Considerations during severe weather events

Yesterday disaster struck Sugarland, Richmond, and Rosenberg. This is an area that I am close to and actually use to live in. The storms dropped 11 inches of rain in four hours and lightning hit a house, which started a fire. Many people were stranded, including my sister. Fortunately, she was able to get onto 59 heading north and made it home safe.

The reason I bring this up is that I'm thinking that as an IT, I'll need to ensure that technology is up off the floors during weather events. At home, my desktop computer is quite large and it resides on the floor. However, as an IT I think it would be wise to consider the location of technology. Most items used within the classrooms should be small enough to be picked up off the ground for instance. I know that the technology repair department deals with that, but as an IT I expect I'll be in the classrooms more often and can take a quick note of where the technology is located in the classrooms.

It's just a thought.

In addition to completing work for my two final classes, I'm trying to revamp my resume. I've already changed it on my eportfolio, but need to work on a nice hard copy. This brings me to another thought this morning. I currently own two personal websites, primarily for my astronomy, storm chasing, and photography passions. However, I think regardless of which district or job I end up with, I'd like to create a website of resources both created and links to others. I think this would serve whatever staff I'm working with. In addition, I'd like to create some items to place on Teachers Pay Teachers from the research I've done on cyberbullying and technology in science.

I have many ideas coming to me as I finish off this degree. There are no words to express my excitement!!

Internship final tasks

The challenge for the last few weeks has been a technological one. My computer began to overheat and shut itself down before the motherboard could be damaged. Upon replacing the video card, cleaning fans and checking temperatures I found that my system is still running hot. At this point, it looks like a new motherboard, power source, and memory will be required. Until then I'm working on a laptop that doesn't have a battery. 

I know invariably that at some point something similar will occur at work and I'll need to find another source of technology to complete my work. Though it is highly inconvenient, it does occur and as an IT it helps to have backups. Worst case scenario for me is to have to use my husband's computer, which has no programs that I regularly use, such as Photoshop. 

As I end my internship I'm trying to make sure I have all the documents in place and ready to go. I'm excited to venture out and begin to secure a posting suited to my expertise. 

One item I will continue is to train on Microsoft and secure some certifications other than the MIE certification. I believe it will make me a stronger IT and serve me in many ways. 

This internship has been very enjoyable, even with all the challenges. With recent events of losing my mother amongst other stressors, this class has given me a needed escape. 

I can't begin to convey my thanks to Tran and Dr. Vafa for their understanding with my situation and help as I work through this semester. 

An unusual week

This week was full of working on my ending projects for my classes. I'm still without my desktop and this laptop's limited capability is challenging, but I see it as good practice for when I get into the field and may find myself faced with substandard equipment to complete deadlines on.

There were some professional opportunities last week that I missed due to events that were out of my hands. Wednesday evening I watched helplessly as San Augustine, Texas was hit by an F2 Tornado. Though all were lucky and there were no injuries my family and many in town have been hit hard. This is a small town and six or seven businesses were affected, one was leveled to the ground.

In light of this, we planned to go up and check on things on Friday. My husband ended up in the ER with some painful swallowing. He seems alright although we still don't' know what's going on. So that pushed back our arrival to East Texas till 1am.

Working on my cyberbullying paper, final internship paper, book review from the book, and numerous other tasks are keeping me from lingering too much on these events.

Microsoft: STEM 1 Training: Computational Thinking and its importance in education

Goals of today!

My time as an intern is almost over and I'm trying to receive all the training I can to prepare me to be a more informed IT in my future position.

I love taking these courses and working towards certifications. This has made me consider obtaining a certification in Microsoft services in the future. First I need to graduate with my Master's degree and secure a position.

Stafford MSD prides itself in its technological advancements. Dr. Bostic is such a great example of a Superintendent who sees the big picture for students in 21st Century learning. He impressed me from the first day he talked to us at convocation one year and he continues to impress me with his drive towards technology.

With my recent paper on Technology in the science classrooms, I decided to take some professional development in the STEM area of Microsoft.

