April 30, 2008

I had to work on budget requisitions, troubleshooting, and copying audiobooks, etc. The requisitions will allow me to do more things with my students. I am still having trouble with the node even though I have restarted it several times. The audiobooks are a project in elementary. I also had to be the Oracle at Delphi today dealing with several matters, and I will be meeting with the middle school teachers tomorrow. I plan to talk about Google Earth and Inspiration--if I have time, I will also deal with Office 2007. These are all solid programs, and I have tutorials for each. Again, each teacher must realize that I will supply them with the basics, and they need to explore from there. Discovery is an important tool for students and for adults. I also have to get ready for next week; I will be out three days for conferences. Don't you just love it, now. I am ready to pack it in for a day. I cannot believe that April 2008 is gone forever. I am of the philosophy that time is relative to the constraints that man has placed on it, but it can be bent and altered by the same people who have put the constraints upon it. I love doing that.

April 29, 2008

I'm back. Okay enough of the movie quotes. I feel one of the wireless nodes we placed in the school is malfunctioning. One room of laptops will only let a few students log on. I have contacted the disrict network administrator to bring in the group to check it out. Other than that, I helped a teacher with PowerPoint Jeopardy. It is working well. The students are having a good time with it and using it to review. I am finding out more and more the different ideas the teachers are using to help parlay information. By engaging the students, they will learn. I also spent a tremendous time working on embedded learning. A lot of teachers are completing the course. There is also some controversy with respect to Wilkes. Wilkes is now offering those teachers who did not take it for credit to do so by writing a paper. Those teachers who chose to take it for credit had a minimum of eight weeks to finish the course and are upset at the fact that others can get credit with a longer period of time. I do not know why Wilkes is doing this, but I do have my thoughts. See you tomorrow.

April 28, 2008

I was here early, of course, and the floodgates opened by 7. Fixed that problem. The internet went down. Laptops would not connect. Saw some awesome flip books made in PowerPoint. Taught a class. Did Dean work. Solved the gas problem (oops, that is tomorrow). Worked with Active Directory. Worked on embedded learning. Copied DVD's for student. Worked on audiobook for elementary. I am sure I am forgetting something, but I forgot what that was ( I know that delves into a redundant redundancy). It sounds like I am complaining, but I am not. It is great to broaden my own horizons and see how all of this is working together. I am just amazed at all of the things I get into in a day, and I vowed to make a list today of everything that invloved me. Well, half way through, the list went by the wayside. I must commend the teacher who used PPT as a flip book. It is fantastic, and she told me how much her students were engaged in the topic. I saw the results, and it took me back to when I used to doodle and make a flip book with a tablet. I thought it was creative and allowed the students to think logically and sequentially. Teachers are expanding their comfort zones to incorporate old ideas with new technology. They are starting to, as they say, "Get It!" Keep up the great work. What a great day to be involved with all of this. I will be updating you tomorrow. Oh, check out the wiki http://cffflick.wikispaces.com/ It is expanding every day. I found some great software for the music people. Reflect with you tomorrow. Oh, I did forget a big concept today. I found an article that dealt with teachers on social sites. There have been problems across the country with some teachers forgetting their professional side and posting inappropriate content on MySpace and Facebook, etc. Although these items are not governed by most districts, everyone needs to remember when these are put online, anyone can read them and look at the pictures. I gave them a copy of the article so they could be aware of the ramifications. Like this blog, anything put online is accessible by someone. Curiosis scriptor -- loose translation --be careful writer.

April 25, 2008

It seems like my days are a myriad of concoctions that would make the Wizard of Id proud to be an accomplished alchemist. It is mainly a feast of so many different items that I sometimes I feel I need to break things into categories. Okay, enough, I really want to commend most of the teachers to kicking out some great work. I still am marveling at walking around the school and watching some great engagement. This is the best. I also have been working on facilitating the course. There is a lot of work with this, but more and more teachers are completing the course well. I guess one has figured that this blog is mostly a scattering of ideas that have been moving around the cranial cavity. I am looking at the schedule for May, and I wonder how everything will get finished. Okay, okay, I am done, next week will be a good one....Have a great weekend.

April 24, 2008

Well, this is the second time I am trying to blog this day. Our IP provider is doing some upgrades to the internet. I wish the group would use a different time other than school hours. Yesterday was a half day for me. I spent most of the time facilitating the embedded learning course. three more teachers have completed the course, but I must go in a check their work. Cassie says "hi" to everyone. I have several more hours working with the course, and I will do that tomorrow. I also had to troubleshoot several problems....Tasher says "Hi!" They were all successful. Talk with you tomorrow.

