Mary
Burns Michael Elementary's Campus Web site Maintenance
and Improvements -
With new and exciting technology arising every day, it is important
the Campus Web site reflect this growth. In addition to new
links, we also added new Java Scripts to include upcoming news
and events, as well as a flash video on our home page!
Science and Technology Family Night - Chairperson - "A Night Under the STARS -January
22nd, 2009" - Our second annual "Night
Under the STARS" was once again a success. Great presentations,
lots of preparation and great turnout created everlasting memories!!! Products: Pamphlet, Flyer, Handout, Floorplan.
STAR
Tech Time- CIT Blog - This year
Academic Technology services provided all CITs and Administration
with a server space
and
access to
WordPress blog development resources. This was a great resource
to use to answer questions, provide resources and tips and trick
for Staff members, all accessible on their time, when they need
it!
Classroom Projector Development -
The campus projector project was completed at the end of the 2008
school year. Teachers
returned to campus delighted to see the new editions to their classrooms
complete and ready to use. However, how to use them was still an
unknown. Through a collection of demos, tutorials and examples, everyone
has clearly captured their abundant opportunities!! In addition to
classroom projectors, we also added some new screens for the library,
gym and
Administration meeting room.
Promethean Development - An
exciting addition to our campus last year was the Promethean Board.
However, in its first few months on campus, the location became a
challenge! Recently, with administrations support it was re-located,
and Promethean Integration was immediately a success. The first explorers
included ALPHA students as they journied through the Rain Forest,
and Second grade who not only used the board, but were the first
to include ACTIVvote sessions, which provides immediate feedback
and assessment information for each of its users! If you have not
already, visit Promethean Planet for lessons, training and sooo much
more!
Web 2.0 Projects - Web
2.0 products are popping and evolving rapidly, and it can be a challenge
to keep
up with them. While staying current is a challenge, it can also be
quite exciting! One such product is a VOKI, seen here on the right(from
and NISD computer you will need authenticate to view it), another
that
is
under constant involvement is my student blog, Campus
Technology!! Below you will find an "XtraNormal Beta Movie"!
SECTION ONE: Major strengths in
Organizational Management / Instructional Climate: This
has been another exciting year at Michael Elementary! I have worked
hard to collaborate with staff to provide technical support as
well as demonstrate technology leadership. Students remain my focus
and I have always attempted to keep instructional technology my
primary goal!!!
SECTION 2 - PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Presented
E-Grade '08 Update-8/20/08 -
Training MENU - As part
of our annual technology training, E-Grade 2009 update and refresher was
presented in a "BINGO" format,
to make the course a little more fun for everyone!!
CMS Test Views - 8/20/08 -
Training MENU -
A new addition to CMS this year was a variety of standardized test views.
There are now several views of the different TAKS tests for
teachers
to
preview and prepare for incoming students.
NETT - New Employee Technology Training -
Our campus had some new additions this year, to help our new teachers get
on
board with all of our technology initiatives, I had several small group
and 1-to-1 trainings the first three weeks of school!
CMS Introduction and Alignment -
9/9/09 - This one hour course was geared toward new and novice
users to CMS to help
them familiarize
themselves with basic CMS skills and navigation.
Outreach Updates - 8/21,
9/2, 9/3 -
An important part of keeping the community informed on campus events is
keeping web pages current. In addition to new teacher training I held
several refresher courses on Outreach to provide teachers with the time
needed
to make their pages current!!
Progress Reports Refresher -
9/16/09 - A one
hour class refreshing teachers in the steps to the production of classroom
progress reports!
CMS Update 09 -2/16/09 -
This year's CMS update was presented in the second half of the school year,
providing time for updates to the system, as well as time for teachers
to get comfortable before the big training. In an effort to "Differentiate"
my training this year, I provided teachers with a menu
of activities to
further their skills in areas they felt they needed more work.
Academic Technology Committee Meeting -
9/8,
10/13, 12/1,
1/9,
4/19- In another effort to further Technology skills and ability came in
the form a Campus
Committee. This group became the target of news and information that needed
to be shared and disseminated.
Tech Meetings -
Meeting with grade levels teams is an important part of supporting classroom
objectives, disseminating information, and planning technology projects.
This year
it was a goal of mine to use more of this time for TIPPA and Technology
planning and preparation, as well as on true professional development. Below
are two great examples of the TIPPA products we made!
