Standard A1 - Demonstrating knowledge of current trends in specialty area and professional development (10/11)
Benchmarks:
Instructional specialist demonstrates thorough knowledge of specialty area and trends in professional development.
One of the best ways for a TRF to stay on top of current trends is to attend conferences and take classes. Since my arrival in Fall '08 I have attended several conferences and taken one online class.
Fall '08, I attended the Learning 2.008 conference in Shanghai. I was able to attend with some of my new teammates on the second grade team and this was very helpful. We used the unconference session to plan a new unit based on what we had learned.
In March '09, I attended the Apple Leadership Conference in Hong Kong. We were still using Dells at the elementary school so this conference was an introduction to me of what we could expect with this transition. Our teachers received their Macs in the fall of '09, so this conference was helpful as I prepared the training for this transition.
During the fall of '09, I took an online class at University of Wisconsin - Stout on Web 2.0 tools. I have been working on my certification in online teaching at this school, but decided to take a break from these classes and work on learning more about our Web 2.0 tools. During this class I learned quite a bit about wikis, blogs, social networks, etc. that I use with my teachers. It was helpful to learn the tools but also to collaborate with teachers from around the world.
Fall '10 I attended the Learning 2.010 Conference n Pudong. While I did not enjoy my strand all that much, I still came away with some tips and tricks with our different mac apps as we have moved to macs with the kids this year.
Spring '11 I attended the Apple Leadership Conference in Singapore with all the TRF's and admin team. I enjoyed having the admin team with us at this conference as it helps to have us all on the same page when it comes to technology. I came away from this conference with many ideas of new and interesting ways to use our macs and some ideas about mobile devices.
As our ES kids have moved to the mac this year, I have had to change training and create new projects for our classroom teachers. I have offered training at TTT and Date Night along with several after school sessions on Pages, iMovie and Keynote. Our teachers and students are becoming much more comfortable with these tools.
This is a movie that our grade 2 students created in iMovie. This is one example of a project that we transitioned to the Mac.
Standard A2 - Demonstrating knowledge of the school’s program and levels of teacher skill in delivering that program (09/10)
Benchmarks:
Instructional specialist demonstrates thorough knowledge of the school’s program and of teacher skill in delivering that program.
This year, the ES technology integration specialists worked together to rewrite the PreK - 5 technology standards based on the ISTE technology standards. We worked as a team with our counterpart in Pudong and also met with Alicia to review our changes. We then shared our new standards with the MS and HS integration specialists (pending) and they will use them to revise their standards as appropriate. When these standards are finished, we will post them in Atlas. Draft of Tech Standards Technology Crosswalk Document (created with Alicia)
After working with the classroom teachers for over a year, I have a good idea of where their comfort level with technology is. My goal is to have them increase their comfort level and ability compared to where they were at the beginning of the year as they all have different levels. I work closely with each teacher to help them gain confidence and skill in their technology use. For those who are more confident and comfortable I try to keep pushing them to try new and different applications. For those who are still becoming comfortable I try to be there to support and encourage them while still pushing them forward. Reading through my reviews from the past two years from teachers shows that I have been successful in improving teacher skills and confidence throughout the years.
Attach survey results here
I regularly attend team meetings and am on the agenda for all grade 2 and grade 4 team meetings. In addition to attending team meetings, I try to meet individually with each teacher to discuss ideas, book times, and organize projects. This is new this year and it has worked very well. After my individual meetings, I share the information with the team.
Standard A4 - Demonstrating knowledge of resources, both within and beyond the school and district (10/11)
Benchmarks:
Instructional specialist is fully aware of resources available in the school and district and in the larger professional community for teachers to advance their skills.
In my third year at SAS, I believe I am finally able to demonstrate my knowledge of the resources available at SAS. As we have moved to the Macs this year, a big part of my job has been to meet with my teams and give suggestions for the transition of many of their projects to the Mac platform to take full advantage of our new software. Some of the project transitions have been:
Grade 2 Weather project from PhotoStory to iMovie (see Standard A1)
Grade 2
from PowerPoint to Keynote
Grade 4 nonfiction story from Word to Pages
Grade 4 artifact podcast in Garageband
Use of wiki in grade 4 for WAGS
Use of blogs in grades 2 and 4 to share student learning
In addition to sharing these tools with my teachers at weekly meetings, I also supply them with links to different online resources via my blog and also through a new venue -- a wiki I am creating with online links to a variety of topics.
