Tag Archives: Web2.0

Technology Proficient?

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Recently a Media Specialist in another county emailed me to ask about our State Department of Education’s Teacher Technology Proficiency Survey.

“What do you think of the SDE’s technology proficiency test? … We are a little dumbfounded here that some of the technology referenced is unknown to us, and we are supposed to be mentors to our teachers.”

For background, in SC our teachers have to “prove” that they are proficient (80%+) in using technology in their practice as part of their teaching certificate.  The survey is supposedly based on the ISTE NETS for Teachers and has questions that deal with all things tech related, including Web 2.0 tools.

As a “tech expert” in my school, I assist our technology coach with the survey administration – helping teachers access the site, sign-in, and navigate the survey.  Listening to teachers during and after the test, I frequently hear “what the heck is a … ”

The following is an excerpt from my response to my friend’s query:

… Yes, the SDE tech survey isn’t “passable” to many in my school/district since almost all of the Web 2.0 tools they list are BLOCKED.  My teachers have no clue what wikis, nings, and other tools are.  Oh, they’ve heard me talk about them, but since they are blocked very few have explored them.

That said, let me ask you this?  How many of your district LMS/teachers are taking the time to try to learn what those tools are?  Did they make note of the questions/items they didn’t know about (or review their test & answers) to find out what they missed?  Are they just sitting back and waiting until the district provides them training or are they actively seeking to gain their own knowledge?

Two things:

1) teachers and LMSers CHOOSE to be in this profession.  As educators, how can we ask our students to be “life-long learners” if WE aren’t willing to walk the walk?  Also, the TEACHER/LMS is responsible for their PD, NOT our school or district.  Yes, they should be allowing us to attend PD, but we shouldn’t be waiting for them to always pay or organize the training.  If the teacher/LMS can’t afford to pay, find FREE alternatives.  There are so many free online PD opportunities and we have the ETV FREE workshops, too (March 29-31)!  Time is another excuse I hear and I don’t buy it.  People find the time to do the things they want to do, they can find the time to do PD.  And Web 2.0 tools can take as little as 20 min a week to try out a new tool.  Doesn’t mean you have to become an expert, but as LMSers we should be at least FAMILIAR with this stuff.  Don’t know where to start – why not use the AASL Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning?  OR I HIGHLY recommend attending the Upstate Technology Conference for PD in the use of education technology.

2) how can we advocate for these tools to be unblocked and/or taught in PD by our districts if all we do is sit back and complain and/or sit back and do nothing?  For all those who complain to you/me about the SDE tech survey how many have taken the time to protest to the powers that be at the district level?  You and I individually can’t really do anything – we are low “men” on the totem pole.  If we are being held to the topics in the survey in order to be considered Technology “Proficient” then our districts SHOULD be providing training in house AND these things shouldn’t be blocked by our filters.  Why aren’t the teachers/LMSers holding their district accountable?  If it’s on the survey doesn’t that mean the state thinks these things are important?  Then collectively we should be FORCING our districts to unblock and train on these tools.

Okay, stepping off my soapbox about teachers being in charge of their own PD, being sick of excuses and district filters.

I do sympathize and understand my teacher’s frustration with the survey.  I, too, struggled with some of the questions.  Not because I didn’t know the technology, but because of poorly worded or multiple correct (in my opinion) answer choices.  There were also questions that were tool/program specific instead of generic/category/process specific.  I know there was one that included a specific brand of library circulation software (and not the one my district uses) for which most teachers would have no clue what it was.  There were also questions for software that is traditionally used in elementary schools that high school folks wouldn’t recognize.  I’m really interested in knowing who authored this assessment and did they field test the questions before publishing it for administration to teachers?

Since I was tasked to administer a similar survey to our 9th graders (based on the ISTE NETS for Students), I have access to my school’s results (both teacher & student).   While our district hasn’t provided any instruction as to what we are to do with our results (as proficient OR not proficient) my school’s Technology Committee will be using the results from our teachers to designing our future in-house PD – using the categories most missed.  As a bonus, using the survey and the teachers’ needs as justification may help to get some of these tools unblocked!

