Jeff+W+DecJan


 * Technology Mentor Report

Jeff Whipple**

1. Month: December 2006 / January 2007

2. Goals for the months:


 * Complete “Flu Shot” project with Grand Manan Community School


 * Continue developing collaborative projects at both NMS and LHHS – would like to have five new classes involved before end of January


 * Introduce/promote the use of wikis to teachers for class information management and as a platform for student writing and collaborative projects


 * Continue teacher PD within the schools with a focus on developing skills /knowledge promoting collaborative projects


 * Expand pen-based peripheral use at NMS and LHHS

3. What did **I** do to bring about success in achieving your monthly goals?


 * Collaborated with a teacher in Seoul, Korea using Skype and Vyew to develop a wiki-based international student writing project - “Flat World Tales”. Invited several teachers to participate with their students


 * Scheduled one-on-one teacher PD sessions an average of 3 days a week for January – strong focus on web 2.0 tools (esp wikis) that promote collaborative projects


 * Assisted teachers to make connections with other classes from around the world and develop collaborative projects.


 * Continued to support and develop the on-going collaborative projects with school in New Orleans

4. Accomplishments/Successes


 * Collaborative Projects!!!
 * 1) Completed “Flu Shot” project – featured on CBC TV’s “School Zone”.
 * 2) “Place Francais” project with New Orleans school is developing nicely
 * 3) Have three classes in two schools involved in “Flat World Tales” international writing project (http://burell9english.wikispaces.com/)
 * 4) Other collaborative projects beginning with schools in Korea, China, Colorado, Alabama, Netherlands, France and Cote d’Ivoire.


 * Wikis are Hot, Hot, HOT!!! The interest and use of wikis in our schools (and others in D18) is exploding! Everything from class management sites to collaborative projects and student writing. So Kewl!


 * Staff Discussion blog at NMS is replacing a lot of the “talk” at staff meetings and starting conversations on a variety of topics in a different way.

5. Challenges:


 * Too many teachers – too little time! So many teachers are excited and want to know about the technology, but it is hard to schedule them all in for release time for PD.


 * Teachers share two concerns: the ease at which students seem to find themselves “off task” in a technology-rich environment and what they see as a lack of stability when it comes to network access. Students mapping drives is finicky and time seems to be wasted while one or two students try and access resources through the network.


 * Demands on tech support – with so many demands on a day-to-day basis it leaves little time for larger jobs like installing SyncronEyes. We are still waiting for it!

Finally…check out this fun day!!! “Freddy” the lobster leaves for New Orleans!