The first training module is titled: Computational Thinking and its importance in education. The goals of this training are: 

• What Computational Thinking is and what it isn't
• The components of Computational Thinking
• How computational thinking is applied in various educational settings.          

The training has both text to read and a video of a teacher in a lower grade level who is teaching the students computational thinking. This type of thinking can be used at any grade level and across all the content subjects.

Decomposition is where a person takes something and breaks it down into smaller parts. This breaking down reminds me of chunking in the classroom. Students need to learn to break down problems into smaller pieces when they are faced with a complicated or complex task.

Pattern recognition is taught from very early grade levels but is essential to problem-solving. Then there is abstraction and algorithmic thinking. Abstraction is defined by Microsoft as "the ability to generalize a pattern and prioritize what is pertinent and what is not in relation to the problem". This important skill is used every time someone tries to fix something. Recently my computer began to have issues. It wouldn't stay on and the fan began to make a roaring sound. I knew it wasn't Windows that was the problem. By finding the pattern of failure I was able to trace down to three possible issues.

Algorithmic thinking does not mean that it includes mathematics. This type of thinking simply means that one creates a guide or steps to an issue or problem.

Overall this training was very informative and I'm eager to push on to more training.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying

Interesting findings

During the last few months, I have conducted much research on bullying and cyberbullying. As a teacher of 17 years I've seen cyberbullying have a bit of an uptick in activity. I never considered it a serious issue, but after my reading and research, I've come to a better understanding of its impact on our students.

I'm writing a paper on my findings and then will transfer it into a professional development piece to put online. During this time I've learned that gender is not a big factor in bullying. My research has found that in fact, it is more time related to a child's development. Boys tend to bully more in elementary school and they tend to be more physical, while girls bully more in upper-grade levels. Human development sees girls being more self-conscious of themselves and comparing themselves against each other. In addition, where boys might fight it out, girls tend to harbor hard feelings for a long time. So where the bullying is not more so in gender it just occurs at different developmental stages of our children.

Times are changing

Bullying has changed considerably in the past several decades. Where bullying wasn't rare to even when I was in school, now with the innovations of today, cyberbullying has long-lasting, even permanent effects online. Posts are there for a considerable amount of time and where bullying affected students locally in the past, now it is a global mockery.

A Global Concern

This is a global issue. Even the UN has made strides towards addressing this issue.
https://youtu.be/VGBKONEVSFY   There is more that we must do as adults. We need to recognize the signs and know how to address incidents as they come up.

Time to Teach!

April 8th

It was on this day that I taught several fifth-grade classes about Classlink. It was interesting dealing with students I didn't know or have a relationship with. I've worked as a teacher or so many years where I build up relationships which aid in me being able to meet individual needs and better address any behavioral concerns. 

This day the students came in and were with me for 45 minutes before leaving. It was nice, though the classes were brief, that students seemed to enjoy being with me and offered me goodbyes, I even received a few hugs. 

The challenge with today was that I didn't have any time in between classes. That would have been helpful as I taught from 11:00-2:30. It would have been nice to have time to go to the restroom without someone having to temporarily watch the students. The schedule was created by the campus, though and as an experienced educator, I've learned to be flexible and go with the flow. 

I wasn't so concerned about the chatty classes, they did, after all, complete their work. Their chattiness is brought in with them from the expectations of their homeroom teachers. Homeroom teachers who have a successful behavior system in place had classes that were quieter in nature. 

Another issue that was unavoidable, but quite irritating, was when students had issues logging in. This could only be addressed by my mentor who was watching on. I would have preferred to have had her simply observe. Fortunately, the issue only occurred for one or two classes and I'd simply have students line up close to my mentor so she could give them log in and passwords they needed.

On a side note, I'd like to share I just received my comprehensive exam notification and I passed!!! 

At this point in my internship, I need to work on my cyberbullying presentation. I've almost finished my storyboard. On Monday my computer crashed, possibly from an issue with my heat sink. I'm on my laptop, but it is quite limited in what I can accomplish on it since all my programs are on the desktop. I tried to create a powerpoint video yesterday and the laptop wasn't recording my audio correctly. 

