Be kind to your projector!

We are fortunate to have so many innovative tools to use with our students!  I have even heard some teachers exclaim, “I couldn’t teach if they took away my board!”  As we learn to leverage these innovative and powerful tools, we see their potential for greatly impacting student learning.

Please take the time to turn off your projector when you are not using it. The bulb in your projector is VERY expensive.  It also has a limited number of hours to burn. The projector cannot tell if you are working through a flipchart or projecting blue, it just counts the hours.  Last year, some teachers were faced with the reality of not being able to use their boards because the bulb had burned out and there was no funding to replace bulbs.  Please don’t let this be your fate.

Consider assigning 2 students to be “Projector Captains”, train them to turn off the projector and show them the location of the remote. It will then be their jobs to make sure the projector is off every time the class leaves the room.

Reflective Friends

 

Creating a Learning Culture of the 21st Century

Henrico County Schools is on a journey to create 21st century learning environments to ensure our students have the skills needed to succeed in an ever-changing world. The ideal 21st century learning experience is created by leveraging the synergy of relevant content, engaging pedagogy, and the support of high quality technology tools to both deliver content and allow students to interact with and create their own material in a global environment.

The Reflective Friends process is designed to provide participating schools with objective data on their efforts to build 21st century learning environments. Through a series of systematic classroom observations and interviews with teachers and students, a profile of trends in classroom instruction (content, pedagogy, and technology) will emerge. These data will become good information to be used for future development of your school program.

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Reflective Friends Overview:

One site visit (October 25 – November 20)

6 teachers selected

Administrators will be assigned to participate in a site visit at another school.

Administrators will participate in one norming activity prior to site visit at another school.

Site Visit:

A one-day site visit is scheduled between October/November.
All participating teachers will know the day of the site visit and should prepare to teach a high quality 21st century lesson.
Observations will be aligned to this version of the TIP Chart.
A classroom observation tool similar to this will be used. Click here to see sample tool.
Analysis of data and development of report will be presented.

Presentation of Data

Data will be presented to the school after lunch on the day of the site visit.
Persons involved should include the principal, members of the administrative team, ITRT, librarian, and Reflective Friends lead(s). Key teacher-leaders may also be invited to attend.
The group will discuss areas of growth and next steps.
An Excel RF data file including commendations and recommendations will be distributed.

Feedback for Teachers

Teachers observed during the site visit will have an opportunity to meet with his/her observer for a 10-minute feedback session. This level of participation is optional.
The observer will discuss elements of the lesson with reference to the TIP Chart.
Appointments will be available after school on the day of the site visit.
The teacher will sign up with the site-based ITRT in advance.

Role of All Teachers:

Complete a self-assessment based on the TIP Chart criteria
Work regularly with the ITRT to develop and implement new skills.
Integrate 21st C. Skills in daily lesson plans.

Role of the ITRT:

Assist Instructional Technology Specialist with preparation for site visit (schedule, room reservation, etc)
Meet with instructional technology specialist at least twice between RF visits to review progress toward goals in plan
Meet with principal following the site visit to develop a RF school plan based on the 2011 and 2012 RF data.

 

(Taken from the HCPS Reflective Friends blog)

Technology Portfolios

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All K-5 teachers have been tasked with keeping a teacher technology portfolio each 9 weeks marking period.  Some great questions have come about as a result.  Attached you will find two documents that will assist you in your quest for completion of the portfolio.  The first is a handout created by David Clough, a fellow ITRT.  It will let you know the capabilities of 10 of our most popular programs.  The second document is a program list that mirrors the teacher documentation form.  Here you will find a list of each program that can be used to fulfill requirements listed on the documentation page, a ‘Cheat Sheet’ if you will.  Please feel free to share these documents with your teammates and friends from other HCPS schools.

Click here to get both help documents!

Updated AUP for HCPS Employees

As we go into the new school year, it is always good to refresh yourself with the latest changes in job requirements. The Acceptable Use Policy is not new, however in this fast paced, 21st Century world certain pertinent details have been added and modified to account for the quickly changing digital world. As a HCPS employee, it is your responsibility to be aware of the policies you are expected to adhere to each year. In an effort to make this process easier, I have made a pdf of newest version of the AUP for download. If you would like to read the document online, click the link below and you will be directed to the county page for Policies and Regulations. Click on 4) Personnel and scroll down to R4-06-013.

Download & print the AUP!

Dumbarton Teacher Awarded!

Dumbarton 5th grade teacher and DEN STAR Ann Marie Bishop was selected to participate in DEN National Institute in July of 2009 in San Francisco, California. As one of only 75 educators nominated to participate, Ann Marie will be meeting with other DEN members to collaborate about the best ways to utilize media in the classroom environment. She will also be sharing her expertise with her colleagues by presenting content at the Institute.

Hundreds of DEN STAR members from all over the country applied to be part of this amazing program, Henrico County is very fortunate to have such an exceptional teacher representing us at a national event. Click here for more information on the National Institute or to become a DEN STAR Educator.

What to do in February…

Here is a package for you with lots of February goodies!  Not just Valentine’s Day, but Black History Month, 100th Day, Groundhog’s Day and President’s Day resources are available in this bundle.  There are teacher and student resources bundled here. Enjoy!

Click here to get the February Site package!

Gizmos!

Enhance and extend your student’s Math and Science skills! Gizmos is a wonderful, web-based program that provides online learning environments and activities to drive home Science and Math concepts. Not sold yet? They are also aligned with Virginia SOL’s to take the guess work out of finding the correct activity for the strand you are teaching. Need some differentiated activities, this site will do it– with activities that range from 3rd to 12th you are sure to find the right activity for each student. Activities, data, clip art, quick assessments- Gizmos can help. Just ask Judy Holzgrefe at Dumbarton! She just recently set up her free (yes I said FREE) 45 day trial and is now making Gizmos available to her students. Interested? Check it out or sign up for a consult, I’d love to help you make the most of this resource.