Welcome Back to School!

Welcome Back Kiddos, Parents, & Families!

This year is going to be challenging. I’m not gonna lie. It’s gonna to be weird at first, a little anxious, and like nothing we’ve experienced before. But, we got this. It’s who we are. We go forward with optimism and determination and we will win this. 

This is my 25th and last year at MHMS. Wait, what?? Whoda thunk it?

I am SO honored to have been a part of this community since the very beginning. I never thought I was one of those teachers who would stay in the same school for like, forever! But I never transferred to another school (and I had offers) because I love our  community, our kiddos, and our beautiful School Library. I’m retiring sometime this year and I can honestly say it’s been wonderful. Thank you for the precious memories and the opportunity to be a part of your lives. Honored. If you’re a former student, I’d love to hear from you – please leave a comment or email me @ gwynethanne@gmail (dot) com.

But here I am, right now, still happy, loving our quirky middle school kiddos and the vibrant and rich diversity of our amazing neighborhood. I also like that I live near our community and only have to drive 8 minutes to get here.

I’m so happy Ms. Kathi Bell, our amazing Media Assistant is here by my side, to also serve our Library. Couldn’t do it without her.

We really appreciate having our Library & Literacy program fully staffed – because we serve about 800 people. 730+ kiddos & 80+ teachers and staff.

That’s a lot of people and we love it!

MHMS History - Old Skool Pics!
 

Please follow us on Instagram!

I will try and share all the amazing things that happen every day here at MHMS – the awesome kiddos, the fun times, the Science, the ELA, the Social Studies, MHTV, ART, STEAM, Drama, well – as much as I can.

We LOVE to share the cool things that happen every day here at MHMS! In the Library, in the hallways, everywhere!

Here’s a throwback sample.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Mr. C enjoying our new sticker coloring book! #6thGradeMakerBoys19 #makerspace #steam @hocoschools #celebrateHCPSS

A post shared by @GwynethJones (@thedaringlibrarian) on

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Beautiful Friday #Shelfies on a 2 hour delay day!

A post shared by @GwynethJones (@thedaringlibrarian) on

But wait! There’s More!

The following are student, parent, and community resources I want to bring to your attention.

hcpss-connect-banner16This page will also feature our new HCPSS Parent Portal – HCPSS Connect

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If there’s something you need or that I can help you with…please don’t hesitate to let me know! I’d love to help!!

Calling all Creatives – Rainbow Vision!

Rainbow Vision Literary Magazine

ISO student submissions!

“Rainbow Vision is specifically looking for material for our literary magazine that has an LGBTQIA+ theme, is written by LGBTQIA+ authors AND their allies, and/or is written for an LGBTQIA+ audience. We are currently accepting short stories, poetry, art work, song lyrics, personal narratives, essay, film/video, music/audio, photography, script/play/manuscript, drawing, etc.” – Ms. Danielle DuPuis

The deadline to submit is April 1st.

Click HERE to submit your creative products   

Please Note: Only open to HCPSS Students

Questions? Contact Ms. Danielle DuPuis, Library Media Specialist at Hammond High School – danielle_dupuis@hcpss.org

View Last year’s Magazine! 

Our May 2020 issue of Rainbow Vision received an “Excellent” rating from NCTE’s REALM. (Links to an external site.)

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“Teachers and students are encouraged to share this magazine. However, we’d ask that you not reprint or repost content publicly without permission. If you’d like a hard copy of this magazine or would like permission to post on your site, please email pride@hcpss.org for more details.”

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Students & Families: The MHMS Daring School Library Media Center has always been a Safe Space for ALL of our Students!  READ: Our School Library is a Safe Space 

 

Extra! Extra! MHMS Metropolitan Newspaper

Extra Extra! Get your MHMS Metro News Here!

Our #MHMSMetro student run & #GTSeminar newspaper is available for download!

CONTENTS: Page 1: Politics | Page 2: Arts, Music and Sports | Page 3: Crossword – bottom of page |

Page 4: Comic – DOWNLOAD the PDF Version below.

Our Mission: “At the Murray Hill Metropolitan we are dedicated to authentic, realistic and unbiased news for our students, their families and the public. Every month we cover a wide variety of stories from what’s happening at Washington to our new hall pass system. We hope to make sure our school is conscious and respectful of other people’s opinions, the news and politics.”- Murray Hill Metropolitan Staff

Download : MHMS_Metro_Issue1-FINAL

Enter our Comic Competition!

