March+2010+-+Reflections

=**March 2010**=

Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4 - Week 5 - Back to Field-Based Activity Log

**Reflection for the week of 3/1-3/5/2010**
This week my mentor, my elementary colleague, and I worked on planning what we would be doing for our two student summer camps. We scheduled one camp for elementary kids and one camp for 6th-9th graders. The campus had a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) focus. The focus of this meeting was on the camp for our older students. We discussed the lessons the students would participate in (including rocket building, robotics, AutoCad software usage, and bridge building) and what resources we would need to gather to prepare. We also focused on the publications we would be disseminating out to the community. We are using the Project Lead The Way brochure provided for Camp Gateway. (Project Lead the Way, 2010) We also looked over all of the lessons involved and made sure they corresponded to appropriate ISTE standardards and the NETS. (Williamson & Redish, 2009).

We also met with the Director of Professional Development to go over the professional development offerings for Summer Institute, our districts' week-long professional development opportunity during the summer. We discussed which classes we would teach, which classes we would offer as online webinars and later as online courses, and began planning the placement and use of necessary technology for the week.

**References:**
Project Lead The Way, Initials. (2010). //Gateway brochure//. Retrieved from http://it.burlesonisd.net/media/documents/gateway_brochure_2_19_2010.pdf

Technology operations and concepts. (2009). In J. Williamson & T. Redish (Authors), //ISTE's technology facilitation and leadership standards: what every K-12 leader should know and be able to do//. Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education.

**Reflection for the week of 3/8-3/12/2010**
This week I got to work with an English 3 class using MovieMaker, a free Microsoft video editor. (Microsoft, 2010) I planned with the teacher for the video assignment, then met with the students in the lab to help them learn the software. I also assisted the teacher with the use of external flash drives for the students to save their work and submit it for grading. We used Rubistar to create a grading rubric for the students' projects as well. (4teachers.org, 2010) What was most exciting about the project was that the students, while thoroughly engaged in the technology, were also really learning their content as well. While the focus was on the technology at first, while the students were learning it, after they had mastered the simple editing program, they began to really look at the technology as a tool to convey meaning in the content. The light bulbs were going on all over the room as groups of students creatively worked with their video to help their meaning become the focal point of their video. It was really rewarding to see that. The teacher was a little nervous about the software at first, but after sitting and learning with her students, and participating in the collaborative learning environment as students helped one another learn, she was just as excited as her students. The work that the students produced was good quality, but the teacher believes, and I agree, that the quality will improve as the kids become more accustomed to the software and the video cameras' capabilities. She has already planned two more projects using video for next year.

The IT Advisory committee also met this week. We talked about social media regulations for the district, and the Acceptable Use Policy as it applies to teachers and students. We began work on a wiki to help guide teachers, students, and parents when using social media and other Web 2.8 tools. It can be found at http://bisd-social-media.wikispaces.com/. We will continue to work on this document and update it regularly as new technologies are introduced to the educational environment.

**References:**
4teachers.org. (2010). //Rubistar//. Retrieved from http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

Microsoft. (2010). //Windows moviemaker//. Retrieved from https://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/default.mspx

Technology operations and concepts. (2009). In J. Williamson & T. Redish (Authors), //ISTE's technology facilitation and leadership standards: what every K-12 leader should know and be able to do//. Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education.

**Reflection for the week of 3/15-3/19/2010**
Spring Break - No Reflection

**Reflection for the week of 3/22-3/26/2010**
This week we attended the TxDLA 2010 Conference in Houston. The Texas Distance Learning Association conference focused on distance education for K-Post Secondary institutions. Our group consisted of the Director of Professional Development, the Director of Learning Technologies,and the Learning Technologies Coaches for both Elementary and Secondary campuses. We listened to Steven Covey, of 7 Habits fame speak to us via video conference. He spoke of the move from the industrial age to the information age and the need for servant leadership and accountability. (Estes, 2010)

The next day, Charlotte Stallings was the keynote speaker for the conference. Her focus was on ability, passion, and determination. She was very motivating and the session was enjoyable. I took notes using twitter and scribble.com on my blog. You can find it here - http://mamaestes.com/blog/?p=1372. (Estes. 2010)

I think I was most impressed by a session held by professors and technical staff from Stephen F. Austin University. They discussed the ways that they were using student response systems at their campus. Students are required to buy the student response pads, just like any other school supply. They then tune them to each teachers' receiver pad and take quizzes, tests, and surveys in class using the systems. The presenters were very smart in that they integrated the student response pads into their presentation so that those of us in the audience got an idea of what it's like to use the pads at SFA. I was very impressed that their focus was on changing their instruction and their assessments to make the most of the technology without sacrificing the academic rigor of their courses. One of our high schools purchased 10 sets of student response systems and I was able to bring back what I learned and apply it to our TAKS Bowl, where every 11th grade student in Social Studies got to complete against each other using released TAKS test questions. It was an amazing review for the students, provided tons of data for the teachers, and showcased the student response systems as a viable and effect teaching/learning tool.

**References:**
Estes, K.A. (2010, March 23). Charlotte stallings keynote txdla [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://mamaestes.com/blog/?p=1372

Estes, K.A. (2010, March 22). Steven covey speaks at txdla [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://mamaestes.com/blog/?p=1383

Technology operations and concepts. (2009). In J. Williamson & T. Redish (Authors), //ISTE's technology facilitation and leadership standards: what every K-12 leader should know and be able to do//. Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education.

**Reflection for the week of 3/29-3/31/2010**
While checking my PLN (Personal Learning Network) I came across a post on Twitter about using Google Docs for collaborative note taking. (Integrating Google Tools, 2010) It could not have been a more timely find as I had just been asked to help a 9th grade English teacher use technology to teach Romeo and Juliet to her boisterous 7th period class. I got her in to Google Docs and showed her a couple of ways that we could let the students take collaborative notes. Then we checked out several netbooks from the high school library and broke the students into groups. In teams they went back over their assigned Act. The students were excited and engaged, especially when they learned they could access the notes from home and use them to study for their exams. The teacher was very nervous about using technology, but was thrilled with how quickly her students picked up on the Google docs and by the second session, they were able to get started without help. She later related that the quiz scores were higher and the students' understanding of the play seemed greater after working on the notes collaboratively. She admitted to thinking that collaborative notes were "cheating" but then stated that she realized that the students helped each other by editing each others' notes, adding images and links, etc. The class worked together so that everyone would pass. She is now using collaborative note taking with her students on each novel.

This experience not only brings home the amazing tools available on the web, but the importance of the Personal Learning Network as well. There is so much available that one person couldn't possibly know it all, so I collaborate with other teachers, IT's, administrators, experts and self-proclaimed techies to learn about what they are using, what works, what they think. I think it makes me a better collaborator in my district, it helps me learn new view points, and gives me a large group of knowledge to fall back upon when I need help, a suggestion, or a collaborator. I regularly encourage the teachers I work with to build their own Personal Learning Networks with teachers in similar subjects so that they can share as well.

**References:**
//Integrating goolge tools 4 teachers//. (2010, March). Retrieved from http://sites.google.com/site/colettecassinelli/docs

Technology operations and concepts. (2009). In J. Williamson & T. Redish (Authors), //ISTE's technology facilitation and leadership standards: what every K-12 leader should know and be able to do//. Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education.

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