About Time to Get Back into the Swing

I am presently working on a WV Learns Class -- Cyber Safety for Educators.

Thing 16 Twiddla rmorgan

This was fun. I got my daughter to join me for a bit of Tic Tac Toe.  We did it in a few minutes and had fun doing it.  She is hooked on it now.  Sorry about the quality of the pic.

Thing 15 rss rmorgan

To me a RSS is your personal information pipeline that you custom tune for all your individual interests that come to your computer instead you going to their sites when looking for specific information.

Thing 14 Be a reader of blogs rmorgan

http://www.astronomycast.com/

This was the most organized page I think I have ever seen on a blog.  I love astonomy and this looked like a proffesional site made by NASA.  Had some wonderful links and had very high educational value to this blog and website.  The opening page alone was impressive.

Thing 9 talk about blog with students

The blog I listened to was a complete series about how to pick your ultimate job that you would be happy with the rest of your life.  This would be a good motivational series for students who are both getting ready for a career or about to embark on one.

Thing 5 post a jpg rmorgan

Just did a show with my buddy Marty Stuart.  A very nice guy and if you ever get a chance go see him.  A great show.

Thing 5 wordle rmorgan

I hope this one works...lol I have done about 5 of these so far but have problems getting it to work.

http://www.wordle.net/delete?index=4146717&d=YPKA

Thing 3 Twitter.

I did a search on school testing and got a nice one back on using Ipads for testing media.  Had a few helpful links for Ipad software that can be used via networks or emails to send out test materials.

thing 13 mid mod reflection rmorgan

Never realized how much stuff is out there with little effort to find it.  This section is taking me longer than I ever expected but I have seen several sites that I will go back and visit.  I am making a log of things that look interesting and I could use for myself and other instructors that are quick, ready made, and easy to impliment.   Overall its been alot of work but have been pleasantly suprised with what I have found and started using myself and also what I have passed on to students who are using tools like video and pic production for projects at their other schools.  Some have used alot of the tools to create better web pages and presentations techniques to raise their levels of 21st century learning skills. 

Thing 12 find something new rmorgan

Here is a site I share with teachers and students.  Our jobs in career and tech is to get jobs and resume's are key in getting through the doors.

http://www.go2web20.net/site/?a=JobSpice

rmorgan thing 10 digital age assesments

1) What should students know and be able to do?

a. review the cso's on many levels to make sure that I fully understand what the cso does for the student and how it fits in the total learning experience.

STANDARDS

2) What indicates students have met these standards?
a.  Use better and more assesments that concentrate on a single or few cso instead of trying to assess large group of cso.

AUTHENTIC TASKS

3) What does good performance on this task look like?

a.  Create and replicate a set of results and dived the results into more realistic grading scales.

CRITERIA

4) How well did the students perform?
a. Review students scores as groups and individuals and chart the curves and get feedback directly from students.

rmorgan thing 11 learning with video

http://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/algebra-i-mixture-problems?fd=0 Nice video for math teachers who have visual learners. Number	Objective
M.O.7.2.1	use inductive reasoning to find missing elements in a variety of arithmetic and geometric patterns including algebraic sequences and series.
M.O.7.2.2	evaluate algebraic expressions with whole numbers, integers, absolute value and exponents using the order of operations.
M.O.7.2.4	analyze proportional relationships in real-world situations, select an appropriate method to determine the solution and justify reasoning for choice of method to solve.
M.O.7.2.5	solve one-step linear equations and inequalities using a variety of strategies containing rational numbers with integer solutions; graph solutions, and justify the selection of the strategy and the reasonableness of the solution.
M.O.7.2.8 M.O.7.5.1 determine theoretical probability of an event, make and test predictions through experimentation. M.O.7.5.2 determine combinations and permutations by constructing sample spaces (e.g., listing, tree diagrams, frequency distribution tables). M.O.7.5.3 collect, organize, graphically represent, and interpret data displays including frequency distributions, line-plots, scatter plots, box and whiskers, and multiple-line graphs. M.O.7.5.4 analyze and solve application problems involving measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) and dispersion (range) from data, graphs, tables, and experiments using appropriate technology to compare two sets of data.	represent algebraically and solve real-world application problems and justify solutions.

rmorgan podcast Thing 9

Here was a complete series of podcasts that guide you through the proper way to search for your dream job.  This would be nice to give graduating seniors as tips on how to get a job you would love and would lessen job transistions.  There were close to 60 podcasts that very proffesionaly done.

http://www.markstanleymedia.com/Podcasts/Entries/2010/1/15_The_Journey_-_Episode_51__Doctors_and_Sandwich_Makers.html

rmorgan image chef thing 7

had a bit of trouble linking this one because of IE9.  Here is the link.  This is probably my favorite cam work because of image chef has alot of  neat tools that are simple to work.


http://www.imagechef.com/ic/myitem.jsp?myremix=20532662

rmorgan voicethread thing 6

http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEzMTcwNzQyMjcyMjYmcHQ9MTMxNzA3NDI2Nzg5OSZwPTIwNjQyMSZkPWIyMjE2OTY1Jmc9MiZvPWU*NDkwY2VlMjdh/ZjRiOTk4NmJlN2Q*ZjMyMjFiZmNiJm9mPTA=.gif" />

cant believe how easy that was.  I hate hearing myself on audio.  You would think I would be use to it.

rmorgan wall wisher thing 4

Nice site, easy to use and setup. 

June/July – KPSnyder

School has ended. WV State Folk Festival, 4-H Camp, Gilmer County High School Class of '91 20-year class reunion…summer is here!!! And for the most part, I have finished everything for TIS-CTE training. I know my teacher resource site and ePortfolio need help, but I am still working on them. I will be attending Master Mentor training, CTE State Conference, and ArcGIS Advanced Training this summer. Good stuff!

May – KPSnyder

All three of the GED Option Pathway students who wanted to graduate this May, PASSED. Also, another student passed her GED before leaving school. It has been a great spring. These kids were motivated and knew their only option was this one. It has been a great program. I have been busy administering the TABE to perspective students for the fall Option Pathway class. Looks as if my job description has changed again. I attended a webinar on creating our ePortfolio. John Miller did an excellent job walking us through the ePortfolio and I feel confident using it now. Our small group of TIS-CTE cohort members met again at Panera Bread on Saturday, May 21. I feel so behind in my course work. A group of us are taking an eLearns course together, WebTop for Educators.

April – KPSnyder

My Environmental Technology students completed several work-base hours and we had a field trip to Cabot Recycling Center. Some of my Option Pathway students are gearing up for their GED tests in May so that can graduate with their class. Not much on the technology front. Everyone is focused on the Global21 Performance Assessments and I have completed student interviews for some of the classes.

March – KPSnyder

ACT WorkKeys Testing…I had to administer the test and all the make-up tests…Yay! A group of us, TIS-CTE cohort members met at Panera Bread in Bridgeport for a study group on Saturday, March 12th and 26th. It was great to meet and work together again. I attend ArcGIS training with Erika Klose at the Bridgeport Conference Center on Saturday, March 19th. GIS-geographic information systems-are being used in environmental industries to map and locate natural resources and human interactions. I hope to attend the advanced workshop this summer. Tracy Chenoweth of WVDE visited our school on March 22nd to help us with understanding the changes to the Global21 Performance Assessment. It was a very informative training session. “Working” lunch I had schedule on March 23rd was cancelled due to a conflict the director had. Our Criminal Justice CSI team won gold medal at the SkillsUSA competition. Get this…we had school three days to make-up snow days for one county and the other county had all week off. How nonproductive.

