SCS Tech News

SCS Teacher Technology Committee Meeting

January 24, 2008

Present: Nancy Nakhleh, Laura Davenport, Laval Thibodeau, Joplin James, Allegra Miller, Kari Ahern, Carol Cavanaugh, Pam Baldwin, George Molla and Ellen Matthews

Lexia

Ellen asked if teachers were using Lexia and if so, how were they using it. Laval said he knew several teachers who were using it with individuals and small groups and that some kindergarten teachers were using it with their classes. Laura Grant said that she had students using Lexia as part of the reading program. It was generally agreed that the program was good and that students enjoyed it. At the present time we have 10 licenses, but that often more users were able to log on. Problems and questions about reports, set-up, and administration of the software should be directed to Ellen. Questions about the appropriateness of activities and levels for students should be directed to Carol C.

COWS/Laptops

Allegra said that SCS is going to try to purchase another COW this school year. When that happens, it will be placed in the middle school area. This would make a COW available for the Sutton House/Delta area and another available for the Alpha/Orion area. Middle school students seem to be the heaviest users of the laptops and it seemed appropriate to the committee to make the placement there.

When older laptops are taken from the COWs and put into the general mix of classroom computers, teachers will be able to state whether they would like a laptop or desktop for their classroom. Classrooms computers are updated on a schedule, so that the availability of laptops may be determined by whether or not classroom computers are due to be replaced. Kari pointed out that the older, out-of-warranty laptops would be more user-friendly to younger students if they were “stationed” in the classroom and had a plug-in regular keyboard and mouse. When asked about computer purchases in general, George pointed out that desktops were cheaper, more durable, and had a better capacity for upgrading.  Eventually Windows XP will be replaced with Vista, so it was suggested that we find out if CSSU is planning for this upgrade. There was a question about whether or not all of our computers would be able to run Vista.

Printers

The tech department would like to move to a model of providing printers (and a limited number of cartridges) to areas around the school, with each printer serving several classrooms or individuals. It would reduce the amount of time technicians spend during the summer reimaging machines, and also be cheaper in the long term. The cost of the printing then would move to the tech department instead of the team budgets.

Bandwidth

At the present time we have limited bandwidth at SCS and at CSSU. We have heard that the connection for both CSSU and SCS will be upgraded before next fall. At the present time we ask that teachers try and download videos to the “H” drive or CDs either before or after school. Streaming them during the day causes everything to slow down. Teachers assigning students to watch videos for assignments should make an effort to get students to do this at home. Streaming video is possible, and sometimes unavoidable, but we should be mindful of the effect it has on our network.

Rogertaylor.com

The school has purchased access to the rogertaylor.com, a website filled with teaching ideas and lesson plans to support differentiation and enrichment. The username and password was mailed out earlier. If you have forgotten, please contact Ellen, Kari, or Carol S. Please start looking through the site. We purchased a six-month subscription and want your input as to whether or not it should be continued. And, by the way, Pam Baldwin is a contributor to the site. As a student in a week-long workshop, she had to create a unit for inclusion. She says she hasn’t looked for her particular unit yet….. If teachers want help searching for material for a particular unit, ask Kari, Carol S. or Ellen. All would be happy to help find possible ideas and resources in the rogertaylor.com site.

BookFlix

We have a free trial of BookFlix, a Scholastic product which combines picture book videos with non-fiction picture books. It’s pretty cool, but mainly for lower grades. The free trial is until March 15. The username is night and the password is mare.

Several teachers are trying out wikis and blogs.  Take a look at these: Points to Ponder Wiki, reached from the Library page of scsvt.org. Sharon Wight has a wiki and Liz Bachilas had one. Click on them from the Believe homepage. David Southworth has used a wiki for assignments—Mr. Southworth’s Social Studies page from the Orion homepage. Joey Adams is using  blogs in his language arts class. From the Voyager page, click on Poetry and Reading 4. Liz Matthews and Carly Bennett are using wikis in their language arts classes—contact them to see them. The Alpha team has 15 wikis going right now as they work on their latest unit. The students are using them as collaborative tools and at the moment they are private. Ask the Alpha teachers if you’d like to see them. Laura Davenport’s students created a VoiceThread project to go along with their immigration unit. To see it, go to Discover’s  page.  GregThweatt has created a wonderful blog of his artwork. To view it please visit http://watertooil.blogspot.com.

Web page

The school webpage will be getting some renovation. It is suggested that each team page have at least the name of the team, a picture of teachers or class, teachers’ names, and contact information. If your team page lacks that information, or if it is incorrect, contact Ellen if you would like fixing it. Take a looks at other teams’ pages.

Training

Ellen is willing to provide training. The committee brainstormed ways that could happen. It was suggested that there could be 5 minute presentations of “good stuff” at the start of faculty meetings, or that meetings could be used for this. Inservice during the year was suggested. Ellen (and Kari and Carol S.) will try to come up with a list of things considered useful that teachers might not know about.

We are no longer going to filter blogs from within SCS. Twenty-first century learning skills emphasize collaboration among groups. Because blogs often represent the personal point of view of the writer, they must be viewed with skepticism, but they also represent diverse points of view. As our students research a variety of topics, they may encounter blogs that express reprehensible views, but also many that are timely and illuminating. We will have to continue to teach that websites come in all sizes and viewpoints and should be evaluated before using.

Students’ ability to post to blogs should be monitored by their teachers.

Clarification on the COWs for everyone. We have five laptop carts. They are located in Discover, Endeavor, Sutton House, Voyager, and the library. The carts located on teams are to be signed out by the whole cart. The library cart can be signed out as a whole cart, or individual computers can be signed out by students. The team carts are signed out online–all the time. The library cart is signed out online except for the current week-then sign-up is on the sign-up sheet located on the library workroom door.

Students should make sure that they log off and shut down the computers before carrying them from place to place. If the students need to transport a computer without turning it off, then they should shut the lid. This will not turn off or log off the computer. The keyboards are especially fragile and movement when the computers are open can hurt them.