Blog

Blog Entries =Journal #1 - "My Journey So Far" = **Prompt:** "In this journal I'd like you to reflect on where you've come from in the world of instructional technology and where you see this practicum experience taking you this semester. Reflect also on what brought you into the Instructional Technology program at CHC, what you've learned about being an Instructional Technology Specialist during your time at CHC (and out in the real world too), and where you think you are headed in the realm of Instructional Technology after this course and into the future."

Within the three and a half years of my teaching experience, I can honestly say that one of the most enjoyable parts of my instruction so far has been finding ways to incorporate technology into it. Whether during math, language arts, social studies, or science, it is extremely evident how much young students enjoy using technology, not to mention how much technology enhances engagement. So, when it was made clear to me how smart a financial decision it would be to complete my Masters Program early on in my career, my love of using technology led me to an Instructional Technology Specialist program. The reason I chose Chestnut Hill College was because I really preferred to complete a program with face-to-face classes, and CHC was one of the only local universities that offered this. Working with computers is something that seems to come pretty naturally to me, and I've developed more of a patience for it over the past four years or so.

This semester, I see this practicum giving me first-hand experience of some of the jobs and responsibilities of an Instructional Technology Specialist. Just as I found in my undergrad work, you can sit in a classroom all you want, but you can't "learn to be a teacher" without actually getting into a classroom and doing it. One of the only parts of undergrad that truly taught me how to teach was my pre-student teaching practicum and my actual student teaching experience. This semester will give me a better idea of the competencies needed to be an effective technology leader and what it will be like to have to communicate and plan with others. Trying to set up meetings and workshops (not to mention hosting them) for professional development opportunities will also give me greater insight into the job than a textbook could give me.

Through CHC, as well as the "real world," I've learned that an Instructional Technology Specialist gains respect through expertise. A school employee, whether teacher or administrator, who looks to a ITS is looking for a vast knowledge-base, new ideas for software and web 2.0 tools, knowledgeable opinions on hardware options, and immediate ideas on troubleshooting when problems arise. As I write this reflection, I realize how hard this all may be to accomplish, but I've seen it in action in my own district, and I see the respect it has created. Almost as important as knowledge, I've learned that an effective ITS needs to be patient, personable, and approachable. A knowledgeable ITS is wasted if teachers don't feel comfortable coming to them with questions or concerns.

After this course, and once I receive my certification, I do not have a clear or exact plan, only the reassurance that I have new career options available to me that I never had before. At this moment, I really enjoy the work I currently do, but knowing that someday I may be able to get out of the classroom if I want to is a good feeling. Maybe I could end up being a professional developer, or maybe I could work for an educational software company. Maybe someday I could even be a Technology Supervisor in a school district. I just love the idea that I will now have these various options. However, in the immediate future, I am excited that the knowledge gained during this program, and probably more likely this practicum, will allow me to be a better teacher by improving my instruction.

=**Journal #2 - "Getting Started with my Practicum Experience" **= "In this journal entry, I'd like you to reflect on how you found your practicum experience, what you are setting out to accomplish, and who you are going to be working with. Describe your goals and planned activities for your experience and how you see they relate to the role of an ITS and how you feel they will allow you to grow personally. Be sure to also reflect on how you feel it is going so far, what still needs to be accomplished to achieve your goals, and how you are going to get there."
 * Prompt: **

What I most look forward to accomplishing throughout my ITS practicum is having the opportunity to get more insight into the responsibilities of an Instructional Technology Specialist and to gain the knowledge-base of an ITS, as it will help my own teaching and technology incorporation. I am excited to work with and be able to help my colleagues, and, possibly because I admittedly enjoy attention, I am excited to be known throughout my building as someone teachers can come to if they have questions. I've always loved being able to share knowledge with others (hence the teaching gig), and just this week I look forward to sitting down with three of my colleagues who asked for help in three different areas; iMovie, podcasts, and Moodle. I'm pretty good with iMovie and "Moodle organization", so I look forward to sharing my knowledge during these meetings. Podcasting, however, is something my knowledge is pretty much limited to software called Garageband, which of course my colleague is already familiar with, so I look forward to expanding my knowledge-base on this subject in order to help her. The latter meeting is an example of what I think to be one of the true tests and roles of an ITS; Never closing the door to new knowledge, ways of doing things, and ways of helping out colleagues.

