A day in the life of a technology coordinator

iPad Basic....taking baby steps

2011-12-16T09:55:00.000-05:00

As part of the long process, I was tasked to present to all the educators in my school today a basic workshop for the iPad2. Our school, with the vision of our administrators, embarked on this adventure to have the teachers "play" with the iPad2 before it can be launched school-wide in the future. The objective is for the teachers to learn the basic and get the students engage in learning with the tools that they are already accustomed to at home.

Equipped with the latest iOS version, I demonstrated just the basic skills with the iPad2 User Guide as my guide. Some of the basic gestures with the fingers were modeled as well.

All throughout the workshop though, I find myself touching the SMART Board where I have projected my presentation (see above). I have to remember that it isn't interactive on the SMART Board so I re-traced my steps and head back to my iPad and touch the screen!

Maybe we all needed a break

2011-12-15T12:36:00.000-05:00

Even the birds needed to take a break too...maybe I should play Angry Birds while on hold...

Add caption

Collaborative storytelling for all ages

2011-12-12T21:30:00.000-05:00

Back in the summer of 2011, our Language Arts teacher told me that she is interested to learn how to use Storybird in her classrooms. So my last 2 in-house technology workshops have focused on collaborative storytelling. After reading reviews from other ed tech specialists and after trying the tools myself, I came to conclusion that Storybird is more suitable for students from 3rd grade on. I then looked for a tool geared for the younger audience, PreK to 2nd grade. And so I found Little Bird Tales. The best part is that both tools are free and provides a safe learning environment for the kids as there are no ads/banners/advertisements.

Little Bird Tales Workshop

Flexibility to accommodate changes

2011-12-12T15:00:00.000-05:00

We've used NASA's DLN programs and this is now our 2nd year collaborating with them. However, this is our first time to have a distance learning from the Glenn Research Center in Ohio. Pretty interesting. Mr. David A. Mazza, DLN Education Specialist/Technology Specialist was very helpful in scheduling and accommodating changes in time, length of the program as there were last minute conflict with school activities.

The 3rd graders really enjoyed "The Moon" program. These are the same children who were first immersed into the distance learning programs that I initialized in 2009.

As the before-the-scenes event, I had to find distance learning programs that tie in to the NJ Core Curriculum Standards as well as the ISTE - NETS standards for global learning in the digital age. Once a program is found, we send in a request for the program and wait for NASA to approve it. Once it is approved, confirmation and test calls are needed. Then comes the day when I have to make sure that the distance learning room is ready and that the Polycom unit is working properly. It is always advisable to try to connect 10-15 minutes early in case there are technical difficulties and that is just what we did today and luckily, it all went smoothly.

A Seasonal ASK Author Event

2011-12-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

What a nice set of schools we had for this seasonal distance learning program called ASK Author "A Clever Beatrice Christmas with Margaret Willey". There were a total of 5 schools that connected. The name and location of the schools our 3rd grader collaborated with are listed below:

Fieldcrest Elementary School Bradford, ON, CA
Valley Elem and Mesa Verde Middle schools Poway, CA, US
Saint Kilian Parish School Cranberry Township, PA, US
Upson/Indian Hills EUCLID, OH, US

Author Margaret Willey

A Clever Beatrice Christmas

These are the things our students learned:

A Cleaver Beatrice Christmas is the 3rd Book of the Beatrice series. The series are folktales that took place in the area of French Canada, set in the upper peninsula of Michigan.
The character Beatrice was named after the author's mother in-law who was a very important figure in their family life. She was the inspiration in writing this book.

Kids questions were:

How long did it take for you to finish the book? The 1st book took a long time since it was the author's first time to write folktales. After the 1st one was published, it took the author shorter time to finish a book. Overall, for the "A Clever Beatrice Christmas"it took the author maybe 3 or 4 months to pull it off together and maybe a few more weeks to put all the elements together.
How long have you been writing books? The author wrote her first book when the author was in her 20's - published in 1981. It was a novel for bigger kids. Overall, she has published 7 pictures books and 8 novels.
How old is Beatrice? Beatrice is round 8 or 9 years old in the first book series. The author's daughter was around that age when the author started writing the series. In the 3rd series, Beatrice is about 10 or 11 years old.
Are you from Canada? The author is not from Canada but her husband is Canadian.
Do you have any children? The author has 2 children. They are now grown adults. Her son has 2 children.
What was your favorite Christmas story as a kid? The best Christmas pageant ever is the author's favorite and she used to read to her daughter.
Do you have a special place you like to write? She writes in her office. Downstairs at the back of the house. She can write anywhere - take a notebook or a laptop.
Is there a message you want your readers to grasp? Children cannot play tricks to everybody
What is your favorite color? Red is the color of adventure in folktales. The author loves the color RED! She was the eldest daughter in the family. Being the oldest, she used to read books out loud to her younger siblings.
How come Beatrice only live with her mother? The author wrote it with just Beatrice and her mother. She didn't really think about Beatrice's father. So when children started asking where Beatrice's father was, the author thought of the Lumber Camps in the upper peninsula - where Beatrice father's work and he died during a lumber camp accident.
What were you like in 3rd Grade? The author was the littlest girl in the class. She was very shy.

Just imagine the possibilities of having this conversation with an author and children do not even have to leave the school?

Rocks & Weathering

2011-11-11T15:24:00.000-05:00

I've shown this website at one of my in-house tech workshops from last school year. However, as I was troubleshooting the SMART Board for a middle school science teacher due to an orientation issue, I happened to notice that she will be discussing about rocks and other formations to her students. So I suggested to her to use this website from BBC on Rocks & Weathering.

Courtesy of bbc.co.uk

Not only did the teacher loves it, her students loved it too! The students started talking with British accent after the class. How funny! She used it in the classroom and as a homework for her students. When the school administrator saw it in the teacher's wiki discussion log on "great interactive lessons" topic, the school administrator gave it a thumbs up!

OCR Scanning and Interactive Quizzes

2011-11-02T14:12:00.000-04:00

Quia is no longer just a board game that we grew up playing. Quia.com provides an avenue for teachers to create their own games and quizzes.

One of our teachers who bought the paid version of Quia encountered a hurdle though in creating her own interactive lessons. There are a lot of typing involved and she needed to enter texts from printed materials. However the typing is taking a lot of her time preparing for lessons. So comes the solution of using the OCR scanning feature of our HP Scanjet 3110. I was able to show her during one-on-one session how to use it and saved the scanned image as PDF or Word. Voila!

Pumpkin Seed Project 2011

2011-10-31T15:05:00.000-04:00

We've completed participating again for this year's Pumpkin Seed Project 2011. For some of the teachers, this is now their 4th year participating since I've introduced this online collaborative project in school.

