Personal Catch Up & Random Rambling

I've spent the last few posts talking about different aspects and tools of my job and we will get back to that soon. I just wanted to take the opportunity to catch up on what is going on in other areas!

Things have calmed down since the ice storm and the high winds that came through the week after. All my family members finally got power. Remember my sister and her husband way out in the Caneyville, Kentucky woods? They only got their power back last Thursday, Feb. 12th. Keep in mind that the ice came on like January 27th.

I enjoyed visiting with some friends from my former church tonight. It's always nice to see my "second set of parents!" They remind me a lot of my parents and are always very nice and fun to be around. I am, though, settling into and enjoying attending the new church I've been going to. I've been attending Little Flock in Shepherdsville since last April. I enjoy the upbeat music and nice people I have met there!

I'm also staying busy with work as you can see in my other posts. It's the time of year when we start looking ahead to and planning for the new year. Regarding the budget cut issue, we are hoping it will not affect us as we work on renewing our grant and anticipate money for the school district from the state will not be in jeopardy.

I just realized and remembered that my niece Chelsea will turn 6 next week. She was born not quite a year after I moved back here after my marriage separation and ended up in Bullitt County. It doesn't seem like I've been here that long and it definitely doesn't seem like little "Chelsea bug" should SIX!!

February is always a busy month with work and we are slowly but surely making it through. I am definitely ready for spring weather.

Have a great Evening!

Susan

Technology and Learning

As I enjoy the day off today I just thought I would share our website that we use to help support the teachers in our district.

This is what we like to call out Technology TIPS site (www.bullittschools.org/tis). On this site we have several pieces of information for teachers regarding integrating technology into instruction. Our Training Materials section contains "cheat sheets" and step by step instructional guides for various things that we use here in our district. The Technology and Learning section contains pictures of students and teachers using our various tech tools. You will also find other helpful educational links.

If you are a classroom teacher, technology teacher anywhere please feel free to make use of the site. There is even a section for parents that has information about cyber safety.

Check it out and enjoy!

Susan

Click, Click, Click

In the world of educational technology, one of the most popular interactive devices as of recently is the clicker. Clicker is a generic term for any student response system. These Student Response Systems are yet another "tool of my trade."

The one we use the most here in Bullitt County is the clicker system from eInstruction called the Classroom Performance System (CPS). Any of the clicker systems allow all students in a class to be involved in a lesson by voting for their response as a teacher asks a question either previously entered into the software, a verbal question, a question on a pre-made test or from another website, or right inside of the Study Island program which I told you about a few days ago.

Teachers love the clickers because of the instant feedback given by the program in order to help them customize their instruction for the whole class. Students love the clickers because it is anonymous and the entire class can be involved at one time.The CPS system that I use most often allows, not only for teacher led/whole group instruction and review, but also student paced test taking by using the response pad as a sort of answer sheet much like the old time Scantron forms.

If you are a teacher, a parent, or a student check and see if your schools owns some clicker sets and find out how they can be used to enhance the education of our children. To find out more about clickers visit www.einstruction.com.

Have a wonderful evening!

Susan

Budget Cuts

As most have heard, Kentucky has found itself in a budgetary crisis along with the rest of the country. Unfortunately education keeps being mentioned as a place where some of the cuts may take place. Unfortunately, again, that may entail my current job position.

If you have read my blog before or know me personally, you may know that I work as a technology integration specialist for our school district. My job is to train and be a support for teachers as they use various technology initiatives in their day to day instruction. I am hoping for the best as we work to keep our job position from being cut. We have to apply for renewal of our grant that supplies part of our salary, as well as hope that the state legislature intervenes and does not cut the budgets of local school districts.

If money is cut for local school districts that could be detrimental to our students. Technology would be one of those things that may be cut and, therefore, leaving some of our students behind not. We have come so far in our district and our teachers and students are so excited it would be a shame to have to take this technology support system away from them. In addition to that, our district will be opening two new school buildings in the new school year that will be fully equipped with "Intelligent Classrooms" which means state of the art technology equipment for teaching. If we are not there to train the teachers, that equipment may sit and not get used to its fullest potential.

I am hoping for the best and trying not worry about it, but it does loom on the horizon. If you are a Kentuckian reading this, whether an educator, parent, or private citizen contact your legislators and encourage them to keep education funded by supporting the higher cigarette tax, alcohol tax, or whatever it takes.

We need to be able to educate our students to the best of our ability and that takes money in order to give them the best education possible.

Have a wonderful evening and here's to hoping the winds will stay calm!

Susan

Kid Friendly Video Sharing

As I was watching the news this morning I saw, featured, a new video sharing site. There are many sites coming out from the whole YouTube craze in order to meet the interests of various groups of people. We have TeacherTube and SchoolTube for those of us in education. There is also GodTube for religious type video sharing. The one I saw featured on this morning's news was KidsTube (www.kidstube.com).

It works along the same lines as YouTube and all the others, but it is geared for kids who are younger, but still want a way to share their talents and abilities without them or their parents having to worry about them accidentally running in to something inappropriate. Here is what I copied from their About Us Section:

Monitored Video Sharing for Kids: KidsTube.com was created with the purpose of providing a Safe and Fun environment for people of all ages to upload, share, discuss, and encourage each others creativity. With that simple goal and these guidelines, we hope you enjoy the site and help us to promote its success by becoming a part of the community today!

