January 14, 2010

I had an interesting time today trying to get a piece of database software working. I could not figure it out so I called the dreaded tech support and actually got someone who spoke English without a foreign accent (I know, stereotyping again). The first person tried well but could not solve the problem so I had to call again. The second person kicked proverbial donkey and solved the problem and taught me something about databases as well. I thank her profusely. I also worked on several teacher web sites, and I would say that over half the staff is up and running. I know as they progress my job will be tougher. That is okay with me. I look back at those teachers who got their Promethean boards two years ago and where they are now. I am amazed at how much they have increased their comfort zones. I just had a comment today from a faculty member who was proud of herself and what she was able to accomplish. I chided in on that and praised the effort. tomorrow............flick

December 3, 2009

I had a meeting today with the power who wanted to transform the school website in the areas of teachers. I have a beef with this site because it teachers our students absolutely nothing in the techniques and language of website development; hence, I refused to participate in this travesty and have not logged on. Well, the power wants teachers to create their individual sites for better communication among the faculty and parents, and I am okay with this; therefore, I have begun my quest to get to know the site again. I do not like the site to this day, but I see a direction here that I am anxious to help. I am getting ready to attend a conference next week, and it does sound like a cluster, but I have to attend. I am still trying to resolve the Promethean problem, and my options are now limited to calling tech support. I have not dealt with them before so I will leave my opinions reserved at this point. Well, I had better get to work. Be back tomorrow............flick

December 2, 2009

Back from vacation, and man is it cold...outside the building and in our office. I actually brought in a space heater to accommodate my lack of R-value, and I do not care what the powers proclaim from their ivory towers that have heat. I came across an interesting problem today, and I do believe I found the solution. One of the teachers complained that when writing the board will automatically shift to shape recognition or handwriting recognition. I have found in the past that this problem can be solved with updates. Did not work at all. I reinstalled software and updated drivers to no avail. I hooked my laptop to the unit with the same results. I do believe that there is a Promethean board malfunction. Now, to go through that mess. I met with several teachers today who have great ideas for implementing technology.

November 25, 2009

I know it has been several days since I posted, but I do have a good excuse....vacation--hey, that is a great excuse. Well, this say was set aside to work with teachers on various aspects of technology. I did not have a formal presentation, and I kept the topics open. We mostly dealt with the Promethean board, and I thought it did go well. I and my TIMS went from room to room taking on challenges from our teachers. We did well, but one did stump me, and I now have the answer (I had to ask one of my teachers for the solution). Before you chastise and castigate me to the depths or Mordor, I do not know it all, and I have no pretenses of knowing it all, but I can find solutions. It did go well, and I was quite satisfied. Now off to Thanksgiving......flick

November 24, 2009

I kind of thought that today would be different than it turned out, but the powers to be have a habit of interceding on the behalf of my schedule. I turned into DEAN OF STUDENTS and meted out punishment to the miscreants. It turned into a many hour ordeal, but it cleared a lot off of the slate for the office. I also spent time in the tech lab helping them with their Promethean board; they love it. The other time slots were filled with just solving problems and talking with teachers. The Guess Who would love my day (that will take some of you back to the 70's). Tomorrow is in-service; we will see what that brings...............flick

Novembwer 18, 2009

TTWF (Tech Talk With Flick) was a rousing success with me, myself, I, and a teacher who dropped by because he saw me in there. This does not daunt my spirit because with that teacher dropping by, I was still able to help with him with some questions. Besides my initial meeting last night, yesterday was quite busy. A teacher broached me about Exam View and how to set it up. I did not know so I installed it and have a meeting with another teacher to find out all of the particulars. The teacher who did the photomosaics posted them on her wiki, and she was extremely happy with the results. I viewed them and thought they were quite good. She is actively working other angles, and I know I will be busy. I also had other things to handle which were not too bad. I am still trying to solve the problem with the dual pens in Promethean, and I think I have a lead. The problem that stymied yesterday dealt with Excel and how to get the links to be absolute and relative. I do think that problem is solved. It was a busy day, and I am happy about the results. I still will have TTWF next week even though it is after an in-service day and right before Thanksgiving...............flick

September 8, 2009

CFF is dead; there is no denying this. I do understand the reasoning behind it all, but I do not have to like it. I do believe that the US data supports this initiatives and others in PA as being viable. Viable is not always a motivating factor when it comes to budgeting. Yes, I know, the cynicism is spewing, but I again cannot help the distaste that comes from politics. It is a typical first day of school. I have been working on putting out fires, etc. I have been in 8 classrooms this morning, and the morning is not over. I am scheduled to teach four classes this week and next. It could be quite interesting, and I am sure it is. I did Promethean training over the summer to almost 30 teachers, and that went quite well, also. I had a little time right now so I thought I would begin another blogging year. Be back tomorrow........flick

