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Susan's Bullitt Blog
Monday, February 15, 2010
Friday, August 28, 2009
Work Summary
Normally I turn in a weekly summary to my boss documenting what I have done and worked with teachers on throughout the week. Since August and the beginning of the year has been crazy busy, I decided to do it in narrative form for the month. Just thought I would post it here in my blog!
Narrative TIS Summary for August 2009
Susan Jenkins
Susan Jenkins
The beginning of the new school year, 2009 – 2010, started with us “hitting the ground running.” New construction, new teachers, and new technology have made for a month of putting things together and a whirlwind of teacher training.
Out of all of the construction the two newest building are on my schedule, so assisting with computer set up, Activ Board Training, etc. were all a huge part of my TIS duties during the month of August. The month began with a week of professional development holding all day “Technology Refreshers” and/or Activ Board trainings for Pleasant Grove, Roby, Mt. Washington Elementary, and Overdale. This week also consisted of the annual New Educator Orientation where the new teachers in the district are trained on our Acceptable Use Policies and accounts created for them.
The week of August 10th brought the opening day and students’ first day of school. I met with many teachers to begin helping them get set up to use the technology available in their buildings. During this week I met with teachers at Eastside Middle School to discuss SMART Board and Voice Thread, Old Mill to train on the use of the projector, and Brooks Elementary to discuss various technology skills. I also attended the Instructional Coach meeting to get up to date on what is going on with the Student Learning Department in preparation for MAP testing. This week also consisted of a meeting with our SuccessMaker representative, Joshua Brown, to discuss getting the program ready for student and staff use.
The week of August 17th was spent with more technology setup and software installs for the ActivBoards at the new elementary schools. I was also able to meet with Kindergarten classes at Mt. Washington Elementary to model the integration of the new ActivBoards in that building. The rest of this week consisted of meeting with various teachers to set up SuccessMaker, Study Island, Teacher Websites, etc.
During the week of August 24th, I worked with a teacher from Eastside Middle School on two different days in going over various possible ways of integrating the CPS clickers into her Math instruction. I also worked with various grade level teams at Roby on training them in the ActivInspire software. On the 26th my co-worker and I attended the Region 4 TRT/TIS meeting in Henry County and listened to a presentation by John Halligan, who had lost his son in 2003 due to cyberbullying.
The school year has gotten off to a busy but smooth start and I am excited about the possibility of the teachers in our district this year.
Susan Jenkins
Saturday, August 15, 2009
New School Year--- 2009-2010
Excitement, nerves, stress, unknown....Those are just a few of the emotions on the roller coaster of staff, students, and parents this past Tuesday as we all began a new school year in Bullitt County, Kentucky. Construction is the huge thing on the radar in our district and y es, it is an inconvenience to everyone involved. Many staff and students are going to be in the midst of it for the majority of the year or more. However, to see the faces of the students on Tuesday in our two newest buildings (Overdale and Roby Elementary Schools) was priceless. I visited both on that first day and asked students what they thought, especially about the modern technology tools in their new classrooms. Some comments I received were "Good!!" with a huge excitement level in the pronunciation. One parent friend on my Faceboook said that her daughter thought Overdale was "as big as a hospital and looked like a mall in some places!"
Yes, there is still on going construction happening at six of our schools. Yes, parents are frustrated and were all over the news concerned about safety of their kiddos. Yes, teacher have minimal tools at the moment in a few schools. Two more new schools are process to open next school year. However, after we all suffer through this temporary inconvenience I am looking forward to the day in the VERY near future that Bullitt County Public Schools is a leader in technology, making us a top leader in student learning!
Here's to making it smoothly through our first week back!
Susan
Yes, there is still on going construction happening at six of our schools. Yes, parents are frustrated and were all over the news concerned about safety of their kiddos. Yes, teacher have minimal tools at the moment in a few schools. Two more new schools are process to open next school year. However, after we all suffer through this temporary inconvenience I am looking forward to the day in the VERY near future that Bullitt County Public Schools is a leader in technology, making us a top leader in student learning!
Here's to making it smoothly through our first week back!
Susan
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Pocketing the Planet
I am linking you, today, to a guest blog post that I did on the Promethean Planet website. For those who may not know, Promethean Planet is the site that teachers are able to access in order to find lessons and resources for their Promethean ActivBoard.
Follow the link to see my posting: http://www.prometheanplanet.com/blog/?p=1386
Enjoy!!
Susan
Follow the link to see my posting: http://www.prometheanplanet.com/blog/?p=1386
Enjoy!!
Susan
Friday, July 10, 2009
Some Resources I Have Recently Discovered
These are some resources that have been shared with me by various colleagues on my Twitter PLN. Great resources that I will definitely find a use for this coming new school year!
Promethean ActivStudio and ActiveInspire Training flip charts.
