Cheryl

// **Thoughts...** // //April 20th//: It's time to turn in our paperwork for the project. I have so enjoyed doing this with the other 11 staff members that signed up. I think we've learned a lot together and students are seeing changes happening in many classrooms. For myself, I need to focus on "deepening" at least some of the activties I have students participate in. Students need to acquire the skills to use the technology; that will continue to be a big part of my classes, but I also think it's important for students (and teachers) to use the technology for deeper learning - critical thinking, problems solving, 21st century skills... I've spent some time looking at the work other secondary schools are doing with the use of technology. It's pretty astounding what's going on out there. Thanks to Joanne Troutner for spending the day with us back in November, which gave us a reason to pursue this PDP!

//April 7th//: I decided to go ahead and create another Google Site as the Middle School webpage. I'm not sure how much time I'll get to work on it this spring but over the summer I hope to develop it into a common area where we can post middle school news and activities, link to middle school teacher sites and wikis and even link to student podcasts next year. Marcia is interested in doing the school newspaper online so we can link that. As a school improvement group, we've started up a wiki and can eventually link that also. Students will be involved in the newspaper, the podcasting, and hopefully, the update of the website itself. //March 29th//: I've decided to use a blog with 6th and 7th graders, but to use a different site that will be accessible without an account and password. I'll have them respond to a variety of prompts/thoughts - about the skills they've learned but also about how it ties into what they're studying in other classes. I also plan to use Comic Life with the media classes, again to tie in what they're studying in Chase's room. He'll be watching the project to see how he can use the software for his classes.

//March 26th//: The blog responses looked good. I like that format a lot - students can logon at the same time and respond to the same question on the same page without having conflicts with page changes like they do on a wiki. They seem to pay more attention to the way they write when they know others will be looking at it. I'm thinking this will be the best way to have students write every week - it's easy to respond to their content myself and have students respond to each other. //March 25th//: I invited Joanne Troutner to join our wikispace and to contribute if she had the time. She wrote back, thanking us for the invitation, and included this link to a wiki she put together for a Web 2.0 workshop for the //Illinois Educational Computer Conference//... http://jtweblearning.wikispaces.com/ I hope all can find the time to look through it - soooooo many resources in 1 spot - kind of like her book? Thanks Joanne! Today, I had networking students logon to my cpblogger site to respond to a prompt I put there last night concerning Transport Layer protocols. It took about 40 minutes for them to answer the prompt while using the online curriculum - we'll see how they do!

//March 24th:// I've spent many hours now, editing my Google Site, [], and making changes to a blog I plan to use with my networking students. The link to the blog is: [|http://cpblogger.21classes.com] The 21classes blog site, which is meant for educators specifically, is different in that it offers 2 levels - the top level is the Classroom Blog where the teacher interacts with students, and a 2nd level where each student blog member can also be his/her own "blogger", administering threads of discussion that are separate from the top level Classroom Blog. I'd like to have students do this eventually. I also realized last night that on this blog site, the teacher can establish a personal blog, which again is separate from the Classroom Blog.

After working with my Google Site and realizing that each Google user can create more than one site, I'm wondering if we can utilize an additional site to publish school improvement issues as we reach consensus on them: learning, mission, vision, beliefs, goals, interventions etc. We're beginning to use a wiki for the conversation but maybe a site would be the place to actually post information as it becomes more finalized. In this way, it would be available for others to see - students, parents, etc. Just an idea...

//March 22nd:// I'd like to get consistent at using a [|wacom slate] for wireless presentation and student interaction. I also plan to investigate the use of CPS or some other sort of interactive response systems. From what I've read, these would be very useful for frequent and immediate formative assessment. Hopefully the staff will get a chance to look at either Smart's or some other company's response system for use in the new school.

//March 2nd//: I plan to update my Google Site, including links to some of the other things I'm hoping to try during my 10 additional hours. I'm especially interested in using a blog during 4th quarter, probably for my networking class. Doing this during 4th quarter will give me a jump on incorporating more next year. It'll also give me more information to share with others on both blog use and google site design. I think more folks would use both of these if they had more information.

I'm trying to remind myself of some of the goals and actions we presented in our PDP proposal, especially these: 1. Finding //effective// ways to target //learning// (So, I'm going to have to prove somehow that this technology effectively impacts those learning targets.) 2. //Making note of the changes// we see in learning as we incorporate new activities. (I wonder if we can develop something that would help us keep track of these changes?

