Motivation and Awesomeness.....

Well, I have just spent several hours over the past couple weeks updating our district's website. I wish I would've logged the hours. That would've been interesting to know.... Except that I'm not finished by any means.

The hardest part is ahead of me.....

See, there is this flash banner on the homepage. The pictures there are outdated and I desperately need to change them. Problem is....well, besides not having many pictures....figuring out how to put 3 together to make a collage then get them to the appropriate size. Uploading them and placing them on the site is no problem.....got that figured out. But this editing part is a bear. Sure wish I had some step-by-step directions on the Photoshop part. Perhaps this "Google Power Searcher" can just Google it and find out!

I've been trying. I have Photoshop Elements on my computer and it's kind of complicated. I attended a Photoshop workshop one time that a friend presented but that was 3 or 4 years ago and I've slept since then.

So, I will continue to plug away and see what I can come up with. I keep telling myself if I can get 1 figured out, I should be able to crank out 3 or 4 in no time. Problem is cranking out the first one!

It's coming to the end of July which means we start school in less than a month. It also means that all those things around our house that I wanted to do over the summer  -- that I put off -- are needing to be done.....QUICK!

We do have a few accomplishments under our belts though. We did get the flooring in the living room installed....and it looks great, I may add. Our bathroom project is coming to an end too. The ceiling is finished and it's painted. Now I need to get the new trim measured, cut, painted, and put up. Ugh. And this heat is not a motivating factor in the least.....

My attention has been turned to school. It's going to be an interesting year I think. Lots of changes have been made and people are starting to get settled in a bit. Most importantly, the changes that have been made are good for kids. Afterall, that's the bottom line. Over the past 25 years, I have seen teachers lose focus on what's good for kids and redirect it to what's best for them. If I ever start thinking that way, somebody tell me to retire. As I have grown and matured in my career, I have come to realize that we have to do whatever it takes to help kids. Even if it's breaking down our own beliefs about how a kids should act, what they should know, etc.

There's someone I follow on Twitter who every morning ends his post with "be awesome today". Isn't that cool? What if we said that to kids every morning before their day starts? What if we parents would say that to our kids before they walked out the door? How about bus drivers as the kids were getting off the bus? How about the cook as the kids go through the breakfast line to get their tray? Right before we release the students from the gym to go to their classrooms? What if we posted signs and banners all over our school as constant reminders for EVERYBODY in the building -- visitors included -- to BE AWESOME TODAY! I think I've just hit upon an idea! Alright, gotta remember that one! Excuse me, I have to go design a poster now......

This is the stuff I think about at 11 p.m. (now)....and in the shower......and at 3 o'clock in the morning.....

Up there in the beginning of this post, I mentioned something about Google Power Searcher.....well, here's the scoop on that.....

A couple weeks ago, Google advertised an online course that one could participate in to become a Google Power Searcher. Because I am all things Google, I signed up.....afterall, it was free and it was Google.....did I mention I love Google? Today I completed the course with flying colors. It was fun. There were six lessons that taught participants how to maximize their Google searches. I'm so glad I took it. Now I wish I was teaching computers this year. They gave a lot of great information.....enough for a couple weeks of instruction on a very important concept. I might have to come back and teach that to the computer classes anyway. I'm sure the teachers won't mind......

Thanks for joining me! And don't forget......

BE AWESOME TODAY!

Tech, Intervention, and My New "Office".....

This week has been a busy one. Sad thing is, it's only Tuesday.....boy, I'm sure hoping things slow down a bit....my laundry pile is getting higher and higher!

I've spent the last two days in both buildings working on tech projects. My oldest son and I have set up nearly every classroom computer and interactive whiteboard in both buildings and run a network cable through the wall to a copier (have to put a connector back on one end....darn thing wouldn't fit through the hole with the connector on). I'm thinking I'll lay off the tech for a week or so.....

I'll get started -- again -- on intervention projects. One of the cool things that one of the special education teachers and I did last year for the teachers was to put IEP and intervention information together in binders for the teachers. We did so well! We are quite a team! Let me explain more about these binders...

