650Reflections

=Internship Reflections= September 13 I September 27 I October 11 I October 25 I November 8 I November 22

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September 13
My internship has a dual focus: implementation of iPad 2 technology into the Academic Leadership Academy at Chapin High School, as well as creating training materials for teachers who are part of the ALA faculty. I wanted to use this as my internship because it is a real project happening in my school, and I am able to use my knowledge and skills from the EdTech program to help ensure that the technology is used responsibly. As I started the project, I was a bit overwhelmed by the immensity of the cart that is leading the proverbial horse. For a host of reasons, the implementation has been haphazard at best. In my district we are dealing with dwindling budgets, legal actions about funding building and technology programs, and a technological vision that is not "Apple/Mac-friendly." For all these reasons, we are having to learn as we go along.

My greatest challenge so far has been helping with getting the iPads into the hands of our students. We began by creating email addresses for each student using gmail accounts. Every student has an address that begins with "LastName2011ala" so that both teachers and other students can email each other by following that pattern. After these accounts were created, we had to set up each student's iPad with their gmail account. I helped Mrs. Adams set up accounts. Because our district requires that a user "authenticate" access from a mobile device using his/her network username and password, this process took a great deal of time since we had to log in using fifty different iPads. However, each student now has a device that directly connects to his/her gmail address for the ALA.

After the email setup was complete, I helped Mrs. Adams research "essential" apps that we could sync as starter apps. I found two schools (Defiance City Schools in Ohio and Maryvale Preparatory School in Maryland) who have initiated iPad programs this year. Information from their websites helped me with app ideas, as well as ideas for revising our existing (and skeletal) iPad Acceptable Use Agreement. Because of our very low budget/slow purchase order process and the need to get the device into the hands of the students, we decided to focus on free apps. Students were then called in to check out the iPad2, the case, a charger block, and a cord. Check out happened yesterday!

While the hardware, app, and synching management happened at school, I researched iPad Acceptable Use Policies, set up my Edmodo page for my classes, and worked on developing a needs assessment to determine training needs of the ALA faculty. The AUP is in the formative stage - I've done a great deal of reading and drafting, and while I have an AUP draft, it needs to be merged with the current policies. I am coming to appreciate more and more the idea of an AUP as a "living" document - one that is revised regularly to ensure the quality and responsible use of technology. I would also like to add a form as an appendix to the AUP draft to streamline a process for all ALA stakeholders to submit requests for apps, video, songs, etc. The Edmodo set up was surprisingly simple, and I am in the process of setting up a discussion protocol and assignment for my ALA class. The needs assessment for the faculty took much longer than I expected for two reasons. First, I was overwhelmed with the task of hardware management during the school day. Setting up ten of the fifty iPads took three hours because of spotty WIFI and authentication issues one day. Second, as I brainstormed questions for the needs assessment, I consulted a few close colleagues and found that instead of helping me identify particular areas for training, people simply wanted me to help with "anything and everything." The survey is out now, and will be closed this week. I anticipate that the results may show similar results - people may not know how to "narrow down" when asked about kinds of training, which means that I will have to help prioritize need based on what I know about my colleagues.

The part of the process that I did not anticipate was how much time was required for simply getting the devices out to the students. That task eclipsed the time I needed to create the needs assessment for the faculty. I anticipate receiving survey feedback from my colleagues in the next two days, and that feedback will help me analyze my colleagues' needs and be the basis for my Web 2.0 training design plan. Back to top

September 27
My internship has really picked up speed these past two weeks. The most significant real world learning for me has been how very true it is that the focus cannot be on the technology tool itself; instead, the focus should be how that technology is used. This is not to say that I was foolishly thinking that the iPad would just "work" in the classroom; I knew that we would have to find ways to integrate it into instruction. However, I did not anticipate how much training would be requested from my colleagues. Based on the results of the needs assessment and subsequent conversations among my colleagues, my plan for developing training materials will be broken into the following categories: management tools, productivity/organization tools, and presentation tools. While most people in the ALA feel comfortable with the basics of the iPad, they want to be trained on Web 2.0/apps that will help with managing classrooms, students, and content. Because Edmodo seems to be an accepted PLN in our district, we are moving forward by integrating that as part of the program. We will also use our teacher webpages and turnitin.com to manage classes. The iPad itself becomes our tool for that management (but not the focus).

