Saturday, February 12, 2011

Reflection on Class #3

My brain is on overload but I think that is a good thing.  Today's class was full of so much valuable information, from our discussion at the start of class about the use of the Flips and Digital Wish and Tech Directors integrating with Teaching and Learning, to the TED video, to igoogle, to slide share, to creating a form in google docs.  WOW.  One small little part of our morning discussion - using Google Docs for our RTI meetings - really has me thinking.  I LOVE that idea and I am going to bring it to our IT dept. and Teaching and Learning to see if they can figure out a way for the information to be secure and remain confidential or on a "need to know" basis.  I'm also pretty excited about the creation of forms in Google Docs.  I've used Survey Monkey before and I find it to be really easy, but google forms seems pretty easy as well.  Actually - I'm wondering if the "results" feature in google forms will be easier to read/interpret.  Actually - it's really not that bad in Survey Monkey, so maybe my overall question is - why google forms rather than Survey Monkey - or are they pretty much the same?  Lastly - for anyone that has looked at my google form from the link on my blog - I try to survey my staff every couple of years regarding those "things we do", hoping that I will never be that Principal that when I'm replaced - the staff say "Please get rid of "x" - we don't know why we have had to do it year after year.  It was just Laura's pet project"!

Google Doc - Form

Go to my SURVEY

response to TED video

So - I'm watching this and I'm trying to think about it in relation to my school.  Can I?  We have 32% Free and Reduced and 10% ELL.  Compared to other places - not bad.  Not bad at all.  However, I am still trying to focus on closing the achievement gap.  Why are my low SES and non English speaking kids still under performing as compared to their white, middle class peers?  Is technology access the answer?  If kids can teach themselves and can overcome barriers such as language and poverty - given just one computer - maybe there is something that I am missing.  I don't think we are currently doing anything "wrong" but I do think we could do things to make it better.  Of course - how could I blog and not comment on the fact that once again, someone is commenting on the issue of inequity.  The technology should go to the remote areas first.  Hmmm.  It boggles my mind that we know these things and we continue to foster inequities all across our educational system.  I need to remember the comment that the benefits to lower SES communities will far out weight the benefits to middle class - upper class.  I know some folks that need to watch this video.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Class #2 Homework

I thought a lot about what I really wanted to learn from this class or "get" before Spring Break.  There are so many things, so in the spirit of being "realistic", I have narrowed it down to three things: Google Docs, creating a slideshow/movie (with music) to show at Back To School Night, and Podcasts.  I got the podcast idea after sharing with our Director of Technology that I was thinking of filming staff using the Flip Video and emailing it out as a way for peer coaching to occur without the teachers having to get sub release time to observe each other.  She suggested that I use the IPOD touches to film and then downloading it to Itunes and creating podcasts???  YIKES!  I have no idea what I am getting myself into but it sounds pretty cool so I think what I'll do is take on both - Flip Video/email and Ipod touch/podcast - and then compare and decide which is easiest, most effective, best quality etc.

As for looking through our district's technology plan...Sherwood's current plan was written in 2009 and goes through to 2012.  I was pretty impressed by the entire document.  I thought it was very forward thinking/looking.  The section I chose to share was regarding "communication".  The objective that is written in the plan is "Provide staff and students with reliable online communication and collaboration tools".  Evidence of progress was stated as, "Open source curriculum management and blogging software has been installed to provide on-line collaboration (ex: Moodle, Drupal, and Metadot)".  "The district will provide collaboration software to all students as determined by the tech committee (Google Docs, Gmail, blogging)".  It was obvious to me why this was "forward looking" since it was written in 09 and as I sit in February of 2011, I know little of Drupal or Metadot and am just learning about Google Docs and blogging!  Maybe it's just me that's a little behind.  Hmmmmm...  :)