Standard A5 - Planning the instructional support program, integrated with the overall school program (09/10)
Benchmarks:
Instructional specialist’s plan is highly coherent, taking into account the competing demands of making presentations and consulting with teachers, and has been developed following consultation with administrators and teachers.
I meet weekly with the teams to plan the tech support program and meet monthly with each teacher to discuss specific ideas and projects. Below are links to integrated projects I have done with each grade level.
PreKindergarten and Kindergarten In my PreK and K program we do a variety of activities and projects that allow the students to learn to use the computer and to begin to see the computer as a tool for learning. We use a variety of web sites to enhance the learning that is taking place in the classroom and we use different applications to allow the students to create projects and documents. Applications that we use in PreK and K include Kidspiration, KidPix, and Photostory. To see a list of web sites we use in PreK and K, take a look at my K, 2, 4 Links page on the tech blog.
1. Alphabet Beginning Sounds
2. Favorite Characters - From Clay to Computer
3. End of Year Reflection Stories
Grade 2
Grade 2 teachers use quite a bit of technology in their classroom and it continues to increase. At the beginning of science units, we do an activity that incorporates technology, literacy, and library. Students are divided into three groups and they change to each of the different activities in their small groups. In the tech portion, we do online activities that reinforce the information they are studying in the science unit. Second grade students use a variety of applications throughout the year including Word, PowerPoint, Photostory, Audacity, KidPix, and iPhoto. We also do online activities to reinforce the learning that is taking place in the classroom and these activities can be viewed on my K, 2, 4 Links page on the tech blog. Some of the projects we do are below.
Grade 4 The fourth grade integrate technology into their curriculum in a variety of ways and at this grade level the students are beginning to see the computer and the Internet as a part of their daily life. While we continue to use applications, much of the focus of our work has moved to the Internet with students searching for information, using blogs to share and reflect on their writing, using wikis to collaborate with other students, and using an online social network based around books to reflect on and choose books based on their interests. The fourth grade team likes to have their students create documents so we use Word to publish quite a bit of their research. On these documents, students use text and images to convey meaning. Fourth grade students have also moved to their blogs to publish quite a bit of their writing. They have used wikis in social studies to explore China (WAGS) and as a forum for their group research on the Three Gorges Dam. Below are some examples of the work the fourth grade students are doing with technology.
Standard A6 - Developing a plan to evaluate the instructional support program (11/12)
Benchmarks:
Instructional specialist’s evaluation plan is highly sophisticated, with imaginative sources of evidence and a clear path toward improving the program on an ongoing basis.
This is my fourth year in this role and the plan to evaluate the instructional support program has evolved.
1. From our first year, we have conducted an end of year survey that we send out to our teams so they can evaluate our program and give us warm and cool feedback. This survey also helps us to collect misunderstandings that teachers may have about our role and our program which we can then also address at team meetings or faculty meetings.
2. This year I created a wiki where I collect resources that I find for my early education classes and sort them by the educational skill that the site addresses. When this wiki is complete, it will be a place for teachers to refer to when they want to find good sites to support the learning that is happening in the classroom. This wiki also has a page for each of the grade levels that I work with and contains a summary, reflection, and list of resources used for lessons and projects. This is where the teachers will be able to go to gather materials and ideas for upcoming lessons. Tech Resource/Lesson Wiki
3. I also have a list of resources that have been used during lessons on a resource page on my blog. This allows students and teachers to return to these activities after they have completed the lesson. Blog Resource Page
4. During team meetings we discuss upcoming projects and lessons so teachers understand what my role is during a lesson and what the procedure and time commitment is for the class. I also send out a summary of the different lessons and classroom preparation that is involved for each activity. After the lesson I seek out feedback individually and in groups. Teams also post the information and documents I use within their Atlas units.