Below are 2 photoshows created by our teachers showcasing all the fun yet learning activities for this project:

Our Pumpkin Project

Mystery Pumpkin Seeds

These videos are also featured in the Pumpkin Seed Project 2011 Gallery. Once again, thank you Jennifer Wagner.

Isn't it DELICIOUS?

2011-10-10T13:49:00.000-04:00

When you get asked by a teacher who isn't as tech savvy as most of her colleagues to help her with social bookmarking, you then walk around the whole day with a smile on your face.

I've shared delicious.com social bookmarking to the school community back in 2009. My presentation is below.

After a few days after I had worked with this teacher, I then did a follow-up to see how she is using this tool. She told me that she no longer has to email the website links she finds at home to her school email account because now they are all centralized and can be accessed through delicious.com.

Now that's a pat on the back!

Stack those OREOS

2011-10-05T14:50:00.000-04:00

For our 4th year collaborating with other school on projects suggested by Jennifer Wagner, this year's OREO Project is the schools first taste of collaborative projects online.

Three of our primary grade teachers participated and engaged their students to this fun-filled activities yet building the students learning skills in math, science and language arts. Overall, there were 900+ classes that participated in this learning project some as far as Turkey and Germany.

Map provided from www.jenuinetech.com

Once again, kudos to Ms. Wagner for all the wonderful projects you give our teachers and students!

How to use the wiki

2011-09-26T14:40:00.000-04:00

As this is a school-wide collaboration tool, today I held my first in-house technology workshop on the topic of "How to use the wiki".

Topics involved:

creating pages
editing pages that are not locked and how to use the editing tools provided.
monitoring changes in the wiki or on a page
adding pictures
adding a file
adding a hyperlink

Issues encountered:

Wikispaces does not have a spell checker on it's editing toolbar.
Adding the pictures tool wasn't quite working so I had to create a Jing video later on and embedded the video on the school's private wiki as a supplemental workshop resource.

As in any new introduction of tech tools, you will find that others are reluctant to use it and that it fine. On the other side of the spectrum too are teachers who think they already know how to use the tool only to find out that they don't. Either way, supportive attitude by providing one-on-one sessions or follow-ups are encouraged so that this tool will be used successfully.

A safer place to view YouTube videos

2011-09-17T13:32:00.000-04:00

At each technology conventions I attend, most often than not, the no. 1 complain of teachers is that "sites are blocked" in school. That can be very annoying to know that educational web resources are blocked.

In our school, we were able to use M86Vusafe as a venue to show YouTube videos without the harm of seeing inappropriate videos and ads. M86Security is our school's web filtering service provider and they created M86Vusafe as a portal for safe video watching.

I am the school's M86Vusafe administrator and I could invite teachers via email to join in and create an account. This gives them access to create their own libraries of education rich videos that they could show in their classroom without being blocked by the filtering software. Each video is tagged and grouped according to the age level where it is appropriate for viewing.

So now, YouTube website is still blocked by our filtering software however, with this new portal teachers could show Science & Math videos created by Khan Academy, and other classroom supplemental videos such as YouTube/Teachers.

Issue Tracking System

2011-08-25T13:05:00.000-04:00

On October 2010, I created the school's first web-based technical issue tracking system using Google Docs. It was easy to setup and it serves as my to-do list. Teachers were advised via email how to report technical issues using Google Forms. After an issue is logged, it gets recorded on Google Spreadsheets where I could manage it and mark priorities and added comments.

This school year, 2011-2012, I shared this collaborative tool with the new tech teams so that we know who is fixing what issue. This also serves as a history tracking and reference in case the same issue re-occurs.

I've also added this to the privately-held school wiki so that administrators could check the queries. It also gives the teachers and staff members another venue to report any technical issues they encounter however big or small.

Wiki in progress

2011-08-22T21:22:00.000-04:00

Back in 2008 when I first suggested using wiki for teachers to be able to collaborate with other teachers outside our school, I never thought that today, the school administrator will approve for the school to create its own wiki. I guess patience is indeed a virtue that we must all possess.

Prior to the beginning of the new school year, I was tasked to create a wiki for professional development purposes for all the educators and staff members of the school. I have to present different wiki "flavors" out there - its pros and cons. Ultimately, the administrator approved for me to use Wikispaces.

Only 2 teachers in 2008 tried using wiki for collaboration. This was for a project called Winter Wonderland. Today, after creating this private wiki for school's professional development, I am happy to report that 100% of the teachers in school now have officially became wiki members. It is kept privately and teachers are only invited via email to join in.

A professional development workshop is schedule in the next few weeks to fully introduce the tools for group discussions, monitoring pages, etc.

Summer job

2011-08-05T21:27:00.000-04:00

The school has been quiet since it is summer time. Only a few maintenance workers keeping the school in tip-top shape before it reopens; some teachers coming in to clean up and get their classrooms ready. The technology team has been busy as well with maintenance jobs to keep the computers and peripheral equipment ready for school opening.

Some of the tasks we do are:

1. Defragmentation

2. Disk Cleanup

3. Data Backup

4. Installations of updates

5. Installations of new programs

6. Server Backup

7. Installations of new Dell PCs in the computer lab

8. Redistribution of old PCs in other classrooms

9. Setting up new HP Net books

This may not seem a lot but with limited time in the summer months, it truly becomes a lot of tasks at hand to accomplish. However, working in teams makes it better.

Distance Learning from NASA

2011-05-16T21:50:00.000-04:00

Did I tell you it's FREE? How much better can this get? Distance Learning programs offered by NASA and it is all free. This is our first time collaborating with NASA and so far, the experience has been wonderful.

From online registration, to scheduling test calls and confirmation of the event, NASA is there to help you.

4085 [ Apr, 15 2011 09:00 AM Eastern ] States of Matter: Solids, Liquids, Gases, & Beyond
4112 [ May, 03 2011 09:05 AM Eastern ] States of Matter: Solids, Liquids, Gases, & Beyond
3725 [ May, 03 2011 12:00 PM Eastern ] A View from the Top: Looking at Earth from Space
3726 [ May, 04 2011 12:00 PM Eastern ] A View from the Top: Looking at Earth from Space
4202 [ May, 09 2011 09:00 AM Eastern ] States of Matter: Solids, Liquids, Gases, & Beyond
4172 [ May, 16 2011 09:30 AM Eastern ] Our Solar Neighborhood
4263 [ May, 16 2011 10:30 AM Eastern ] Our Solar Neighborhood

Above are the distance learning programs that we have collaborated with NASA on our 1st year. Their presenters, especially Mr. Damon Talley of Kennedy Space Center captures the students attention like no one else in the "States of Matter: Solids, Liquids and Gases and Beyond". He makes the students go around the room and pretend that they are solid molecules, liquid molecules and gas molecules. He also showed our very enthusiastic 3rd grade learners some cool experiments with liquid nitrogen.

