NECC Reflections #1

by recesstec reflections

NECC ScreenI had to title this blog Reflections #1 since there is no way I will be able to pack everything into one post.  Also I am habitually the type of person that looks back at presentations and conversations wishing I could add or tweek something.  I know, I know…get some counseling already!  So, in order to allow myself some more time to think back through the past week at NECC, I have set myself up to post a series of reflections. 

After sitting through a gazillion presentations over three days, some good, some great, some terrible, I have walked away with the justification that what Mom and I are presenting in our workshops is pretty darn good.  Not Alan November good, but definitely up there with some of the bigger sessions that we attended.  I was continually amazed at how often a large gasp from the audience would result from something the presenters had demonstrated, only to look over at mom (if she was in the same session) and give her “the look”.  The look was a mixture of “hello” and “yes!”. NECC Session

The “hello” part was a result of me thinking that everyone should have already known the concept or idea demonstrated.  After all, it was something we have been doing for years.  The other part, “yes!”, was truly validation.  Validation is an awesome feeling. 

The validation that we received after spending three jam-packed crazy days at NECC is worth the price of the trip in itself.  You see, we are considered “small town”.  We teach in rural IL, not the big city.  Yet we are providing the latest and most innovative ideas during our professional development sessions.

I saw it come up on Twitter and Plurk over and over again.  The statement that NECC sessions were mostly geared to beginners.  I would say Yes and No.  Yes in the fact that there were a LOT of newbies on the scene.  At the end of day two while waiting for the elevator at our hotel, a gentleman behind us asked if our heads were spinning with all of the new things that we were shown.  I could see the look of exhaustion on his face and in the way he was carrying his free canvas NECC tote bag.  I smiled to myself and said, “No, I think I’ve been sorting through it all ok.”  But NECC also, definitely, had elements that advanced tech integrators could implement. 

Not to mention the inspiration provided by speakers such as Alan November. Inspiration is priceless.  I look forward to his sessions each year and always walk away wishing I knew half the things he has forgotten over the course of his career.  This was his 25th NECC presentation.  25th.  I was 9 when he did his first NECC presentation.  I would love to listen to the archive of that speech since I don’t recall the use of ANY technology when I was in 4th grade.  None. 

It is sort of ironic that yesterday Mom wrote about family passing down genes that make us the tech geeks that we are.  If you read my husband’s blog you might know that Alan Novemeber could be my father-in-law.  Maybe I will ask him at our next family reunion about the content of his first NECC speech.

That “Age-Thing”…

by recesstec reflections SMARTBoard workshops

“Cathy, Linda, Sharon, Connie, Brenda…”

I feel like I’m home when names like these show up on our Saturday workshop rosters.
And you find these names less and less often among the faculty pages on school district websites.
You see, attending these workshops says our guests are giving up a Saturday morning to spend it with us learning about technology.
A Saturday morning during the school year…
A Saturday free of grading, lesson plans, and “all things school” to spend it doing “more things school”…
They belong to my generation…and they are still excited and willing to learn new ways to teach and to make their teaching relevant for their students.

Shannon and I just returned from the 2009 NECC Conference in Washington, DC.  One session we sat in on was “Teaching Math Using SMART Technology”.
The session was excellent in that it was presented as a math lesson on plotting coordinates on a quadratic plane.
The demonstration was led by Michelle Meehan, a young 7th grade math teacher from Virginia with teachers pulled from the audience who had volunteered to be her students.
It was fun to watch someone else present and to see the excitement that was generated by a Notebook 10 lesson and the “How did you do that?” questions that followed.
A facilitator walked around and answered the questions, and several times she made comments that began, “If a 50+ person like me can do it, so can you!”

Anytime we have participants who are reluctant or afraid to use the technology, and use their age as an excuse, we, also, try to reassure them that one of their teachers is older than they are,
(and I always am.)
Often these people are not “old” at all; just afraid.

We recently presented at a school where the curriculum director had spent some time doing research on the connection between the age of teachers and their willingness to use technology in the classroom.
I was very interested in hearing the results of her research and was quick to inquire.