Another part of the ITS job is doing professional development through presentations and workshops, and I look forward to sharing some knowledge during a workshop that I am about to start planning. While I originally planned on showing teachers a mini-unit I created combining student-made advertisements for made-up products in software called Comic Life with jingles created in software called Garageband, I decided to go in different route. In my few years in my building, I, along with my colleagues, have already sat through workshops on both of these pieces of software. My thought was I probably was not the first person to mix both of these, and teachers may be more apt to attending a meeting, as they are swamped with meetings, for something they have not seen before (I actually decided to hold lessons on Garageband with my students who have never seen it before during my lunches to get it out of my system!). So, long story short, I am going to do a workshop on the document camera that I purchased for my classroom because I use it //all// the time, the one I own is very affordable, my colleagues have never sat through a meeting on these before, and they all have a means of purchasing one for FREE through mini-grants offered by our Home and School Association. I plan on showing them how this small piece of hardware as improved my teaching, and hopefully they will leave my workshop with new ideas.

As far as how my practicum is going so far, it is slow going. I sent a lengthy email to my colleagues letting them know about my program, my requirements, the types of technology I am knowledgeable of, and that I would be able to meet with them at any time that works best for them. I only got a few responses, but two or three people have come up to me in the hall and asked me questions about random types of technology. While I enjoyed this, and logged the few minutes spent with them, these short conversations are not going to get me to the 75 hours I need. After each of these conversations, I've (conveniently) thrown out there, "We can sit down together and I can show you," but I've only got one meeting out of that (the iMovie example above). But then again, this is just what being an Instructional Technology Specialist is all about. Teachers are busy, they have plenty of meetings, and in most cases they probably don't want to sit down for 20 minutes, but just get a quick-fix (flashbacks of emails to Dianne are flooding my brain!). In order to get there, because I have created positive relationships with my colleagues, I am just going to keep asking them if I can show them things because it will help me earn my degree, and (__so far__) people have been pretty friendly and receptive. I don't think the fact that there are other extremely knowledgeable people in my building and district help my cause... but we shall see!

= = =Journal #3 - "Creating my ePortfolio... so far..." = ** Prompt: ** <span style="color: #ff6c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"Please create five posts of your choice."

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">For my ePortfolio I decided to use a wiki, because it is a tool that I was already somewhat familiar with. I had created a wiki two years ago as an online portfolio for my students, a sort of internet-based showcase or portfolio for the electronic work they created throughout the year. I had also helped add content to a wiki created by my district for fourth grade teachers to share their documents. Last summer I also made a wiki to report out my findings on an emerging technology, eReaders (and I am glad I put effort into it and made it interactive because I put it in my portfolio!). I figured, as this would be a huge project, I would be better off using something I already had experience with, and then be able to become more of an expert in that tool (as oppose to then just being familiar with a two). <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Though I had this prior experience with wikis, I have still learned so much while working on my portfolio so far. I'm also surprised how much I've forgotten and have had to relearn, plus wiki changed some options and formats on me recently! Through trial and error, and "Googling" questions I've had, I've been able to make a website that is fully navigable, includes embedded videos, and has images to support my artifacts. I also spent time trying to figure out if I could wrap text around images in the wiki, and decided to create tables instead (based on my Dreamweaver experience in our "Web Connections" class). Although the tables allowed me to get my text next to their corresponding images, I, at first, was not crazy about the lines of the tables being able to seen. However, when I sat back and looked at it, I realized I liked the way the cells of the tables pulled together the artifact, rationale, and image. Plus, and don't ask me why, I just think it looks more professional than text simply running down my page.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Up to this point, I have been able to add 2 artifacts for each of the subtopics under "Knowing the Content," and while time-consuming, it was relatively painless. It was pretty interesting to go back into my files and take a look at everything I've done throughout the past two years. These documents and projects have been departmentalized in my mind by class, semester, weather that was outside, etc. and it was impressive to look at all I have completed as a whole!