Students in 7th grade learned from "A View from the Top: Looking at Earth from Space" about satellite imagery used by NASA for weather forecast, urban development and believe it or not - archaeology.

As a review of their study of the solar system, our 1st graders got supplemental learning from the experts in space study.

All of these programs tie in to their grade level science curriculum. My job is to make sure that it ties in and then suggest these programs to the teachers. Once the teachers show interest in the programs we then sit down one-on-one and find out the appropriate time and date for the students to engage in distance learning. School calendars and other school holidays are considered when scheduling. Sometimes, a program is offered by more than one NASA centers so keep trying.

Mystery Quest USA

2011-04-13T21:48:00.000-04:00

Chaotic? Yes, but seeing all the minds at work trying to solve the mystery - now that's priceless. All 5th grade classes participated in this year's MysteryQuest USA. One class has 4 other schools around the nation in their event making it a much challenging quest. This program ties in to their curriculum in geography.

Our students find a mystery state and a mystery city in that state. They then present their clues either by posters or something new this year for our 5th graders - clues presented in a court room scene. How clever!

I set up the video conference room in such a way that there we have the laptop mobile cart that day so that the students may use the laptops for research. In addition, Atlases, textbooks, and maps are all readily available for the students to use.

At the end of their research period, they now have a chance to ask the other schools one question for the students to reevaluate their answers. Then comes the revelation which is the most exciting part especially when you guess the mystery correctly.

What I am very proud of this year is the encouragement that I've seen from teachers who have already done this in the past to teachers who may have seem reluctant and unsure if this video conference program is something that they could do. At the end of this MysteryQuestUSA 2011, hearing the reluctant and unsure teachers say "I think I'll do this again next year" is very rewarding.

Taking it to the next level - create your own SMART Board lesson

2011-04-04T21:47:00.000-04:00

Now that the teachers are getting comfortable using the SMART Board, I devised a plan to take it to the next level. Since the time when we first got the SMART Boards, the teachers have used the SMART Board by downloading pre-made lessons created using Notebook software. In addition, the teachers have also used the SMART Board to show interactive activities and games in the classrooms.

My follow-up plan is to introduce them to using SMART Notebook to create their OWN lessons. I've shown them some of these video on YouTube and then one-by-one, I re-created the steps involved. I have also outlined the steps on a slideshow so that the teachers could use that as well as a reference guide when they want to review the skills just learned at the workshop.

ASK Author Laurie Keller

2011-03-16T21:45:00.000-04:00

One of our 4th grade classes was fortunate to have been part of this great opportunity to talk to an author via video conference. Our students participated in the ASK Author program brought to us by Polycom Special Events.

They were able to ask questions to author Laurie Keller about her work on Scrambled States of America Talent Show. Together with 5 other classes in the United States, our students took turns asking some of these questions to Ms. Keller:

How did she become an author?
What inspired her to write?
How did she pick the characters in the book?
Who is her illustrator?
How long does it take for her to finish writing a book?

Our students did all that without having to leave the school - even on a predicted snow day!

Read Around The Planet 2011

2011-03-05T21:43:00.000-05:00

After weeks spent in doing endless test calls and re-scheduling due to numerous reasons, one of which is weather, this week Read Around The Planet 2011 finished with a bang!

We were able to connect with different schools throughout the United States. Scheduling can bring conflict especially with time difference. Lucky for us, all of our partner schools are in the Eastern Time Zone. However, our major problem for this year's RAP was the weather. Plan B was always in place in case our school is closed due to snow storms or the far-end school is closed due to weather related issues as well.

A lot of classes participate in RAP in conjunction with these events:

Dr. Seuss' Birthday (March 2)
March is Reading Month
World Book Day (March 5)

These are the location of the schools we were fortunate to have share this love of reading experience for this year's RAP:

Suffolk, VA
Wappingers Falls,NY
Vermiliion, OH
Newark, OH
West Lawn, PA
Port Washington, NY

Online post-it notes

2011-02-28T21:04:00.000-05:00

We all love post-it notes, well, at least I do. I love the neon colored one, the ones that stands out and really captures your attention. To others, it is a nuisance. To me, it reminds me constantly of the task however small it is that needs my attention.

I conducted today a workshop for the teachers to use post-it virtually using 2 tools. We tried Wallwishers and Linoit. Some prefer one from the other. We discussed the pros and cons of each tool and from there make a better judgement on which tool is appropriate for educational needs.

Document Camera....action!

2011-02-23T21:13:00.000-05:00

Today a vendor from Touchboards showed me a demo of The Hover Cam. Apparently this little machine can do wonders. I've seen other documents cameras at tech expos sponsored by NJAET and at the NCEA in Minneapolis. However, this Hover Cam is very versatile and fits right our budget.

One of the features that capture my attention is the recording capability. It can then be used by teacher to review on a science experiment perhaps that the class performed a few weeks ago or it can be used to review on an artifact in conjunction with the study of ancient civilizations.

It is easy-to-use. It is very lightweight making it easy to move from one classroom to the next.

Smart Table - let us share and collaborate

2011-02-07T21:28:00.000-05:00

From PreK years, we teach our students to share. Sharing is something that they learn at this early age in their lives. SMART Table is all about sharing and collaborating.

Today, I happen to be one of those students attending a workshop presented by Carolyn Bennett of Keyboard Consultants. I wanted to be present because when Ms. Bennett is finished with her workshop, I will then inherit the role of providing the teachers tips and suggestions and possibly refresher course on how to use SMART Table in the classroom.

I learned a very valuable lesson in sharing today.

Highlights of Distance Learning Revealed

2011-01-30T12:00:00.000-05:00

During one of the many occasions when prospective parents visit the school, I created this presentation below in hopes of igniting their curiosity in this 21st century way of learning. Today was one of those occasions and I set up about 10 laptops all of which are running this presentation on a loop mode while I have the real video conference unit on so that they could see what this tool could do. I got various questions and it was an opportunity for me to answer them.

New Year's Resolution

2011-01-24T20:51:00.000-05:00

As inspired by Richard Bryne of Free Technology for Teacher's blog, I have created these 2 presentations below to cater to PreK to 5th grade group and the Middle School group. I've compiled some of the suggestions Mr. Bryne had been posted during the month of January of things to try for the new year. (Thank you!!!)

