I must apologize first and foremost. I haven't blogged on here in so long that I really had think about what my password was to log on. That is not a good sign. I haven't been lazy, stop laughing, I have just been so caught up in the preparation of training for this summer and the training we are doing in the month of may that everything else gets put aside.
Currently in the month of June, we have about 280 teachers signed up to take our training on the 21st Century Classroom tools that will be rolled out this summer to their classrooms. I couldn't be more pleased. 280 represents about 70% of our Elementary Staff. I think that is an amazing number considering everything that goes on during the summer.
Before we train the teachers, we have decided to train all Administrators and Instructional Coaches. If those 2 groups are not on board with what we are doing. We should stop now. Principal feedback so far has been wonderful.. They need to relay to their staffs the importance of what we are doing. If that message doesn't get relayed, some teachers will struggle to see the value in what we are doing.
I have a very positive feeling about what we are currently doing and also our plan as we go forward. We will always have a few bumps in the road, but it's how we respond that will make our venture a success.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Random is Good
I have found myself in quite a random mood today. I have jumped from CPS-Interwrite installs on laptops (for our training next week), to dealing with CSP equipment issues, to tweaking our Presentation, to visiting the student I mentor, to Tagxedo, to creating a Blog Help Video, and now to my blog...
I supposed that is why I have been so fascinated with Tagxedo today. Similar to Wordle, and Word It Out, it takes chunks of texts and randomizes the words according to the # of times it appears in the text. Except this allow you to change the shape of the text. (I've blogged about the possibilites of using this technology in classrooms earlier this year.) You do need to have the free download of Microsoft Silverlight, though.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Quick Post
Met with the installers for the technology for our FIRST school this am. We gotta get this school installed because all of our training is happening here. There are so many little nuances to think about for each room. From cabling to mounting to screen size on the wall, how it mounts over a regular whiteboard, where is the doc. camera going to sit and be convenient for teachers, should they run their cable TV through the projector? What cables do running cable TV through the projector? How do I get installers access to the buildings, is there power in the ceilings?
ARGHH...
ARGHH...
Thursday, April 15, 2010
an educational conversation
Today, Glenn Beck had a conversation with Stephen Dubner (author of Freakonomics) regarding the idea of getting rid of the U.S. Department of Education. Below is a portion of the conversation:
I thought this was VERY interesting in light of the recent conversations I've been having at the Iowa 1:1 conference and also working with teachers.
Leave your reactions in the comments. I'd be interested to see what people think regarding the 21st Century learner!
View the whole article HERE:BECK: How do you mean? What needs to change?
DUBNER: Well, you could argue a lot of things need to change. There's a program in New York City right now. So same school system that brings you the rubber rooms, New York City, public school system — where I live, in New York City — also brings a pilot program called the School of One, which I think we'll be hearing a lot more about in future. It's a very small pilot program right now.
What it does is it takes all the students in a classroom and instead of having one teacher up there individually trying to teach 30 kids
— now, kids learn differently at different paces in different ways.What this does is it uses technology to figure out what each kid is learning every day. They take a test at the end of every day. It goes in the computer. There is an algorithm that essentially determines a playlist for each kid.
Instead of the iPod playlist, you have a workstation playlist. Every kid is being taught every day in a variety of modalities — meaning, sometimes it's a teacher with a large group. Sometimes, it's a small group of kids. Sometimes it's one kid with the computer.
We're in the 21st Century. We're surrounded by wonderful technology. And it's time that teaching and the art of teaching and the science of teaching are kind of brought up to that.
We really need to rethink who that person is in the classroom.
I thought this was VERY interesting in light of the recent conversations I've been having at the Iowa 1:1 conference and also working with teachers.
Leave your reactions in the comments. I'd be interested to see what people think regarding the 21st Century learner!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Tech PR
We had the pleasure today to share a little of our tech PR to a group of retired citizens during a luncheon. First, I am humbled by the amount of knowledge and wisdom congregated in that room. The questions we were asked were insightful and at times, quite direct. I'm glad Layne was there to handle some of them.
