Barb's Blog!

Grant Proposal Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTrc68OfhwE

I had a great time making this!  I used old pictures that I had taken of my kids as well as a trip to the zoo in DC years ago.  It was so much fun trying to come up with witty comments to go with the pictures yet still get the grant process in there.  Then I added music (my favorite artist: Fergie) to the background: Glamous Life.  It really was fun and didn’t take much time.  I will difinately be using this for my classroom or hopefully for staff meetings next year

In Chapter nine LeBaron discusses partnerships with businesses.  These partnerships can be very satisfying for both the school and the business.  It can be a lengthy and complicated to partner with businesses but is worth it in the end with both parties benefiting.  As we advance in technologies and work on bringing new technology into the classroom, schools must get very creative with funding.  Having business supply, use, and train within the school system is an alternative way to bring new and expensive technology into the classrooms.  Since we as educators are preparing our students for jobs not yet determined it is in the best interest of the student to bring in the business world who has the knowledge of the latest technologies.

I am very lucky that I work in a county that practices the process of making sure all schools have the same types of technologies.  I have worked in both the older schools in the county as well as the brand new schools.  All schools have the same equipment and accesses to the same technologies.  Each school has smart boards, computer labs, Elmo’s, presentation carts, C.O.W.’s, Avery keys, and clickers.

I attended the session on sexting.  There were 23/24 people there.  Very large group.  I believe Jeremy was in there with me   I really wish everyone in there had the same etiquette tips we had.  Everyone talked over the instructor.  Very little information was given by the instructor.  A man named Gregory was obnoxious and the instructor yelled (ALL CAPS) and many people frowned at him and shhhhhh him as well as told him he was rude.  We had two leaders and we received two links for more information.  The talk went into a debate about cell phones and children and when should you get one and how no child/teen should have one.  The point of the discussion was suppose to be about sexting not debating parenting or cell phones and who uses them.

Assessments should be set first.  The end in mind.  What is it that we want our students to know at the end of this lesson, this unit?  What result do we want or expect?  Then we determine what we will accept as evidence.  What type of assessment do we want to use?  And finally we plan the learning experience or the instruction/lesson plan.  I have been planning my teaching this way for several years.  I remember when I first tried it, it seemed strange.  But after you see the results and realize that it cuts down on wasted time and increases time on task it is a worth while plan.  Our school has been using online assessments from the basal text book companies along with Exam View (data bank of questions we pick and chose ourselves to align with our curriculum)  It really cuts down on wasted time and allows for more focused  teaching.  When you have a purpose in mind and an end result in mind the teaching becomes focused, purposeful and meaningful.  It allows for more time to hone in on specific skills related to the SOL or standard and room to extend the learning rather than going off on a tangent that leads to nowhere.  The online testing also allows for great feedback per skill set.  It breaks it down question by question so that you as the teacher can see where the reteach must occur.  It allows for a faster turn around time of results (immediate) and the reteach if necessary can take place that day.  This quick turn around time is very helpful for hitting the topic again while still fresh in the mind of the student: hitting while the iron is hot.  It also allows for more time on task and alleviates wasted teaching time.

I just attend a SIP meeting at my school with our new principal and I am very excited about the use of technology with our new, younger and technology savvy principal.  As I was reading this weeks assignment I was excited about all the possibilities to use the technology that we have at my school and how it will be used and encouraged with our new principal.  Our principal retired this year and she had no use for technology at all.  Emails went unanswered and if you needed information you had to ask her personally if you could find her.  She walked around with a notepad to write down information and left it all over the building.  Our new principal is talking about saving face time for training and learning and all informational, business can be conducted online!  We have a system of school fusion web pages to inform parents and community partners but only a hand full of teachers use it.  With our new principal he is already talking about how to use it effectively as well as how to obtain money to get new technologies in every room such as the ELMO!!  As stated in the reading we do not know what the jobs of the future hold and we still must prepare our students.  It is technology that will help lus do so.  We should not be behind the business as we the educators must be ahead of the trends to teach and expose the leaders of the future to these new endeavors.  My hope with our new principal is that no one will be able to hid behind a closed door.  I am hoping that he will be out and about encouraging and gently pushing us toward new ways of teaching and learning.  Meaningful and purposeful learning using all that our building has to offer.  No more Ibook cards (COWS) sitting in classrooms unused.  The revised SIP plan with our new principal has a section on technology training and use.  I am very exccited for the upcoming year!

As I reflect on my own experiences early on with technologies they were limited.  I had a computer class in High School but it was DOS and the most interesting thing I learned was how to roll my name across the screen in multiple colors.  I think it took days to figure it out!  If you made one mistake in the “code” it wouldn’t work and you spent a very long time looking for the mistake.  I also learned to race horses across the screen.  None of which enhanced my learning experience in high school.  In college I took a computer class but it was math related and we use numbers only and I have no idea why!  It too did nothing for me.  Most of my experiences with technology accrued in my own classroom.  I was never afraid to try and began on an old computer in the early 90′s that my husband brought home from work as it was being tossed out.  I taught myself.  In my classroom I asked others to come in and show me and had my students show me as well. 

