Bill Vader demonstrated many features of the teacher (Mac) computers that are being placed in elementary classrooms. High levels of learning and fun was had by all.
Workshop participants should post their comments about this workshop on this BLOG.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Many Tools, Applications and Ideas
Greg King and Bill Vader demonstrated many technology tools and technology integration possibilities. The possibilities are truly endless.
Workshop participants are asked to post their comments about this workshop on this BLOB.
Workshop participants are asked to post their comments about this workshop on this BLOB.
Educator Access Gives Teachers Many Communications Options
A number of elementary teachers explored the various communication options and the new grade book with Steve Lebert and Dave Paschke. After some demonstrations teachers worked in teams to set up initial grade book and communications options for their grade levels.
Workshop participants are asked to post their comments about the workshop on this BLOG.
Workshop participants are asked to post their comments about the workshop on this BLOG.
Advanced SMART Training
(Michelle)^2 [Michelle Traetow and Michelle Baker] set up a number of activities that helped elementary teachers explore the SMART board and the SMART Notebook software. Many exciting ideas were shared concerning using these technologies to help students learn!
Notes from the SMART workshops are posted in the share files at each site:
Budd TDATA
Intermediate TDATA
Look for folder named "SMART Summer Workshops"
Workshop participants are asked to post their comments about the workshop on this BLOG.
Notes from the SMART workshops are posted in the share files at each site:
Budd TDATA
Intermediate TDATA
Look for folder named "SMART Summer Workshops"
Workshop participants are asked to post their comments about the workshop on this BLOG.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Intro SMART Training Was A Big Success
On Monday afternoon about 25 participants learned how to use the SMART presentation software and SMART interactive white board. Michelle Traetow, Michelle Baker and Brad Haugen led the group through a number of activities that helped teachers understand how to use many of the key features of this technology. http://smarttech.com/
The SMART presentation software is a great tool for any classroom teacher that has a projector even if they don't have a SMART board. Please email Bill Vader bvader@fairmont.k12.mn.us if you would like this software installed on your computer.
Workshop participants are invited to post their comments about this workshop on this Blog.
The SMART presentation software is a great tool for any classroom teacher that has a projector even if they don't have a SMART board. Please email Bill Vader bvader@fairmont.k12.mn.us if you would like this software installed on your computer.
Workshop participants are invited to post their comments about this workshop on this Blog.
August Tech Workshops 8/11 - 8/13 2008
The introductory tech workshop was attended by 35 teachers Monday morning. Participants are encouraged to take a look at the "Google Tools for Educators site which was not working well on our network Monday morning. The Thinkfinity and Atomic Learning sites are also excellent resources for teachers at all levels.
Following is a link to the notes for this workshop:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d87qzrj_20ctrtjhcs
You might recall that I asked each participant to enter their birth date on the spreadsheet. Even though there are 365 or 366 different possible birth dates there is a very high probability that at least two birthdays will match any time there are 30 or more people surveyed. Please look at our birthday list after it was sorted. Our group did have a match!!
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pDaw4zKkTlJme4ZMjI7KXcw&hl=en
Special thanks to Michelle Traetow, Michelle Baker, Greg King, Bill Vader and Brad Haugen for helping put on this morning workshop.
Teachers who attended this workshop are invited to post their comments on this Blog.
Following is a link to the notes for this workshop:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d87qzrj_20ctrtjhcs
You might recall that I asked each participant to enter their birth date on the spreadsheet. Even though there are 365 or 366 different possible birth dates there is a very high probability that at least two birthdays will match any time there are 30 or more people surveyed. Please look at our birthday list after it was sorted. Our group did have a match!!
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pDaw4zKkTlJme4ZMjI7KXcw&hl=en
Special thanks to Michelle Traetow, Michelle Baker, Greg King, Bill Vader and Brad Haugen for helping put on this morning workshop.
Teachers who attended this workshop are invited to post their comments on this Blog.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Spring 2008 Tech Update
On April 15 the technology coaches, media directors and any other teacher or administrator that wants to attend will meet at the central school from 3:30 to 5:00 to plan for the summer and the next school year. This meeting will focus on identifying summer technology projects including classroom and computer lab computer upgrades, projector mounting and file server upgrades. We will also discuss technology related professional development activities and the 2008-09 district technology wish list and budget. Please use the comment option below or send an email to Dave Paschke dpaschke@fairmont.k12.mn.us if you have a suggestion for the April 15 agenda.
All the technology plans that have been written by teachers were given to the appropriate tech coaches from each site for review and comment. The tech coaches will use information from these plans to make recommendations and set priorities for the summer and next school year. The high school technology committee met on Thursday March 13 and determined that well over 90% of the "requests" that were included in the teacher tech plans had been taken care of to date. I believe that we are making similar progress at the elementary sites.
Please contact one of your tech coaches if you would like to review, develop or update your technology plan prior to April 15. Priority will be given to projects that include a well thought out tech plan. Additional information about developing your tech plan can be found in past posts to this BLOG. Please see the Septenber 24 Classroom Technology Plan post http://fastt.blogspot.com/2007/09/classroom-technology-plan.html and the link to the tech elearning site.