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Overall, while it is a lot of work, I'm pretty happy with how my portfolio is turning out, and thankful that I'm learning more about the capabilities of wikis.

=<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Journal #4 - "Progress in my Practicum" = <span style="color: #ff6c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Prompt:** <span style="color: #ff6c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"In this reflective response I'd like you to reflect on how it is going with your practicum with the following questions in mind: Are you accomplishing your goals? If so, how? If not, how have you changed your goals that you initially wrote? What are the greatest accomplishments so far? What are the greatest challenges so far?"

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Before I began any activities for my pracitcum expereicne, I set three goals for myself. The first was to become more aware of the activities and responsibilities of an Instructional Technology Specialist. The second was to help my colleagues with technology needs, followed by the hope to also introduce them to new forms of technology. I have to say, that I have had a taste of all of three of these goals and am well on my way to accomplishing all three. Just today I helped a fellow teacher with a project she wanted to do in which she was inviting parents into her classroom. Her hope was to produce a movie with student work to show as an introduction for the event in which the parents were visiting. When I walked into her classroom, she was a little perturbed because iMovie looked so overwhelming for her (and the fact that she works with second graders). After listening to what she hoped to accomplish, I suggested she use a program called Pixie, which would be much simpler for both her and her students to manage and could still produce the introduction-airy movie she planned to make. While she had heard of Pixie, she was not familiar with it, and I took time to show her how to use it, and let her know she could certainly let me know if she had any problems or questions when she started the project.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The upcoming workshop I plan to conduct in a few weeks is another example of me being able to both help my colleagues while showing them something new. Last year, the woman I teach next-door to and I used a mini-grant opportunity to purchase small (and cheap!) document cameras for our classrooms. We both use this document camera all the time, and because of their availability (every teacher has the option to write a mini-grant proposal to our "Home and School Association," plus we are given $100 to spend every fall) and ease of use, I decided to invite my staff into my classroom so I could show teach them how to use the camera and its software. I've had multiple people tell me they are going to attend, and with a reminder email just before, I hope to have a good showing. Because this piece of hardware is something I am excited about, I hope my enthusiasm and expertise will rub off on my colleagues so that we can become of school //full// of these helpful document cameras.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">While I have been able to achieve my personal goals, the goal I am most worried about at this time, and thus my biggest challenge, is the goal the state of Pennsylvania has set for me, which is completing 75 hours of work in the field. I know that it can be done, obviously it wouldn't be law if it were impossible, and I know someone in my own building who muscled through it, but I can't help but continue to ask myself, "Where are these hours going to come from!" I'm assuming this is normal, and at some point during the practicum almost everyone asks themselves this (especially if they have a full-time job), but I can't help but constantly feel like I'm only in mile two of a marathon with a finish line that keeps moving farther away! However, what I will say, is while someone keeps moving that line backwards, I //will// reach it. There is no other option! I did not work this hard for the past two years to throw it all away... I am just going to have to rely on my colleagues and students to be patient and help me out!

=<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Journal #5 - "First Attempt with a New Technology" = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">** Prompt: ** <span style="color: #ff6c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"Please create five posts of your choice."

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">After helping another colleague design a lesson using Google Docs, and increasing my own knowledge of Google Docs through my <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Chestnut Hill work, I decided yesterday that I would give it a try with my own classroom. Teaching the lesson turned out to be a bit of headache, but it worked out in the end and the kids were very excited about it. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">At this point in the current science unit I'm teaching, which surrounds water, my students were supposed to be researching how Water Supply and Water Treatment Plants work. The day before I had decided it would be easier for me to show them some pictures and websites in order to explain how Water Supply Plants work (it is a bit confusing with words such as "Filtration and Sedimentation), and was going to do the same with Water Treatment Plants. However, with the inspiration from my colleague, I decided to have them //teach me// how Treatment Plants work through a "Google Doc" Webquest.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Not only had I never used Google Docs in my classroom before, but I also had never done a webquest before. I looked at this lesson as an opportunity to learn more about both, and while problems arose during the lesson, I had to keep reminding myself of that. I even said to my class multiple times "I'm trying very hard to be patient," and once said "Let's use this mistake as a learning opportunity!"

