April 29-May 3

Click on images to enlarge

Elowin Harper's Foods class studies food preservation

 Student Tech Member David Greene sets up for Vanderbilt LifeFlight

Marynell Owens English class 

Technology Coaches Spring Meeting

John Simms' Psychology Class reviews case studies

Channel 5 News Reports on Textbooks & Technology

Student, Josh Winstead, teaches with technology

Students very often CHOOSE to work with technology

Ms. Angle's students gather data outside

Trigonometry and the Syber Squad

Technology Infusion Efforts
Spring Break is now history, and we are on the downhill side of this school year.  Gateway testing is upon us with English this week and Algebra and Biology next week.  Technology infusion, nevertheless, is in full swing as teachers work to meet the May 15th deadline to have three technology-based lessons on file which include samples of student work.  Some teachers feel pressured, however, they have known the requirement since the beginning of the school year.  All were aware they did not have to have had their training to implement their first two lessons; they could attend after-school workshops and seek the help of their mentors who were trained early in the year while waiting for their four-day training period.

Elowin Harper's Nutrition and Foods class studied the "Science of Food" this week concentrating on food safety, agencies that oversee food safety, food preservation and other topics.  From their research, students devised a PowerPoint presentation that comprised more current information than their textbook provided on this topic.  This helped them to focus on how the information we are presented must be evaluated for relevancy and completeness before we state it as fact.  Technology helps in being able to gather information although it puts more responsibility on us as learners to evaluate, sort out, and decipher it.

John Simms, Psychology teacher, conducted a lesson this week on "The Science of Psychology."  Mr. Simms used a webquest found on the Internet.  In groups of two students reviewed various psychology experiments and answered questions about them.  From those answers, students reflected on how the experiments helps predict behavior.

Candis Angle, Trigonometry teacher, developed a lesson where students became mathematicians who were a member of the Super Human Samuri Syber Squad.  In search of the truth and armed with trigonometric functions to guide them, they created their own clinometer (from a folder, string, and a protractor), went outside to find the heights of various objects and entered data into an Excel spreadsheet.  Once the data was gathered, they created a report to analyze their findings.  Through questions designed by Ms. Angle which inspired them to think about their findings, they hypothesized and synthesized their data.  This was the first class who carried their laptop outside to collect data.  Real-world learning accompanied by higher-order thinking and the use of technology helped these students find out information that was previously unavailable to mere mortals.  The Syber Squad prevailed!  Students used a rubric to assess their success.

Teacher Testimony
This week's teacher's testimony comes from one dear lady.  Betty Hall has taught at Mt. Juliet High for 34 years.  She has, however, been a teacher for 39 years and was my senior English teacher when I was a student at Mt. Juliet High.  This year she attended more professional development sessions than any other teacher.  Her testimony gives clear indication she is still willing and eager to learn and accepts the challenge with appreciation.  Read Betty Hall's testimony of her technology learning journey.

Teacher Coaching Progress Indicators, Attitudinal Shifts, and Celebrations of Accomplishment
It is truly amazing to me to see the progress of some teachers as they are able to not only use technology as a classroom management tool but also as an integral part of their instruction.  I find a great deal of joy in seeing their excitement and energy as they involve themselves in learning with technology.  Several times this week teachers have approached me to show me what they are doing and how they prepared for it.  As I think through all the processes it took to get to that point, it helps me realize teachers feed off of each other.  The general public thinks of a school as a place of learning for the students, but it is really a place of learning for all of us.  For a school to grow, its teachers must have a support system that is active.  That really means staff development that is happening but not necessarily scheduled to happen.  When you have that, you have on-going learning at all levels.  A great deal of work is still ahead for our teachers, but much of the fear of using technology is gone.  A more positive attitude exists which can lend itself to greater achievements ahead.

An interesting concept this week as Lori Sheet's classes completed projects in history where they taught a lesson.  Seventy-five percent of the students in the class requested to use some form of technology to teach their lesson.  Some used our projection device and computer websites, some PowerPoint, some quizzes completed online, etc.  Josh Winstead, one of our Channel 9 students who has been a tremendous help in promoting that program, taught a lesson on the stock market.  He commented afterward he now understands why teachers need 90-minute class periods to teach with technology.  It is interesting to note most students are very capable of using technology to enhance their own teaching and learning activities in a way most educators would also choose.