Observation #4

Observation #4

This was my final day of observation. The day progressed much like the previous days, except Tran had two reading groups instead of one to work with. During the time she worked with the reading group I choose to stay with Collins to assist her with the lessons.

It is painfully obvious which classes have computer time and which ones don't. I know personally how stressed the campus is at this time as state testing is coming up. I always hated this time of the year because our regular lessons seemed to fall to the wayside in favor of more practice for state testing. Benchmarking helps the campus see where strengths and weaknesses are and so they are needed. All this is just so much on the staff, not just the teachers. As I've stated before, everyone must do their part.

This day did find some behavior issues. For the most part, the students behaved because they wanted to work on computers. Those few who did not behave were taken off the computers and placed at a library table as not to disturb those who were working correctly.

Observation #3

Observation #3

Today's classes are supposed to be smaller and they are being introduced to classlink.

During the first class, we found that the passwords that students were supposed to use were different. There was a request sent in for the technology department to change them over to the correct password. During the day we found it seemed to be just that class that had the incorrect passwords.

There are several classes during the school day, most of them are back to back without any break time. The computerss lose energy during the day with so much use and have to be switched out.

The elementary students really fall behind when they don’t pay attention and time has to be spent catching them up to the rest of the group. There are three of us: Tran, Collins, and myself walking around helping students with their progress.

It is obvious the students who have computers at home compared to others. Some students have no literacy skills at all. It is also obvious the teachers who don’t spend time with their classes in the computer labs.

A puzzling finding is that some students can't seem to spell their own last names, I think this is anxiety from using the computers and its obvious that these students have no computer time. It was painful to find that so many students lacked basic technology skills and evident why Tran is doing these classes for the students.

Overall it was a good reminder to the days when I used technology in the classroom, that things don't always run smoothly. An Instructional Technologist must have some computer 'know-how' in order to address things that may come up. Tran and I were able to get most students to their own computers and logged in correctly.

De-escalating Students

Many years ago, I attended training, through my school district, where we were taught how to deal with behavior problems. This fantastic training really helped solidify my thoughts on how to handle challenging students. One of the most helpful aspects of this training was the fact that one must de-escalate someone who is upset in order to talk to them and see what's wrong.

I've used this in my classroom for years and found an hour training to refresh my memory on what to do about these students.

Wichita Public Schools has Melody Stuckey, who works for behavioral services, present options for de-escalating upset students. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT8d8Iu4zHA

I would highly suggest any educators take the time to go through this training video. It lasts 1 hour and 7 min.

Observation #2 Introduction to Classlink

This morning began at 8am where the library is being prepared for the elementary mini-lessons. the COW, computers on wheels, is being used for this lesson. Laptops were dispersed and started, they include a mouse for each laptop.

Tran was contacted this morning from the secondary campus regarding an IT request. Apparently, late the Friday before Spring Break, the teacher sent in a request for assistance with adding student names into a program. Tran assumed since it was a secondary campus request that the secondary campus IT would address the issue. She states that the secondary campus IT should get to it and that she will help if they appear overburdened.

The first class of the day was a second-grade class. The challenge with this class was the different literacy skills of the group. Some students were up and running rather quickly and others were having difficulty just in typing. One student was extremely slow at typing. Once students were in they could see the benefit of classlink. Apparently, the class was larger than anticipated and there were not enough of the computer mouse’s to go around.

Also during the morning, Tran leaves to pull a Reading group where she will focus on writing skills to prepare them for the writing portion of the STAAR test. While she is working with the group a library assistant is leading the computer lessons. Tran has supplied her with a powerpoint to guide the students and she is very familiar with the lesson..