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">During my lunch, I created a gmail account for my classroom, chose a website for the kids to use to conduct their research, made a Google Doc to use as the template for the kids, and found a youtube video to use as an introduction. Later that afternoon, I explained what a Google Doc was, warned them about using our "classroom Gmail account" responsibly, showed the video (and paused often to explain in fourth grade terms), and then led them to our classroom Google Doc page. The plan was to have each pair highlight and copy the template, create a new Doc, label it with their names, and then paste the template into their Doc. However, things kept going awry because after highlighting, the kids kept hitting a button and deleting the template! So, each time they did that I had retrieve through the "Revision History." I was trying to have them press "Command + C," because hitting "Edit and then Copy" wasn't working for me earlier. Once the highlighted template kept being replaced with just a "C," I gave up on that, took a deep breath, had them use "Edit and then Copy," and just helped the pairs who's computers weren't cooperating. You live and you learn.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">By the time the kids left though, they all had the template pasted into a document that was labeled with their name, and they were all very excited to start working on it next class!

=<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Journal #6 - "A Great, Positive Experience" = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">** Prompt: ** <span style="color: #ff6c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"Please create five posts of your choice."

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This afternoon, after school, I met with one of our school's speech teachers with a goal of helping her (and essentially the whole elementary speech department in my district) to form a better strategy to enter, store, and organize student data. This included data from both meetings and student observation. The department had tried to make tables on Microsoft Word, but the cells kept moving on them and they couldn't get them to quite look the way they wanted. This proved to be a huge headache for them as they were trying to type "in real time." They also attempted to make forms for themselves in Microsoft Excel, but these too were proving frustrating for them because of where cells would put their text.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Based on a meeting with a colleague earlier this morning, in which I taught her how to create a Google Form (and view the results on an attached spreadsheet), I suggested to this speech teacher she use Google Forms and Spreadsheets. We sat for over an hour, and I showed her how to create a form (which could each be assigned to a student), how it inputs that information directly into a spreadsheet, how to organize her Google Doc page with those spreadsheets, and how to share those spreadsheets with her fellow speech teachers. One thing she wanted to be able to do was be able to see the data from students all over the district, as she, and many other of her colleagues, work in multiple schools. We spoke of a meeting in which she, I, and the rest of the teachers who would need this data (various speech, OT, PT, and autistic teachers) could sit down to organize a system to keep track of the data. I suggested everyone create a "work Google account," and begin by creating "collections," or Google- language for folders, labeled as each of the seven schools placed on everyone's "home" screen. Then, when a teacher created a form for each of their shared students, they would "share" them with the other teachers, and each could place the student in the collection folder of the school the student attended. I then showed her how to right click on spreadsheets that have already been placed in collection folders (which would all be showing on her "home screen" along with the collection folders) and choose "do not show in home," thus only their seven school folder would be showing. She then asked about organizing spreadsheets within the "school collection folders," and I showed her how you can create collection folders within collection folders, no different than creating folders within folders on normal operating systems. I also showed her how to find the "live form" within the options at the top of each spreadsheet, and suggested she and each of her colleagues organize the URLs for the forms for their students in their "Firefox bookmarks," with folders labeled with the students' names.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> She loved how the forms made it easy to type data and place it directly into viewable, sharable spreadsheets, and was excited about the things I was teaching her... Which made it so much more enjoyable for me! I was elated to see that knowledge I owned was able to be adapted into helping an entire department reorganize in a beneficial manner. When she left, she told me how much she thought the things I taught her were going to help her and her colleagues, and excitedly exclaimed she was going to go home right away to start playing around with forms and spreadsheets!