I teach by Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence and was glad to see the reference in our chapter readings.  I think when students are connected and interested in the learning it is authentic and meaningful. My most meaningful and memorable lessons taught many times have included technology in a thoughtful and purposeful manner.  A lesson on weather included using the smart boards as a background for a weather report as each student used weather terminology in a “weather report” that was tapped and televised.  Students researched weather around the world and wrote meteorologist scrips that were tapped and played back.  These are the lessons students are emerged and engaged in.  At my school we have smart boards, I books, elmos.

As administrators we need to be aware of the new technologies and how to use them.  We need to be able to rely on our technology staff such as TRT to train and help with the technologies available to our buildings.  In Stafford County schools we have TRT that are used to coach teachers.  As administration it is our job to be sure that technology is being used as an enhancement to teacher lessons.  Technology should never be the lesson or distract from the curriculum.  It should enhance and make the understanding of the material clearer and more en-dept.  Technology should never be used as a check in the box I used technology with this lesson.  It should always add to the lesson and improve the learning. 

As administrators we should also be concerned with the ethics of technologies.  As a county we have contracts signed by students stating the rules of internet use as well as the ethic codes of technology use that is signed by teachers, students and parents. 

Tips and Tricks

I went to the tips and tricks session.  We had a very chatty group.  It began with us all in the wrong place waiting and asking each other what to do.  I notice a man named Jeff slipped in and seemed to be “listening” as he didn’t respond to our many…”Where should we be…what should we do questions”  We were all chatting but him.  So I asked him if he knew what to do.  He was with tappedin and told us how to get where we needed to be.  I think he was listening to see if we could figure out what to do.  Once in we talked too much I think as the session was long (I can imagine that we are all head bobbers and commenters in class lectures as we all had “Uh huhs and yes” to type after every comment).  Each time we moved from room to room myself and a man named Joseph would get kicked off.  Joseph returned once and than gave up.  I returned each time however it was very frusting.  I felt like I could have figured out the site by myself exploring although the tips and tricks did give me shortcut ways that I would not have known.  I would have been able to move about the site but not as quickly.  I did some exploring days before the session and have figured out how to move about by myself.  I did however get a virus the very next day which put me out of computer accesses for several days.  I am not sure that I got the “worm” from there as I was being kicked off that evening and thing I already had the virus at that point.  I will be attending a session on Sunday night that I am interested in (sexting) as I have three teenagers in my house!

As reading the chapters and the information on Understanding by Design, I began to think about my teaching and how I use technology.  I do sometimes purposely use technology in my lessons with thought but I also realized that sometimes I use technology as a way to review or to engage students without a specific thoughtful purpose.  In these cases I will think of a website or game that I can assign as homework or use as practice and have my students use the Ibooks for review or drill.  When reading this section I realized that I need to take more time to look at my purpose and outcome of using technology in my classroom.  What is its intent? 

I have let the students guide and direct me in my use of technology.  Last year my students were very interested in test taking tips.  I shared with them I had read somewhere that research was being done on sucking on peppermints during testing and how that could improve test taking.  They became really interested and I suggested that we look for research as I was not familiar with the conducted research and what it said.  We used the Ibooks to look for research in teams.  We reviewed what all the research said.  The students then took the research and made  powerpoint on their findings.  They took the powerpoint and presented it to the principal on the smartboard.  The principal then suggested that they presented their findings to the PTA for funding.  (Based on the research the students where asking to be supplied and have permission to suck on peppermint candy every Friday for testing).  The students presented to the PTA and were rewarded money and permission to eat peppermint during Friday testing.  This was an example of real world experiences or problems that the students used technology to explore. 

Another example which reminded me of the Global Warming discussed in the book was the Weather Center I had with my students.  I attended a NASA teacher training opportunity several years ago.  We were offered to participate in a Weather station at the schools in which we taught.  I decided to do so.  My students each morning where to research the weather and send in the reports to NASA.  We had many weather collection pieces of equipment and used the Internet to record the data: another real world experience. 

Several years ago a tomb was found and thought to be that of Tut’s mother.  I had seen a newsreport on it and mentioned it to my students the next day (I watch the news nightly as well as cruise the newspaper.  I bring one current event in a day to discuss for morning work).  My students became fascinated with the thoughts of the found tomb.  They began looking for broadcasts and Internet information on the tomb.  We taped and watched the unveiling of the tomb later that year in the classroom.  Yet another real world experience not necessary tied to an SOL or AYP.