The second group was supposed to come in at 9:40. Apparently, the teacher was out and the students were split between other teachers. I’ve been in this situation before and it is a strain on the teachers and students. If lessons do not match up perfectly then things are off. This brings a question to mind. Shouldn’t all teachers be teaching the same thing? Not necessarily. If a class as a whole is behind or needs more time with an objective, shouldn’t they ensure that the objective retaught before moving on? Constructivism states that students construct their knowledge by building on. Students can’t be expected to build onto their knowledge base if they are pushed on before they are ready. This is not to say that whole classes are held back for success in objectives. When the majority of the students are ready to move on to the next objective then those who still need help can be addressed via tutorials. This also means that a class that has mastered the objective needs to move on. Classes are not machines that need to be kept in time, but rather living organisms that have individual needs and though they may be on the same objective. Classrooms cannot all stay on the same activities each day because of this.

Observation #1: The Changing Day of the Instructional Technologist

Observation Day 1

Previously on this campus, the students took a DBA, District Benchmark assessment. The results were not as high as the campus was wanting so the campus is pulling together all resources to work with students to help them excel on the upcoming STAAR exam. Kristina Tran started the morning working with a small group of students. The task of this intervention is extra practice/help in reading skills. Tran worked with the students having them read a small packet first then briefly discuss before answering questions independently. The first task before the students is a comparison and contrast of items. Then the text goes on and a question dealing with maps comes up. Students are questioned by explaining why they choose their answers. She works on strategies such as referring back to the text and reading all the answers before choosing their selection. The group meets and works together for a little over one hour. This intervention is very familiar to me. Last Spring 2018 I was hired by the district to be a Ninja reading interventionist. All my students made advancements in reading levels with a few students going up 4 levels in reading and one going up 5 levels in the time that I worked with them. I enjoyed my time with them and finished the program in April. Out of the interventionists, my students made the most advancement. This could be attributed to the fact that I have recently taught and many of the other interventionists were retired teachers, some of which still lead with teacher-centered ideas. Students in the group are coached while they work on several questions. They are informed to be prepared to be called on randomly and will need to be able to explain how they got their answers. After they work for a bit, she encourages them to get up out of their chair and stretch after they get to problem six. though two did stretch, none of the students stood up. Tran calls randomly on the students to read the question and answer. Redirection to a student is quick and non-disruptive to the group activity. All students agree on the answer and another student is called on to explain how they came to the correct answer. The group is reminded that they are supposed to have at least one sentence explanation for each question. This way when they are called on they can refer to their notes to refresh their memory. students struggled with one question. Tran modeled reading the question then going back into the text to try and find the answer or supporting statement. Another important aspect of the intervention was the activation of prior knowledge in helping students connect with more understanding of the text. She did not let them pass on with just giving an answer, they always had to support their answers. At one point they also had to compare their previous answer to their new one. Why did they change their mind? what information did they use to change their answer? She modeled thinking on the question they had the most issue with. Once again students are encouraged to get up and stretch before continuing. She spoke to them about their own learning, metacognition, and strategies that they use to answer questions. One student tries to take over the lesson by talking over Tran and she uses an ignoring strategy to deal with their behavior. This successful strategy leads students onto their lessons as they follow the lead of the teacher. Though this is not always successful, Tran, an experienced teacher, would have been able to easily change to another strategy to deal with the student. It was difficult for me to sit and watch, as a teacher of 23 years I wanted to follow my instinct and try strategies of my own. Since the behavior wasn't major it was easily dealt with. At 10:10 students were given stickers and shown a video of an avalanche to boost lack of prior knowledge. Students were quite engaged to see what an avalanche looked like. Only one in the group knew what an avalanche was going into the lesson. Tran and I discussed the mini-lessons that would be given in the afternoon and made plans for me to observe/help next Monday-Wednesday on the elementary campus. Then I will teach mini-lessons to 5th graders on April 8 and 10th. Students are going to be moving into the testing season and things will start becoming more irregular as the staff moves to assist in any way they can, such as the IT doing reading intervention. The success of the campus, though heavily weighed on the teachers' shoulders, is shared across all staff. I find from past experiences that a staff dedicated to helping students makes a huge difference. Even simple encouragement from the nutrition and janitorial staff can give the students that boost of confidence to do their best. Tran will be conducting lessons with groups of 5th graders. A large group of students comes in and settles down. They are two computers short for the class so two students are grouped together. Today's class is going to teach them how to use classlink. Students log in using their personal credentials. There are three additional computers that won’t work correctly for some reason or another. Students with nonworking computers or sharing indicate significant distraction and lack of focus on directions. There are accounts that had to be adjusted for students, which Tran was able to handle from her end rather quickly.

