Day 2 Reflections

Wow! I was amazed by the copyright laws. I realized I was breaking the law when I would show a movie in class after we have read a novel. This week, we finished the novel Holes, and normally I would show the movie so the kids could compare and contrast the book and the movie. Now, I am going to have to figure something else out!

When we were working with Excel, I realized just how much I didn't know about the program! I am looking forward to working with Excel, so that I have a chance to learn more about it. It is the only Microsoft Office program that I do not use on regular basis.

I am really excited to have this class right now. I love to use technology in my classroom, but I often feel like I do not have time to find things on the Internet and learn to use new tech. This class will give me the opportunity to spend some time learning about new technology that I will hopefully be able to use in the classroom and later in my administrative career.

Guilt

Holy Cow! Students are powering down and we are not prepared as an educational system to change that. Individual teachers are experimenting and letting go of teacher-focused instruction, but I think there should be a systematic way to help all teachers change their approach. What an enormous task.

The article by Will Richardson really hit me in two ways. One, it made me realize how blind I have been to the technology that is out there. It has been overwhelming to me and so I have avoided it. That is changing. Two, it made me want to learn more so I can help students to stay engaged and not power down when they come to school.

We have had five days with students so far this year and I can't walk into a classroom without feeling guilty about how we are not completely serving students. Sure, we have great, caring, creative teachers, but without vision and direction those qualilties are not enough. As administrators, we need to take care of our teachers as we lead them into this global change in education. It's a scary, yet exciting thing!

Day Two Reflection

I really enjoyed completing the Excel project in class. It is a very benefical, easy to use tool to assist in breaking down ISAT scores. I have not had very much experience of sorting data so I felt that this activity was worthwhile. It allows for identifying certain weak areas and that need improvement at the click of a button.

Over the summer my district had gone through some major changes in staffing due to teachers being terminated for violation of technology code. They were let go as a result of inappropriate and sexual content within emails. Due to this dilemma our district has spent several hours over the past few days of inservice discussing the technology code of conduct and what is permissable and what is not.

At this point I feel very timid about posting photos of students and utilizing online and external resources in fear of copyright violation. I can openly admit that I have violated copyright laws on a couple of occasions showing videos relevant to the topic of slavery. It was very helpful to discuss in class copyright laws.

Weekend 1, Day 2

I thought that yesterday was a case in point for all districts to embrace uniformity when it comes to platforms, operating systems, and software versions. Imagine the frustration and chaos in a district running several different versions of a program on several types of machines, as we were doing in class on Sunday.

Fortunately, in a class of 9, it was relatively easy for Dr. Closen to make his way around and help individuals work through issues. Multiply this problem across many buildings in a district, however, and you could see the headaches of management involved with such an issue.

As we mentioned in the review of the tech plan, it was nice to see that the Casey-Westfield district had adopted uniformity. I know in my own district it took about 7 years to transition everything over, but now there is a uniform purchasing requirement for all new machines across the district and all machines are imaged and set up the same way upon delivery. Older machines unable to be upgraded (we're talking 386's, 486's) are left in buildings for staff and students to use with the understanding that tech support will no longer be provided and when the machine dies, it will not be replaced. Many resources are saved in time and money as our district technicians can now simply log on to any machine on the network from one location and troubleshoot issues that arise.

Of course, keeping everyone on the same page comes with issues, as well. For example, with each new release of software comes several questions..."Do we upgrade at this time? What are the costs/consequences of doing so? What are the consequences of not doing so? What expense will there be in adoption of new software? Etc...."

As stewards of taxpayer money, we have the responsibility to use funds wisely to increase student achievement and provide our students with access to current, relevant technology designed to prepare them for real-world applications. If that means we all use IE 7 instead of switching to IE 8, that's the way it'll have to be... (Trust me, it's probably better that way anyway.) :)

Reflections of day 2

The work we did with the excel program was very interesting. My current principal hands out spreadsheets with student data to analyze. He uses conditional formatting to make the spreadsheet easier to read. I always wondered how he highlighted the different boxes, now I know. When we went over the copyright laws it made me aware that selling the football highlight tapes for a fundraiser was probably illegal....whooops

Reflections on Day 2

The copyright laws that we discussed at the end always seem to make me laugh. In education we are continually infringing on copyright laws, especially when it comes to watching movies. I also understand that teachers are given some leeway. I enjoy learning about the law and I can only imagine the size of the new educational law book as more and more technology related cases make their way into the court system.

After today I have a new appreciation for technology in the classroom. I can honestly say that I do not use enough. I feel that part of this problem is our lack of professional development. Too frequently we are told to intergrate technology and given time to add it to your classes. No advice, no modeling, no help...just get it done. For me it seems that I want to know how to run the program myself and provide instructions for my students before I can expect them to perform tasks. Even with all this said, my wiki that I plan to develop will be used by my students this year. If you start with one small project and become comfortable, I think you can build and expand on that.