February – KPSnyder

What an experience FETC and Florida was! The only thing I was bummed about was I didn’t win the trip to Hollywood to see the taping of MythBusters. My favorite session was Steve Dembo’s session: iThink iNeed iPads in My Classroom. It really help me incorporate the iPads in my Option Pathway class. We have been having so much trouble using GradeQuick and WVEIS at our multi-county center. Our director called the secretaries and counselors in from both home high schools for a working brunch on Friday the 11th. Our ProStart students fixed omelets and pecan pinwheels (from scratch) and the secretaries really enjoyed themselves. They understood our frustrations with the technology and needing all course codes and section numbers to be the same at both high schools for the GradeQuick module to work. It was one of the best school technology meetings I have attended.

January – KPSnyder

Six snow days and two early dismissals, not much work can be done. I had scheduled on the Wednesday the 26th a “working” lunch to discuss the possibility of applying for a GEAR-UP grant for Career Cruising, an ePortfolio program. It was an early dismissal day, follow by two snow days. I was busy administering the TABE to students for our new GED Option Pathway program, which I am now teaching. Made it to Florida on the 30th for FETC.

Janie Spahr June Blog

June is also a busy month technologically speaking. I am teaching a Veteran's Upward Bound Class in which I tutor Veterans that are entering college. We work with Reading/Language Arts, Math, and Computer Skills. There is a computer program they work with called My Skills Tutor, which I have had to learn. It is very similar to KeyTrain. I spent two days at PLATO training. There were several other teachers at this training that also plan to use PLATO. We decided we would have to set up a schedule for using PLATO since we only have a certain amount of licenses. I went through the Computer Technology lessons and made up plans that I can use in my BCA classes. The lessons are very interesting. I hope I can use them. I also attended a one day session in Charleston doing GET A LIFE simulation training. It really doesn't have much to do with technology, but it is a great program for students. I can see where you could add technology to the program by letting students use computers to help them figure out their finances for the simulation. I am working on my advanced marketing creditialing, so I have been trying to add as much technology into my lesson plans as possible. On June 4, I attended a one day CS5 training session at Randolph Technical Center in Elkins with Denise Stalnaker. I feel it is a very difficult program to learn, but it is very worthwhile to learn it and to teach it in Desktop Publishing, Web Page Publishing, and Digital Imaging. I can see where it can also be used in other classes, too. I also finished my Webtop for Educators WV Learns class as part of our TIS requirements. I enjoyed doing the lessons in the course. Janet was very helpful when we needed her help. I'm hoping to finish my TIS work soon, too. Once we're all finished we'll celebrate in Charleston or Morgantown! I can't wait to see everyone.

June Blog-Sharon Cole

Well fellow CTE TISers......I have just completed my TIS work and I feel AMAZING!!!! I think I can actually start breathing again....LOL!!!! Although this past year has been one of many ups and downs along with happy and sad times for all of us, I for one believe that it has been on of new and amazing learning experiences! I have learned so much and know that I will be a better 21st Century Teacher because of my experiences. I am now off to my next adventures of the summer and next school year. I am currently taking a class to receive my Marketing endorsement....and I will be attending trainings starting next week for Globaloria which I will start teaching in the fall. I have seen an enormous amount interest in this gaming program and we had to actually turn students away!!! Good luck to each of you as you start wrapping up your year of TISing and hope to see you all in Charleston at the CTE Conference in July! Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!

June-Lisa Kerns

I can't believe another school year is finished and we are about to complete our TIS certification. I have loved the process and can't wait to implement everything I have learned to my staff this coming year. I will be presenting my resource webpage to my staff before the beginning of the school year. I also was part of a three day class on Unlocking Potential which is a program that discusses how poverty affects children and their families. We are taking the information and applying it to our new Positive Behavior Support Program.

April Showers Bring May Flowers-Lisa Kerns

April was full of Benchmark testing. Because we do not have enough open labs, my classes had to be sent to other classrooms while I administerd the benchmark to 6, 7, and 8th grades. I know that Benchmark is an essential assessment, however I do not like losing time in my classes. I assisted my teachers with technology issues such as MOBIs, clickers, whiteboards, and techSteps.
May was an extremely busy month for me. Again, more testing-- WESTEST! I had to do the school technology inventory--WOW--what a task. I also ran diagnostics on all the lab computers.
I have also been taking various webinars and learning so much! I will finish up my online class ◦Finding the Best Instructional Resources on the Web. It has been a wonderful class full of resources I can share with my teachers and add to my resource site.
My students used Glogster to complete their All About Me project and my Advanced Computer students used my resource page to review free Photo tools websites. They took their photos created from the website and made a movie about themselves using MovieMaker.

JANIE SPAHR MAY BLOG

WELL, MAY WAS VERY BUSY. I SPENT MOST OF THE MONTH PREPARING, GIVING, AND FINALIZING PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS FOR OUR COMPLETERS. I HAD TO MAKE SURE ALL COMPUTER LABS WERE IN ORDER AND SCHEDULED FOR STUDENTS TO USE TO PREPARE THEIR PRESENTATIONS AS WELL AS TO PRESENT THEM. THAT WAS QUITE CHALLENGING. I ALSO SPENT ALOT OF TIME ARRANGING ALL THE CONFERENCES AND CLASSES THAT I WANT TO ATTEND THIS SUMMER. I PLAN ON ATTENDING MANY OF THE RESA VII TECHNOLOGY CLASSES. I SPENT MUCH OF MAY WORKING ON THE WEBTOP CLASS AND TRYING TO FINISH UP TIS WORK. I AM ALSO WORKING ON MY MARKETING CERTIFICATION, SO I AM SO BUSY. I GOT TWO NEW CAMERAS WITH MY GEAR UP MONEY, AND I'VE BEEN TRYING TO LEARN HOW TO USE THEM EFFICIENTLY. I GOT A NIKON COOLPIX AND A FUJIFILM WATERPROOF CAMERA BECAUSE MANY TIMES ON FIELD TRIPS IT RAINS. SOME OF MY STUDENTS AND I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON A SHUTTERFLY BOOK USING THE PICTURES FROM THE GREECE TRIP. IT HAS REALLY BEEN A FUN PROJECT. I WILL BE TEACHING DESKTOP PUBLISHING NEXT YEAR, SO I HAVE ALSO BEEN TRYING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OFFICE 2007 PUBLISHER AND WHAT IN ADOBE CS5 I CAN USE FOR THE CLASS. I DON'T THINK I COULD HAVE FIT MUCH MORE IN ANY ONE MONTH. HOWEVER, I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO LEARNING ALL THAT I CAN THIS SUMMER FROM THE CONFERENCES AND TRAININGS THAT I WILL BE ATTENDING. I WENT TO DENISE STALNAKER'S CS5 CLASS ON JUNE 4. I WILL BE ATTENDING THE RESA VII TRAININGS FROM SHANNON CARNES IN JUNE AND JULY. THE MARKETING EDUCATION TRAINING IS ALSO IN JUNE. IN JULY, I WILL BE ATTENDING THE JOSTENS RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE IN ANAHEIM, CA, THE HSTW CONFERENCE IN NASHVILLE, AND THEN THE CTE CONFERENCE. I WILL THEN SEE ALL OF YOU AT THE TECH CONFERENCE IN MOTOWN. CAN'T WAIT.

