Hearing from the Students

You would seem that my presence in the elementary classrooms, related to using technology, has been assumed for a couple years.  I say this because the students in Kindergarten through 3rd grade already know my name for being in their classrooms 1 maybe 2 times so far this year, my first year.  That has been a huge inspiration as it tells me the students are sincere, they understand my purpose when I am in their classrooms to teach and/or help out and they enjoy what they are learning from me.  Case-in-point is today when I visited the same 3rd grade classroom I visited 2 days ago to do Keyboarding, and this time to assist with using KidSpiration.  I had so many kids come up to me stating they used the Keyboarding game/activities at home on their computer or at the library the past couple of days because they enjoyed the time they spent using the technology in their classroom.
This is what I want from the students when using technology.  A chance to take what they learned and apply it at home, at the library or anywhere they can get on the computer, and to be excited about it.  Then coming into their next time to see my introducing another piece of technology that they could effectively use on their own at home or again in the classroom.
A great surprise.

Gotta Chance to Teach Students Again

On Friday I was able to visit a few Middle School classrooms and a few Elementary classrooms, and I even had the chance in a 3rd grade classroom to teach the students again.
I first had the chance to show some assistive devices to a legally blind student's associate to better help him stay on track with the information, ideas and handouts his teacher was providing to the rest of the class.  I am still trying to figure out the braille printer but I was able to download Natural Reader to provide the student and his associate an opportunity to highlight words from reproduced worksheets and have them read to him.  Hopefully this better helps the student, as I am still in search of finding more assistive devices to better help accommodate his needs.
I then got a chance to work with a small group of Middle School students to help assist them in getting logged onto the laptops and into Skills Tutor which is a part of Skills Iowa that provides the students with extended activities to keep them on track and/or to advance them.
In the afternoon I was able to work with a 3rd grade classroom and actually taught the group of students, with the use of the laptops on the laptop cart, how to use BookFlix, which is a reading web site that is a part of the IowaAEAOnline web sites.  It was awesome getting to know the students in the classroom, seeing how excited their faces were when I introduced the web site to them, and how eager they were to be able to use and explore the web site on their own.  Once I finished showcasing BookFlix and allowed them to work with BookFlix on their own for about 15 minutes, the students were as quiet as a mouse and focused on reading a book online to themselves or better yet having the book read to them while they followed along with the highlighted words from the story.
To finish out the day I was able to watch HS students in a WebPage Development class showcase their web pages through the use of iWeb.  The students had a few requirements they had to fill and you could see their passion with using the WebPage Development application and their passion with the information they were showcasing through the iWeb web pages.

Having a chance to explore all of theses opportunities really exhibits to me the excitement and dedication the teachers have in providing the students with the possibilities of exploring technology.

Helping HD Teachers is Awesome

I had the chance to visit South Side Elementary this morning and the Middle School in the afternoon.  Both visits provided an amplitude of opportunities to help out teachers and to get to know them better personally and with their comfortability with using technology.  For both schools, I have been trying to resolve their Gmail issues since Google transitioned some stuff on August 31.  1 thing teachers are starting to remember is that they need to type in their full address with the @hdcsd.org when logging into the Gmail, Google Docs and//or Google Calendar accounts online.  Google made a transition where we have to tell them the @hdcsd.org to let them know it is a group account and not a personal account.
Specifically at South Side Elementary I had the chance to help a teacher to use her wireless LCD projector, a teacher to better use her TwoUp application and finally located 1 of the missing 2 power adapters for a laptop on the laptop carts.  Helping problem solve the wireless issue with the teacher's LCD projector was an awesome experience to work at something, and to finally resolve the problem after many trials and errors. Tried a variety of things and finally got it figure out before I left.
Specifically at the Middle School I helped some teachers transition into using the MS Laptop Google Calendar instead of using a hard copy paper calendar.  The purpose of providing a MS Laptop Google Calendar instead of a hard copy paper calendar is to provide the teachers an opportunity to login and signup for the laptops during present and future events, and most importantly to see the other teachers that have the carts checked out presently and in the future, instead of having to hunt the carts down and find the hard copy calendar.
Hopefully this transition for the Middle School teaches will be a successful one as my hopes is for the South Side teachers to transition into using a SS Laptop Google Calendar during the beginning portion of October.

Making the Rounds

Today, I had the opportunity to visit SouthSide elementary, the Middle School and of course the High School.

I visited SouthSide Elementary in the morning and a little bit in the afternoon.  In the morning I met with Mrs. White to figure out and discover her MimioTeach.  The MimioTeach turns any whiteboard into a Smartboard, which allows students to draw on the computer screen through the use of a stylus pen, insert pictures, create venn diagrams and so much more.  It was an awesome experience and something I hope Mrs. White uses extensively with her students throughout the different classes she goes into at SouthSide Elementary.
I also met with Mrs. Speake to discuss different ways to integrate and support technology at SouthSide.  Some ideas came up related to: how to better use the 2 laptop carts, how to link grade level web sites to SchoolFusion, using Kidspiration, learning how to use the IowaAEAOnline resources, becoming more comfortable with the lcd projectors, and creating digital stories.  All great ideas in which I hope to take full charge in integrating and showcasing to the teachers throughout the year.
In the afternoon I met with Mrs. Nelson to show her how to wirelessly connect to her projector and how ti more efficiently use her laptop with the projector for both teacher and student use.

In the afternoon I met with Mrs. Braun at the Middle School to discuss the First Lego League.  This will be something new for me as I have not messed with Lego Robotics since college.  I think it will be a great experience for her students and hopefully something that we can take a couple groups of students to compete against other Iowa students, in relationship to Lego Robotics.

Throughout the day at the High School I provided some web sites to teachers interested in interactive flash cards, and using interactive writing tablets in the classroom.

Awesome day and I am sure the rest will be just as good.

HS Student Laptop Orientation-1st Day of School

My first day of school within the Hampton-Dumont CSD consisted of having the former Bulldog Byte members (students interested in technology) showcase their "Taking Care of Laptops" skit to the whole student body at the very beginning of the day.  They did an awesome job.  I then had the opportunity to speak to each grade while they received their student laptops to keep.  I talked to each grade about proper care and handling of their laptop, as a reminder from the previous year when they first received their laptops.  I then had the opportunity to help the students get logged into their laptops, and to learn some new faces.
In the afternoon I was able to surface some ideas to get technology integration rolling for the Technology Professional Development sessions which will start next Wednesday.
On Friday I will be visiting South Side Elementary to help a teacher learn how to use her Mimio and will meet with another teacher on different technology concepts that the teachers would like to incorporate.  I am also going to meet with a couple teachers in the afternoon at the Middle School to talk about Lego Robotics.  Lastly, I am hoping to help out a High School teacher to create some google docs for voting for student council members for each graduation class.