Schools Out For the Summer!

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“Schools Out for Summer …  Out till fall, We might not go back at all”  - Schools Out by Alice Cooper

Wow, seems like just yesterday we started back and now the year is done.  This was a crazy and busy year and I am very glad to have it over; however, the end also brings students and faculty moving on to better endeavors.

Friday we celebrated our 87 seniors graduating – their last official act as students of Wagener-Salley HS.  May their futures bring them all they dream and desire.   A bright spot of graduation was seeing former students there to see their family and friends graduate.  Two former drama club members, one a founding member, were there to see their sister graduate.  I don’t know how I’m going to deal with no longer having a Parsons with me next year!

Friday also marked the end of our time with the faculty who will not be returning next year.  I will especially miss seeing Ms. Blizzard’s smiling face and our talks of God, art, family and sharing.  I will miss the ladies of Special Ed – it has been a joy to work with you guys and you will be hard to replace!  Kyle, I would have loved to have worked with you more to incorporate our shared interest in technology with your students’ learning.  I hope we continue to learn and share from each other.

The one teacher that is hardest for me to have to say goodbye is, of course, Carrie.  Carrie, are you sure you have to go?  I know, it is time to move on, but I’m loosing too many of my dear friends.  Who am I going to rely on for PowerTeacher backup?  Who’s gonna be my collaboration buddy now?

DON”T LEAVE ME!!!!

But seriously, I wish you and all of the folks heading out that you live your dreams and find happiness where ever you land.  Knowing you all, you’ll have no problems making new friends.  I also believe that those who will have your positions next year, while they can never replace you guys, they will find their place and we’ll build new friendships, too!

On the library side, my End of the Year Report can be found on the library webpage - scroll down the left side and you’ll find a section called Reports.  While the format is the same as last year, I’ve added some sections and lots of photos to make it more visually pleasing.  I’ve also created an iMove from the photos taken in the library and at library events.  Unfortunately, I cannot post it to the public web as I don’t have student permissions.  I will try to load it to my Dropbox account and if you want to view it, let me know and I’ll send you the shared link.

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Summer plans:

If you don’t have plans already, why not come join me at the Upstate Technology Conference June 22nd and 23rd?  I’ll be co-presenting with Cathy Nelson, LMS at Dorman HS and Fran Bullington, LMS at Boiling Springs HS.  Our session, There’s an App for That: Using Web Apps to Organize, Simplify, and Enrich Your Life is Wednesday, June 23rd from 1-2pm.

Well also be presenting the same session at the ETV Technology Workshops July 27th – 29th.  I’ll also be presenting a session titled Web 2.0 Speed Dating. I’d love to see some of you guys there!  (but don’t feel you have to come to my sessions, just come learn and share with us!)

I plan to keep myself very busy this summer – I was really bored last year since I didn’t go anywhere or do anything.  This year I will be at three conference (UTC, ETV, and the High School’s That Works National Conference in Kentucky).  I will be spending a week in Orlando, Florida.  I’m meeting with former teachers and my co-presenters this week.  I’m meeting another fellow librarian in Charleston one weekend.  Then there’s my Grandmother’s 80th Birthday and we’re planning a huge party and it just so happens to be on the SAME day as my 20th High School Reunion (ye-gads!  20 years – where did the time go?)

But most of all, I will be reading, reading, reading.  I have 80+ books still to read from the consideration list for the SC Young Adult Book Award Committee.  The goal is to have them all read before our August meeting, so keep you fingers crossed for me!

Have a Spectacular Summer!

Creative Commons Flickr Photo Credits:  “Summer” by Teo’s Photo  and “Summer Feet” by aussiegall

SC Association of School Librarians 2010 Conference

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Screen shot 2010-03-28 at 3.28.10 PM This past week I attended the SC Association of School Librarians 2010 Annual Conference where I had a BLAST!