May--June Blog

Hey TIS gang!! I am sitting here at Glade Springs Resort for the FEA Conference. I am getting trained to offer this new concentration next year at TCTC. I came down a day early to enjoy some RELAXATION!! Well, I have been busy getting everything done. I believe that all I have to do is my podcast...which I plan to get done this week down here!! The school year has ended YESSSSS!!! Before I left, I had a training with Shannon Carnes from RESA VII on MOBIs. I was able to purchase a classroom set of 3 and a teacher mobi for my classroom. I am very excited about using these next year. I have signed-up for 3 trainings at RESA VII on Edmodo, Mobi's, and iPads. I am also planning on going to the Tech Conference. I am struggling with spending time away from my family..hopefully it will be growing soon!! Finally, I just want to have my certification in my hands. This has been a long process. This has been a very long process. I just want it off of my to-do list!!!!
Brandi

May,June refelctions

Hi all...Most importantly in my life is...June 14th we(Tom(hubby), Kylian(grandaughter) and I are flying to AZ to get Julian(grandson) and bring him home...We are hoping to adopt both soon.
I had a lot of fun with flickr, wallwisher personally. I find that alot of what we do is just out there and I would really like to network more on how to really share and use our works with eachother and others. It amazes me at the fantastic sthings I stumble upon when reading and surfing. I am thanksful for web 2.0 and hope to use all things more and more. I am going to try to create a habit this summer by devoting 1 hour of time to enhancing resources through technology. I have learned so much and my brain can't seem to remember where was that, what title did I put that under,,,I suffer "half timers or crs" I am working on google docs and eportfolio and need some help. I come home June 17th and I am hoping to devote some time completing these final tasks. I really feel we should all try for the 3 credit hours. It is something that we worked extremely hard to obtain. 3 hours almost seems funny...but, this whole opportunity (THANKS ABBY) has been incredible. One of the hardest certificates to obtain and one of the most rewarding.
I am hoping to repaeat the conferences this year, including FETC---any one else?
Oh and fellow TIS's if you have any words of encouragement regarding my turned in assignments or some help for the rest...please drop me a line. IF we are Abby's children then your are my SIBLINGS!...lofl!

May Blog-Sharon Cole

The month of May seems to be a blink in my eye.....it seems like just yesterday I was starting CTE Performance Testing and today I am packing up my classroom....WOW!!!! I have been extremely busy this month working with my teachers on getting their LiveGrades updated and ready for the end of the year, working with new iPads and iPods that have recently been received, working with my CTE coordinator about a new Mac lab for next school! Not sure about Mac's but that is what our county is purchasing now, so I guess I will just add it to my list of thing to learn....LOL!!! I have been busy working on finishing up my TIS activities and my last account was 1 23Things activity left, finishing my ePortfolio and continuing my resource page. I am taking CTE TIS for 3 hours grad credit so I am working hard to finish things up! I have also been working on a professional development session for my schools at the beginning of next school year, thinking I will use my resource page and break my teachers into curriculum groups and work with individual groups on what resources are out their for their classes. I am also getting ready to start a CS5 class with Denise Stalnaker as well as preparing for the CTE conference in July and Technology conference in August.....hoping to see everyone there!!! Also I am planning on returning to FETC next January with my left over money from this year.....hoping that everything works out for that! Hope everyone is enjoying their last week of school and finishing up on their TIS projects!!!!

Podcasting - Sharon Cole-See it here:

I hope you enjoy watching this podcast as much as I did!!!! My plan is to continue building on this podcast to create an innovative introduction for my Globaloria students next school year!

April Blog - Sharon Cole

Well April has come and gone.....not sure where it went!!!! I have been extremely busy all the way around not only with TIS, but also with LiveGrades, Experential Learning, SENIORS, creating PBL's for my classes, introducing my new iPod labs into my classes, digital cameras and flip cams, the reinstallation of my projector for my newly installed white board, addition of two new computers in my lab, the non book adoption for Business Ed teachers in Harrison County, Performance Assessment testing and more Performance Assessment test and oh yes did I mention Performance Assessment testing?????? I think you get the point....LOL!!! I was also notified that I have been notified that I get to be trained and teach Globaloria next school year as well as starting a Marketing endorsement! I think I must have lost my mind to have so much going on, but I have always been one who LOVES to learn, learn, learn, learn. Over spring break I attended the virtural FETC conference and for those of you who were unable to attend you really need to check it out. I have also been busy watching many hours of webinars, which I have really enjoy this aspect of learning!!!! Just when you think the end is near, some new technology opportunities open up and I find myself jumping in full force!!! Hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather and remember the end is in site!!!!

Janie's April Blog

April was very technologically challenging for me. On April 1, we took our Business and Marketing students on a field trip to Washington, DC. This is where my students did the second part of the digital project. We have a new tech person, so I was busy acquainting him with all of the technology in our building. I had five computers with the blue screen of death, so we were very busy trying to get them back up and running. We were successful with one. I still have four computers not working because after we fixed the first, our tech guy was out for emergency surgery. I got a new desktop with LEA funds, and I am still trying to get it set up because I do not have the administrative priviliges to connect to our network.
I left on April 14 for Greece for an EF tour. If your schools are not involved with EF, you should give them a try. We took 16 students and adults to Greece on an Athens and the Isles tour. We were four days on land and four days on a cruise. We also visited Turkey. This is where my students finished the third phase of my digital project. We literally took thousands of pictures. It was so difficult to decide which ones to use in our presentation that we must do in front of the Board of Education. As far as technology, count your blessings for what we have in America. They have very, very slow Internet service when you can get it at all. At our hotels, we could get Internet for 90 minutes for 5 euros. It took most of that time just to get connected. We then tried to Skype with our families back home because it was almost impossible to make international calls. It was very difficult to Skype because of the poor Internet connections. Some of the kids were able to use FaceTime on their Macs. That was the first time I had heard of it, and I found that it is exclusive to Macs. Then when we got on the ship, the cost was 20 euros for one hour of Internet service. So we decided it was not worth it to even try. We were really so busy touring, shopping, and climbing volcanos that we didn't have much time to use our computers. It made us appreciate the Internet service we have at home. This was a great educational experience for the teachers as well as the students. I think the greatest impact on our students was how little our dollar is worth compared to other currency. This was a great educational experience for both teachers and students.
When I returned, we concentrated on preparing our students for the upcoming CTE Performance Assessments and WesTest. Our CTE Director purchased headsets for all the computers in all of our labs, so that was a nice addition. They will especially be helpful for KeyTrain. For the rest of the month, I continued working on my wvlearns content, and I signed up for the WebTop class that many of us will begin tomorrow. I can't wait to see all of you again. Many of us are thinking about attending FETC again next year. I hope you all will join us.

On the Road in April

Most people look forward to the month of April for the flowers that bloom or sound of the crack of the baseball/softball bats. Educators on the other hand see the "Spring Break" dates on the school calender. This presents a challenge for the traveling "regional teacher educator." Seeing the various dates that differ from county to county, good planning is key to being effective during the month of April.
During the visits and observations, I found opportunities to expose the CTE instructors that I serve to some of the new sites that I discovered working with the 23 Things activities. The website GO2WEB2.0 has the most possibilities for the CTE instructors.
For those who are taking college classes, the end of April is the target date for final assignments due and finding time for study for Final Exams. As a college professor, my spring challenge has been the conversion of a course from a seminar based delivery to an online course. CTED 308/ATE 548 Application of Basic Skills is one of the required courses for the CTE permit and had previously been a 6 class meeting seminar course. I had the cooperative help from fellow staff member Brenda Tuckwiller to convert the course to a online delivery system using "Thinkfinity" as the online platform. We found that initially the CTE instructors were not as adapted to this mode of instruction but as the semester continued they become confident and acceptable to the delivery system.
The next step is to convert the entire program to online delivery.