=<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Journal #7 - "My Technology Workshop" = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">** Prompt: ** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="color: #ff6c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"Reflect more fully on your workshop experience by answering the following questions: What were your goals for the workshop? What was your lesson plan? What technology did you use? What technology did the students learn? What technology did the teacher learn? What are you most proud of? What would you do differently next time?"

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The past two mornings, before school, I held a workshop on document cameras in my classroom for my colleagues. More specifically, the workshop surrounded the document camera I use in my classroom, which is the IPEVO "Point 2 View." My goals for the workshop were to spread the word about how useful this technology can be for everyday use in an elementary classroom, as well as to convince the staff members who attended to obtain the camera to the right for their own classrooms! In order to plan for the workshop, I created a PowerPoint presentation that served as both a lesson plan / agenda, and tool to guide my actual workshop, as it was projected onto my Smartboard while I presented.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Overall I think it went well with few glitches. I was able to show them how to focus, take pictures, and how to use those pictures. I also showed them how they could use the camera as a live shot. Then we moved into how I use the "Point 2 View" in my own classroom, which included things like showing directions for tests and worksheets, examples of great student work, reading prompts, important parts in books, illustrations in picture books, and how to use pictures taken to create presentations through SmartNotebook or PowerPoint.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Unfortunately, most likely because of the amount of meetings attended and duties my colleagues are responsible for in the mornings, attendance for my workshop was not great. However, those that were able to make it seemed impressed with the little cameras "big" possibilities. I'm hopeful that these few will tell others about the camera, because my goal for the workshop was to try and convince others of how useful a piece of technology this thing can be!

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Most importantly, and it was one of the first things I said to them, was that are multiple opportunities for them to get it for FREE. Every year, our Home & School Association gives us $100.00 to spend on our classrooms, and it was with that money that I bought the camera myself. Another option, which my grade partner took advantage of in order to purchase the same camera, is to write a mini- grant to our Home & School Association, which they make available at the end of every year. A third option teachers can use to get the camera for free is to write a grant to a community based organization called the Wissahickon Educational Opportunity Foundation, or WEOF, which provides all sorts of great things for our district's teachers.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Upon reflection, I enjoyed being able to show my colleagues something I knew a lot about, and something I passionately believe could be extremely helpful for them. Those who attended seemed impressed with it, and I hope they spread the word! If I could change anything, I think I might have requested my principal to attend. She has not seen me use the camera during any of my observations (lessons had not lent themselves to using it), and I would have liked her to see how I take advantage of having this technology in my classroom. Also, since they are so cheap, her attendance could have possibly led her to spending some of her budget money towards getting these for her teachers as she //loves// technology!

= = =<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Journal #8 - "iMovie Workshops" = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">** Prompt: ** <span style="color: #ff6c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"Please create five posts of your choice."

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This practicum experience has given me the opportunity to assume the many roles and responsibilities of an Instructional Technology Specialist. So far, I have created materials to assist teachers with curricular instruction, as well as provided maintenance on an online forum in which grade level teachers collaborate their own electronic resources. I have also had the chance to provide individual professional development, as well as stand in front of multiple groups of colleagues and teach them something new about technology. The one thing, though, I hadn't done yet, which is a main role of an ITS, is stand up in front of a group of students (not counting my own) and teach //them// something new... until yesterday that is.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Yesterday I conducted three forty minute workshops on iMovie to //five// classes in my building. The classes were three fourth grade and two fifth grade classrooms. The fourth grade workshops were offered by me to my fourth grade teammates (I had a suggested an iMovie project as an alternative assessment for our current science unit), and the visit to the fifth graders was asked of me by one of the fifth grade teachers. Actually, she asked me if I could teach her class, and then told me an hour before that it was going to be two... oh well!

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">When all was said and done, I really enjoyed sharing my knowledge with the kids, which makes me laugh because I was a little nervous before I started. It had nothing to do with how well I know iMovie, which, though I think I know a good amount, I know I am certainly no expert. What made me nervous was the fact that I didn't know these kids very well, and management made me a bit anxious. One of the groups of fourth graders was overly chatty, but other than that I think the kids were all great!

