State-of-the-Art Media Center Opens at Parkway South Middle

Lights, camera, action! takes on a whole new meaning for teachers and students this year at the Parkway School District's South Middle. A brand new state-of-the-art media center was unveiled earlier this school year. Beginning in 2012, school librarian Mrs. Jodie Sanders and library secretary Mrs. Lisa Pletz began turning their vision into reality by using their library budget and a $4,500 grant from the Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO).  The new computers the PTO purchased were a critical component in establishing a 21st century media center.

"Our goal was to be up and running at the beginning of the 2013-14 school year to support the new Common Core State Standards for English-Language Arts (ELA) and literacy in other subjects such as history and science,” remarks Sanders.

Having a true library/media center is necessary in order to meet the demands of a changing curriculum embedded with technology standards. In the 2014-15 school year the Common Core State Standards assessment currently being developed by the Smarter Balanced Consortium will replace the current state assessment known as the MAP (Missouri Assessment Program).  This new assessment will be administered via computers and will include three to five stimuli in the form of traditional fiction/non-fiction text, websites, video, and poetry, etc., and will require students to do a performance task involving technology.  The South Middle Media Center will allow students to develop and hone the skills needed for proficiency on assessments, while at the same time learning to be tech proficient in 21st century multimedia.

South Middle's Media Center has eight computers with Pinnacle Studio Plus Version 11, Adobe Premiere, Adobe Photoshop, and MovieMaker software. It also has 25 Blue Snowball Ice USB microphones, six web cameras, 10 Sony Bloggie camcorders, a chromokey green screen and a conference table to accommodate six collaborating students.  Students will be able to record and produce audio and visual media such as podcasts, movies and blogs--as well as other media projects (such as glogging) assigned by classroom teachers.

Mrs. Sanders has worked in Parkway for 13 years, with the last 10 at South Middle. "I taught World History and ELA before becoming a librarian three years ago. I have been in the classroom for nearly 20 years and have witnessed the shift away from traditional textbook learning. Parkway has embraced the use of technology with its Bring Your Own Device (iPods, iPhones, iPads, etc.) policy, and PTOs have sponsored projects to purchase tablets and e-readers. With the use of technology, bridges can be built to turn nonreaders into readers and all students into better writers and thinkers,” explains Sanders.

The new state assessments are being designed to assess not just rote knowledge, but such skills as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. The Media Center will be used to not only learn subject matter, but to understand the collaborative process as well.

Students at South Middle are equally excited about using the Media Center.  Seventh grader Sam Collett sums it up nicely.  "My desire is to become a creative director when I am older. This is a place to work with other classmates to get to know each other and to get to know what it would be like to be in that job field. You get a small taste of what it would be like to work on a project or commercial.  It would be exciting to get to write and direct and lead a project using the tools and materials in the new Media Center."