Towards the end of the school year I was asked by a building principal if I liked fixing computers. I do not, and the gentlemen in my district who do that sort of thing would laugh at the thought. I guess he assumed that each time I was in the building I was fixing a computer. He did not realize I was working with teachers developing new skills in using technology tools in their classroom. Another administrator thought my job…
Mostly entertaining family… It has been a busy week full of friends, family and lots of fun. But not too much time for keeping up with communication and collaboration with my web connected friends, blogs and Second Life. Is that how you say it? I have joined Ryan’s SecondLife Blogger’s Cafe and Jen Wagner’ web based cafe. Though I have not participated in any discussions yet. I have aided in a Discovery Educators Network tour of Second Life. It was…
It is the end of the school year and we are about to enter the no-mans land of summer. As a student and educator my year only seems to last from September to June. July and August are not really part of my calendar year. Echoed through out the halls today are “goodbyes†and “see you next year†when really we will see each other next week at the grocery store or beach. As the school year comes to a…
I am currently teaching a course, working with a group of teachers on some class projects and just came back from a MassCUE leadership meeting. In all of these setting the running theme has been, it is just not about the technology anymore. This is something that I have felt quite strongly about for a long time, but it is nice to see the classroom teachers realize that as well. I am not asked as often how to use the…
I have not felt I have had time to write. I have been busy getting a new workshop off the ground and putting together a new course. I have just started a wiki workshop. I meet with the teachers for a 2 hour session where we discuss wikis, there uses, look at some examples and then set some up at wiki spaces. For the next three weeks they work on their wikis, then we will meet again for a progress…
I am currently putting together 2 courses for teachers in our district. One of the courses is called Differentiating Instruction with Technology. The purpose of this course is to help teachers focus on the needs of our ELL, Special Ed and Title 1 students, and to use the resources currently available to them to develop learning activities and resources that support these kids. Essentially we will look at what these kids need; clear expectations and objectives, opportunities for repetition, and…
Well we are coming into the home stretch of the blogging experience. I believe overall it has been a success. We started with 27 participants two officially drop out after we began. Thirteen people participated fully and blogged about their education specialty, the rest practiced the mechanics of blogging and commenting but without real educational substance. The goal was to expose people to blogging. Within our district there is now a larger group of people who can help make more…