April 23, 2008

Happy Shakespeare's birthday and Happy Secretary's Day (Administrative Assistant)--I have to watch out and politically correct--yeah. I have a teacher working on a Romeo and Juliet unit. I researched some sites and downloaded a Jeopardy game for her. She is trying hard to integrate the technology into her unit. I also have a math teacher who is working on a nonlinear powerpoint so students can construct their own quizzes. I also have another teacher who wants his students to blog on line. The list is continuing. With all of the IT thangs and teachers broadening their scopes, it does make for a busy day. I am concerned about next year's grant with respect to the fact that my time will be limited. It will be difficult to teach and integrate the grant, but I believe strongly in the program; I will make it work somehow. I also had a request from the administration to present something on in-service day. I am not sure what to do so I am going to poll the teachers and find out what they might want. Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to work I go. Thanks Walt.

April 22, 2008

Happy Earth Day to all!!! This is a time when I reflect on some of the technology and the good and harm it does to our planet. I am still the eternal optimist because I say that there is more good than harm, but with the ever burgeoning technological advances, I wish that more people would recycle their old technology the correct way. Enough of the soapbox. I spent most of the day troubleshooting. I did do some collaborative teaching, but most of it dealt with IT issues. I have also noticed that some students want to play with taking the keys off of the lappys. This creates two issues. One is the plastic breaks easily under the keys, and two teachers need to check the computers while they are being shelved. I did have my meeting after school and warned the teachers who were there about this problem and asked them to check the puters before being shelved. I also talked about the wiki and office 2007. I gave them a handout on word and nonlinear ppt's. I also told them that I have a wiki posted. Another teacher is interested on doing some online blogging with his class so I will get that ready tomorrow. We will see what tomorrow brings. adieu.

April 21, 2008

Since the IT guy left last week, today became the day I had to run interference with IT problems. I still have not solved the printing problem with CFF 1; I cannot figure out why the lappys keep dropping the printer. I will have to do some consultation. I will also have to figure out why a board stopped working. I have a meeting after school tomorrow with the CFF teachers, and it will be devoted to Office 2007. I will not be here for the next meeting in May, and I asked Eddie (CIU 10) to come in and work with them on nettrekker. I need to keep the meeting schedule and have the meetings meaningful. I have also placed some tutorials on my wiki http://cffflick.wikispaces.com/ to help teachers with the most popular programs. I plan to do this for most of the programs we use. I keep reminding the teachers of the resources there, but I am unsure of how many avail themselves of it. One must keep trying. I looked at my schedule for May, and it looks like it will be oot and aboot. It seems like organizations love to put a lot of conferences at this time. I do need these to help delve deeper into things I have to know. It seems that this job is more in line with the function of the Oracle at Delphi. I will write tomorrow............

April 18, 2008

I spent the day sitting in meetings and learning about some new software and hardware. The software deals with streaming video and its uses. I thought it was quite good. I also thought it was quite pricey. I see the benefits of this service, but I really think we need to get things in order here before venturing into this area. I could see implementation in a year or two. I like the concept of linking classes and doing lectures on line, but all of this can be accomplished with what we have. It will not be the greatest of quality, but it will be functional. The next aspect dealt with a hardware company in Syracuse called Seneca. I thought their presentation was good and viable for schools. I like their services as well as their ability to tailor a product for each individual school. I feel this is a company we need to look into and possibly avail ourselves with their products. Then we had a presentation dealing with using the Macintosh active directory. If we integrate Macs into the system next year, this will quite useful. A very productive day. Have a great weekend. While I was away, there were a few problems that i will have to deal with when I get back...All in the life.....

April 17, 2008

I guess the old adage "when it rains, it pours" is very appropriate for the day. Who could believe finding one driver for a laptop could cause such dismay. I know that it is rhetorical but true. From there, it just went downhill in that a whole class of CFF puters just did not want to log on or work properly. Then I moved to a raid boot issue, etc. I had to put all of this down today, or I would have forgotten about some of this. I put the mileage on the old shoes today. I also finished the tutorial on ppt 2007 and gave it the instructor. That is about it, and I will be out tomorrow at a TIG meeting. I will be back and ready.

April 16, 2008

Since the IT guy was out today, I had to do some double duty, but it all worked out. I also had to work on a tutorial for ppt 2007 on how to set-up a nonlinear powerpoint. I accomplished that and have it ready for her perusal. I also spent time researching and updating the wiki. I need to go through the links and give a short description of each as well as making sure the links are categorized properly. I also did a skype for a class and projected it on the whiteboard. That in itself is not earth shattering, but the fact it was from Afghanistan and dealt with one of our faculty who is serving there is a little earth shattering. The class was able to ask him questions, and it is not everyday that they get to talk and see someone in another country. Ya gotta love technology!!!!! It was a busy day, but I also can see things progressing every day--it may be minute steps, but so many steps will make a stride. Talk with you tomorrow.