Planning and Preparation
Standard A1 - Demonstrating knowledge of current trends in specialty area and professional development (10/11)
Benchmarks:
One of the best ways for a TRF to stay on top of current trends is to attend conferences and take classes. Since my arrival in Fall '08 I have attended several conferences and taken one online class.
Fall '08, I attended the Learning 2.008 conference in Shanghai. I was able to attend with some of my new teammates on the second grade team and this was very helpful. We used the unconference session to plan a new unit based on what we had learned.
In March '09, I attended the Apple Leadership Conference in Hong Kong. We were still using Dells at the elementary school so this conference was an introduction to me of what we could expect with this transition. Our teachers received their Macs in the fall of '09, so this conference was helpful as I prepared the training for this transition.
During the fall of '09, I took an online class at University of Wisconsin - Stout on Web 2.0 tools. I have been working on my certification in online teaching at this school, but decided to take a break from these classes and work on learning more about our Web 2.0 tools. During this class I learned quite a bit about wikis, blogs, social networks, etc. that I use with my teachers. It was helpful to learn the tools but also to collaborate with teachers from around the world.
Fall '10 I attended the Learning 2.010 Conference n Pudong. While I did not enjoy my strand all that much, I still came away with some tips and tricks with our different mac apps as we have moved to macs with the kids this year.
Spring '11 I attended the Apple Leadership Conference in Singapore with all the TRF's and admin team. I enjoyed having the admin team with us at this conference as it helps to have us all on the same page when it comes to technology. I came away from this conference with many ideas of new and interesting ways to use our macs and some ideas about mobile devices.
As our ES kids have moved to the mac this year, I have had to change training and create new projects for our classroom teachers. I have offered training at TTT and Date Night along with several after school sessions on Pages, iMovie and Keynote. Our teachers and students are becoming much more comfortable with these tools.
This is a movie that our grade 2 students created in iMovie. This is one example of a project that we transitioned to the Mac.
Standard A2 - Demonstrating knowledge of the school’s program and levels of teacher skill in delivering that program (09/10)
Benchmarks:
This year, the ES technology integration specialists worked together to rewrite the PreK - 5 technology standards based on the ISTE technology standards. We worked as a team with our counterpart in Pudong and also met with Alicia to review our changes. We then shared our new standards with the MS and HS integration specialists (pending) and they will use them to revise their standards as appropriate. When these standards are finished, we will post them in Atlas.
Draft of Tech Standards
Technology Crosswalk Document (created with Alicia)
After working with the classroom teachers for over a year, I have a good idea of where their comfort level with technology is. My goal is to have them increase their comfort level and ability compared to where they were at the beginning of the year as they all have different levels. I work closely with each teacher to help them gain confidence and skill in their technology use. For those who are more confident and comfortable I try to keep pushing them to try new and different applications. For those who are still becoming comfortable I try to be there to support and encourage them while still pushing them forward. Reading through my reviews from the past two years from teachers shows that I have been successful in improving teacher skills and confidence throughout the years.
Attach survey results here
I regularly attend team meetings and am on the agenda for all grade 2 and grade 4 team meetings. In addition to attending team meetings, I try to meet individually with each teacher to discuss ideas, book times, and organize projects. This is new this year and it has worked very well. After my individual meetings, I share the information with the team.
Standard A3 - Establishing goals for the instructional support program appropriate to the setting and the teachers served (11/12)
Benchmarks:
Each year I have developed goals for my program.
Overall Goals
Standard A4 - Demonstrating knowledge of resources, both within and beyond the school and district (10/11)
Benchmarks:
In my third year at SAS, I believe I am finally able to demonstrate my knowledge of the resources available at SAS. As we have moved to the Macs this year, a big part of my job has been to meet with my teams and give suggestions for the transition of many of their projects to the Mac platform to take full advantage of our new software. Some of the project transitions have been:
Grade 2 Weather project from PhotoStory to iMovie (see Standard A1)
Grade 2
Grade 4 nonfiction story from Word to Pages
Grade 4 artifact podcast in Garageband
Use of wiki in grade 4 for WAGS
Use of blogs in grades 2 and 4 to share student learning
In addition to sharing these tools with my teachers at weekly meetings, I also supply them with links to different online resources via my blog and also through a new venue -- a wiki I am creating with online links to a variety of topics.
