Must See Monday #7 - Technology Integration...One School at a Time

Let me tell you about what is going on at my school.  I feel that the changes related to technology that we are implementing are a Must See...well, a Must Read.  I am currently working as a Technology Integration Specialist in the first year of a two year grant program to help increase and integrate the use of technology by both teachers and students.  My school is in currently in a Trimester schedule.  Each trimester I will be working with a different subject (English, Math, Social Studies, Science, and the final two trimesters are still in the works) to assist teachers with the development of lesson plans integrating technology and using technology equipment in their classroom.  Until this year, technology was rather limited in our school.  We have plenty of computer labs, but outside of teacher computer stations, teachers had very little of anything else.

The equipment includes:

1.) FLIP Camera

2.) AverMedia Document Camera

3.) SMART Airliner/ Slate

4.) Digital Camera

5.) Digital Video Camera

6.) Projector

7.) Laptop

8.) Turning Point Clicker System.

We are also using a multitude of Web 2.0 software that I have showcased through this blog.  Teachers have thoroughly enjoyed using Wordle, The Hero Factory, Glogster, Wallwisher, and some have used Prezi.  I have also worked at introducing teachers to RSS and Blogging, as well as encouraging creating a PLN on Twitter.  We have had several teachers who have really enjoyed and completely integrated Turning Point into their classroom as well.  Several have replaced paper quizzes with the software.  

Students have also been active in using Glogster as part of technology projects.  Another major project completed by students has been the creation of Webpages.  Students in English classrooms completed Book Reviews, and students in Math classrooms have completed websites explaining math concepts and math in the real world.  Students have also created cartoons and comics in their classrooms.  Comics were really successful in the math classrooms as well.  When I work with Social Studies I am hoping to implement Timeline websites.

As part of the grant, each department receives money to purchase technology equipment as long as they met the guidelines for the Grant.  Recently the English and Math teachers were able to choose some equipment they would like to have in their classroom.  The English teachers requested and have received 5 FLIP Cameras, 2 Projectors, and 5 Document Cameras.  In the math department we were able to get every teacher a projector.  We also were able to provide 3 Document Cameras and an Airliner to math teachers as well.  I have spent much of the past two weeks during the school day installing and setting up the technology equipment as well as training teachers on how to use the equipment.  It is important to note that we have more than tripled the amount of technology in our school this year alone.  

I was provided a cart with the same equipment, and I realized that trying to get teachers to schedule its use was not nearly as successful as just placing the cart in their classroom and giving them the opportunity to see how they would use it.  I realized it was difficult for teachers to plan a lesson including the technology.  They were much more successful when I provided the equipment, and they just took the lessons they had already developed for those days and integrated the technology into what they were already doing.  I had one teacher who realized she would use a Document Camera in every class!  Now I just need to get them to see the extra features of the camera that would make their teaching so much easier.

In several instances we were able to use the SMART Airliner to take an individual assignment a student would work on and make it into a classroom assignment.  In English, we placed a worksheet under the Document Camera and then passed around the Airliner for students to digitally write the answers to the questions.  It was thoroughly enjoyed by students.  It completely changed the impact of the lesson and the teachers were really pleased with the reactions of the students to using the technology.

I have been thoroughly impressed with what many teachers in my school have done with technology in their classrooms, considering it was really an afterthought to their lessons prior to this year.  Several teachers have completely bought into the program.  Several are still working to integrate technology on a regular basis, and are improving as they get adjusted to the idea.

I am sure there are other schools out there who are implementing similar programs.  What are your schools doing?  I know many teachers use technology, but what about your school, outside your classroom?  Be interesting to see what else is going on out there.

Think Twice Thursday #6 - How do you Reflect?

In a continuation of my Tuesday Post about my experiences with #edchat, I thought a lot about what people said, and also what I said myself.  In my new position, I don't get to necessarily teach students anymore.  The previous years as a teacher I would often reflect on my day when I went home and talked to my wife who is also a teacher.  I realize now that I never wrote any of those reflections down.  I can't go back and grow from those discussions with my wife, because I can't remember them to this day.

