Over the past few weeks I have been working on getting ready for the first two weeks.  These first two weeks are jammed pack with many projects, programs, and upstarts.So what is up in Room 11? We started NWEA testing, yes even though it was hot in the computer lab we were able to begin collecting the data necessary to provide an excellent direction for the school year.  We are also issuing the STAR reading test- this will help students in direction to find materials in the library. The data is archived so this should help us make the best decisions for the most amazing students.

Students will get their mobile lab assignments on Friday. To make sure that I can assign the laptop to our 5-8 grade students make sure all the annual technology forms are submitted. The forms are found here.

And my professional development? Well, I have to finish testing first. Then I will start looking at my direction.

Well, our teachers are starting to use their blogs. You can probably move around to the different blogs on my page. A few teachers have customized their blog’s looks, while others have set up multiple accounts. We have a giraffe on one blog, Curious George on another, along with flowers, piano keys, each showcase these teachers unique style. I am very excited to see what these tools hold.

Tonight was our welcome back night. So parents started  getting an idea of what has been going on during this very busy summer. We distributed our revised student handbook and we had parents do their annual technology forms online. It has been a busy summer and I am looking forward to this school year.

Last May we hosted the first SRS Technology Spring Fling, the goal was to help other schools learn about technology integration. We sent invitations to all the archdiocese schools and our local public schools. We had twenty different schools represented and were able to network with a variety of schools. The communication from this event has continued past the event. We have had small informal talks with principals and technology coordinators to a more formal event of presenting to a group of teachers. our goal is to allow schools to reach out within the archdiocese. While, we were preparing our plan we had to reach out to other schools, we are connected to schools in Memphis, Chicago, and many other places. I have enjoyed several ning’s to help me learn more about using technology in the classroom.

So about our presentation: Today we presented to one of the school’s who attended our Spring Fling. Over the summer I have been working with this school and their technology coordinator. We talked about how we could get technology in the classroom, she had described her visit to our school as a lightbulb moment. We presented about our views of why technology integration is important. We asked the school’s technology coordinator to invite teachers and her principal to join us. In my opinion the presentation went well, I hope that we are able to give them a solid direction in which to head.

One of my favorite parts of when I present is when I show my schedule. Most technology coordinators smile in joyful anticipation that it to could become their schedule one day. Most principals scratch their heads and wonder what I do. And by far my favorite, the teacher who says, “it doesn’t look like you work at all.” What none of them know, I am extremely busy.

The Presentation

Early last school year, I kept hearing from my principal, “I need a mac.” When I asked what would be done with this mac, the same response was always said, “I want to make an iMovie”. Before we were leaving for winter holiday her PC went “pop pop” and turned off. The computer was dead and it was never going to be turned on again. She smiled and said, “I guess I can get a mac now”.

After getting her first mac, she made an iMovie about her holiday trip to Scotland. Then came the Disney Cruise, The Pottery Dude, the trip to Sweden and today it was “A Message from the Chief Learner”. This iMovie talked about how there are six facets of educating the millennial student, the digital native. The goal was to give teachers the inspiration to continue technology integration.

So I watched an amazing movie from Mabry Middle School about how teachers use blogs to communicate assignments. Two years ago when I started a few teachers tried this technology and it was a bit slow to get off the ground. After doing much research on which blog to use I decided to use WordPress and I am IN LOVE with it!

So I began to think what do we have at the school that can make this even more user friendly? Then I thought about our copier, yes granted we are striving for paperless communication and we do quite well on that front but there is a feature that is built in to our copier that allows scanning and emailing.

So after looking at these technologies I figured that students could download the rubric from their teachers blog and be able to know exactly what is expected of them. This might be even less time consuming than the iCals from last year.

So I was asked, “SRS 2.0, what are you going to do?” I thought about this, how might I prepare our teachers to use tools that are Web 2.0. So today, I worked on setting up all of our teacher’s with a WordPress account on our website- I’ll put their links on a blogroll. Each of them will have access to their own blog and can use the blog to their own content. The ideas of using this blog are endless. Last year, we had political debates and book talks using blogs. What will this year hold?

Last year we dipped our feet into the Google Apps for Education and we just scratched the surface. This year each teacher will have access to the SRS Calendar where they are able to add important items onto the the calendar. The ways grades are posted will be revised …and a whole slew of other things.

Lastly, I think SRS 2.0 means to me the further step of us going paperless by 2009. All of our technology forms will be online for parents/guardians to submit. No long line in the computer lab to complete the signing. I’ll keep updating as the summer progresses forward.