Godley Station K-8 School Interview with Kristy Morris

Interview of site supervisor:

1. Name of technology coordinator being interviewed. Kristy Morris
2. What is your title? Library Media & Technology Specialist
3. What type of degree is required for your position? Masters of
Education focused on Library Media
4. Where did you obtain your degree? James Madison University in
Virginia
5.What are your job responsibilities? This is the job description. Essential Duties:

1. Supports technology integration into all instructional programs and create an environment where
collaboration and creative problem solving thrives.
2. Empower students to be critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers, and ethical users of
information, in order to create lifelong
3. Provide students access to materials in all formats, including up-to-date, high- quality, varied literature to
develop and strengthen a love of reading.

General Duties and Responsiblities:

1. Create and execute lesson plans using a broad range of tools and resources to support information and
digital
2. Prepare reports and administers the library budget with guidance from administration.
3. Support and work with teachers to design, teach, and create 21st century lessons for an engaging
learning experience tailored to the needs of the students.
4. In addition, assess student learning and instructional effectiveness.
5. Support and work with teachers on the integration of technology into all areas of the curriculum and
instructional
6. Select, purchase, and processe new materials (electronic and paper-based) to assure a current and
balanced collection representing diverse points of view in accordance with the district materials
selection.
7. Provide students, teachers, and staff with materials and resources that reflect current information and
instructional needs.
8. Manage the regular inventory of the library collection, weeds obsolete and worn materials on an ongoing
basis, provides reports as needed, and maintains an up-to- date catalog of the collection.
9. Maintain and provide reports on the school’s Fixed Asset inventory for existing equipment and
technology.
10. Supervise media clerks, assigned additional staff, student assistants, and volunteers.
11. Actively promote reading through activities such as interactive storytelling, book- talks, book clubs,
displays, publications, reading programs, and special events.
12. Provide staff development opportunities in the use of information and technology resources.
13. Maintain a schedule that provides structure and flexibility in order to meet the needs of the school. Fixed
and flex schedules can coexist to ensure all students are exposed to library media and technology
program.
14. Performs other duties as necessary for the effective operation of the school.

In addition to those duties, I am the chair of the Emergency

Response Team so I coordinate and respond to all safety issues
like Fire Drills, medical emergencies, Mindset responses, etc.
I am the chair of the Media Committee and the Technology
Committee. I sponsor the morning news show. I am on the Random
Administrative Search team. I work with the Quiz Bowl team and
sponsor student Media Festival projects. I also mentor new Media
Specialists in the district. I am also the school based member of the
district’s Media and Technology Committee. I’m sure there are
 others I’m forgetting but as you can see, this job is not limited to just
the job description (as with all jobs in education!)

5. What are typical daily activities for your job? When I arrive, I check my email to
see if anyone has issues I need to deal with (computer not working, pull books
for a unit, etc). We open the library as soon as students arrive so the first hour
is very busy. I greet students, help them find books and reshelve books during
that time. I reshelve so that I am in the shelves with students and helping them.
It also helps me see which books are being checked out and are popular. I
rarely do checkout since I have 2 full-time assistants who do that. I then have
classes throughout the day and the media center is open for checkout all day. I
also spend time ordering new books, fixing technology, assisting teachers and
helping students with research, formatting documents, etc. I am also the chair
of the Emergency Response Team and therefore respond to all emergencies
within the building.
6. Do you have a budget that you control? How do you make decisions on
selecting resources for your stakeholders? The budget at my school under my
control is about $30,000. I make the primary decisions regarding book
purchases. I consult the Media Committee when I am purchasing technology,
furnishings and makerspace items. I generally have an idea of what I want but
discuss and receive input from the committee. In addition to books, in the past I
have purchased Read & Ride bikes, flexible seating options, chromebooks for
student use, and items for makerspace centers.
7. Have you had an opportunity to impact technology implementation throughout
your school? Would you describe a specific example? My principal always
seeks my input in technology implementation. Last spring he purchased 2
carts of chromebooks and told me to decide who received them. I discussed
our options with the Technology Committee and ultimately was responsible for
the distribution of those carts.
8. Does your school have a technology committee? How are technology
decisions made? We do have a technology committee. Usually, I will email
them when a technology decision needs to be made and include several
options that we can do. Then, we meet to discuss and receive alternative
ideas. Generally, we are all in agreement.
9. What is the best part of your job? It is different every day. Also, I love seeing
every student in the school and watching them grow up from Kindergarten to
8th grade. It is so rewarding to establish a relationship with a student and watch
them grow as readers throughout their time at our school.
10. What do you find to be the most challenging part of your job? Time
management. We have 189 staff members and there is only 1 of me. I try to
work smarter, not harder but I still feel like I can’t get to everyone as fast as they
would like. In the past, I had story time for all Kindergarten and 1st grade
classes but this year, I am only doing story time for Kindergarten because of
the strain on my schedule of seeing both grade levels. I hope to be able to see
first grade regularly but it will not be on a weekly basis.