town called The Rock. This town is also

considered to be located within the Lamar County limits. One of its only features is The

Rock Ranch, which is one of the last remaining and functioning livestock farms in

Georgia. It is owned by Truett Cathy, who has allowed for it to remain open and

flourishing. It is also a source for children to visit, especially on school field trips. There

are livestock, such as goats, pigs, cows, and even bulls. Children have been known to

participate in hayrides on an authentic covered wagon as well as ride a child-sized train,

all of which tours them around the facility.

Curriculum Review

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Standards summary and review

Like all Georgia schools, Lamar County follows the state-based Georgia

Performance Standards for the areas of reading, mathematics, social studies, and science.

Due to the Reading-First Program, however, Lamar County Primary has received

supplementary materials, guides, resources, and editions to aid in the teaching of the

related reading material. The school has also adopted a new math series that is rather

rigid and full of exterior resources. Unfortunately, however, the school’s social studies

and science program are rather weak in comparison. Each grade level does have an

adopted series, and the first and second grade classrooms have assigned textbooks. Only

some of these units explained within the edition, however, are correlated to the Georgia

Performance Standards. The teachers within the school have worked tirelessly to develop

units and organize the material that they do have in order to sequence and cover all of the

standards using the text that they do have. The science curriculum has been supplemented

by creating a science lab that all grade levels can use to demonstrate experiments and

expose the students to some of the science-based inquires. The social studies, curriculum,

has not been supplemented with anything other than the correlated textbooks. The media

center has recognized this and has begun to purchase some items based upon the

information detailed within the Georgia Performance Standards. Since the first and

second grade students at least have a textbook to support them, the focus of this review

will be on the social studies standards related to kindergarten, seeing as they do not have

any type of basic curriculum support. Also, like with many other standards, the mastery

of these basic standards prepares the students for the first grade social studies standards,

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which actually build from the kindergarten standards. The social studies standards that

will be focused on within the review are:

SSKH1 The student will identify the purpose of national holidays and describe the people or events celebrated.

a. Labor Day

b. Columbus Day (Christopher Columbus)

c. Veterans Day

d. Thanksgiving Day

e. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

f. Presidents Day (George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and the current President)

g. Memorial Day

h. Flag Day

i. Independence Day

SSKH2 The student will identify important American symbols and explain their meaning.

a. The national and state flags (United States and Georgia flags)

b. The bald eagle

c. The Statue of Liberty

d. Lincoln Memorial

e. Washington Monument

f. White House

g. Pledge of Allegiance

h. Star Spangled Banner

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These standards are located within the “historical understandings” section of the

social studies section. They are based upon the kindergarten theme of “Symbols of

America.” The first standard seems to mainly focus on national holidays within the

United States. One would think that these are taught as the actual date approaches within

the school year. On the other hand, however, there must come a point in which the

teacher assesses the students and their mastery of the topic. Most teachers do not choose

to stretch this standard out over the course of the year. Instead, they prefer to teach the

standard and all of the holiday components within a compact unit, assess the unit, and

move on to the next topic. The second standard is related to the first, but deals more

specifically with the nation’s symbols. As the standard explains, the students are to be

able to identify the national symbol and explain why it is important. This information has

been somewhat in question seeing as various teachers have different opinions on what is

important about the nation symbol. Aid in determining what students should know in that

area would be greatly appreciated. Typically, teachers also form a unit incorporating all

of these standards in order to eventually assess all of these areas and determine student

mastery.

Other assessable resources.

Seeing as this is a rather generalized standard, even the small town of Barnesville

in Lamar County can provide some supplementary resources outside of the school

building. Gordon College, the local community college, is a historical landmark in its

own right. Beginning as a military college, it is full of American heritage in the form of

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various flags, metals, and military memorabilia. The majority of this is located within one

building of the college, which would allow for student to visit and tour easily. The second

standard in focus, which includes the identification of the bald eagle and the American

flag, could be easily detailed upon within this location.

The local library within Lamar County may also provide other resources on the

various national holidays and national symbols. While it also contains children literature,

one may find that the adult or reference section of the local library may help students in

selecting appropriate images of the required material. There are certainly books with

more detail about the national symbols, especially the various memorials than the

students are to identify, within the local library. Perhaps there are even scrapbooks that

have been donated to the library of real images of these monuments when someone has

visited Washington, D.C. This small community contains many middle aged to elderly

couples that use their sources to benefit others within the town in this way. In the past

groups like the Lion’s Club and Heritage House members have helped to fund the middle

school’s field trip to Washington, D.C. While the students in focus would probably be too

young to make this trip to visit them monuments in person, the community would more

than likely provide as many resources as possible.

