November 16, 2009

I am going on the record by saying I am going on the record; I am glad that is out of the way. Well, today I taught my first lesson using Paint.net. After working with Photoshop all these years, I find the interface to be similar, but the behavior is not what I expect. This will teach me to do some previewing before I do the teaching. Secondly, off of the listserv I have found a way for teachers to download Youtube vids to use within their lessons. The best part is that the format is quite compatible with Activinspire. I do warn teachers that once the lesson is completed they need to destroy the vid due to copyright infringements. Speaking of the listserv, I have found it to be invaluable for certain information, and I do value it, even though it can sometimes be overwhelming with the plethora of emails. I did receive good news in that I am attending PETEandC. I still wish PAECT could find a different venue for it. Well, tomorrow I am in the classroom quite a bit so I must prepare.......flick

November 11, 2009

Happy Veteran's Day to all vets. I want to thank all of you for all you have done and will do. Once can classify this day as the day I wish I had a pedometer on me. I solved many problems and dealt with unique ones. The Veteran's Day Skype went well with few difficulties. It is nice to see our district actively taking part. I met with several teachers today. I have also decided that I will hold my technology forums on Wednesdays. I will begin that next week. Generally, it will be an open forum so teachers can come and discuss anything dealing with technology. I feel I need to make myself available and not set an agenda. I hope that teachers will avail themselves of this. I met several hours yesterday with my TIMS dude. We discussed many topics, and I showed him some of the nuances with ActivInspire. It went well. We will be working together on November 25 doing an in-service together. I will rest my legs and get them ready for tomorrow..............flick

November 2, 2009

Back from a weekend and wondering what will await the intrepid CFF/technology integrator dude. I did find out that I will be heading to Hershey for the SAS conference, which CFF is now a part of. SAS is Standards Aligned System. I was also out and about today. I finished some housekeeping duties with the wiki project and discussed some with others. I also found out my role in the upcoming teacher's in-service right before Thanksgiving, and I am looking forward to working with the elementary teachers on Activinspire. I did have one tech problem that I could not figure out, but tomorrow is a new day. I am also going to teach some LA this week, and I must admit that I think I will enjoy that. Back tomorrow............flick

June 5, 2009

Today I visited PVEI and did two presentations on internet safety. It was great talking with students of that age. I just love the spontaneity and the naivete. They had some very good questions and comments about various things. On Monday, I do have two more programs to present in CH. I also am just working on the end of the year things. I also need to prepare for the whiteboard training on the 22 and 23 of this month. I have to make sure teachers download and install Activinspire. I have been migrating teachers to the program; it is the program that will be installed on the image for next year. Next week is the last week; therefore, it will be interesting. By that, I mean, one never knows what will happen. I will give you reports from the nether regions to inform you of the happenings.........flick

April 21, 2009

Holy Smokes--a false fire drill and a lock down for a message scrawled on the bathroom wall--other than that, a normal day. I am still visiting teachers and talking with them concerning their needs. Overwhelmingly their responses deal with the working of technology vs. ideas for the integration, but I am dealing with the integration. We are moving along well. I am also slowly migrating all to Activinspire. I find the program interfaces well, and I like the new conveniences; it is well thought out. I also like the fact that we are going to make it part of the student image so the group can take advantage of it and create flipcharts in classes. This will add another tool to the teacher arsenal of technology. The middle level teachers have asked me to judge a science fair on Thursday. I really do not have the time, but I must practice what I espouse. I am looking forward to see what the students have done since we have touted the JANUS project. We are progressing well. I shall return tomorrow.......flick