Missed an Issue? – Want to get in touch? – Questions? Suggestions? 

Catch Up With Us On Our Website!

DOWNLOAD: MHMS Metro Crossword 1 -PDF

 

Welcome Back to School!

Welcome Back Kiddos, Parents, & Families!

Here’s our Media Orientation Cartoon!



This is my 22nd year at MHMS! Wait, what?? Whoda thunk it!?

I am SO honored to have been a part of this community since the beginning. I never thought I was one of those teachers who would stay in the same school for like, forever!

But here I am, still happy, loving our quirky middle school kiddos and the vibrant and rich diversity of our amazing neighborhood! I also like that I live near our community and only have to drive 7 minutes to get here!

This year is going to be fantastic and challenging! I’m so happy that Ms. Bell, our amazing Media Assistant is with us full time! Thanks to our new FULL TIME AWESOME Superintendent, Michael J. Martirano for bringing back our much needed (and loved!) Library paraeducators a couple years ago. We really appreciate having our Library & Literacy program fully staffed – because we serve about 800 people! 730+ kiddos & 80+ teachers and staff!

That’s a lot of people and we love it!

Please follow us on Instagram!

I will try and share all the amazing things that happen every day here at MHMS – the cool kiddos, the fun times, the Science, the ELA, the Social Studies, MHTV, ART, STEAM, Drama, well – as much as I can!

We LOVE to share the cool things that happen every day here at MHMS! In the Library, in the hallways, everywhere!

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Mr. C enjoying our new sticker coloring book! #6thGradeMakerBoys19 #makerspace #steam @hocoschools #celebrateHCPSS

A post shared by @GwynethJones (@thedaringlibrarian) on

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Beautiful Friday #Shelfies on a 2 hour delay day!

A post shared by @GwynethJones (@thedaringlibrarian) on

But wait! There’s More!

The following are student, parent, and community resources I want to bring to your attention.

hcpss-connect-banner16This page will also feature our new HCPSS Parent Portal – HCPSS Connect

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Sa

If there’s something you need or that I can help you with…please don’t hesitate to let me know! I’d love to help!!

Got Charge?

 

Spend $130 Bucks and Literally Give Kids the Power!

 

We’ve discovered that the mix of the digital divide, possible turbulent home lives, and general teenage forgetfulness can result in a loss of power. So, for vaious reasons it seems that some of my students who DO have devices (yes, there are still a lot who do NOT) show up to school with a low or no charge.  Yes, they sometimes admit that they fall asleep with their phone next to them and not plugged in. Shocker.

A device that they LOVE to use for social connections and fun in the hallways and during free time. Oh yeah, and sometimes in class for learning, too! Without that device they feel a serious gap in their daily lives.

We Fill That Gap!

We want the kids to feel like the Library Media Center – Learning Commons and Makerspace Station – is a safe place to land and the place to go when they need things. Like finishing and priting out homework, relaxing and making something at our Makerspace Station, practicing mindfulness with our Coloring Zen area, or borrowing a charger to power up their devices. This is our third try with this concept, the first two were failures – if you interested you can read about this journey going back four years on my professional blog. So far, this is going GREAT! 

Backstory: A few years ago, I was inspired by the charging lockers I saw during a visit to the Hillwood High School Library in Nashville with the ISTE Board of Directors and I wanted to support our BYOD pilot program and our kiddos by giving them a place to recharge their devices in school.

 
And of course that place was going to be our school Library Media Center — shameless how we will do just about ANYthing to get kiddos to visit our Library!
 
Because I think we’ve now hit on a really easy, relatively low cost, & popular way to give my kids the power they crave and need. 
 
