Technology Medley

Just before Christmas, 2 little bichon frise puppies came to live in my house. Having lost my elderly dog last May, I had forgotten how much work, and how much joy, having a puppy can bring. Having two at the same time was a whole new experience! This video was taken on their second night in their new home:

Here are a few things that we can learn from puppies:

• Explore – Don’t be afraid! The world is the limit, and that’s how you learn.
• Elimination – Sometimes it’s necessary. Just let go of those things that you no longer need.
• Play – Play a lot!  Chase a ball, pick up a stick, just to see what happens.
• Snow – 16 inches of snow to a 10-week-old puppy at first seems overwhelming, but soon it becomes one more thing to investigate. Go ahead…jump right in and see what happens. There is always someone nearby to rescue you should you find yourself unable to climb out of the snow drift by yourself.
• Nutrition – Feed your body and your mind. Keep yourself growing by learning new things.
• Chew on that – Sometimes you just need to take time to think about new technology and other tools and how to best use them in your classroom.
• Chase your tail – Feel like you’re running in circles? Stop! Take a break. Turn off the computer, call a friend, create a special meal, do something for yourself.
• Accidents – Realize that accidents happen. Accept the consequences and learn from your mistakes.
• Greetings – Greet your friends and family with love and excitement, even if they’ve only been gone a few minutes.
• Rest – Take naps, and get plenty of rest.
• Affection – Thrive on attention and let people get to know you. Everyone can use extra hugs!
• Simplicity – An old sock can become a favorite toy. Delight in the simple things of life.
• Help – Before you get too frustrated with a task, let others assist you. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

I’m sure that those of you who own pets can relate. If you have additional items to add to the list, please leave a comment!

My sweet 17 year old puppy went to Doggy Heaven a few weeks ago. On that difficult Saturday, I posted about my heartache on Facebook. As word spread, I was surrounded by virtual hugs for several days afterward from many folks who I have known over the years. In a time of sorrow, I was lifted up by my friends, many of whom had known Sadie. Many of my friends at South Salem even remembered when I brought her to school with me when she was a puppy! My students enjoyed hearing Sadie stories, and she was truly part of my family.

I was reminded of the importance and value of friendship and relationships. My friends from several years past were quick to express concern. A few even went so far as to send me notes and cards in the mail. One of my newer friends called me up and basically insisted that I go for a walk with her and then go out to grab something to eat, even though I was quite resistant at the time. It turned out to have been just what I needed to clear my head.

What does this have to do with technology, the focus of this blog? Nothing…except to remind me and others like me that technology and computers will never replace those face to face friends that we’ve made over the years. We may communicate through Facebook, Twitter, email, etc., but we had a relationship first that just can’t be replicated online.

Face to face friends are golden!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghewgill/

I’ll be the first to admit that I spend too much time on the computer. I’m online all day at school, either working on projects for teachers to use, developing workshop plans and materials, updating web sites, answering email questions, and on and on. Then I come home and without missing a beat, I’m back online. Sometimes I just continue working from home. (Don’t all teachers work at home?) Sometimes though, I play games, and often I’m checking to see what my friends in Plurk and Facebook have been up to.

However, I have many other interests that I need to carve out time for, such as playing the piano, sewing and quilting, reading a great novel, working in the yard….All of these are rewarding in and of themselves, and I have to make a conscious effort to balance my time on the computer with these other non-techie interests.

How about you? How does this relate to the classroom? Are you striking a balance in the classroom between traditional teaching methods and the use of technology? Have your students created their own projects on the computers this year? Have you branched out to using blogs and wikis with your students? As more and more is being demanded of teachers, it can be difficult to find that balance, but teachers by their very nature are always learning and trying new things.

How are you balancing your instructional methods in your classroom this year?

I am sometimes asked what my job as an ITRT involves. In a nutshell, I’m here to assist the teachers use the available technology within their curriculum. I love this short video that Tina shared on her blog several months ago. It’s a very accurate portrayal of our responsibilities.