Management Challenges
Judy Monroe, our principal, and I met on Tuesday of this week to discuss the eight required steps necessary to complete the preliminary summative assessment due on June 15.  Because we wanted some valid data to evaluate our efforts this year and be able to use for possible future grant funding, we discussed the design of the instrument we would use to measure our teacher's progress.  While I wanted so much to have a document for teachers to complete on-line, it just wasn't possible in the timeframe we had, and we would have to question its validity if we chose to do it that way.  Instead, we will ask teachers to submit their Teacher's Responses for Summative Report (.pdf file) in their own handwriting and sign off they submitted it with the school secretary, Sandy Haskell. This will insure we have results from every teacher and they are not duplicated as the online method has a potential to violate.   Results will be compiled and data will be analyzed as to some patterns and predictions which will affect our future efforts of sustainability.  I will also work on a form for Student Responses for Summative Report to be distributed to a random group of students next week.  Designing these forms take a great deal of research and time, but can tell us much if done carefully.

The last Technology Coaches meeting for the year was held at Randall Learning Center in Nashville on Wednesday, May 1st, with Jerry Bates, Grant Administrator.  The focus of this meeting was to complete the Preliminary Summative Report and discuss with each other some aspects of our answers.  It is always helpful to meet with each other and bounce ideas around.  I have made a great many new friends this year who share a common bond with my experiences.  I am grateful for these relationships.

As a result of our Technology Open House last week, the school board meeting regarding the budget made headlines in our Lebanon Democrat that read "School Board Focuses on Technology."  The focus of that article was the fact we should investigate if money spent on textbooks could be redirected to technology and serve us better.  As a result, NewsChannel 5 asked to visit our school and do a story on how we are using technology in the classroom.  Reporter Mark Belinger visited Samantha Davenport's class and interviewed a group of students.  Jim Duncan, our Superintendent, was also interviewed.  As Technology Coach, I emphasized how using technology can bring more realism to project work as well as more current information textbooks can't deliver.  It was stressed, however, we are not advocating to abandon textbooks all together; we are simply emphasizing textbooks should not be used as the only resource for today's classroom learning.  Project-based learning using technology will greatly enhance student's higher order thinking skills and engage them in learning at a level textbooks cannot.

May 13-17

Click on images to enlarge

Training Group 7 "Reflect & Collect"

Teachers share strategies on what works and what doesn't 

Ms. Bode's class finds Grammar Cop a way to Police their sentences

Lori Sheets' class puts Harry Truman on trial

Students prepare for trial

Will Cook's class test antacids and use technology to analyze results

Technology Coach, Freda Rushton, and Dickson County teachers visit

Jerry Bates gives overview of new EdTech Policies at MTETA

Past Presidents of Middle Tennessee Technology Education Association

Coach Fryer's Sociology class presents orally

Mrs. Elliott's Chorus class performs before our student body using PowerPoint

Will Cook's Physical Science class used a webquest prepared by Theresa Wright to test antacids and prepare a consumer report on their findings.  Mr. Cook modified it to meet his needs.  We have encouraged this among our teachers to provide resources and give students in the same classes somewhat similar experiences at technology integration.  This will help as they move to the next level. 

Some teachers continued to utilize technology for review.  Kristi Bode's Resource English class worked with a Grammar Cop website with online resources to assist students in "policing" nouns, verbs, adjectives to round them up for processing.  Mrs. Bode created a PowerPoint presentation for students to access from our network which provided them desktop access to links and instructions.  We have found this method involves more of a hands-on approach to student learning and is effective.  They respond better when they are actively involved and can move at their own pace. 

Lori Sheets' classes used technology this week to put Harry Truman on trial for the use of the atomic bomb as a crime against humanity.  Ms. Sheets has consistently used technology this year in her classroom.  There is no doubt she needs access to it every day.  Her teaching strategies warrant access without the hindrance of scheduling, and we have attempted to accommodate her as much as possible.  She is one of our "Best Practice" teachers and is a role model for others.

Teacher Coaching Progress Indicators, Attitudinal Shifts, and Celebrations of Accomplishment
It is the week before school ends and to be honest, it is extremely hectic.  There is so much to do it often runs together.  I have piles stacked up.  Normally, I am beginning to see the end of the tunnel, but not this year.  I somehow feel this is not the end but the beginning for our school.  We have found a great deal of success in technology integration, and we cannot let that end.  I am very interested in summarizing our efforts by getting feedback from our teachers, students, parents, and administrators.  The survey I prepared for each of those groups are now coming in.  As they do, I anticipate what they will tell us overall.  I want to get that done quickly, but that is not going to be possible.  That will have to wait until school is out, and I have more time.  Right now, I must collect lesson plans from teachers and be sure their files are posted to our network accessible to all and available for me to burn a CD.  I can see several days of work ahead for me this summer.  I am grateful our budget will allow that.