One of the suggestions that I made was that teachers should blog as a method of reflection.  It would be an easy way for administrators to open up a dialogue with their teachers about what is going on in their classroom.  It is difficult for administrators to get to a teachers classroom more than maybe once a month.  So, for any administrators reading this blog, I suggest that you THINK TWICE about asking/suggesting/requiring your teachers to create a reflection blog.  They could even attach documents and lesson information which could alleviate the portfolios or assessment notebooks they are already doing.  This would be a good way for you to assess the effectiveness of teachers in your building, because they are assessing their own effectiveness.

I always thought about writing a book about all the funny things that students say and do when I retire.  A blog would have been a good way for me to remember those.  Teachers could use a blog to write about classroom experiences, student humor, lesson successes and failures, and ask questions that readers of the blog could answer.  Readers could offer support and suggestions about an issue that the teacher might be struggling with that they discuss on their blog.  Self-assessment is probably the best kind of assessment that one could do.  A blog would be an excellent way to reflect.  So to teachers that read my blog, I suggest that you THINK TWICE about how you reflect, and start reflecting by creating a blog.  Within this blog assess the effectiveness of your teaching, lessons, assessment, activities, and relationship with your students.

This blog has been a great way for me to organize and share much of the ideas, thoughts, and resources that I find useful and that I have shared with the teachers in my building.  With my new job there are plenty of instances that offer chances for reflection.  Tuesday's #edchat got me thinking about reflecting about my own experiences.  So it is a double standard for me to sit here and suggest to my readers that you all should blog, if I myself do not do it.  So I am going to THINK TWICE about how I reflect and assess my effectiveness by creating a reflection blog about my experiences as a Technology Integration Specialist.  If you maintain a blog and are out of the classroom, you too should THINK TWICE about keeping a reflection blog to assess your effectiveness.

I will be starting one shortly and will share once I get it off the ground.  I am thinking of titling it "Reflection = Happiness???"

Another point/suggestion made during #edchat to get teachers encouraged to blog at my school was for me to offer to watch one of their classes one day for creating and maintaining a blog.  While subbing in their classroom I would do a lesson with technology.  I think I will look into this.  I will let you know how it goes if I decide to tackle such an interesting concept.  Must thank ElephantsGerald for the suggestion.

Create a blog, and THINK TWICE about assessing your effectiveness.

Wiki Wednesday #5 - Copyright Confusion

As teachers, we all know the trouble that the Internet and the Web has caused when it comes to students using Copyrighted material or plagiarizing  someone elses work.  I know that it has been a constent battle within our school system when it comes to portfolios and posting student work on teacher webpages, something that is completely new to our district.

Well, there is a Wiki out there that will help answer some of the questions you might be having and address the issues that you are facing.  Copyright Confusion is a great place to learn about the Code for Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy.  You can learn more about this Code by reading the PDF which is provided on the Wiki.

One of the best resources on the site is a worksheet that allows you to determine if the use of copyrighted material could be considered fair use.  This would be a great tool to evaluate projects or for planning your own project.  You can view the concept and fill out the worksheet here.  Another link worth visiting is the Scenarios page.  What a great way to learn if something you are doing violates copyright laws.

This site would be a great way for you to start a project or to provide to your students so that they have a better understanding of how to avoid getting in trouble with copyright and plagiarism.  Just spend some time here looking through and educating yourself.  If you feel you have something to add, do so...that is why it is a Wiki!!

Twitter Tuesday #6...From Sick and Unplugged to First #edchat

Well, being sick sure did take a lot from me.  I was unplugged from Twitter for quite a while.  I guess you know you are sick when you are to tired and just don't feel like reading and updating Twitter!  I jumped right back in tonight though, and participated in my first #edchat.  It was a great experience discussing teacher evaluation and how teachers assess their own classroom and teaching.  The usual responses were mentioned, but then there were also some others.  Most teachers will tell you that portfolio's, scheduled walk-through's, and student surveys do little to help teachers learn about themselves.  Most of the time, its ineffectiveness is not because of the process, it is because of the user.


