Pay Attention

This video is directed towards teachers and challenges the way we teach our students. I love how it addresses student engagement and encourages teachers to use technology to reach students. It’s a thought providing video and I hope others will enjoy it like I do.

Waiting for Superman

I would like to encourage everyone to see this movie. Even if you aren’t an educator, please take the time to watch it…get involved in the conversation about education reform. Education in this country needs to be a priority at every level regardless if you are parent, teacher, politician, student, or whomever; every individual needs to have a voice in this discussion. Even though I haven’t viewed this movie yet, I believe it will address many issues regarding the practice of education in our nation today that we simply can’t ignore, and will hopefully spark conversations across America. I can’t say that I will agree with the position(s) this movie may take…remember I haven’t seen it…but in order to discover the truth and make a positive change for students, we all must be involved. I believe “Waiting for Superman” will be a great conversation starter.

Wes Fryer wrote a great blog post regarding this movie. Be sure to take the time to read this as well.

Back-to-School

Why does it seem like going back to school in August is so nutty? It's so busy...you're getting prepared for teachers to come back, organizing the various programs and activities for the school, getting students registered for classes, checking and re-checking schedules and student lists, organizing textbooks and new technology that has been added to the campus over the summer, updating district forms and ensuring our campus is complying with new policies, meeting with parent/community organizations and outlining your goals and objectives of the school year...and then finally the teachers begin their first week back and we continue our busy schedules with staff development, getting teachers their classroom keys, moving boxes from one class to another, getting teachers classroom materials and anything they need for their classes, and the list continues....and then the students arrive...do I really need to continue?

Still, with all these "to-do" items to accomplish, it's great to see students from the previous year and meet the new faces I'll have the privilege to work with.  My favorite thing about being an administrator is the ability to continue working with students from the previous year.  I can continue helping students be successful and support my parents from previous year.  Just today, I spoke to a parent about their child's struggles in the classroom, so we scheduled a meeting to discuss the situation further.  When we do meet, we won't have to worry about building trust and reviewing the family history because I already have a positive working relationship with the student and parent.  I've never had an opportunity like this has a classroom teacher, so I'm exciting to see what we can do during this year with the student!

Even though the start of another school year can be very busy, it's moments like these I look forward to the most!

Google Apps in Education

Google has apps for educational purposes including K-12 in hopes to foster 21st century learning in schools. Google Apps Education Edition includes Gmail, Calendar, Documents, and other tools students and teachers can use FREE in the classroom. The apps can help develop appropriate models for students so they can see how collaboration and communication works in the real world. Below is a school district who is using this product successfully with students.

Did You Know?-Part 2

As you will notice in this video, there are some facts that our revisited.  However this video is shorter than Did You Know 2.0.  As I watch this video, I can relate some of these facts to myself.

• I have been with my current employer for less than 1 year.
• The longest I've been with a single school organization is 4 years and I've been in education for 11 years.
• I don't have a MySpace account, however I do have a Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Delicious accounts.
• I'm a heavy Google user!

What's missing from this video is the educational impact this information implies.  I don't believe as educators we need to be ahead of the information explosion (besides, I don't think its possible).  Instead of jumping on the educational technology bandwagon, buying the latest and greatest devices and bringing them into the classroom, we need to keep it simple!  I encourage you to pick only the tools that would make you better at the things you already do.  I started my educational tech journey with Delicious, a social bookmarking program.  I love it because it's so simple and easy to use, and now I can't hardly function without it.

So what about you? What are you going to start with?  It can be Google Docs or Google Calendar.  It can be Facebook, a wiki, or blog.  But whatever you decide, remember to keep it simple!  Pick one thing, stick with it, and use it.

Did You Know?-Part 1

This video was developed by two individuals by the names of Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod.  They collaborated on a project know as Shift Happens and titled the video "Did You Know?" in order to encourage 21st Century learning in our educational systems.  There are four versions of this video available, and I will address the first one I experienced as a teacher.

