Reflection

During this project, and course in general, I found it interesting to see things from the other side. I am used to getting the technology into the teachers hands and stopping there. I don't often get to see how the technology is used, or not used. This project gave me the ability to see the technology in action in a classroom. It also gave me the ability to see what it takes on the teachers end to make the technology work. It isn't as easy as many people might think. I also learned that that using technology isn't always the best solution as we found with the student PowerPoint projects. It was fun for the students to use the product but the assessment results were not as good as the written assignment the teacher used previously.

As for other projects, all of them were very good. I thought the MidiJam package Doug showed was great. I do agree however that it would be better if you had more control over the instruments shown. I have worked extensively in the past with one of our music instructors and various programs. Doug's use of Finale was also a good idea. It is a very good program but can also be very difficult to use. I thought his project was different since he was working with students taking private lessons in a setting that usually has limited technology. He was able to bring the technology into the environment and put it to good use.

Activities through November 12

This week, I haven't done much with the project. I have been focusing on a project I have for another class. This weekend, I will be starting to develop my written project. I should have the framework finished and will be able to start expanding on my first draft soon. I will be meeting with my teacher this week to discuss the results of the CPS assessment. We were scheduled to meet on Tuesday of last week but I had to cancel that meeting. Hopefully, I will have more to report in next weeks entry.

Activities through November 5th

Last Tuesday, we finished the handout (will be attached to my written project) and finalized the CPS assessment. On Wednesday afternoon, we did a quick dry run of the lesson. On Thursday morning, we were ready for the lesson. At 9am, I joined the class in the computer lab to observe how things went. The lesson started out well with the teacher going over what was going to happen. The kids were excited when they learned what they would be doing. As the lesson began, we had two minor technology issues where computers would not allow the students to open Internet Explorer. Once they were resolved (moved the kids to other computers), everything proceeded smoothly.

During the lesson, the kids enjoyed using Google Earth to look at their houses from above. As the lesson progressed, there were questions about the county line and state lines that the teacher answered. It became a bit tricky once the students started looking locations up using longitude and latitude because they had a tendency to shout out what they found. Since they were going at their own pace, some students knew what they were going to be seeing before they got there.

Overall, the students seemed to enjoy the lesson. I am scheduled to meet with the teacher tomorrow to discuss the lesson as a whole on Tuesday.

Activities thru October 29th

Over the last two weeks, we have been putting the finishing touches on our project. The lesson is due to be taught on Thursday of this week. We are finalizing the handout tomorrow morning before the school day begins. The last piece is to develop the assessment using the CPS devices. Once this has been complete, we are ready to go. My post next week will document how the lesson went.

Looking Back...

Before this class began, I thought I had a good understanding of the technology that is used in an educational setting. I've worked in educational IT for the last 8 years and have interfaced with countless IT members of other districts. So far, I have been surprised to find so many things that I wasn't aware of. As Dr. Hammond noted, Lifang's presentation on Del.icio.us was one of them. Since her presentation, the Del.icio.us toolbar has become a fixture in my browser. Throughout the course of a day, I may work on up five or six different computers with various operating systems and web browsers. I have always struggled with keeping my links with me in an easy to use format. This program was the jackpot. I also enjoyed the presentation on Audacity since my school district doesn't use Mac. My test teachers have found that it is a very effective tool on the PC.

This class has definitely introduced new things to me and has given an increased awareness of some of the technology issues that need to be overcome. Alex's presentation will stick with me for a long time. It is a terrific way to describe the digital disconnect. As a member of an IT staff, we so often focus on the tools that we often don't get a chance to see how they are being used. This has been one of the best parts of this class. Not only are we be introduced to many tools and ideas, but we are provided with examples of how they are used. I look forward to the rest of the class presentations.

Activities October 2nd - October 15th

Since our last meeting, I've made some more progress towards determining exactly what the project will be. My last post was not 100 percent correct. The class I will be working with is a special needs fifth grade class. The project will be based on exploration and still uses the same technology, Google Earth. One of the lessons my teacher does every year is to teach the difference between a town, county, state, and country. We came up with the idea of using Google Earth to help this lesson along. The lesson will take place in a computer lab and the students will start by looking up their home address on Google Earth. We will then zoom out as we move to each new designation. As they zoom out, they will see borders for the county, state and country. We will also discuss longitude and latitude and allow the students to look up different locations on the globe using longitude and latitude. The last portion of the lesson will be a short assessment using the CPS devices we learned about on October 1st.

My Podcast

http://hub.colonialsd.org/districtsite/technology/cavsite

Activities September 25 - October 1st

This week, we started determining exactly what the lesson would be. So far, the best combined idea we have revolves around locating various places around the state using Google Earth. The 4th grade curriculum focuses on Geography, Exploring our Home State Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania History and People, and Exploring Natural Resources of Pennsylvania.

More details to come.

Activities September 18 - 24

This week was a short week for me. We passed a few different ideas around via email and scheduled a meeting for September 26th.

Activities September 10-17

This week, I met with the teacher I will be working with. I proposed the ideas I listed on my blog and so far the teacher is would like to use Google Earth, the ELMO and the remote units. Now that I have the teachers interest and support, we will begin ironing out the details of this project. We will meet again this week to move forward.

Cavallaro Project

I do have access to a K-12 classroom.
I am leaning towards using a 4th or 5th grade class located in my building.

Brainstorming:

I have a couple ideas of items I would like to touch on. Our district is strictly PC based so students are not exposed to MAC in the classroom. That eliminates several of my ideas however, I was thinking of a geography lesson aided by Google Earth. Also, I was thinking of integrating a smartboard and ELMO document imaging device into an art lesson. Probably my best idea would be to help the teacher integrate a survey tool such as CPS or Quizdom into their lessons. Each student gets a small remote device and is able to answer questions on it. The instructor gets instant feedback and can see where there may be problems. My tech staff deployed these units into 7 classrooms this summer. Please let me know what everyone thinks of these ideas.