Several folks in my educational technology network have been participating in a meme, a blog post which is similar to a chain letter in which people tag friends to write about the same topic. This particular meme was to write seven things that others may not know about you. I was tagged by Sharon Elin several days ago.

1. My first summer job was stringing hoods. I was responsible for putting the strings in the hoods of sweatshirts in a local knitting mill. It was piece work, and I was more interested in quality than quantity, but the boss just wanted speed. That summer was great motivation for continuing my education!
2. The grandfather of my best friend in high school and college owned a local speedway ~ a half mile track that ran Nascar races twice a year. He hired us to work in the office during the summers in college and to sell tickets on race weekends. I never watched a race while I was there, but I met a lot of fun people!
3. I started taking piano lessons when I was seven years old. My mom never had to ask me to practice, because I truly loved playing. Many years later, I was a music education major with a concentration in piano. I still enjoy playing piano with my church orchestra and occasionally for church services. It’s also one of my favorite ways to relax.
4. After teaching music in an elementary school for three years, I was laid off during a huge budget crunch. (Why are music and art always the first to go?) I had taken a few accounting classes, and I spent the following year working in the audit department in a bank. I remember fighting to stay awake most days! Fortunately for me, I was rehired by the school division the next year.
5. I love to play games on my Nintendo DS and Wii.
6. My high school principal wanted me to major in math instead of music because of my SAT scores. Math was my favorite subject in high school, and I sometimes wonder if that ultimately led to my interest in computers.
7. I love to travel! I try to take a nice trip every summer. My favorite state for a vacation is Maine, and the one country I would love to return to is Italy.

I’m not going to tag anyone, but if you are reading this and have not been tagged, please consider posting your seven things. There is also a wiki that links to similar posts from other folks in the Eduverse.

If you’ve taught in any elementary school or have young children, you are most likely familiar with the Judith Viorst book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Well, by the end of the day today, I felt like Alexander. Let me explain.

I had planned to record some first graders this morning asking questions for Dr. Seibert’s trip to India. We had a brand new voice recorder, and this was our first opportunity to use it. However, even after 3 battery changes and a call to Olympus, it would not power up. So, I thought I could just use my ipod….but I could not find my microphone! I emptied everything in my office looking for it, but it was not to be found! At this point, I was already feeling a bit like Alexander, but I remembered the external mics in the computer lab. I plugged one into my laptop, configured Audacity so it would recognize the mic, and finally headed down to first grade. I’ve heard people say to always have a Plan B, but this situation warranted a Plan C.

Later in the morning, I had an introductory SmartBoard lesson with Mrs. Crotts’s Kindergarten class. We were all excited about using the SmartBoard, and I had a fun sorting activity on my computer to use with the children. However, my computer refused to recognize the SmartBoard! The children were so patient while they waited for me to disconnect my computer, reconnect another one, and find an alternative lesson. Thank goodness for holiday games in Starfall!

In the afternoon, Judy Fisher and I planned to get her second graders started creating their own blogs using Classblogmeister.  Since the day already seemed to be jinxed,  I went to the computer lab a few minutes early to make sure all of the links worked, and they did! (Whew!) So, the children all logged into their blogs, and they started writing their Thanksgiving blog entries. When the first child finished and clicked Save, she got a page not found message. Hmmm….That was not supposed to happen! Seems that the entire school had lost our internet connection! (We copied what the others had written into Word documents, saved those, and after school when our connection was restored, Judy and I copied their writing back into their blogs.)

So, the day was just a bit unusual, to say the least! Fortunately, I had strategies for handling each situation, but it really made me think about how often I’ve heard teachers say “I would love to use technology, but I don’t know how to troubleshoot, or I don’t have time to troubleshoot, when things go wrong.” Sometimes, things just go wrong. Always test equipment and web sites in advance, and have a Plan B (or C!) ….and learn to expect the unexpected.