I am just hoping that the teachers will find at least one web resources to try this year. Time to make that new year's resolution...

For PreK to 5th Grade

For Middle School

The Marriage of Stability and Mobility

2011-01-10T18:16:00.000-05:00

Another part of my job as a technology coordinator is to work with vendors and schedule troubleshooting/maintenance visits for malfunctioning equipment.

In less than a year since we got new SMART Boards mounted on Conen Mobile Stands, we noticed that the arm stabilizers weren't keeping the projector in a secure way. A user would have to keep on jiggling the projector to get a good projected image on the SMART Board. At times, the projector gets so loose that it seems as if it is just hanging on one side. It has become hazardous to operate especially since small children are using the SMART Board throughout the week.

We opted for this so that we could move the unit from one classroom to the next. With limited resources, having a mobile stand solves our problem.

Coordinating with vendors, ordering supplies and waiting for technicians to troubleshoot the issue take a week sometimes.

The love of reading

2011-01-07T18:04:00.000-05:00

A simple project where 2 classrooms share their love of reading through video conferencing. This is our 2nd year of participating in this project called Read Around the Planet (RAP) 2010.

In the past, students from our school shared a play from one of Dr. Seuss' books, another shared their published work on Historical fiction. It takes a lot of effort for the classroom teacher to prepare for this event and I am thankful for their continued willingness to expose their students to a different kind of learning - a learning that extends far beyond the four walls of their classroom.

Below is a video introduction by Janine Lim regarding this project:

How much faster can you be?

2011-01-03T09:52:00.000-05:00

Today, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo's Free Distance Learning programs registration opened up at 8:30am EST. I should have asked another person to help me in registering online as it felt like I was so rushed and moving at the speed of light trying to register for events.

I was able to register for 5 events however 4 of which are waitlisted so I am keeping my hopes up that we would be able to participate. These are highly popular and in-demand distance learning programs so getting 1 is not bad at all. After all, it is FREE.

Can you hear me now?

2010-12-16T09:42:00.000-05:00

Today's test call for the Weather Buddies with Dallas ISD school was a success. After last time's Weather Buddies video conference event where we encountered a very bad audio feedback, testing prior to the next event is very crucial.

Somehow, the video conference unit in the Dallas ISD school has changed specifications and the substitute teacher was not quite aware of the technical needs to have a smooth-sailing video conference.

Lesson learned: if you are going to be absent, make sure that someone knowledgeable of the video conference equipment will be available in case connection issues occur.

Try a little mischief

2010-12-14T09:40:00.000-05:00

After months of waiting for the wireless mice to arrive from Microsoft, we finally got it. Now, I just need to create a plan on how it can be implemented in the curriculum.

Using PowerPoint 2007, students using Microsoft Mouse Mischief can interactively participate by clicking, drawing, circle, cross out answers to question being posted by the teacher.

This brings a whole new dimension to the word collaborative learning inside the classroom.

Flexibility is the key

2010-12-06T09:27:00.000-05:00

What I have learned since I independently proposed to the administrator for the school to have a video conference system is that FLEXIBILITY is the key. Whether it was just during the initial phase of interviewing vendors, to negotiating the cost, to scheduling a distance learning program - one must be flexible to make it happen.

As part of the 5th grade curriculum on Colonial Times, I worked with the 5th grade teachers to find a distance learning program that fits the need. We were able to find "A Visit To The More House" hosted by the New York State Historical Association that was suggested to us by Lori Colwill.

In finding the right schedule for the class(es) to have the distance learning, here are just a few obstacles encountered:

Conflict with other school activities especially during this very busy Christmas season
Conflict with the providers' schedule - the presenter is on vacation
Should we fit 2 classes in one event?
Budget in having 2 separate distance learning event

However, through these minor issues, we were able to learn that in order to make distance learning works, both parties must be flexible. We haven't even mention equipment malfunction on the event day itself!!! :)

A VoiceThread learner, now a pro

2010-11-22T09:11:00.000-05:00

Our success as instructional technology staffs show when our teachers who once were reluctant to use technology are now becoming proficient. Using the tool regularly, gives the teachers more practice and therefore more confidence to use it more. Being there for them, either as an in-class support or during a one-on-one learning opportunity shows these teachers that you are readily available for them and are wiling to lend a hand.

Here is an example of an elementary teacher who does not need my help anymore with VoiceThread. I certainly do not feel bad about it - in fact, it is the opposite. I have trained her well.

Holiday Card Exchange

2010-11-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

On our 3rd year of participating in this online collaborative project hosted by Jennifer Wagner, our teachers and students are excited to once again be part of this seasonal project.

Many of the teachers cannot wait for their group list which will show the locations of all the classes around the world that they will be exchanging holiday cards.

For technology, one of the suggested activity is to use Google Earth to create landmarks so that partner schools can further take learning to the next level by using this tool to travel to all their partner schools locations in the world. What a field trip around the world!

Such a simple project yet a meaningful one for this season!

How's the weather?

2010-11-14T15:39:00.002-05:00

Isn't it funny that we sometimes find ourselves talking about the weather to break the ice when faced with a new acquaintance? That's how it all started last year when we took part in the Weather Buddies with ISD of Texas. Last year, only one 2nd grade class participated. This year, through my encouragement and continued assistance to the teachers, 4 elementary teachers are on their way to our 2nd virtual meeting this school year. I just sent them a reminder of our next video conferencing for the 1st week of December. http://disdvideoconferencing.pbworks.com/w/page/17899942/Weather-Buddies

Funny that the Texas kids ask us about snow (in October) and funny that our kids ask them about the heat! The students and teachers are truly thrilled with collaborating and talking about the weather with their partner classes. Thanks to Miss Lori Colwill, Videoconferencing Coordinator of Dallas ISD for making this project happen.

Limited User - Not allowed to scan

2010-11-03T15:06:00.021-04:00

To save paper for assigned worksheets, our language arts teacher asked for my assistance in scanning her worksheets and creating a PDF so that it can be posted on her daily/weekly homework page. What a great idea! Let's save trees.

As I try to install an HP Scanjet G3110 Photo Scanner on one of the computers, I encountered this error: When logged in as administrator (local or network), the scanner works perfectly fine. Non-admin users get the error of : "An error while communicating with the HP imaging device". Researching through numerous forums online gave no real solution to my problem. I checked the connectivity, uninstalling then reinstalling the software driver but all of those solutions were of no help. Finally, I thought of patches and came across this Limited User Patch and voila!

Now our language arts teacher can use the HP scanner and can continue to help save trees!

