Success

It's nice when we can finally see the pay-off to all the work we do. I have to say that there is nothing more rewarding (professionally at least) than when a teacher comes up to me, excited about using some piece of technology that I worked with them on. I have spent countless hours with teachers going over the same thing time and time again. Sometimes I wonder if it is how I am teaching it, or if they are just not truly interested in learning it. As I look back at my activity log it is somewhat funny to see the number the times I have repeated the same training with the same people.

Today was somewhat different. I had a teacher looking for me at the end of the day not to complain about something that didn't work, or ask for help but to tell me that she used the clickers without any help. To some this may not seem like a big deal but this was a teacher that was really reluctant to even try them. With one of the goals that our school has with an increase on the use of technology for assessments, she had to do something. I worked with her on setting up her classes in CPS and getting an assessment ready. He first time she used them she wanted me there to do the classes for her. I did and everything went fine. The second time she used them, she set up the assessment on her own . She wanted me to be in the room to help her when there were problems or issues. The day she used them I was in the room. There were no problems and everything went fine. She told me she would let me know when she was going to use them again so I could be there "just in case".... I waited and waited. After school she came up to me excited that she used for all her classes today with no help. During one class she forgot to change the class name in the CPS program. This means that it was recording answers for the wrong students. She noticed it, corrected it, and moved on. She was so happy that it went well (as was I). After her telling me of her success I asked her what was the next thing that we were going to tackle? Rather than telling me "nothing" we are now considering the SmartBoard or SCORE. Her goal is each nine weeks to pick-up and start incorporating something new.

What I find funniest about the events of today is how excited she was to tell me that it all went well. "You are going to be so proud of me" is how she started the conversation with me and I was. I don't know if some of the teachers know or realize that when they are successful with something that I work with them on I too feel a sense of success. This is the reason we are in the schools. It reaffirms many of my beliefs. This will not show up in any activity log or in my portfolio but that's ok. We'll just move on to the next piece of technology with teacher to help her try and reach all her students...

Summer PD wrap-up

Yesterday was the last face to face meeting with our summer professional development course. I have to be honest and say that I am not sad to see it end. I really question the effectiveness of a 2 hour face to face meeting after they have worked all day. There were some teachers who only seemed interested in getting out of there. How late are you going to keep us? If we don't take a break can we get out early? were just some of the comments that were made. Sometimes I wonder how these same teachers would react if there students acted the same way. Maybe it was because it ends up being a long day and they had other places they would have rather been. But they signed up for the course. No one forced them. I understand that they signed up last April and who really knows what you have going on the following October. But just the general lack of interest was the most frustrating. While I did not get this feeling from all it always seems to be from the loudest.

While I am writing about the wrap-up I guess I will add something else that really irritates mes me. Believe me this is not confined to the pd. Showing up 25 minutes late for something with a Starbucks coffee in your hand. To me that just show a general lack of respect for the people who made sure that they could get there on time. I always wonder how far out of the way did someone have to go to get that? If they didn't stop to get the coffee would it be possible that they could have made the course on time? I used to work with 2 teachers who would be late just about everyday for work. Kids lined up at the door waiting to get into their homeroom while the teacher strolls in with her cup of coffee. I know this is an administrative issue but to me it seems like a personal issue. If you need your cup of coffee to get your day started no problem just leave earlier. I know that there are some times when things can not be controlled. Traffic is bad, accidents happen, you wake up late, and some other things that are out of our control. Sometime I wonder if people think about that or if the attitude is just I'll there when I get there?

Blogging

Once again here I am trying to think of what to write in a blog. This is still something I am not completely comfortable with. Not really sure why. I guess I figure if I force myself to do this eventually it will all make sense. I am looking forward to working though this 20 hour course on many of the Web 2.0 tools. It will be interesting to work with and learn about the tools and ways that I can help other teachers incorporate them into their classes. This should be a fun adventure.

Winding Down

1 Down and 1 and a half to go. The course is almost over and there is a sense of relief that is starting to come over me. I have finished just about the all o fthe online work with just putting the final pieces together for my leadership plan. One last section on my professional portfolio and that can be put to bed. The only thing left is the exit interview. We started to divide up the sections that we are going to cover. It was fun to look back at all of the work that we did for the cohort. Looking at some of the reflections from the first semester made it feel like it was so long ago. I remember getting the list of books for that semester and thinking this is going to be crazy. No way am I reading this much. Sure enough it all got read, and discussed, and analyzed. Have to be honest though, I don't miss having to read a book every other week. This entire journey has been such a learning experience. Not just the content from the class but also a lot about myself.

Learning Together

Tonight’s class was another learning experience. I really like the opportunity to sit there and try to figure out or work through some of the different things that we are learning. While at times I get frustrated it is usually for stupid things. Like hitting the backspace button in Angel and rather than having it delete the previous letter it takes you back a screen. I enjoy the experimenting with the new technology we are working with to figure out how to make something happen or work. I especially like the fact that everyone in the class is learning new things together. It is nice that Bill does not just sit there with all of the answers but learns right along with us and experiments and tests to see how some things work. That is something that many teachers are afraid to do with their classes.

In class tonight we finished out Podcast for our advocacy site (you can check it out at: http://standarizedtestingoverkill.pbwiki.com/FrontPage ). This was the first Podcast that I have ever done. It was relatively easy to create but difficult to stay in the 30 second time allotment. It was nice to get all of the advocacy wiki done so I can concentrate on finishing the portfolio, online class work, and preparing to for the exit interview.

Digital Video

On Thursday we created our Advocacy PSA . It was actually pretty fun to do. I am a big fan of digital video. It is amazing what can be done with a free program (moviemaker), a digital video camera, and just a little knowledge. I am really enjoying this course and not only learning new (to me) technologies but actually using them.

Next up will be the podcast which I am excited about learning. That has been a buzzword around the last year and I have not had the opportunity to create one. I am pretty familiar with the audio software that we are going to use.

Advocacy and Online

Working on the advocacy wiki has been fun. Just like many of the projects throughout the cohort working in groups is much more beneficial than working alone. This is soemthing that I have to continue pushing in my school as I work with teachers. I have noticed an improvement of staying on task as the semesters have worn on. There is not as much time spent off task now as there was in the beginning fo the cohort. I did find uploading a file tonight onto our wiki to be somewhat troublesome and frustrating. Last week it was no problem but tonight for som reason it wanted to be difficult. But we got it working late (thanks Bill).

THe online course is going along. I am doing a good job about staying ahead of where I want to be on it. There seems to be a lot more work for this particular online course in comparison to the previous courses. My goal is still to be done with the online course when the face to face is over.