It is also time to analyze our most important aspect of technology integration...  Did our efforts have an impact on student test scores.  What people feel happened is one thing, but to what extent it actually did impact student's ability to improve in the area of standardized testing is another.  To that end, we also received results this week, and we were ecstatic.  If our predictions are correct, we improved in two of three areas.  With regard to our Algebra Gateway exams, 232 students were tested and 222 scored in the proficient or advanced category for a total of 95.7 percent.  Our results at mid-year were equally as good.  Regarding our 11th grade writing scores, 237 students took the test with a total of 995 points giving us an average test score of 4.20.  This gives us a gain of .45 over our last three-year average and well over the .07 needed for ordinary gain.  We will not, however, know our ACT scores until summer.  We do feel because we know two of the three areas,  we will earn the bonus award money for our efforts this year; but we also realize the official announcement will be in July, and we do not have bragging rights until it becomes official.  Regardless of how one feels about whether you can attach success in technology integration to standardized testing, it is how we are measured.  We are grateful our efforts have been successful.

I would have liked to post another teacher's testimony this week, but I am cautious to ask teachers to do anything more at this time of the year.  Our program has been taxing on teacher's time and because of ending the year, this week I did not ask a teacher to write their story.  Without a doubt, however, teachers are willing to share the fact this year has been rewarding for them both professionally and personally.  We still do not have all teachers proficient in even the basic skills of file management or even e-mail but by having the classroom and technology integration as the center of our training program, that will come in time.  We went straight for the gusto and because of the quality of "Best Practice" lessons we have received and because they are readily available for all to see, our teachers can visualize how much work they need to do to reach the point of success.  That will involve moving from where they are forward.  Because we do have funds left to train some in the summer, I announced a "Basic Skills" workshop the week after school is out to help those who want to check out a laptop and practice over the summer.  That should give them confidence as they begin the new year excited about how they plan to improve the use of technology in their classroom. 

Management Challenges
I was out of my office a good portion of this week attending meetings.  On Wednesday, I attended the Middle Tennessee meeting of the Tennessee Educational Technology Association.  This group of technology directors and coordinators met primarily for the purpose of hearing Jerry Bates, our TLCF Grant Administrator, give information regarding the new guidelines for EdTech funding.  I attended at the request of our Director of Schools and found it helped me to understand better our role as a pilot school in this year's program.  I can see now the importance of our experiences to others who are beginning the process of technology integration.  As a school, we will be able to help them by relating our successes and failures and sharing our knowledge.  

When I began this process, I don't think I realized how important our role would be in the coming years.  Because our school has been very successful and our Best Practices reflect high-quality integration efforts, many programs will want to pattern their staff development after our process.  I am excited to be a part of that sharing.  As I sat in the room with those people who make important decisions in their county regarding funding for their schools and school systems, I am convinced it still boils down to what happens in the classroom that really matters.  It's that simple.  We can talk about it all day, but when the rubber meets the road, it is the classroom teacher that will have the impact, and it is at that level where change must occur room by room, building by building, system by system.  I observed each one of our 70 teachers impacted by this grant.  We worked together to develop strategies to infuse technology into their curriculum in a way to cause student-centered learning.  Because our TLCF 2001 pilot program did that in a successful way, I feel like what we have to say is very important to everyone.

I also solicited four teachers to conduct summer workshops for our county in-service program.  These teachers (Lori Sheets, Lori Scott, Dianne Jenkins, and Judy Eastman) will be an example to other teachers in our county who want to incorporate technology in classroom learning. 

On Friday, I met with K-8 teachers in our system, our K-8 Supervisor, and technology teachers from three high schools.  We are building a curriculum where students will leave the 8th grade with technology skills that will prepare them for high school integration success.  Our next meeting will be spent preparing an exit exam for students at the 8th grade level.  This is very important to our efforts to have them come to us with basic skills.  Because we are pushing keyboarding skills down to the sixth grade, this will cause our business classes to focus on more specialization of technology skills in the upper grades.  It is long overdue.

At faculty meeting this week, I distributed a report to inform teachers about several TLCF announcements.  I feel this is important because there is so much they have to remember to close a school year that having it written down will give them something they can refer to later.  The report gave information about checking out laptops and materials over the summer, workshops available for summer, budget details, information on Best Practice selection, journal postings, etc.

One management problem I have found this year is keeping this journal to 1,000 words.  I've found I'm not good at it, and  I just can't do it.  Too much happens as each week goes by that needs to be shared.  Sorry!