We were able to model the use of the responder system by presenting a quiz and demonstrating how teachers can use that information to focus their instruction. We used the Mobi and Workspace software as well.
Just by a show of hands, nearly everyone in that group used a cell phone--which always just amazes me, because in their lifetime, technology has changed so drastically, and yet they are so willing to embrace it. One gentleman, probably in his late 70's & a former physician, shared how he loved his Kindle and how it allows him access to so many texts. Another asked about SecondLife and how we can use that for instruction. Wow...it made me realize that even this generation "get's it" and how important it is that we continue our effort to put this in the hands of our students and structure our teaching accordingly.
We were able to model the use of the responder system by presenting a quiz and demonstrating how teachers can use that information to focus their instruction. We used the Mobi and Workspace software as well.
Just by a show of hands, nearly everyone in that group used a cell phone--which always just amazes me, because in their lifetime, technology has changed so drastically, and yet they are so willing to embrace it. One gentleman, probably in his late 70's & a former physician, shared how he loved his Kindle and how it allows him access to so many texts. Another asked about SecondLife and how we can use that for instruction. Wow...it made me realize that even this generation "get's it" and how important it is that we continue our effort to put this in the hands of our students and structure our teaching accordingly.
Go Time!!
With the Microsoft Settlement finally signed off on and orders being pushed through. It is an exciting time in Sioux City Comm. Schools. We have been working very hard to organize and finalize our training for this summer. We have a very ambitious goal, 450 + teachers, trained just in the month of June alone. Sound like a fun challenge?
There is so much excitement around here it's awesome!! have we had our issues, oh yeah. Will we continue to have issues? Yes. But our vision is so bold and exciting it is easy to look past out struggles.
It will be a very interesting summer and even next school year for that matter. Getting teachers to buy in. To believe that what we are doing is for the betterment of kids. To look past the initial work it might be to set up this technology. they need to see the broad picture.
Check us out on Twitter!!! sccsdtechjamie
There is so much excitement around here it's awesome!! have we had our issues, oh yeah. Will we continue to have issues? Yes. But our vision is so bold and exciting it is easy to look past out struggles.
It will be a very interesting summer and even next school year for that matter. Getting teachers to buy in. To believe that what we are doing is for the betterment of kids. To look past the initial work it might be to set up this technology. they need to see the broad picture.
Check us out on Twitter!!! sccsdtechjamie
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Whiteboards-Waste of $$$...What do you think?
In an acticle titled "Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards" by Bill Ferriter he writes that they are "basically useless" and an "underinformed & irresponsible purchase." (Even with time and training.) He argues that "they do little more than reinforce a teacher-centric model of learning" and "are nothing more than vain attempts to buy change-& rarely paired with a clear vision..."
Hmm...he does have some valid points. In fact, when I was adjucting at a local college, I was involved in an effort to put IWBs in each classroom. (It was actually a similiar product run from a podium rather than a mounted board). The sales rep showed us both the mounted board and podium version, and I noticed that as soon as he stood at that "interactive" podium, he lost his connection with us--the audience. Considering that, along with the typical lecture delivery of instruction, I just couldn't support that huge expenditure.
Whenever I look at new technologies, I take a cue from Clifford Stoll and ask "What is the problem to which this is the answer?" And, when I asked that at our local college, I didn't hear the response I would have liked...Enrollment, PR, and Updating were among the answers. Pedagogy wasn't even in the sites. A fancy way to lecture.
So now, once again, I am involved in an initiative to place these IWBs in our school district. And once again I ask myself the question "What is the problem to which this is the answer?" If you take a look at our SCCSD Technology Plan, you will find that our "goal is to empower teachers in new ways with technology tools that help more easily adapt curriculum to a wide variety of needs and student learning styles. They will have new resources and training that they may use to help manage differentiation or construct lessons in new ways. At a high level, this plan focuses on the concept of differentiated instruction, formative assessment, and data analysis used to help raise STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT."
