February 26, 2009

I just have to tell you the interesting problem on of my CFF teachers posted to me. It dealt with creating layers in Activstudio. D and I spent an hour working with the problem. We got some of it working which led us into other possibilities. We could not solve all of the problems, but it went well. I also did an Indesign with K's class. That went well because the students were able to work independently and learn some of the intricacies of the program. It is nice that the onus is on the student and the teacher becomes the facilitator. They will also branch off into photoshop from here. The Janus project is coming together well, and we have a final meeting set up for next week where the students will present their video. The two girls did a great job, and I know they are looking forward to presenting in front of NASA. I have seen snippets of it, and I am anxious to view it. I am proud of the them--hey, hey (take me back to my old cheerleading days, yeah {yes, that is sarcasm at its finest with a little mixture of hyperbole}). The teachers got their lappys today, and I know I will have to do some tweaking on them, but I will await their calls. A very productive day!!! Tomorrow, I will talk about eportfolios to the seniors. This will be quite interesting, and I am looking forward to dealing with this topic. Well, I know you are awaiting the outcome...whoa, stop the presses. I just found out that one of our students did an HBO pilot when he was in 4th grade. It is wild. To view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=419kaKo0HUo I must warn you all that is is HBO so some of it is quite questionable, let's say. That may pique some curiosity in some of my loyal readers er..... I mean reader. Hey, be back tomorrow to end the month and the week.............flick

February 25, 2009

I have been integrating Photostory3 in quite a lot of classes, and the students love doing projects with it because of how easy it interfaces with the user. They are able to be quite creative, interject their own voices, and get off of the powerpoint kick. People are tired of powerpoint, and this program gives a viable alternative. We will become a photostory district soon. I had another teacher approach me about using it, and we have set up a time next week to talk about it. The CFF lappys are done, and I will distribute them tomorrow to the teachers. I am preparing and Indesign module for K tomorrow. I am watching teachers transform their ideas and engaging students more in various functions. I love it. We have back to school tonight, and that will give me a chance to work on tomorrow, etc. I know some teachers are showcasing student work. Well, I am off to the land of sleep...see ya tomorrow...............flick

February 24, 2009

Plan B is the order of the day because my plans for the computer fair were thwarted due to lack of participation by the two participants. Oh well, it gave me a chance to catch up on a lot of things. The IT department a la KP are finishing the CFF laptops for distribution. This will give the teachers an opportunity to integrate themselves into the use of the Promethean boards. I also worked with the embedded learning and did a class after school for some teachers who needed some help. The rest of the week is planned, and out of the 12 periods left in the week. I will be in the classroom 10 of those periods doing everything from Indesign to Photostory. Busy!!!!!! I also have back to school night tomorrow night. I think there is enough on the plate for this week, Be back tomorrow...........flick

February 23, 2009

Spent this day at the IU10 for training using photography. The district gets a free digital camera which will go to the elementary schools for their use. I believe we have enough at the secondary level, and they need to use the technology, too. The training was quite good in that it reinforced a lot of what I have amassed through the millenia of experience--in other words; I am old. The trainer is attached to Tool Factory, and he was quite good. He told the truth about the camera and the software. It was refreshing from that aspect. I despise people who come in to a training and make it sound like an infomercial. Of course, I had to deal with the school aspect and found out that tomorrow's computer fair may be off because of student initiative. It does not surprise me, but I am not happy with it. I knew I would have to deal with Janus, and I am prepared for that every day. That is okay because I have bought into this program and the people working on it. For all of my Portuguese readers.....Tchau........flick

February 20, 2009

The end of the busy week. It has been wrought with all sorts of interesting problems, but it has been a learning time, also. It looks like most of the virus problems are solved; notice I said most of them. I know how those boogers work, and it will be awhile before they are eradicated. I have been talking with teachers, and my next week is filled with Photostory and InDesign inclusions. The plans right now involve a small conference Monday at the IU and Tuesday a computer fair. I am also working with Janus people, etc. I also had to pitch in and work some tech problems to get everything as close to normal as possible. Well, I am off for a fun-filled weekend. See ya next week..............flick

February 19, 2009

I just received a phone call that made me smile so much. I have a new teacher who called and wants me to sit in on his class to watch his attempt with the interactive whiteboard. This is what I call daring, innovative, and out of the comfort zone. I know this teacher well, and this was a big move for him. This is what I am talking about--challenging the self and the students. I am headed there now; I will report. I am back, and it did work well. I love to see the utilization and the confidence increase. Great job C. Things went well, and we will be able to do some other things. He already asked me about it. I also love the part that he did not feel threatened by my being there. I am not there to judge but to help. I also worked some resource library magic today and did some other things. I have been in several rooms today just talking and getting my schedule in order for next week. It does look busy. Great... later.......flick

February 18, 2009

Back from the IU...internet up, email up, and now web work has piled up, and I need to get to work on that. As a matter of fact, this will give all of my anxious readers who thought I fell off the face of the earth a chance to get back to their daily reading routine and find out about the life of CFFFlick. Okay, so it is only a few million readers out of the billions out there, but I will cater to the loyalists. I worked hard to get all of the embedded learning material up-to-date as well the wiki and other things online. I also had a ton of email to peruse as well as other matters because we are still fighting the virus here at PV. I really think it is important to learn about virus creation so one can fight it better. I do wish those people who created these things would put their talents to work in a more positive light. We will get there. I have been out and about into the classrooms and am watching people do great things. I love it...........flick

February 17, 2009

Over the mountain and through the woods, off to the IU10 I go; yep, quite stupid, but you have to know where our IU is, and you might understand. I took teacher K with me, and she did a great job showing some of the things she did. I loved the questions she generated from the group of CFF coaches. There was another teacher there from another school (she also was a PV grad like K), and she did a great job on some of the things she was doing in biology. We had an oovoo discussion with Beth, who is from PDE, and talked about other ideas dealing with CFF. I am going to digress here and write bout two concepts from my soapbox. First, I am going to talk about K. I had no hand in her hiring, but I must admit that I am so proud to have her in my former position. She has great vision and is not afraid of dealing outside the box. I like her pizazz, and her ability to ascertain situations. What a great addition to PV and the teaching profession. She will create a great footprint on her students. Secondly, I am going to promote an IU10 regional conference for CFF. Do not get me wrong. I attended PETE&C and loved it, but I feel a regional conference hosted by one of the school districts would allow more people to attend and would allow more interaction among the participants and presenters. The important part to all of this I feel would be more collaboration among the schools and the teachers. We need to break down the barriers that exist and promote more with the internet 2.0 concept....For all of my Italian contacts.....Addio.....flick

February 16, 2009

Another week and still no internet, etc. I know that it will be fixed, and I am still catching up on other things. Again, it is still neat to observe my colleagues and their innovations. I love it. I have nothing new to report and nothing witty to say (I know that there is a first for everything). I have a CFF meeting at the IU tomorrow, and I am taking one of my teachers to it so I can share with the group some of the things she is doing. I love my teachers taking chances and going outside their comfort zones. I have done that for years, and no, not always successful. I sometimes have learned more from my failures than from my successes. Well, off I go..........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