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">My original plan was to show the kids the tools they would need, and make a movie as a whole group. Well, of course, things changed. In my first workshop, the kids had done an iMovie in the beginning of the year, so while a review of the tools was helpful, and something their teacher was a bit nervous to do herself, making a movie together would have been redundant. The second workshop, which was with 60 kids, was in a really hot classroom, and I could tell (this was the chatty group) that I was losing them after about 25 minutes or so. We ended it, and the teachers reviewed some things with them later in the day. The last group was sort of a mix of the first two workshops. There were a good amount of kids who had already worked with iMovie throughout their five and half years of elementary school, and I could also tell I was starting to lose them a bit. So, once again, I used my judgment and decided against the whole-group movie. This was also a group of 60 kids, which could also explain the "losing them."

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">If I could do it again, I might try it while having the kids sitting in pairs with a computer in front of them, though I can foresee certain things I showed them taking a while if I were to wait for every kid in the class to do it to. For example, I showed them how to input a jpeg as one of their background slides, play with the "Ken Burns Movement" of the picture, and then place text over the picture. Although it would probably be beneficial to the kids, I could see that as being a huge "time eater." But, overall the workshops went well, and I was glad I was able to obtain the last key type of experience as a true Instructional Technology Specialist.

=<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Journal #9 - "ePortfolio - DONE!" = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">** Prompt: ** <span style="color: #ff6c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"Please create five posts of your choice."

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Well, it took close to two months to finish, but my ePortfolio for my practicum experience is finally complete. I am really happy with how it turned out, but I think it probably could have taken less time if I wasn't such a perfectionist! For example, as I hinted at in an earlier post, I didn't like the way the pages looked with the article description and rationale simply placed on the page. And, as I decided to place a corresponding jpeg with each article, I also wanted to find some logical way of having the jpegs next to their articles and rationales. I finally discovered the "tables" tool, and then went back to change a bunch of the pages to insert all of the info. into separate tables. Then, and I realize this sounds over the top, I wanted the text to be somewhat centered to the left or right of its corresponding jpeg, as oppose to being at the very top or bottom of its cell in the table. So, I went so far as to put rows of letters above and below the articles and rationales, and then colored the letters white so they would be invisible, just to get the text into their perfect spots. Then, the jpegs alone weren't enough for me, so I also went back and added captions to every jpeg I could. While these types of fine details were very time consuming, I think they really enhance the overall appearance of my ePortfolio. (Another quick example, you'll notice only the "odd" journal entries of this page have pictures... OCD?)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Another detail that took a bit of time was that, even though I was allowed, I wanted to repeat pieces of evidence as little as possible. There are articles that appear multiple times, like my Tech Plan, Acceptable Use Policy, and Moodle work, but overall I think I did a good job with variation. One of my other goals was to find a way to incorporate at least a portion of my thesis, which I finished this past fall, and I was able to make my Methodology chapter fit into one of the categories involving the use of technology to enhance curricular goals. A third goal of mine was to allow for viewers to have to download as few items as possible when looking at my articles, so I transferred many of my Word documents that I posted into Google Docs, and then posted the links. This will make viewing my documents much quicker and easier for the viewer.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">While time consuming, I can't say I dreaded this project in any way throughout the process. Well, except maybe when it was first presented to me and had that huge matrix of ITS competencies! But, once I got going, I enjoyed the ongoing project and thoroughly enjoyed enhancing my expertise in using wikispaces (which is of course still an ongoing experience). I also found it enjoyable to look through all of the documents and projects I have completed throughout my 33 credits so far in this Instructional Technology program at CHC. I found a way to include projects completed in my very first semester, as well as documents I completed in the current semester. Overall, I think the project was exactly as it was described to me by a recent CHC Instructional Technology graduate, "Not hard, but simply time-consuming."

