Field Interview #2 - Arnall Middle School - Ashley Prince - Middle School Media Specialist

Date: 9/22/2020
2 Hours

1. Name of technology coordinator being interviewed.

Ashley Prince, Arnall Middle School

2. What is your title?

Middle School Media Specialist

3. What type of degree is required for your position?

Mrs. Prince has a B. S. in English, M. Ed. School Library Media, Ed. S. Instructional Tech. An M. Ed.
in School Library Media is required for this position.

4. What are your job responsibilities?

Check in and out, work with ELL teacher to make sure that ELL students are getting their books,
Chromebook repairs, troubleshooting, laminating, work with ELA teacher, parent communication,
books, maintaining collection

5. How are you meeting the needs of faculty and staff during the transition to remote learning this
semester?
All of the tech stuff - Ebooks, Resources like GALILEO, make sure cameras are working properly,
troubleshoot between school and home

6. How are you meeting the remote learning needs of students and parents?
Drop off and pick up times twice a week, flexible with parents that work - send chromebooks for
repair, students put books on hold and parents come and pick them up.

7. What are typical daily activities for your job?

Books, check in and out, phone calls, emails, chromebook troubleshooting, ELA classes come in to
check in and check out, orientation of the ins and out of the library, classes on research, lessons on
digital citizenship

8. Do you have a budget that you control?

Yes, 2 budgets. One comes from the county. I purchase periodicals, books, supplies, boxes, due date
cards, etc. Then there is the school budget - lost books, overdue books which we collect on, unlike
elementary schools.

How do you make decisions on selecting resources for your stakeholders?

Middle school is the hardest age because they are too grown for picture books but too young for teen
fiction; I am always trying to make sure the collection is age appropriate; make sure not to expose too
much much but challenge them. I have specific books that are flagged as 8th grade only that are
throughout the collection. Some media specialists flag mature booksin Destiny or they have an 8th
grade section. I chose not to do that because I did not want to highlight only those books to 8th
graders, I want them to search for a book they want.
9. Have you had an opportunity to impact technology implementation throughout your school? Would
you describe a specific example?
Yes, I was a part of the Chromebook selection committee. A few techs and about 10 media specialists.
Jason Olvey, our tech guy at the county level, chose some options for laptops for students and
teachers and we were able to play with them and take them apart. Also, my principal is tech savvy and
we have younger teachers that are tech savvy. If there is a conference or professional development
that he or us want to go to he is great about getting us there.

10. Does your school have a technology committee?

We have a Media Committee - it consists of parents, which have to match or outweigh staff (usually 3
parents). Staff includes me, principals, and a teacher. This committee discusses books for mature
audiences, some purchasing, and movie approvals (which is THE hardest).

11. How are technology decisions made?

My principal & I, the media specialist usually make the decisions, as I said before, my principal is very
tech savvy and he knows what's out there. He’s not afraid to try new things and not afraid to spend
money if it's going to work.

12. What is the best part of your job?

I LOVE talking to kids about books and what they are reading, shopping for books and watching
students come to check in/out. Most kids that I see want to be in here and I enjoy the time I have to
spend with them.

13. What do you find to be the most challenging part of your job?
Balancing books with chromebooks - no time to do it all. Also, there is a stigma that makes media
specialists (esp. now) justify why they are here. Everyone thinks that all I do is sit behind a desk and
obviously some media specialists do that but that is not how I work.