First, we chose orange. Why orange? Well, first it's one of our school colors and second, it stands out and besides that, I like that color. :)

Our district is still working through the RtI/Intervention process......we're getting there though....a little at a time. It's a big change for some people. It's easy to do what you've always done. I completely agree. It's comfortable....like my flannel lounge pants and old t-shirt. But we have to stop thinking about what's easy and start thinking about what's best for those kids that come to school to see us everyday.

Back to the orange binders.....we decided that every teacher needed easy access to RtI forms, lists of interventions, accommodations, and modifications, the classroom AIMSweb information, and copies of their students' IEP accommodations. So, we searched the internet, made copies, ran reports, labeled tabbed dividers, and put all of it in the orange binders.

After the binders were complete, we scheduled a full day of meetings with teachers. We met with each teacher during her planning time, along with at least one of the administrators (because they need to know too), and reviewed every piece of information in the binder.....we are so glad we did.....we were just sorry we didn't think of it at the beginning of the year.....so, we are going to do that this year.

I must say, they are beautiful binders. And right now, those beautiful binders are sitting on my shelf waiting for more information to be put in them......yikes! I see another day at school in my near future.....

The past school year was a learning experience for our 2-person team....we kind of felt our way through the year and we got better as the year progressed. We started writing different goals and did more periodic reviews on progress monitoring. We impressed our special education co-op supervisor so much that she recommended we present at the next regional teachers' conference in the fall! We'll see where that goes....

Next year we're going to tear-it-up! Look out!

Have I told you about my new "office"? I really like it. This story is quite interesting....well, to me anyway....

I teach in the same school district that I attended. When I started school in 1971, I attended kindergarten at Opdyke, in the room next to the room that is now my "office". My "home school district" (Belle Rive) did not have kindergarten, so I attended kindergarten in Opdyke. In first grade, I went to Belle Rive. First and second grades were in the same room with the same teacher. In 1973, the Belle Rive and Opdyke districts consolidated and became Opdyke-Belle Rive. Kindergarten through fourth grade was at Belle Rive and fifth through eighth grade was at Opdyke. It stayed this way until my oldest son entered the fifth grade. At that time, fourth grade was moved to Opdyke.

Anyway, back to my story.....while I was at Opdyke, the office was upstairs in the room that is now my office. Sometime during the 90's -- I think -- the office was moved downstairs and the "old office/my new office" became a storage room. I remember when I was there it was the only room with an air conditioner....funny what you remember.....

I'm just not sure how Mr. Lathrop, our principal,  and Dexter, our secretary, both fit in there. Of course, those were the days before computers and lots of the stuff that we need today.

I'm really liking my office though. Probably won't spend a lot of time there....but as a "home base" it's pretty comfortable....it will be a nice place to go at the end of the day.....

To Begin Again....

That title is misleading. But, it sounds kinda cool.

I'm trying to start this blogging thing again.

Why? I have no idea. I guess I have this need to write -- which is weird -- because I don't really like to write. Don't tell my students that though....

Let me put that a different way....I am okay with writing.....as long as nobody assigns me to write something. I'd rather have a root canal.

 I want to write how I think and talk.....which might just be ramblings.

I don't want to have to think when I write. I want it to f-l-o-o-o-w-w-w....flow right out of my brain down my neck through my arms to my fingers that are typing my thoughts onto that computer screen in front of me.....

Yep, that's how I like to write.....for my entertainment. Who knows, maybe somebody else will read this and be entertained too!

I'm going to try to start writing for my entertainment again..... after all, 2008 -- the last time I wrote an entry --- was four years ago....I think it's time....

I found out in May that my job is going to change. That excites me. No, really, it does....

For the past five years, I have been a Title 1 teacher and technology teacher. I loved my job. I was the only teacher in the building who got the opportunity to see every kid in school everyday. Now, I only spent 40 minutes per day with them.....but I was privileged to see them all everyday.

This past year my title went from "Title 1 teacher" to "interventionist". Sounds kinda cool, doesn't it?

Next year I will be the interventionist for the entire district.....which means I will be in both buildings everyday. I'm really excited! I start in the K-4 building in the morning and the 5-8 building in the afternoon. (I'm tech for the entire district too but in a slightly different role.)

This could get a bit hectic......I can't wait! I like hectic....I like the bustle.....

Oh, did I mention I am also moving to a new space....we're calling it my office.