 Approximate cost for 8 chargers & 10 cords = $130 bucks
Piece of mind not worrying that kiddos will have their devices stolen or locked out on your watch? 
Priceless!
Procedure:
Kids (and staff) can request a charging device, first come, first serve anytime before 2pm. I also bought 2 flat chargers for staff to borrow. Kids come first. Always. 
We keep the chargers tucked away on a shelf behind the Circulation Desk.
Kids must first show that their phone has less than 30% charge to get one. (We found at first some kids just wanted it for the cool factor – which was cool, but not cool for the kids who really NEEDED them!)  
We don’t lend them out for the charging of fancy headphones – these are for devices that could possibly be used in the classroom.
Kids can borrow the charger alone or with a multi-device cord. They must initial to agree to pay for the loss or damage of the device & cord (Yeah, we know this isn’t really enforceable) 
We ask that kids agree not to let the device out of their sight – if they’re asked to share it – we trust them to keep track of it.
We also ask that kids bring back the device at the end of the day. Do they always remember? Nope! That’s why we collect their last period class teacher (I, or my amazing Media assistant Kathi Bell, calls classrooms at the end of the day to get them back – or we track them down the first period of the next day.
Yeah, We’re Popular! 
Some days we’re cleaned out of chargers within the first 5 minutes of school. I’m making a sign for our front door that says “Yes, We Have Awesome Chargers to Borrow!”  or “Sorry, All Chargers Have Been Borrowed” with Bitmoji cartoons. 
This is a complimentary service. We also reserve the right to not lend out a charger on an early dismissal day, after 1:30pm,  or to a kiddo who has proven to be unreliable with the charger in the past. But that hasn’t happened yet. Frankly, I doubt it ever will.  Don’t tell my students, for all my fierceness [snaps Z formation] I’m kind of a soft touch. But I gotta keep that leverage because we want to keep these chargers nice for everyone. So far though, the kids have been super fantastic and very enthusiastic about this new FREE perk we’re providing to them! 

GOAL #1 MHMS provides  a safe and nurturing school environment that respects our diversity and commonality.

Why do we do this?

You never know what kinds of things kids are struggling with at home. What if a kid doesn’t have a computer at home and just a mobile device and needs to do homework? This is important! We can help fill the gaps that the world & circumstance gives to these kiddos.

My kids tell me you can get these chargers at Five Below. I haven’t tried them yet. If we lose a lot over the year, I might give them a whirl. The multi device cords are CHEAP! Meaning, inexpensive to pick up (via Amazon) but they can sometimes stop working and can break. So far, so good, though and this has been a LOT less of a headache than those fancy expensive charging lockers.  
 
This great idea was inspired by the amazing Teacher Librarian at Wilde Lake Middle School – Sarah Russo!
I should have started with that! [smacks forehead] but I wanted to give how we run this first.
 
Are you a Teacher Librarian, or educator and want to hear what problems we encountered with our previous attempts at charging stations and charging lockers?
If so,
So, if you’re a school – here’s my suggestion: Save 90% of your money and try the cheapo errr inexpensive portable chargers first.  
Because, NO ONE wants to be responsible for a kids only device but it’s AWESOME to be responsible to give POWER to a kid and their beloved device!
Your turn! 
What am I missing here? Any other suggestions? Successes? Do you like that we help out the kiddos? What other things could we add to our School Library to make it a more appealing place (Other than a Keurig -that would be boss!)  Please hit me up in the comments and share your thoughts! Thank you for reading!

Our ever evolving BYOD Policy.

Buying information. If you want to get one of these for yourself or for your kiddo, check Amazon! So far, they’ve been great & I did have 2 die on my (after being used by kids…a LOT) but the company is sending me 2 replacements! I couldn’t ask for better customer service than that!
 Again, if you’re in education and would like more information:
Check out my professional blog.  Thank you for reading! 

 

Summer Reading List!

The Summer Reading List is Here!

View the HCPSS Middle School Summer Reading List

or download the PDF!

middle-school-reading-list-2016

View ALL the Reading Lists on our HCPSS Media Homepage!

Thanks to our our A+ partner Librarians at the Howard County Library and two of our local HCPSS Middle School Teacher-Librarians we have created this Super Fun Reading List for all the kiddos in our district! (or the world!)

Visit our local library the Savage Branch & Hi Tech STEM Education Center this summer and FLIP over summer reading or flip over some amazing tech learning opportunities!

 

Kai & #mustache bookmark #Shelfie from @hcpss_mhms #celebratehcpss

A photo posted by Gwyneth Jones (@thedaringlibrarian) on


Bonus!