April -- Gwen Miller

My favorite week of April was the week of spring break!!!  We started using Movie Maker in my Advertising class.  I had to unthaw all the lap tops, install the flip share software, then deep freeze all the lap tops.  Then we found out the flip camera is being discontinued.  I accidentally erased every one of the clips on the flip camera.  Three students has to refilm everything.  They took it very well.  One of them told me he didn't think I did it on purpose.  The students are teaching me a lot about the Movie Maker program.  My first block Marketing II class made a commercial in Movie Maker call "Brat-B-Gone".  I'm getting pretty good at putting messages on the outdoor sign.  I still help 3 teacher with their absence spreadsheets. 

April TIS Dennison

Hello, I am writing this in May! I guess this shows me how time is quickly passing by. I have continued the endeavors that I started in February and March. My students are really excelling in their tech(knowledge). I am feeling more confident in my own skills related to technology, my typing speed has improved and the time I spend finding things has minimized drastically. I have been very blessed with Carrie Calloway, our MHS TIS. She has really helped me be comfortable with the activities I have planned and she is there to help me administer them to my students with ease. I am hopeful to be a TIS one day and I feel I will carry on the same type of relationship with my staff as Carrie does hers.
The Prezi still has some gliches and I find my students to be lazy or frustrated or unable to wait for anything. It seems this generation has every thing at their disposal at a rapid rate of speed. Patience is definitely a virtue and seems to be lost. My Child Development classes are presenting their Prezis/power points. The lessons are good and the presentations are pretty accurate. The teaching in between the lines of the Prezi is less than admirable. The students are just reading what they already prepared and nothing else. I have followed along and filled in the gaps. This tag team approach has allowed me to get the information to the students. The frustration for me is that they had more than enough time to present a more detailed lesson. I hold myself accountable to this part of the lesson. I realize I could use the collaborative assessment and the teacher interview for the lessons. I plan on going back through the intel lessons on assessments and improving this area. If I would have met more in depth with my students and evaluated them in the process this would have made them more accountable for the lesson. I plan to improve this lesson now so that next year the changes will be easy to implement and the lesson will go more smoothly. My LC classes are winding down. The mock wedding is tomorrow May 4 and the Seniors will have just a few classes left before finals and such. I have had a wonderful year with these young adults. Trying at times, especially close to the grading periods. Again I hold myself a bit accountable because the students do not have set deadlines they tend to procrastinate. I am not a moicromanager and this created some extra time and energy. Setting dates would be more prudent for all of us. I guess I like to see the way students perform with a less structured curriculum and then try to teach them life lessons at the critical times. Fashion Prezis are complete and I have a student creating a web page for my fashion class. Included will be the Prezi's. I will send the site when completed so you may enjoy!
I have learned a bit about the acuity testing and how to handle the process of testing and collecting by observing and talking to Carrie. She seemed to effortlessly pull off the testing without a hitch. I have created a wordle, wallwisher and more due to the 23 things. I still have some touches to complete on my 23 things, but I am feeling pretty good about the progress. I think my Flickr is my favorite check em out, if you get a chance. Well I will reflect again soon.

March Post -- Gwen Miller

During March my class made surveys on Survey Monkey.  We made a survey for the entire school to take.  We were trying to find out how the current high school student go in a class at the Tech Center, if they were aware of the 4 classes need to be a completer, if they were going to take all 4 classes and if not, why?  The office decided to get a paid subscription to Survey Monkey since with the free site you can only survey 100 people.  As of today, we are still waiting to get the paid subscription up and running.  We have also been using PhotoStory to make public service announcements in the Advertising class.  We made print ads in Word for a car the school is raffling off and got one student's published in the local Trading Journal. We have also made a virtual car tour and are hoping to get one student's posted on our Edline page. 

I helped several teachers turn off vacation days in Edline (since the IS days were converted to instructional days).  I also helped some teachers get their students on Key Train. I have been trying to help our first year Machine Shop teacher get started using his whiteboard.  There have been major problems finding all the cords and the pen and a place to to hook it up in the shop.  I know he is overwhelmed and I am trying to to add to the stress with the whiteboard.  He said his students say the never saw assignments he writes on the board.  I showed him how he could write them on the whiteboard, have every student sign the page and then save the page.  He did like that idea. 

I continued to put put messages on the outdoor sign and I am learning more about the system.  I still can't get a graphic to work, but I will keep trying.  I have to visit every teacher who did not have their syllabus posted on Edline and offer to assist them in putting it on before the TCTW team arrived.

March Blog--Sharon Cole

WOW what a month.....I have been busy helping to get my lab in tip top shape for the Writing Assessment.....then I received a classroom set of 28 iPods, which I am now waiting to get them prepped for my students to be able to use.....working and working and working some more on my TIS assignments which included meeting with several fellow TISers helping, supporting and motivating each other to pull this all together. I attended the FBLA Student Leadership Conference and it was a great experience...first one I have ever attended and I was really impressed. I am in the process of building my Resource Page and I am really getting into it (with the help of Lisa Kerns....TY, TY, TY...couldn't have done it without you!!!))) with the use of Wikispaces. I have spent many hours searching for links to place in my resource and at this time I am up to 25 pages which I now have to get all of them sorted and into my resource page!!! I also have been working on my 23 things which I also love doing!!!! Hope all of you are enjoying these activites as much as I am!!! Looking forward to spring!!!!

March Report and Catch Up

As I got back on the road after the back surgery, I have been working on getting caught up on my RTE work and visits with the CTE instructors that I serve. My time off did allow me to work on the various projects withing the TIS program. I did find some information and websites that I was be able pass on to those instructors that I serve.
I have found that the CTE instructors in my region have a wide range of technology skills, knowledge and interests. So I have been selective on who and what I pass on to the teachers. If I try to expose a person that has little experience with the electronic tools for the classroom, they are overwhelmed and become turned off to the new ideas. So I try to be observant during my visits to what they are using and listen to what they know.
Now it is time to move on with my path to TIS endorsement.

JANIE SPAHR MARCH BLOG

I SPENT MUCH OF MY TIME IN MARCH HELPING WITH WRITING ASSESSMENT TESTING ONLINE. WE HAVE SUCH A PROBLEM WITH BANDWIDTH AT OUR SCHOOL. EVERYTHING RUNS SO SLOWLY, BUT THEY ARE TRYING TO GET THIS BETTER FOR NEXT YEAR. I RECEIVED A NEW DESKTOP COMPUTER WITH MY LEA FUNDS. I ALSO GOT A PORTABLE WIRELESS HP PRINTER. IT IS SO NEAT. I AM GOING TO LET OUR AUTO TECH STUDENTS TAKE IT TO USE AT THE FORD AAA MOTORSKILLS COMPETITION IN APRIL. I AM IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING AN IPAD. HOWEVER, THEY ARE SO HARD TO FIND THESE DAYS. I'M ALSO GOING TO GET A NEW LEXMARK GENESIS ALL IN ONE PRINTER, COPIER, SCANNER, AND FAX. THEY CLAIM TO BE 3 SECONDS FROM SCAN TO FILE. MY OLD SCANNER ISN'T COMPATIBLE WITH 2007, SO I HAD TO HAVE A NEW ONE. MY COUNTY STAFF IS HAVING A HARD TIME TRYING TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT TO GET 2010 OR WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT VERSION. I THINK WE SHOULD KEEP UP WITH THE SOFTWARE. I HAD ADOBE CS5 INSTALLED ON THE COMPUTERS IN MY LAB, SO I AM TRYING TO LEARN THE NEW VERSION OF DREAMWEAVER. I HAVE BEEN HELPING OTHER TEACHERS LEARN TO USE THE SCANNER. I'VE ALSO BEEN BUSY HELPING OTHER TEACHERS WITH THEIR WEBTOP ACCOUNTS. I PERSONALLY LIKE WINDOWS LIVE AND THE SKY DRIVE BETTER. ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN MARCH WAS THAT I GOT A 46" TV AND A BLU RAY DVD PLAYER FOR MY CLASSROOM. IT WILL BE GREAT FOR WEBINARS AND ESEMINARS AND GOTO MEETINGS! SHARON AND I SKYPED, WHICH WAS PRETTY INTERESTING AND WE ALSO TWIDDLA'D! IF ANYONE WANTS TO SKYPE OR TWIDDLA, LET ME KNOW!

