The Bob Edwards Show Visits MHTV & MHMS!

We were SO excited & flattered to host the Bob Edwards Sirius XM show a few weeks ago! They were doing a month long series called “Shhhh… Libraries at Work!” (of course I HATE the Shhh! part!) and chose my school, Murray Hill Middle School to represent school libraries. (I know...like, WOW!) They found us through this blog and the interview focused on the future of school libraries, digital literacy, creating a positive digital footprint, research strategies, creating student assessment products, audio books, and how we always push the love of reading to our kids!

In Part 1 (#6 on the iTunes list) you can listen to the Bob Edwards XM Show Podcast featuring my MHMS kids, MHTV crew, & our school library! It starts with Mrs. Singleton's 6th grade reading & research class visited for seminar book selection & talked about the kind of books they like, transitions into our MHTV crew creating our news show, and finishes with...Mrs. Cullison's class coming in for the Book Pass: The Power of Choice orientation lessons, and more about books - in all kinds of formats!

From his blog: "We start today’s show off with a visit to a model, modern-day school library. Gwyneth Jones, aka The Daring Librarian, has pulled out all the stops to make her library the coolest place at Murray Hill Middle School in Laurel, Maryland. And it’s hard NOT to feel excited about school libraries after spending a morning with her and the students at Murray Hill. Jones has embraced technology— even (gasp) television – to get kids interested in reading and learning. Forget the stereotype of a matronly, bunned, button-upped librarian trying to maintain silence and order —- Jones likes her library a little rowdy! She speaks almost entirely in exclamation points, and her enthusiasm is liable to convert anyone to her cause."

But it's true, we have learning going on but there's also time for fun, teaching, research, & inquiry that is not always.... hmmmm silent! So, if I couldn't be the daring librarian the rowdy librarian woulda fit, too!

Also during the interview I talk about our Playaway audio book program so I wanted to show a few pics of how cute these single digital audio books are!

Part 2 is #5 on the iTunes list and it's an interview with yours truly about school libraries and the importance of digital literacy and creating a positive digital footprint.

Ok...as a cringeworthy aside, after listening to both parts of the podcast I do realize I say AWEsome a bit too much! And yes, I both speak and type using an overabundance of exclamation points! But gee, I mean we've got AWEsome kids and an AWEsome school! So there! Elaine Bennis would be proud! (points for that reference!)
A couple corrections: we changed our top news story that day to a cooler NASA one about the IBEX spacecraft that also meant we could play "She Blinded Me with Science" by Thomas Dolby song \\FTW!//, StudentNews.net is sponsored by Britannica NOT World Book (Oops sorry!) For the Book Pass: Power of Choice activity we didn't have a dozen books out...we had at least 200! (more than a dozen on every table) ...AND we only have 1 media specialist in our school (part 3 said we had 2) ...though my media assistant the AWEsome Mrs. Black and I have worked together now for 19 years, and really when it comes down to it...we're a true team it's like having 2 librarians! Woohoo!

UPDATE:
OhEmGee! Look at this email we got!
Hello, Ms. Jones! My name is Michelle Nichols, and I work for the Adler Planetarium in Chicago on NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) program. One of our VP's here at the Adler heard the Bob Edwards radio show this past weekend that featured you and your wonderful program to have kids report the news. I listened to the spot this morning and we were so proud that the news clip that the radio show used to illustrate the news program was about IBEX! The students got the science just right, too. We are thrilled that they thought that the story about IBEX's recent info release was worthy of inclusion in their program. They did a great job! Thanks, again, and please tell the kids thanks, also, on behalf of the IBEX E/PO team.
Michelle

Michelle Nichols,
Master Educator - NASA Forum Programs
The Adler Planetarium
1300 S. Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, IL 60605
Visit the Adler Planetarium Website

Final Note: Since we're sorta bragging here why not trowel it on? As I bloged last, I was chosen by Gale/Cengage Learning and School Library Journal to be one of 5 national library New Leaders Program for the SLJ Summit in Chicago. AND WOW! What a great time it was and more about it soon! Below is the scanned version from the program - I promised to post it for the other award recipients for their family, friends, and administrators. (and for my Mom, Dad, Gramma, Aunt Lynnie & Family!)
Thank you again for this honor, I'll strive to continue to be a library leader & change agent within my school, community, district, and state. Click below to view a larger size.

Thank you SO much!