She found that the connection had nothing to do with age,
but had everything to do with the willingness of the teacher to step out of their comfort zone, (a.k.a. “The Box”) and to try to do whatever was necessary to get their kids to learn.

I was not surprised.Mom's Facebook Profile Picture

This summer we were fortunate to have a vistor to one of our sessions. My mother attended a beginning SMARTBoard workshop, and she was totally engaged by what she saw. Her comment to me was that, “This is so fascinating! If I were a young teacher, I would be at every one of these classes!”

Again, I was not surprised.

My mom just turned 80.
She was one of the first her age to use email.
She has been IM’ing ever since it was introduced and she “Skypes” and is on Facebook.

Thanks, Mom, for passing those genes down to Shannon and me…

Learning to Accept “Less Than Perfect”?

by recesstec reflections workshops

As teachers, we are “life-long learners”, and as students, we expect to be graded…

So it is with our workshops.

And our grade is generated by a form required by the Illinois State Board of Education:

“EVALUATION FOR WOKSHOP, CONFERENCE, SEMINAR, ETC.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Please answer the following questions by marking the scale according to your perceptions of the professional development activity.

  1. This activity increased my knowledge and skills in my areas of
    certification, endorsement or teaching assignment.
  2. The relevance of this activity to ISBE teaching standards was
    clear.
  3. It was clear that the activity was presented by persons with edu-
    cation and experience in this subject matter.
  4. The material was presented in an organized, easily understood
    manner.
  5. This activity included discussion, critique, or application of what
    was presented, observed, learned, or demonstrated.

This needs to be filled out by each participant before we can provide their CPDU‘s.*

We’ve both been known to have a few “control issues” and we tend to lean a bit towards perfectionism. Therein lies the problem…

We want all “A’s”.

 Our biggest stumbling block is #2. 

As teachers, we have heard about our state standards over and over and over and over again…

     *In workshops
     *In conferences
     *In committee meetings
     *At board meetings
     *In classes we have attended

We have had to consider them

     *as members of textbook selection committees
     *in our lesson plans
     *when aligning our district curriculum
     *when considering state testing

And here we meet them once again as presenters.

So we address them…while trying to keep our workshops both informative AND fun… (Refer to our logo.)

Sometimes we cannot get straight A’s on #2….because…

They are not easy to understand? They are not fun?

Trust me; we TRY to connect what we teach to the relevance of our State Standards.
And we TRY to make the connection “fun”.
And even while “trying”, our participants will often sit with blank looks on their faces when the topic shows up on the screen in front of them…

We provide access to all of the State Standards.
We explain that technology standards for the State of Illinois DO exist.
We tell them to include them in all of the grants they write.
We even provide online copies for them and encourage them to “copy and paste” them whenever they feel the need.

And yet, at the end of the workshop, #2 is the “gold ring” we can’t seem to grab.

Until…Illinois State Board of Education

The day we forgot to include any reference to our beloved state standards.

THAT was the day we finally received “Straight A’s”.

We have come a long way since our first workshops.
We have learned that sometimes it isn’t always “us”.
Sometimes our attendees are having a bad day, too,
and we have accepted the fact that we just can’t please everyone all of the time.

 *CPDU – Continuing Professional Development Unit: a measurement used in continuing professional development to award credit for participation in a broad range of activities, including action research, staff development programs, curriculum design, mentoring, supervision of a student teacher, workshops and seminars, etc. CPDUs generated by workshops, seminars and conferences are earned at the rate of one for each hour of participation. Such a workshop or seminar must be offered by an approved provider.

“Old Dog (a.k.a. RecessTEC)” + “New Tricks” = “Something to Share”

by recesstec SMARTBoard tips workshops

We were happy to be “On the Road, Again”…
and Jefferson School in Charleston was once again our point of destination yesterday morning.

“Advanced SMARTBoard” was the workshop for the morning, and we always look forward to working with Charleston teachers in a “hands-on” setting. It’s a special treat when Shannon’s “next-door neighbors”, The Pattenaudes, are our IT specialists, as well. They are very, very supportive and stay for the whole sessions.

We were in the middle of showing how to drag a slide from one Notebook file into another, when one of our participants showed us how to make the process easier!

