Warren Child

Educational Technology New Hires and Farewells 2018

June 2018Josh Whiting

This summer we say goodbye to several members of our team, while also looking forward to welcoming new additions to our technology specialist roster for the 2018-2019 school year.

Farewells

Warren Child, Library Media Educational Technology Specialist at Cyprus High School, who leaves us for retirement.

Colleen Hughes, Administrative Secretary in the Educational Technology office, who leaves us to pursue a new opportunity in another industry.

Tiffany Peoples, School Technology Specialist at Mill Creek Elementary and Sandburg Elementary, who has accepted a classroom teaching opportunity at Fox Hills Elementary.

Jayanne Unander, School Technology Specialist at Pleasant Green Elementary and one of our ETEP Trainers/Developers, who leaves us for retirement.

We wish each of you the best in your new endeavors and will miss your friendship and expertise.

New Hires

Tricia Fenton, our School Technology Specialist at Vista Elementary and Western Hills Elementary, will be moving into the Library Media Educational Technology Specialist position at Cyprus High School in the 2018-2019 year. Congratulations!

We welcome three new elementary school technology specialists to our roster in the coming year:

Kailie Nelson, coming to us from a 4th Grade classroom at Fox Hills Elementary.

Rebecca Vala, coming to us from a 4th Grade classroom at Spring Lane Elementary.

Margaret Yau, coming to us from a 4th Grade classroom at the Montlieu Academy of Technology in High Point, North Carolina.

Additional Information

You can find more information about our staff and their school assignments for the coming year on our directory pages:

OverDrive: What’s New for November 2017 + Monthly Competition Update

November 2017Josh Whiting

What’s New in OverDrive, November 2017

The posters below highlight a few of the titles that have been added to Granite’s OverDrive Digital Library this month. Click on them to download a high quality PDF that you can print out and display in your library or classroom, or right click and save the images to post them on a school or class website.

OverDrive Circulation Competition Update, October 2017

In October 2017, students and staff in Granite School District checked out nearly 13,000 ebooks and audiobooks from our OverDrive Digital Library. This is up nearly 3,000 from last month. The infographic below reveals the top five schools for the month.

For 2017-18 the Granite Educational Technology department is sponsoring a monthly checkout competition between schools, with four traveling trophies awarded to the highest circulating elementary and secondary schools, as well as the “most increased” elementary and secondary schools. In October 2017, Beehive Elementary and West Lake STEM Jr. High held their spots at the top and therefore keep the trophies which they were awarded for winning the September 2017 competition. However, we have two new winners in the “Most Improved” category: congratulations to Cyprus Senior High and David Gourley Elementary!

Most Improved OverDrive Award October 2017 - Cyprus High School — Cyprus High School had the largest increase in OverDrive checkouts of any school in October 2017. Pictured: Katie Hardman, Media Clerk; Warren Child, Library Media Educational Technology Specialist; Lori Yates, Media Clerk.

Gourley Elementary had the largest increase in OverDrive checkouts of any elementary school in October 2017. Pictured: Samantha Mitchell, School Technology Specialist.

Granite OverDrive Circulation Site

Alyssa Carraway, secretary in the Educational Technology department, tracks these checkout numbers and has used Google Sites to create a simple but beautiful website to share this data with our district throughout the year. She uses Canva to convey the data in infographics, such as the year-to-date information shared below. You can check out the full site for more details on Granite OverDrive usage per school, as well as monthly updates on our OverDrive checkouts competition winners.

(Granite’s OverDrive provides free access to ebooks and digital audiobooks for all students and staff in Granite School District. Granite’s OverDrive can be accessed on the web at http://granite.lib.overdrive.com or via OverDrive apps designed for various mobile devices. For more information or help getting started with OverDrive, visit https://www.graniteschools.org/edtech/overdrive.)

Infographics and Granite OverDrive Circulation Site created by Alyssa Carraway, Administrative Secretary, Educational Technology Dept. OverDrive posters designed by Cindy Moyle,
Secondary Library Media Supervisor, Educational Technology Dept.

Granite Library Presentations at UELMA 2017

March 2017Josh Whiting

Last week the Utah Educational Library Media Association held their Spring conference at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City. Many of our library media educational technology specialists (LMETS) and media clerks attended the conference, and several presented sessions at the conference themselves. Here is a roster of the sessions shared by our specialists, along with links to resources from the sessions if available.

Session Title	Presenter(s)
Book Repair -- Fixing Inner Hinges	Brad Butcher (LMETS, Evergreen Jr. High)
BookTube	Jessica Moody (LMETS, Olympus Jr. High)
Destiny Hacks	Josh Whiting (Library Media Specialist, Educational Technology Dept.)
Effective Library Web Pages	Keith Smedberg (LMETS, Olympus Sr. High)
Engage Your Students through Breakout EDU Games!	Stephanie Hamilton (LMETS, Bennion Jr. High) and Davina Sauthoff (LMETS, Wasatch Jr. High)
Genre-fying Your Library Fiction Collection	Lorraine Wyness (LMETS, Taylorsville Sr. High)
Hosting an Author	Brad Butcher (LMETS, Evergreen Jr. High)
Hosting a Book Club	Warren Child (LMETS, Cyprus Sr. High)
I Read. What's Your Superpower?	Michelle Asay (LMETS, Granger Sr. High) and Heidi Williams (LMETS, Skyline Sr. High)
Is Your Library Engaging to Culturally Diverse Students?	Toni Blattman (LMETS, Kearns Jr. High), Susan Booth (LMETS, Cottonwood Sr. High), and Marcia Ingram (LMETS, Eisenhower Jr. High)
Library Productivity Apps	Angela Christensen (LMETS, Kennedy Jr. High)
Picture Books with Secondary Students	Cindy Moyle (Granite District Secondary Libraries Supervisor) and Celia Powell (Granite District Secondary Educational Technology Specialist)
Twitter & Google +	Jeff Curran (LMETS, Granite Park Jr. High)

In addition to the above sessions, Quinn Rollins, Granite’s Social Studies Curriculum Specialist, attended and gave an excellent presentation entitled “Beyond Batman: Graphic Novels as Serious Texts.” Author Emily Wing Smith, a Taylorsville High School alumnus and occasional substitute teacher for Granite, gave the inspiring and relatable morning keynote address on her personal childhood experiences that led her to writing.

We really appreciate all of those from Granite School District who shared their time and expertise in these sessions. We further look forward to next week’s UCET 2017 conference, in which many of our elementary school technology specialists (STS) will present breakout sessions, as well as more of our LMETS.

Library Spotlight: Warren Child, Cyprus High School

February 2015Josh Whiting

Warren Child is the Library Media Educational Technology Specialist at Cyprus High School. His library theme for this year is Find Your Treasure: Read.