My dear husband painted my office on his day off.....man, I love that guy! We also moved all of my paraphernalia out of my old space into my new office.....after having been a teacher and administrator for the past 25 years, I've accumulated a lot of stuff. It's mostly books, binders, and files.....but there's quite a bit of it.

I went back this afternoon and put everything in its place -- for now anyway.  It looks pretty good. I'm going to have my friend Elizabeth decide how to decorate the walls.....she's great at that....

I like the old time one room schoolhouse look. So, my walls are "latte". I have schoolhouse pictures.....six of them in different sizes.....I have no idea how to arrange them to look pleasant. I wasn't blessed with that talent.....my sister was.....I however, was not. That's okay....I decorate cakes.... :)

I love the intervention stuff.....love love love it.....this is when we do really cool stuff for and with kids to help them succeed. Its rewarding.....and frustrating.....

We teachers work on this stuff all year around. I never stop thinking about what we can do for kids.....I've already met with one of the special education teachers to work out our schedule for next year and what we need to buy. I'm going to meet with the language arts teacher soon to work on curriculum......see...never stop thinking.....it's all about doing what's best for kids.....

We have the schedule finished....we'll see what happens though.....you know -- best laid plans......

We have several students with organization issues so we brainstormed ways to help them. Some kids have problems getting all their necessary materials to their classes....I'm hoping we have alleviated that problem with our plan. We are going to purchase a stocked pencil box with the child's name on it to remain in his classroom at all times. Now, how easy is that? Do you realize how much time it takes away from instruction when a student is being sent back for materials.....here's a hint.....it's a lot.....

Hey, I've got a million of these easy little fixes! Now, let's hope that little accommodation works!

Last year we, through the generous support of our PTO, we purchased three iPods and three sets of good headphones. We loaded the players with ocean sounds (basically white noise). Those students who had difficulty focusing were able to use the devices to minimize distractions while they were working. Did it work? Yes and no.....that's like all interventions....sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. Now that doesn't mean we need to give up trying......sometimes it's just the day......

Skype

Grrrrr!!! I went back to view my blog post and it wasn't there! All that writing and it wasn't there! I forgot to click publish post! Nice job, Anna! Sheesh! Well, that's how my day has been -- TGIF in a big way!

It all started at 7:50 a.m. Husband left at 5 a.m. to go deer hunting in Missouri. Got the kids up, got to school, got Emily on the bus, went up to the lab to begin my day. Son Aaron asked me how many counties there were in Illinois. Being the tech gal I am I said, "Aaron, just Google it." That was easy enough or so I thought. He said, "Mom, it says it can't find the page." First I thought that perhaps he spelled it wrong and the filter picked it up. So I said, "Check your spelling and try again." "Mooooooommmmmm, it still doesn't work!" I check my computer. Sure enough, can't find the page on mine either. Open email, hit send/receive. Error. Okay, Internet's down. Phone rings. Other building. I pick up the phone and instead of my usual "hello" it was, "Internet's down, huh?"

I spent the better part of the morning on the phone with the ISP. Turns out, one of the ports on our router went bad and it chose 11 p.m. last night to crash. I didn't realize how much I rely on the web -- that is, until it's down. The projects the students are working on are in some respect web-based. So it was on to plan B. Usually my plan B is web-based. Well, not today. Good teachers need a plan B and a plan C. I have gotten to plan D before -- well, I have been in education over 20 years and it was bound to happen. I'm sure it will happen again too. What is funny is that the kids don't even realize we use the web so much. It kind of reminds me of when the electricity is out and you think about baking cookies or turning on the computer. As soon as they walked in the door today I told them the Internet was down and here were their choices. I had barely gotten the words out of my mouth and one boy asked, "Mrs. Jukes, can we go to Mathisfun?" Yeah, well....

Okay, so back to the fun... my ROE tech friend brought me a spare router and it was back on the phone with the ISP.

Lunch was plan B too. Normally, I go to the cafeteria and grab my lunch, take it upstairs to the lab and listen to Leo Laporte. Instead I caught up on Tom Grissom's podcasts. (great education stuff BTW! -- plug for Tom! tech4teachers podcasts -- great stuff!)

Turns out the ISP couldn't fix it remotely so they came to me. I finally got home around 4:45 today. But, I'm glad to say, we are up and running and now we will all have internet and email on Monday. Yoohoo!