www.classlink.com

Classlink is a site that lets students tap into icons instead of having to repeatedly login to apps they need. With this site, they log in a single time and browse apps that are campus and teacher supported. This is a fantastic site! Instead of students browsing around randomly, they have direction via this site.

Class one was quite talkative with a few particular students that needed some redirection. The redirection was successful overall. The challenge with class one is that so many students were on various levels of the instructions. Class two came in and were given instructions on how to ask for help and the expectations of the class. This is an introduction to classlink for these kids. This is a single sign-on service. It remembers the password and makes the system simpler. Classlink can be used at home, it is an internet program, not an intranet one. There is a cost for use, but this is definitely a useful program for the students. No longer do they have to keep typing in their credentials every time they get into a program, it remembers and does it for them. Students have an opportunity to explore the apps available to them.

Another important part of these lessons is the explain that when doing research it would be wise not to rely on google or Wikipedia due to the lack of credibility of some sites. Sites that are listed on the classlink are PebbleGo Next, Britannica, Brainpop, and Gale. Lessons were concluded with an emphasis on using authentic resources for research they will be starting soon in their classes.

Spring Break Activities with Learning and Leisure

Spring Break 2019 Activities

Though working on my internship, other college class, and the multitude of things that need to be accomplished at home, I am well aware of burn-out and want to take some time to reflect. Therefore during my Spring Break, March 11-15 was a well-structured week. 

I took my Mid-term for my other college class on Human Development then quickly moved into the study for my upcoming Comprehensive Exam. I'm quite nervous because of the importance of the exam not just to my plans to graduate this semester, but because I need to start working again as finances are getting tight. On the other hand, I'm excited to show what I've learned. Having made straight A's in all my classes, I feel I should have the knowledge I need to pass. 

As mentioned before there was one day of rest and recharging came in the form of a fishing trip with my family. Since my siblings and I were kids we would go camping and fishing together and we continued that tradition through losing my Father in 2004 and the recent loss of my Mother in January of this year. This year's camping trip did not come to pass due to my Human Development class. Camping does not afford a chance to get onto the internet to take Mid-term exams. The fishing weekend was fantastic however and there is nothing more important than being with family and the people you love. 

In reflection, I feel this blog is a true journey of this semester including the holiday's impact on my learning. I know many years ago when I was an undergraduate I did nothing during my spring break in relation to school. Now 17 years later about to graduate with my Masters, I want to excel, not to be competitive with others as much as with myself. My first degree was to secure a reliable career. This Masters degree is to fulfill a long-held dream of mine to be an Instructional Technologist with a school. It's amazing to see how I've changed in the almost twenty years between degrees and I want to make this best of this opportunity. 

Microsoft Innovative Educator Certification

Microsoft Training

A few years ago I became a certified Microsoft Innovative Educator. This was a requirement for me as I was volunteering to be a Technology Liason for my campus. When I left my district to pursue my dream of becoming an instructional technologist, I lost my standing with Microsoft because it was tied to my district email. After my training with STEAMinecraft I wanted to start my Microsoft training again, so I set up a new account. 

I've already earned the MIE, or Microsoft Innovative Educator Certification. In addition, I've earned the 21st Century Learning Design: Collaboration Badge that was a three-hour professional development course. I hope to continue taking courses at add badges to my profile. 

STEAMincraft Professional Development

STEAMinecraft Professional Development

February 28, 2019 9:00-3:00

What is STEAMinecraft?

Early this dreary day I find myself at the Stafford Civic Centre ready to learn more about how Minecraft can be used in the learning environment. I've heard fellow classmates over the semesters talk about how much they enjoy using Minecraft on their campus. Although I've very familiar with gamification in the classroom due to personal use and further studies in my studies for Educational Technology, I was unsure how this game could be used to enhance learning. 

