Technology Leadership
Section III-A: Staff Development
Technology for Diversity
Artifact- Edmodo Professional Development Sessions
In March 2011 I was asked to present a one hour session to other science teachers about the use of Edmodo in the classroom. I designed a session for teachers that would introduce the concept of utilizing a school-safe social networking site in order to help students with writing in science. I quickly found that my students wrote with more detail when using Edmodo, and the fears of inappropriate use by students is easily overcome with proper introduction of the site to students.
My session began with an introductory video using the Edmodo site (there are also several good videos available on YouTube). I then showed the teachers how to create a class within Edmodo, by creating a class for the session and then having the teachers “enroll” in the class. They were then able to play the role of the student within the “class” by posting to the site and answering a short poll. I was able to show screen shots of pages my students had participated in and explain the positives along with problems I had found and overcome. With the time remaining, teachers were able to create their own Edmodo page, and create classes within their page, for their students. The feedback from the session was very positive; I was asked again to present at the Howard County Technology Conference in June 2011. This conference was open to all teachers and all grade levels; although the session was at the end of the day my session was packed- teachers were sitting on the floor to participate! I will again present the Edmodo site at my new school.
In January 2012 I began my internship with a professional development session in my school on the uses of Edmodo in the classroom. This session was well-attended due to the high level of interest in using new forms of technology in the classroom. Teachers went through the same process as above, creating an account, participating in a class of mine, and then creating their own sites. Teachers immediately began using Edmodo in their classes as well. At this point there are a significant number of teachers using Edmodo regularly, and students are enrolled in several different classes.
Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues
Artifact- TLC3 Steering Committee
In late October 2011, the members of the McAllen ISD technology cohort met with the Director of Educational Technology to discuss the approval of the 1:1 iPad initiative known as TLC3 that would be taking place over the next 1.5 years. As members of the cohort, our students will be the first to receive their iPad, sometime in January 2012. She asked for volunteers to be part of a steering committee, with the intention of writing policies for students and teachers regarding the use and care of their iPad. I volunteered for the TLC3 Policy Committee, and was selected as one of 3 middle school teachers to be part of the committee. The Director met with the district lawyers to create a legally binding draft policy. The TLC3 Steering Committee met in early November to review and edit the student code of conduct policy and the technology resource use policy. Three main topics were debated: the technology user fee, student consequences and fines for vandalism and/or loss, and the iPad case that will be required. Having written policies in ET 680, I was able to make suggestions on wording of phrases and rearranging items in the list so that students would understand the consequences for misuse. The draft of the student code of conduct is attached. Students and parents will be required to sign the policy, and provide a suitable case, before their iPad is issued to them.
As the iPad rollout nears, students and parents alike needed to go through an orientation to their responsibilities with the district owned iPad. As a cohort teacher, I volunteered to spend a class period going through the TLC3 Parent-Student Orientation. Students were shown a series of videos and allowed to ask questions after each one. There were 4 sessions for parents held at the school in the evening, or parents could access the information online and give their consent online as well. The distribution of iPads has been postponed several times but at this time is scheduled to begin on February 27, 2012.
Once the students began receiving their iPads, they needed to go through a process of registering their iPad through the district filtering and tracking system through the apps of AnyConnect and AirWatchMDM. I helped many students register their iPads, often first creating an email address and iTunes account. Students are all now enrolled and at this point at least 80% of my students have their district iPad. Some are registered and waiting, and a few parents are withholding giving permission for personal reasons. Those students will have the opportunity to register again in August 2012.
Assessment with Technology
Artifact- Fossum Staff Needs Survey
In order to determine where to begin my internship, I developed this survey for staff. I was pleased to receive so many responses and this helped me to develop my internship sessions for staff. There is a high level of interest in how to use an iPad since so many of our students will have one to use both at school and at home. I worked with this information as well as continuing to discuss needs with staff as the iPad rollout nears. My goal for the survey was to determine the staff needs; as expected they were wide ranging so I decided to focus on those things with the highest level of need and would also help the staff the most once students had their own iPads. I was not surprised by the number of staff who had little knowledge of the iPad. There is a great deal of interest in Edmodo, and online documents for students. I think I will start there, since I know Edmodo well, and then move on to the iPads.
