Needing to be “Refreshed”

It’s been almost two months since I’ve written in my blog, been in the office more than an hour, or slept an entire night without waking up from computer or Promethean dreams.    I need to be “refreshed”!  ha-ha

For those of you not from Greenville County, South Carolina….let me explain.  I am very fortunate to work in Greenville County.  Our county is very supportive of technology integration and actually places money into such integration.   We have a “refresh” program where once every five years, I go into the schools and help organize an update for computers, technology, etc.  However, this is a year long process.  We do not just go in and buy new equipment.  For a school to get this “refresh”, they must spend a year working on a technology plan unique to their school.  From this technology plan, we (district) desides what equipment is needed.  After being “refreshed”, a school should have a 1 to 4 ratio (1 student computer per 4 students).  This ratio does not include teacher computers.  That is our goal anyway.  Just recently we moved 5 schools into new facilities over Christmas.  There were many people in our district that gave up their Christmas break to help get these schools ready for the beginning of January.  I bet most of our community and other school employees do not realize how many people and hours are involved in setting up these schools.  I know myself that I worked everyday of Christmas Break except for two.   I want to personally thank the many many employees that put forth hours upon hours to help me with all of the technology.  All of you are incredible!

 Well, hopefully it will not take me two months to post again!  Have a great day!

Technology Planning at the School Level

One of the biggest weaknesses I see in schools is their technology plan or lack there of.  In my 20+ years of teaching I have seen many plans created at the school level.  Usually these plans, whether they are technology, school improvement, or accreditation, are created first because it is a requirement and second because it is a requirement.  Just curious… how many times have you seen a school, without any prodding, decide that they need to plan because they have a deep desire to improve the school or better the education they are giving the student?  Now don’t get me wrong, teachers individually do this type of planning on a daily basis…but we are talking  the school as a whole.  Very rarely do I see this voluntarily.  Usually the district or state has mandated this planning and it becomes just ”one more thing” that has to be done by the school.   Because of this “extra” burden schools develop committees to research and create this plan.  Many of these planning processes dictated by the state or district are very good….and if don’t correctly can lead to much success.  However, as we all know, by the time it gets to the school level, the school is given such a ridiculous time-line to create the plan that rarely does anything of value come from it. When I first started in Instructional Technology, my district had implemented a five year “refresh” plan for technology.  I am very proud to say that I feel the support my district has given to this effort is incredible.  I am also very proud to say that I feel that the teachers in my district have resources that very few districts have.   However, planning at the school level still needs to take place and take place in such a way that the needs of the students are met without overwhelming a faculty that does not yet have the technology skill to implement it nor in some cases the funds.So what should a school do first?  Develop a technology committee.  This committee should be no less than six people and no more than ten.  When a committee gets too large, especially a committee of teachers…no one can agree!  You might also ask why even numbers?  Six and ten.  Because the first person on the committee must be the principal, who always has the last word (thus giving him/her an odd number of members left to have a majority rule). “ Sorry Mr. Principal…this is not a committee that you can pass off to one of your assistants.”  If your faculty is to integrate technology well, they must know that the head honcho feels this is important and has his/her hands in the process from start to finish.  So Mr. Principal you are not tech savvy?  Do not worry.  The BEST planning process and plan I’ve seen thus far came from a principal who had a hard time with the mouse…but was quick to say that technology IS important and his students were not going to be left behind!  His insistence on this fact made his faculty want to move forward and allowed the faculty a comfort level.   It was okay not to know technology but what was not allowed was the unwillingness to learn! This leads me to the second person that must be on the committee.  One of your committee members must be a NON-tech savvy person.  “But this is a technology committee!”  Precisely.  You need someone who does not have technical skills but has the attitude that they will do and learn anything to help their students.  This person is key…many times a technology committee consists of people who are technology experts per se.  Those of us that know…sometimes forget what it is like not to know.  How can a committee with knowledge create valuable professional development for those who do not?  Many times, we who “think” we know, forget what it was like not to.  When dealing with technology one cannot assume what the basics are.  You need an expert in that field…thus the “great attitude” non-tech savvy person.  This person also is a valuable asset because he/she can sell your plan to all those with technology phobia.

Person number three should be your Instructional or Curriculum coach if your school has one.  Person number four should be the media specialist.  If you teach high school, consider also that one of your committee members might should be a student…since they have a vested part in this plan.  The rest of your committee should be teachers…one from each grade level for elementary or various departments if secondary.

I have been working with technology planning in schools for approximately three years.  In these three years some of the mistakes I have seen are:  1) “The Crowded Committee – too many people on a committee…plan tends to go off in many directions with too many goals.  2) “The “I” Plan” – too few people on a committee or the one person that writes the entire plan…school has no buy-in and the plan becomes useless.  3) “The Token Committee” – committee is created but not used…either the principal or another key player ignores committee and writes plan on their own.  4)  Believe it or not…”The Parent Committee” – too many parents on the committee.  Parents and community are vital parts of technology planning, but they should not outnumber educators on this committee. 

Creating a sound technology committee is just the first step in effective technology planning as I have observed.  You’ve created the committee…now what?  That’s in my next post.

