Thoughts and Ideas
Measuring Benefits
I am really enjoying this series in the Stillwater Gazette. Yesterday’s article talked about the Intangible Benefits. The article prompted me to think about critical thinking and Bloom’s taxonomy- things I learned about during my psychology training and my pre-service teacher days. I was wondering how exactly do we measure critical thinking? There is no easy answer, seeing if kids think critically is just like seeing if they can understand abstract and concrete topics. As I was working on my senior project in college, I was introduced to the idea of proverbs and how they could be either abstract or concrete.
So I have to ask, do you know what it means to say, “There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip”? It means that there is room to make error as you move from one point to the other, as the cup moves from the table to your lip- you have the chance to spill. Measuring benefits of a technology program can be looked at in two different ways, calculated with certainty or done irrationally. The decision to have the 1:1 program at Oak-Land Junior High was not done irrationally, many decisions were calculated to make the best decision for those students. Each educator is obligated to make these types of decisions- none of these decisions are made quickly without thought.
So what about decision making at SRS, about choosing to move the cup from the table. The decision to move from PK-8 Technology classes to only PK-4 Technology classes. As this decision was made, a lot of time was spent thinking about the students. Each year the students were entering the school smarter in the technology field and the focus of the technology program was to teach the students basic computer skills. Now every teacher integrates technology, it is part of the curriculum. Technology is not an add-on. In our PK-4 program it is simply a way to begin giving students the necessary skill set to move into middle school. The decisions and many others were made were to expand the student’s toolbox.
Thinking about the Future
I got a great email yesterday telling me to check out my hometown’s newspaper. They were going to be having a five-part series about Technology in the Classroom. Today, I will reflect on yesterday’s article: Inside the High-Tech Classroom.
The article talked about Oak-Land Junior High- the first school in Minnesota to ever try 1 laptop per child. Over the past four years these students have been at the cutting edge- these kids use technology in many different ways, and it is a tool in their ever expanding toolbox.
When the program was first introduced to the Stillwater residents many people were against the idea, myself included. I, like a good friend of mine, where so against the idea that I ended up emailing Stillwater Junior High’s Tech. Coordinator telling him that it was a ridiculous idea, that teenagers were no where mature enough to handle a laptop. I was SO wrong! My friend ended up becoming one of the Spanish teachers at Oak-Land, her response now- just like me “I was SO wrong!” This is about expanding their toolbox, giving them skills that will help them now and skills that will also help them in the future. Students will and can rise to the occasion.
So what does this have to do with SRS? Well, over the past two years we have had a wonderful relationship with Stillwater Schools. Our Middle School teachers have spent a day visiting with students and teachers at Stillwater Junior High and Oak-Land Junior High. As I was writing my master’s thesis about developing a technology vision for SRS, I asked Stillwater Junior High’s Tech Coordinator to serve as one of my thesis advisor’s.
So looking at SRS today, what have we learned with our two year relationship with Stillwater Schools? First, integration does not mean creating a spectacular project. It means giving skills that not only will help the students right now, but in the future. One of the best projects in our two years of integration, was that of a teacher who asked the students to create a presentation, but she took it a step further. Each student placed their presentation on the projector screen and then stood in the back of the room to see if even in the back could they see the slides as clearly as they could on the computer screen. A lot of students went back to the drawing board to adjust their presentation.
Preparing Our Tech Plan
This morning I met with our school’s Technology Task Force. We will be starting a large project this year, writing the school’s official technology plan- which is slated for release February 2008. We are also looking for new members who would be willing to join our Technology Task Force, we meet roughly once a month and collaborate through email at other times. You may email me for further information.
Other things that are going on, well, I am starting a journalism club students in grades 5-8 will be getting invites this week. Students will be introduced to yearbook production and also movie production. We have a lot of ideas/projects this year- so keep your eyes open and ears perked!
The Limitless Possibilities
Earlier this summer I joined a few Nings- I joined one about Laptop Learning which I have found very beneficial to gather ideas from other educators. I also joined one about global collaboration. One of the neat projects I participated in this past weekend was a video conferencing session with educators in Europe, Asia, Australia, and throughout the United States. As I was partaking in the session, I could only think about the question that I now had, how can we have our students participate in global collaboration.
Today, I had the opportunity to attend a learning session about the new iLife and the new iWork. With my PHT Wishlist money I purchased iWork ’08 for our students. This year we will be using “Pages” to create our yearbook.
I was asked, what is your plan for this year? Well, there are a few other small projects. I will be starting a journalism club for students in Grades 5-8, there we will work on the yearbook but also we will work on learning some of the many tools that SRS offers.