In order to house my training materials in one convenient location for teachers, I opened a new wikispace page that (for now) will serve as the ALA teacher resource page. I did not necessarily want to use a page on the school's website. The school website is a place for communication between the school and community, and I consider the ALA training to be more of an "in-house" project.

I started this part of the internship by working with our ALA documents. My focus was two-fold: I merged my draft of an iPad AUP with our current policies and I created an online form for requesting change/additions to the iPad configuration. This form is something that we would eventually open to students and parents, but the faculty and administration needs to discuss the logistics of it a bit more first. I do have a draft of the form for the faculty to view/give feedback. To view it, click here, and use the password "ala."

My next project became focusing on the most "requested" technology resources to help teachers implement the iPad into their instruction. Like I stated, my plan is to cover tools in these categories: management, productivity/organization, and presentation. At the end of my internship, I plan on spotlighting apps and tools that I am able to use in my English classes and those which support reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Ideally, each tool will have training materials in the form of either a handout, a video, or both. This took a great deal of research to figure out how to produce the videos. I am working within three significant constraints: To operate within these constraints, I have to look for a program that is inexpensive or free, be able to make video without having to post to YouTube, and produce files in MPEG 4. After much research (and a few emails to Dr. Smyth), I settled on JingPro. There is still an issue with Jing Pro not working at school, so I am settling for doing all video production from home in the evening.
 * 1) I have a small budget.
 * 2) YouTube is blocked for students and, though it shouldn't, quite often that block occurs for faculty.
 * 3) The iPad does not play flash videos.

So far, I am pleased with the products. My resource page has handouts and videos for three resources: Edmodo, Dropbox, and Online Converter. Because of the complexities of Edmodo, those materials include a handout and six videos. Based on the needs assessment and conversations, these were most requested by teachers.

It occurred to me last night that I need to add a note to each page explaining to novice iPad users how to open the pdf training handout in iBooks. I'll start my next two weeks by adding that explanation to each page. I will also feature three new tools on the resource page.

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October 11
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Please see my midterm report page. Back to top

October 25
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The focus of these past two weeks has been to wrap up (for now) the focus on training materials intended for "across the curriculum use." In the next four weeks, I will focus on tools and resources specific to ELA instruction.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Wow. What an incredibly busy (and productive) two weeks I've had! Things are rolling along with the training materials that I wanted to feature, but it has been hard work. I feel like I am crawling to the finish line for this reflection. It was a lot harder than I originally thought to create materials for classes across the curriculum. It's pretty easy to assess my own needs as an ELA teacher and be able to anticipate what my students' needs are; however, as I have developed materials for my colleagues, I had to think much more globally. I am gaining a newfound respect for the field of ISD. It is much easier to be the subject matter expert and rest in the comfort of what you know and do well. The task of anticipating needs beyond your own is mentally and physically draining.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">This week I have played "catch up" since I had to present to the faculty during the previous reflection cycle. I featured four tools on my teacher resource page: Survey Monkey, Evernote, Turnitin, and Explain Everything. I am most excited about using the app called Explain Everything (it's almost like Jing for the iPad). I also started creating the technology resources section of my resource page. This is something that I think will remain a "work in progress," and hopefully, my colleagues will send me additions for it as we learn more about this process together. Overall, I am very happy with the resource page and the materials that I have been able to post there.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">To nod at Lemony Snicket a bit, these past few weeks have been a "series of unfortunate events" as far as being able to meet at length with the ALA faculty. Due to conditions outside my control, the meetings have been cancelled, shortened, or delayed for one reason or another. So far, I have only been able to send emails to my colleagues about the materials I've developed. Wednesday and Thursday of this week, the administration has promised that we will have some planning time together; however, the ALA department will be split into two groups to do this. While this is a bit frustrating and not really ideal for planning purposes among the department, I have been given permission to attend both sessions in order to feature my resource page. As a formative assessment of my progress, I am planning on creating a brief survey for the ALA faculty to take after they have seen the resource page in person.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Where do I go from here? Like I said, my focus for the next two weeks will be presenting my materials to the faculty, creating and administering a formative evaluation, and then continuing to develop training materials (this time the focus will be on ELA, though). I look forward to taking a bit of a "selfish" focus for my subject area. I don't think it will be easy, but I do think it will be easier than the work that I have done so far. Back to top

