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!