The Old Jail Museum may also provide some insight into these monuments and

holidays, especially considering how the town’s residents have approached and

celebrated them. This museum is rich with photos, including those from all decades. The

curator of the museum is also well aware of what, when, and where even the oldest of the

photos were taken. This would be a place that the children could actually visit and see

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real images of local individuals with the American symbols being displayed. They can

also see images of how these individuals, many of them in different fields of the military,

on the national holidays. This would provide the students with other perspectives as well

as authentic representations of the core focus of these standards.

Classroom data of standards.

Based upon conversations with the kindergarten teachers, the following is a

comprehensive list of how they have taught the focus standards within their classroom

over the past years.

Standard Concepts Tasks/Activities/Products Resources

SSKH1 National Holidays:Labor DayColumbus DayVeteran’s DayThanksgiving DayMLK DayPresident’s DayMemorial DayFlag DayIndependence Day

* Identify the name and month in which each of the holidays has occurred (assessment- completed in the form of a checklist)

*Sort images that represent the holidays (ie- family eating Thanksgiving dinner) in order as how they occur in the year (in order of their occurrence)- progress monitoring- completed in the form of collaborative grouping.)

*Create a “Holiday Book” in which students write the name of the holiday, write a few words or sentences that describe the holiday, and draw a picture of what occurs on that day in a journal-like format (learning/reflection activity- completed on an individual basis.)

*Real images of individual celebrating the holidays or images that represent the holidays (Attained through the Internet)

*Picture Books and Easy Readers (placed in learning centers)

*United Streaming Videos

*E-books

*Craft materials

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*Allow for a week of instruction for each holiday. Complete a flipchart based upon the main facts of each holiday. Have students complete a meaningful task/project of each holiday. For example:

-Labor Day: Paper dolls of individuals with various careers put within a centertime activity.

-Columbus Day: Create replicas of the Pinta, Nina, and the Santa Maria.

-Veteran’s Day: Write cards to veterans and have them delivered.

-Thanksgiving Day: Create a dramatic reproduction of the first Thanksgiving with some classmates as Indians and some as Pilgrims.

-MLK Day: Read and rewrite their own “I had a Dream Speech.”

-President’s Day: Write an agenda of what he/she would do if they were president for a day.

-Memorial Day: Make a patriotic floral arrangement to be laid on the grave of a fallen solider.

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-Flag Day: Create an American flag out of torn construction paper. Make a classroom American flag with the painted hands of students.

-Independence Day: Write a letter to one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence thanking them and explaining to them how we still appreciate our freedom. Plan an agenda for a July 4th celebration.

SSKH2 National Symbols:American FlagGeorgia FlagBald EagleStatue of LibertyLincoln MemorialWashington MemorialWhite HousePledge of AllegianceStar Spangled Banner

*Designate a week to each national symbol. Use the internet to locate real images of the monuments. (Instructional tool- whole group)

*Use flipcharts to educate and provide detailed information about each symbol. (Instructional tools-whole groups)

*Recreate painted images of the American Flag and Georgia Flag.

*Research the life and endangerment of the bald eagle. Investigate how it became an American symbol.

*Visit the official White House webpage. Use the tools and activities located on that site- such as inventing your own room within the White House.

*Real images of American symbols (Attained through the Internet)

*Picture Books and Easy Readers (placed in learning centers)

*United Streaming Videos

*E-books

*Craft materials

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*Create replicates of the Statue of Liberty out of clay/play dough.

*Sort and differentiate among images of the various memorials located within Washington, D.C.

*Listen to various recording artist saying and singing the national anthem. Using sentence strips, try to put the lyrics in order as they are sung.

Collection Review and Evaluation

Visual Evaluation of the Collection.

To begin with, I completed a visual inspection of how the media center was

arranged as well as where certain books related to the focus standards would be located.

The media center, in general, has somewhat of an organized setup, but one can tell that it

is a collection that has been expanded and compacted over the years. For example, some

items are located in places that do not seem so obvious or logical. Due to space, however,

the items have had to be arranged in a way that allows for public access and appropriate

storage. In short, the media specialist is doing the best she can with the storage area she

has been given in order to appropriately order all of the materials that must be kept within

the media center.

When one enters the media center, the reference area is located directly to the

right. This is a single shelf that contains all of the encyclopedias, almanacs, world books,

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dictionaries, and thesaurus. Since this is an elementary school, the need for such materials

is not excessive. Also, many teachers have copies of such items within their own

classroom that students typically use. When students visit the library, this is not a

particular area that they visit. It would benefit, however, for some up-to-date reference

materials, seeing as the majority of the items, expect for the almanacs, are dated back into

the 1990s.

