Still Unsure

I am still unsure as to how blogging can be effectively used in the classroom. For me, it has given me a way to express personal thoughts and feelings, but beyond that, I am not sure how I could use it to aid in the classroom. I am looking forward to seeing examples from other teachers to get a better idea.

Voice Thread

My students used voice thread today to record their responses to Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Some were nervous, others excited, but all did a great job. I enjoy hearing their expression as they speak, rather than only reading their writing. I also enjoyed being able to share it with my husband at home. I hope to use it more next year and make it accessible to parents. I would like to think about and discuss possibilities for using it as an assessment tool. I guess I would create a rubric that outlined what information they would need to include in their recording. I would also like to use it as a way of publishing work, such as including their illustration as they read a poem they wrote and read.

Voice Thread

I had my presentation almost complete. I wanted to add some student voices to it but I had technical difficulties. I was unable to get into voice thread. The screen was gray and I already knew that I needed a red screen to add and view my project. I just hope that I was able to get what I had done BACK!!!! This made me reflect on the level of expertise needed for me to use technology. I tried to reinstall the flash like we did before but did not have admin rights to do so. I was reluctant to share the project because I was not sure that it would work. I printed out a photo copy of the presentation after I found it so that if it was lost I could still have an artifact of my work. Funny how we still rely so much on support. I am not ready to do this on my own but I would be willing to work with a group to learn a little more.

Difficulties

I still find it difficult to fit in the use of VoiceThread and podcasts in general for math. I had the idea of using it to solve BCR’s with students, however it is more difficult than I had thought. Most students either do not take the BCR seriously enough, or just listen to what other’s have said, and steal their answers. I am still playing with the idea of how to implement it.

Tech Literacy

Our monthly tech meeting was informative in revealing that 7th grade students have to take a state "Tech Literacy" test. Last year only 33% got proficient! The areas tested are Systems and Fundamentals, Word Processing, Multimedia and Presentations, Presentations, and Database. This certainly is a wake-up call to have a real curriculum developed for 5th and 6th grade students, and regular assessments. ALSO it is time for PGCPS to fund one technology position in each elementary school, and put all of the millions in infrastructure, hardware, and staff development to good use.

Voicethreads

Today I am making my Voicethread. It will be about the sixth grade Wikispace for the STEM Fair science projects. I will make a short introduction, then I will ask several students to comment.
We have a NEW school digital video camera, so I hope this can be used more next year for video work by students. 4th and 5th grade students are proficient now in the basic skills, and they certainly could and should use more technology to extend their learning by making multimedia presentations.

Midway

I am using Wikispaces more and more with classroom teachers. We will use some for communicating with students in other schools, and some are just for practice this year. This will be a good way to start the 2009-2010 school year, with every class having a Wikispace accessed through the Berwyn Heights home page in the PGCPS site. It should be a good communication tool for parents.
My next challenge is to make two Voicethreads, and one will be about making the Wikispace for 6th grade STEM Science fair, and the other will be about the technology used during the year by the students.
I hope our STEP team has time for one more work session before the gallery walk in June.

NPR

NPR recently did an article on the effects of social networking on the development of relationships between teenagers and young adults. Some fear that it has lead to teens developing numerous relationships, but no real, close friends. Others find that social networking and the internet in general is a step in the right direction because it is letting teens express themselves and find others who feel the same way they do.

STEP coming to an end

Week of May 18
Everything seems to be coming together. I never thought I would get it done. The AP is back. My presentation needs just a few revisions. I asked the STEP trainer to help me with that and she is coming in on Wednesday after school to help me with the finishing touches. I was happy to say that I learned a lot AGAIN through STEP. I love this program. I talked with one of the participants and she said she wishes there was one more time to really learn one of the pieces of equipment really well. She learned a lot, no doubt much more than I did. It is amazing to me how much I have learned and how no matter what the pressure; I love the opportunity to learn technology. I want to do more and do it better. Last year, I learned and put some of it into effect. The issue is how to make things better with the tools we have. I have already listed some ideas of projects that I will be doing this summer. All I can say is thanks for pushing me; it made me a better administrator. I might have only scratched the surface of the areas we learned. How can I not adore Voice Thread? How can I not blog to form better relationships with likeminded people? How can I not say STEP enriched my life and impacted on my practices? This is a wonderful program and I hope you make STEP 3. Next time I will make more time. This time I will use what I learned to develop more in the summer.