Wednesday, March 24th

From Information Literacy to Information Leadership and “RSS: Connecting Ideas and Knowledge” presented by Will Richardson:

I have to say these sessions were AWESOME!  My only wish is that my district administrators and tech folks had attended these sessions.  Here are a few of the things I wrote down:

  • it’s about teaching students to be participants with the information – to become experts in the process and not necessarily the tool
  • while “digital natives” know how to WORK the technology, they need to be taught how to use the tools ethically and efficiently
  • teachers first need to learn how to use the tools themselves – for their own personal needs before they begin to implement them in their classrooms
  • the tool isn’t the change, the change is connecting to other teachers/students around the world
  • we have to ask ourselves how do we get our students to synthesize and manage to go deeper into the information and not take it on face value
  • we need to teach students the ability to read in hypertext
  • we need to teach reading as collaborative – ex: using Diigo to add a note/comment where others can respond – start a conversation.
  • elementary schools need to prepare students in the ability to read not just an understanding of the words, but the method (hypertext)
  • Can we (our teachers) meet The NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies?  How can we teach these to our kids if we can’t do them ourselves?  Can we: “Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally? Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes? Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information? Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts? Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments?”
  • we need to be helping our students build their own personalized learning environments
  • we need to shift to a model of connected teaching – global collaboration
  • Our school/district need to shift professional development to how to apply tools to curriculum and not how to use a tool – teachers should be made to learn how to USE (create an account, maneuver the tool, etc.) on their own.
  • Google Reader (or any RSS aggregater) is an example of ways to “manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information”

After a full day of pre-conference events, we were just too tired to go to the first concurrent session.  We chose, instead to sit down and make our dinner plans.  The highlight of the day was sharing dinner with Will Richardson, Cathy Nelson, Chris Craft, Fran Bullington, and Nic Finelli.

Thursday, March 25th

“Moore” on Primary Sources presented by Frank and Cathy Moore

This session provided information about teaching with primary sources using the Library of Congress.  I came away with LOTS of ideas on how to share these resources with my teachers, such as: resources for speeches, photos, book backdrops, lesson plans, online professional development, and much more.  However, I think I had more fun watching the two presenters interact with each other – you can tell they are a married couple!

Keynote: Web of Connections: Why the Read/Write Web Changes Everything presented by Will Richardson

Again, AWESOME!  Shhh, don’t tell, but I did get some of this as audio on my iPhone.  It’s so much more beneficial for me to record the session so I can just listen and observe, then go back and make notes.  I haven’t had an opportunity to go back and listen just yet.  I’m kicking myself that I didn’t record the pre-conference sessions.

10 Tools to a More 2.0 Library presented by Cathy Nelson

As always, informative and entertaining to listen to Cathy.  Her enthusiasm is contagious and she makes using these tools seem as easy as they are to learn/operate.

After Cathy’s session we all headed over to lunch at Five Guys Burger and Fries with Cathy Nelson, Fran Bullington, Chris Craft, Steve Reed, and Sally Hursey.  As always, these are the best times for me – talking with my peers about anything and everything.

ABC-Clio Luncheon

I went to learn about their history databases and Library Media Connection publications.  Yes, we’d already had lunch, but they were giving away $50 discount to any of their products!  I’m really hoping to get our Social Studies department to purchase one or more of their databases (I’m thinking the AP teacher could REALLY use the US History database/resources.)  Learned that the staff section has resources correlated to SC standards.  Research List feature allows teachers to create bibliographies/pathfinders for their classes/students.

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Me with Alane Ferguson

Because we went to the the ABC-Clio luncheon, we missed the Meet the Author session featuring Alane Ferguson.  However, we did make it to her author signing (in fact, I was second in line!)  The lady in front wanted her picture taken with Alane, so a new acquaintance, Judy Mamroth, took their photo.  When asked if I wanted my picture taken, too, I said an emphatic no – that I don’t do photos.  Alane then says she’ll show me the trick to taking photos.  Those who were there know the story and lets just say I’m surprised you can’t see me blushing in the photo as we definitely got up close and personal!  I have a feeling that Alane has never met a stranger!