The New School Year
Over the past few weeks I have been working on getting ready for the first two weeks. These first two weeks are jammed pack with many projects, programs, and upstarts.So what is up in Room 11? We started NWEA testing, yes even though it was hot in the computer lab we were able to begin collecting the data necessary to provide an excellent direction for the school year. We are also issuing the STAR reading test- this will help students in direction to find materials in the library. The data is archived so this should help us make the best decisions for the most amazing students.
Students will get their mobile lab assignments on Friday. To make sure that I can assign the laptop to our 5-8 grade students make sure all the annual technology forms are submitted. The forms are found here.
And my professional development? Well, I have to finish testing first. Then I will start looking at my direction.
Where’s Lisa?
I get a few questions about how to find me, so I thought I would let you know how this works.
Phone or Email: I suggest email
You may email me at lisa.sjogren@srsmn.org but be advised I get between 70-100 emails in a day so responses do take a while. I do have “rules” that help sort my email so this does help with speeding up replies.
You may call my office 763-504-9450 ext. 311, I usually am not in there and check voice mails usually at the beginning or the end of the day- depending on my schedule.
Hello World!
To keep in the spirit of our blogs, I thought I would take a moment to introduce myself, so Hi All!
I am the Director of Technology for St. Raphael’s and will be starting my 3rd year at St. Raphael’s this fall. I teach PK-4 computers and help with the full-time integration for our students in grades 5-8. My undergraduate degree is in Psychology and International Studies from Bemidji State University and I studied abroad at Oxford University in the Spring of 2001. I continued my education by going to Hamline University and received my Masters in 2006.
While at St. Raphael’s, I chair the Technology Task Force, these individuals help out the school by providing direction to the schools technology plan. I also have a Q & A session each week in the newsletter, regarding technology, you are welcome to email me a question for inclusion in the newsletter. You may also find me at athletic events as I am the Assistant Athletic Director.
In my spare time, I enjoy Nordic skiing, skating, cooking and traveling. I also enjoy watching classic movies, some of my favorites include High Society, Casablanca, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Singing in the Rain. I enjoy reading business books, I throughly recommend Good to Great, The Tipping Point, and The World is Flat. I enjoy eating Italian, seafood, and Carbiou coffee drinks. I am still technically a “newlywed”, married since December 2006, my husband Erik works for the Geek Sqaud and plays vintage base ball.
My educational philosophy: I believe that all students should become proficient in the positive use of technology. Computers are a tool that is used to enhance instruction and provide assistance to student’s unique and diverse learning needs. I provide a “technology boot camp” for our PK-4 students to prepare them for the integration model in middle school (grades 5-8). To ensure success, I work with every teacher at St. Raphael’s to provide them with the tools necessary to achieve their objectives, as each teacher is expected to integrate several times a month. I also believe positive use of technology includes making a connection between the family, school, and community.
The Journey That Mattered
I am actually writing this post on my cell phone en route to Columbus, Ohio. I just hope that it doesn’t leave me without a cell phone on my next trip. Not sure about how the formatting will be but I will fix when I get my computer back (read on).
So what is “The Journey That Mattered”? Well, in 2001 I studied abroad at Oxford University I was studying Psychology and needed to begin finding direction in my future. I had no intention of becoming a psychologist I wanted to do research but what type I did not know. I chose to further look into foreign affairs and ended up graduating with a degree in Psychology and International Studies. I ended up taking an amazing job at SRS and have begun to search out direction. But why would I tell you this en route to Columbus, Ohio?
Well, this trip I hope is the next trip to be “The Journey That Mattered”. Yesterday, I had a long talk with a good friend and it was decided that I would go on this trip without my laptop, enjoy time with my husband and would read a good book. I was a bit hesitant to give up the laptop- since I typically am on the laptop working on long car trips. Although, I was not going to battle her since she called my husband and told him that I would be without my laptop, I was to read a book, and I was not to work. He was to keep me away from work during our annual weekend together in Columbus, Ohio- he has done a very good job so far.
We’ll talk again on Monday. Let’s see how well this will go. =)
Spreading the Love
Well, our teachers are starting to use their blogs. You can probably move around to the different blogs on my page. A few teachers have customized their blog’s looks, while others have set up multiple accounts. We have a giraffe on one blog, Curious George on another, along with flowers, piano keys, each showcase these teachers unique style. I am very excited to see what these tools hold.