Managing the Technology Rich Classroom
Artifact- Basic iPad Settings
This will be the main focus of my internship. I plan to help other teachers become familiar with the iPad so that they too can have students using the iPad in their classroom, even if they are not part of the TLC3 cohort. Next year, all students will have an iPad of their own, and all teachers will be expected to use them in class and for homework assignments.
Teachers without iPads of their own want to know how the iPad functions, and what the basic settings are for the iPad, so that if their student is having difficulty or off task the teacher will know how to manage that in the classroom. I held an after-school session on the basic settings of the iPad, including how to see recently opened apps and how to manage the iPad in the classroom. A small but very interested group attended this session; I have continued to work with these teachers informally in order to develop their iPad knowledge.
Technology Resources
Artifact- Apps for iPad
Our students will have iPads, but not all parents are giving their child permission. In addition, teachers in my school do not receive their iPad until after March 2012 and possibly not until August 2012. With that in mind, I have located, researched and instructed teachers in Apps for iPad that teachers can use without actually owning an iPad of their own. These apps are compatible with a computer and email, and help change the process of using technology in the classroom (QR readers) and how students process and submit information (Doodle Buddy, Idea Sketch). Teachers are not only taking these ideas but expanding them into other apps; lunchroom and hallway conversation often revolves around the latest app a teacher has found and is sharing with others.
Technology for Diverse and Special Needs
Artifact- iPad Accessibility
Students in the Special Education program in McAllen received iPads of their own back in October. I did not realize at the time that their resource teachers received little or no training on the iPad at the time. I conducted a session on the accessibility settings of the iPad that was well attended by both special education and general education teachers. We discussed the pros and cons of VoiceOver and the speak settings and the uses of each. In addition, we looked into the touch settings and the settings within Pages. All those in attendance were extremely grateful for the help. I work closely with several of the staff and will continue to help them within our general ed class.
Integration of Technology into the Curriculum
Artifact- Apps for Science
As part of the science department, I meet regularly with the other science teachers on both a formal and informal format. At one science team meeting, I shared a few apps that are useful in a science classroom. That presentation can be found here. Most were most interested in the app Show Me- the student can easily create their own video and upload it to the website and email it to their teacher. The science teachers are already using Edmodo in their classroom as a result of my first session- mostly for the online quiz feature. I also shared with them the discussion my students had in class about spontaneous generation- I thought that they had done an excellent job. The science teachers and I continue to share apps such as LabTimer, Tape Measure, iCell and HumanBody informally among ourselves. I hope to conduct a similar session at an upcoming math team meeting.
TFII: Educational technology facilitators plan, design, and model effective learning environments and multiple experiences supported by technology.
TFIV: Educational technology facilitators apply technology to facilitate a variety of effective assessment and evaluation strategies.
TFVI: Educational technology facilitators understand the social, ethical, legal, and human issues surrounding the use of technology in P-12 schools and assist teachers in applying that understanding in their practice.
Section III- B: Reflection
Artifact- Web 2.0 Blog
As part of ET630, I created this Web 2.0 blog using Blogger. In it, I researched several Web 2.0 tools and wrote about the positives and negatives of each, and how I might use them in my science classes. I also read the blogs of my classmates during this time and commented on some of their Web 2.0 tool posts as well. This was my first experience with keeping a blog and found it not only easy but also a way to develop my writing as a tool to think things through, and record my thoughts as I tried new things.
My blog covered 4 technologies: podcasting, Google spreadsheet gadgets as vocabulary tools, Wordia.com and Edmodo.com. Rather than focusing on tools that were well known, I was able to write about some lesser known tools that I felt I could use easily in my 7th grade classroom.
