The purpose of these mentor school assignments is to collaborate with both library media and STEM colleagues to glean and document information for program development:

• best practices in school library administration (marketing and public relations, policies, scheduling, volunteer program, collection development, automation, technology, website, etc.) and instructional program (integration of Standards for Student Learning ­ Information Literacy, ISTE Technology Literacy Standards).
• best practices in collaborating with teachers, lessons, instructional strategies, etc.). The information and examples gathered will be used to make program recommendations for the Chesapeake STEM Academy.
• answers to questions generated by previous grad students in this course as a framework. You will need to add specific questions that address the needs of STEM education and library media support.

 This process will serve these purposes:

• enhance your knowledge of high school programs and the STEM concept for the K-12 Masters in Instructional Technology ­ School Library Media degree.
• apply master's degree content knowledge to an authentic learning experience.

Activities you should do are as follows:

• Contact library media specialist by telephone. Explain your purpose for wanting to set up an appointment to visit their school library media center facility.  For addresses of elementary schools go to BCPS website and use MapQuest for driving directions. Contact information will be provided by the instructor.
• Use the 4 major roles of a library media specialist (teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator) to frame your questions, gather, and organize information and examples in folders.
• Request a digital copy of examples (if available) as we will be creating a New Town Library Office website.
• Respect intellectual property rights of library media specialist who provides samples by writing on all documents their name and library media center.
• Make photocopies of all documents for use by all participants and file originals in a notebook along with your Learning Log.