During the past few years there has been interest in Podcasting. There has been some equipment purchased to help with this process. Contact Doug Bancks or Greg King if you have interest in doing a Podcast. Following are links to two articles from "THE Journal" concering this topic.
"Podcasting Basics: Simple Steps for Introducing Podcasting into Your K-8 Class"
Part 1: http://www.thejournal.com/articles/22069
Part 2: http://www.thejournal.com/articles/22265
All the technology plans that have been written by teachers were given to the appropriate tech coaches from each site for review and comment. The tech coaches will use information from these plans to make recommendations and set priorities for the summer and next school year. The high school technology committee met on Thursday March 13 and determined that well over 90% of the "requests" that were included in the teacher tech plans had been taken care of to date. I believe that we are making similar progress at the elementary sites.
Please contact one of your tech coaches if you would like to review, develop or update your technology plan prior to April 15. Priority will be given to projects that include a well thought out tech plan. Additional information about developing your tech plan can be found in past posts to this BLOG. Please see the Septenber 24 Classroom Technology Plan post http://fastt.blogspot.com/2007/09/classroom-technology-plan.html and the link to the tech elearning site.
During the past few years there has been interest in Podcasting. There has been some equipment purchased to help with this process. Contact Doug Bancks or Greg King if you have interest in doing a Podcast. Following are links to two articles from "THE Journal" concering this topic.
"Podcasting Basics: Simple Steps for Introducing Podcasting into Your K-8 Class"
Part 1: http://www.thejournal.com/articles/22069
Part 2: http://www.thejournal.com/articles/22265
Thursday, January 3, 2008
2008 Tech Update
Happy New Year!
A new batch of projectors, wireless keyboards and mice were delivered during break. Please work with your technology coaches if you are ready to have one of these placed in your classroom. We should have enough projectors on hand to meet the rest of our classroom requests for the school year. We are also working on sound systems as appropriate. Remember to have your technology plan ready as you discuss your needs with your tech coach. Thanks for your patience as we try to place equipment into classrooms.
A new email filtering system was installed this fall. Hopefully this has cut down your nuisance email traffic. Please contact your tech coach if you would like to learn how to manage your email traffic.
Lee, Bill and some outside consultants have been working on managing our Internet traffic. During their research they discovered that over 70% of our traffic was being generated by clients listening to, watching and/or downloading music, video and animation files and doing social networking. It is difficult to judge how much of this traffic has a legitimate educational purpose so instead of blocking this completely a priority system was established that limited the resources dedicated to this type of traffic. A second option that adds resources to our network specifically for this type of traffic is being tested over the next two months.
You Can Help Manage our Network Traffic by limiting your recreational and non-essential Internet traffic during our high traffic time from 7:45 AM - 3:15 PM on school days. You can also help our students be good literate citizens and digital consumers. Your media specialists and tech coaches can help! Digital literacy and citizenship are exceptionally important both inside and outside our educational community.
Computer upgrades and new computers for elementary classrooms are being considered as our next major project. The new reading and math curriculum is driving this capital project. Bill will be working with me and the elementary tech coaches to prioritize this project.
Interactive White (SMART) Boards are being considered for placement in classrooms where teachers demonstrate a teaching style, lesson design, attitude, and tech plan that fits with this type of technology. SMART boards are not necessary for show and tell types of technology interaction. If you are a teacher that is comfortable with using technology to demonstrate, manipulate, model, reference and interact then this might be the thing for you.
A new batch of projectors, wireless keyboards and mice were delivered during break. Please work with your technology coaches if you are ready to have one of these placed in your classroom. We should have enough projectors on hand to meet the rest of our classroom requests for the school year. We are also working on sound systems as appropriate. Remember to have your technology plan ready as you discuss your needs with your tech coach. Thanks for your patience as we try to place equipment into classrooms.
A new email filtering system was installed this fall. Hopefully this has cut down your nuisance email traffic. Please contact your tech coach if you would like to learn how to manage your email traffic.
Lee, Bill and some outside consultants have been working on managing our Internet traffic. During their research they discovered that over 70% of our traffic was being generated by clients listening to, watching and/or downloading music, video and animation files and doing social networking. It is difficult to judge how much of this traffic has a legitimate educational purpose so instead of blocking this completely a priority system was established that limited the resources dedicated to this type of traffic. A second option that adds resources to our network specifically for this type of traffic is being tested over the next two months.
You Can Help Manage our Network Traffic by limiting your recreational and non-essential Internet traffic during our high traffic time from 7:45 AM - 3:15 PM on school days. You can also help our students be good literate citizens and digital consumers. Your media specialists and tech coaches can help! Digital literacy and citizenship are exceptionally important both inside and outside our educational community.
Computer upgrades and new computers for elementary classrooms are being considered as our next major project. The new reading and math curriculum is driving this capital project. Bill will be working with me and the elementary tech coaches to prioritize this project.
Interactive White (SMART) Boards are being considered for placement in classrooms where teachers demonstrate a teaching style, lesson design, attitude, and tech plan that fits with this type of technology. SMART boards are not necessary for show and tell types of technology interaction. If you are a teacher that is comfortable with using technology to demonstrate, manipulate, model, reference and interact then this might be the thing for you.
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