Technology News You Can Use!

Issue 4 2nd Quarter, 2009

Nadaburg Unified School District, Wittmann, Arizona

Teacher Websites

You may remember in October we started

teacher websites for all certified staff. While the

overall response was positive, I know that some

people were thinking no one would look at the

sites. Keep in mind we started this well after the

start of the school year. How do we measure

success?

One: Our teacher sites are being visited by

people all over the world. Check out the map

that shows where our visitors come from. Most

visitors are from the USA, but we are picking up

more out of country visitors by the month.

Two: After only one full month, it would appear

that over 200 people a DAY are visiting the

sites. The chart below shows how many views

we had in November, 2009. Notice November

20th: over 1,250 views.

No matter how you look at it, the web sites are

getting visitors. Teachers tell me that parents

talk about the sites. I know kids visit the sites,

because they tell me all about it. These

numbers will only go up as our community gets

used to having useful content available.

I must say, there are some remarkable websites

being built by our teachers. I can’t list everyone

that has a nice site, but there are a couple you

might want to look at for some ideas.

Jim Scott Melissa Preston

Melissa Padelford Penny Bearden

Melanie Watson Cindi Nardiello

November 13th Professional

Development

All of us met on Friday, November 13th for a

professional development. The technology

subject was 5 Things You Didn’t Know About

Web 2.0. We talked about uses of Wordle,

Google Forms, video downloading, Etherpad,

Blogs and wikis.

I am happy to report that even one of our

administrators is now a regular user of Google

Forms. The forms are being used to collect data

from staff for a variety of purposes. Carol

Threewit used the Google forms as a means of

having students assess each other while

PowerPoint presentations were being made.

Ms. Lahti’s sixth grades are using Wordle to

create title slides for their PowerPoints on

diseases.

If you are using any of these tools now, please

drop me a note and let me know what you use

them for.

The Netbooks!

Both campuses have ordered netbooks and

carts for use with students. The netbooks are in

and being configured right now by Joe Friel and

Gina Campbell. We expect them to be up and

Technology News You Can Use!

Issue 4 2nd Quarter, 2009

Nadaburg Unified School District, Wittmann, Arizona

running by the time you get back from Winter

Break.

Netbooks are smaller than a regular laptop and

only weigh about two pounds. I tested the

netbooks extensively before the decision was

made to purchase. My experience tells me that

netbooks can be used for nearly anything a full

sized computer can be used for. The netbook

screen is smaller, as is the keyboard. However, I

had all of the following open at one time and

they were all working just fine: Word,

PowerPoint, Excel, and MovieMaker. I could not

tell any difference except I had to adapt to the

smaller keyboard. The computer itself worked

just fine.

Training will be required before you will be able

to check out the netbooks for classroom use.

Some schools I have seen have had trouble with

laptops not being cared for properly when used

by kids. With a few pointers about using the

netbooks in class, we can avoid those problems

and get a long useful life out of these nifty

computers!

Other Equipment

Each campus has gotten (or will by the time we

get back from break) video cameras and digital

still cameras. Properly used, these have the

potential to add a lot to your classes.

Equipment will be checked out of the computer

labs as needed.

One of the video cameras we purchased are

called “Flip Video” cameras. These incredible

cameras are not much larger than a large pack

of gum, yet record 30 minutes of video and are

very simple to use, especially when

downloading the video into the computer. Once

downloaded, you can zip the video right into

MovieMaker to start making movies. Again,

training will be offered on all equipment.

After School Classes

Podcasting, Blogging and Digital Storytelling

classes were offered to teachers in August and

September. More classes will be offered

between January and March. Be sure to listen

for the announcements.

Jennie Freiwald, 7/8th grade science, presented

to the Desert Oasis parents on Thursday,

December 9th. To report on science activity, she

had her students make a movie showing exactly

what they do in science every day. The video

was very well done and the parents were most

impressed. Just wait until she gets one of our

newer, smaller video cameras!

Student Assessment

Students were tested for computer literacy, just

as all staff have been, at the beginning of this

year. The pre-test assessment is offered to

schools for free SimpleK12, a company that

specialized in online professional development

for teachers. Student blog entries about the test

were illuminating. Most agreed, they have a lot

to learn. Technology instruction from now until

the end of the year will be designed to raise

those scores!