Big Picture

In meeting with our technology committee the other day, it was great to realize that we are starting to have a true vision for where we want our school to be one, three, five, and ten years from now. We started to discuss the needs of our students and how we could best prepare them for the "real word" and how we need to create independent, confident, moral digital citizens who know how to not only use technology to solve problems but also question when technology is not the best means to an end.  I feel like we are at an exciting time at my school and it's pretty fun to be a part of it...

End in Sight...

Well, I can't believe I am writing this but I believe the end of my internship project is in sight.  Keith and I have been leading successful professional development for ePortfolio and will soon be leading sessions for the student Moodle.  While the professional development sessions and staff training will never be finished, it will be nice to close out this particular portion of my internship.  Once I have submitted it to David (hopefully this week or early next week) I can sit back and breathe for a minute.  I can't really wrap my head around the idea of being finished.  I mean, to think, that a weekend would pass and I would not have to plan professional development, work on my internship portfolio, blog about my experience, discuss development goals with my administration, or upload documents to my internship weebly sounds absolutely wrong.  But, what a relief it will be!  Looking back, this internship has been extremely rewarding!  I have enjoyed how it has changed my role at my school and allowed me to help lead my staff in professional development.  Also, it's given me more confidence to speak to my staff about emerging technologies and hopefully this internship has opened doors and paths to communication that will remain open for a long time.

Can you help me with...

One of the most interesting aspects about this internship is that little by little my staff is viewing me differently.  Because of all of the professional development sessions I have led on various technologies for my staff, they now view me as a go-to person when it comes to technology questions.  Just today a fellow teacher asked me about the remote clicker system that they had heard about in one of my sessions and I was able to show her how to set it up and how to get the kids involved.  I can't wait to hear how it went...

Same Teaching, Different Technology....

     In talking with a colleague today, I was surprised by her definition of "embracing technology" in her classroom.  She informed me that she was doing a powerpoint presentation with the kids and how it was really so easy to incorporate technology into her classroom.  She went on to tell me that technology was exciting and that she loved powerpoint and thought it was a great way to really "get kids excited."  When I sugested that there might be better ways to "get the kids excited" she managed to simply nod her head and then change the subject.
     Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  Really?!?  Using powerpoint to get kids excited about education.  Ummm, welcome to 1995. I'm sorry but it's attitudes like this that make it obvious to me why kids hate school.  We use technologyvin our classrooms in very weak, peripheral ways and expect the kids to congratulate us and be impressed because we used an outdated technology in our classroom.  What's worse is that many teachers who have adopted technology tools like powerpoint or LCD projectors in their classrooms have not actually changed the way they teach they just do hat they have always done with a technology overlay.  How can I use my internship to make teachers see that technology should change how we teach and how the kids learn.  It's not something to be added so we can check it off a list and say we did it.  If so, what's the point?

Downtime Now Means Productivity....

I remember when, as a teacher, if I did not have work to grade or lessons to plan, that time was glorious free time.  I would watch TV, catch up on some leisure reading, or just goof off.  Well, those days sure were nice.  Now, when I find myself free of grading and other teacherly responsibilities, my first thought goes to this grad internship.  Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat and I am screaming things like "telecollaborative", "VBA", or "what standard does that address?"  Hahah....okay, maybe it's not that bad, but I do feel like a house divided.  For example, right now I know that I will collect essay from my G/T students on John Steinbeck's The Pearl come Monday and that means hours and hours and hours of grading and I feel like my attention to my internship suffers.  So, that means I need to work really hard this week to document all of the stuff I've been doing at work to support this internship.  None of this is to complain but it's worth noting that one on the most important aspects of this final project is time management and the ability to juggle many things at once.  It's also another time when I wish that I was a physical education teacher.  Talk about easier grading.....If only I had hand-eye coordination and knew anything about sports.  See, I'm already off topic.  Back to working on my internship portfolio and addressing more standards.....

A Controlled Vision...

I had an interesting talk with my principal today.  She was informing me that her single biggest vision for professional development for our school is still rubrics and helping teachers to use them more effectively.  While Keith and I have been moving forward with professional development with eportfolio and aspen training, it appears evident that some of our PD may end up revolving around rubrics.  The tricky thing I am learning about this internship is that it will ultimately have to involve my own passions but also the direction of my administration as well. If they have an interest that they want to pursue with the staff then my internship will have to change and adapt to fit that need.  When I was first going in to this internship I felt like it would have a lot of flexibility but the more I am getting into it the more I am realizing that there are many hands in the pot that will effect my internship and its course of action.

More ePortfolio

Now that we've led our first session on ePortfolio, Keith and I are drumming up interest for our next session.  Today I was able to send an email to all of the teachers at my school who are signed up for a portfolio evaluation to try to come to our next after school professional development session.  Hopefully they will be able to make this session since we are given them so much prior notice.  Also, today at my team meeting I was able to show my team a preview of the ePortfolio and hopefully generate some interest that way.  Keith and I are hoping for really big turn out with our next session so we will keep our fingers crossed...