History: Kidstube.com began as a small group of concerned grandparents, parents, and young adults living in and around Webb City, Missouri, USA. We want to encourage like-minded grandparents, parents, and their children, to become part of our community, participate, visit often and promote our success, but most of all, start recording and submitting your own original home videos to help us make online video viewing better and worthwhile.

Check it out and share your thoughts! Enjoy!

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Susan

Ahhh, Sun and Heat and the Weekend!

It is Friday after a 4 day school week since returning to work from the ice storm. Life is gradually getting back to normal here in this part of Kentucky. There are still a few people without electricity including my sister and her husband. I do hope all of these people get turned on very soon, hopefully before the end of the weekend.

It has been nice to get back to work this week after missing 5 days. It's been what we call, though, a long short week. These long short weeks end up feeling longer than a typical 5 day week. It's a psychological thing I guess!

I enjoyed a trip to Target this afternoon to buy a baby shower gift. I am looking forward to being able to see and get together with some old friends at a baby shower tomorrow. Being single I welcome these opportunities to gather with friends; unfortunately they don't happen often enough for various reasons. Time being the culprit for us all, I'm sure.

Enjoy this warm weekend and take some time to relax!

Susan

Students on the Island...Study Island

Good evening! We finally made it back to school today here in snowy Bullitt County, Kentucky. This gives me a good opportunity to talk about another "Tool of my Trade!"

For the last year and a half our school district has subscribed to a web based program called Study Island (www.studyisland.com). Study Island is built from state standards for each individual state and is made to be used as a tool for instruction, review, assessment practice, etc. The activities within Study Island are very versatile using various presentation techniques including test modes and game modes to help motivate and engage students. Teachers have the ability to set up their own class roster and make specific assignments for their classes using it just like they would a worksheet or page out of a book. Activities in Study Island be done either at school or at home if the student has Internet access.

One of the coolest things that our teachers love about Study Island is the fact that it can be used for whole group review and flashbacks using the eInstruction Classroom Response Systems or generically referred to as "clickers." Study Island and eInstruction have partnered together to make the use of the "clickers" user friendly for teachers and giving them the ability to quickly review concepts with students and allowing them to gain instant feedback.

So, if you are a teacher or school employee take a look at the site. If you are a parent or know someone with kids ask their school about it!

Enjoy and have a great evening.

Susan

Ready to go Back to the Routine!

Well I'm in the evening of our 5th school day off from the ice storm. We were off Tuesday-Friday of last week and now here on Monday. We are being told we are going back tomorrow, but on the other hand the meteorologists are telling us that there is a chance of snow. We will hope and pray that snow stays away. We aren't even completely rid of what we had. Like I said previously I was all about the snow last Tuesday but not ICE and 5 days out of school.

Oh well, things happen and it will be nice to finally be back to the routine. Yes, we'll all be ready for a day off again soon, but we need to get back in school and get the routine and consistency going again for ourselves as well as the students.

I was productive today. I got my taxes done on Turbo Tax online and that turned out nicely with good little refund coming.

As we return to work, I hope to have some more exciting things to add to the blog. After being home for so long, I'm running out of things to write about.

Hope your Monday evening is great!

Susan

25 Things

This has been going around for a few weeks now on Facebook. It has been really fun reading all my friends lists. I thought since my blog is still pretty new that my list that I posted on Facebook a couple weeks ago would be appropriate to put here in my blog. So here goes:

25 Things About Susan:

1. I am the baby of my family. I have a sister who is 12 years older than me.
2. I am single.
3. I have always loved TV.
4. I love classic TV re-runs.
5. I like playing games (board games, trivia games, etc.)
6. My first job was at Hardee's in Leitchfield.
7. I was married for almost 2 years.
8. My ex-husband was in the Army.
9. When I was married we lived in Oklahoma where he was stationed.
10. I'm almost finished with my Rank I, which means I'm almost done "going to school" for now.
11. I have several "great" nieces and nephews meaning my niece has children.
12. I enjoy doing laundry.
13. I hate cleaning house.
14. I can play piano a little.. by note on the right hand and following the chords written above the staff on the left hand.
15. I'm not a huge movie fan. More TV!
16. I love the sport of gymnastics.
17. I worked at JC Penney at the end of college while I was looking for teaching jobs.
18. When I worked at JC Penney I worked in the Home department. I sold curtains and bedding and bath towels. Imagine me advising you on color combinations!! LOL
19. In college, I worked in the department office of Industrial Technology at WKU.
20. My interest in technology kind of developed by chance. My ex-husband worked in it in the Army and then I ended up getting the library job here and learned a lot really, really fast!
21. My favorite color is Yellow.
22. I'm going to Washington, D.C. this summer for a conference.
23. I went to San Antonio last summer for a conference.
24. Yes, I've been a librarian and I do love to read, but I'm not a fiction fan.
25. Some of my favorite types of TV show are biographical shows and documentaries.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Susan