To the left of the entrance in an open space used for whole group instruction. On

the accompanying wall are the open storage units used for books-on-tape. The majority of

these books-on-tape, however, are fiction books decided for first or second grade. The

majority of them are picture books, with several copies packaged along with the tape or

c.d. The only books that seem to remotely fit the standards I am focusing on are George

Washington’s Cows, by David Small and Peter Fernandez, and Abe Lincoln: The Boy

Who Loved Books, by Kay Winters and Nancy Carpenter. These two sets of books

contain a tape and four books within the package. They seem to be in excellent condition

and new to the collection. The media specialist explains that they have been added to the

collection within the past school year.

Located within the accompanying storage unit are the e-books, or electronic

books. As explained by the media specialist, they have become increasing popular with

the installation of activeboards and DVD players within the classrooms. All of the e-

books are three years old at the maximum, with many being ordered within the past year.

The media specialist has attempted to use the Georgia Performance Standards to focus

her orders of such books. She has also, upon the suggestion of teachers, tried to pick

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topics that teacher consider difficult to teach, especially those that contain abstract

concepts. For this reason, many mathematics and science e-books have been ordered. All

of them appear to be in brand new condition. They also contain five reading books that

one can follow along with during the movie. Most of the e-books appear to be

informational, nonfiction in genre. There are a few, however, that seem more like the

books-on-tape, and are considered fiction. Most of the nonfiction reading texts are

hardback books. Most of the fiction ones, however, are paperback. There are several e-

books based upon the focus standards located within this section. These titles include:

“The Pledge of Allegiance,” “Our American Symbols,” “The U.S. Flag,” “Veteran’s

Day,” and the “Statue of Liberty” all published by Tourville. Each of these e-books

contains five accompanying reading text each. All appear to be brand new and are

hardback books. The images within these texts are real images of related materials that

seem to correlate perfectly with the standard. The text is minimal and aside from the new

vocabulary, seems to fit the reading level of a mid-year first grade student. Many of the

second graders within the school may find this text to be easy, but some of the struggling

or EIP students may find the challenging perfectly. Many of the kindergarten students

would not be able to read this text, but the accompanying images should aid them. The

new, social studies based, vocabulary are in bold letters.

The actual shelves within the media center are located farther within the room.

The arrangement of the books, however, can be somewhat confusing. To an extent, it

appears that the collection is arranged using the Dewey Decimal System, yet the middle

stacks are all fiction books. They are arranged by the author’s last name. There are

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markers, however, labeling each alphabet letter during the fiction section. There are many

areas within the Dewey Decimal System that does not contain many books. For example,

there are not many books within the 100s of Psychology and Philosophy. There are also

not many books located in the 400s Languages and Grammar section. Finally, the 600s of

Medicine and Technology are also limited. Sections of the fiction area, which are

designated within the 800s Literature, are labeled by series. Since the books in a series

have the same author, the media specialist has simply sectioned the series together with a

special marker. The Franklin, Clifford, Junie B. Jones, and Curious George are a few of

the series sectioned within the fiction area of the stacks.

Within the 900s Biography section is where many of the resources pertaining to

the particular focus standards were located. For example, there were three different

Martin Luther King biographies, four different George Washington biographies, and

three different Abraham Lincoln biographies. There was also one biography based upon

the life of Barrack Obama, who is also a key figure within these standards. All of these

texts seemed to be somewhat of an easy reader, seeing as they fit the reading level of

second grade students. Some, however, did contain a fair amount of words on a page,

which may be overwhelming for a primary school student. All of these books appeared to

be in good condition, even though some of the publishing dates were set back in the

1980s. The media specialist explained that these are not overly popular books with the

students, only if they are completing some type of report. The media specialist explained

that these types of books are usually only checked out by the teacher near one of the

holidays that celebrate these figures or if they are conducting a unit of study about them.

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Some related texts were also located within the “Holiday” section, which was

labeled as 394.2. This fits into the Social Sciences and Folklore category. The text within

this section included books about Uncle Sam, Independence Day, Presidents, and

patriotism. Most of these books were also informational, having a decent amount of

words on a page with real world images. While they provided a good amount of

information, they did not seem to be too appealing for students. Also, these books were

newer and appeared to be rarely checked out.