1.5 hrs || - Both groups meeting: reviewed goals, actions, and expectations of PDP; established 2 schedules; discussed what people want out of this || 1.5 hrs || - Group A meeting: demonstrated OneNote and talked about applications for use with students; went over server use w/passwords || 1.5 hrs || - Group B meeting: discussion about use of Twitter and other online resources; discussed Troutner book ideas || 2 hrs || - Group A meeting: demonstrated SmartBoard and Notebook 10; talked about applications and possibilities for enhanced use with students || 3 hrs || - Group A meeting: discussion on web presence and characteristics of wikis, blogs, [|google sites], social bookmarking and using a combination of some; individuals spent time making decisions on what to use and then beginning (or continuing) the process || 3.5 hrs || - Created wikispace, //bhtechpdp//, w/HOME and weeks 1-4 pages; filled in information to reflect meeting activities on week 1 and 3 pages with links to Smart resources and additional materials that might help in the creation of wikis, blogs, google sites, and delicious acounts || 5.5 hrs || - Created week 5 page and posted information about how online communication could be done to fulfill the 3 hours required for all participants - included multiple links to articles, blogs, ISTE standards, and district info for 8th grade proficiency; completed week 2 page including links to informative OneNote resources and posted PDP guidelines on HOME page; posted to my own page on this wiki || 2 hrs || - Continued research for web links to be posted on Week 5 page; posted links for Web 2.0 information; edited existing pages where needed; participated in discussions on other pages || 4.5 hrs || - Group B meeting: individuals discussed and showed ways they plan to use web presence and online resources with students; investigated ways to use OneNote live sessions for reaching students and collaborating with colleagues; worked on own wikis, blogs, google sites || 1.5 hrs || - Edited pages for Weeks 2,3,4, and 5 including discussion; created week 6 page || 1.5 hrs || - Group A meeting: individuals worked with each other to show progress on web presence - asked and answered questions about how to do things; spent some time looking at PowerPoint for those who are just starting and others as review (thanks Brett) || 4.5 hrs || - Both groups meeting: individuals projected what they are doing w/conversation about how these things fit into their own classes and might be applied by all of us; individual sites were edited during the conversation to include things discussed; talked about the basics of Nettrekker as an educational search engine (establishing accounts during the process); looked at the Thinkfinity Website w/partners and saw examples of what some individuals are using; brainstormed needs w/Inspiration so teachers can begin using that software; results of meeting are that participants would like more information on all 3 - [|Nettrekker] (plus we need more information on WY's plan), [|Thinkfinity], and Inspiration || 2.5 hrs || - Posted activity and links for Week 6 page; edited other pages as needed; answered questions posted on new page; researched questions that came up during morning meeting || 1.5 hrs || - Installed CPS software and began looking at what possibilities there are with using that response system software; also installed bluetooth drivers on laptop to experiment with slate || 5 hrs || - Changed formatting of my own Google Site to enhance its look and functionality; added pages to the site for middle and high school technology and then subpages under each of them; made changes to a previously established blog portal on 21classes.com to use with my networking students and linked this to the Google Site; began work on the high school apps class link on the site also || 4.5 hrs || - Looked at Google Sites and wikispaces that other members of the PDP have posted; created weekly pages 7 and 8; worked on my own page on bhtechpdp, posting time, activity, and thoughts; added a blog post to my cpblogger site so that students can work on this in class tomorrow; looked at other blog sites that I can use with middle school classes || 1 hr || - Students in my network class logged onto cpblogger to answer the prompt I placed there last night (Transport Layer Protocols) || .5 hrs || - Read blog entries and critiqued against the rubric I had established for completion || 1.5 hrs || - Group B meeting : This was the last scheduled meeting although there will be makeup sessions for those who need to attend. || 1.5 hrs || - Setup a blog account for use with middle school classes, especially 6th and 7th grades. I used blogger.com instead of the 21classes I use with the high school students. Spent time looking through Joanne Troutner's book as I'd like to use more of her resources with middle school classes. I'm looking at Comic Life for Media Class - downloaded it for use in a few weeks. || 1.5 hrs || Both Groups make-up meeting: Individuals came to work on their own ideas and projects. We also opened the meeting to other staff members who didn't participate in the PDP but want help with google sites, wikispaces etc. We're hoping to continue the open lab type thing where anyone can attend. || 2.5 hrs || - Worked with Media classes to download Comic Life to laptops; reviewed basics of programs and the project we'll be doing - Created a google site as middle school website so that staff and students can contribute to a site that can tie lots of ideas and activities together || 1.5 hrs || Both Groups make-up meeting: Individuals at the meeting were pursuing use of many different things... wikis, google sites, use of PowerPoint, Toondoo, and Comic Life. It's nice that people are helping each other out with all of these things. We learned something new on Renee's wiki where a student entree was too long without spaces. || 4 hrs || - Worked with students to learn Comic Life and use it to demo understanding of short story (8th grade) or poetry (7th grade) - Will have students use video/sound recording to demonstrate understanding of how to use the Comic Life software || My Total Hours... ||~  || - Online communication time: **9 hrs** - Total meeting time with Group A: **21.5 hrs** || - Online communication time (total /2): **9 hrs** - Total meeting time with Group B only: **21 hrs** || - Online communication time: 18 hrs - divided in half between A and B ||
 * ~ **//My Time...//** ||~  ||
 * **Date/Time** || **Activity** ||
 * 2/12/09
 * 2/16/09
 * 2/20/09
 * 2/23/09
 * 3/1/09
 * 3/1/09
 * 3/2/09
 * 3/3/09
 * 3/6/09
 * 3/15/09
 * 3/16/09
 * 3/20/09
 * 3/20/09
 * 3/22/09
 * 3/2309
 * 3/24/09
 * 3/25/09
 * 3/26/09
 * 3/26/09
 * 3/29/09
 * 4/1/09
 * Week: 4/6/09
 * 4/9/09
 * Week: 4/13/09
 * Project Done || - No longer keeping track of hours even though I'm still working on the wiki, looking for effective things for staff to use, and helping them to enhance what they're doing - SmartSync demo will be offered to everyone on Thursday, April 23rd. ||
 * Group A || - Face-to-face meeting time: **12.5 hrs**
 * Group B || - Face-to-face meeting time: **12 hrs**
 * Combined Group || - Face-to-face meeting time including makeup sessions: 9 hrs - divided in half between A and B
 * Activities for classroom and students || - Work on Google Sites, student wikis, blogs, CPS, slate, Troutner Book applications, classtime with students, follow-up to online activities with kids: **17.5 hrs** ||