For a FREE ARC Book when we come back in August:

Take a Shelfie (selfie holding a book) and Instagram it tagging me @thedaringlibrarian

After School Ends, Look for the

Summer Reading List Display

in the Front Office!

Welcome Back to School!

Welcome Back Kiddos, Parents, & Families!

I’m so happy to come back to Murray Hill for my 19th year! That means, the 8th grade kiddos I taught when we opened Murray Hill back in 1997 would now be in their 30’s! Whaaaat? That’s Crazy! But seriously, I am SO honored to have been a part of this community since the beginning. I never thought I was one of those teachers who would stay in the same school for like, forever! But here I am, still happy, loving our quirky middle school kiddos and the vibrant diversity of our neighborhood! I also like that I live near our community and only have to drive 7 minutes to get here!

This year is going to be both fantastic and challenging! Due to HCPSS budget cuts Ms. Bell, our amazing Media Assistant, will not be working with us full time. We’re grateful for any time we’re given to support our awesome Library and Literacy program here at MHMS. A big thanks to Mr. Wasilewski for valuing our program and letting Ms. Bell work with our kiddos in the mornings and during 6th period.

We’re both a “cup half full” kinda people!  And our mantra for this year is borrowed from the esteemed fashion educator & Project Runway mentor, Tim Gunn  –  it’s  “Make it work” time!

Speaking of making and working I’m excited to set up our The Makerspace Station at MHMS in our Daring School Library Media Center for the second year! We’re going to be adding more stations, robotics, technology and opportunities to create, make, craft, design, code, and construct in our school!

The following are student, parent, and community resources I want to bring to your attention.

For the latest school resources, check our our Back to School Night Wikipage!

This page will also feature our new HCPSS Parent Portal – HCPSS Connect

And don’t forget our Tech Help at Home Wikipage this is a helpful site for all those pesky techy troubles & queries!
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Our Research Databases Wikpage helps with homework & school projects!

MHMS Pocket Guide to Cell Phone Use in School

I’ve been teaching long enough to remember when kiddos were NOT allowed to bring a cell phone to school…at all. They were contraband!  Then Columbine and 9/11 happened, and parents wanted and needed to make sure their kiddos were OK.

So Howard County Schools were one of the FIRST school districts in our state to create a policy where kids could keep their cell phones – turned OFF and stored in lockers. These phones would be available in an emergency and could only turned back on as they left the school. That was huge!

Fast forward about 13 years….yes, that policy above lasted thirteen years,  from a cellasaurus to the smart phone.  But then…

an amazing AWESOME thing happened, we evolved! Now, we are one of the only schools in our state to have a new, more liberal, cell phone & communication policy!  About two years ago HCPSS decided to relax our policy and to baby step it towards BYOD. And boy, was I on board with this! Wooo hooo!

Our new policy allows our students to use their cell phones in the mornings, during hallway transitions, and at recess. More details can be found below but we here at MHMS want to come to the kiddos from a standpoint of…


WE TRUST YOU!

We trust you to make good choices. We trust you to follow basic guidelines, good manners, and common sense. We trust you to be an ethical member of our community and to choose civility.

Watch our Zombie Cartoon for Cell Phone Recess Etiquette

Hey Kiddos & Parents! Want more info? Click through these slides!

See our Cell Phone Wikipage for more!

Next, I am hoping, we will allow students to use their Cell Phones as connected tools in their classes (and in the library) for academic reasons! I Can’t wait for that day and my students are ready for it!

I’m so fortunate, that my awesome principal, Mr. Wasilewski, has given me permission to pilot test cell phones used collaboratively in Media center for lessons such as my Media Orientation using the AWESOME Kahoot quiz feature!  With admin permission, we’ve also used mobile devices in the Media Center for digital discoveries & QR Code Scavenger Hunts!

 

Callin’ All Ballerz!

Join us! GCES Staff vs. MHMS Staff – for an Epic Basketball Game!

On Friday, April 4th at 7pm we will be having a staff vs. staff basketball game against our neighbors Gorman Crossing.

Tickets must be purchased in advance – no ticket sales at the door!

For more information contact our coach: Ms. Sara Tagliaferri  or Sara_Tagliaferri@hcpss.org

Doors open at 6:30

UPDATE:
Packed House!

Team Photo: