Category: Staff Development

Technology Infusion for Principals

Today I presented a workshop on “Technology Infusion” for principals at Twin Hickory Elementary similar to the one I talked about on this post. I showed a couple of new YouTube videos produced by the Pearson Foundation that explained the importance of technology infusion in today’s classroom from both the administrators’ viewpoint and the students’ viewpoint. I also showed some websites of teachers who are infusing technology in their classrooms in amazing ways. Mr. Coley, a fifth grade teacher, has his students creating blogs and podcasts, and he creates flashcards for them to download and play on their ipods. You can see it all on his website. Mrs. Yollis, a third grade teacher, is the elementary winner for the EduBlog Awards 2009. Her site has incredible ideas for student-created technology projects such as tutorial videos and more. Check it out by clicking here. If you’d like to try some of their ideas, let me know and I’d be happy to help.




VSTE 2009

I spent part of my Thanksgiving vacation at the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) Conference in Roanoke with my fellow ITRT, Alfonso. It was 2 days (11/30-12/1) of informative sessions learning about the latest research and trends in technology education. Two of the topics I focused on were using iPods in the classroom and Web 2.0 tools. I also attended a cool session on using Google forms. You can see all my notes and links to more information on this Google doc. While we were on the trip Alfonso and I also stopped by the Cyrus McCormick Farm and the Frontier Culture Museum to create a couple of virtual field trips for your students. I’m still editing those videos, but I will post the links on this blog when I finish with them.


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Communication Tips

communicationToday I taught a class for principals about how to add pizzaz to their communication with teachers and the community. I’d like to share that information with you as well since you may be interested in pumping up your communication with your students and their parents. Click here to go to my website where you will find out how to embed interactive polls and surveys, create animated slideshows with music, and provide ways to collaborate with students and parents on the Internet. Let me know if you need some help using any of these tools… and be on the lookout for exciting communication from your principals.



Garage Band Qlubb

QlubbI’ve mentioned Qlubb before in this blog as a great way to organize a group online. I recently created a Qlubb for a Garage Band class that I taught, and all the teachers uploaded their projects to it. You are welcome to download any of their projects that you want. Many of them are ready to be used in the classroom or they might give you ideas for Garage Band projects you can do with your own class. Some examples you’ll find on there are an Oceans Rap, a Continents Rap, a “Goodnight Moon” Rap, a song about Metamorphic Rocks, a song about Shapes, and lots more! To login to the Qlubb just click here and the password is gb. Be sure to checkout the cool pictures and video from our class too… there are shadow dancers and a disco ball!




Technology Infusion

InfusionFullToday was staff development day in Henrico County. My fellow ITRT, Jill Baedke and I presented a workshop on Technology Infusion. There are basically two definitions of infusion: (1) a drink prepared by soaking fruit or leaves in a liquid, and (2) slowly injecting medicine or fluids into a vein. So you can think of infusion as a slow process whereby something becomes one with something else. Anyway, the picture I drew was supposed to convey this in a grungy, graphic-design type of way, like the word “infusion” is becoming one with the person, but people have told me that it just looks like blood spurting out. Sorry about that, it was unintentional. Now getting back to main point of this whole thing, technology infusion would involve using technology throughout the learning process, not just as one distinct piece of the process (project-based learning vs a computer lesson). There are many examples and links on the website so check it out by clicking here.