I was first introduce to these videos with version 2.0 at a new teacher in-service in Rockwall ISD.  It was part of the Phil Schlechty's Working on the Work or W.O.W. framework district workshop.  At first, I thought the 2.0 in the title referred to Web 2.0, and it wasn't until later that I discovered it was the second version of this video (you can find the first version HERE).  Even thought this isn't the latest and greatest version, I like this video because I believe it speaks to those individuals who may not be deep into educational technology and speaks to a broader audience.




So what do you think?  What are our students doing in schools?  How are we helping our students become literate in 21st century?   Are we providing the resources and training necessary to prepare students to be successful in 21st century society?  Now that we know all this, what changes should be made to current education legislation? Leave answers in the comments section.

Herndon Tech News

This is our first issue of the "Herndon Tech News"; a newsletter developed our campus technology teacher Polly Stelzel, our librarian, Stephanie Cole, and myself.  Our hope is to encourage the use of technology in education on our campus and throughout the district.  I reviewed some easy Google tips and trick, Mrs. Stelzel reviews setting up a table in Microsoft Word, and Mrs. Cole discusses the development and importance of Web 2.0 tools.

Please let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comments.

TCEA: A Reflection from the Administrator’s Point of View

This was my first time attending TCEA and also my first time attending an educator’s conference and viewing it from the eyes of the administrator. My first thoughts of this conference are very positive. I enjoyed many of the sessions I attended and of course loved seeing the latest in educational technology first hand. My favorite presenters were Tammy Worcestor’s "Time Saving Tips for Teachers" and "Web 2.0 Tools". Jim Holland’s and Susan Anderson’s presentation “Google Earth Meets Web 2.0” was also a big delight. I walked away from this conference with many different ideas and plan to share with my teachers back home…which is a little strange to me…more on this in a second.

I also attended a few leadership and administrative breakout sessions which I didn’t enjoy nearly as much. As I sat through these sessions, I began to wonder about administrators in general. Do principals and other district leaders not understand the value to educational technology? Are there too many administrative tasks for us to get out of the office and into the classrooms where our students are learning? The sessions geared toward classroom teachers or technology specialists were interesting and exciting. There was a buzz of continued conversations long after the sessions about how they were going to implement their new knowledge or cool Web 2.0 tools with their students. This was seriously lacking from the “leadership” sessions I attended so I was seriously disappointed. I wondered if my inexperience as an administrator didn’t give me an insight the others had. Did the other administrators see this as another initiative that they would have to implement on their campuses? Or is this something they saw they should delegate to another person within the district? Perhaps I have more learn in this area!

I was so excited and learned so much at TCEA that I thought it was the worth the price of admission from the first session I attended. I thought about my teachers back at my campus and how I wanted to share this information with them…which was a little strange for me. For the first time, I was planning lesson ideas and topics for students that I would never directly teach myself. Normally I would see or hear about a new techie idea and immediately think about next week’s lesson plans and how I was going to integrate technology into my classroom. However, I’m no longer in the classroom, nor do I have a set of students to teach. I have teachers…teachers who are hard working…teachers that are busy…teachers who could perceive my enthusiasm as a mandate or another initiative from the administration. So the question becomes, how do I encourage teachers to change their teaching styles to incorporate technology in the classroom? How can I model technology integration in front of them? If technology is supposed to be seamlessly integrated into the classroom, how can I integrate technology into what I do daily so teachers can see it? Perhaps I’ll have an answer to these questions later.

Welcome to The Everyday Educator

I'm starting this blog post in a hotel at the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) conference in Austin, TX. I'm learning a great deal about education and technology that I would like to share with my teachers back in Royse City. So I've starting this blog in hopes to share the things I'm learning in reference to technology...current educational trends...leadership...basically anything I'm passionate about.

Kids, kids, and kids! I really enjoy working with kids, but I also enjoy adult education. I love the "aha moments" that teachers have when they learn something new...just as mush as I love those moments with students. I also believe that if a teacher learns something new and loves it, they will use their new knowledge in the classroom with students where in matters the most.

I know I will never be the next Tammy Worcester, Wes Fryer, Scott Elias, or Melinda Miller (by the way, these are my heroes in education). But I want to join the conversations about these topics and continue to learn for myself.