Lisa Kerns-March Blog Post

March has been a very busy month for me. I have spent all of my spare time working on our assignments and I've learning so much. I have truly enjoyed working on my 23Things Blog. I love WallWisher and VoiceThread and I plan to integrate both of these into my classes. I have shown many of my staff members the new Web 2.0 tools I have been researching and they have asked me to do present workshops this summer. I would love to be a full time TIS, it is so fulfilling to see teachers and students get excited about utilizing innovative technology tools and learning through technology integration.

I have been using my MOBIs at least once a week. My students can't wait to use them. My Life Basics classes are using Blogger to journal and are creating their own AVATARS to put into our class blog.I have also been focusing on referencing and using EasyBib.com and CitationMachine.net to teach my students proper formatting.

Shannon Carnes is coming to my school on March 30th from 3-5:30 to present to my teachers on CPS and MOBIs. If anyone would like to attend you are welcome. Just email me at lkerns@access.k12.wv.us if you would like to come. Also, I am promoting a workshop on Dangers of Drugs and Technology (How They Effect You and Your Family) which will be held at Lincoln High School on March 30th at 7:00 pm.

Podcasts-Lisa Kerns

I created a podcast using Audacity and Voki. I recorded a welcome to my Teacher Resource page and added it to my Voki. I was going to tape myself, but I decided the Voki looked better. I had a lot of fun creating myself. I am also working on PBS podcasts with my students. I will send a URL of those podcasts soon. Until then here is my Voki podcast:



http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=3606271&height=267&width=200

Here is the link were I inserted it into my Resource Page:

http://lkerns.wikispaces.com/

Dennison-March

This has been an amazing month thus far. I have travelled, met with TIS cohorts, and dove in to technology in ways I never thought possible. I realize how much I have learned since be granted the honor of choice by ABBY. I know so much more and yet every time I read or re-read the contents and work on an assignment, I learn something new.
I realized awhile back that to look at these assignments like a doctoral student trying to put into practice this vast amount of knowledge and really do all my works to make them work for myself and my students, is what makes me embrace the assignments and get into them so that I can get out of them what is intended. Some time it feels like busy work and yet, in reality it is making me do things I would not otherwise do.. I might say I will but with time constraints in my hurried life...well you all probably know what I mean. I have many things in process...Action Plan, making my assessments work or evaluating their worth, flipcam project with LC student's, prezi presentations coming up this month from child development and fashion students, getting newer computers in my classroom(because mine will not allow the students to keep up with our newest projects, dinasours(spell check please), I still want to Skype a lesson and I want to make a podcast for my Blended Delivery class. I want this podcast to enhance the online learning and projects I have in store for the Life Connection's class. About 45 of theses students are seniors and I want them to complete their remaining lessons online...My fashion class is finishing a Swap N' Shop, My class room looks like a clothing store...kids drop off and pick up clothes, including a dress drop, Emily, a student is planning on gettibg the clothing into hands of young adults who need business clothes, schools that need dresses for dances and for the clothing to be given to those in need. Around 4o students actually stop in and take clothes, I do not know why that is all. We are alwo planning our MOCK WEDDING, this year we are combining 2 classes and each student will invite one person to attend. We are trying to have this in the auditorium on the stage...we will see...the issue here is that I want this to be student led and if you look at my LIFE Connection wiki or blog,,,,mmmhhhh. More to come! Lisa

March Blog--Ammons

Again, I have been so busy!! I am going to be able to offer completer classes 2012-2013 school year, so we have been busy looking into this. I have wanted to do this since I have been teaching at GHS, nine years, and each year, I was shot down for different reasons. Our new CTE Director is wonderful and very proactive!

I had a training with Shannon Carnes from RESA VII to help me understand how to design my website. I have never done andything like this before, so she was a wonderful help! She teaches thru hands-0n and that is how I learn best!

I was able to purchase for my classroom a Teacher Mobi and student Mobi thru GearUp! I also found a doc camera in the closet that NOBODY was using!! It was still in the box! ???????

In all, I am incorporating what I have learned into not only my classroom, but helping other teachers to welcome the DIGITAL CHANGE!

Lisa Kerns-January Blog

January was filled with snow days. If we didn't miss the whole day, we had a 2 hour delay. This month I assisted teachers with troubleshooting varioius computer issues. I arranged for our school to get new wireless access points which should help eliminate being dropped from our network. I also worked with the new French teacher with accessing virtual field trips in our Distance Learning lab. I ordered more Elmos and assisted my teachers with setup and did mini sessions on their software. In addition, I arranged for an Elmo workshop during team planning periods for each grade.
My students our utilizing new keyboarding software and our assisting me with finding new online typing games to add to our keyboarding resource page. I have integrated more online timer tools and music from Kagan into my classrooms. Students seem to enjoy having background music when they type or when completing classwork. I would recommend Kagan training for any school--it is wonderful!

Lisa D. Kerns-February Blog

What technology activities were you involved in during the month of February?

• I consider the FETC one of the best educational experiences I have ever had. I enjoyed almost every session I attended and left with a wealth of information to share with my school. Bonding with my fellow TIS participants was also a wonderful experience. I have made some true friends because of this program.
• This month I assisted my teachers with SnapGrades and WVEIS on the Web. I troubleshooted technology problems throughout my building and assisted our county technician with completing technology work orders.
• I have been working on creating my Technology Resource Page... it is a massive amount of work, but once I have completed it I know it will be a wonderful resource.
• I assisted my teachers with setting up their Elmos and helped them with the software.
• I signed my classes up for access email accounts.
• I troubleshooted whiteboard problems and showed teachers sites that would assist them with integrating the whiteboard into their curriculum.

What technology activities did you share with your students? Other CTE educators?

• I came back to the classroom excited to use everything I was exposed to, but of course I had to pull back and choose a few to strart. I have integrated Blogger into my classes to promote writing across the curriculum and my Life Basics program.
• I exposed my teachers to the information I collected from my Microsoft Office sessions--They were GREAT! I loved Tony Franklin.
• I plan to share more of experiences with my teachers on our ISE day March 23rd.

What additional technology would you like to share with the group? I would like to thank everyone for the wonderful time I had during the conference. Our dinners and meetings were both enlightening and enjoyable. I can't wait to go to FETC next year!

