The Director's Cut: February 17, 2014

Now that we have two mobile Chromebook labs, we can sign up two classrooms per day. Check out the calendar at the bottom of this blog to see what days are still available. If you see only one name on a day, there is still another lab available!! If you want to use the Chromebooks in your class, remember to sign up using the Google Form. I have included the link here.
https://docs.google.com/a/fsusd.org/forms/d/1kC7nKyhbDQwgnsNoRt3YpZMkQ5yXYch0B1reKqx2lIM/viewform

In talking with several of you in passing or observing conversations between you and your students I have heard some great things worth sharing.

Teacher said, "There were a few students that each day would never get their warm ups done. The other day I saw one of these students with his cellphone out. I walked over and was going to tell him to put it away. When I looked at his phone, I saw that he had just completed his warm up on his phone. Since that day, all of my students that had not completed their warm ups before are now completing them every day on their own devices."

Teacher said to class, "This year we are doing our project differently. You can email me your primary documents or bring them in hard copy." Student takes her phone out, "I sent mine to you did you get them?" Teacher responded,"You only sent me a biography, not the primary documents." Student, "Oh, I get it. I will send the documents to you."

A student was seated in the front office because he was injured and couldn't participate in PE. I saw him with one headphone in and using his Ipod. I walked over to see what he was doing. The student was editing his video that he was working on for the After High School Comes College project.

A student was having a difficult time with his handwriting and work completion. A parent conference was held and it was decided the school would provide the student an Ipad to work on. After a few days, the mom decided to purchase her son a Surface and she returned the Ipad. The student is now using his Surface to take notes and complete assignments and is emailing his docs to his teachers.

Teacher asks the class, "Does anyone have the notes they can share with the student that was absent yesterday." Student pulls out phone and "Kicks" them to the other student.

Our students and teachers are seeing the benefits of incorporating technology into the classroom. Cynthia Merrick said it very eloquently the day of the State Superintendent visit, "They'll need to know how to do this in the real world. They're building technical skills and collaborative skills that they'll need to be successful."

Here is a good video to watch on the SAMR model. Many of you have seen this already, but it is a good one to watch again.The SAMR model stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. It walks you through the process of introducing technology in your classroom. We have teachers on our campus that are at the Redefinition level. Think about where you are at and what that means for your students. http://youtu.be/us0w823KY0g

This week I am going to go the 2014 CISC Leadership Symposium on 2/19-2/21. The focus of the CISC Symposium will go beyond exploration of educational shifts into deep implementation that challenges old paradigms and models innovative action. I am ready to Tweet what I am learning, share docs with all of you via Google docs, and come back packed full of new ideas to share with all of you. If you aren't on Twitter yet, create an account and follow me at @KristenWitt13 and @CrystalMiddleCA. If you are a little uneasy about Twitter, take it slowly. Start by following a few people and read their posts. If you follow me you will be able to read some very relevant articles and follow what is trending in education and technology.