By the day’s end, color sheets and crayons were beginning to sound pretty good to me!

p.s. I found my ipod microphone at home later this evening. The Olympus mic will be sent back to the factory for replacement. The kindergartners loved the SmartBoard activities that we did, and the second graders are proud of their blogs. Guess it wasn’t such a bad day after all!

Remember when we were kids and our first assignment each year was to write about our summer vacation? Well, this summer has gone all too quickly, as they all seem to have done these past few years. I had grand plans for house cleaning, organizing, reading, sewing, updating web pages, etc. However, summer is gone and little has been accomplished with any of those goals. It didn’t help any that I had repetitive motion injuries in both hands that had to be dealt with. Typing didn’t bother me, but sewing and playing the piano aggravated the injuries earlier in the summer, as did lifting heavy objects.

So, I spent a lot of time, along with Tina Coffey, training and working with our new student information system (TEMS)…trying to get everything ready for the beginning of the school year in our elementary schools. It was different for me to work quite a bit during the summer, but it was time well spent.

Those of you who know me well are aware that I enjoy traveling for a couple of weeks each summer too. In July, I went with a group from Grand European Tours to Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, and Budapest! Because of my music background, visiting the land of Mozart and Strauss and many other composers was very special. Highlights included a Mozart concert in the opera house in Vienna and an opera in the concert hall in Prague where Mozart himself conducted. Traveling through the land of my favorite movie, The Sound of Music, was another highlight.

Traveling through countries that were controlled by communism just a few years ago was very educational and made me appreciate even more the freedoms we have always had here in America.

So, what did you do for fun this summer? Did you spend special time with your children and grandchildren? Did you pursue a new hobby or enjoy an old one? Did you travel either locally or far away? Please leave comments below and share your fun times with others!

Our online SOL testing is finally over, and everything went very smoothly at both schools. Scores are already in, and they are really good, and in many cases, they are awesome! This would not have been possible without the assistance of everyone in the school… from the parents to the teachers, from kindergarten to fifth grade, from the custodians to the cafeteria workers, from the paraprofessionals to the office staff. This entire process was indeed a team effort.

Even though we have different positions and responsibilities, we are all on the same team. We want the best for the children.

This video is about a softball game, but the amazing sportsmanship shown here reminds me of the way everyone pulled together during testing. Job well done, team!

Memorial Day is one of the holidays that elementary students are required to learn about for their social studies SOLs.

As Memorial Day draws to a close, I find myself thinking about the fabulous trip I was able to make last summer to France. Without a doubt, one of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the American Cemetery in Normandy and to the D-Day Landing Beaches.

As we arrived that early July morning, it was drizzling rain, but none of the Americans on the trip with us seemed to notice. There was complete and total silence as the chimes in the memorial there began playing “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America.” We walked among the thousands of crosses and thought about those brave young men who sacrificed their lives for the cause of freedom, unexpected tears streaming down most of our faces. We watched in wonder as the American flag was raised so far away from our homeland. Later, we would visit the landing beaches and see the cliffs that those brave men had to scale.

Yesterday in church, we recognized those in attendance who had served in the military or in other service professions in which they risk their lives to protect ours. Once again, the unexpected tears began as these ladies and gentlemen lined the aisles to receive certificates of appreciation from our pastors while we sang “America, the Beautiful.”

These brave souls who sacrificed their lives to protect ours….these brave friends who put themselves in harm’s way to protect us daily….these are our true heroes.

In David Warlick’s keynote address for the K12 Online Conference, he states

I was probably the last generation who could look at his father and believe that he is seeing his own future……For the first time in history, we are preparing our children for a future that we cannot clearly describe, and this has profound implications on education, on what and how we teach.

Wow! That’s definitely food for thought. The class of 2020 entered Kindergarten this year. What types of jobs will they be preparing for when they enter college? What types of devices will they be using to communicate with each other  and to educate themselves? How different from ours will their lives be as adults? Can you even begin to imagine?

Here is a updated version of the “Did You Know” video by Karl Fisch that some of you have seen before.  This video  provides some enlightening information about how quickly our world is changing….well worth watching when you have a chance.