February Post

Have had a hard time getting on to allow me to post this blog. Chuck

Monthly Blog for February Charles (Chuck) Parker

February has been a very chaotic month! I have finished a professional development series called Instructional Practices Inventory (IPI). This is a course offered by Dr. Jerry Valentine, and is a faculty run system where a group of certified teachers do walkthroughs to determine the extent of student engagement and technology integration. To be certified I had to attend two and a half days of training, in field observations, as well as pass a test with at least 90 % efficiency.
I completed the Intel Master Teachers certification offered by Bodie Folford. This was one of the most engaging and inspiring courses I have taken in a long time. Other than the blizzard I had to drive through to get to Flatwoods, I had a very enriching experience in the weeklong course.
I also attended two Webinar courses, the first one was “The Future of Web 2.0 Technologies and Learning, The Smart Extended Web “presented by Steve Wheeler from the University of Plymouth, UK. The second Webinar was titled, “Encouraging Girls in Math and Science” and was presented by Dr.
The best technology integration that I personally initiated this past month was on our Instructional Support day last week. The math teachers where each assigned a related arts teacher to help with RTI and tutoring with underperforming students. The teachers were attempting to teach the geometrical; concepts of rotation and transformations on a chalk board and lecture. The students were bored and confused. I offered to take the students to my computer lab and have them work independently with math teachers and myself as the “facilitators”.
I had computers set up with the Think-Finity site that I learned about in this course, and the engagement and comments from the students was priceless. The site allowed the students to manipulate on the screen various objects that in turn tracked the movement and helped the students understand these confusing concepts. The final comment from a student summed up the entire day, “why don’t they use that site to help us understand all of the math that we do not get?”..Great question!
The last Webinar that I took in was “” Seeds to success on Classroom 2.0 LIVE, where they talked about the benefits of using Skype in classrooms, they were actual teachers who had their students take turns reading books to each other, making plays and acting out for each other as well as: the OREO their really exciting online project. Two turns to stack as many Oreos as possible in a specified amount of time then determine class averages and then compare to classes in other regions states and countries. They showed stacking via Skype video. They ate them at the end with a licking contest, to time fastest licker. They used a Promethean Board.
Other uses for Skype: compare community weather and culture, temperature, events etc. Personal introductions and interactions. Headset with mike is all you really need. Web tour,
Rehearsing for musical programs, or other performances to help ease fear uncertainty, and shyness.
Graphing favorite fast-food restaurant then create bar and circle graphs etc. no votes in geographical variations, none of them in the local markets and why. Connections. Use with any polling preference and then compare the results live from various geographical/political views.

January February Blog

I am going to take a shortcut and combine January with February. Of course, the highlight of these two months was the FETC experience. It was great to see all my fellow TIS classmates and just have time to talk with them and share our technology experiences. Not only have I learned a great deal from the TIS program, but I have developed professional relationships that will last a long time.

Visiting all the vendor booths and attending as many Microsoft sessions as I possibly could were my two favorite FETC experiences. I collected an enormous amount of information from the vendors which I readily shared with my two business ed colleagues. What can I say about the Microsoft sessions? Tony Franklin was fantastic! I've been "in the cloud" ever since. I was amazed at the amount of information I learned from him.

In my Business Computer Apps. class, I finished Excel and am currently teaching an Access unit. I find Access the most difficult software to present because the students have a hard time relating to it. I've decided to finish the Access unit by asking each of my students to come up with an idea for a database they can create.

I decided to complete my digital project using my Intro to Bus class. We just completed a unit on government in our economy so I decided to have them take pictures and videos of local services provided through taxation.

This semester I have been teaching an Adult Ed class in Microsoft Office 2010. I introduced them to "The Cloud." Every week they come to class, they share all their cloud computing experiences.

I have assisted other teachers at school in activities ranging from solving minor hardware issues to scanning PDF files. I recently joined forces with a social studies teacher to assist her and her class with PowerPoint presentations.

I have a new toy! Each department in my school was given one iPad. The iPad was assigned to me; it will be my responsibility to learn how to use it and teach the other members in my department. Those of us who have iPads are going to be participating in round table meetings on a regular basis to share ideas on how to use them in our classrooms. One teacher purchased an Ipevo document camera so she could project the iPad screen on the board to share it with her class.

Finally, it looks like I will be teaching Digital Imaging next year. If any of you are teaching that class, I could use some recommendations for textbooks and software.

February Tis Blog--Sharon Cole

I have been involved included sharing links and techy activities with my administrators and colleagues from FETC.....I have already been asked to do inservices at the beginning of next school year.....I am excited about that!!!! I was also busy working with KeyTrains preparing my completers for the WorkKeys test! Harrison County is in the process of selecting new books for the Business Ed classes.....wow that was stressful and now we are waiting for board approval.....although I use the books as a resource I plan on creating websites for my classes next school year and going mainly student oriented classes!!! Keeping my .fingers crossed on that one! I will be attending a training at RESA VII for our upcoming Global 21 Performance Assessment. Just today I joined into the world of Twitter.....still playing around on that.....will keep you posted....you can find me at coleskay. I have been actively working on my TIS online course and other activities, guess I am a proscrinator but I work much better under pressure!!! I am just amazed at how much I have learned so far through our TIS cohort and as I continue to work through the program it amazes me at how much is out there to be learned!!!! Hoping everyone well as we begin the downward slope of the school year and our TIS cohort.....is has been an amazing year! Janie I am right there with ya on going back to Orlando next year....thinking I will have enough money left to pretty much cover my costs!!!!! Till next month have fun with your technology!

Janie Spahr - February Post

Well of course there is FETC to talk about. It was great, and I think that some of us instead of paying ourselves the stipend from the grant may use the money to attend FETC again! Think about it. I loved the vendors, but I think that most of the WV Technology conference hands on sessions are better!

One of our main focuses in February was preparing kids for the online WorkKeys by using online KeyTrain. This is one thing that I wish would have been part of the TIS training because it is something all CTE teachers must do - online!

I served as the proctor for the AutoTech students who took the Ford AAA Motor Skills exam. It is also an online test. The top two scorers will represent PHS at the State Ford AAA Motor Skills contest. There is alot of pre-test preparation online for KeyTrain, WorkKeys, and the AAA test. It takes a lot of time to do this, and that is why we need to have a full time TIS - CTE. But instead we have digital age specialists who aren't certified! Do any of you have this problem?

On February 8, I went to the NASA Building at Fairmont to NetTutor training. It is sponsored by GearUp. It is online tutoring in Math, English, and Science. It works like a chat room. We are currently in the process of getting our students their passwords and training parents and students how to use the program. Since I am a GearUp tutoring teacher, I will have students using it in my Open Lab after school during tutoring hour from 3:30 - 6:00 p.m.

Our new tech guy is in the process of installing CS5 in my Computer Lab. I will then begin teaching DreamWeaver in my Web Page Publishing class. This will be alot of work for me because I have only used CS4. I will have to learn all the updates for CS5 - kind of like going from Word 03 to Word 07!!! I will then use this in my Desktop Publishing class next year, too.

I have been helping teachers who are taking other WV Learns classes do their online classwork. They have to upload through WebTop. For some who are unfamiliar with this process, it can be tricky. I was glad to help them because it only helps me learn more about what I may be doing in the future.

I spend three days in Charleston with a HSTW team evaluating Scott High School and Ripley High School. I got several new technology ideas from the Business teachers at these schools. We did the usual --shared websites, textbook information, etc. I also shared some of my thoughts on how to keep and encourage students to participate in their Business programs because they are endangered. I can't believe they would want to get rid of their Business program. I was shocked beyond belief to see that Ripley still has a typewriter lab!!!

My Web Page class has been doing tutorials on w3schools.com. It is an excellent tutorial site for HTML, CSS, Flash, etc. I have also learned alot from this site. It is about like learning DOS (do any of you remember?).

I've been playing around in my cloud. Has anyone else? My account is jespahr@hotmail.com. If anyone wants to share in your community cloud, let me know. I've been telling some of our teachers about it, too. I think they are interested in learning about it. It's just finding the time to do it with everything else that we have to do.