Also within the 300s section was “Our Community.” Within the “Government”

section was a text about Martin Luther King as well as the Pledge of Allegiance. There

was also a text about running for office, which included the presidency. This book also

seemed relevant to the standards at hand. In the 900s Geography and History section was

several other texts including a book about Washington D.C. This text presented several

landmarks and memorials described within the standard. This was also a specific text

about the White House and the Lincoln Memorial. There was a unique text titled How

America Came to Be. It seemed to be the most used out of all of the books found at this

point.

Finally, I was able to locate only three texts within the fiction section of the stacks

that I felt truly fit within my scope of standards. These texts were titled, Red, White, and

Blue: The Story of the American Flag, Happy Birthday America, and I Am America. All

of these books are narrations that involve patriotism of America.

After completing my own visual scan, I decided to use the electronic collection

system data to find exactly how many books were in circulation that could possibly relate

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to my topic. There were 30 books within the system pertaining to America. Even if all of

these books fit the actual requirements of fulfilling the standard, this would certainly not

be enough books for the entire school system. Also, many of them seemed to repeat,

meaning that there were actually multiple copies within use. This limited the actual

variety of books available even further. When searching key words such as figures names

or holidays, only about five or six books appeared, some of which appeared to be

checked out. This was a helpful sign in seeing that the books were in use. Many of them,

however, seemed to be purely informational. Adding to the variety of books, especially

those that would consider being realistic fiction stories will certainly be a focus point of

the budget plan.

Average Age of Collection Materials.

After determining that there were not many selections to choose from within this

area, especially within the fiction section, I moved on to the age of the materials that were

available. I anticipated that many of them would be newer resources, simply because the

media specialist said she had ordered several of these materials with the budget she had

left over due to the Reading-First Grant. Also, I suspected that many of the e-books were

new seeing as the school didn’t start purchasing them until two years ago. Also, the

upkeep of the books leads me to think that they were either newer selections or ones that

were never used. My prediction was right, seeing as the average age of the few resources

available on these topics was 2003.

Genre/Dewey Decimal Code by Subject Area

Average Age of Text in that Area

300s- Social Sciences and Folklore

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*Holidays*Government

*Holidays: 2001*Government: 2000

800s- Literature (Fiction)*Realistic Fiction *Realistic Fiction: 2003900s- Geography and History*Biographies*Geographic Locations (ie- memorials)

*Biographies: 2005*Geographic Locations (ie- memorials): 2003

E-books *E-books: 2008

The age of the selection is certainly a beneficial part of the collection. It seems

that while there may not be that many materials specifically suited for these focus

standards, those that are available are up-to-date and well suited for the current time

period.

Circulation Data.

After discovering that the few books within the media center that specifically fit

within my topic and standards are actually relatively new books, the next set of

information I sought to find was how often those books had been checked out. Since

there were only a few titles within the media center that actually fit my topic, I decided to

search the circulation of those particular texts. During this I discovered that many of

these books actually have duplicate copies that are actually checked out. Especially the

biographies and the informational text, located within the 300s Social Sciences and

Folklore section, contained at least two other copies of the text. The media specialist

explained that some of these texts are actually located within the first grade social studies

series. While the entire first grade teachers have copies of these, the kindergarten and

second grade teachers do not. The media specialist anticipates that is it probably teachers,

and not students that have checked out these books. Especially those based upon

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upcoming holidays were probably checked out by teachers to share in the classroom

library. This sounds reasonable seeing as the text located within these sections had not

been checked out very often, but they had been checked out for a long time. Since

students usually return their books within a week or so, this leads me to believe that it is

teacher who actually has these books within their classroom. This is not necessarily a

negative situation, however, seeing as the students are still having access to these texts

and are probably receiving instruction in addition to what is provided within the books.

While there were 30 books on the shelf pertaining to the topic, by reviewing the

circulation data there are actually 22 more in circulation. These 22 have been checked out

to either teachers or students. This gave a total of 52 books related to the topic. The

media specialist explained, however, that the fiction selections that might have some

basis or relation to the topic would not necessarily be considered within the search.

Overall, however, this provides better insight about the context of the situation, seeing as

there are many more books available within this topic, just many of them happened to be

checked out at the time. As explained by the media specialist, the checked out items were

probably duplicates of the ones still available in the classroom. Since it appeared that

these items had been checked out for awhile now, they are probably in the hands of

teachers who are using them in their classrooms.

Along with the five e-books titles that are present within the media center, there

are actually three other sets of duplicates of several of the titles, giving the e-book count a

total of eight that pertain to the topic at hand. Three of these sets are not present within

the media center at the time of investigation, which means they were checked out to

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teachers within the school. This history of the e-books shows that they have been checked

out to nine different teachers this year, which is when they made their debut. Seeing as

not all teachers have the DVDs in their rooms to use the materials, this is a rather

startlingly statistic showing that more e-books on the subject may be well welcomed

within the school.

