December 14, 2009

I looked at my schedule today and told myself that it is wonderful that I have worn my sneakers because I am going to be all over this district today. I had to do a lot of fixing today, and I have noticed a trend with the wireless that concerns me. I also taught a class on Movie Maker and a class on Photostory. I love to see those projects come together, and they should be good ones. I am hoping that the school will invest in some flip video cameras. They are wonderful for down and dirty shooting of video, and for the most part save the district money, especially in peripheral equipment such as cords, tapes, and investment. I also have a meeting with two elementary teachers today at CH. I believe I can help them with some of their frustration. Well, getting to be HO HO time........................flick

December 11, 2009

Well, it seems like I have been gone four days--wait I have been. I taught two classes today, and it was good getting back into the classroom. I did not spend too much time talking about things they already knew, but I did challenge the students to think outside the box; some took up that challenge, and i am anxious to see what they do. I also had to catch up on a host emails and messages. I thought I got a lot done, but I sure did not sit back and muse about too much. I am looking forward to the weekend when I can immerse myself into something else to rest the gray matter. Well, another week on the horizon--let's see what goodies it may bring............flick

December 11, 2009

The final day of the conference, and I am glad that it is over; I feel like my butt is about 10ft. wide at this point sitting there and listening to people talk. I will give you my assessment of it all. I will tell you that Standard Aligned Systems Portal is going to be okay when it is finished, and I do like the fact that all lessons there are aligned to the standards. I think this will help educators work toward the standardization of concepts, but I do have a fear. That fear is that this will become a state curriculum. I know that in all of our workshops the presenters integrated that this is not there to be used as a curriculum for the districts, but I must warn all of my readers that the potential to use it in this fashion is now in place. That is okay if the districts in the state want to migrate to a set curriculum, but I still love my autonomy. Only time will give us the answer. I also thought it was interesting that all of this will be tied to the PIMS system in some way. I am glad it is over, but I do dread what I am going to face back at school...............flick

December 9, 2009

I forgot to ask all of my loyal readers what they think of the holiday motif of my blog. I do admit that addition of the tacky animated gif brings out the best in it. I just try to stay current with the time of the seasons, and I know that I will add some more gifs to it for future reference. Today at the conference was quite good. It was great to see teachers teaching lessons integrating the standards and showing great creativity; albeit, only 20 minutes of it. I about conferenced out, and I have another half day left of it. There is a lot of relevance with what is presented, and I am glad to be working with it. I have had some interesting questions concerning integration, and I must do some research. I have learned some things, and I am grateful for that chance. Well, back to the grindstone.............flick

December 8, 2009

I will not lie with respect that SAS will make the integration of the standards into the classroom easier. I do worry that some may use this database as a curriculum and not become inventive with all that they need to to. Of course, it may not happen, but I do know the human spirit has a streak of laziness. Everything one needs is right there to utilize. I do like the function that teachers have a toolbox to store and create. The web page component is quite elementary and will be easy for teachers to create a web page. I look at this site as a way to synchronize what is taught across the commonwealth. It has been a long day, and I know that there will be other trainings in the future which I will attend because I will be a facilitator for our district. Well, I must be off..............flick

December 7, 2009

I do want to pause to honor the combatants of WWII when on this day the attack on Pearl Harbor brought us into the war. My father fought in WWII, and I am proud of what he did as well as all the others who fought for the freedom of so many.

Well, I am in Hershey, and the conference is off to a rousing start with the gov making a videotaped speech and the Secretary of Education telling about SAS. I rambled about that in last Friday's posting. I do believe on the surface that it does have merits, but I do disagree with the great powers of government who claim that this is not a curriculum for school districts. It is, and there is nothing wrong with that. Since our society has become more mobile and better informed, it is important to synchronize the learning environment with the basics. If I moved to another district in the state, I would be able to learn and teach in that district with those basic standards. I also disagree with the precept that we are not teaching to a test. We are teaching to a test. We have done that for decades, but this test means more than other tests. I am keeping my overall verdict about SAS until the end of the conference. So to my readers.....keep hanging on until Friday...................flick

December 4, 2009

I needed to catch up on all sorts of loose ends today, and I was able to achieve that goal. I also set up a time to meet with some elementary cohorts to help them with some problems. I also had some time to research the new state SAS standards, which is why I am headed to Hershey next week. I do not feel the site is ready to access and do much good, but I feel it is the way of the future. There is one aspect that bothers me about this way of checking student progress; teachers are linked to the student in name no matter whether that student passes or fails to meet the standards. I do not care what anyone says with respect to students; not all students care whether they succeed or not. With 21st century concepts, the onus is supposed to shift to the student, and they need to take charge of their learning. I have been teaching for over 30 years, and I must tell you that in that time I have had one to two per cent of my students not give a damn about their learning at any level or subject. What I also found amazing is that I have had a couple of students come back and blame the system for their failures. I do believe that there is some fault with the system, but I watched these students choose to fail. To a tee, they come back and ask the question, "Why did you not make me work." I say #$%^&$##%$ to that question and tell them point blank that they failed and not the system. I do not make any friends over it. Which brings me to the point that not everyone is the same even though we try to lump them all into the same category. We will not achieve 100%. I do agree we can make it to the 90's. Okay, Okay I am done with this. I will report my findings from the conference to my salivating fans who are hanging on the precipice awaiting my twist...Have a great weekend..........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