I just realized that the title of this blog post is Skype. Oops! Got a little carried away with my day that I almost posted without talking about it. That would've left you all confused and probably me too.

Last night I had the privilege of co-presenting with our LTC director at the Southern Illinois chapter of the Illinois Computing Educators monthly meeting. We talked about Skype. I get so excited when I talk about Skype because I've had some great experiences with it. We were able to Skype Tom Grissom. That was really cool! I "met" Tom on Twitter when we started following each other. I had never seen him in person or talked to him. After all, he's in Central Illinois. Talking to him and actually seeing him was really, really cool!

I'm hoping to unleash some more of it's potential in my school very soon. I have been in contact with the education department of the Jefferson Laboratory in Virginia to Skype with our 7th graders who are studying atoms. We are planning on trying to get together in the next couple weeks. We need to be sure our equipment works on both ends. What a great learning experience for our students! This is stuff you can't learn in a textbook.

My next adventure is to hook up with another 5th grade class either in the U.S. or another country for our 5th graders to talk to.

The world is certainly getting smaller!

Until next time...

Oh my!

Okay, so I've put this blog on the back burner.... sorry. I guess there are so many things going on, this was not a priority. A former co-worker used to say, "it's 3rd on my list of things to do". Well, this was 3rd on my list of things to do. I can't believe the last time I posted was the beginning of August!

It's now the end of October. Gee this month has flown by; it's unreal. October has historically been a busy month for me though so I should not be surprised at all. I guess as an administrator it was even busier. It seems that all organizations choose October for their big events -- which makes sense. In October, we've been in school for a little over a month, we've gotten to know our kids and teachers, and there is still enough time to take back to school what we've learned and make a difference.

October is my favorite month. The trees are turning, there's a chill in the air, and it's the beginning of a slew of holidays. Yes, I love October -- pumpkins, orange, brown, red, yellow, cinnamon, candles, scents -- I love October!

Labor Day

It's homework time. Why these boys wait until 8:30 p.m. to do homework is beyond me. It's painful. After all, I've done my seventh grade and fifth grade work -- 30 years ago. But that's part of being a parent -- helping with the homework. So, we drudge along. Luckily, neither of them bring home much. They are quite good at getting it done at school which means they really are using their time wisely; at least at school. I'm very blessed to have kids that do well in school, who try, behave appropriately, and are polite. Of course, they can't get away with anything that neither their dad or I won't find out about. Kinda stinks having your mom as a teacher and your dad as a custodian in the district. I think it rocks, but that's because I'm the momma.

The seventh graders are learning about the Constitution. What a great year to study it. This election will certainly make history. Will we have an African-American president or will we have a female vice president? Either way it goes, it's a first. Anyway, I've been working on some ways to integrate technology into their studies. I've been able to find the old Schoolhouse Rock videos on YouTube. Remember those? When I was younger, those used to come on during the cartoons on Saturday morning. I can still remember the catchy tunes and the concepts they were trying to teach. That's how I learned the Preamble. Actually, that's how I still remember the Preamble. I don't think I could SAY it, or write it without singing it in my mind. Whoever invented those was a genius. Seventh graders, if you are reading this blog, get ready -- we're watching the Preamble this week. Stay tuned....

Those interactive whiteboards were another fantastic invention. I really miss mine. I can't wait to get my new one. I'm getting a 77' Numonics Intelliboard. I'm looking for it any day now. My sales rep says I should get it by the end of the day tomorrow. I've been waiting for over a month and I'm just about to burst. Russell's going to be busy helping me put that thing up tomorrow night (if it comes in) -- he just doesn't know it yet. Surprise, Honey!

Back to School Tomorrow!

I can't believe the summer is over already. Just when I was getting into the summer do-what-I-want routine, it's over. So long summer '08 and hello school year 08-09. That's another one I can't believe! I started teaching in 1987-88. So, that makes this year, what, school year number 22? It just doesn't seem possible. Afterall, I'm not that old. Oh well, the time and years will pass and over this I have no control.