But wait!
A picture, or three, is worth thousands of words…
The “Old Way” was to “restore down” each Notebook file and to stack the “source file” on top of the destination file.
Then we would drag the slide from the source slide-sorter into the slide-sorter of the destination file behind it.

The Old Way

 

Now…
The “New Way”:

Right click on your bottom “Task Bar” and choose the “Show Windows Stacked” option.

Show Windows Stacked

 

Now your files are stacked on top of each other, and it is much easier to drag the slides from one file and place it where you want into the destination file.

Easier Result!

 

Thank you, so much, Jan, for that “Tip”!

My Ultimate Role Model

by recesstec workshops

This morning we offered a wiki workshop in Tuscola. We have been looking forward to this workshop for quite a while since we knew it would be a small group who would receive a lot of individualized and assisted work time. This is fun for us and fun for participants as they end up leaving the session with a “make and take” that can be fully implemented into their classrooms.

Last night I went to school to set up the snack area and run through the presentation and to recheck the links. The links worked, everything was ready.

Did I mention that was LAST NIGHT?

Twenty-five minutes prior to the official workshop start time, I logged in to the main presentation computer and noticed the lower right hand corner was flashing “Could Not Connect to Network Drives”. YIKES! Mom was trying to log in to the student computers with equal success. The network was down. And there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. I put in a phone call to our technology coordinator, but was never successful in making a connection (no pun intended). What to do? Invite the participants to walk across the street and sit at my kitchen table to create their own wikis. Thank goodness the number of participants was low. And thank goodness my husband had left his laptop on the kitchen table before heading out to school this morning.Gumby

Note from “Mom”:
This included a quick trip home and back to pick up my laptop to give us a fourth computer.
Lesson learned:  ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS bring my computer.
(And that there are a lot of unmarked state police cars between Tuscola and Mattoon.)

It ended up being a pretty pleasant morning. Each participant left with a wiki that was ready for school on Monday. And they all seemed pretty excited. After all, they stayed 35 minutes past the official workshop schedule and no, we weren’t holding them captive!

I think there was definitely a lesson learned today, and it had absolutely NOTHING to do with wikis.
Be flexible.

Oh, and back to the title.
My ultimate role model?

Gumby.  He is all that.

A special thanks to my PLN on Plurk who shared some wiki links with me to use as examples.

The Princess

by recesstec SMARTBoard workshops

whatscookingToday Recess Tec traveled to Charleston, Illinois to present a workshop on SMARTBoard Notebook 10 to a great group of teachers. We have done many of these sessions, and although we cover the same basic information, each session is different given the difference in teachers, their personalities, and the subjects and grade levels they teach.

This group provided a very pleasant morning. The lab at Jefferson School was clean, bright, and there were no “equipment malfunctions”. The participants had many questions, but “got it” quickly. The room was often very quiet as they worked and concentrated. This is one of the many things we enjoy very much about our training sessions… to see the different ways teachers use the SMARTBoard, and the lessons they begin to build or download.

Our session closed and Shannon, Ashton and I rewarded ourselves with lunch at one of our favorite restaurants…

“What’s Cookin’“

Yum…

First HouseBoth the school and the restaurant are within blocks of my first “home” as a young married bride. My husband was attending Eastern Illinois University on the G.I. Scholarship,
and I was working at Eastern’s Booth House in the Office of Nonacademic Personnel.

I remember when we first moved into the house. It was old then, and divided into three rental apartments for students.

I drove by to see if it was still there. It was. And one of the apartments was for rent… and except for the addition of some vinyl siding, had changed very little.

I remember how excited I was to have a little place to “fix up”…
(And it required MUCH of that!) and how I looked forward to getting a phone hooked up, and to be able to call home from work.The Princess

One evening I arrived home and discovered that the telephone man had been there, and he hooked up “our phone”. My first disappointment… It was NOT the phone of my dreams. “Heavy” was not what I had dreamed of.

Black did not fit in with the pastel blue walls, and although pastel blue walls were important, color coordination was the dream.

It had a cloth covered cord… that did not stretch when you pulled on it. A “stretchie” cord was part of the dream.

And the dial. Sigh… It didn’t light up.

It wasn’t a “princess”.