On podcasting, I shared how I was able to create a lesson for students to create a podcast on cell organelles and used this technology in class. I included a brief sample of my students’ podcasts, as well as mistakes I made and fixes for them. In Google spreadsheets I stumbled into the gadgets section and was excited to find some vocabulary tools that are easy to use. I included a link to my digestive system vocabulary flash cards and my body system vocabulary word scramble. What I loved most was that students can access the tools easily from home without a password or account.
I found Wordia and like the tool, but the site has changed quite a bit since that time. I still think it is a great way for students to share vocabulary but have not used it yet. I can see students submitting words with their iPads from my classes now and hope to use it. At the time, I was most excited about Edmodo, and have continued to use it as an online discussion tool in my class. I also belong to several of the professional development sites and use them to gather relevant ideas to use in class. Within my blog, I included screenshots and links of the different pages I had created within my site. Since that time I have conducted PD sessions on Edmodo and led many teachers to use it within their classes.
Artifact- Internship Blog
As a part of the implementation of my internship, I created an Internship Reflection Blog as a way to record my experiences. It has been extremely helpful as a way for me to reflect on the successes of my work and as a way to remember the steps of the process. In addition, this blog has documented my steps to help me create the internship portfolio. I did not contribute to the blog as often as I had originally hoped, and came to realize the importance of regular reflection. However, without this piece of reflection I would have found the creation of the portfolio much more difficult. I was able to use the blog to keep track of all the many things I was doing all at once as the iPad registration period and distribution kept me incredibly busy. I expect to use blogs within my classes in the future as a means of documenting students' steps in large projects. I find that students do not like to keep track of their steps in the scientific research process but this may be another means of helping them to accomplish their projects, and help each other by connecting to each other's blogs. As I write about using a blog as a tool for reflection, I am continuing to reflect!
TF-V.B Continually evaluate and reflect on professional practice to make informed decisions regarding the use of technology in support of student learning.
Technology for Diversity
Artifact- Edmodo Professional Development Sessions
In March 2011 I was asked to present a one hour session to other science teachers about the use of Edmodo in the classroom. I designed a session for teachers that would introduce the concept of utilizing a school-safe social networking site in order to help students with writing in science. I quickly found that my students wrote with more detail when using Edmodo, and the fears of inappropriate use by students is easily overcome with proper introduction of the site to students.
My session began with an introductory video using the Edmodo site (there are also several good videos available on YouTube). I then showed the teachers how to create a class within Edmodo, by creating a class for the session and then having the teachers “enroll” in the class. They were then able to play the role of the student within the “class” by posting to the site and answering a short poll. I was able to show screen shots of pages my students had participated in and explain the positives along with problems I had found and overcome. With the time remaining, teachers were able to create their own Edmodo page, and create classes within their page, for their students. The feedback from the session was very positive; I was asked again to present at the Howard County Technology Conference in June 2011. This conference was open to all teachers and all grade levels; although the session was at the end of the day my session was packed- teachers were sitting on the floor to participate! I will again present the Edmodo site at my new school.
In January 2012 I began my internship with a professional development session in my school on the uses of Edmodo in the classroom. This session was well-attended due to the high level of interest in using new forms of technology in the classroom. Teachers went through the same process as above, creating an account, participating in a class of mine, and then creating their own sites. Teachers immediately began using Edmodo in their classes as well. At this point there are a significant number of teachers using Edmodo regularly, and students are enrolled in several different classes.
Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues
Artifact- TLC3 Steering Committee
In late October 2011, the members of the McAllen ISD technology cohort met with the Director of Educational Technology to discuss the approval of the 1:1 iPad initiative known as TLC3 that would be taking place over the next 1.5 years. As members of the cohort, our students will be the first to receive their iPad, sometime in January 2012. She asked for volunteers to be part of a steering committee, with the intention of writing policies for students and teachers regarding the use and care of their iPad. I volunteered for the TLC3 Policy Committee, and was selected as one of 3 middle school teachers to be part of the committee. The Director met with the district lawyers to create a legally binding draft policy. The TLC3 Steering Committee met in early November to review and edit the student code of conduct policy and the technology resource use policy. Three main topics were debated: the technology user fee, student consequences and fines for vandalism and/or loss, and the iPad case that will be required. Having written policies in ET 680, I was able to make suggestions on wording of phrases and rearranging items in the list so that students would understand the consequences for misuse. The draft of the student code of conduct is attached. Students and parents will be required to sign the policy, and provide a suitable case, before their iPad is issued to them.
As the iPad rollout nears, students and parents alike needed to go through an orientation to their responsibilities with the district owned iPad. As a cohort teacher, I volunteered to spend a class period going through the TLC3 Parent-Student Orientation. Students were shown a series of videos and allowed to ask questions after each one. There were 4 sessions for parents held at the school in the evening, or parents could access the information online and give their consent online as well. The distribution of iPads has been postponed several times but at this time is scheduled to begin on February 27, 2012.
Once the students began receiving their iPads, they needed to go through a process of registering their iPad through the district filtering and tracking system through the apps of AnyConnect and AirWatchMDM. I helped many students register their iPads, often first creating an email address and iTunes account. Students are all now enrolled and at this point at least 80% of my students have their district iPad. Some are registered and waiting, and a few parents are withholding giving permission for personal reasons. Those students will have the opportunity to register again in August 2012.
Assessment with Technology
Artifact- Fossum Staff Needs Survey
In order to determine where to begin my internship, I developed this survey for staff. I was pleased to receive so many responses and this helped me to develop my internship sessions for staff. There is a high level of interest in how to use an iPad since so many of our students will have one to use both at school and at home. I worked with this information as well as continuing to discuss needs with staff as the iPad rollout nears. My goal for the survey was to determine the staff needs; as expected they were wide ranging so I decided to focus on those things with the highest level of need and would also help the staff the most once students had their own iPads. I was not surprised by the number of staff who had little knowledge of the iPad. There is a great deal of interest in Edmodo, and online documents for students. I think I will start there, since I know Edmodo well, and then move on to the iPads.
Managing the Technology Rich Classroom
Artifact- Basic iPad Settings
This will be the main focus of my internship. I plan to help other teachers become familiar with the iPad so that they too can have students using the iPad in their classroom, even if they are not part of the TLC3 cohort. Next year, all students will have an iPad of their own, and all teachers will be expected to use them in class and for homework assignments.
Teachers without iPads of their own want to know how the iPad functions, and what the basic settings are for the iPad, so that if their student is having difficulty or off task the teacher will know how to manage that in the classroom. I held an after-school session on the basic settings of the iPad, including how to see recently opened apps and how to manage the iPad in the classroom. A small but very interested group attended this session; I have continued to work with these teachers informally in order to develop their iPad knowledge.
Technology Resources
Artifact- Apps for iPad
Our students will have iPads, but not all parents are giving their child permission. In addition, teachers in my school do not receive their iPad until after March 2012 and possibly not until August 2012. With that in mind, I have located, researched and instructed teachers in Apps for iPad that teachers can use without actually owning an iPad of their own. These apps are compatible with a computer and email, and help change the process of using technology in the classroom (QR readers) and how students process and submit information (Doodle Buddy, Idea Sketch). Teachers are not only taking these ideas but expanding them into other apps; lunchroom and hallway conversation often revolves around the latest app a teacher has found and is sharing with others.
Technology for Diverse and Special Needs
Artifact- iPad Accessibility
Students in the Special Education program in McAllen received iPads of their own back in October. I did not realize at the time that their resource teachers received little or no training on the iPad at the time. I conducted a session on the accessibility settings of the iPad that was well attended by both special education and general education teachers. We discussed the pros and cons of VoiceOver and the speak settings and the uses of each. In addition, we looked into the touch settings and the settings within Pages. All those in attendance were extremely grateful for the help. I work closely with several of the staff and will continue to help them within our general ed class.
