by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Reading, literacy and educating tomorrow’s community leaders were the topics at Monday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville. Public schools, the public library and a Rotary project all played a part in the story.
Keynote speaker Lucretia Miller, a media specialist at Chaffee Trail Elementary School and the Duval County Public Schools Teacher of the Year, explained to members how technology is changing education.
“You may be wondering how a librarian became teacher of the year,” said Miller. “It’s in the library that lifelong learners are created. The classroom teaches content and facts, but the library teaches students how to find answers on their own. It’s where students learn how to understand the task of learning and how to identify resources then organize, evaluate and synthesize information.”
Miler also said students have been changed by technology, particularly computers. While she has fond memories of favorite teachers who would “roll up their sleeves and sit on the edge of their desk to lecture a class,” Miller said, “You can’t lecture to children today. Their brains have been rewired by technology. Students learn in different ways today and libraries have changed to meet their needs. We live in such technology-rich times and we must bring that technology into the classroom.”
Club member and Jacksonville Public Library Director Barbara Gubbin talked about the Feb. 27-28 “Much Ado About Books.” The annual event is presented by the Jacksonville Public Library Foundation and is at the Main Library this year instead of the Osborn Convention Center.
“What a concept,” said Gubbin.
Best-selling authors have
been invited to speak at luncheons and an evening gala is on the schedule, but many events are free
of charge, she added. For
more information, visit www.muchadoaboutbooks.com.
An update was also presented on the annual program to distribute dictionaries to students in third grade in public schools. The Rotary Club of Jacksonville donated and delivered more than 6,000 dictionaries, 13,000 of the compact paperback lexicons were distributed by Rotarians in Duval County and the final tally for the entire Rotary District 6970 was more than 36,000 dictionaries delivered during the 2008 campaign.
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