Karen Westbrook
Media Specialist
706-265-6555
Ext. 1420
Welcome to the DCHS Library Learning Commons!
My name is Karen Westbrook and I am the Media Specialist at Dawson County High School. This is my 16th year in the education field. My educational background includes a Bachelor of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education and a Master's Degree in Special Education. I earned my Specialist Degree at Valdosta State University in Instructional Technology with media certification in 2019. I served as the media specialist at DCMS for 7 years. In the past, I have taught Special Education, ESOL, reading, and gifted education. This is my first year as a media specialist at DCHS.
My husband Brian and I have 3 children and 8 grandchildren. We are both from Dawson County and we love our small community. I am proud to be the parent of three Dawson County Alumni! When I'm not teaching, I love spending time with my family. We love the outdoors and in my free time I enjoy camping, hiking, and fishing. I also love to read! I could spend hours reading a good book. I have several favorite authors including, J.K Rowling, Ronald Dahl, Nicholas Sparks and Veronica Roth. I look forward to sharing my love of reading with the students at DCHS. It's great to be a TIGER!
Mission/Vision
The mission of Dawson County Schools is to be an exemplary school district, with outstanding staff, that prepares students to compete globally.
DCMS is committed to genuine and authentic collaboration that empowers students, parents, community, and staff to be leaders. This collaborative leadership will ensure the purpose and direction of the Dawson County School System are met.
Educational Goals of the DCHS Learning Commons
To provide materials that will stimulate growth in factual knowledge, literary appreciation, aesthetic values, and ethical standards.
To provide materials representative of many religious, ethnic, and cultural groups and their contributions to American heritage.
To provide learning experiences that will meet the unique instructional development and personal needs of students, teachers, parents, and other community members.
To help students become skillful and discriminating users of media centers and of printed and audio-visual materials.
To prepare students to be responsible citizens in a democratic society, to understand their relationship to the world community, and to develop life-long learning.
To provide learning experiences that enable students to communicate effectively (by oral, written, and visual means), compute accurately, and think creatively, critically, and independently.
Media Center Policies
Students are welcome in the Learning Commons during the school day. Small groups and individuals are required to sign up to enter through our digital SMARTPASS app. Mrs. Westbrook is available to help with locating resources for research or pleasure reading. Books may be checked out for 2 weeks at a time and renewed if needed. Students are responsible for taking care of the books checked out from the media center. If materials are lost or damaged, the student is responsible for the current replacement cost.
The Dawson County High School Learning Commons serves as a learning and technology hub for our school. Our collection contains over 7,000 print volumes and over 500 digital books (and growing!). We've re-designed the space to include comfortable seating, a cafe table area with device charging stations (for our on-site morning coffee shop!), and collaboration areas.
Phone Extension:706-265-6555 x1420
Student/Teacher login to AJC FREE e-edition (get username/password from any teacher)
To search Galileo (a USG research tool providing free access to a very large database of scholarly publications and resources), please obtain the current password from any teacher or your Media Specialist @[email protected]