February by Gwen Miller

I finally got all the programs loaded on the lap top cart and deep freeze on the computers.  I started using the computers in class during February.  I ended up telling the computer guy that I was going to use the computers whether or not they had deep freeze on them.  Suddenly deep freeze appeared.  I went to the Tech Centers that Work Workshop in Cedar Lakes.  We got caught in the snow and had to spend the night in Charleston at the Holiday Inn Express.  There were only 3 rooms left. I had a lot of trouble getting my students on my blog.  After reading many help pages, I finally got everyone on by having them log into Blogger.com first then opening their gmail and accepting my invitation.  It is still a learning experience for me. I also started using PhotoStory3 with my first block.  Figuring out how to grade these are my biggest challenge.  I spent time this month putting messages on the outdoor electronic sign and helping people with Edline.  I gave every teacher written instruction on how to use List Wizard, but still had to help several teachers.  You actually have to open the grade book to print a list from your grade book.  One teacher was upset because she could not get her absences in alphabetical order on the spreadsheet.  She typed them in first name last name but expected the sheet to alphabetize them by last name.  I managed to get Max's text larger on this Intelliboard. 

The Road to Recovery

As I have previously posted that I had back surgery on Ground Hog day and my February has been spent in the recline position. I was told by the doc that he did not want me messing up his work by being active and not following the post-op instructions. Those instructions were that any prolonged time sitting would damage the area that was operated on.
So I have tried to follow the advice given by the medical personnel and most of my work has been from the recline position and after 26 days I am stir crazy.
I have continued to work on our department's course CTED 308 using the Thinkfinity website as the course platform. Assisted by Brenda Tuckwiller, we have 39 people in the class. We have posted powerpoints and instructional documents with assignment listings. We also have set up the discussion tool as a reflective piece for the teachers to respond to the prompts developed.
Of the students enrolled in the course, they range from the computer or digital experts to those that need help along the way.
The course was previously a face-to-face seminar class so we have been challenged to meet the needs of students and providing information and instruction.

February 2011

Provide an answer to each of the following questions.


What technology activities were you involved in during the month of February?


What technology activities did you share with your students? Other CTE educators?

What additional technology would you like to share with the group?

January and February

Yes, I know that I am behind in my blogging!! I have been very busy lately.

• I have started my action research project...it will be very interesting to see the results. I think that my kids are really enjoying this! They really like learning about financial literacy!
• I am learning how to use my iPad! That was a great perk at FETC! So far, I have only downloaded free apps.
• As a project, I am going to have my kids research apps that I should purchase and orally present them to the class. The best presentation will win!
• I sponsored a Cyber Safety Week in Taylor County. Sgt. Chris Casto from WV State Police, Internet Crimes Against Children unit, presented to both students during the day and then an evening presentation to parents. We gave away a 26" flat screen tv and a portable dvd player. Sgt Casto said that this was the biggest group of parents he had presented to. We had about 33 people in attendance.
• I am researching what new technology to purchase for my classroom. In the process, I found out that we had doc cams, Mobi's, and clickers in the closet collecting dust! WOW!
• Our Superintendent is still talking about hiring a TIS for the county. The teachers that I have spoke to see the DIRE need for a TIS!

Slowly but surely, I am completing my work for the online course. Now I need to focus on the portfolio. A few of us are going to get together to work on our assignments, the more the better!

Brandi

January 2011 Blog

Well I must say that I would much rather be in warm and sunny Florida, but we are back in cold and dreary WV.....lol!!!! I hope that everyone had a great time in Florida.....all the learning strategies that I brought home were AMAZING!!!!!! I was absolutely overwhelmed with all the information that I received at FETC and am still sifting through all of it.

It has been a crazy few weeks both before leaving for Florida and returning home!!!!! I have been busy with our school webpage, with all the snow days I felt like I was changing dates and blocks on an hourly basis....LOL!!!! I work with our Credit Recovery program that uses Odyssey Ware and I am responsible for all the input information and teaching the students how to use the program.....I have also been working with my completers on the KeyTrain online program preparing them for the WorkKeys test.

I guess one of my most exciting bit of news is that before I left for Florida I applied for a grant to purchase a classroom set of IPOD touch for my classroom and was notified last week that my grant was approved......I was sooooooo excited and now I am in the process of getting all of the items ordered and into my classroom to begin using!!!! Sure am glad we were able to get into the FETC links to utilize thoughout the year!!!!

It was wonderful seeing everyone again and I am off to WORK hard on my TIS classwork.....gotta love all that we are learning.....have a wonderful day and think spring!!!!!

Janie Spahr January post

I think I am supposed to blog for January, so here it goes. Well, when we are in school, I try to do as much with technology as possible. I am still learning to use my SMART board, and my students are learning along with me. I am also in the process of learning to use my responders and MOBIs. There is just so much to do with so little time in which to do it.

The biggest task I am facing for second semester is teaching Web Page Publishing. I have never taught this before, so I will be reviewing as my students are learning! If anyone teaches this and has any good resources, please let me know if you are willing to share. I would greatly appreciate it. One of the best websites I have found so far is w3schools.com. It has HTML, Flash, and other tutorials I plan on using this semester. So, I have been doing these tutorials as a refresher, and I am actually liking it this time around.

I am continuing to help our teachers and students with KeyTrain in preparation for the upcoming Work Keys test. I feel these tutorials can also help with WesTest, ACT, SAT, Writing Assessment, and other standardized tests. They are very well designed.

I am in the process of getting CS5 installed on the computers in my lab. I am anxious to see how it compares to CS4 and CS2. If any of you have any insight into CS5, could you please share it with me also. I'm looking for online tutorials for this, too.

I did have lots of snow day time to read my book and work on this online course. I have also put alot of time into planning for my Web Page Publishing class. Hopefully, I will have more days in February to continue working with my CTE teachers and technology. One thing I know I will be doing, as I have been, is helping them create their WEB Top accounts in accordance with Dr. D'Antoni's request for all CTE teachers to have one.

There are some upcoming webinars in which our CTE department will be participating in using my computer lab. I will be responsible for setting up these webinars. It really is a good way to share information when the technology is working properly.

We still are contending with all the blocked websites. I don't know how to fight this battle. If any of you have any ideas, please let me know. Thanks!

Don't Be Trashy

Discuss the ideas you found when looking up your five sites that other schools do to improve their school. Hyperlink the site and discuss what you like about it.
Do not post the same site as another student. If someone already put one of your sites comment on theirs.
Groups to participate in:
Find sustain U and others like it to design our shirts. Price per shirt and how long will it take to deliver.
Discuss ways to improve the school grounds and inside the school. How can we advertise and include any student from the school that may want to participate.
How can we advertise?
How can we get volunteers from classes?
Community service ideas? Like groups or individuals to clean up after games.
Plan a lunchroom clean up...flag throwing and ref shirts?
Plan a Spring Pick up to include all IR periods and grade levels.
9th Edgewood 10th Wilson 11th Alison 12th Prairie/Parking Lots
Discuss ideas in how to improve our school pride and responsibility?
How can we recognize students who do care and make a difference for our environment?
How can we hook up with the GREEN INITIATIVE

Recovery from Back Surgery and TIS Update

To All the members of the CTE Co-Hort:
I am sorry that I was not able to join everyone at the Technology Conference in Orlando last week. I had a MRI prior to Christmas and it showed that I had problems with my L3, L4, L5 and S1 discs. In really simple terms my best friend and family doc called me with the report and he said "my back was Jacked"
In mid January I had a consult with the neurosurgeon and he scheduled my surgery February 2.
So while ya'll were enjoying the sites and sounds of Orlando last week, I was in room 4701 of Cabell Huntington hospital listing to the sounds of call bells at the nurses station and calling for pain meds.
I am home now in recovery mode and as Abby told me, I will have time to get caught up on my TIS stuff.
As for my update in TIS, I have been involved in utilizing the Thinkfinity website as a platform for the courses that I teach at WVU TECH. We had problems developing the online classes because we serve actually two groups of students. Those taking the courses for undergraduate credit could use the WVU ECampus Blackboard but those taking graduate credit with our program are registered with Marshall University. Heck Marshall and WVU can not get together on the football field without a Governor get involved so it was impossible to use the ECampus format or the WVU TECH staff having access for WEB CT at Marshall.
Using the Thinkfinity, we can do some of the same things that we want but we do not have a online testing capabilities for the courses. With Thinkfinity we have utilized CTED 308/ATE 548 as the class. But that also involved individualized training in person, over the phone and with electronic correspondence. And this with 38 teachers in 17 different schools.
So as Abby said, I will have time over the next 4-6 weeks as I recover to get work on my online responsibilities.