April 15, 2009

Welcome to another income tax day. I have read about the tea parties around the nation, and I do understand their feelings. I will not deal with politics here unless it deals with education. Met with several teachers today and discussed where they are heading and what I can do to help. I plan to meet with more over the coming days. I found out how many people are attending the Promethean workshop in Hershey next weekend: one besides me. Again, I do understand the reluctance on a weekend, but I do not understand the B&C that will come from not understanding the program. It takes two to tango. Hey, I uploaded the JANUS video to YouTube. I had some problems with formatting, but I tweaked some things here and there and got it. I have been trying TeacherTube, but I have not had any luck. I am not sure if it is too big or what. I have embedded it here. I cannot say enough about the girls who produced, shot, and edited the result. They did a great job, and I am proud of their accomplishment. I have the school board meeting tonight and must thank them for their support as well as the administration's in this endeavor.

April 13, 2009

The golden touch definitely came into play today, but, of course, I wonder if I will jinx myself for the rest of the week. Nah, just will not happen. It was also a day of frustration with some matters, but I will not go into that because of names. I was able to help A's class with photo story, and I was also able to finish the movie maker and prepare for that tomorrow. The rest of the day dealt with handling problems. I still have been working with eyeplorer and becoming more accustomed to its odd search patterns. I still feel that there is some good relevance there, and I do look forward to working with it. I need to finalize plans for the van for the weekend of the 25th and 26th for the Promethean conference in Hershey. I will finish that tomorrow. Then the following week I have the one-to-one computing conference at PSU. I also worked with the embedded learning, and forging into areas unknown to mortal man (just in my own mind). Ya gotta love it. Well, I must also prepare for the school board meeting on Wednesday. I will be back tomorrow. Oh, this is my 180th posting for all of you keeping count. Yay!!!!!!

March 25, 2009

Wow, 120 miles and it was worth it. The two girls from Promethean did a great job of explaining the software and its uses. WZ and MD are good. They are able to field questions and work through some great scenarios. Not only that, but they are able have a lot of resources for us to bring back for our teachers. I love it when I can go to one of these and have it to be worthwhile; it allows me to keep faith. I feel that is so important. I sometimes get immersed in the day-to-day GMC's that I fail to look at the big picture. What an exciting time to be involved in the educational process. Yes, I am realist to know that the purported panacea of technology is a myth. What I am talking about is the vehicle to disseminate information is like no other time in history. We need to look at these different vehicles and use them to our advantage......................flick

March 24, 2009

I am just keeping up the blog. Tomorrow I must go to Canton, PA. I know you are wondering where the heck that is; let's just say, "Go North" and do not deviate. The workshop will deal with Promethean and its new software. I am looking forward to this. This is a follow-up of last year when I was omitted from the list. Again, another brief one......flick

February 13, 2009

Like I said I am getting caught up. We had in-service today, and I did a presentation on Promethean boards. The main purpose of the in-service dealt with the looking at the data from the preliminary testing. The data looked good and that is a credit to a lot of people. My presentation could have been better. We lumped people who had experience with people who had none. This is not a good move, and in future in-servicings, I will separate the groups so I do not have redundancy for those who have more experience. I am also going to have trainings per department to help alleviate all of this. I know some people learned some things; therefore, it was successful. Hagoone' for all of my Navajo readers...........flick

January 9, 2009

I had an appointment this morning and arrived a little late. The projectors need aligned for the boards, and there are questions about software, etc. I do hope that we get a new IT person soon; it will help alleviate a lot of the hardware problems. I am dealing a lot with helping teachers work in the software and give them ideas on what to do. I know one teacher in the science department already completed the board tutorial. Speaking of boards, my hat gets doffed to Promethean and especially WZ. She is fantastic with her help and advice. I am impressed with the support the company gives. Inspiration is becoming a daily word here as more and more teachers and students are using the software. One teacher has reported a glitch, and I may have to do a fresh install. The Janus project is on task and ready to launch next week with actual filming. I am anxious to view the final for that. I need to complete getting all teachers registered for embedded learning. I guess one of the big things is to get the coach's log up-to-date. February is becoming an interesting month. For all of you Icelandic readers sjáumst. Till next week.................flick

January7-8, 2009

Well, as it happens in public education we had a day off on Wednesday because of the weather, and, yes, for all you naysayers, it was needed. A tremendous amount of ice, but we all survived well. I did come in to prepare for tomorrow for the installation of the Promethean boards and the arrival of the laptops.