Standard A5 - Planning the instructional support program, integrated with the overall school program (09/10)
Benchmarks:
I meet weekly with the teams to plan the tech support program and meet monthly with each teacher to discuss specific ideas and projects. Below are links to integrated projects I have done with each grade level.
PreKindergarten and Kindergarten
In my PreK and K program we do a variety of activities and projects that allow the students to learn to use the computer and to begin to see the computer as a tool for learning. We use a variety of web sites to enhance the learning that is taking place in the classroom and we use different applications to allow the students to create projects and documents. Applications that we use in PreK and K include Kidspiration, KidPix, and Photostory. To see a list of web sites we use in PreK and K, take a look at my K, 2, 4 Links page on the tech blog.
1. Alphabet Beginning Sounds
2. Favorite Characters - From Clay to Computer
3. End of Year Reflection Stories
Grade 2
Grade 2 teachers use quite a bit of technology in their classroom and it continues to increase. At the beginning of science units, we do an activity that incorporates technology, literacy, and library. Students are divided into three groups and they change to each of the different activities in their small groups. In the tech portion, we do online activities that reinforce the information they are studying in the science unit. Second grade students use a variety of applications throughout the year including Word, PowerPoint, Photostory, Audacity, KidPix, and iPhoto. We also do online activities to reinforce the learning that is taking place in the classroom and these activities can be viewed on my K, 2, 4 Links page on the tech blog. Some of the projects we do are below.
1. About Me Introduction in Kidspiration
2. Weather Project
Introduction Activity (20/20/20)
Weather Photostory
3. ABC China Book
Searching Introduction
Searching Activity Introduction.ppt
Example of China Book Page
Grade 4
The fourth grade integrate technology into their curriculum in a variety of ways and at this grade level the students are beginning to see the computer and the Internet as a part of their daily life. While we continue to use applications, much of the focus of our work has moved to the Internet with students searching for information, using blogs to share and reflect on their writing, using wikis to collaborate with other students, and using an online social network based around books to reflect on and choose books based on their interests. The fourth grade team likes to have their students create documents so we use Word to publish quite a bit of their research. On these documents, students use text and images to convey meaning. Fourth grade students have also moved to their blogs to publish quite a bit of their writing. They have used wikis in social studies to explore China (WAGS) and as a forum for their group research on the Three Gorges Dam. Below are some examples of the work the fourth grade students are doing with technology.
1. Example of Student Blog
2. WAGS Project
WAGS Wiki - used for a project to explore China
3. Three Gorges Dam Wikis - Engineers , Environmentalists , Chinese Citizens , Government Officials
4. Terra Cotta Warriors in Photoshop
In addition to the reflections and links above, please look over the ES Tech Blogfor a summary of some of our activities.
Links for Grade Levels on Tech Blog
Standard A6 - Developing a plan to evaluate the instructional support program (11/12)
Benchmarks:
This is my fourth year in this role and the plan to evaluate the instructional support program has evolved.
1. From our first year, we have conducted an end of year survey that we send out to our teams so they can evaluate our program and give us warm and cool feedback. This survey also helps us to collect misunderstandings that teachers may have about our role and our program which we can then also address at team meetings or faculty meetings.
2. This year I created a wiki where I collect resources that I find for my early education classes and sort them by the educational skill that the site addresses. When this wiki is complete, it will be a place for teachers to refer to when they want to find good sites to support the learning that is happening in the classroom. This wiki also has a page for each of the grade levels that I work with and contains a summary, reflection, and list of resources used for lessons and projects. This is where the teachers will be able to go to gather materials and ideas for upcoming lessons.
Tech Resource/Lesson Wiki
3. I also have a list of resources that have been used during lessons on a resource page on my blog. This allows students and teachers to return to these activities after they have completed the lesson.
Blog Resource Page
4. During team meetings we discuss upcoming projects and lessons so teachers understand what my role is during a lesson and what the procedure and time commitment is for the class. I also send out a summary of the different lessons and classroom preparation that is involved for each activity. After the lesson I seek out feedback individually and in groups. Teams also post the information and documents I use within their Atlas units.