Here are the agendas that we have covered so
far: 9/19,
10/9, 11/21 - Guest
Presenter: E-Instruction's Doris Franke, 1/9,
2/12 - STAR Chart Completion, 3/20 - CMS
Lesson Planner and Unified Calendar
An example of a 3rd Grade Simple Machines PhotoStory!!
Parent Tech Trainings - While
the turnout was sometimes disappointing, the parents who did make it
out were pleased
and grateful with the classes. Some of which became monthly attendees. 10/7 and 2/3 - Intro to Computers, 11/4 - Parent Connection,
3/17 - Photostory 3 - Bring your Photos to Life!!!
Tech Training for Para-Professionals - In
an effort to offer our paraprofessionals the same type of training opportunities
I began offering monthly hour classes open to our I.A.s and
support staff. 10/14 - Intro to Computers, 11/11 - NISD.net and the Intranet,
E-Grade- Report Cards for Newbies!! -
10/21/08 - This one hour class was offered to provided new teacher
an overview of the report card generation process, as well as some time
to work on the report cards with assistance available if it was needed.
Photostory 3 - Make your pictures
come to life!!! - 2/10 - With digital photography becoming
more and more popular, this one hour course was offered to all staff
as an opportunity to come and
familiarize themselves with this free software application from Microsoft!!!
Tech Training - Open Lab - 2/17,
3/31-
Ever wish you could try something new, or just complete a task while having
some
assistance
available. That is exactly what this open lab session as for. Teachers
came and worked everything from Outreach to MovieMaker while have someone
to
answer questions, and all the while receiving ERO credit.
CMS Lesson Planner and Unified Calendar -
3/20 - A new component to CMS, these two functions will
eventually provide a seamless integration of dates and times for staff
lesson plans and curriculums.
Star Chart - 11/25
- 3/31 - Every year every campus and certified educators is
required to complete an evaluation of technology implementation. This
rubric provides
campuses and districts feedback on how their technology development is
progressing. Again this year, our campus was one of the earliest with
100% completion!!!
Attended
Insects in the Classroom - AGRILife
Extension 7/15/08-7/17/08
TCEA
Conference in Austin -
Attended several classes as well as informal training in the exhibit hall
including, SMART Simulations, Google Earth - Race to New Destinations,
Get Your Teachers On TASK, Peel out with PROMETHEAN, Tooling Around with
Web 2.0, and Gifted and Talented TEA Updates.
Northside ISD Curator Training - 1/21/09
Gifted and Talented Consortium Lecture Series 3/26/09
Promethean Training for Elementary Campuses - 3/24/09
SECTION TWO: Major strengths in professional
development:
An important component in every organization is keeping current on new
initiatives. Without question this is one of the most exciting parts
of being a CIT, and my favorite part of the job. I have
been provided countless hours of opportunities formal and informal, to
not only
strengthen
my own skills and knowledge, but even more enjoyable, sharing this
knowledge
and skill set to my peers and colleagues.
SECTION 3 - INTEGRATION
STAR Studio: Some of
my most enjoyable work with students this school year has been that
of
my "STAR
Crews".
These crews are groups for eight fifth grade students who would run
the morning announcements. However, we did much more that just the
morning announcements. Here are a few examples, a commercial for Science
and Technology Night, Freedom
Week (1 of 3), and our new Recycling
Video!
Mr. M.'s Tech Club: This
year, tech club was an after school group that met fridays for an hour.
The group made everything from Google Earth bookmarks, to VOKI's and
Voicethreads! If you have
Google Earth, follow this link,
and you will visit 5 locations that Arleth has dreamed of visiting,
can you name them? To the right you will see a custom made Avatar,
this student will use for his blogging and Voice Threads!
Campus Blogging - In
addition to the teacher resource blog; STAR
Tech Time, I have also
been working
with my Campus
TechnologyBlog,
as I mentioned briefly above. This blog has been used by fourth grade
classes, STAR TV Crew, Solar cars, Science Tutoring students,
Tech
Club students,
as well as the Capitol Schoolhouse students.
Pre-K Tech Lessons - Some of the
most challenging integration I have done this year has been working
with
the Pre-K morning and Afternoon
classes. When we began we were learning how to "click", now
the students are creating projects like the ones we see on the right!
Grade Level Projects: The
most common form of integration support and alignment come during the
collaboration with grade level and special education TIP and TIPPA
projects. These projects can range in size and duration. Generally
speaking a TIP project is a product to demonstrate student understanding.