8-Sometimes plans do not go according to Hoyle so one must have a back-up plan. I did, and the installation went well. All of the boards are up. We now have to ghost the laps and get them ready for the populace. The Smuck did a great job of getting everything together, and we are already fielding questions. I send out and email for all to take an online tutorial to help them ease into it all. I was running around this place (you thought I was going to write 'like a chicken with its head cut off) like the Mad Hatter on fire. Now, the fun begins.

January 6, 2008

I am back after the hiatus of the holiday and dr appointment, and what to my eyes do appear, (nope not eight tiny reindeer) but a voluminous amount of work to get caught up. We have the installation of Promethean boards this week as well as the handing out of laptops. If that is not enough, I also have to get the teachers ready for Embedded Learning and bring them up to speed about the how to use the boards. Also, without the IT person on board, I have been saddled with working on some problems, but it with mainly CFF problems. That is taking enough of my time. I sent out over 50 emails today dealing primarily with CFF. I also know that I am going to have to get my log up-to-date, etc. This is my first blog of the new year, and it does feel good to get back in the proverbial saddle. I am anxious to bring the new teachers on board. Sure, it will be trying, and I will face the same recalcitrance by some. In the end it is worth it. I just had a talk today with a tech ed teacher and told him how progressive his department has been for years when working with students. I think it is neat, and we all could learn. Well, I need to finish this and hit the trail. I will be back again tomorrow, if we have school. the weather does suck out there right now.....toots

December 16, 2008

I need to be able to be in more than one place at one time. I knew this day was going to be a test of being to do all that was scheduled and to get it all done. I will tell you that was tough. First the Promethean representative came and did a beautiful job of in-servicing my first year CFF teachers. It was a lot of one-on-one instructional time, and by talking with the teachers, I know they benefit ted greatly from all of the time. I wish we had more time for it. I also had several meetings from Janus to working with alumni to working with a student on html. From there I had to deal with ideas and sit in on a social studies meeting. I finally left after 5PM. It makes for a long day, but it was well worthwhile. I felt a lot got accomplished and will help with technology integration in many different areas. Even though it was stressful, the rewards will be worth it. I also obtained some information for April that will help my team to even heighten skills more. I just wish I knew the board and the software better, and I know that I will get trained this year. I must also be patient. The weather looks rough for tomorrow. Neither rain, storm, nor power outage will stay this integrator from his appointed rounds.....flick PS Thanks Wendy for all of your help. You are great!!!!!

December 12, 2008

It sure has been a busy day. I got to meet with the social studies chair and talk over CFF and my duties. It did go well. I also did a presentation in Media 1 with Photostory. I modified the presentation I did last week, and I thought it went better. I sometimes have to get out of the old teacher stereotype and engage the students more myself. I did that this time, and I was pleased with the outcome. I also finalized plans for the Promethean representative to come in and work with the present CFF teachers concerning problems and questions about the boards. I hope that they become prepared and utilize the time to aid them. The rest of time I had to deal with small problems to allow teachers to work with the technology. It was good getting back into the classroom teaching and modifying the lesson. I have some things to contemplate over the weekend, and on Monday, I will going to the IU to do some training and to showcase some of the student work. Have a good weekend everyone, and I will tell you about the training.

March 4, 2008

I did a lot of meetings today with various teachers to find out how things were going. Things seem to be progressing well. I am quite upset with promethean. I have called them, and they have not returned the call. I am not impressed with them, and if I do not hear from them, they will hear from me words that will express my displeasure. Promethean needs to get their act together--I have not received an email or a phone call from them for further training, and I have asked. I just love corporations who feel that they have the world by the proverbial strings. I have also opened a del.icio.us account. I have emailed my teachers about the wiki, but not about the delicious account. I will wait until I have more there. I did have my first teacher who requested a sign up for the wiki, and that is great. I know that she is not sure what she is doing, but I like the idea and the exploration. I feel that one needs to step outside the comfort zone and experience things. I am not going to say that these people will like it, but it is a step that is necessary to move one and learn. I have a bunch of meetings and tutoring tomorrow. Also, I get to see the fruits of the LA class projects. Looking forward to it. I will be back tomorrow....cya