Even back then, technology was important.

How…did…you do that?

by recesstec SMARTBoard tips workshops

Saturday was cold, snowy, and windy, windy, windy, windy, windy. (Did I mention it was windy?)  Oh that’s right…we were in Tuscola.

So, it was a perfect day to host one of our SMARTBoard beginners’ workshops. We can’t tell you how much we enjoy our days together. Not only do Shannon and I enjoy one another’s company, but it is refreshing to work with teachers who are excited about technology.

Originally, when we began this blog, we thought we would share our traveling adventures. One of the things we stress in our workshops is to focus on TWO things that you want to take away with you. I have found this to work for me when I have felt overwhelmed by information, and sometimes defeated before I begin. So, with that in mind, I thought I would try to find one thing at each of our workshops that I have learned, either in preparing for the workshop, or from the participants themselves.

In this workshop, the second part is very “hands-on”. We “show”, they “do”. It is then that we are available for help and guidance.

We were going over basics on formatting the background, and one of the teachers had a tiled background. She did not know how she got it, and I had to look to see whether she had cloned a piece of clipart. Finally, looking at the “formatting tab”, I saw that she had selected a small piece of clipart to use for the “insert image” fill option. I had never seen that done, nor thought of doing it myself, and it had created a “tiled” background, much like your desktop might look if you choose to use a small picture for your background. This option, especially made more transparent, might be something someone can use, and it is nice to know that it is available.  On the other hand, it was nice for me to know how it was done if it was an accident.  After all, isn’t that what we tell our students?  That those things we learn best are from our mistakes?

A "tiled" background

Going Home

by recesstec workshops

Today we had the privilege of presenting three workshops in Pana.

Why “Home”?
 
It was in this community that I had my “first classroom”.  Before teaching in Pana, I taught as a Reading Resource teacher in Mattoon, and as a Science, Art, and Computer teacher in Shelbyville.  I had never had a “self-contained” classroom where I taught all subjects to one group of students.  I was between jobs, busy raising six children of our own, and teaching as a substitute whenever I could. One day I received a call from the principal at Sacred Heart School.  She had a position that had opened up because of a maternity leave, and would I please come the next day and “try us out”?  It was eighth grade.  I winced, but she convinced me to just come one day, and if I didn’t like them, I wouldn’t have to come back.  How do you say “No” to someone whose first name is “Sister”?
 
I stayed four years.
 
And they are filled with some of the happiest and best memories teaching.
 
Why?
 
The students…
How often does a teacher have the opportunity to teach eighth graders in a self-contained setting?
They were fun and funny…and they loved to learn.
They were enthusiastic about anything I offered as a challenge.
 
The parents…
Behavior problems were seldom an issue.  If they misbehaved in school, there were consequences at home, as well.  Christmas gifts arrived in the form of  “home-made”, and usually ethnic. 
 
The community…
They embraced their members, and they would do anything to make you feel like one of their own.
 
That is how our workshop went today.
 
We were met at PHS by Scott, the IT specialist. To say that he loves his job, loves his teachers, loves his administrators, and loves Pana is an understatement.  He had us up and running in only a matter of minutes.  He was very encouraging, and he was excited about what we were going to show his teachers.  “This is cool stuff.”
 
I’ll let Shannon tell you the rest…

Scott was truly a pleasure with which to work.  He has many big plans for Pana in the way of upgrading the capabilities for everyone associated with the school district.  I was truly impressed with his passion for making a great operating system “outstanding”.  It is awesome to be surrounded with other individuals in our field of work that have the same passion as we do regarding the use of technology within the classroom and beyond!
 
The sessions went very well, at least I think they did.  Teachers didn’t throw anything at us or give us the evil eye.  They were EXTREMELY quiet and seemed to be taking in all of the ideas that we were presenting for integrating technology into the classroom.  I don’t think it hurt that we passed around a little chocolate to keep their tastebuds happy during the presentation…but nonetheless. 
 