TIPPA projects are based on student research and often are the final
component of a curricular unit. I have had the great opportunity to
work on many of these projects with numerous staff members.
SECTION THREE: Major strengths
in integration: My major strength in integration is my ability
to align curricular goals, student interests, and technological applications.
With Differentiated Instruction becoming more and more and integral
part of meeting all student needs, this type of platform is essential
in meeting all learners needs. In addition, my flexibility and willingness
to work with staff members greatly support these type initiatives!
SECTION 4: OVERALL SUMMARY
Campus Involvement:
In an effort to support the campus I
attended and had a variety of roles at the following campus events:
Open House; Primary and
Upper, Meet the Teacher, and PTA Meetings (all but 1).
Other miscellaneous campus roles include
but are not limited to: Team Leader - While duties
of Specialist team leader may not be that of the regular grade level,
this role was never short on challenges, STAR TV - The morning announcements
are not solely the broadcast component, the all day power point also
has daily changes and updates that needed editing to keep the campus
up to date, Campus Web Calendar Administrator - NISD's
new web calendar is a great resource for anyone looking for important
campus dates, each campus level event is entered individually, SAT
Committee Member - The
School Advisory Team is a collection of staff and community members
who
review data,
view agendas and make decisions based on the schools needs, Campus
Curator - NISD is attempting to keep a history of all campuses,
curators share info, images and events with the district's community
liaisons, STAR
Reading- Played role as Academic Support for third grade
groups created by grade level teachers, Hospitality Committee
Member, this year I was the hospitality committee member
representative for the specialists, ERO Administrator -
Every class or professional development offered on class
has to be proposed, approved and then each attendee entered into
the ERO system, this year it was my responsibility to enter each
opportunity, Cafeteria
Monitoring Duty- for
approximately 45 minutes daily, I monitored student behavior during
lunch, Mr. M.'s Tech Club;
a fourth grade technology group that meets weekly on fridays after
school to create a variety of technology projects, After
School Tutor - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sessions, Solar
Car Club Sponsor - During the spring months
a weekly group that met to create solar powered hobby vehicles
to compete against other campuses at a district level competition.
One of my roles on campus was to document
and record events as a photographer and videographer.
Some of these events include: Veteran's
Day Ceremony - Technology Coordinator, Author's
Day - Technology Coordinator Videographer and Photographer, Advisory
Committee Program - Technology Coordinator Videographer
and Photographer,
TAKS Pep Rally- Technology Coordinator Videographer and
Photographer , PTA Meetings and Grade Level Presentations-
Videographer for all of the grade level ceremonies and Career
Day -Technology Coordinator Videographer and Photographer.
Some of these events were shared with the community in "Inside Northside
Weekly": December
3rd, February
25th
Grade Level and Campus Level Spelling
Bee Judge -
-An exciting and motivating event for all
of the contestants. The grade level representatives
worked hard to be ready for the final round!
Mentorship -
One of the most enjoyable components of working with children is
setting a good example for
them. This year I had several mentees, but two that
really touched me are I. Salazar from Ms. Cobarruvias' class and A. Sanchez
from Mrs Ramon's class.
Solar Cars Sponsor -
The second annual Michael Solar Car Club has been another very rewarding
endeavor. The team of five students in 2008 has grown to twelve this
year. The club has begun work on the creation of four
cars that will be powered completely by Solar Energy! We will compete
against other teams from around the state on May 16th!!! Be sure
to come out and cheer us on! Here is a link to the club
commercial.
MISCELLANEOUS Projects
Using CMS - Running Reports - Important
to all teachers on an overflow campus is keeping track of all
of the student information for children who move in and out of the
campus boundaries. NISD has taken a tremendous step to help teachers
eliminate that problem. However, using CMS can be tricky. At the onset
of the year I created this quick class and met during conference times
to assist all of the teachers in using CMS to create custom reports
based
on
classroom
and
campus
populations.
CDB Reports - Every campus is busy
with testing from day one to year end. In an effort to assist teachers,
specialists and Administration with keeping track of CDB data, I ran
reports on each of the CDBs and compiled an Excel file, all which were
kept on "I-Drive" for easy access by all staff.
PTA Meeting Reminder
Flyer- This easily changeable
and update-able flyer was created to share with classrooms and used
a reminder for students and families.