This year I would like to try some new things with my students. It will be a challenge this year with the kids having computers everyday all year long. I would like for the teachers to step up and help out with assigning projects that I can assist with. (I need to word that differently -- always learned that you should never end a sentence with a preposition.) My thoughts are turning to Google Earth, stop motion animation, and podcasting. I really need a couple more ideas. I really, really want to do Lego Robotics. That would be a great experience for those kids. However, have you priced those kits lately? Wow! That's what's holding me back -- the money. Time to start looking -- again -- for grant and funding sources.

Nighttime Rantings

I just realized that I haven't posted since school was out in May. Today marks the 1 week point until school starts for the 2008-2009 school year. I'm excited about the new year starting; but at the same time I'm not ready for summer to be over. This year will be an interesting one. There have been several changes made that I think are positive changes for our school. I will be very busy this year. Can't really give any details yet.

I am looking for new and exciting technology projects do to with the kids this year. I'm thinking about doing stop-motion animation. I think they will really like making their own "claymation" movies. They'll be really short, but I think that will be fun and memorable. I really want to do Lego Robotics with one group. The materials are so expensive though. I wish someone or an organization would just GIVE me money to purchase the kits.

The Internet at school is finally up and running again. Tomorrow I go to the other building to try and get them up and running with the help of ICN. I just hope it doesn't take 4 hours again. I've got a cake to decorate!

Time to go for now. If you visit my blog, please leave a comment and tell me who and where you are. Thanks! 'Night!

End of another year...

Well, the 2008-09 school year is coming to a close, very soon. I just can't believe how quickly these years go by. What a great year I have had. I love the school, love the kids, and love my content areas. Everything just seemed to work out perfectly. I pretty much have my dream job -- Title 1 reading and technology. Who could ask for anything more? I think everyday about the decision I made to leave administration. What a great decision that was. This year has been one of no stress. I don't have to make those tough decisions, deal with student discipline, go to board meetings (unless I want to), deal with employee issues, deal with angry parents, and all those other things that go along with the position. I can focus on the kids I have, develop curriculum, and go home at night and stay home. What a great feeling!

I have no regrets being in administration and will probably go back in some capacity sometime in the future. But for now, I'm loving what I'm doing.

Pop-ups and other stuff...

I have had more trouble this weekend -- started Sunday actually -- with pop-ups. I'm using pop-up blockers, ran virus scans (always comes up with spyware), added blocked websites in IE and I still was having major pop-up problems. I don't believe I EVER had that problem. I tried system restore and it wouldn't let me restore because it said I had errors on my drive. I got all that fixed and did system restore again. This time it worked. I rolled it back to Friday when Jing updated and guess what...that fixed the pop-up problem--so far anyway. I haven't had any at all since then. When I start up, Jing wants to update and I'm holding them off. The Google pop-up blocker is catching them.

I filled my hummingbird feeders today. I just love those little creatures. They never cease to amaze me.

Productive Day

Well, today was a fairly productive day. We got that trash pile cleaned up and some limbs burned. I am so ready for summer! Now, I just need to get my pond going and some flowers planted and things will feel complete.

I saw the first hummingbird of the season this evening. I think it was attracted to my red kitchen curtains. I'm going to have to make up some "juice" for my hummingbird feeders. Next weekend - hopefully - I can get to the local nursery and get some plants to attract the hummers and butterflies.

I just love this time of year! Now, if school were only out...

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, today I celebrated my birthday. It was a relaxing, non stressed day. I really like those days. Everybody let me sleep in, which was great. We got a lot accomplished today. Russell worked in the yard, we took the storm windows down and I did lots of laundry.

Late Night Blogging

This could be dangerous. There is no telling what will go through my mind at 11 p.m. I just finished a draft of a report on my music program for my superintendent. I used Google docs and shared it with the superintendent. You know, that Google docs is a great feature! Who needs an expensive word processing program when Google has the basics that you need for free? What a great invention -- thanks Google! The more I explore Google the more impressed I am.

Since I've taken this new job, I have become even more tech savvy. I have found tons of resources, tricks and tips out there. This summer, I have the opportunity to teach technology workshops (I have to remember to get that application filled out and sent). I've been thinking about what the teachers who I work with would find the most beneficial. My thoughts are SmartBoard software, the Office Suite, and maybe some extras like MS PhotoStory. However, now my thoughts are turning to including the many Google features, Twitter, Skype, and Jing -- to name a few. I'm just not sure there are enough hours to get all this done. The Will Richardson presentation back in February really got me thinking and I refer back to his presentation wiki frequently. After that presentation, I signed up for so many things (probably too many things) that I can't remember all of them and didn't think to bookmark every one of them.