Comparison to the curriculum.

The final evaluation criteria was that of comparing the materials to the curriculum

and determining how well they fit the need to aid in presenting and teaching the

correlating standards. Upon watching a summarized version of the e-books, as well as

reading the accompanying text, they seemed to certainly fit the informational needs of the

standard. While each of them clearly defined the American symbol being addressed, they

also explained the basic information related to the symbol. The information, including

why it is considered to be an American symbol, is detailed to the extent to which it is not

overwhelming for a primary school student. As an adult, one many considered the facts to

be sparing, but it is appropriately detailed and explained within the context for the

students to understand the meaning and hopefully remember some of the details. The e-

books were appealing, complete with real images of the symbols, but they were purely

factual. It may be beneficial to locate some type of visuals that provided more of a

narrative or story background rather than the purely informational text approach.

One issue that is certainly present when addressing these two standards is that

they are certainly vast and contain several supplements that do not necessarily correlate

or would not be found in the same resource. For example while one standard is focused

24


upon national holidays and the other standard is focused upon the national symbols, they

contain a list of each that are usually focused on in unison within the resource. While the

media center contains some resources on some of the sub elements, not all of them appear

to be covered. For example, according to the investigation, there are not any resources

decided to help teach students about Labor Day, Columbus Day, or Memorial Day. Also,

there are also not any specific resources designed to educate students about the Star

Spangled Banner or as the bald eagle as an American symbol. These are certainly areas

that will be of primary focus when ordering new materials so that the media center can at

least have some exposure to all subcategories of these two standards.

Also, the majority of the texts are fact-based and appear to be easy readers. There

are some that are picture books that would require that a teacher read them aloud to the

students, but most of them are on a second grade reading level or below. While this is

beneficial to allow the students to practice their reading skills, the extra information that a

non-basal text could provide could also enhance the knowledge of the learners, especially

those with little exposure to the material outside of school. Also, among the observed

materials, none seemed to provide multilingual or various cultural perspectives. The need

for realistic fiction picture books designed to be read aloud in the class that perhaps

provide more of a storyline will certainly be kept in mind during the materials order.

Summary of collection needs.

1. There is an obvious need for more fiction books that incorporate the standards

into a storyline.

25


2. There is a need for more materials that specify information about sub elements of

the standards including Labor Day, Columbus Day, Memorial Day, the bald

eagle, and the Star Spangled Banner.

3. The addition of more and diverse e-books would certainly benefit the teachers and

students within the classrooms seeing as they are being readily used. It would be

helpful; however, if realistic fiction e-books with some type of story line also

incorporating the standard could be located.

Materials Order & Budget Summary

By using several book vendors, I was able to locate resources that would benefit

the media center and enhance the teaching of the standards and topics discussed earlier.

Based upon the summary of collection needs, I was able to located several sets of books

that highlighted the appropriate American symbols and holidays. Some of these sets were

on grade level for the particular target group, but several of the sets could be accessed

and appropriately used for remedial or emergent readers. Also, several multicultural texts

that highlighted various ethnicities were selected as well as some bilingual texts related to

the topic area. Along with the nonfiction texts, I was also able to locate several fiction

books, some picture books and some chapter books, that relate the subject area in an

engaging way. Some of these texts are for those beginning to read and some are for

advanced readers. Many of them are even within a series themselves.

Also included within the materials order are several instructional videos

appropriate for the target audience. Some of these are DVDs and some even contain

teacher’s guides. Some of the materials are interactive software as well as e-books. Also,

26


some big books with accompanying recordings were purchased. This should enhance the

differentiation options the teachers have when educating the students on this subject

matter.

The total cost of the selected items was $3998.56. I also created a website, using

portaportal, which would allow students to access links to other websites related to the

topics and standards selected. One can locate this portaportal at this web address:

http://guest.portaportal.com/autumn_m_schaffer.

Works Cited

Lamar County School District. (2009). Lamar County Primary School. Retrieved from

http://www.lamar.k12.ga.us/webpages/lcps/index.htm.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). Lamar County, Georgia. Retrieved from

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13/13171.html.

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http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13/13171.html

http://www.lamar.k12.ga.us/webpages/lcps/index.htm

http://guest.portaportal.com/autumn_m_schaffer

schaffer a collection_development_plan_part_1

Documents

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star spangled banner

dewey decimal system

united streaming videos

early intervention program

certified media specialist

georgia performance standards

media specialist explained