November 8
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">I have had so much fun in the past two weeks with my internship, mainly because I have been able to focus on ELA instruction using the iPad. Since September, I have been figuring out what kind of management, organizational, and productivity apps we could use to "run" the program. Now, I get to marry the technology to what I enjoy and love about my job on a daily basis - teaching and learning.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">I started the ELA focus by doing a great deal of reading about what apps can be used in the literature class. I also tried to take stock of some of my best practices for teaching and learning and rethink how they could be used in a technological way. I tried to base the apps I featured on needs that I have as an ELA instructor. I focused on four: Maxjournal, Keynote, Flashcardlet, and LitAnalysis.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">My district currently has a program designed to expand and encourage students' free reading. It is no secret that kids who read do better on high-stakes tests, are more global thinkers, and in general are better scholars. Our program, D5 READS 365, is meant to help communicate a message that reading is a healthy habit we want to encourage 365 days a year. I needed a way for my students to be able to comment on what they are reading, make connections to ideas or texts we discuss, and then be able to share their comments with me. Enter Maxjournal! Maxjournal is an journaling app that allows users to open multiple journals and export them as simple text or pdf files. Users can add images to journal entries (up to 30!), and entries can be searched or tagged. I will be using Maxjournal as a way for kids to document their reading and their thoughts about their reading. They will author four entries a month using the journal and then export their entries to me as pdf files a few times during the year. I created several Maxjournal tutorial materials on my ALA resource page: a teacher handout, a student handout for the ELA assignment, and a student video tutorial to get kids started.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The next app I wanted to use/feature was Keynote. I wanted to be able to use an app that encouraged collaboration and also offered a way for students to present their analyses of fiction. The SIFT method (symbol, imagery, figures of speech, and tone/theme) is a quick way of teaching kids how to read and analyze prose selections. I used the SIFT process and Keynote as a way for kids to first focus their analysis on one of the SIFT elements and then combine their thinking as a group presentation using Keynote. I featured Keynote as a tool on my resource page. Probably the most exciting comment came from one of my students after the lesson - "Mrs. Carter, this was the first time I've done group work where I felt like every single person contributed something." How many times do you get to hear that as an educator?

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The next two tools I featured were Flashcardletand LitAnalysis. Flashcardlet is an app that works in conjunction with Quizlet and allows users to make and study flashcards. I created a student handout and video tutorial that covers how to make your own deck of cards. The LitAnalysis is a reference tool app that I plan to use in the next few months with my students. Because it is such a simple app, I created a quick overview handout, but I did not do a video. The app is quite simple - it presents literary terms in wheels (think the old school paper fortune-teller game). Students tap a word to read extended definitions, examples, and questions that can assist in analysis of that element. It will be nice tool to have to the side of literature as we start poetry and rhetoric.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">I was able to present my resource page at an ALA meeting, and the reception was very positive. I think that teachers are still in the stage of being paralyzed by the seeming "limitlessness" of these devices. The goal really is to start small and responsibly rather than just use the devices as a toy. The ALA as a whole decided to use the TED Talk assignment as a cross curricular assignment as a way to prepare kids for "real-life" guest speakers. It was nice knowing that some of my work contributed to the good of the program.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Even though I am taking an ELA focus, I decided to reorganize my site a little differently from my original plan. I intended to keep ELA tools separate; however, as I learned about and authored materials for Maxjournal and Keynote, I kept thinking of applications in other areas of the curriculum. I don't want someone to miss an idea, simply because the heading ELA steers him away. For example, my good friend who is a science teacher may read my Maxjournal materials and think of a way to use the journaling application in his physical science class (lab write-ups, maybe?). What better way of teaching writing across the curriculum!