Integration of Technology into the Curriculum
Artifact- Apps for Science
As part of the science department, I meet regularly with the other science teachers on both a formal and informal format. At one science team meeting, I shared a few apps that are useful in a science classroom. That presentation can be found here. Most were most interested in the app Show Me- the student can easily create their own video and upload it to the website and email it to their teacher. The science teachers are already using Edmodo in their classroom as a result of my first session- mostly for the online quiz feature. I also shared with them the discussion my students had in class about spontaneous generation- I thought that they had done an excellent job. The science teachers and I continue to share apps such as LabTimer, Tape Measure, iCell and HumanBody informally among ourselves. I hope to conduct a similar session at an upcoming math team meeting.
TFII: Educational technology facilitators plan, design, and model effective learning environments and multiple experiences supported by technology.
TFIV: Educational technology facilitators apply technology to facilitate a variety of effective assessment and evaluation strategies.
TFVI: Educational technology facilitators understand the social, ethical, legal, and human issues surrounding the use of technology in P-12 schools and assist teachers in applying that understanding in their practice.
Section III- B: Reflection
Artifact- Web 2.0 Blog
As part of ET630, I created this Web 2.0 blog using Blogger. In it, I researched several Web 2.0 tools and wrote about the positives and negatives of each, and how I might use them in my science classes. I also read the blogs of my classmates during this time and commented on some of their Web 2.0 tool posts as well. This was my first experience with keeping a blog and found it not only easy but also a way to develop my writing as a tool to think things through, and record my thoughts as I tried new things.
My blog covered 4 technologies: podcasting, Google spreadsheet gadgets as vocabulary tools, Wordia.com and Edmodo.com. Rather than focusing on tools that were well known, I was able to write about some lesser known tools that I felt I could use easily in my 7th grade classroom.
On podcasting, I shared how I was able to create a lesson for students to create a podcast on cell organelles and used this technology in class. I included a brief sample of my students’ podcasts, as well as mistakes I made and fixes for them. In Google spreadsheets I stumbled into the gadgets section and was excited to find some vocabulary tools that are easy to use. I included a link to my digestive system vocabulary flash cards and my body system vocabulary word scramble. What I loved most was that students can access the tools easily from home without a password or account.
I found Wordia and like the tool, but the site has changed quite a bit since that time. I still think it is a great way for students to share vocabulary but have not used it yet. I can see students submitting words with their iPads from my classes now and hope to use it. At the time, I was most excited about Edmodo, and have continued to use it as an online discussion tool in my class. I also belong to several of the professional development sites and use them to gather relevant ideas to use in class. Within my blog, I included screenshots and links of the different pages I had created within my site. Since that time I have conducted PD sessions on Edmodo and led many teachers to use it within their classes.
Artifact- Internship Blog
As a part of the implementation of my internship, I created an Internship Reflection Blog as a way to record my experiences. It has been extremely helpful as a way for me to reflect on the successes of my work and as a way to remember the steps of the process. In addition, this blog has documented my steps to help me create the internship portfolio. I did not contribute to the blog as often as I had originally hoped, and came to realize the importance of regular reflection. However, without this piece of reflection I would have found the creation of the portfolio much more difficult. I was able to use the blog to keep track of all the many things I was doing all at once as the iPad registration period and distribution kept me incredibly busy. I expect to use blogs within my classes in the future as a means of documenting students' steps in large projects. I find that students do not like to keep track of their steps in the scientific research process but this may be another means of helping them to accomplish their projects, and help each other by connecting to each other's blogs. As I write about using a blog as a tool for reflection, I am continuing to reflect!
TF-V.B Continually evaluate and reflect on professional practice to make informed decisions regarding the use of technology in support of student learning.