As a result of his presentation, I now Skype, blog, tweet, and I use a wiki page with my students. The wiki page has been great. My 8th graders have been using it to learn new things in PowerPoint. Their directions are posted on the site, along with free videos from AtomicLearning. They can work on their projects at their own pace and refer back to examples and videos as needed. It's worked quite well. They love the web-based method of learning. One student asked me if I had it my way, would I do web-based hands-on learning activities all the time. Then they told me they wished that I was their teacher all the time. Well, that made me feel pretty good. I have a feeling though, the web-based stuff would get old after a while.

Moodle is another thing I'd like to try. I have to do some more reading on it though. Some of the tech stuff they talk about is over my head right now -- I'll get there though.

Skype is kind of neat. I'm trying to decide if it's something I really would get use out of though. I have Yahoo! Messenger. It seems that it's quite similar. If I understand correctly though, I can actually talk to the other person just like a phone call. If I'm not mistaken though, Yahoo! Messenger has that capability as well. I would like to get the Skype headset I saw at WalMart recently. What a geek I am!

I'm still trying to figure out Twitter. I have 2 friends on Twitter. Now what? Guess I'll be reading the help section of the website. Still not quite sure what usefulness I'll get out of it.

Okay, it's now 11:27 here in the central daylight time zone. I'm exhausted and am not feeling so well -- allergies. Time for bed.

My ClustrMap

I was just looking at my blog. I noticed that my ClustrMap has 3 dots on it. Wonder where those people are from and who they are? One looks like it's from California, one in Canada, and the other one is probably me here in the good 'ol midwest. Hey, if you happen to stop by to look at this blog, please let me know who you are and where you are from -- just leave a comment. Thanks!

Today started out in an interesting way. Earthquake. 4:37 a.m. I hear rumbling and things rattling then feel shaking. It seemed to last quite a while. I checked the US Geological site this morning and they were comparing it to the earthquake in '68. I've heard my mom speak of that one often. I don't really remember as I was 2 at the time. But she remembers exactly where we were at the time. We were in Krogers and cans started falling off the shelves. Amazing what one remembers.

The second one hit around 10:00 or so. I had a few 4th graders in my room and I did have them get under the table. Earthquakes are strange experiences.

About time I updated!

I can't believe that's it's been nearly a month and a half since I've updated this blog! Time sure has flown and with the duties of my current position and all of the other stuff in my personal life, this has been put on the back burner.

Several things have happened since I last posted...

My cake decorating business is getting pretty busy. My dream is to one day have my own little bakery. I would love to have a little shop separate from our home. Wonder if I could talk my husband into that? He's pretty handy with that sort of thing. Maybe when I'm ready to retire.

We've been working hard on redoing our bathroom. We have a new tile shower surround; which I am proud to say that I did all by myself! We also have new flooring and a new sink and vanity. It wasn't the most expensive thing in the world but it looks nice and was affordable. I will not have carpeting in the bathroom again. Of course, I didn't put this carpeting in the bathroom to begin with. My grandparents put it in many years ago. It was really bad. We are not finished with the bathroom yet, it's a work in progress, but that's okay. It'll get there.

On the school front, we have started a morning newscast. There are 5 eighth grade girls who are collecting announcements, reminders, weather, etc., writing a script, and taping the morning news. They are very excited about it. We've done it 2 mornings now (didn't today, I had a sick child I had to stay home with) and it is only getting better. I wanted to do it live but I only wanted our teachers to have access to it. The only resource we have available is our computer network. So, the girls tape it, I put it into MS Movie Maker (if anyone from Microsoft happens to read this -- I love it!) and save it to a folder on our server. I then go around and let the teachers know that the newscast is ready for them to play. My goal is to go around to each computer and setup a task that it will automatically come on at a certain time each morning. That may happen next week if I can pin down a time that the whole process will be completed.

I have been working on the Take One! program for National Board Certification. I'm proud to say my work is nearly completed. I need to go back and reread my paper and make sure I have all the materials required. Oh, yeah, and I have to burn the DVD. Why do I get myself into these things?