April 15, 2008

Tax Day--this has nothing to do with CFF except that this is how the grant is funded so get that tax money in, and if you would like to pay more, just send it care of me--just kidding!!! I am just happy to have some of my taxes go to something worthwhile such as CFF. I was really in proverbial seventh heaven yesterday when one of my teachers stopped me and said come and look at my flipcharts. I did and was quite happy seeing how this teacher made a flipchart utilizing some of the concepts learned in a training that we attended. It was fantastic. She also said that she was sharing it with others in the department. I also sent out an email to all faculty to utilize the wiki I created for them to use as a resource. It is in constant revision, as it should be, and I am hoping that they give me other sites to add. The idea that I as a teacher have proprietary rights to something I have found is ludicrous, even though I must admit my own belief in that concept. We must be willing to share the information with all to best educate our students.

April 14, 2008

I tried to propagate a large program across the network today, and I met with NO success. I figured this might happen so I am now ready for plan B with CD's. It would have saved a lot of time and aggravation. I cannot create an image with it because it is only a few computers that need to suite. In retrospect, I guess I could, but it sometimes is worth it doing it the hard way. I am then sure of it. I had another Lenovo die today, and I have some teachers who are having problems with the laptops. I feel my fears of the Lenovo are coming to fruition. I am not having problems with the one I received because I made some alterations to it and am taking care of it, but some do not do what I do. I am worried that this will happen more and more causing the frustration level to rise with teachers and students. I will just have to be ready. I feel the image created will help solve some of the issues. I also have been working with the wiki trying to update some links and categorizing them better. I will tell you that the day flew by. I will be back tomorrow so be ready.........

April 12, 2008

I met with several teachers today to design some tutorials and class items for them to use. I also did some research to find information related to the lessons instructed. Of course, I had to handle some hardware issues, which can be very interesting. I have been researching sites for teachers and students to use, and it has completely blown me away (sorry for the triteness). I knew there was a lot out there, but since I have been looking at other disciplines, there is just so many sites that sometimes I have problems categorizing them. I know that this needs to be done to make it easier for others to access the sites. I hate going through a multiple list of links trying to find something appropriate for what I need. I thought I used a computer a lot before this job, but I think I have monitor eyes and keyboard fingers. It gives me more of an appreciation of the internet and the power of a puter. Have a great weekend.

April 10, 2008

I have been doing a lot of research today for teachers, and it has been great. Being a resource person can be time consuming, but it all pays off in the end with sum learnin'. I guess I am like the proverbial sweet tooth in a candy store when I am able to find something new or a new web site that helps in the dissemination of knowledge. I still love the aspect of learning and discovery. There is so much out there, and I know that I am only scratching the surface. I am continually updating the wiki with more and more information for teachers to use. One of the middle level teachers skyped me into her class today so her students could view the process. I also helped on some hardware issues, set up some student projects with jing, worked with audacity with students, etc. One never knows what he/she will be doing next in this job, and I like that just fine. Oh, my prinicpal showed me a video which I feel is quite appropriate for this whole initiative. It deals with a university setting, which I feel many times spouts how it should be but does not practice what is preached. It is a great video, and I hope that you enjoy it.

April 9, 2008

I had a surprise meeting from a school board member who just happened by and wanted to sit and talk. Well, it was a multi-tasking session because the IT person and I were installing a new program on a cart of laptops. The conversation went well, and the member also talked to some other teachers about a myriad of topics. I guess one could say that after 30 years I do not mince words. The rest of the day I played fireman and put out fires. I also got a chance to do some problem solving on a new Dell--haven't solved the problem yet. Oh, one of my colleagues skyped me from Afghanistan. It was good to see him, and I promised him a virtual tour of the school via webcam so he could converse with other colleagues and students. Ya gotta love technology! I also have it confirmed that our one of our IT people is leaving for sure. I wish that person a lot of luck and really do understand the plight. I need to catch up on the embedded learning and plan to come in early. I love the discussions because people tend to be more honest with the written word. This is very important to find out what people really think. I liken this concept to taking a picture of a person who is unaware that a picture is being taken. Be back tomorrow!!!!!!!!

April 8, 2008

I had my meeting with the teachers after school today, and it went well. I showed them Skype and Oovoo and had them all set up accounts. Next meeting I plan to work with the Office 2007 and help explain the ribbons to the teachers, etc. I also dealt with any other problems and related how the grant may work next year. I also worked on various hardware issues and delivered a cart to a teacher who is working great with technology. I walked by the room yesterday, and the whole class was working with Inspiration 8. I am impressed with the things that are happening. I still have to make the image for the student computers. I have one almost ready, but I do have reservations because of the problems I had before. Ya gotta love these lappys (again, notice the strong sense of sarcasm). We have to make them work so that is all. Be back tomorrow.

