Friday, August 21, 2009

Students & Teachers Return This Week


Well, this week was a big implementation week! Each classroom at Roosevelt now has their Audio Enhancement up and running. Check this site (need speakers) for a tutorial & rationale of this device:



Several other K-12 classrooms in our district also have the system. I am excited to see how this one small piece of technology can make a difference. The research certainly supports the use of this.

I was able to touch base with my four 21st Century Classroom piloting teachers on the first day of school. We were able to get those responders out & put them to use on the first day. Jamie and I decided we definitely need to take some time Monday morning to put together a short manual on the CPS software/responders.

Speaking of software...uggh...had a few install issues--some took longer than others. Thanks to Ron we were able to bypass some of that "ugliness" and get the job done so it functions properly. My worry is that the next time our teachers log-on, we'll have an issue. Crossing my fingers on that.

A new question arose today... while at EMS we realized that the new software prefers laptops over the desktop computers. Does that mean new laptops for everyone next year??? Yikes!

This weekend I plan to read a very thick article on "The Turnaround Challenge--Why America's best opportunity to dramatically improve student achievement lies in our worst-performing schools." It was actually in my backpack to read last weekend, but it remained in their for the whole duration. I'll post what I learned next week. (Now I actually have to read it--public accountability).

Week 2 Aug 24-28

Wow!! Where to begin. This week has been a great week, yet sometimes frustrating. I go out to classroom get them set up, everything is great, works for a coulpe days, then boom. It's not working anymore. The best thing about this week is troubleshooting the equipment and learning why and how things happen. I feel much more comfortable with the E Instruction Boards. I do have to say it is a great feeling when I go out to a room and see everything in action. It validates in my mind what we are doing. The first day of school I watched a teacher totally rock the new equipment. The teacher had a CPS response quiz going, with her dual board and Mobi and Red Cat Mic all at the same time and they did an awesome job!
This week I have been doing some quick re teaching from what we learned this summer, getting the teachers more comfortable with the new technology. It is great to see the excitement on a teachers face with this new technology. On wednesday, we did a short presentation at Roosevelt on the Red Cat Audio Enhancement that is being implemented in their classrooms this year. I also enjoyed spending a few minutes with Ron. He showed us a few short cuts and tricks of the trade. It made some installation of software a little quicker.