Previously, I was working with kindergarten and first grade students in the computer lab. I was teaching the students mouse skills, keyboarding skills, social networking using Edmodo, digital citizenship, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Paint, Internet Explorer, and identifying the basic parts of a computer and desktop.
Although I enjoyed working with this grade level, I recently applied for the same job, Instructional Technology Integration Coach, at the middle school. I am happy to say that I will be working with middle school students in a technology rich building. I will assist teachers on using technology, provide resources and support for implementing technology into their 21st century classrooms. I am very excited for my new challenge!
As I mentioned, the middle school is a technology rich building, where it is a 1:1 environment. All students have netbooks and teachers either have laptops or iPads. Each classroom has an interactive projector that operates like a smartboard, and of course the building is wifi.
The school district was fortunate enough to win a Talent 21 grant, where they were able to spend the funds on technologies which included, hardware and software applications. The students have been exposed to many web 2.0 tools, such as Glogster, Edmodo, Voicethread, and Prezi. In addition, they have been exposed to Microsoft Office Products such as Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Publisher, and Access. I plan to introduce new apps and web 2.0 tools to the teachers and students, such as Livebinders, Symbaloo and many more.
Currently, I am working on creating a middle school technology integration wiki. This wiki will provide subject area resources for teachers to reference. It will also provide resources for web 2.0 tools, talent 21 resources, audio and video, digital citizenship, and many more. I will be working on this wiki on a weekly basis, so that it can be a productive resource. .
Furthermore, I am working on creating a Technology Integration Request Form using Novell Vibe. The teachers must fill out this form with detail information about their lesson and how they would like to use technology in their lesson. Although the form does not look "pretty" in Novell Vibe, the workflow of it is very convenient. Once I approve the request, it will add the request to my calendar automatically. However, I am thinking about creating one using Google Forms.
Finally, I would like to implement new procedures on student e-portfolios. Right now, students save everything on the network drive. Eventually, I would like to have them save everything on the cloud. This will be one of my biggest obstacles, but I look forward to the challenge!