September 2007 Monthly Report

September was a very busy month.  First, we had 16 new employees at Boynton Middle School.  We were able to accomodate all the teachers with computers by the end of the month.  This is a first time since I have been working at the school!  In addition to making sure everyone had a computer, I also had to deal with computers and printers that were not working when school began. 

In addition to the normal beginning of the year duties, I worked with individual teachers over the month with various technical questions.  They questions included adding printers to computers, using LCD projectors, setting up the SmartBoard on a MacBook, and many more. 

I also made a presentation at a staff meeting on the SmartBoard.  It was received well and many teachers asked about what we need to do so that they can use it.  I hope that this is a positive step forward and that we will have many more SmartBoards available to us.

Overall, the month was busy and went very well. 

March/April Updates

During the month of March and April, there were many issues with the RFP7 and RFP8 updates.  Many new items came in from the RFP7 update, including LCD projectors and some computers!  Yeah!!  The teachers who were waiting for their computers received them near the end of April, although some did not receive them until the first week of May.  We are happy that the computers have finally arrived.

Also during the month, as part of the tech committee, Erik and I worked to put together the RFP8 tech proposal.  We were able to have the proposal written and approved a week ahead of time.  We look forward to receiving another SmartBoard, as well as updated computers for some teachers.  We also asked for iPods and microphones for the school, so that teachers can utilize technology to help all students.  We are really excited about what will be happening down the line for us.

I held a workshop on the SmartBoard, with two individuals (both math teachers) attending.  It went quite well, and we expect to use the SmartBoard in these classrooms soon.  I would like to have more teachers interested in using this technology and need to come up with some selling points for the teachers who would benefit from its use.

January/February updates

It has been awhile since I last posted an update on the blog site for my tech mentoring duties.  I apologize for the late posts from the months of January and February.

In January, I offered two workshops. The first workshop was on Microsoft EXCEL, where I worked with one individual on how the use of EXCEL can help her in the classroom/office.  She was very receptive and eager to learn more about the program.  The second workshop was on Microsoft WORD.  One individual was supposed to attend the workshop, however she was not able to attend due to other obligations.

I had intended to offer a few more workshops in February, but the month went by swiftly, with the week off and the two snow days, as well as the NYS testing occurring in March. 

I did have a lot of contact with teachers and staff during these two months.  I worked on trying to set up the Boynton Yearbook computer with new software.  This did not work well, so a track-it was input to have the yearbook re-imaged and OS9 removed, since the new software can only be used on OSX.  I also worked with individuals to update their version of Adobe Reader on their computers.  I found out that if you have more than one version of Reader installed, it defaults to the older version (version 4 versus version 7 defaults to version 4).  Once we figured this out, the teacher was able to open all the PDF files she needed to, whether on a CD or the internet.

In February, I attended the Dreamweaver session that Andy and Roger hosted, and it was a huge help for me.  I have updated the website to remove tabs that were not necessary.  I am still learning a lot about Dreamweaver and I have been passing that information onto staff members who also use Dreamweaver.

Overall, the months of January and February were quite productive and informative for me. 

December TM Activities

In December, I held a workshop on Dreamweaver for a group of teachers.  Five attended – a well attended workshop.   The teachers were happy with the outcome and were able to get what they needed from the session.

 I also worked with Erik and another teacher at a staff meeting to show how technology is being used in the classroom.  Many teachers have been willing to use more technology this year.  There are some long time teachers who rarely used technology using it more often now.  

 I attended the Smart Board training session also.  The Smart Board has been delivered to Boynton, and I am now using it in my classroom.  I am really enjoying the way it is working out.  It is easy to use and very powerful.  We are still waiting for the more powerful LCD projector to arrive, but it has been working well with what we have.  I will demonstrate the Smart Board to teachers after I have had more experience with it.  After that, I will also have a workshop on the use of the Smart Board.

I am working on trying to introduce a blog into my classrooms.  I have joined the 21st Century Literacies group to help incorporate the idea; I am just trying to think of the best way to implement it. 

November TM activities

November was another busy month.

I helped a teacher re-establish her connection to the Boynton Website after her computer was rebuilt.  I worked with the 8th grade math teachers to help them integrate technology into their classrooms – which was a huge success.  They now know how to set up and use the LCD projectors in their classrooms!  I also helped teachers who were having problems with Acrobat reader to update it to 7.0.  I also made sure that teachers had reliable computers to work with.  I was able to get one teacher a computer that worked for him, and he no longer needs to go the the library to do his work!  I am still working with two teachers to make sure they are happy with the equipment they have in their rooms.

Erik and I were able to start publicizing our positions in December.  We created a brochure for the staff and gave it to them during a staff meeting.  We used the brochure Andy & Roger provided as an example for ours.  The brochure is attached.  Robin & Erik’s BMS Tech Mentor Brochure  We will be having a technology presentation at our next staff meeting on December 6th, where we will continue to get the word out of our existence!

Requests for workshops were also given to the staff.  I have some ideas for what to offer now, although not much.  I am offering a workshop for Dreamweaver for some teachers who want to add a homework page to the Boynton website.  I am also going to offer an EXCEL workshop in January.  I have many requests for Blackboard, which I do not know a lot about.  I am hoping to attend a workshop to get more information, then present it to the staff.

I attended a few workshops this past month also.  I went to the all day technology meeting, which was very helpful and informative.  I also attended the afternoon workshop on November 6 about Blogs, Wikis and other useful internet options.  I plan on trying to implement some of this into my life somehow, which may start at home working with my own children first.  I hope that I can have something set up by next school year to really implement it into my classroom.

October Tech Mentoring Blog

October was quiet compared to September.  I did complete my district obligation by providing training to new teachers on Dell laptops.  It was interesting, since some teachers did not even have laptops to use, but showed up at the meeting.  One person was not even in MLP yet!  Kim was able to help me by putting this person in the system so she could receive credit for her time.

There were still a number of questions from teachers this month.  I worked to set up shortcuts on the desktop for a number of teachers.  I am in the process of taking inventory of the computers at Boynton to make sure that IIT has the most up to date information.  I am working with the members of our technology committee to accomplish this task.

I am working on setting up a couple of workshops, although I am not sure what to do yet.  I hope to get some ideas at the tech meeting on 11/1/06.

September

September was quite a month.  It started before September, with the allocation of computers to new teachers.  I was able to get a computer to all the new teachers at the beginning of the school, although some had to use a mobile lab laptop.  There were a number of problems with the computers not linking to the network due to the ethernet cables not being plugged into the correct locations.  There were a few training sessions with Roger to train some of the new teachers on their laptops that they received at the end of September.  I also attended the meeting for new techmentors to make sure I have all the information necessary for this year.  Last year I was unsure at times, and this meeting helped me a lot.  I also helped a numbe of colleagues out with SASI and the network printers.  At times, I have felt a little overwhelmed at times, between ensuring that all computers were working and the new teachers had something to work with.  Overall, the month was hectic, but it is nice to be back!

I have had some teachers ask me about Blackboard and webpages.  I only know a littl e about Blackboard and Dreamweaver.  Unfortunately, I cannot attend the training on Dreamweaver on 10/18/06, but would like to have a chance to attend another session in the future.