December Blog--Sharon Cole

OK, Thanks to Abby I am finally able to blog.....not sure what happened but I think I am up and running now!!!! December was a CRAZY month with the weather, the holidays and most of all Technology....LOL!!! I was kept busy with LiveGrades and our school webpage, which is updated daily. I have started my students on KeyTrain to help them prepare for the WorkKeys test, I did attend a training this week and found out that as long as you are only registering your students on KeyTrain that you are still able to give the test.....if you are actually working with the students on individual questions then you are not allowed to admister the test!!!! But anyway December seems like such a long time ago as we are now preparing for our FETC trip which will be here soon! So looking forward to seeing everyone in Florida!!!!

December 2010

Worked with Key Train on-line to get students ready for the Work Keys tests. We are testing after each course this year to hopefully attain a better result. I received the mimeo suite and am trying to improve my skills with this technology. Using access emails (set up for students) to discuss class work during snow days. Mixed results with this so far.
See you in Florida.

December Blog--D. Smith

Hello Everyone,

Sorry I'm behind with my blog postings. During the month of December, I have continued to assist some of the science teachers on my wing with technology issues. . . PowerPoint presentations, online videos, and other minor computer issues. I have also assisted some substitute teachers with technology lessons.

During the month of December, I covered the Excel unit with my high school students. Before Christmas, my students enjoyed taking pictures with my digital camera during class. We then took those pictures and put them into a class video. It was so much fun, they decided to include the science class next door!

Also, during December I was busy completing my Intel Action Research project. I decided to teach a unit in my Intro. to Business class on credit. I tried to incorporate several forms of formative assessment into that unit. I found this to be quite a different approach to teaching for me.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you in Florida. Can't wait to get into a warmer climate. I will be flying with three of my TIS mates. See you then.

Donna

Lisa Kerns-December Blog Post

The month of December seemed to disappear in a blink of an eye. Being the technology coordinator is taking up much of my lunch, planning time, and many hours after and before school. This job should be a separate position. My phone rings at least 3 times a class period. I know is it my job, however the interruptions to my classroom are becoming a problem. I am planning to meet with each grade level team and explain the process of reporting technology problems-AGAIN. We have an online reporting program in Harrison County and our teachers need to take the time to use it. Once I receive the report I decide whether I can take care of it or if I need to send it on to a technician. Many teachers do not want to take the time to fill out the form and send it to me. I try my best to deal with a problem the day I find out about it, however some teachers want their problem dealt with immediately and that is not always possible, especially when I am in the middle of teaching a lesson. I have taken a lot of deep breaths this month and continue to work on building my patience with some of my fellow co-workers. As a classroom teacher, I understand the importance of technology problems, however I am just one person and I don't think cloning is a possibility at this point.
I have continued to help teachers with integrating technology in the following ways:

• Updating the Technology Resource drive
• Acuity
• WVWrites
• techSteps
• Finding interactive websites for each subject area
• Writing a Technology Newsletter for teacher use
• Setting up workshops for teachers--I have set up a Clicker workshop with e-Instruction for January.
• Our grading program now has a lesson plan component which I have presented to the principal. We plan to implement it for the next school year.
• Updating teacher webpages

My students have been utilizing the flip cameras and Windows Moviemaker and creating short movies about themselves. I continue to meet with my student technology team every Thursday morning before school. They are learning how to keep their computers free of spyware and viruses. They have also been assigned a teacher to assist with technology issues.

Dec Tech Report

As "TIS", I was pulled in asked by my director to help write and submit at last minute amendment to our CEFP plan. This amendment was to convert a under-utilized industrial sewing lab into student computer lab for use by all students but especially the highwall labs (welding, building construction, automotive)--those labs not conducive to computer use. The SBA approved $303K grant for this lab on Dec. 13th! Everyone is excited.

We, the staff, also worked on Edline and discussed posting assignments, news items and grades. Sometimes this is like pulling teeth on an alligator. Some teachers are self-motivated, others need adminstrative intervention and still others need a higher power to motivate them.

December Blog

I wished for snow on my birthday and it started snowing December 5 and just kept snowing and snowing. My main "TIS" activities during our short time at school included helping teacher find things on their computer or jump drive. We had a lot of 2-hour delays which are very hectic. I am still trying to install programs on the computers in the laptop cart. We MIGHT get to use them second semester. A lot of things I wanted to do with my students had to be cancelled for postpone due to lack of computers. I used responders with my students. I send out short messages to the other teachers with responders encouraging them to use them, suggestions on how to use them, and offering my help. I am still putting messages on the electronic sign and praying to don't make any spelling errors.

What technology activities were you involved in during the month of October?

What technology activities did you share with your students? Other CTE educators?

Good morning all!

The month of December was short! With the Christmas break and a few snow days thrown in we only had about 12 days in class. Our school has received 28 nearly new laptops and we have been discussing how to best make use of this important resource. I have introduced the use of photostory in three classes and it is slowly being accepted as an alternative to the overuse of PowerPoint. I am involved with a Putnam County initiative called the Business Symposium and have been able to teach the students about using technology in the business world. We will present this morning, in fact, at the Putnam County Board office in front of the Putnam County Chamber of Commerce. Wish us luck! I have started my virtual class room and I hope to be able to bring it online during the first couple of weeks of the new semester. I cannot wait to see everyone in Orlando at the end of the month.

December Blog - Janie Spahr

December was very busy as our CTE Lab teacher and I coordinated with all the CTE teachers and gave all CTE 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students the Quick Guide part of KeyTrain in preparation for KeyTrain assignments and the WorkKeys test. All students had to be assigned user names and passwords before the pretest. Since the pre-test we have been showing teachers and students how to do the KeyTrain tutorials at school and setting them up so that they may do the lessons at home also. I found out also that there are printable workbooks from the KeyTrain sites for students who don't have computers at home.
Chuck, Jill and I then attended Bodie's Intel training at Flatwoods. We learned so much and had a great time despite the snow, cold weather, and missing snow days at our schools! Attending that class has helped me in so many areas in so many ways. We even set up our own blogs. I came back to Preston and wanted to do Google Apps with my students and guess what--it was blocked!
I've been helping teachers set up their Webtops and showing them how to use them. I would really like to get this going schoolwide for our students, and get rid of jump drives!
My CSOs require integration of software, so my students have been working on integrating/linking Word and Excel projects.
We had 5 snow days, an early out, and a few two-hour delays plus Christmas break, so we missed quite a bit of instructional time during December. However, I really learned alot at Flatwoods and made some new friends and contacts that should be helpful to me in the future. Next semester, I will be teaching Web Page Publishing. If you have any good resources or ideas for that class, please let me know.
Happy New Year--25 days til FETC!

December 2010 Report

Provide an answer to each of the following questions.

What technology activities were you involved in during the month of October?

What technology activities did you share with your students? Other CTE educators?

The new techSteps9-12 lessons in career and technical education are now posted on the techSteps site. Webinars will be conducted this spring about using the new lessons in your classrooms.

FETC will be soon!