Bonjour! Email dictionary now in French

2010-10-27T20:41:00.001-04:00

One of the elementary teachers was the first person to use my online "Tech Request" form that I created this month so I could assign a priority level into the request as well as for the requester to view what actions are being done to fix their tech help request. Here is what she wrote "When writing an email, my spell check does not work and I always like to double check my spelling before I send something to parents". I don't blame you. I do too.

So after researching on how to fix this Microsoft Outlook known issue, I used the suggestion found on http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/2006/20061228.htm. It is a simple fix and worked great for me since we still have the Office 2003 installation files on the server. All I did was to install the Proofing Tools and that allowed for the dictionary to be reset back to English.

School Pride - Getting the students appreciate what they have

2010-10-26T14:52:00.001-04:00

Our computer teacher had this amazing idea of incorporating the NBC Show "School Pride" which premiered on October 15 into the ed tech learning of the students. By showing them what other schools have (or do not have), the students tech project to evaluate the state of education in our country not only makes them aware of what is going on in the world of education reform but becoming aware as well of the multitudes of priveleges the students have in school that other schools can only dream of.

On her monthly class webpage, she wanted to embed the video from http://www.hulu.com/watch/186012/school-pride-soaring-eagles but it was once again blocked due to the school internet filtering. I then worked with her in finding ways to embed it in her class webpage so that she can show her 8th grade students the video. I then found the video link that was then allowed on our school internet filtering directly from NBC website: http://www.nbc.com/school-pride/video/soaring-eagles/1254744.

As I sat in her classroom while she was showing this to the students, I could see in the students' faces the reaction as they could not believe that some school systems truly lack the resources that we have in our school. Somehow this project is almost like an immersion project, an awakening one. Hopefully as the season of Thanksgiving is coming that we truly would feel blessed and content in all the gifts that we presently have.

Science website - blocked

2010-10-22T14:23:00.001-04:00

Fifth graders are learning about the muscular system. Their very resourceful Science teacher wanted to use the website "How the Body Works" from Kidshealth. Unfortunately, with the very strict internet filtering service that the school have, M86Security, some of the contents of this website was blocked. Lucky enough, I was able to unblock the website for her after I evaluated the validity of the site. I then created a URL exception on the Teachers Group to allow such websites.

This has been a battle for some of the teachers who want to integrate technology in the classroom. This hurdle of internet security is what they face when they want to implement technology into their lesson planning.

Attending NJAET Hands On Session on Elementary Blogging

2010-10-12T09:40:00.002-04:00

I am here right now at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, NJ attending this year's NJAET Riding the Tech Wave workshop. The first session that I am attending is on Using Educational Blogs in the Elementary Classroom presented by Nicole Luongo. My goal in attending this hands-on workshop is to learn how to make blogging much "safer" for the elementary students.

With the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPAA)'s rule, it makes it hard to have the elementary students get involved. How do we get parent's permission? How do we get them an email account to sign-in? Though I've read various articles on this and how to go about it, I still would like to see it from the perspective of someone already in the field blogging with elementary students.

These are my thoughts and hope to get an answer!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

2010-03-01T21:18:00.000-05:00

In anticipation for Seussical Week, I've downloaded the new version of KidThing on all the PreK-1 classroom laptops. Last week, our first time using KidThing, the children had a blast. I am anticipating the same reaction from children this time around. Some of the teachers have never seen this great tool before so I have to download for them as well the great offer in collaboration with NEA of getting Dr. Seuss books for FREE (by providing a promo code).

The books comes to life and the pages turn, you can do it manually or auto mode. I personally like the manual operation since it feels like I am lifting the pages from the book. The kids will surely have a great experience seeing an interactive digital book projected on the SmartBoard.

What an exciting way to celebrate the love of reading.

Blame in on the rain (not quiet rain but snow)

2010-02-26T21:13:00.004-05:00

As what the infamous group Milli Vanilli used to lip-synch, "Blame it on the rain", yet East Coast didn't quiet got rained...we were snowed in. Due to school closing, our 8th graders weren't able to prepare much of the required clues needed for MysteryQuest: AFRICA.

Later today, I found out that it wasn't just our school that didn't make it to the video conferencing event. Another school in Ohio didn't make it too due to the same reason - school closing.

A great suggestion then came up from Janine Lim. She said that since we and the OH school weren't present at the MysteryQuest that we can do it on our own especially since both have already done Quests in the past. Terrifique! Can't wait to get going once we come back to school.

Not just a local "Open House"

2010-01-31T22:10:00.000-05:00

With the overwhelming response to the Catholic Schools Unite video conferencing invitation that we sent out, the spots were filled expeditiously. Diane Zuzga of St. Michael School in Orland Park, IL, one of the responders then proposed that maybe we could have the video conferencing event during our school's open house which coincide with their open house as well.

It was one of the highlights of our Open House and it was theirs too. As Ms. Zuzga and I connected, staff members, students, parents, and prospective parents came in to the Distance Learning room and saw LIVE in action how video conferencing works. We explained how we've used video conferencing as a tool to broaden the learning experiences of our students by participating in collaborative projects like MysteryQuest, Read Around the Planet to something so simple as Weather Buddies or Thanksgiving 20 Questions.

We hope that prospective parents from both sides saw the benefit of such tool. We hope that this was among the many "selling points" presented.

First Video Conferencing Invitation Sent

2010-01-24T21:29:00.007-05:00

In preparation for the upcoming Catholic Schools Week, we sent out a video conferencing invitation to a Catholic High School in the same area. Their technology coordinator and video conferencing gurus were the ones who walked me through the process of acquiring our own Polycom VC equipment last year. I sent them out an email and proposed for our 8th grade graduating class to talk to their freshmen (and possibly alums from our school) to talk about 1st day jitters, adjustments etc.

The school secretary then suggested "Why not invite Catholic schools in the nation as well?". At first, I wanted to say "NO" since I only wanted to have a simple video conferencing project. But the thought of talking to another school in the nation to talk about Catholic Schools Week was very enticing.

Later that Friday afternoon, I found myself putting a request for collaboration on CAPspace and CILC with the theme "Catholic Schools Unite". By Saturday morning, I already got a few responses from:

St. Thomas Aquinas Parish School in Waterford, WI
St. Michael School in Orland Park, IL
St. Ann School in Nashville, TN
Trinity Catholic School in Columbus, OH
St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School in Memphis, TN

What an overwhelming response for our first invitation!

Who says you cannot teach an old dog new tricks?

2010-01-16T19:25:00.004-05:00

This idiomatic expression has proven to be NOT true. After encouraging and guiding 2 seasoned teachers in the Middle School level who has taught for over 30 years, the barrier of hesitation and predicament over technology have been broken.