Wireless & Well Prepared: The E-mergence of Technology in the Classroom

I just watched a webcast of “Wireless & Well Prepared:  The E-mergence of Technology in the Classroom”.  Interesting…I felt that it was a sincere attempt to talk about technology in the classroom but that was about it…just talk.  It gave creedance to the fact that technology is here to stay in our education system and may have increased the awareness of technology in education, but unfortunately it did not give a clear direction where each individual school district should go in aiding their teachers with this new technology.  I feel very strongly about this topic.  One of my main responsibilities in my district is to work with individual schools to create an effective technology plan.  The very first thing I discuss with these schools is to NOT look at other school plans.  Each school is unique and their needs and financial situations differ.  One size does not fit all.   In the next couple of posts, I will go through the process that I use with my district.  Hopefully this may help someone.  Also, if you have any suggestions about school technology planning or individual teacher planning, please feel free to leave a comment.  Have a great day!

Blogging Session at Greer Middle

I was at Greer Middle today with some wonderful educators from Greenville County Schools.  We discussed blogging in the classroom and each person left with a created blog.  I’m really hoping that they find that they can use this tool in the classroom.  

 One thing I realized after conducting this session, was that many people do not know how to respond to a blog.  Most blogs either state “no comments” or “5 comments” etc.   Unless you are familiar with blogs, most do not know that by clicking on “5 comments” or clicking on the title of the post, one will be taken to a page where the individual can leave a comment. Commenting is so important.   If you read a blog and you like it, please comment!  This kind of support really encourages the author to keep writing.  If you have your students blog…please comment!  Keeping them writing is so important!

GCast – An easy to use podcasting site

Podcasting is a great idea…but let’s face it…for the average teacher (and me!), it can be a little intimidating!  RSS feeds, MP3…sounds hard!  However, as I was reading my November Learning News today, I read the short clip on GCast and I thought “what the heck…I’ll try it.”  Wow was it easy to use and what a wonderful and easy way to communicate with your parents, community, showcase your students and most importantly enhance their learning.  I myself created a short (and not so interesting) podcast to try it out.  Click here to listen.   WARNING…it’s not that great!    …and there are many many more educational ways to use a podcast than the one’s I mentioned in the audio.  Be creative…be motivating…I think your students will like it.  

It’s getting late, so I had better go…will try to add more to this post tomorrow.  Good night! 

Promethean Board Tip for Today

I learned a new trick the other day from Tammy Bobo, a teacher in Pickens County.  There are many times with the new Activ+2 boards that you are writing at the bottom of the screen in a flipchart and students cannot see it because is too low on the board.  One remedy to this problem is to set up each page in your flipchart to be 1 X 2 pages long when the flipchart is initially being created.  To do this all you need to do is to create a new “custom” flipchart. 

 Click file

Click flipchart

Click New

Click Custom

.

 

Move the left scroll bar down to the second notch (or more…but note…I would not move it down more than 2 or 3 notches or else it will scroll too fast in the flipchart).

Click ok

Once you fill in the flipchart with notes,  the flipchart becomes scrollable.  You may scroll the flipchart up to where the students can see it.  This is especially useful if I was teaching math and had my whole page full of information.  I could then scroll the page up higher on the board so that students could see. 

The Start of a New Year…

We are a month into the new school year…and as usual things are very busy.   For the first 30 days of the year, I usually spend most of my time instructing teachers how to set up their electronic gradebooks.  It is a very interesting task, in that I am always amazed at how differently we all feel about “how to grade” the students.  Do you base your system on weightings (percentages) or do you prefer total points…or do you understand grading at all??  Do I have a favorite way of grading….well no…but I do have some definite feelings about how to teach. 

Somehow through time we have associated being “wrong” with failing.  Students are afraid of answering questions because they may be “wrong”.  How sad.  I use to tell my classes that I was glad they were wrong …it meant I could keep my job!  If they were right all the time then there would be no need for me!  I told my students that there was only one time when I hoped they were always right….and that was the day of the test.  During normal instruction, I would constantly quiz my students with either trick questions or deep difficult ones…all with a light-hearted attitude, giving them the sense it was okay to be wrong and it was fun to try at the risk of being wrong.  Once comfortable with this thought, students sometimes would even try to ask me questions that I might get wrong…which would lead us into the discussion or debate of the concept.  (I believe some might call that learning.)

We, as teachers, need to provide an atmosphere where it is okay to be “wrong” and there is no stigma associated with it.  It is okay to be wrong and furthermore, it should be fun to learn while we are wrong.  (please keep in mind that I was a math teacher…which means there were right and wrong answers).  If a student snickers at another for being wrong, don’t scold him in front of the class…giving credit to what he is saying and making the student that was wrong feel even worse….immediately shoot a difficult question to the student with a smile (not a smirk) and when he answers incorrectly or not at all, say something to the effect…”it’s more difficult than it looks isn’t it?” and immediately  move to the next question.  Some will tell me I am incorrect in my approach…they may be right.  But I never addressed my kids with a hidden agenda or with anger or disgust in my voice.  I sincerely continually tried to make learning a game …with obstacles to over come and goals to attain…and my students seem to learn from it and enjoy it.  Never be cruel or sarcastic at the point of hurting a student….just present an atmosphere of enjoyment…an atmosphere you control. 

I apologize for my rambling about  ”non-techie” stuff.  I will try to add something technology-based in my next post.    Have a wonderful day!