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">My last push these past two weeks has been to create a formative evaluation survey of the ALA site. I did not want to burden my peers who are time-strapped at the moment, so I kept it very basic. I have received feedback from about half of the teachers. Overall, feedback has been positive. 80% find the site very helpful and the handout/video combination helpful. 20% say the site is "somewhat helpful" and that they only require one of the materials rather than both. 100% of respondents say that the site is clear and organized. I am quite proud of these results.

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November 22
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Whew! What a whirlwind adventure the past three months have been! As my internship winds down, I am able to look over my resource page with great pride! The past two weeks I have added four new features to the page: iBooks, iThoughts, Poetry, and Shakespeare. Each of these apps has a specific application in the English Language Arts classroom. //iBooks// offers opportunities for active reading, annotation, and word reference. //iThoughts// is a mind-mapping tool that offers a wealth of opportunities for analysis and reflection on literature, writing, and grammar (as well as applications in other subject areas - refer to my example curricular map on the iThoughts page). //Poetry// opens up thousands of searchable poems to practice analysis and comparison. //Shakespeare// puts the complete works at our hands without having to purchase very expensive copies of the books and poems.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Though //iThoughts// comes with a steep price tag for an app ($9.99), several of my colleagues and I read reviews and blogs about popular mind-mapping apps. Wd did our own investigation of several free or cheaper apps, but ultimately decided that //iThoughts// was the right app for our needs. We are also of the opinion that occasionally we have to take a few leaps of faith with a tool we believe is right simply because all of this is so new. The worst that could happen is that we spend a little extra money this year, but know in the coming years that a tool may or may not be what we need. It certainly is less expensive to take a risk on an app for one year that to use several thousand dollars to purchase software or books that we must keep and use from year-to-year.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Taken in total, my resource page offers a great start-up toolkit for educators using the iPad technology. I look forward to adding other categories, tools, and links as I continue with the ALA program and seeing how the resource page evolves as a support tool. An exciting thing happened to me - I got an email from an Apple Distinguished Educator from Horry County School district complimenting me on my page and encouraging me to keep adding to it. How nice to know that not only am I getting a little "outside" traffic, but also that it is helpful to educators beyond our CHS ALA program!

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">As I continue to work on my annotated bibliography, I stumbled across an article from //The Superintendent's Center// from eSchoolNews. The article, edited by Meris Stansbury, is titled, "10 Ways to Change the Minds of Tech-Reluctant Staff." The 10 items are the compilation of educator responses to a recent "Question of the Week" posed by the online magazine. As my school continues to develop our ALA program, we should keep these 10 guidelines in mind: <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">These ten guidelines are practical ways to ensure that technology is being used responsibly and effectively. One of the greatest lessons I have learned from watching the administration implement this program is that teachers truly have to "buy in" to the technology, ideas, and vision of the program before they can use technology as a tool for instruction. People will be more interested in "jumping on board" if they know that it has a personal advantage, can see it modeled, don't feel rushed, be trained, and feel supported. It's so common sense, and yet how many times do we drop the ball on these simple precepts?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Use technology for personal reasons first.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Emphasize how it helps them specifically.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Take small steps.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Pair staff members with a knowledgeable co-worker.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Let students lead.
 * 6) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Allow paid leave for educators to get up to speed.
 * 7) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Be sure to offer continuous training and support.
 * 8) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Plan a fun event.
 * 9) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Realize technology can be intimidating.
 * 10) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Make sure the technology works - and is easily available.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">I have also come to appreciate a certain attitude in my colleagues. If we are to teach using new technologies, we have to be willing to invest time, explore, feel frustrated, take risks, and possibly fail. Overall, I think we are doing a good job implementing the tablet technology and maintaining a positive attitude and vision about its use. We still have a lot of work left to do, but I am excited to see how we round out the year with new discoveries and applications for our teaching and learning. Back to top