We fear the unknown. That's human nature. Yet we continue to strive to better ourselves. These 2 teachers who I am most proud of continue to shine and take leaps of faith to the unknown.

Lisa Thumann at the NJAET's conference in November gave a very good analogy which you might have already heard from other Tech Coaches around the nation. She said that patients probably would have second thoughts going to a physician who hasn't updated his/her skills. How do we then impart knowledge as educators to our students when we do not have the skills they need? If we do not strive to educate ourselves with the ways our students should be learning, aren't we depriving them of their future? "I can't create my future with the tools of your past" - is what struck me the most.

These 2 teachers have trusted me to equip them with those tools. Together we worked to prepare to use the Interactive Whiteboard to teach students Lewis & Clark's Expedition using Google Earth. Students traveled to the Mouth of Osage River and traveled to the burial site of Sgt. Floyd and traced how far it is from our school's present day location. They are learning geography and calculating distances in their Social Studies curriculum via technology! The students were in awe at the things they learned and in awe at the new skill their teacher has recently acquired.

Together we worked on using VoiceThread to integrate technology in the Language Arts curriculum. Prepositional Poems and Historical Fiction are now understood in a different light. Students' oral reading skills are honed with such tool. Students' confidence level soared as their projects are now posted on the teacher's web page rather than just in the hallways of the school. Students understood that their audience has tripled or quadrupled perhaps.

So why not empower all the teachers with tech tools? I always say that everyone has their comfort zones. Maybe in a month or two, they will come out and embrace new skills. Maybe they might take longer than that. My job though is to present all the tech tools and skills that I know and hope that one teacher or two will create a ripple effect for all to feel.

That ripple effect is proliferating in the elementary level. Again, 2 veteran teachers are tackling projects using VoiceThread and online collaborative projects exposing the kids to a different way of learning. They are using SmartBoard to show the youngsters about habitats and animal's adaptation. All of these took time for them to get used to. They didn't just broached the topic to their students "Today we are using the SmartBoard". It took weeks even months to prepare them. We worked hand-in-hand to research for topics via Smart Exchange followed by practicing the lesson and finding other ways to make it even more interactive. Like I always say "Rome was not made in one day".

So now you tell me, can you teach an old dog new tricks?

Soaring With Video Conferencing Projects

2010-01-12T16:45:00.002-05:00

What an exciting week registering for upcoming video conferencing projects. Our teachers are coming out of their comfort zone and taking a leap of faith. I am proud of them all!

MysteryQuest World Geography: AFRICA - 8th Grade Social Students students will be participating together with schools from Ohio, New York, Michigan, Texas and Wisconsin in this video conferencing event on February 23 and February 26.
2nd Grade Class will meet their partner Weather Buddies from Texas on January 20th. They are scheduled to meet once-a-month until May 2010.
Read Around the Planet - a celebration of reading using video conferencing. 8th grade Language Arts students will participate in this event on March 1 and March 3. Middle School World Language students will participate in this event of March 5
ASK Author Interview with Elizabeth Raum and her book, The Revolutionary War, An Interactive History Adventure - 4th Grade students first exposure to video conferencing by connecting with 5 other classrooms around the world to interview an author. This event is schedule for April 20.

Hardware: Numonics Whiteboard, Software: Smart Notebook

2009-12-11T16:27:00.001-05:00

All of our middle school classrooms are equipped with Numonics IntelliBoard but it has it's own temperament. There are days when the wireless connection isn't working so the teacher would have to call me and I have to reconfigure all the connections so the teacher could continue working with WIRED connection.

For several days, I've worked with one Intelliboard in the science lab and this one just won't work. I've called tech support and did a bunch of tests but no avail. I've sent the electrical circuitry for analysis (2 of them in fact) and finally, it was discovered that the culprit was the voltage. It was frying up the unit!

While I was investigating this issue, I happen to open Smart Notebook 10 software. We do own a SmartBoard and all the classroom computers got Smart Notebook 10 installed on them over the summer. As I accidentally opened Notebook 10, it occured to me that we could use the IntelliBoard with the Notebook 10 software and voila! It worked like wonders.

History was made

2009-11-10T09:32:00.000-05:00

What if no handshake happens when we try to connect? What if? Days prior to the first video conferencing project for our school to embark on, I was a nervous freak. When November 9th came, I had my normal morning caffeine jolt and headed to the video conference room that is packed with 40+ 7th Graders and their Social Studies teacher.

They only had a week to prepare but the room was filled with posters for clues, for scripts, and the students anticipation was way up high.

We connected 15 minutes before the scheduled VC just to be sure that we could connect and we did!! The middle school from upstate NY wasn't ready yet so we waited for them. Once the VC started, it was so good! No, it was great!

Our students presented clues the "old-fashioned way" by creating posters. The far-end students presented their clues via PowerPoint presentation. Let me see if you could guess who this Revolutionary War icon is:

NJAET 2009 Conference - Wealth of information

2009-10-14T12:14:00.001-04:00

At the NJAET 2009 "In Tune with Technology" Conference in Lakewood, NJ, I had the great time learning. It was a mecca of information. I registered the very last minute ( the night before) because I wasn't sure if I could come due to some scheduling issues.

Looking at the list of activities for the day was overwhelming. I wish I could clone myself so that I could be at every single workshop - hands on or not. So here is how my day went at the NJAET 2009 Conference:

8:00am Still driving on Route 9 South
8:30am Arrived and registered at the desk
8:40am Figuring out which workshop to attend while eating bagel with cream cheese and drinking coffee
8:50am Visiting booths and getting freebies
9:00am Listening to B. McLaughin talk about "Blogs, Wikis & Podcasts: What are They and How Do They Fit in my classroom"
9:25am Still cannot connect my laptop to the wireless network in the university; been troubleshooting for the nth times; wasn't the only one alone with same issues
10:20am Met Lisa Thumann for Session#2 "In Tune" With the 21st Century Student
10:25am University's tech people came to the rescue and provided laptop users with some sort of a wireless connection - yippee!
10:26am Tweeted that I was listening to Lisa Thumann
10:35am "Do not teach me with the tools from your past" - powerful presentation
11:35am Meet with my co-attendee at lunch
12:45am My co-attendee won a raffle - another yippee!
1:00pm Listening to Zumu's owner, Liz Niederberger's presentation on "Making Your Website Work for your school, teachers, students and parents"
1:30pm Liz' laptop lost internet wireless connections and borrowed my laptop
2:20pm Hands-On workshop for "SmartBoards and Digital Learning" presented by Lany Burnett of Tequipment.com.

Posters, pens and bookmarks and a tote-bag -- these are just a few of the freebies that I got. But what counts the most is the experience and the learning I gained from this conference.

