Friday, September 18, 2009

Week 6 Sept. 14th-Sept. 18th

Wow this week went by fast. I guess that is a good thing. This week was trully a mixed bag of things to do. We had training from Joyce at SOCS to learn how to move the elementary websites over, Skills Iowa training, got back in the classroom and taught some math lessons using technology, met with Rick from Red Cat audio and took him around to different schools, and finally met with our group to discuss the importance of changing the middle school technology classes and curriculum.

Every week I learn so much more about not only technology itself, but the importance of my job position. Helping teachers one on one, fixing issues, discussing how to use this technology we now have to create differentiated assignments, and now looking in to the future of our middle schools and helping to create a curriculum to teach technology skills our students now lack.

I don't have alot to say this week, but it has been a great week. Maybe it's the new job, but I now enjoy my Monday's....

I'm Moving....



Well, I'm not actually moving, but I am in the process of merging the elementary sites into our district's main site. This small step will save our district quite a few dollars as well as streamline our elementary sites. My worry right now is that we have some "go-getter" teachers who have their objectives, word lists, etc... already posted for the month of Septemeber and once I transfer their pages, any updates they do before the end of the month will not show up. My plan is to e-mail each teacher who regularly updates a page to let them know. (As soon as I finish this blog post.)

I had a meeting earlier today which really put a fire in my belly. As a district, we did not do very well with our annual 8th grade technology assessment. One of the main reasons is that we do not have a technology course that each student is required to take. For one reason or another--specifically scheduling--only about 50-60% of the students have some sort of deliberate technology instruction. It is possible for a student to graduate without ever having a technology class. This HAS to change! We do know this--so that's not where the fire in my belly comes from. Today we discussed several ways to address this & my favorite way (by far) is to require keyboarding in 6th grade, a general tech. class in 7th, and then infuse the technology into the 8th grade core class with the help of a technology coach. We came up with some other alternatives, but I really favor the infusion of the technology into the classroom in 8th grade. That will allow us to use the technology tools in a sound, meaningful, & engaging curriculum. This is not to say it cannot be infused in 6th or 7th grade core clasess, but we will have a specific curriculum which ensures all students will have access to 21st Century Classroom instruction.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Week 5 Sept. 7th-Sept. 11th

HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It gets to be very frustrating when things begin to break down and you can't fix it. Ever called tech support and spent 2 hours on the phone and get no where.... Ever felt like you know more than the person you called for help??????? Yep. That sums up my week. This week was full of ups and downs.
I finally had the opportunity to get back in to the classroom, work with kids, and introduce topics all while using technology to do so. My first class Friday morning went very well. I was excited, the kids had a good time learning about stem and leaf plots and the technology worked wonderfully. Then...... the afternoon came. My rf receiver for my CPS response system quit working. Reboot.... Reset..... 4 times..... all the while my pen for my MOBI rolled off a kids desk and fell apart and broke... Well no more dual board today..... Put in a new rf receiver that worked OK after 45 minutes...... After that, I had a good time. I introduced some technology to some third and fourth graders and they seemed to love it. I know Murphy's Law won't creep up on me next time......