Tonight was our welcome back night. So parents started getting an idea of what has been going on during this very busy summer. We distributed our revised student handbook and we had parents do their annual technology forms online. It has been a busy summer and I am looking forward to this school year.
twentypointfive
This will be probably be the only time I will ever promote another blog. But check out the story on twentypointfive.blogspot.com These two guys are going to be doing a kidney transplant 1 week from today (on August 31st). So how did I find this blog? While my husband (Agent #170) works with these two guys in the Geek Squad in Minneapolis. My husband’s boss, Derek (Agent #18), was in need of a kidney transplant and Ryan (Agent #23), his coworker, offered to give his kidney. A true show of giving yourself to others.
This subject is so important to me as well. My aunt, was a recipient of a double lung and heart transplant in 1994. She passed away earlier this year.
So how does this relate to technology in the classroom? While at NECC 2007, Dr. Tim Tyson showed this video during his closing keynote. The video is from Mabry Middle School about Organ Transplants (it is the last video in the set). The movie is absolutely amazing- I actually would recommend watching all of them if you have a chance.
A Long Way Coming
When I first started at SRS, I really was not nervous. I was told by a coworker to get these teacher’s to use technology I would have to work with these teachers non-stop, that made things a little uneasy. However, I started by upgrading much of our school’s infrastructure; new computers for the teachers and students, an all campus wireless network, and programs to help make the teacher’s job easier.
So over the past two school years we have done some amazing things. I enjoy calling our teachers “digital pioneers”. So now I am entering my 3rd year at St. Raphael’s and I am actually more nervous than I have been in the previous two years. We are working together to further benefit the 21st century learner and my goal is to reach the “tipping point”, in which the efforts in technology integration will spread like wildfire throughout our school. We are getting close so I guess it is “wait and see.”
So what is in store for the teachers this year? Well, each teacher will have a blog in which they will detail their assignments, class information, etc. check out my blogroll for more information. We improved our student to computer ratio 1:2.4.
h yes, I do recognize that this will also be the place in which I give curriculum updates for classes they will be under the “Tag/Category” of “SRS TinT”
Creating My Focus
Each year teachers at SRS are asked to create a focus for their professional development. My first year, I was observed three times by the principal, as I was getting my feet wet and learning how to be a better teacher. My second year, my focus was educating others. I was presenting to the Parish Finance Council, at our State of the School, and our first Technology Spring Fling, I was according to my mentor, “very busy.”
So what is my focus this year? Well, over the summer I have been trying to learn more about my generation (yes, I am a millennial) and how I can effectively work with the other generations. I was talking informally with the principal today and she brought up a good point, I do not know how to not be busy yet I rebel when I am given a schedule. As I reflected on my teenage years, I had a daily schedule that included getting up, going to school, going to practice, riding the bus for an hour home, doing my homework and heading to bed. I called my mum this evening and said, “I did have the supermom of the 90s.” So I guess my focus will be how can I use this new found data and direct it towards projects such as marketing.
So as I was writing this blog posting, I was being my true millennial self- multitasking. I was chatting with friends over AOL IM, watching a little TV, and posting links to del.icio.us. I guess it does pose questions for people who do not understand how these millennials work.
Why or Why Not MySpace?
I admit, I do have a MySpace. I am a member of the “8th largest country in the world.” You can visit it my page at http://www.myspace.com/skiskatenerd. Being the private me, I have it set to “private”, my profile only viewable to my 4 friends. My 4 friends include: my birthday buddy, my sister, my cousin, and an exchange student from a few years ago, each of them I only see on rare occasions, usually requiring a plane ticket and a hotel room. Although, the fact that you can see a picture of me, my age, the state I live in, and the fact that I consider myself “64 inches of pure power,” is still too much information for me.
I was asked today, “Should my soon to be 7th grader get a MySpace?” I almost fell over. I thought to myself, what exactly is a MySpace? I don’t want to appear as the MySpace nay-sayer, as that would be hypocritical on my part. I just want the honesty. I have seen the MySpace page of a student who I know is not “21 years old and living in Rome, Italy”. The other part is the writing in their so called “blog” and when read, it gives you the uneasy feeling because that person they are talking/complaining about is your friend.
So maybe this is what I would say to the soon to be 7th grader. If you really want to become part of the “MySpace Country” please be honest and be yourself. Use it to communicate with your friends that maybe you don’t get to see often enough but don’t let it replace the phone calls, videoconferencing, or the trips you would take to visit them. You only get to be a kid once, enjoy it now.
