The April District Board meeting was held last night at Elda Elementary. There were many important topics covered during the evening, however my favorite presentation happened to be the 'Technology Showcase' for Elda Elementary. Mrs. Johnsen (Elda Principal) wanted to make sure that all of the fantastic technology integration happening throughout the building did not go unnoticed. So, I put a presentation together showcasing a sampling of the innovative ways our staff uses technology with students everyday. The actual presentation at the meeting consisted of the slide show, a demonstration of CCI/Pro-Ohio and some commentary from me! Our board members were asked to take a 3 question quiz from Pro-Ohio on 4th grade math using the clickers. They did great! It provided the perfect opportunity to explain how we use the clickers and Pro-Ohio software in the classrooms. Of course, no technology presentation would be complete with out its share of glitches. The laptop crashed part way through! The audience was very patient and we were up and running again in no time. That just goes to show that 'technical difficulties' can happen to anyone! Overall, the presentation was a success! The board seemed pleased with the information and as always, the Elda staff looked great!
The slide show will be uploaded and linked below for your viewing pleasure shortly. You might notice the theme of 'In their own words' as the show progresses. My idea was to get the information straight from the people who use it most; the teachers and students. Make sure you have the volume turned up on your computer. You won't want to miss the audio!
link coming soon!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Video Conferencing in the Classroom!
We held our second video conference in Mrs. York's room today! It was really neat! The class was able to see and speak with Dalton Chandler along with his mother and grandparents today. Dalton is unable to attend school at Elda right now and is currently in Children's Hospital. The Chandler's have worked with the tech staff at the hospital, Mrs. York, Mrs. Thomas and I (and several others) to get the equipment and connections set up for everything to work. It didn't take much to get our end at Elda set up since we have access to so much equipment. Here is how it worked:
First, Mrs. Chandler and I both set up accounts with Skype and loaded the software onto our computers. The Mac laptop I used has a built in web camera as well as a built in microphone. Add an internet connection and that is all either side needs! However, the PTO purchased Elda a 'Snowball' external microphone so it would pick up sound better and be a higher quality for us to communicate with. Mrs. Chandler had her PC laptop (does not have to be a laptop, desktops work too!) and purchased a web camera to use with it. Her computer did not have one built in, however it did have a microphone.
Step two: We coordinate the time when we will log in to Skype and start the call.
Step three: The students were able to see and speak with Dalton and he was able to do the same. We hooked the laptop at Elda up to a projector so the whole class could see Dalton.
This provided a great experience for Dalton and the rest of the students in Mrs. York's class. The students at Elda were exposed to new video conferencing technology and Dalton was able to listen in and interact with students during classroom activities! Skype is free video conferencing software and works with PCs and Macs. For more information about Skype and web cameras, check out the Skype web site below:
http://www.skype.com/
The site includes links to download Skype as well as links to accessories like webcams. Just click the 'Shop' button for the accessories.
First, Mrs. Chandler and I both set up accounts with Skype and loaded the software onto our computers. The Mac laptop I used has a built in web camera as well as a built in microphone. Add an internet connection and that is all either side needs! However, the PTO purchased Elda a 'Snowball' external microphone so it would pick up sound better and be a higher quality for us to communicate with. Mrs. Chandler had her PC laptop (does not have to be a laptop, desktops work too!) and purchased a web camera to use with it. Her computer did not have one built in, however it did have a microphone.
Step two: We coordinate the time when we will log in to Skype and start the call.
Step three: The students were able to see and speak with Dalton and he was able to do the same. We hooked the laptop at Elda up to a projector so the whole class could see Dalton.
This provided a great experience for Dalton and the rest of the students in Mrs. York's class. The students at Elda were exposed to new video conferencing technology and Dalton was able to listen in and interact with students during classroom activities! Skype is free video conferencing software and works with PCs and Macs. For more information about Skype and web cameras, check out the Skype web site below:
http://www.skype.com/
The site includes links to download Skype as well as links to accessories like webcams. Just click the 'Shop' button for the accessories.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Fine Art Show-Morgan Elementary
Morgan’s Fine Arts Show was held last night and it was wonderful! The students are so talented and creative! They have great leaders to show them the way. Jenna Rahrig (Art teacher) and Greg Thatcher (Music teacher) guided students to create fantastic art projects and an entertaining musical. The theme was dental hygeine, which was displayed through the musical and several sculputres throughout the building. It was obvious that Jenna and Greg put a lot of work into making the evening such a success and to show off all the talent at Morgan!
The art projects ranged from small to large sculptures, clay, oil pastels, watercolor, lego-mation movies and iExpress posters. Many of the projects were inspired by themes from famous artists and several incorporated a variety of technology. They utilized digital cameras with tri-pods and iMovie to create the videos. There were iExpress posters that were created with the Elmo and a digital camera. The students chose an activity or emotion (iSing, iPaint, iConfused etc). Digital pictures were taken of students portraying that action then projected with the Elmo and traced to be larger then life! The posters were inspired by the iPod commercials seen on TV. Even the clay sculptures utilized technology by being fired in a computerized kiln.
Visitors also had the opportunity to get their pictures taken with their faces as part of famous paintings! The Elmo was used to blow up pictures of famous paintings. The paintings were traced onto fabric and painted to look like the originals. The faces were cut out so people could put their own faces in the paintings instead!
The entire Fine Arts production showcased the great talent that runs through the halls of Morgan Elementary. Technology played an important role as well. It is always amazing to me how much technology can be incorporated into every subject!
The art projects ranged from small to large sculptures, clay, oil pastels, watercolor, lego-mation movies and iExpress posters. Many of the projects were inspired by themes from famous artists and several incorporated a variety of technology. They utilized digital cameras with tri-pods and iMovie to create the videos. There were iExpress posters that were created with the Elmo and a digital camera. The students chose an activity or emotion (iSing, iPaint, iConfused etc). Digital pictures were taken of students portraying that action then projected with the Elmo and traced to be larger then life! The posters were inspired by the iPod commercials seen on TV. Even the clay sculptures utilized technology by being fired in a computerized kiln.
Visitors also had the opportunity to get their pictures taken with their faces as part of famous paintings! The Elmo was used to blow up pictures of famous paintings. The paintings were traced onto fabric and painted to look like the originals. The faces were cut out so people could put their own faces in the paintings instead!
The entire Fine Arts production showcased the great talent that runs through the halls of Morgan Elementary. Technology played an important role as well. It is always amazing to me how much technology can be incorporated into every subject!
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