On a personal note, my husband and daughter both play Minecraft, but I've not had much interest in it. I have always been quite amazed at how many people really like this game. In my mind, I always saw it as a big lego game, where one puts pieces together and occasionally is interrupted by wandering animals and 'walking dead'. The graphics are so blocky and I just didn't understand the draw the game had. Maybe this day would change all that. 

STEAM is the integration of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics into the classroom. This is supported by real-world problems and the development of critical and creative thinking to solve these problems. 

Minecraft is a game that came out in 2011 and became an instant hit. Since then it has been discovered that the game can enhance learning across disciplines. Much like any game in the classroom, students become highly engaged in its use. Even with the teachers present today, moving from one activity to another was difficult because many found it hard to pull themselves away from the assigned challenges. 

The objectives, as listed out on the powerpoint, were to:

• Familiarize participants with the basic game mechanics and provide opportunities to practice
•  Experience various curriculum-related activities that can be modified for specific classroom needs
• Develop ideas for integrating Minecraft into curriculum, standards, and instruction.

The professional development was well designed in the elements of the lesson itself supported the best pedagogical practices with a variety of activities. The presenters introduced themselves and their positions with the Educational Collaborators. Then gathered our level of prior knowledge from a few quick questions to the audience. 

Activity One- How the Game is Played

Activity one was to allow time for new users to become with how Minecraft is played. The instructors were quick to add that as an educator we didn't need to be experts and we wouldn't know as much as our students, but we did need to know the basic play. Since some of the audience was already familiar with Minecraft they were offered a chance to play with 'Minecraft Adventure'. 

I've always had a decent hand at playing games. I took 1 hour time to rush through and quickly familiarize myself with movement and equipment use and built me a house complete with three stories, glass windows, and a door. There were still questions I had regarding the game, but I was well on my way to understanding the basic play of the game.

Activity Two- Build Challenges

This activity shows what can be accomplished through Build Challange cards. These cards are colorful cards with directions on how to create something. A few options for our group included creating:

• an animal
• a desert island
• a tree house
• a spaceship

I wanted to create a spaceship. These cards had worlds setup for the creation, but because of time constraint, we all just worked on the grass field world. We were highly encouraged to preplan/draw out what we were going to do. As an artist, I rarely just dive into a piece of work. Even if I don't draw it out, I"ll preplan it in my mind and have a mental picture of how I want it to look. 

Feverishly I worked on my spaceship. At times I would become frustrated with myself because I hit the right button instead of the left which would destroy what was in front of me. I'd laugh, fix it, and carry on. This simple act is important for students. They need to know they will make mistakes and how to deal with them. Even in that simple act students would be learning a valuable lesson.

The activity ended and it was funny to hear everyone frantically trying to perfect their work. Finally, the instructor told us to stand and move away from the computers to get us to stop, which I had to laugh at. At this point, we did what the instructor called a parade and we looked at everyone's work. I was in the back looking at someones when I heard a bit of talking. I turned to find a group at the table where I had been sitting. I moved back to that direction as it was time to sit back down and reflect on the lesson. As I walked by an instructor, I asked what was going on and apparently, there had been a bit of a debate about the level of knowledge of the person of one of the spaceships. I knew my buddy next to me had made one as well, so I wondered if it was one of ours. Once the reflection began they spoke about how impressed they were with one of the spaceships and said that everyone wanted to know if the person was an expert Minecraft person. I blushed to find out they all looked at me and I explained I had just started that morning with them. I've never touched Minecraft before, the presenters were impressed. 

Activity Three- How to Assess through Minecraft

Assessment through Minecraft can occur in a variety of ways. Pieces of the game and even the game itself can be exported to a file for viewing and assessment. One piece that I thought was fun was the pictures. By selecting the camera a player can take images of their environment within the game. There is even an option of taking a self-portrait! This can be built into a journal of the game. Then students can also add slates, boards, and posters to the game to label parts. 

