Wiki can do or will do?

Week of Jan .26th
Wiki dos and don’ts? OR is it Wiki can do and will do? I liked and understood the Wiki training last week. I even think I can do a VERY BASIC one. I had some thought when I was in the session about what a project could be. The sixth grade students made their science fair presentations via Wiki’s. One of the judges said they were even able to see more of the projects by using the Wiki from home. I thought it was a real wonderful thing. Like blogging and websites, wiki’s need to be maintained. That is and has always been my problem. I enjoy people and the most important part of my day is the interactions that I spend with our students. I call them our darlings and really do mean it. I feel blessed to be the principal in this school. I feel blessed to have all the parents and students. This is the best school I have ever worked in and it is because of the people that I work with. I wish I could allocate my time differently but I do what I love. I cannot see me maintaining a wiki. I know it is not that much time. It is just I do not need to have one more thing that I need to do regularly. Maybe I could just be a very small part of one.

Getting There with WIKI

The sixth grade students are completing their STEM Science Fair projects, and putting them on PowerPoint. Their next task is to upload the PowerPoint to bhestech.wikispaces and then access it and work on it at home.
Some students are really taking off with it, and are good motivators for others. We intend for the judges to be able to access the Wiki site and view all of the projects from there. The big push is on!

New Prez!

What a week! We had Monday off for MLK birthday, and Tuesday for the innauguration of Barak Obama. I thought about going but it was in the teens in the early morning, and only got up into the 20's during the day. Also, lots of people overwhelmed the security people and so people couldn't get into the Mall area proper.
We watched on TV and it was exciting!
Last Thursday we had our STEP meeting for WIKISPACES, and I was glad to help the other members with it. Each of us has to make a Wiki for STEP, but for now I am just working with mykl bhestech Wikispace that I made for the 6th grade STEM Science Fair project.

Blog Blues

Week of Jan. 19th

Did you find the Blog I put on the site? I did not. I am not a blogger. I find it like Blackboard and I wish we were using the discussion board. I know it is just that I already know it but it seems so much more doable for me. I will see if I can find the blog when I learn how to do it. Until then I will keep journal entries. I guess I need more support than most STEPers. I am always willing to be dragged along with our team. (Complaining Session)

Excel

Week of Jan. 12th

I would like to be more fluent in the technology that we use regularly. This week’s reflection is about my technology journey. It does not relate directly to STEP but it is about the technology that I feel we should be using more regularly. I signed up for an Excel course through the county. I generally use Word and not Excel. I am very proficient at making word tables. They appear to be easy to organize and insert into documents. Yet, I can see that Excel has many uses that would be beneficial for me as an administrator. The class had us create a document that would be very useful for transportation. In the class, I was able to develop the example into something that will be useful for our school. I is an each way to track students for the buses. I was able to make up the example in a way that we will be able to use it in August. I hope to be able to use more Excel in the future.

WIKI SIXTH GRADE

Most sixth grade students were able to get onto the wikispace I made for them. Some couldn't, so I gave them a generic "Student1" account to login with, and they will use that. I will upload a new list of students so that everyone can use the account.
For now, the sixth graders are completing their science projects using the generic template available to them throught the school website.
I am excited!

Digital Camera Photo Book

Week of Jan. 5th

I cannot believe I was able to do make a photo book of my vacation pictures. Although it was on a machine with the software, I was able to use many of the techniques I learned in STEP I to complete the book. I know it was a simple little thing but I had only made a project and never did any more than print from the card. So this is a big step for me. I put headings on and designed the photo book. I was also able to share some of the wonderful pictures with the trip. This little book will help me remember the wonderful things that I have seen.

Back to Work

The first week back to school is always the hardest for me. In order for me to get through I leave my week's lesson plans on my computer the LAST DAY before winter break. This makes the week a lot better!
I also discovered "Iz" when I visited Hawaii in November, so I played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as classes entered and left. It was fun, especially since the week was cold and this was great music from warm Hawaii!
I did a LOT of work over the break on the www.bhestech.wikispaces.com site, and I am getting all of them to logon and practice using it.

One of the reasons I was looking forward to participating in STEP once again this year was the fact that I would be using various aspects of technology and the internet with which I was not familiar, including blogging and creating wikis. While I am learning more, I still am having difficulty getting into the “flow” of using them naturally. I hope that with time, I will become even more comfortable, and using them will become more natural.