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

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

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