Neat “New” Technologies
Okay, I admit I am weird. However, this week the Twin Cities Metro area has been pounded by two huge storms. The first storm did some minor damage to our home. This second storm has dumped hail, high winds, and a lot of lightning. I have yet to see what has happened to my home.
So why is technology so crucial? With my cell phone I was able to contact my parents, my husband, and still communicate with work letting them know that I was stranded at a friends house while these storms passed. I was able also to see what NOAA’s radar showed- because I have learned to pinpoint the location of her place, my parents house, and my house. 20 years ago, one had to rely on TV and light sleeping to get information about a storm late at night. I am just amazed at how far we have come and how much safer of a society we are.
Expanding our Knowledge
Last May we hosted the first SRS Technology Spring Fling, the goal was to help other schools learn about technology integration. We sent invitations to all the archdiocese schools and our local public schools. We had twenty different schools represented and were able to network with a variety of schools. The communication from this event has continued past the event. We have had small informal talks with principals and technology coordinators to a more formal event of presenting to a group of teachers. Our goal is to allow schools to reach out within the archdiocese. While, we were preparing our plan we had to reach out to other schools, we are connected to schools in Memphis, Chicago, and many other places. I have enjoyed several ning’s to help me learn more about using technology in the classroom.
So about our presentation: Today we presented to one of the school’s who attended our Spring Fling. Over the summer I have been working with this school and their technology coordinator. We talked about how we could get technology in the classroom, she had described her visit to our school as a lightbulb moment. We presented about our views of why technology integration is important. We asked the school’s technology coordinator to invite teachers and her principal to join us. In my opinion the presentation went well, I hope that we are able to give them a solid direction in which to head.
One of my favorite parts of when I present is when I show my schedule. Most technology coordinators smile in joyful anticipation that it to could become their schedule one day. Most principals scratch their heads and wonder what I do. And by far my favorite, the teacher who says, “it doesn’t look like you work at all.” What none of them know, I am extremely busy.
The Welcome Back iMovie
Early last school year, I kept hearing from my principal, “I need a mac.” When I asked what would be done with this mac, the same response was always said, “I want to make an iMovie”. Before we were leaving for winter holiday her PC went “pop pop” and turned off. The computer was dead and it was never going to be turned on again. She smiled and said, “I guess I can get a mac now”.
After getting her first mac, she made an iMovie about her holiday trip to Scotland. Then came the Disney Cruise, The Pottery Dude, the trip to Sweden and today it was “A Message from the Chief Learner”. This iMovie talked about how there are six facets of educating the millennial student, the digital native. The goal was to give teachers the inspiration to continue technology integration.
Presenting the Generations
As the team of teachers sent by SRS left the 2007 NECC, we talked about how we could next year contribute to the energy of the presentations. There is an interesting dynamic at SRS in regards to the teachers. There is a few of the mature generation, large number of baby boomers, a few gen-xers, and a one millennial teacher. However, we are educating the millennial population (our students) and understanding how the millennial operates will continue to help SRS move forward.
So, this past summer we have been looking in depth to the idea of the generations. Born in 1980 to baby boomer parents, I identify myself to be a millennial. Even though I am part of the earliest wave of this generation. However, I see the defining characteristic of the millennial generation is the need for “communication and connectedness”. As I was enjoying an afternoon with my friends from school, we all sat around with our cell phones most of them were the “smart phones” with non-stop access to our email and the internet. Our cars are equipped differently than our parents, they include iPods and GPS with real-time traffic updates. The need for cigarette lighter adapters is at it is greatest.
Today my principal and I prepared our submission to the NCEA 2008 conference in Indianapolis. We talked about a more simple dynamic: digital immigrants and digital natives. As a digital native do I present an interesting dynamic to the workplace, I find technology as the most integral part of student learning. How can I help the digital immigrant become comfortable with technology? How can an administrator prepare their school to hire the digital native? I will be interested to see if our presentation is selected as one of the programs because I truly believe that this dynamic will begin “rearing its head” in the coming years.
Testing a New Technology
So I watched an amazing movie from Mabry Middle School about how teachers use blogs to communicate assignments. Two years ago when I started a few teachers tried this technology and it was a bit slow to get off the ground. After doing much research on which blog to use I decided to use WordPress and I am IN LOVE with it!
So I began to think what do we have at the school that can make this even more user friendly? Then I thought about our copier, yes granted we are striving for paperless communication and we do quite well on that front but there is a feature that is built in to our copier that allows scanning and emailing.
So after looking at these technologies I figured that students could download the rubric from their teachers blog and be able to know exactly what is expected of them. This might be even less time consuming than the iCals from last year.
