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

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

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

Active Learning with the Activ Board

I've blogged a couple of times about some of the "tools of my trade." I had a picture in a previous post of the document camera which, if you remember, was red and looked like a space ship or something. If you look in the picture above you can see the document camera image projected on the left side. My co-worker and I were doing a model/demonstration lesson for a 2nd grade teacher at one of our district elementary schools using counting money and making change as the topic. As you can see the document camera allows us to put real money underneath it and project it, in clear detail, up on the board.

Now to the image on the right where you see the student and me standing. That is what I really what to point out today. That is called an Activ Board. It is manufactured by a company called Promethean. You may have also heard of a SMART Board which does the same thing just a different manufacturing company. Whichever one you are using, Activ or SMART, these boards allow you to interact with the projected image from your computer. With the Activ board the teacher or student takes a pen in hand and is able to mouse click, write digitally on the board, and manipulate a huge resource library of graphics and interactive images. There is also a wonderful website with lesson resources for teachers that they can download lessons that are already pre-made into "flipchart" format.

Students that I have interviewed after using this say it makes learning more real and interesting for them. Teachers have indicated that after years in the profession it makes them enjoy teaching again because they can see that students are much more engaged in the lesson being presented.

For more information and pictures of the Activ Board go to the following websites: www.prometheanplanet.com or www.prometheanworld.com.

Hope you have had a great day!

Susan

ZAC Browser

Those of you who have small children, grandchildren, or are teachers may be interested in this website I have to share with you today. A colleague at one of the schools I travel to introduced me to this as she and her husband use it with their children at home. Take a look at ZAC Browser (www.zacbrowser.com). ZAC Browser was designed by a computer engineer after his grandson was showing signs of autism. He wanted an interactive site that would engage his autistic grandson while helping him learn, so the idea for ZAC Browser was born.

ZAC browser, though, is wonderful for all children whether they are on track developmentally or have special needs. ZAC Browser is either downloaded to your computer or just run straight from the site and provides a safe environment for children to play online. When it loads you get an overlay type screen which is essentially a new desktop screen that can only be exited by pressing CTRL-L on your keyboard. This is indicated on the bottom right of the screen. Most young children are not going to figure this out and therefore will be safe and not accidentally clicking and exiting into random websites and bunches of ads.

ZAC browser provides many engaging activities for kids to enjoy such as games, music, stories, and even TV/video clips of modern and classic children's shows. I even found some neat clips that you people my age would enjoy seeing!! Take a look at the You Tube clip below to hear more about ZAC Browser.

Have a blessed Sunday!

Susan

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

Here's Susan

I've done some blogging before here and there for classes and such, but never have started an official blog here on a site like this. I know I am a Technology Specialist and I haven't started a blog yet??? Well, I'm too busy teaching others how to do it, that I don't have much time for my own. So we'll see how much I actually am able to take time to post here. Hopefully it will be somewhat regularly!

Well I guess I should start with an introduction! I am Susan Kerr Jenkins originally from the small town of Leitchfield, Kentucky in Grayson County about 30 miles from Elizabethtown on the Western Kentucky Parkway. I grew up as the "baby" of my family with my sister being 12 years older than me and having married while I was still young. She and her husband lived away for a while traveling with the Army. I graduated from high school in 1992 and went on to attend Western Kentucky University with a degree in Elementary Education and minoring in Library Media Education. College was wonderful and full of great friends!!

After graduating from Western I worked as an Instructional Assistant for 2 years in Warren County and then taught for a year in Logan County then got married and moved to Oklahoma with a husband who was in the army. While in Oklahoma I taught 3rd grade for 2 years at a Christian School in Lawton.

In 2002, my husband and I divorced and I moved back to Kentucky. I ended up here in Bullitt County to be near my sister and her husband who were long out of the Army and pastoring a church in the small community of Mt. Washington. I applied for teaching positions and with my minor in Library ended up being hired as a Library Media Specialist at Overdale Elementary in Bullitt County. This is where I found the type of work I love. I always wanted to be a teacher, but when I got into the library and the technology world, I loved it.

I spent 5 years at Overdale and was fortunate to be among a group who was able to help write a Grant to bring three Technology Integration Specialist positions to our school district. I was excited to then be hired as one of them! Some of you may know this position to be formerly known as a Technology Resource Teacher or TRT. I have now been in that position for a year and a half now and love it. I travel from school to school working with teachers to integrate technology into their day to day instructional activities. I love being able to help teachers learn new things and be excited about, in turn, teaching it to their students.

That is me in a nutshell if you are still reading! More about what a Technology Integration Specialist (TIS) is in future posts!