May 20-24

Click on images to enlarge

Technology Coach, Betsy Canter, visits MJHS

Sandy Haskell, Secretary, helps collect teacher surveys

Dr. Shao installs videoconferencing in Mrs. Dickens' classroom

Phil Bennett ghosts laptops for teachers to checkout over summer

Jimmy Bowen and Dr. Matthews discuss grades for end of year

Data Collection for Summative Report

A Tired Technology Coach

There is nothing quite comparable to the last week of school.  For teachers, there is the feeling of having everything to do, and then when it's all over, there is that lost feeling.  The feeling like you are supposed to do something, be somewhere, have something turned in, etc.  At the end, no one at school needs anything from you anymore.  You have packed up, closed up, and are ready to leave for summer.  This week is the week to feel that way for most teachers.  However, a number of teachers checked out laptops for the summer so I know the plans are there to take what they have learned this year to a higher level.

There was no technology integration for students this week as exams were on everyone's mind.  The laptop schedule was empty.  However, technology was important for teachers as our new grading program, E-grades, was once again in the spotlight.  We have had a year to work with it, but many tasks teachers do with technology such as setting up their grade book only happen twice a year and reviews are often necessary.  I spent a considerable amount of time this week helping teachers finalize the last grading period, setting up the exam as a grading period, and exporting their final grades.  Since this is the first year we have been on a system-wide grading program, there is quite a stir county-wide about the learning curve.  We made it through it, however, and next year will be a bit easier.

Despite all ending a school year, there were several activities this week that related to our grant.  In some ways, I felt like the year wasn't ending for me but beginning.  I was again quite involved in collecting survey forms from teachers, students, parents, and administrators to get ready to analyze and study them.  As they piled up on my table, I realized there was more work ahead than I thought.  That will take me into next week as I work on the pre-summative report due June 15.

Betsy Canter, Technology Coach from Rucker-Stewart Elementary in Gallatin, visited on Monday.  Each time I am able to meet with another Technology Coach it helps me to define kinship with someone who understands the enormous responsibility associated with our tasks.  Betsy and I discussed the summative report, anaylzing the data we are collecting,  how we plan to improve on our programs next year, and other issues.  She, too, will be working a month during the summer at various times and we shared some ideas we could work on for next year.

Teachers were involved in exams two days this week and that freed up some time for me to work meet with Dr. Shao from Project DIANE as we want to begin videoconferencing next year.  Jan Dickens, our Health Sciences teacher, agreed to place the equipment in her classroom.  She will be working with Dr. Kecia Ray to set up some videoconferencing programs with Vanderbilt Hospital.  This will provide some real-world application to her lessons.  We are looking forward to also using the equipment for videoconferencing with other schools and are pursuing the possibility of doing that with a school we may partner with for the new EdTech funding guidelines to be issued in the fall.  We forsee many opportunities videoconferencing could be used with staff development as teachers could learn from one another about technology integration without the barrier of distance.

I also ghosted the laptops to get them ready for teachers to check out over the summer.  The new image our Technology Department created provided teachers with a tutorial they could use at home to reinforce some of their basic skills.  Ghosting the laptops generally has to be done after school for me, and I solicit the help of a family member (my husband this week).  It takes approximately 3 1/2 hours and requires several steps for each laptop.  It is an efficient way to get a machine cleaned up and in working order.  I recommend it for anyone who has to maintain computer lab equipment.

Graduation was also held this week, and it brought back some memories for me related to the TLCF Grant.  I remember being in the middle of writing the grant around this time last year experiencing some discouragement because of all the classroom responsibilities to end a school year and trying to meet a deadline for the grant at the same time.  I was quite overwhelmed and discouraged to the point I wanted to give up.  I didn't think I had it in me to finish writing the proposal.  When I went to graduation last year, one of our students sang the song "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack.  As one of our students sang that song in such a powerful way and as I looked at the audience of graduating seniors, teachers, parents, family, etc., I will never forget the overwhelmingly evident message that evening that I must not only finish writing the grant, but it was also very important for me to be an instrument to carrying it out should we be awarded the funding.  It was as if the song spoke directly to me to dance and help those I would affect to dance as well.  As I sat in the rows with our graduates this week, I remember that incredible feeling I had last year to do everything I could to make that happen.  As I sat there this year, it truly amazed me that one year had passed and my prayers had been answered far beyond what I had expected.  Mt. Juliet High School has danced this year.  We accepted the challenge and have been rewarded for it.  We will continue to hear the music.

This is the last week for this journal for our regular school year.  I will continue it, however, for activities I will be involved in for the summer related to the grant.  I will be working on workshops, public relations, getting ready for next year's training program, etc.