Media Specialist Jan Wilson is well known at Brookwood High School for applauding staff and student accomplishments with an enthusiastic “You ROCK!” Recently, the school had the opportunity to celebrate Ms. Wilson’s contributions to teaching and learning when she was named Gwinnett County Public Schools’ 2016 Media Specialist of the Year. She works daily to change the stereotype that a media specialist’s job is handled quietly and from behind a circulation desk. “This is an active profession,” she says. “Teaching students to locate and evaluate information is only part of what I do. As a media specialist, I also design instruction with teachers so that students work collaboratively and present their work in formats well beyond a traditional research paper, like videos and infographics.”