I believe that this game is pretty versatile when it comes to ways one can assess the student's creations or roles within certain worlds. One example is to have students recreate a scene from a book within Minecraft then have them create pictures and a journal, which would show and explain parts of the book. 

Activity Four- Collaborative piece on Representing an aspect of our Community

This activity was perhaps the most fantastic and engaging piece of collaborative work I've ever had the joy to work on. First, we had to choose roles and preplan. This included taking into account, without judgment, what each of us could accomplish together. I was the World host that they all tapped into. We each quickly worked on our parts of a community square that we were creating called 'Perfect World Square'. 

My team created a town square with a park in the center. I was in charge of doing a building and then another person was making another building, but only finished the landscaping in front before time ran out. Our last member was really struggling to do anything on the game, so we had to help her out a bit. 

Conclusion/Survey of Professional Development

The amount of teamwork and working through challenges together through this program was more than enough to sell me on what Minecraft Education has to offer schools. In addition, the activities tapped into critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, and communication, which are the four aspects of 21st Century Learning. 

There are not enough words to express how much impact this program would have on a district. Although this program does cost a bit, there is no price on what our students could learn through activities on this. This system is definitely something I would try to bring to an educational campus. I would love to do training through the CDW program again and perhaps even become part of it!

Digital Learning Showcase

Digital Learning Showcase 

This rainy day started off with the setup of Ipads and handouts on the programs displayed. There was an issue with the location, as the library just opened up yesterday for the Book Fair. There were two large round tables in the back that were used to display the showcase.

In addition, I found out that fifth grade was going to do DBA's District Benchmark testing today. DBA's are useful in pinpointing areas that students struggle in. They can be used to implement tutorials to address specific needs or extend learning before State testing. 

The campus is to remain quiet for the extent of testing time with no visitors. Sixth-grade teachers were encouraged to come in and take a break from the classroom by having the class visit the book fair, while teachers spoke with me about the digital showcase. Other than a few disruptive students, this worked out very well.

BrainPOP 

Put a Pop in Learning

Most teachers were familiar with BrainPOP but did not seem very familiar with connecting to setting up a lesson with activities attached. In speaking with my mentor, I found out that they had actually had training in the Fall over this very topic. It is obvious that teachers need follow-ups to professional development. In brainstorming how to accomplish this, they could do one of the following:

     1. Create a lesson, to be completed a few weeks later, that is shared with the IT to see that they understand it. 

     2. Take a quiz or assessment piece to see if they understand it.

     3. Work as a group or team to create a lesson together. 

I'm sure there are many other things that can be done to show that teachers understand the training and use it instead of forgetting it so quickly. 

Teachers do have so much that must be accomplished, its no wonder that some information must be 'weeded out'. Especially when you're looking at the Fall. There is so much on their minds from fixing their classrooms up to set up for the entire first two weeks of school. 

Flipgrid

Where Social Learning Happens

As a former sixth-grade teacher, I really found Flipgrid to be an excellent program, so I spent more time on this program than the others. It's free and easy use make this such a wonderful program/app. I showed a lesson and explained how students log in and how it can be used in the classroom. One teacher expressed wanting more help and I shared my email and told her to contact me and we could schedule a time for me to help her one-on-one. I'm really excited about this! To see my creation in Flipgrid click on the link https://flipgrid.com/ and type in jedi3  

Nearpod

Create. Engage. Assess

Nearpod has great potential for classroom use, especially for those teachers who put the effort into using it. One can upload lessons or pay for lessons. Most lessons ranged from $2.99-$4.99 for a single lesson. There were units that were priced for 29.99. The lessons are rich with various types of media. The secondary school of this district uses this program/app. 

ClassDojo

Happier Classrooms

I used ClassDojo in second grade, but not to its fullest potential. When I taught sixth-grade my campus used ClassDojo and it was a fantastic bridge between school and home. I was able to not just communicate behaviors to parents but share upcoming events and project links. There were times when I put a link to a video or photo to stimulate prior knowledge. I've used it to share Quizlets prior to vocabulary tests. 