Collaboration through Video Conferencing

2009-10-08T21:42:00.001-04:00

I proposed procuring a video conferencing unit to the administration last year. After thorough research on which unit to purchase, we got our Polycom HDX7001XL installed. Hurdles were encountered when I tried to do an equipment test during the first week of school with Sue J. Calvin of Berks County Intermediate Unit. Equipment testing is a pre-requisite for TWICE so we could start participating in various collaborating projects available. After tweaking here and there, the re-test was a success.

With memberships to these organizations and resource people listed below, our options for video conferencing and collaborating are innumerable:

TWICE's CAPspace
GlobalSchool.net
Oracle sponsored ThinkQuest
Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC)
Judy Bornstein of CMSCE (The Center for Mathematics, Science and Computer Education) listed us on the Peer-T0-Peer Video Conferencing Directory.
We are in the process of getting a bridge for AccessNJ so we could connect to content providers who use ISDN connection.

NEWSFLASH:

Our first middle-school VC project: Janine Lim has been instrumental in getting us on board on the first middle-school video conferencing project called HistoryQuest.
Our first elementary school VC project: Weather-Buddies

We are excited! We can't wait for more VC projects and hopefully get some lessons from content providers around the globe.

Was it too much to grasped in one seating?

2009-08-27T17:26:00.004-04:00

I just finished presenting to all the teachers the technology tools that we will be focusing for the upcoming school year. There were mixed reactions but I reiterated that this is the way education is moving forward. Our principal states that by withholding these tools to the students in the classrooms that we are actually not doing our part in preparing our students for the technological advancements in any field.

I am so glad that “reading” was one of the topics of the discussion and I could already see myself having a Wordle workshops for the teachers. I may not even have to conduct workshops for Wordle. Some may just start signing-up for it and start using it for their poetry, vocabulary words (not just in language arts but in Science, Math, Social Studies, Spanish etc). Reading is truly essential in any subjects and in all the different facets of life.

Here’s a SlideRocket presentation that I showed at the meeting. I hope you would find this useful too.

Summer Reading materials

2009-06-23T15:45:00.000-04:00

I missed the last week of school due to health issues. I wasn't able to say goodbye to the wonderful students and teachers and staffs, some of whom are retiring this year.

Recuperating now at home and posting on our school's site the summer reading materials. I always love summer reading programs. Prior to working for schools, I always encouraged my first-born daughter to get involved in the summer reading program at the nearby public library. Of course, it was a year-round reading program since she was not in formal schooling then.

This year, our daughters started early on with the Barnes & Nobles' Summer Reading Program where one free book is given for every 8 books read. Of course, there is a limited selection of free books. Nonetheless, it is FREE! My youngest, age 5, is already on her way to earning her 2nd book.

Reading Rockets provides insights on why children lose up to 3 months of learning if reading is not part of the summer routine. Reading is truly essential. Let us help encourage kids to read, read, and read.

Kids can also earn an autograph copy of books through Scholastics Summer Challenge Weekly Book Giveaway Program.

And for guidelines to make summer reading a success, check out Reading Is Fundamental (RIF). Not only do they gave great hints in making reading fun, they also have monthly calendar activity suggestions for reading and writing.

So create a love of reading! Pack yours and your children's books and head off to the pool/beach. Happy reading.

Resistance to change

2009-06-08T15:27:00.001-04:00

Our school remained loyal to Windows XP yet we saw the need to update to Microsoft Office 2007. Due to numerous activities after school hours and holiday breaks, it wasn't easy to plan a workshop for the teachers to introduce them to Office 2007.

Finally, on June 3rd, that workshop was conducted. It was a hands-on workshop so we used the computer lab equipped with 30 desktops and started the 1.5 hour-long workshop. It was the normal crowd I would say. Some of the attendees have been to the technology workshops that I have given throughout the school year. Others were first timers to my workshop. Nonetheless, the workshop proved to be valuable to all.

Office 2007 is here to stay, at least in our school so "resistance is futile" - nope, I am not a Star Trek fan. Just a fan for change. Good change.

Collecting dust

2009-03-29T00:16:00.006-04:00

I love it when teachers tell me that I try to make technology enjoyable. I love what I do. I love to hear when teachers comment that after attending my workshop that they feel that technology isn't that bad after all.

Today, I just finished a 1 1/2 hour of in-house workshop as a refresher course on using the SmartBoard. When I was offered this position for the school year 2008-2009, I was told that the school has a SmartBoard. I never worked with one before. Neither have I worked with an Interactive WhiteBoard too.

I finally got the SmartBoard workshop scheduled. I used a very short SlideRocket presentation and used the later part of the workshop for the teachers to actually touch the SmartBoard and play around with with. Though they felt that they "didn't want to mess it up", they ended up planning on integrating it in their curriculum.

The SmartBoard is now out of the closet and will not be collecting dust anymore. I truly hope that I am making a difference here in the lives of the teachers to embrace technology.

Beyond classroom learning

2009-03-18T20:16:00.001-04:00

Learning from experts has its advantages. Big advantage in fact. Though our school do not have Video Conferencing equipment as of yet, a lot of enthusiasm was created when we connected with Arctic Explorer, Professor Aaron Doering of the GoNorth! exploration team.

Seven classes (although only 4 confirmed) packed our library/media center to participate in the live web chat with Professor Doering. Representatives from each class came up with questions that Professor Doering answered. We read questions from other schools as well and discussed it afterwards. Questions like "Have you ever fallen off the sled?" to "How do you prepare for such an expedition?" were posted in the chat room. The students left the library/media center with great big smiles and they were still talking about what they learned during the chat. They are looking forward for more of this distance learning experiences.

Breaking a Record

2009-02-12T15:06:00.005-05:00

Though quiet a number of my PreK to 3rd grade teachers took part in a collaborative project to celebrate Lincoln's 200th birthday, it wasn't until yesterday that we decided - together with the computer teacher - that the school would take part in today's attempt to break the Guinness World Record for simultaneous reading.

Today was momentous as the nation (and some countries like Germany and Japan) took part in reading the Gettysburg address "Four Scores and Seven...". I was working from home today - being it is my day-off - but I was up early and sending emails to my school administrator and the computer teacher to remind them on what steps need to be done for this event. Our school is equipped with a local TV station, wherein we have TVs in each classroom to view announcements made daily, usually at the beginning of each day. Students who are involved in this local TV station are in-charge of setting up the equipments on a daily basis. I bet they did an excellent job setting up the TV station for this event.

I can't wait to get to school tomorrow and hear all the great things that happened today. Now I am wondering, was the Guinness World Record broken? I just checked their website and there seems to be no word yet.

