iLearn Summer Institute Training
B B Comer Memorial School
Sylacaulga, AL
Because the position of Instructional Technology Facilitator is a brand new position, setting the norms for this position is essential. To help us with this and to clearly understand our role in our schools Ms. Veronica Rice with the Alabama State Department of Education and an expert in Instructional Coaching came to Limestone County for a couple of days to help us out. We spent two days with Ms. Rice and came out ready to start working with the teachers, administrators and students at our new schools.
Always the librarian, I curated some of the resources shared during DPI Training using Pinterest.
Monday night after the first day of Project Based Learning training I was on standby as Jennifer Hogan stepped out and tried something new for #USEdChat; broadcasting LIVE using Google Hangouts while monitoring Twitter as a backchannel to the conversation. Ms. Hogan only needed my advice once that night but I was happy to be there to not only be a safety net but to participate in an engaging conversation about leadership. Read more about this great Twitter chat experiment on Ms. Hogan's blog post, Demonstrating Learning is Scary!
Thursday of this week I spent my time setting up my classroom. This was an odd feeling. Odd to not be in the library. Odd to have a classroom. I hadn't had a classroom since 1997! Mr. Jordan, one of the administrators at Elkmont, helped me move the tables in my room as I have a rotator cuff issue and my physical therapist would have killed me if I had tried to move those table on my own. Every single person I have met at Elkmont have been friendly and helpful. I'm feeling very positive about this school year.
Friday was the official first day of school for Limestone County Schools. Instead of going to my school I headed for Jones Valley Elementary School to present to a wonderful group of Huntsville City School librarians. I recorded the presentation using Google Hangouts and broadcast it LIVE for those who couldn't be there in person.
Click image above for Google Presentation
After connecting with the librarians of Huntsville City Schools I headed to Elkmont. I got several things completed including meeting with the Technology Team about the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program that will rollout this year in conjunction with The Digital Passport Initiative (DPI) that will provide MacBook Air laptops for each 3rd and 4th grade student in Limestone County. The Elkmont Technology Team is working on a shared Google Document to compile an Acceptable Use Policy for BYOD. In fact, as I am writing this blog post members of this team are working on the Acceptable Use Policy! How cool is that?!
We also decided on a hashtag for our school, #EHSRedDevils. Be on the lookout for this hashtag this year! Other tasks completed included stuffing folders for our DPI Parent Meetings August 4th and 5th, a Technology Comfort Level Survey for the staff and administrators of Elkmont High School, created collaborative Google Calendar for reserving the MacBook Cart, and a slew of email.
I'm looking forward to an adventurous new school year with Limestone County Schools and the Elkmont High School Family! If you are in a 1:1 school and want to connect and share notes, tips & tricks please contact me! We can connect, share, learn and grow together!
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