= Journal #10 - "My Practicum Experience" = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">** Prompt: ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">" <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">This serves as a reflection on your entire practicum experience. Answer these questions in a well-constructed and thought out post: Overall, how was your experience? Did you achieve your goals for your practicum? Why or why not? What are you most proud of? What would you change if you were to do it again? What do you feel you need to improve upon if you were to become an ITS? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Overall, I thought my experience was a ton of work, but well worth it, as I had an opportunity to get a taste of what it would be like to actually be a district's Instructional Technology Specialist. I had valuable experience working with students, colleagues, and the entire district's fourth grade team. More specifically, I had the chance to work with individual students in my class as well as other classrooms, present to my entire class, present to five other entire classes, conduct individual professional training through both face-to-face meetings and email, present to a large group of colleagues, create electronic resources for instruction, and lastly, I had the opportunity to organize and update a wiki used by teachers to collaborate instructional materials.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I realize an ITS would be a lot busier than I in terms of technology-type jobs, and I also realize that there were still certain jobs of an ITS I didn't get a chance to experience because of my full-time job. For an example, I didn't get a chance to do research for the district (though I did in my Technology Planning course), nor sit in planning meetings with administrators. Regardless, I was still able to gain valuable insight into what life might be like as an ITS!

=
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I definitely think that I was able to achieve my three goals over the past few months. The first was to<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> "become more aware of and involved in activities and responsibilities of Instructional Technology Specialists,"and as you can see above I certainly took care of this. The second and third goals I made for my practicum involved helping colleagues with their instruction, as well as to introduce them to new forms of instructional technology. I definitely accomplished this, and particularly enjoyed the third goal. I was able to show a colleague how to use Google Docs and Google Forms, another group of colleagues how to use iMovie, yet another group of colleagues how to use Pixie, and held workshops on how to incorporate document cameras into their everyday instruction. I think the willingness of the other teachers in my building to allow me to help them and taking the time to sit down with me was the main reason for my success. Don't get me wrong, I did put in quite a bit of time to prepare for those meetings or workshops, but without their matched enthusiasm for wanting to learn, I never could have had a successful practicum experience. ======

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I am most proud of the meeting I spoke of during my sixth journal entry, which was with a speech therapist in my building. She was looking for a way to improve the data entry system of her entire department, and through Google Forms I was able to give her hope for something she felt would really solve their problems. Her excitement about what I showed her, combined with the knowledge that <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I may have helped an entire department become more organize led to this moment being what I was most proud of.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">One thing I think I need to improve upon, and what I would work on when I became a real ITS, would be to improve my scheduling and communication. I recall one meeting that I had to reschedule three times because I kept realizing I was already busy with parent-teacher conferences that had been scheduled for weeks (though at "non-normal" times). I know when I become an ITS I will have //tons// of meetings, and I will need to do a __much__ better job of keeping track of who I am meeting when, and where I am supposed to //be// when!

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The other thing I will work on are my "student workshop procedures." What I mean by that, is that when I held student workshops, I did not have them have lap tops in front of them while I taught, and I realize now that this was not a best practice. People learn best by doing, not watching, and I need to keep this in mind. I also was worried about every student being able to keep up with and follow what I was doing on the Smartboard, but I need to realize that helping kids (and adults) through what they don't understand should be the main goal of my instruction!

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">References for Pictures within this Page: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">http://www.schools.clipart.com <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">http://www.crestock.com/image/2937161-Man-at-Desk.aspx <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">http://www.rockvillemd.gov/environment/drinking-water/treatment.html <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">http://www.amazon.com/IPEVO-Point-View-USB-Camera/dp/B002UBPBTC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334715102&sr=8-1 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">http://eportfolio.sfsu.edu/stud_overans.php

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Picture on Homepage:

http://schools.clipart.com/search/close-up?oid=2813419&q=computer%20school&s=211&a=c&cid=&fic=0&k_mode=all&k_exc=&q_jpeg=1&q_gif=1&q_color=1&q_bw=1&q_eps=1&q_wmf=1&q_psd=1&q_png=1&date=&pubid=&isadv=1

Picture on top Banner: http://www.clipartoday.com/clipart/objects/objects/computer_93980.html