USD 331 Kingman-Norwich

VoiceThread is an online program that allows users to narrate and annotate images, documents, and videos.  Teachers and students can record comments to each VoiceThread.  This program could be a classroom substitute for PowerPoint and MovieMaker.  VoiceThread is available free to users and educators can access additional features for a fee.

Hotmath.com is a valuable Math resource provided through the Kan-Ed Learning Station.  I had an oppportunity to preview this tool at ESSDACK recently.  Assistance with odd numbered textbook problems can be found for Pre-Algebra, Geometry, Algebra 1 & 2, Trigonometry, Precalculus, College Algebra, and Calculus. Hotmath.com includes questions from the following textbooks; Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, McDougal Littell, Houghton Miffllin, Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, Holt, as well as others. Students can obtain step by step, worked out solutions with math homework.

Hotmath.com also includes video lessons for Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, and Geometry covering important concepts in each of these subjects.  This could be a great addition to your math curriculum.  Also included are Practice Math Tests for Pre-Algebra, Algebra, and Algebra 2 that can help you and your students determine their knowledge of the subject. Lastly, to help make math fun, games are provided to give your students a learning alternative.

To access all of Hotmath.com’s resources, you must logon to the Kan-Ed Learning Station click on netTrekker d.i. Inside netTrekker d.i., you will see a link on the upper-left side to Hotmath.com.

Building Active Engagement into Every Lesson

In July, six of us attended Brain Based Learning in Orlando, FL.  Brain-Based Learning means building active engagement into every lesson.  The 5 Principles of being a Brain Friendly Teacher are; Safety, Nourishment, Social, Emotional, Informational.

The brain seeks novelty, predictability, feedback, and meaning. The body needs a relaxed alertness. Monotony and Boredom vs. Anxiety and Chaos. A happy medium of Routine vs. Variety. Great teaching relies on your capacity to elicit emotional states such as these: caring, vesting, safety, curiosity, celebration and hope.

Safety:
It is important to create a safe environment by first building a classroom community where all students can feel safe. No learning can take place if students do not feel secure in their environment. Second team building helps foster relationships that are conducive to learning.

Nourishment:
The brain cannot learn if it is not properly nourished. It needs adequate amounts of water and foods that maximize learning. As you eat so shall you think!

Social:
Students need social engagement to stimulate the brain. “Sit down and be quiet is fighting how the brain learns.” The students need opportunities to stand, move, share, converse, sing, laugh and work collaboratively to give oxygen and glucose to the brain.

Emotional:
Music has a direct physical, emotional, and psychological effect on both the students and the teacher. Properly employed, it can create a heightened social learning context, motivate students to engage themselves more rapidly, and provide a sense of safety that might not otherwise be possible.

Informational:
Brain friendly teaching provides more energy for new learning, helps clarify and refine thinking, stores information in long-term memory, provides clear working memory, and engages multiple intelligences and multiple memory systems.

ESSDACK has introduced Self-Directed Staff Development allowing teachers to obtain staff development at your own pace.  Instructors include Glenn Wiebe, Kevin Honeycutt, and Tammy Worcester on topics that include Google Earth, Wikis, organizing online resources, Google Sketchup, and others.

PaySchools is up and running smoothly. Parents and students have traditionally paid school and lunch fees through the school office by cash or check. Now these same fees can be paid online through the PaySchools interface by electronic check or credit card. To access your PaySchools account, click on the PaySchools link on the left-side of the district webpage or within the Campus Portal. To login to PaySchools, use your Campus Portal login. If you do not know your Campus Portal login, contact your school office to obtain it.

I will admit it, I am biased and I am trying to convince you (brainwash) you into using Google Docs. I have been using Google Docs at home and at work for over a year now and I am thoroughly convinced it is one of the best programs for creating/sharing documents and sharing spreadsheets. Why do I like it? First it is simple. I use maybe 10% of all the features within Microsoft Word. I don’t need all of the extra features to type a document. Second, it is completely online. I can create a document, spreadsheet, or presentation at work, go home, use a completely different computer and access the exact file I was working on earlier that day. You don’t have to logon to NetStorage, download a document, make your changes, and upload it all again. Third, I can share my documents easily, print them, and save them as pdfs.