Wake up...wake up!

2008-12-19T06:21:00.001-05:00

One of the "I-am-not-looking-forward-to-this-responsibility" of being the webmaster of the school is getting a phone call 1.5 hour from your normal waking time. Today is one of those days. The weather isn't bad yet - in fact, there is nothing out there right now - but an alert needs to be posted on the school site ASAP.

I get paid playing

2008-11-15T16:21:00.000-05:00

All of our middle school teachers have their own laptop and projectors in a cart made by Balt. This week, I spent most of my time trying to install a surge protector that would be compatible to the laptop/projector cart that we already have. Previously, the teachers were only given the the normal surge protector that you could get from any home improvement store. Complaints about it not being long enough plagued my inbox. Finally, an order for a cart surge protector was placed.

I installed the surge protectors but one of the carts wasn't compatible to it so I had to ask our janitor to screw the holes on the aluminum cart. Oh well that's one job off my list of things to do.

The IPM board from Numonics is pretty old - acquired in 2006. After troubleshooting using wireless and wired connections, the software was found to be corrupted. So there I was in the middle school wing's hallway with the IWB and the laptop cart uninstalling and installing the newer version of the software. I really hate editing the registry but I had to so that the teachers could use it. Messing up the registry is one thing I hope would never to happen to me.

As I was testing the new version, one of the students was walking down the hallway and looked at me perplexed and asked "What are you doing?". I replied "I am playing. I get paid playing". The look in his face was a classic. :)

On the side note, one of my 3rd grade teacher is getting accustomed to using VoiceThread that she even created her first one (with very minimal help from me) to record her class saying prayers in Italian. I am proud of her and her students.

Pumpkins season slipped away so fast

2008-11-03T21:18:00.000-05:00

By October 6th, a 1/4 of the elementary teachers I worked with took onboard their first online collaborative project through Jennifer Wagner's The Pumpkin Seed Project. They did all the planning as to what activities they will use, where to get the pumpkins, what math skills will be enhanced, etc. etc.

I sat down with them one-on-one and showed them the VoiceThread tutorial. I helped them create a free (not so free as we have to pay a one-time activation fee of $10 per account) K-12 educator's account as well. From there, we tried uploading a picture, recording our comment and typing in our comment. The teachers were all optimistic and excited.

To make it easier, I scheduled them to do the VoiceThread recording on different days. On Day 1, four 4th Graders were picked via lottery to speak on behalf of the entire class. On Day 2, 50 1st Graders spoke - now they have to read their individual lines and at time I have to whisper the words to few students who still have difficulty reading some of the words. On Day 3, another group of four 4th Graders were chosen to record their comment. We also created a BubbleShare account to showcase the pictures taken during the project. One 3rd Grade class got involved too by submitting the results of the pumpkin seed count to Jennifer Wagner's site.

The students were thrilled to hear their voices recorded and played over when the VoiceThread came online. The teachers were filled with awe when the final results were posted online and found out that they just collaborated with schools from New Zealand, Italy, Nova Scotia, Manitoba just to name a few. Great accomplishments. I am so proud of the teachers who have taken a big step forward in trying out this online collaborative project. Most of all, I am glad that they trusted me and let me empower them with this powerful tool, this VoiceThread that is.

The Great Pumpkin Season is here

2008-10-15T22:30:00.000-04:00

My family and I went to Battleview Orchard in Central New Jersey this past weekend. It was a lovely sunny day. Fall is my favorite season of all. Time to make and bake apple and pumpkin pies. Yummy.

This reminds me of an ongoing project that I introduced to the elementary teachers a few weeks ago. The Pumpkin Project is an online collaborative project that is authored and moderated by Jennifer Wagner. The project is simple yet fun for the kids to do. Best of all, we will be integrating technology with this particular project for the first time in the elementary level.

Some of the teachers are already registered in this project as of October 6th. I am going to sit down with them and help them create a free educator account in VoiceThread and hopefully go through the tutorial so that they will become familiar with this tool prior to having their students record comments for this project.

They are so excited and so am I. I love online collaborative projects. Too bad we missed the O.R.E.O. Tumble project that ended last week. It was at the start of the school year and as many of you know, that is one period in the school year when you wish it is June already.

Road to great essays

2008-10-10T23:04:00.000-04:00

Our computer teacher was away on a trip so I was the substitute for today. The school purchased a web-based essay writing and scoring software called Writing Roadmap from CBT/McGraw-Hill. It was the 7th graders' first time to be introduced to this software today and I showed them the demo.

The interface is a bit easier for the upper grades to navigate but I have seen the lower grades having quite a difficulty on it. With much practice prior to the actual testing date before the Christmas break, I am hopeful that all students from all grade level will get used to the navigation tabs and prompts so that they would focus more in answering the essay and getting higher marks for it.

Essay topics vary from "My favorite thing" to "Definition of Success" and depending on grade level. The teacher may create his/her own essay topics as well and assign them to the students. If the student does not finish the essay (during practice sessions) during class time, the student may finish the essay at home since everything is web-based. The software provides through a graphical representation a holistic and analytical information once the student sends his/her essay for SCORING.

I am certain that this would help improve the students writing skills not just for the purpose of the actual testing date but writing skills in general. Truly this is an innovative way to help students enhance their writing skills.

Welcome!

2008-10-02T11:00:00.000-04:00

Let's get started.

So I am a technology teacher to teachers. The month of September flew by so fast as many would say but in my experience, it was much faster. The month of September was also a crucial month for me being the new technology coordinator of the school. Crucial because I did not want to be someone telling the teachers to use this or that technology and replacing the way they have been accustomed to. I wanted them to feel comfortable with using technology in their classrooms. Most of all, I wanted the teachers to feel comfortable in asking me for tech help.

Of course there were quite a few resistance and others insisting in the old ways. Luckily for me, the school's principal is pro-technology.

Integrating technology in the classroom takes a lot of research. Thanks to a few IT workshop presenters who I kept in contact with, I was able to find great resources to introduce to the teachers. One of whom is Judi Wolf.

I never worked with an Interactive White Board (from Numonics) but being a QA software engineer in my past life, it was a breeze to take the tutorial. I actually had so much fun playing with it and giving the middle-school teachers one-on-one tutorial to use in the 6th, 7th and 8th classrooms. Yes, each middle school classroom is equipped with an IWB. Those are great "bling-bling" (hardware) and make classroom discussions LIVELY.

The elementary teachers just finished 2 of 3 workshops yesterday. After that, they will have another workshop in a couple of weeks or so to refresh their knowledge of SmartBoards! It just keeps getting busier and exciting!