We always had a saying when I worked in retail and a customer would bring in a computer with problems that we could not solve...."I guess it must be user error."  Same thing for teacher assessment.  If you don't use the tools correctly, then it must be user error.  If you don't take information you learn about yourself to improve what you are doing, the only person to blame is the user.  Think about it.


One option is Peer Observation, but how do you monitor it?  How do you ensure that teachers really are observing each other?  You could probably require a form, but does that really ensure that learning and assessing was going on?  Probably not.  One suggestion I had was to have teachers on planning go with a principal when they complete a walk-through.  This would ensure that peer observations are going on and when post observation meetings happen, that teacher could also participate.  Maybe even participate in the pre-observation meeting.


I am not teaching now, but keeping a blog has been a great form of reflection for me in this new job.  I take much of what I find and reflect on how it could be used in the classroom.  I then share that with teachers.  I know that keeping a reflection blog would receive quite a response, but if you could trade that for keeping a big binder portfolio would you?  Most of the time, a portfolio completed by teachers has the necessary parts required by the administration/district thrown in there, and often times, nothing new is put in, even though you have new students. There is also very little reflection.


Another topic within the #edchat was assessing Administrators.  Most of their assessment comes from test scores, attendance, teacher retention, etc.  But who assesses them on things like communication, organization, leadership, etc.?  Should teachers have a say in such evaluations?  A lot of that comes down to respect.  Would an administrator respect the opinion of a teacher fresh out of college?  If you create such a system, who is in charge of seeing suggestions implemented?  Teachers always have to show evidence, would administrators have the same requirements; to show evidence?  Just throwing this out there.


So, on top of all the other reasons why I have created a Twitter account and started Tweeting, I discovered that #edchat in itself is a whole reason in its own.  Through #edchat, I also discovered many other educators that I added to my PLN.  So if you have a free Tuesday night, 7 EST time, or 12 EST, you can join in the fun by searching for #edchat and then following the conversation, and when you are comfortable, join the conversation.  Just following the conversation will open a ton of doors, so don't feel like you have to immediately join the conversation.  Get a feel for it first.


I am sure that there was a lot more to the #edchat conversation from tonight, but these were the conversations that I took part in and wanted to highlight.

Must See Monday #6 - Ahead - Playground for Creative Minds

As most of my readers know, I am a big fan of Prezi.  I recently wrote a post about other ways to complete lecture other than Power Point.  Upon completing that post, I discovered another option; Ahead presentation software.  It was also suggested in a comment on my Blog.  So I thought it was only appropriate to discuss it today.

Ahead is very similar to Prezi.  It has a 3D canvas for creating your presentation.  It allows you to zoom in and out on aspects of your presentation.  What I like about it compared to Prezi is that you get more options for creating your presentation, especially when it comes to fonts and text.  It bodes itself as "No Coding, No Boundaries."

Ahead is for people with more tech savvy backgrounds, but for those that are not, I highly suggest that you visit the tutorial for help creating your presentation.  Another benefit is that it gives you the option of 25 prearranged slides if you have a fear of an infinite open space to work on...might be useful for those wanting less freedom.

When creating your presentation, you create scenes, which can be put in order within your presentation.  That is how the software knows where to go in your presentation.  You can upload any file to the presentation, video, audio, picture, PDF, etc, however, it does take some time to upload the file, so you might want to upload any files to the presentation to start with, so they are ready when you need them.

It definitely takes some getting used too, but it is definitely worth looking at to help change up your normal lectures.  You could easily copy and paste from your old Power Point Presentations as well.  My suggestion, is just visit the site and play around for a while and see how you might use it....that is what i did.  When you visit the homepage, click on the arrows in the bottom of the right of your screen and go through to learn about Ahead.  Here is a screen shot of the homepage.

You can follow the company on Twitter.  I am, so that I can make recommendations for education use and licensing.  You should follow them too and make the same suggestions!