I received word this past weekend that a former student in a former district in which I worked as principal died in a house fire last Saturday night. How tragic! I'm still in shock.

I'm exhausted and I'm hoping the little one is asleep so that I can go to bed.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. G'night!

Testing

One of my jobs is testing coordinator in my school district. Luckily, it's not something completely new to me. It was part of my job as principal in the school district where I was employed the previous 2 years. Today, I had the opportunity to begin the organization of materials process. I can almost always guarantee that it won't go as smoothly as I would like it. Darn that Murphy and his laws! I was on the phone twice with the testing company and once with the state board of education. First, I didn't have all my test materials -- turns out I wasn't supposed to have it. It hadn't shipped yet. (sigh of relief!) The next call was because they didn't send the 4th grade pre-ID labels. So, I spent the rest of the afternoon bubbling in names, ID numbers, birthdays and RCDTS codes. At least there are only 15 kids in that class!

As I was reading through the test coordinator's manual, something caught my eye and it kind of bothers me. There is a section in the manual that talks about test accommodations, what you can and can't have on the walls, what you can and can't tell the students about, yadda, yadda. Here's the part that caught my eye. Students are not allowed to get up to refer to a poster. They must stay in their seats. Okay, I understand this. However, we all have those students who absolutely cannot sit in their seats for an entire 30 to 40 minutes. Some of us let them stand to do their assigned work or read. We are all encouraged to let the kids do what they need to do (stand, sit, take frequent breaks, etc.) in order for them to maximize learning. We use multimedia and interactive approaches to teaching. This whole testing thing is backwards to me (and hordes of others). Now, don't get me wrong, I understand the whole thing -- afterall, I am not one who can sit still for long, I need to be doing something -- but I'm also one who doesn't want others up and running around while I'm taking a test. I'm wondering if "they" could come up with a better way to test these kids if they need to be tested. What about a computer-based testing program? I teach computers at my school and I know that they generally sit better for me when they are engaged in computer learning. You would think that in this day of technology, we could come up with a better way to get this testing thing done. I wonder if computer based testing would yield better results. Hmmmmm......something to ponder......

Copyright presentation

I asked my brother-in-law who happens to be an attorney to talk to my 6th and 7th grade computer classes about intellectual property issues. First of all, I have to commend my students -- they were great! They were quiet, listened intently, and -- for the most part -- asked some very good questions. I think they learned a lot.

Larry geared most of his talk on music downloading. This is a big issue with these kids. Many of them have portable digital music devices (mp3s, iPods, etc.). He explained to them that the best policy is to be sure that you pay for the music you download and get them from a reputable site. He referred them to riaa.org for a list of reputable downloading sites. I did print off the list and will put the link on my school webpage for parents to see. The students asked such questions as:

- What if I give my friend a copy of the songs that I downloaded?
- Why did they invent things like DVR, Tivo, CD and DVD burners if it's illegal to copy songs and movies?
- (this is a good one!) What if my friend and I go halves on a CD, do we both get to download the music onto our iPods?

There were many more, this was just to name a few. What a great teachable moment! Thanks, Larry for your presentation!

End of the day thoughts

The presentation by Will Richardson was tremendous! There are so many ideas buzzing around in my mind. When I got home, I was just a-"twitter" with all the information I left with. How am I going to use this with my students? How is this information going to impact the expectations and rules I have for my own personal children? Do I want to encourage my oldest son to explore the world of social networking and blogs now instead of discouraging him because I am afraid of all the dangers out there? What a powerful tool the internet is! Actually, as I reflect on the content I have developed for my computer classes so far this year, I think I'm on the right track. Will explained today that we need to teach our kids how to be safe on the internet first. And that's exactly what I'm trying to do. Now, I just hope they listen.....

Day 1

It's 1:10 p.m. on Friday and I am sitting at the Rend Lake Marketplace in a presentation by Will Richardson. We are learning a lot in a very short amount of time. The burning question in my mind is how am I going to use this in my classroom. What great tools for the kids! This is going to take a lot of thought on my part. I'm one that tries to stay a step or two ahead of the kids. But when it comes to social networking and blogging, they are at least a step ahead of me. I am hoping that the information I have tried to impart on them so far this year helps them to understand how to stay safe when they are socializing via the internet.