WordPress, Moodle, Wikispaces, oh my!
This summer I have been working on preparing many Web2.0 tools for our school.
WordPress: I have had so much fun over the past few weeks blogging with WordPress. The ease of the program and the fact that it is embedded in our web server, makes it so much more manageable in my eyes. Probably the best feature is the fact that students can be contributors as well. I just sent one of our teachers her log-in, hopefully she will find it as exciting as I do.
Moodle: I had learned about moodle last summer at NECC in San Diego, but I was constantly running into problems when installing on our server. Finally our web hosting company offered moodle as a “Click and Build” application. Simple enough I had Moodle installed within 10 minutes and the students enrolled in classes an hour later. I began playing around with the program and am so excited to start using with our upper elementary and middle school students.
Wikispaces: Last spring one of the teachers asked if I could research how to use a wiki in her classroom. After some research we decided to use WikiSpaces for her middle school students. The students took the the program instantly but sadly the school year ended. I have been developing ways to use in the classroom as a study guide, research guide or a million other options.
We also use Google Apps, del.icio.us, and OnlineGrades to give students many tools to give them the most authentic 21st century experience. We are always searching out new options and avenues to make learning more meaningful for students. We also welcome new ideas so that we can continue moving forward.
The SRS Film Festival
This year I want to take the digital content that our students have produced and celebrate their achievement by hosting the 1st ever SRS Film Festival. The plan is to host this event during Catholic Schools Week and use the theme of Catholic Schools Week for the theme of the videos. This year the theme is “Light the Way”.
I am interested to see what these students put together.
I do want to admit that I recognize that there is so much more content then film. Students last year produced music, took amazing pictures, painted student masterpieces, and many other things. I want to celebrate our student achievment in the arts. I hope to work with our art and music teacher on this project.
You can learn more about our project http://www.srsfilmfestival.org/ (the site hasn’t been launched yet).
Renewed Excitement
I called my boss this morning to talk to her about the ideas for SRS 2.0 and in true millennial and digital native fashion, I multi-tasked. On the cell phone while at my house I finished my small chores, then entered my car switched to my bluetooth headset and talked on my hour drive. By the time I got to my destination, our conversation was still going strong. Took care of the small business at my location and finally hung up. Yes, the digital native who is now in the workforce is still a social butterfly.
So what did we discuss?
- Using a blog to communicate assignments (all teachers have a wordpress account ready)
- Journalism Club
- 1st Annual SRS Film Festival
- Spring Fling/Fall Ball- after the great success last year …why not?
- Setting up the calendar for better communication
- Google Apps
- Using Moodle/ATutor
- Workshop Week Training
- Technology Refresher/Handbook
- Preparing Grading Program
This weekend I will be working on my action plan to detail the professional development for our teachers. It will be a time consuming process but in the end even better for our students.
The Little Report
Big ideas I guess at one point start small. I just finished working on a draft of our school’s annual report. The report’s goal was to highlight the accomplishments of our students which I believe it did. I could have written a small magazine on the success of our students but for printing and time sake I was limited to eight pages. In those eight pages I talked about our major improvements, our elementary school, and our middle school. All of this was done to move SRS to SRS 2.0
As I was finishing this I realized there were a few other projects that needed to be finished before the school year starts. I still need to go and take my notes from NECC 2007 and transcribe them for summer professional development for our teachers and teaching how to blog using WordPress is one of the major topics.
So what else is on my to do list:
- Read 1 technology article a day and comment on it.
- Prepare our web based tools for student use.
- Look at how students will use our new website srsonline.org
- and finally …Enjoy the rest of my summer.
SRS 2.0- First Steps
So I was asked, “SRS 2.0, what are you going to do?” I thought about this, how might I prepare our teachers to use tools that are Web 2.0. So today, I worked on setting up all of our teacher’s with a WordPress account on our website- I’ll put their links on a blogroll. Each of them will have access to their own blog and can use the blog to their own content. The ideas of using this blog are endless. Last year, we had political debates and book talks using blogs. What will this year hold?
Last year we dipped our feet into the Google Apps for Education and we just scratched the surface. This year each teacher will have access to the SRS Calendar where they are able to add important items onto the the calendar. The ways grades are posted will be revised …and a whole slew of other things.
Lastly, I think SRS 2.0 means to me the further step of us going paperless by 2009. All of our technology forms will be online for parents/guardians to submit. No long line in the computer lab to complete the signing. I’ll keep updating as the summer progresses forward.