Excel Again

Week of April 27th
Every year for the past seven years I have been thinking about the next year’s schedule during the Spring Break. Generally, I was on a plane for hours and it gave me the time to think. We seemed to be fairly sure that funding and staffing continues. This year there is very different there is more uncertainty than ever. We may be losing our CLE program which brings an additional 3 positions to the school. Therefore it is very difficult to think about the schedule. I spent an entire Sunday just thinking. I generally use page after page of paper and often rewrite the information. This year I decided to use my Excel course knowledge to set up a template that I could use on the computer. The schedule is very detailed and one thing always affects another. I am sad to say that lunch really impacts the way the instructional program can be done. Lunch affects preps, preps affect grade time, grade time affect when services can be delivered, etc. etc. I was able to set up an excel spreadsheet of 5 charts that could help me see the schedule on one easy page. One change was reflected in the charts it impacted upon. This made it much easier to think about the preps, lunch, specials, and grade time. Since I do not know if this will reach any of my principal schedulers, I will bring it to the principal’s leadership, in case anyone could use the form.

Introduction to ELMO

Today our class had guest teachers—art education students from the University of Maryland. As they were preparing to teach, they asked if I had an overhead projector for them to use. I then had the opportunity to introduce them to ELMO! They were impressed and took some time to get used to using it. It was quick, but at least exposed them to new technology that can be used in education. (I hope they tell their professors that spend time helping them prepare the transparencies…!)

Philosphical Questions

The current trend of social networking, podcasting, personal wikis, etc. has caused me to wonder how students will be as adults in a world where everyone has access to everyone. Not too long ago, it was a novelty if a company had a website; now a company would not be taken seriously without one. Today, most people have some sort of ability to put themselves on display, and I wonder if the same trend will continue. Will you be judged negatively if you do not put yourself on public display for all the world to see? What long-term effects will that have on children who think that they must be writing, blogging, twittering, texting, and posting pictures about themselves as much as possible just to be considered a “normal” person?

Technology NO

Week of April 17

Not a thing to say about technology. I will not have time to catch up on anything but life. The AP will be out for a few weeks and I will have to take care of everything. Limited work on anything but essentials.

MICCA

Ms. Anwar gave me support, and 4 sixth graders and their parents came to show off, as I got a 45 minute session at MICCA on Wednesday, April 22. I called it "WIKI SCIENCE" and showed teachers how students used the bhestech.wikispaces to work on their STEM Fair Science projects at home.
We had a lot of interest, and I e-mailed many teachers the program and hope they can implement it.
I met with the director of Science Education in PGCPS and talked about coming to training sessions this summer to show them how the process takes place. I would also like to help them make a rubric for grading "On-line" Science projects, which are not recognized now as a viable way to show their work.

My First MICCA

I went to my first MICCA conference yesterday with my teammate, Christian. It was interesting and informative. I tried to choose presentations that relate to what we’re doing in STEP. I found it helpful to see how others have used voice thread in their classrooms. Our presenter also went through the basics of how to set it up and record, which was a nice refresher of our first training. I’m still wondering how to have moving/changing pictures rather than just a still one. I also want to try out www.wordle.com, which was introduced at another presentation. Maybe I can use it for my portfolio banners.

The MICCA conference in Baltimore was interesting. Almost every conference I read about seemed to be all about student interaction with other students, teacher, parents, etc. through the use of computers. The main focus of technology in general does seem to be increasing the ability to communicate quickly and easily with anyone at any time, and the use of technology in the classroom does not seem to be any different.

Lagging Behind

I am still having trouble keeping up with the STEP program and using everything we have been learning in an effective way within the classroom. I am still not comfortable with everything, and that leads me to feel like I have to shove in the wikispace or podcasting somewhere. I have always taught without it, and using it now seems forced. I still hope that I will be able to get over my own anxieties and use our resources effectively.

Email

Week of April 13th
There should be a law against email!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do not think I will survive the messages. I was gone a week and have about 400 emails between work and home. That does not even count the spam and nonsense. I was doing my little walking tape and it said that it is no one’s fault that our activity level has been cut down. We do not even have to walk to the mailbox just sit and get email. I do not think anyone should send emails during breaks. The system should be closed. I even received tons of emails from the staff and I only took the break and one school day off. My husband and I go out of the country at least two times a year so we are free from work and home. It is usually 10 days that we are not able to be reached. These emails make me think I would like to do it more than 2 times a year! I guess I can look at the bright side; he got more than I did and he has long documents attached to his! I guess I will rebel and read only through the ones I have to. I will save the others for later. I need to learn to manage my email system better. I want to take a Google Mail course so I will learn more. I did a session at Power up and know it is not hard. Maybe this summer.

Break

Week of April 6th

I am taking a break and going to EGYPTduring SPring Break! A dream trip! No reflecting for me this week.

Back to school!
The fourth marking period is starting and I want to have the upper grade students participate in ePals. I will be the "Teacher" of record, and hope to get the classes entered this week.
The website has been difficult to access at school, and I will test it before I spring it on the students: maybe the county has filtering software that makes it hard to get in and out of.
We start online MSA Science testing at the end of April, and that is the end of testing!
All of the teachers are gearing up for a good end of the year, and so is our STEP team!
Robert

Inventory

I recently took the online technology inventory that was sent through email. It was a questionnaire that took about 15 minutes to answer all the multiple choice questions. I did fairly well on most of the categories, but found that the one area in which I scored the lowest was the use of technology in differentiation for students. I missed some questions that asked for the most appropriate way to use technology to help students with special needs or ESL students. I guess this helps me get a better understanding of myself and where I can improve, but I am unsure exactly how to improve from here.

Spring Break

Spring Break! No big plans for me this week. My husband teaches writing at Howard Community College, so I’m sure we’ll spend some time grading together.

Spring Break

I hope to continue to put ideas together for my STEP portfolio over Spring Break.

Break Time!

I hope everyone has a very restful break. I am hopeful that we can all get a lot out of going to MICCA on April 21 or 22. We will pick a time after school so that we can get together and do our wiki, blogging, and voicethread projects.
Thanks for all of your work.
Robert

Voice Thread

Week of March 30th
Voice Thread is amazing. This seems like something that I can work on and share with the staff. I can do a presentation that is somewhat finished and needs little maintenance yet it can have people commenting on it. My thought is that it can be directions for our “Arts in the Park.” WE were adopted by Greenbelt National Park and they have really been a great partner to us since we opened. We hold a full day session at the park for each grade level. In the past it was done by the science teacher. She did an excellent job. It was planned down to the last detail with more alternative activities if needed. She is no longer with us and the person in charge was not into planning or details and much if not all fell to the teachers. Voice Thread would enable me to make a record and have the teachers comment on it> Maybe I could have it ready before the teachers go so they can write their comments for the next team to go. I also shared it with the ESOL because I can see many, many benefits that they could get from it. They are having some training on Performance Matters for their team and maybe they can hear about Voice Thread.

VoiceThread

This was a REAL learning experience. Although it is relatively simple to do, it is hard for me to envision a project. I would like to do something on our Science Camp/Arts in the Park. It was hard for me to explain exactly what it is to new staff members. This could give me a chance to do a lot with photo, video, voice over, and info for next year's planning, I would love to share it with the parents and students.

I think I will need help. Since I am so much further behind my fellow STEPer's. I am beginning to feel anxiety about doing a project. (Linda and Gene beware!) Aren't you glad I was cheap and saved sub days so you can finish your projects?