TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

In an attempt to give students a more authentic web presence, Mr. Hendron decided to create a wiki for student use. He requested my assistance in testing the installation of MediaWiki, the same wiki engine used for Wikipedia. Since I had never done anything like it, the installation was a challenge.

I used MAMP, which stands for Macintosh, Apache, Mysql, PHP. When I installed MAMP on my computer, I could access files on my computer through my web browser and test how the wiki would run.

It was not easy, the first time, but when I needed to test some WordPress features a month later, I went the same route. I used MAMP to test and modify new templates for our teacher blogs.

During Mrs. Cross’s maternity leave, I took over the GHS website updates. This has now become my permanent responsibility. I publish news items approved by administrators, and I make changes and corrections to what is already up.

I am not an expert, but I can find my way around Expression Engine, the modular publishing system we use for all our school websites.

This year, in an attempt to help teachers learn and collaborate more easily, we have established a users group for teachers with Promethean boards. The group meets weekly at the LMC for half an hour. Teachers who attend are rewarded with a PUG. At the end of the year, PUGs can be turned in to Mr. Hendron for recertification credit. With a minimum of twelve PUGs, a teacher is credited for an after-school integration class, and half a point for every PUG.

I am also awarding GLND bucks for time spent learning something new with me. Teachers get a buck for every 30 minutes and they can also turn those in at the end of the school year for recertification points.

Last summer was a busy one. I attended NECC in San Antonio and participated in a couple of presentations with John Hendron. The first one was a hands-on workshop on Google SketchUp. The second was a sesson sharing all we do in Goochland on the professional development front.

I also spent a portion of the summer learning about iLife 08 and ActivStuidio 3. I created video tutorials that are available on the website, and planned classes for new and returning teachers.

Students in Ms. Randolph’s Early Childhood Education class have been designing their dream kindergarten classes. I have been working with a few of her students to create 3D models using Google Sketch-up. The students are applying what they have learned about early childhood development to optimize their designs. Everything from the color of the floor tiles to the arrangement of the furniture and the objects included is carefully planned. Here is the sample classroom I created for the  students.

Over the past few weeks I’ve helped with a Scratch project with Mrs. Beatty’s 5th graders at Byrd Elementary School. In our introduction, the students created an atom with rotating electrons. When the different parts were clicked, the name popped up in a think bubble. our latest project is creating a model of a plant cell. When the different organelles are clicked, the name appears and a voice describes the function.

After several years of hard work, I have been awarded the ISTE National Education Technology Standards certification. My name is not spelled right, but it is still mine.

I will scan the certificate at school.

This past week I attended EdTech 2008 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. I was impressed by how far ahead Goochland is from the rest of the surrounding counties. Yes, there are small pockets of good ideas in some schools of the larger divisions around us, but as a whole, we are ahead.

I presented two sessions showcasing lesson plans and ideas implemented in our schools. Jessica Yoakum-Doerr, Liz Kuhns, Lisa Jones, Jillian Edwards, and Leona Barnes either presented or provided materials for the sessions.

I will scan the certificate when I get to school.

Along with all new teachers for the 2007-08 school year, I attended several courses. Here is the document with the points.

I have created a new Moodle course to help teachers use primary sources in the classroom. There is an associated page with resources on the school Wiki as well.