We have traveled to many schools in this area to present and Pana obviously has it figured out…what is “it” you ask?  EVERYONE attended our presentation…and I mean EVERYONE.  Every teacher, every administrator, as well as Scott.  “It” means that they are all on the same page regarding the technology integration within their district.  Now that doesn’t necessarily mean they liked all of our ideas, or will use all of our ideas.  But they all received the same information first hand which hopefully will generate some spark and discussion!  We couldn’t be more thrilled about that possibility.  For that we extend a huge THANK YOU.

My cell phone...We always try to include something we learn at each of our workshops.  So many times it is from our participants, each other, an IT specialist, or when we are just looking for an answer to a question.  As we were setting up our speakers, they made a little buzz that I often hear both at home, and from my car speakers as I drive, especially on my daily commute to school as I pass by one particular place every day. Shannon asked me about it and “name?” explained that it was my cell phone.  The phone was next to the speakers, and Scott asked if I had an AT&T phone.
 
He explained it’s known as the “GSM Buzz”, and it has to do with the way my cell phone communicates with the tower, and the way the GSM networks work. The radio frequency in a GSM phone “pulses”, and it’s picked up by devices that aren’t shielded well. You don’t notice it on Verizon phones because they work on a CDMA network which operates on a spectrum that isn’t as audible. The pulse rate on my phone is in a spectrum that is easily heard. He also said it’s not a problem, but it just happens.

…and the best part?Queen of Texting
 
I explained this to my granddaughter, “Queen of the Cell Phone and All Things Texting”, and she, of course knew all about it.

As I was packing up our equipment at the end of the day, I looked up and saw this sign. It made me smile.
cardcat

 The Card Catalog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought you would enjoy it, too.

Finding the Secret

by recesstec workshops

secret_cYesterday we hosted our “Advanced SMARTBoard” workshop.  It was a small group…only four.

 

As a reader of the Principalspage Blog, I felt compelled to write about the workshop, but didn’t really know what to say.  Principalspage tells us to just sit down and start typing and the words will come.

 

…but what to say?  Five people registered for the workshop.  Five people paid.  Four people showed up.

 

Today Principalspage wrote that the secret to life is to “just show up…”.  One person did not show up.

Throughout the workshop I thought about the fact that we had prepared and worked to teach only four people.  And was it worth it…?

I have to say, “Yes, absolutely!”

 

The day before my mother (Shannon’s grandmother) had emailed me a link to a video. Mom is a big fan of the “Forwards”.  She has become more selective and now sends only the very best of Maxine. 

 

This video, however, was special.  It told the story of “Johnny the Bag Boy”.  It tells how one person, through a commitment to make each customer feel special, touches people’s lives.

So…with our four attendees, I thought of that lesson.  We were so fortunate to spend our day with our “friends”.  Each of them was there working hard to learn how to make their lessons more meaningful for their students.  Each of them were giving up their Saturday.  And it was a beautiful Saturday…the first light at the end of the tunnel…the tunnel being a very long, cold winter.

 

I guess the secret IS to “Just Show Up”.

Where Are We?

by recesstec SMARTBoard tips workshops

“Where Are We?”

That is the question I was asking at precisely 7:55 Saturday morning as Mom and I rolled into a town that I thought was Raymond, IL.  As it turns out, we were in Taylorville.  I found out this little piece of information as I pulled into a BP and asked “What town is this?”.  (I don’t EVER hesitate to stop and ask for directions…EVER!) The nice lady behind the counter smiled and said, “Taylorville”.  After I explained that I was supposed to be in Raymond at 8:00.  She informed me that I was going to be late.  It was about 15 miles away.

I’m “Mom”…and yes…
When the question came up, “Where are we?”, it was shortly after I observed,
“Shannon, that building says, ‘Taylorville First National Bank?”
Then after her question, I suggested, “Taylorville Senior Citizen Center?”

If there is one thing you should know about me…I hate to be late.  HATE IT.  I had a boss while I was in high school who did not tolerate being late for work…so I never was…except once.  And yes I got fired.  Don’t worry, I was rehired later, but that is a whole different blog entry.

“Mom”:  Back then she told me it was because “business was down, and they had to ‘cut back’…for now…”

So as I drove a little (OK..a lot) over the speed limit, we found ourselves in Raymond at 8:25.  Humiliated over the fact that we were late.  The workshop wasn’t scheduled to begin until 9:00…but still.  I told the facilitators that we would be there at 8:00 to set up.  That doesn’t mean arrive at 8:25.