South Carolina and Thinkfinity: A SDE Partnership presented by Catherine Giddens

LOTS of resources for teacher of all grades and subjects and aligned to SC standards. Was MarcoPolo.  Has interactive activities great for SMARTboards.  Will definitely have to do some more exploration.  I also signed up for more information about becoming a trainer.  However, the real benefit for me at this session was meeting Joe Woodbury whose is going to hopefully help me find ways to get wikis and blogs available for students through SC Department of Ed and the TeacherVillage.

That evening, Cathy, Fran, and I, along with Allison Roberts (an LMS from TN) went to see Alice in Wonderland at the IMAX 3D theater just up the road.  This was the first IMAX movie I had ever seen and only the second 3D movie I’d been to see.  The movie was good, but seeing the others in those bulky 3D goggles was funnier!  Movie rating 4 out of 5 stars – weird, but good.

Friday, March 26th

Meet the Author: Alane Ferguson

Author of the Forensic Files Mysteries: The Christopher Killer, The Angel of Death, The Circle of Blood, and The Dying Breath.  I’ve been to a few author sessions before, but none has ever been as entertaining and informative as this one.  Alane Ferguson has an enthusiasm and charisma that keeps you glued to the seat in anticipation to hear what she’ll say next.  If you ever have the opportunity to see/hear her in person, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you go.  I was really excited to hear about her latest project, Dragonfly Eyes, set in Charleston, SC – can’t wait for it to come out, but it is still in the writing/development stage.  She also said there are two more Forensic Files mysteries being planned!

Introducing the 2010-2011 SC Young Adult Book Award Nominees

I look forward to this booktalking session each year.  I realize it takes a lot of guts to get up in front of our peers and speak, and that I was guilty of this when I served on the committee, but I would like to see the committee members actually present a booktalk and not READ their booktalks to us – especially if you’re going to read it so fast that I can barely understand what you are saying.  Also, on the podcasts this was a problem, too, that you could tell they were being read and read too quickly for me to catch what was being said.  [They played the podcast MP3 for those who couldn't attend conference and actually present their booktalks.]  I gain the most excitement when you can tell the person talking is excited.  That doesn’t come across when they READ their booktalks to us.  I can read just as well as they can, so just talk to me about the book!  I am looking forward to listening to all of the podcasts when they are eventually posted.

Authors’ Celebration Luncheon featuring Cynthia Kadohata, Suzanne Williams and Alane Ferguson.

Cynthia Kadohata received the 2009 SC Junior Book Award for her novel Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam.  She told us the story of going to the pound and choosing her own dog, as well as her experiences interviewing Vietnam vets who were dog handlers.  Brought tears to my eyes.  Suzanne Williams shared anecdotal examples of sharing her books with students. Alane Ferguson shared much of what she did in her session as well as read a bit from her next project, a short story beginnings of Dragonfly Eyes which will be in a Stephen King anthology called Fear coming out later this year and she says that all of the proceeds will go to Reading is Fundamental.

Screen shot 2010-03-28 at 5.17.09 PMWhile all of these speeches were wonderful, everyone was really waiting to find out which books won this year’s SC Book Awards.  So here goes:

Picture Book Award:  Wolf’s Coming by Joe Kulka
Children’s Book Award:  Swindle by Gordon Korman
Junior Book Award:  Schooled by Gordon Korman
Young Adult Book Award: Thirteen Reasons Why:  A Novel by Jay Asher

Look, Gordon Korman will receive TWO awards.  Do you think it will be possible to get him to conference next year???  I sure hope so.  I loved his Son of the Mob books.  And, of course, I hope they can persuade Jay Asher to attend as well.

So ends another enjoyable conference.  However, I do have one HUGE request to the SCASL Conference Committee for future conferences. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, EVER book another convention center that doesn’t have Wifi.  That on top of Embassy Suites, the conference center hotel, not having free wifi was RIDICULOUS.  I mean, come on!  If McDonalds can offer free wifi, why can’t the conference center?????  Unless this situation changes, I hope we NEVER go back to North Charleston for our SCASL conference.  Sorry, Charleston, I love your city, but be reasonable.  No free wifi??? Again, RIDICULOUS!