Library Resources

Learning at Your Fingertips

This was a simple handout of resources provided by the campus for teachers and students to use. Teachers should realize the dangers of letting students use Google for research. These resources offer safe areas for students to look for their information and or give them an idea of where they can look. 

Among some of the links are Kids InfoBits, National Geographic Kids, Britannica School Elementary, SIRS Discoverer, EBSCO Ebooks, and Pebble Go.

It was good to be able to share with teachers some very good programs. It is important to note though that several of the teachers were distracted by students in the background or their minds were preoccupied with other matters. I can't fault them for any of that, the life of a teacher is quite challenging, especially when the normal school day is changed by testing and schedule alterations. The sixth-grade team, for example, had to keep students quiet with little movement until 1 and they didn't receive a conference period until 2 or so. Still, some educators were excited by the possibilities of using a new program/app with their students. Some teachers requested I help them with the programs. I shared my personal email with them and offered to come in and assist them with the creation of an account and setup. 

I created an infographic about the programs/apps shown. Click on the image to see it full size. 

Preparing for the Digital Learning Showcase

This week the focus is preparing for the Intermediate's Digital Learning Showcase. This full-day event is a way for teachers on campus to learn more about the resources available to them. I will be working alone in sharing this information on this campus since I use to teach here, I understand more of what the 5th and 6th-grade teachers may find useful. 

Originally the day was scheduled for February 27th. However, we just learned that the campus is having DBA's, District Benchmark Assessments, on the 27th and 28th. My mentor has moved the day to Tuesday, February 26th because of this. 

I'm excited to be able to run this since I've experienced this from the teacher's side before. 

I am showcasing NearPod, Dojo, Flipgrid, and providing a link to the district's library resources. Out of the programs, I am most familiar with ClassDojo, having used it a few years ago for behavior management. In order to fully prepare myself to answer questions, I am training all I can on the programs. 

Nearpod is quite interesting and I'd really like to become a certified Nearpod Teacher. I have just registered to take a Webinar on the 27th of February, unfortunately, this is after the digital showcase, but I believe it will allow me to answer any follow-up questions that might arise regarding the use of this program. From there I'm going to try and become certified by fulfilling their requirements. 

I've used ClassDojo many times in the past, this program is an excellent communication tool to use between the classroom and home. The obvious use is with classroom management. This real-time tool communicates every time a child is given a point and briefly describes the reason for the point given or taken away. In addition notifications for upcoming events or links to study materials can be shared. I've used Quizlet in conjunction with ClassDojo. 

Flipgrid is a great way to stimulate prior knowledge through a topic and links to videos, photos, websites, and such. Then the pupal can leave a video response. This tool is excellent for students who may have difficulty responding via written text. Logging in as a student is simple and can be scanned by QR code or a basic code, for example, my digital learning day I had teachers log in with jedi3.  

Brainpop, of course, shows wonderfully engaging videos, but they can be used to follow through lessons with concept maps, activities, and quizzes. 

There is so much to share with the teachers on Tuesday.

First Meeting with Mentor

February 12, 2019

I had my first meeting with my mentor to discuss projects and opportunities that are on the horizon. There are several possibilities and I have become excited about all of it. This is what I've been working towards and I find myself on the brink of tomorrow, achieving my long-time goal. 

We spoke for about an hour and I'm preparing for my first chance to step in as an educational technologist. I see that the heaviest part of my internship will be in preparing to implement actions. 

Within class we are to post for our projects, this is an excellent way for us to learn from each other and analyze the successfulness of our actions/projects. 

My first project is on February 27th and will be helping teachers with apps/programs that they may consider preparing for next year. This being the second semester for schools they are revving up for summer and are already preparing their minds for next years possibilities. This is where the educational technologist steps in. It is our task to help guide teachers along programs we have seen successful, instead of teachers floundering around the multitude of choices out there. 

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The beginning of my Internship

Spring 2019

This semester I have reached a point where I can begin my Internship. This is going to be an exciting journey and its documentation will be completed here on my blog.