1. What Tools, Software, Operating Systems, and Equipment Are Available in Your School
1. What tools, software, operating systems, and equipment are available in your school andclassroom? (including but not limited to: videoconferencing, streaming, photos sharing sites,video sharing sites, document sharing sites, podcasts, blogs, wikis, social networking sites, etc.)
i) Each teacher in the school has their own lap top and all classrooms have a Smart Board, some kind of speaker system, and a document camera. The majority of the school functions on a windows 2010 system however we do have access to iPads, iPad minis, and MacBooks.
ii) All teacher and student computers are equipped for Internet access, primarily using Internet browsers such as Internet Explorer (PCs), Safari (Macs), or Chrome (Google). All teachers are equipped with the Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Power Point, Access, and Outlook). As the Art Educator, I also have access to Photoshop which I genuinely appreciate.
iii) While administration at my school often talks about video conferencing, I have yet to experience such a thing with in the district. We do have a school wide Facebook page where administration can communicate happenings with parents but we don’t use twitter, pod casts, blogs or anything along those lines. Our website is very simple and unfortunately the teachers are not yet using those sights to communicate with students.
iv) The school relies heavily on Google functions. We use Google docs to track data, Google sites to create our web pages, Google calendar to organize ourselves, Google mail to connect, and student Google sites for communication between teachers and students. Google classroom has recently been unveiled in trainings but little use has been made of it thus far.
v) The district uses Skyward to record student grades and attendance. All students who have a home computer have access to this information as do the parents. Teachers are also able to access Skyward from home.
vi) The district offers two technology integration specialists and each are assigned to five schools helping teachers better integrate technology.
vii) With the tech specialists come extra opportunities to request and sign out computers for a project, video cameras, SMART response systems, and of course priceless support and expertise.
viii) Two schools in my district do have computer labs but my particular school does not and none of the schools have libraries housing any other form of technology.
2. How does your school make use of school and/or teacher websites?
i. The Propel School District has a website that provides access to district news and information, calendars, applications to enroll, and links to individual school websites.
ii. The Propel Schools webpage can be found here: http://www.propelschools.org/
3. How are you currently utilizing technology for learning?
i. I utilize the Internet regularly to display images, videos, and Power Point presentations related to classroom discussions and topics. I am comfortable in terms of this but also feel like I could l do a much better job with proper training.
ii. In the past, I have used Skype to interact with artists in other countries or states but unfortunately I have not yet done so this year.
iii. I also regularly use iPhoto for taking and editing pictures and iMovie to help students tell narrative stories.
From the list of global e-learning sites included below, which are available and which sites are blocked by yourfirewall? The only sites that you're required to explore are listed here, but feel free to look at/comment on others on the list that I have attached. Please reserve time to explore these sites and process what they have to offer.
ü Skype www.skype.com
ü iEARN www. iearn.org
ü ConnectAllSchools http://www.connectallschools.org
Peace Corps Speakers Match http://wws.peacecorps.gov/wws/speakersmatch/
ü ePals http://www.epals.com
ü Global Nomads Group www.gng.org
ü Omprakash http://www.omprakash.org/about
ü Primary Source www.primarysource.org
ü Edutopia http://www.edutopia.org
Outreach Worldhttp://www.outreachworld.org
The UN Works http://www.un.org/works/
ü Global Education Conference http://www.globaleducationconference.com
ü Online Newspapers http://www.onlinenewspapers.com
What sites and tools are colleagues in your building using?
a) Youtube: www.youtube.com
b) IXL math: http://www.ixl.com/math/
c) Google Drive: www.drive.google.com
d) Edmodo: www.edmodo.com
Is there a system for evaluating student technology literacy in your school? Not at this time.
Gather suggestions from students on their ideas for integrating technology into their learning.
a) Students suggested they be allowed to use music when completing their work.
b)
What tools that are not presently available, would help to achieve district objectives?
a) While we do have two very dedicated and talented tech integration specialists, they are stretched so very thin that they almost seem as if they are not presently available. The District would benefit from adding professionals to this team hand holding regular technology PLCs.
b) It probably goes with out saying but giving teachers more time to experiment with and build confidence in technology would greatly impact most teachers willingness to try new technologies.
c)
4. Using your Digital Learning Environment Inventory, develop a solution or suggest an improvement customized to your circumstance and curriculum. Create, implement and evaluateone changein aglobalized lesson plan to use technology for learning in a meaningful way. (PLEASE NOTE!If you are unable to use technology in your classroom this week, you may do it next week and submit this assignment next week.)To document and reflect on this change, please submit two paragraphs (include these in the same word document as the Digital Learning Environment Inventory):
· one paragraphdescribing your creation and implementation of one change in a globalized lesson plan to use technology and
· one paragraph evaluating what you learned in the process of creating and implementing one change in a globalized lesson to use technology.
I use quite a bit of technology in my classroom: the usual you tube engagement scenarios, various art apps, photo shop, iMovie, iPhoto, digital cameras, etc. That said, the technology I use in the classroom is a production based and I am very interested in developing ways to engage students more uniquely. One day while driving along on the highway, I noticed a billboard which displayed a famous American painting and the words “Art is Everywhere”. Apparently this is a project intended to create the largest outdoor art show ever. It included 58 American Artist and got people looking. The idea inspired me. I’ve been struggling to engage my students to look at classical art for some time now. Since my students are obsessed with Instagram and recognizing that social media has the power to create a whirl wind I decided to use this app as a platform to get them looking at pieces and reading simple facts. And so far, it is working. You can check it out by:
Downloading the Instagram app from the app store on your smart/mobil device. Click on the search button, and type in "Instagram". Scroll until you find the app, select it, and click ‘Install’. It is Free!!!
To launch the Instagram app, tap the Instagram icon (a small camera with rainbow stripes) from your device’s home screen. Next, create an account. Click the “Sign up” button at the bottom of your screen and enter your email, username, and password. Viola!
Lastly, Follow propelmontourfineart. You won't be disappointed!
Once I established how to create an instagram account I had a rough time wiggling through the need for approval in everything we do. While I did achieve approval, the amount of time it took to do so was wasteful. Immediately upon approval I shared my account with my students. This is when I learned that a middle school student who doesn’t like his current grade can report a teacher as inappropriate freezing the account for investigation. The freeze only lasted a few days and once I was through it I achieved a few likes. Because I wasn’t gaining followers as quickly as I had hoped I started offering dojo points (our positive behavior system) for participation. I have posted a combination of things including student work which I recognize for craftsmanship, creativity, or content with creative hash tags. Field trip pictures taken by student of art work described with elements and principles of design using creative hash tags. Classical pieces of art paired with blogs that offer more information about the artist and photos of me in art museums around the world. I have a lot of work to do though if I really want to continue engaging students like: rewarding students who can share information they learned from a posted blog or engage students in sharing pictures from museums they have attended. All in all,, I am having fun with the venture and will continue to post on my site daily.