April 7, 2008

We are into April, the end of the third nine-week period, and on the final leg of CFF for the year. To top it all off, our IT guy is taking another job. I do understand his reasoning because of many issues, and I do wish him good luck. I mostly spent the day working on hardware concerns and trying to catch up on many items. I did okay except the embedded learning needs a couple of more hours to complete what I need to do. I have to prepare for a CFF meeting tomorrow and have heard back from a few of the teachers that they cannot be there. I have decided to answer questions and do short mini-lessons on various software. I am going to go over Skype and Oovoo so they can contact me faster and use it to talk with each other. Next meeting I am going over Office 2007. These lessons will not be intense but whet the appetite so they can explore the software at their own leisure. They are using the the media; let me preface that by saying, they are exploring the possibilities. This is good. I will inform you on how the meeting went and other tidbits. Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!

April 4, 2008

A little hardware and a lot of research is how this CFF coach chracterized the day. Of course, it is done in melodramatic style. Seriously, this week has been a great week. I had an odd email from one of my colleagues who is not part of CFF. The teacher showed great disdain over the fact that the department was not allowed to use the laptops when they would be of great benefit to the students taking the classes. I informed the teacher that one needs training and part of the grant to use the CFF materials, and also that the department would be part of next year's grant proposal. I am very glad that other teachers are taking notice of CFF and anxious to take part. Now we will see what we can obtain from the grant for next year. I know that a lot of other schools are applying for the grant so funds may be limited. Have a great weekend and enjoy the warm weather for us. PS--I almost forgot--thanks B,E,T for breakfast.

April 3, 2008

Meetings is a word that does spell out the character of my day. The first meeting involved writing the CFF grant for next year. I have worked on some grants, but the involvement of this one is quite extensive. We are considering getting Macs for this phase of the grant. It would include some changes to the network, but I have always liked the dual-platformed concept; I even feel the tri-platform as even better. In the afternoon, I attended a CFF meeting at IU10 in Philipsburg. The meeting gave CFF coaches a chance to network and look at work from the various schools. We also had a the opportunity to talk with our regional representative from PDE. We expressed some of our concerns with her, but we also told her of our triumphs. It is sometimes difficult dealing with bureaucracy, and when one deals with a person face-to-face, it is somewhat comforting, although there is always that cynicism developed innately through years of dealing with the government. Being out all day means that I will have to do a lot of catch up tomorrow. It is the law of the West. The weekend is around the corner.

April 2, 2008

This day dealt with everything from A-Z. That sure makes the day interesting. I cannot say enough about how much some of the teachers are really branching out to try concepts they would not have thought about three weeks ago. These teachers are seeing the difference in student engagement. I know it is out of the comfort zone, but they are finding that their comfort zone is expanding. I found out that they are getting braver. What a difference! I also see skype used more often and students are getting interested. I am going to leave you at that. I am quite happy and looking forward to working on next year's grant and networking with my peers tomorrow.

April 1, 2008

When it rains, it pours, but that rain sure is good when it deals with the projects that the teachers are contemplating. It sure sets me to thinking to create and research the various areas to make the ideas come alive. It is great so come on rain. I did have a few hardware issues to deal with today, but they were minor. I learned something new about the Promethean boards, which I will be able to impart. Of course, I had student imput into the matter. Some of my teachers are getting into Skype, and I love that, also. They are beginning to contact me through that program. I must still admit that I like oovoo better, and I need to look at other programs. I like what I am seeing, and I like where this is headed. The district newsletter also made its rounds, and CFF is a big part of it. People need to see what can happen by engaging students with the same skills but in a different way. Yep, I am quite ecstatic today, and I will take that one. I will be back on the blogging path. OH, I forgot one thing....I am sorry to hear that Microsoft was bought out by Apple.......Oops, April Fool's.

March 31, 2008

Well, the weekend is over, my log is up-to-date, the blog is current, and the world is now at awaiting the last installment of my blog for the month of March 2008. I spent a lot of my time today in the classroom and working with teachers. A few are seeking me out more and more to integrate various teachnologies into their classes. The sounds you here are cheers from the masses applauding those who are willing to try various new ideas to enhance the learning process and engage the learner. Flipping the switch does happen. I will be busy the next few days working on their ideas. I did have some hardware issues, but nothing to write home about. I met with my elementary counterpart. We talked about various issues and strategies--a very good meeting. We both share a passion for technology, not for the sake of it, but for the utilization of it into the educational process. Sometimes it is difficult to change tradition. I have titillated you enough with my world. I will be here tomorrow...