“Mom”:  guess what…it was all good…and our participants could not have been nicer.
They even drew a map for us to help find our way back…taking the “Black Diamond Road”.
(“Black Diamond”?!  Have we mentioned how FLAT central Illinois is?)
It was on this road upon leaving the school, she turned left, instead of right.
“Where IS that map?  Here it is…OK…U-turn it…we need to head back in the opposite direction.”
 
Note:  It is necessary to know, that when traveling from “Point A” to “Point B” in this part of the country, you must

  1. understand terms like “black top” and grain bins, and
  2. that all directions are given in cardinal directions, (thanks to the Land Ordinance of 1785), and
  3. keep in mind that people will seldom tell you to turn “left” or “right”… 

The end result of this little mix-up?  A corporate investment in a GPS.  After all we DO specialize in technology integration!

“Mom”:  That decision was made right after I asked, “Shannon, do you have a road map in here?”
Actually, I am a BIG fan of the road map when there is a passenger in the car…and I am the passenger.

I must back up a little before going forward in this first entry.  As we were driving through a small town on our way to Raymond, we came upon this grocery store.
Kroger

Kroger Sign
I felt like I was teleported straight back into 1960.  Seriously.  It was odd.  OK, so I wasn’t exactly born in 1960…or anywhere around that time.

“Mom:  that would make me old enough to be enjoying the retirement I have always dreamed of…in a little cottage in a region of France that has a name that sounds like wine. (Without a husband, but possibly a “traveling companion”…it IS France…).
Actually, I AM old enough to be retired somewhere in France…
but I still have a husband.

But I asked Mom and she thought I was right on target.  We stopped at this little grocery store to pick up some chocolate.  We make it a common practice to provide a steady stream of chocolate throughout any type of training that we provide.  It seems like a stress reliever for those who are not feeling as “pumped” as we feel about integrating technology within their classrooms on a daily basis.

As I was entering the store…I must have stood and stared at the “Out” sign on this door for 10 seconds before realizing that I was not going to get “In” the store through that door.

“Mom”:  I was in the car laughing. I’m the one with the cell phone camera.
I still capture those “precious moments” my little girl provides…

In Out Mix Up

I realized that I had forgotten to throw the basket that we use into the car the night before when packing up all of our equipment.  We carry quite a bit of stuff in order to keep our bases covered when we get to a school.  You never know what you might find when getting ready to present technology related topics.  I didn’t really want to be the tacky corporation that just throws candy at its participants…bowl, basket, box, whatever type of container will do.  But we didn’t have one.  I didn’t think there was probably a chance that the store would have anything like that for sale, but I decided to ask the kind produce man arranging the grapefruit if they had that sort of thing for sale. 

“Mom”:  He was laughing.  I said, “Shannon, he is laughing at us,” and he, laughing, replied, “I am not laughing at you.  I am laughing with you.”

As it turns out they didn’t.  BUT…he went to the stockroom and dug around in some boxes and came up with a basket.  I told him I would return it on our way back through.  He smiled and said “Keep it in your car.  You never know when you might need it again.”

Yes…I think I had stepped back into time.

By the way…this is the picture of our candy basket at the END of the day.  Not too bad.  We must not have been TOO stressful since there was actually candy left over.

Chocolate Basket

“Mom”:  We thought, in writing this blog, we would share things we learn on our “Excellent Adventures”.
For this workshop, we were in the high school “media center”, and the librarian, (a.k.a. “media specialist”) had signs on the wall.
We learned from one of the signs that the personal library of Thomas Jefferson was the start of the Library of Congress.
 
While helping a participant with “math symbols”, I was asked where she could find another symbol for square root.
We decided we would have to assemble it, but she wanted to “save it” for future use.
 
We are often asked, “How do you know all this ‘stuff’?”  We “play”.  We are “geeks”.  We don’t watch television…or at least very often.
So with that said, a video of what I did to answer the question:

Finally, we would like to say thank you to the teachers from Panhandle school district for spending the day with us.  We had fun and you were great participants!