You can access Google Docs by going to http://docs.google.com/. It works best if you create an account using your email address. That way you can email documents as if they came straight from your email account. You can also watch a video at this site that will give you a quick synopsis of why this program is so great. If you are unsure but curious, just ask me for advice and I’ll do my best to brainwash you into using Google Docs.

This is a WordPress weblog site that is hosted on a USD 331 webserver. This site is a powerful tool that can provide USD 331 a method to communicate within and outside the district. Users can post information or opinions on this site. Visitors to the site can respond with comments providing valuable feedback that can be used to guide decision making. Comments must be approved before being viewable on the website and as a result there may be some delay before you see your comment on the site. We can assure that reasonable discussion will not be discouraged or censored. Due to the Children’s Internet Protection Act we cannot allow inappropriate responses to be displayed on the site.

For any staff members who would like to blog please contact me and I will create an account for you. We do encourage discussion and comments and for those of you who would like to comment, feel free to do so below each weblog.  For those of you who use rss readers, you can subscribe to rss feeds from this site.

Since last spring we have been busy installing an updated wireless system across the district. This system allows users to use their wireless laptops across the district without changing any settings. Teachers can logon to their network account in any building. The wireless system is secure, and anyone bringing in a laptop from outside the district will need to contact the Technology Department to obtain instructions for connecting to the USD 331 wireless network. Laptops distributed by USD 331 are already configured and do not need additional configuration.

Laptops on the laptop carts are configured to run on the new wireless system. The laptop carts no longer need to be connected to the building network and laptops do not need to remain in proximity to the laptop cart. This will provide greater flexibility when using the laptops from the cart.

This summer has been a busy one for the USD 331 Technology Department. It has been a summer of accomplishment and surprise. As all of you might agree, it went fast.

Surprise is what the summer started with as on the last day of school, the Norwich file server died of old age, five and a half years of service. This was unexpected and over the next few weeks it was replaced. During the first week of June, I attended an Intel Thinking with Technology course with four teachers in Chicago. My goal was to familiarize myself with the process and be able to assist the teachers during instruction.

During the spring new wireless systems were installed in Kingman High school and Kingman Elementary school. During the summer we completed the new wireless system at Norwich.

In order to streamline our food service program, we implemented the Infinite Campus point of sale system to automate breakfast and lunch checkout and provide a centralized management system for our food service director. To compliment the food service program we implemented the PaySchools interface. This interface allows parents to purchase meals and pay fees online by credit card or e-check.

We transitioned our online PDC system to MyLearningPLan in June and will be training on that in August.

In July we transitioned from the Twotrees webmail system to a new GroupWise email system that is host within the district. We also implemented a new instant messaging system throughout the district for staff. Also in July a new server was setup to host Moodle, USD 331 Wiki, and WordPress websites. These sites will be powerful web 2.0 tools for us.

In June, setup on the new KMS Tech Lab desktops and server was completed. At Norwich Elementary and Kingman Elementary, K-2 desktops were rotated out and newer computers were put in their place. These desktops were re-imaged and made ready for the school year. At Norwich, due to new server settings, all the desktops and laptops were re-imaged and made ready for the new school year.

We are still in the process of preparing over ninety teacher laptops and will have them completed before the beginning of teacher in-service. Also, unexpectedly, the KHS file server died in late July after five years of service. We are working to get that replaced and back up and running.

While we accomplished a great deal this summer, there will be some unfinished projects that will last into the fall. We did not re-image desktops and mobile lab laptops at KHS and KES due to lack of time. There are also a number of projectors that need to be mounted and additional security cameras at Kingman Elementary that we did not get to this summer.

Since I have been here at this district, this has been one of busiest summers for the Technology Department and one of the most productive. We are implementing many good and useful systems such as food service, PaySchools, MyLearningPlan, GroupWise email, GroupWise messenger, Moodle, USD 331 Wiki, and WordPress. Teachers will be working with laptops during the new school year as well. I look forward to having a busy and progress filled 2008-09 school year.

We met two individuals working for the Chicago Public schools during our Intel training that helped to create this Technology Literacy curriculum. They described it as a years worth of curriculum created for middle school language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and fine arts.