Media Specialist, Mr. Peter Richter, collaborated with the Spanish department to conduct research and create presentations in acknowledgement of Hispanic Heritage month in the Westwood Jr/Sr High School. For this project, students were to choose an influential person, historical topic, or cultural aspect of Latin heritage to research. Taking advantage of the BELS Inter-Library Loan system, Mr. Richter acquired over a dozen additional biographies from other BELS schools in order to expand the selection of Latin figures from which his students could choose. After selecting a topic, the students conducted research using a variety of print and electronic resources; including online databases, print books, and recent E-news articles. Mr. Richter then taught the students how to use Microsoft Photostory to use the text, images, and music they collected to create digital biographies which the students then presented to the class. This project is part of an ongoing effort to promote collaboration between the media specialist and subject area teachers, teaching both research skills as well as technology applications that enhance students’ achievement.

Mr Richter has also utilized BELS Inter-Library Loan program to supplement a recent Social Studies Colonial History project and to obtain extra copies of literature books for  English class reading projects.