FREE -- Teaching Resources and Lesson Plans from the Federal Government
More than 1600 federal teaching and learning resources organized by subject: art, history, language arts, math, science, and others -- from FREE, the website that makes federal teaching and learning resources easy to find.
This is a list of Ning Sites for collaboration in various content areas.
Top 50 iPhone Apps for Educators OEDb
Top 50 iPhone Apps for Educators
Bullitt Co. Public Schools Technology TIPS
Training and Reference information for Bullitt County Teachers.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Tech Integration: From a Child's Point of View
I am home from my wonderful trip to Washington, DC and had a great time. I met many great people of which I will speak about in various upcoming posts. I want to start with one of the sessions that stood out the most to me that I hope when I take it back to my colleagues they will feel the same way!
At NECC this past week I had the awesome opportunity meet an eleven year old teacher. Yes, I said eleven year old. Her name is Adora Svitak and she is a very talented writer at this young age. Yes, she is gifted in this area, but she has been totally encouraged by her parents and tutors to pursue this interest and grow in her passion. As I sat and listened to Adora speak about writing and integrating technology, her vocabulary blew me away. Not like some "nerdy" kid trying to show off with big words, but just like listening to another colleague speaking to me in a PD or PLC meeting. Adora travels the country conducting writing workshops for teachers and students. What could be more motivating to kids than hearing it straight from someone their own age?
Adora's grasp of technology use both in her day to day writing and in her presentation skills was also amazing to watch. She was brought to NECC this year by Promethean, one of the premiere Interactive White Board manufacturers. Just watching her use the ActivBoard and student response system in her presentation to us again blew me away. I hope her message from the child's point of view can be heard by teachers and administrators. She talked about the wonderful engagement and defferentiating opportunities that are available through the use of these interactive tools.
Her goal in life is to inspire kids to love reading as much as she does, and to let them know it is the basis for whatever they may be interested in. Through her writing workshops kids and teachers alike are able to hear from a child's perspective the importance of engaging instruction.
Take a look at Adora's books that are listed on her website http://www.adorasvitak.com/ when you get a chance. If you have not seen or heard her speak search YouTube for Adora Svitak.
I've included an interview that was done this week with Adora by one of the local DC TV stations. Toward the end of the interview she references that she will be speaking to a group of teachers at 3:45 that day. I was fortunate enough to be in that session and was given a copy of one of Adora's books and got to meet her briefly!
More NECC posts to come soon!
Susan
At NECC this past week I had the awesome opportunity meet an eleven year old teacher. Yes, I said eleven year old. Her name is Adora Svitak and she is a very talented writer at this young age. Yes, she is gifted in this area, but she has been totally encouraged by her parents and tutors to pursue this interest and grow in her passion. As I sat and listened to Adora speak about writing and integrating technology, her vocabulary blew me away. Not like some "nerdy" kid trying to show off with big words, but just like listening to another colleague speaking to me in a PD or PLC meeting. Adora travels the country conducting writing workshops for teachers and students. What could be more motivating to kids than hearing it straight from someone their own age?
Adora's grasp of technology use both in her day to day writing and in her presentation skills was also amazing to watch. She was brought to NECC this year by Promethean, one of the premiere Interactive White Board manufacturers. Just watching her use the ActivBoard and student response system in her presentation to us again blew me away. I hope her message from the child's point of view can be heard by teachers and administrators. She talked about the wonderful engagement and defferentiating opportunities that are available through the use of these interactive tools.
Her goal in life is to inspire kids to love reading as much as she does, and to let them know it is the basis for whatever they may be interested in. Through her writing workshops kids and teachers alike are able to hear from a child's perspective the importance of engaging instruction.
Take a look at Adora's books that are listed on her website http://www.adorasvitak.com/ when you get a chance. If you have not seen or heard her speak search YouTube for Adora Svitak.
I've included an interview that was done this week with Adora by one of the local DC TV stations. Toward the end of the interview she references that she will be speaking to a group of teachers at 3:45 that day. I was fortunate enough to be in that session and was given a copy of one of Adora's books and got to meet her briefly!
More NECC posts to come soon!
Susan
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Packed and Ready to Go!
Well as I sit here on Saturday afternoon I think I am packed and have remembered everything for my big trip to Washington, DC for NECC (National Education Computing Conference). This is a great opportunity to meet colleagues (educators and other technology users) from across the country to talk and share what is going on in other school districts. I am looking forward to bringing back some new knowledge to my co-workers and the the teachers I work with here in Bullitt County.
My goal is to try to blog my experiences each day either in the afternoon/evening or during a particular session I may be attending. I'll do my very best to update as much as possible. However, if I don't get a chance to blog I will defintely be "tweeting" my experience on Twitter. You can follow me there: @ssjenk6. My Twitter updates are also synced to my Facebook at www.facebook.com/ssjenk6!
Everyone enjoy the weekend!
Susan
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