Lastly I realized another reason for understanding literacy, adapting, and tranforming...knowing which level your teachers are at. Too frequently administrators are happy when you make your kids do a powerpoint and feel you have intergrated technology. I think that looking at these three definitions allowed me to better see how well teacher are using technology and if they are getting to the transforming level or just staying at the literacy level. Too frequently are students are still at a literacy level and a few adapting projects may be developed. You stated it very well when you said that an administrator needs to model this. Our administration (superintendent) has slowly been decreasing the computer requirements of our students. We have very few students that can manipulate programs beyond the basic level. Sad to say we are moving in the wrong direction when it comes to technology.

Possibilities with Excel

As I think most people in class are thinking, Excel is an excellent tool for taking data and highlighting/ sharing it with staff. If only more administrators knew how to use it! At our school, we get all sorts of data, but there is no organization to it and we are supposed to look at it in an instant and find trends and see what it says. Often we get this data in multiple-page photocopies and after flipping through them we are simply frustrated and don't get much out of it. I can see the value of either organizing the data yourself to reveal certain items or teach key faculty/department people to manipulate the data themselves on Excel to see what most effects them.

Reflections of Day 2

I have never been real comfortable using Excel. I had to always rely on my husband to help me through the program. But, today I found it quite helpful that we went through the program step by step, which I do not remember to doing that in other computer class. I guess that is why I was always fustrated with Excel. Sometimes I just need that hands-on, step-by -step application to help me grasp new computer programs. Although it took me a few tries to sort data on the spreadsheet, I can finally say that I feel more comfortable than ever working with Excel!

Day 1

Yesterday in class I was amazed by the feelings that I was experiencing. I really like to learn about technology, but I felt overwhelmed by the feelings that I really don't know a lot about technology. I am excited to be in this class. I am hoping that I learn quite a bit that I can take back to my classroom and also use in my future as an administrator.

Reflections of Day 1

I was overwhelmed by the amount of technology that is out there yet excited to learn/practice some different things. It makes me rethink about how to incorporate technology into my classroom. The siftables were very impressive to me. The application can be quite endless especially at the elementary level.

Yesterday

Day 1

Yesterday was a long day of class but I learned a lot. It is nice to take a class in technology because it is an area that I really enjoy. It is also an area that many teachers struggle with. I think that technology in education is a strength of mine and it will help me to get an elementary principal position in the future.

I enjoyed the siftables and the thought of how we could use them in education. I'm sure I'll learn more about podcasts later in class so that I can use them more effectively in class.

Jon S.

Frustration with technology access

The video clips about our teenagers and twentysomethings struck me as I look at all of the new 'rules' and the refinement of our CIPA filter for the new school year. We really do ask students to power down and then expect to motivate them with chalkboards and the traditional factory model seating and format that was used 30 years ago. This year our school has completely outlawed not only cell phones but also ipods. In addition, the 'newer' CIPA filter blocks any kind of message board, forum, e-mail or blog from not only students but also faculty. This has been frustrating as many of the contacts we teachers have had with faculty at other schools via message boards and forums are blocked. Moreover, it discourages any use of blogs or discussion boards for student use. We have a few teachers who have students get twitter accounts or become a member of blogs outside the school building, but this is unfair to the poorer kids whose only internet access is school or the public library, that they have a hard time getting to. From an administrative standpoint, I understand the need for the school to be vigilant about student use of the internet--there are always those few apples that ruin it for the bunch. But as teachers, I believe that through our log ins (and I have asked and know this is true) they could give us access to these educational opportunities. If some amongst us abuse it, they can be admonished as per our contracts. It seems that there is a need for more trust...

Reflection

I am going to find this course very helpful considering I was not familiar with several of the tech terms discussed at the beginning of class yesterday. I find the virtual reality programs, such as SecondLife interesting and now I know what my students are talking about when they talk their own avatars. Siftables seem like a fascinating and very intelligent way of getting students engaged in their learning. On behalf of working with students with special needs I could see implementing Siftables into my math program very easily. They would provide students immediate feedback and I know the students would enjoy learning their facts using mini computers!

Reviewing and discussing Casey Westfield Technology Plan was very beneficial. My group worked collaboratively and shared comments regarding the plan. I did not realize how much required information is compiled into a tech plan.

Weekend 1, Day 1

I enjoyed our conversations today regarding tech. As we discussed in our group of 3 during our evaluation of the technology plan, many people are comfortable with turning technology on and off; the challenge lies in applying technology effectively to increase student achievement. I try to reflect on this each time I use technology with students - What is my purpose? Are we playing or are we learning?

Admittedly, there are times when students play to learn. I witness this daily in the lives of my own children as they discover technology at home. As I am working with students who already are behind in terms of reading ability, I just want to make sure that we maximize the time we have together. From wikis to podcasts, to asking students to analyze their own achievement scores in Excel, I want to make sure that the technology I utilize with students, and the manner in which I do so is meaningful, relevant, and exposes them to real-world experience they will benefit from.

Day One

I was surprised about the siftables and what they could do.....