At Work

This is a picture of me at work from back in September. It was taken at our annual District Showcase of Schools. This is where the public is able to come in and visit a booth set up by each school to see what types of great things are going on. Here, our technology department was able to setup some various equipment that is used in some of our classrooms to enhance instruction. It was nice to be able to show the community how our 21st century students are learning compared to what it was like when they were in school.

The red thing that you see that looks somewhat like a UFO is called a document camera. This works much like the old overhead projectors that would have used the old flimsy transparency sheets. However, the document camera is projected through the computer onto a white board or projection screen. With this, a teacher/student is able to put down printed text, a book, a calculator, money, etc. and be able to see it in color and in detail. The teacher and/or student can then take a pen or pencil or marker and write on the paper or move the objects around to observe.

In front of the document camera near my arms in front of the laptop you can see what we call a "clicker." These are more commonly known as Student Response Systems. These work in much the same way as asking the audience in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Using these "clickers" teachers are able to use various questions and have the students click in an answer anonymously to the rest of the class other than the teacher to get instant feedback. This allows students that instant gratification that they love and allows the teacher to quickly be able to see if students are grasping the concept being taught by asking quick questions.

To the left of the clickers you see another piece of equipment that is gray and orange. That is called an Activ Slate. This allows the teacher to be projecting the computer image on a white board or screen and not be tied to the computer to click through slides, sites, etc. With the Activ Slate the teacher can roam anywhere in the room and work the computer from there. It can also be quickly handed to students to demonstrate concepts. The software that comes with this is full of wonderful resources to help enhance the teacher's instruction.

These are just a few tools of my trade! This is what I spend my day doing; teaching teachers to use these devices as well as many others!

Hope your day has been well!! Tomorrow is Friday...Enjoy!!

Susan