The 06-07 school year has begun with me in my new position, District Technology Integration Specialist, for a school system with 4 schools, 300 teachers, and a little over 4,000 students. I worked some over the summer to try to get my feet wet before the full force of the school year began. I conducted Tech. Tuesday classes on Teacher Productivity Tools and Social Networking Tools. There was not an overwellimg response to the workshops, however, at least 3 people attended each Tuesday. These were great because I was able to form relationships with people I had worked with at my old school and those I would come to work with in the future. Also, I created digital handouts which I posted on May the Tech Be With You (wikispaces) for each session I taught. This has helped me tremendously as I re-teach these classes to interested teachers this year. The teachers like the idea that the handouts are online but they still wanted them printed out infront of them. I attended conducting a lesson where they would use split screens to work. They stressed out big time! Everyone that came to a session would get a brief lesson on what a wiki is and how to use it. Unfortunately, no one has actually used the wiki except to retrieve information. I have included questions on all the handouts to entice teachers to "edit this page" to add their ideas, thoughts, questions, examples, etc. I am very fortunate that I am able to freely go into schools to set up one on one training, small group training throughout the day, and after school sessions. I am enjoying my job! I knew I could help teachers with technology integration and am grateful for the opportunity. Also, Shawn, my boss, is pushing me beyond my comfort zone by helping produce a weekly publication called The Geeky Weekly with articles, tips, directions, quotes, questions, etc. I never viewed myself as a writer that someone would want to read. With Shawn and John Norton, Alabama Best Practice Center 21st Century Team, guidance I am joining the realm of writer. Thanks!
We have begun to think how Skype could be used in our classrooms. A middle school teachers asked for help in finding a classroom in France that they could Skype. I quickly realized that there was not a good way to find interested classrooms. However, while researching resources for Eduwikipedia , I came across a Skype directory. When I selected the Education category there was only one person who seemed to be truly involved in education. I requested his information because he said he was interested in locating other educators in technology to collaborate with. Last Friday night my Skype phone began to ring. Bill Brennan from New York was on the other line. We began to share how technology is being used in both New York and Alabama. I cannot wait to see where this conversation and collaboration will take us.
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