Typing

I have noticed that many students are fairly good at typing using only two fingers. I am sure this is because they have been typing without ever being taught the traditional way of typing on a QWERTY keyboard. I wonder how this self-taught fluency will make it easier or harder for them to learn the “proper” way of typing in the future.

Excell Again, Again

Week of May 11th
I am still on the Excel kick. It is not good enough for me to do a schedule alone, I always share with teachers. Classroom teachers and specialist have a lens on more specifics and can easily see some of the pitfalls while I look more globally. I do a skeleton and have teams look at it every step of the way. I have been sharing my schedule with teams and stakeholders. Next year will be different because we are planning on the worst and really getting our additional personnel cut to the bone. They are using the Excel chart I made up and it is so easy to make changes. We are all working on the schedule to make it doable for all of the teachers and students. This is a great way to share information. Now, of course the first draft will not really be done until after the principal’s institute. We learn about time and program changes.

Project Due Soon

Today we are working on completing our project.
Thank goodness i have some pictures but not much else.
Who else is feeling stressed!!!!!
Thank goodness for the STEP support.

I think that the team members are like me a bit type A.
Thank you thank you for being willing to help me so my project is at least exceptable.
This made me reaalize how important it is to give you time to complete your project.
Let's pick a date.
Thanks for working so hard hope i can keep up to your expectations.

Intern Goodbye

For this past school year, our class has had a student-teacher from the University of Maryland, Ms. Curry. It’s been a great experience for all. Ms. Curry has been strong in using Power Points to enhance her teaching. I’ve been inspired to try it more myself! I made my first one earlier this year, and it really took some time! I was party relieved/partly disappointed when I learned we would be forgoing the Power Point training in STEP. I plan to use it more next year and get more comfortable in having my students use it too.

Technology and Funding

Week of May 4th
The budget was due for the last fifty cents that we had to spend. Oracle was like getting blood from a stone. The ESOL department wants headphones for Voice Thread. I told them I will order them over the summer since there was very little left in the budget. It is nice that others are desiring technology. I am nervous about the SOR budget. We have so many computers in the school. That is wonderful but we purchase a technology assistant who is desperately needed. Having the technology is wonderful but having the ability to keep it up and running is more important. I always wondered why the school district did not have a technology and testing position for all elementary schools. Technology could open the doors and provide more advantages for differentiation and independent working. This year we were able to make Flash Cards using Movie Maker to create centers for the students. I thought this could become a great way for our upper grade students to boost their technology skills by making them for lower grades. It did not go over big and was not really done but it could be fun for all of the students.

Parent Portal

We’ve learned that parents will soon have access to their child’s grades online. (I remember seeing SchoolMAX vendors at MICCA and feeling good about already being familiar with it, rather than behind when there were so many other tools/programs I know nothing about). While I can see some drawbacks to this, I think is it mostly a positive change. I hope it will encourage most parents to be more involved and aware of their child’s work and take out the mystery that some can feel when they receive progress reports or report cards. It’s another way of communicating with families and helpful in keeping students accountable for their assignments.

My Blog

I created a seperate blogspot with video clips of recent school activities I am engaged in. Please visit by clicking this link: http://tassinstep.blogspot.com/

Digital Tragedy

Last week, our hard drive on our home computer crashed. My wife and I instantly lost five years of data. All of our pictures, songs on iTunes, school documents, tax returns, everything. It will cost about $600 to try to get everything back. This is just a reminder about how fragile our digital life really is, and how important it is to back up everything. We didn’t just lose a couple of pictures and songs, we lost memories.

Starts and Stops

I have had several “start-and-stops” with the implementation of the various aspects of this year’s STEP program in my classroom. I am not sure if I would do better by more training or if I am simply that uncomfortable with using these new concepts that I just can’t think of ways to use them well without being shown explicit examples.