The academic years 2020-21 and 2021-22 are in our rearview mirror. THAT, my friends, is something to celebrate. Looking forward, we focus our efforts upon student intrinsic motivation, impactful grouping, and adjusting to a new fan-dangled block eight schedule. If you're new to DCHS, you're dealing with even more information overload than our seasoned colleagues. Take heart, friends, we're all in this boat together. You'll find support all around you, if you simply LOOK UP. Your #SchoolLibrary team and Teacher Leads are ready to partner with you in lesson development, technology integration, and curation of resources to engage our students. So settle in, hunker down, or dance a jig (whatever gets you going!) because 2022-23 can be a great year when we all work together to help our students be #TomorrowReady!

Yes, our chairs (literally) rock. You'll find plenty of comfy seating, a wide range of reading material, makerspace materials (origami, calligraphy, 3D printers, knitting, etc.), thinking games, private meeting areas, and even two countertop ovens. Sounds cool, right? But the value in the DCHS library media center is rooted within the people in the space - not the space. The library media center team is dedicated to supporting learning and personal enrichment of adults and students. We are your partners. When teachers have a collaborative partner in their school library team, students benefit.

"Drinking from a firehose." Sound familiar? You bet it does.

Schedules, student management, CCR, Canvas, Xello, IXL, Newsela, Skyward, SLC, PLC, PD, passes for this and that, IEP, TOPA, MyVRspot, Apple ID.....just writing this list is overwhelming! You have so much to absorb in a short amount of time. Now add to your list all the resources available to you through your DCHS Library Media Center.

In order for you to learn a bit more about your school library media center, it will be worth your time to click through the Google Slide below. It was originally designed with our freshmen in mind but it can be super helpful in that you can click and learn at your own pace. Does it cover EVERY. SINGLE. THING? Nope. But it is a start!

If you are new to interactive eBooks (aka Lightbox), or need a reminder, here is the Beecher Feature volume 11 to give you the details.

New teachers and freshmen have been added to the user list and may use the resources at any time. Students who enrolled after our second week of school will need to be added separately. I will do that when you send me names of the students.

How to access and log into our Lightbox interactive ebooks:

The Lightbox link is housed on the DCHS media center web page (bookmark it!)

Student username: first.last

Student password: birthday (example: 01252006)

Staff username: first letter of first name and last name (example: dbeecher)

Staff password: hawks

After a bit of settling in time, it seems our teachers and students are (re)discovering the joys of the #SchoolLibrary. There are a variety of reasons to visit, and over the past 2 weeks, we've hosted some fun, engaging learning activities. We can't wait to see what new things we will learn as more classes join us!

A tool designed to help teachers with lesson plans, student tools, and curriculum standards including valuable sites for teachers.

Find this online database on the Research page of the Indianapolis Public Library (our fabulous partners!) site. Your school library is a branch of IndyPL in case you didn't know! By the way, you'll find their links on your DCHS media center web page, too!

Other databases that are helpful to teachers specifically include Read It! and TeachingBooks.net. Both are housed on the database page.

Important: You'll need your magical library card to access these resources!

How do I reserve time/space in our school library?

There are two spaces reservable in the DC library media center.

1. Main media center space (large area)

2. Project room (includes projector for presentations)

You have all been invited to these two calendars. Get the details by clicking the link below.

Find the answer here!

• Update on our BreakoutEDU platform and new building license
• Update about our 3D projector (it will be back soon!)
• Research model - Big6
• Media Center Canvas Course (for staff)
• Banned Book Week (September)

Beecher Feature Volumes 1-21 HERE

Email: dbeecher@decaturproud.org
Website: https://www.decaturproud.org/central-high/media-center
Phone: 317-856-5288
Twitter: @dmbeecher

"What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it feels about education."

~ Harold Howe