Now, how are IWBs going to raise student acheievement? No tool alone is going to accomplish that goal. But it is a piece of the bigger picture...differentiated instruction. The IWBs our district has purchased allows for multi-users. Students are not interacting with them in isolation, especially combined with the portable tablet. These boards (and the software) allow for all three learning modalities. I was just commenting to my husband about my serious deficit in American History. Being a visual learner in a primarily auditory learning environment certainly had contributed to this.
Even Ferriter admits that students "think they are nifty." There has something to be said about students' level of engagement. This reminds me of a 2nd grade vocabulary lesson I recently observed. Students were using the IWB/Tablet to sort their words into 5 columns using a PowerPoint template that I created earlier in the year. The students had to analyze the word structure and place the word in the appropriate column. (Or should I say drag the word). All 18 students were engaged in the lesson, in fact, they were begging to be the next one to sort the word. (I sincerely doubt I would have seen the same level of engagement had this been done on a whiteboard with dry erase marker.) And, the teacher didn't have to spend prep time writing the words on the board...allowing for more efficient use of her time.
I suppose Ferriter has experienced schools in which stocking the classrooms with the lastest technology has been the goal. Technology should never be the goal. Technology is a means to a goal. Our district has the vision and plan to implement IWB (and the software) along with many other critical pieces to support Differentiated Instruction. Our district is committed to providing the training and support.
Hmm...he does have some valid points. In fact, when I was adjucting at a local college, I was involved in an effort to put IWBs in each classroom. (It was actually a similiar product run from a podium rather than a mounted board). The sales rep showed us both the mounted board and podium version, and I noticed that as soon as he stood at that "interactive" podium, he lost his connection with us--the audience. Considering that, along with the typical lecture delivery of instruction, I just couldn't support that huge expenditure.
Whenever I look at new technologies, I take a cue from Clifford Stoll and ask "What is the problem to which this is the answer?" And, when I asked that at our local college, I didn't hear the response I would have liked...Enrollment, PR, and Updating were among the answers. Pedagogy wasn't even in the sites. A fancy way to lecture.
So now, once again, I am involved in an initiative to place these IWBs in our school district. And once again I ask myself the question "What is the problem to which this is the answer?" If you take a look at our SCCSD Technology Plan, you will find that our "goal is to empower teachers in new ways with technology tools that help more easily adapt curriculum to a wide variety of needs and student learning styles. They will have new resources and training that they may use to help manage differentiation or construct lessons in new ways. At a high level, this plan focuses on the concept of differentiated instruction, formative assessment, and data analysis used to help raise STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT."
Now, how are IWBs going to raise student acheievement? No tool alone is going to accomplish that goal. But it is a piece of the bigger picture...differentiated instruction. The IWBs our district has purchased allows for multi-users. Students are not interacting with them in isolation, especially combined with the portable tablet. These boards (and the software) allow for all three learning modalities. I was just commenting to my husband about my serious deficit in American History. Being a visual learner in a primarily auditory learning environment certainly had contributed to this.
Even Ferriter admits that students "think they are nifty." There has something to be said about students' level of engagement. This reminds me of a 2nd grade vocabulary lesson I recently observed. Students were using the IWB/Tablet to sort their words into 5 columns using a PowerPoint template that I created earlier in the year. The students had to analyze the word structure and place the word in the appropriate column. (Or should I say drag the word). All 18 students were engaged in the lesson, in fact, they were begging to be the next one to sort the word. (I sincerely doubt I would have seen the same level of engagement had this been done on a whiteboard with dry erase marker.) And, the teacher didn't have to spend prep time writing the words on the board...allowing for more efficient use of her time.
I suppose Ferriter has experienced schools in which stocking the classrooms with the lastest technology has been the goal. Technology should never be the goal. Technology is a means to a goal. Our district has the vision and plan to implement IWB (and the software) along with many other critical pieces to support Differentiated Instruction. Our district is committed to providing the training and support.
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