Rebel U 2011: Photo Contest Winners

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This a post in a series about Rebel U 2011.

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As part of the Rebel U 2011 experience this year, we held a photo contest to engage participants in an activity that extends beyond the learning that takes place in their sessions. We had several people participate in the contest and it was difficult to select a winner. Winners will receive a web cam for their photos. Winners were selected based on how their photo fit one of two categories:

1. Rebel U 2011: A picture that represents the theme of Rebel U - "Innovation Through Collaboration"
2. Godfrey-Lee: A picture that symbolizes Godfrey-Lee Public Schools.

... And the winners are...

Rebel U 2011 Theme: Julie Swanson

Godfrey-Lee: Melissa Gill

Description: I took this picture of someone working on their netbook with the netbook as the focus because of our school vision being focused on 1 to 1 with the "anywhere, anytime, any device" motto.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you again to everyone who participated! If you would like to see a collection of all the pictures gathered from Rebel U, please click here.

Rebel U 2011: Guest Post (Part 1 in Guest Blogger Series)

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This a post in a series about Rebel U 2011.

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As part of the Rebel U 2011 evaluation, we asked participants if they were willing to be a guest blogger on our Godfrey-Lee Technology & Media blog.  We were not only interested in hearing (and sharing) first hand accounts from attendees and presenters, but also introducing some teachers to publicly posting content online for the first time and building an online presence.

Today's guest post is written by 6th grade Language Arts teacher, Melissa Gill.  You can find Melissa online on Twitter and she also has her own web site.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

A Rebel U Presenter P.O.V.

This was the second year of Rebel U and my first year presenting there.  I figured this would be a great way to practice speaking in front of my peers.  A small step towards self improvement.  Not only one session, but presenting two 90 minute sessions.  No problem, I can make that work!  In fact it was set up nicely.  My first 90 minute session would be with Sarah Wood and my second session would be on my own.

Session 1 - Test-Taking Strategies & Tools

Sarah and I had met numerous times the previous school year and a couple over summer break on our session Test-Taking Strategies & Tools.  We had surveyed and tweaked our presentation to meet the needs of our attendees as much as possible.  I, of course, was nervous but also at ease with Sarah presenting with me.  Having another person presenting with me helps alleviate the stress and when I forgot to say something, she was there to help and vice versa.  In fact we ran out of time and we could have done another 90 minute session finishing our presentation.  I thought our session went really well!  On the other hand, I have no idea what our attendees thought.  

Take it:  Having a co-presenter really helped with stress.  I would also keep the time allotment for the attendees to actually do the activities helped them make connections to the student point of view.

Leave it:  We could have narrowed down our strategies to allow time for the attendees to share some of their test taking strategies with everyone.  By no means am I an expert on test taking strategies and should have allowed the time for others to share what has worked for them.  I would also create a session evaluation to see what the attendees thought.

Session 2 - Effective Tech in the Classroom

My second presentation was on Effective Tech in the Classroom.  This session was was solely on me.  I use technology on a daily bases in my classroom and wanted to share what works, especially with the middle school staff that will be dealing with the 1:1 program in the near future.  I organized my presentation based on how I learn best and feedback I have received from other teachers about learning technology.  After a bad start with major nervousness, I got everyone started on their QR code scavenger hunt, then gave them time to play around with some web tools, and finally wrapped up the session with each group presenting on their group’s coolest tool.  That way everyone was responsible for only one tool, but can refer back to the Google site any time to check out the other tools at a later date.

Take it:  A few attendees expressed that they enjoyed the movement (scavenger hunt) and time to try out some new web tools.  That time to learn the tools was valuable to them, so I would keep that and it allowed me to walk around and help those that needed it.

Leave it:  The 90 minutes was long and I did not fill it appropriately.  I could tell a few attendees had become bored and were ready to go.  I should have planned more active activities because it was the last session and everyone was a bit worn out by then.  I would also have changed the name to “Effective Web Tools for the Classroom” because I wasn’t showing how to use any technology, just different websites they could use in the classroom.

Conclusion

Presenting at Rebel U was a great experience!  The technology department, especially Sarah Wood, did a fantastic job organizing everything and making the presenters feel comfortable.  I will definitely do it again!

Rebel U 2011: Teacher Learning & Experiences

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This a post in a series about Rebel U 2011.

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As part of the Rebel U 2011 evaluation, participants were asked to complete the following sentence, "If you were at Rebel U 2011, you would have learned, witnessed, or experienced..." (similar to the question Scott McLeod posed on his blog, Dangerously Irrelevant). We received many responses that really spoke to the learning experience that teachers encountered during the day.



So, if you had attended Godfrey-Lee Public Schools' Rebel U 2011, you would have learned, witnessed, or experienced...

1. Teachers focused on doing what is best for students.
2. New ways to implement technology in the classroom.
3. A very involved staff who knows a lot!
4. A lot of talented people who took a lot of time and energy to create, master and explain things they use to help in their classrooms.
5. How to use technology in your classroom without stressing out.
6. Practical ideas to use yourself or with your students.
7. How to integrate technology into your classroom to increase engagement.
8. The welcome involvement of technology at all levels of education.
9. Co-workers teaching co-workers new ideas and new uses of current things.
10. The technology and wisdom of those presenting.
11. Technology doesn't stop even if servers are down! We just kept on learning.
12. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things with technology.
13. Multiple ways to engage learners in active experiences in order to prepare them for the digital world in which they live.
14. You would have witnessed Ron Houtman.
15. How professional teachers look forward to being more effective.
16. Educators who are focused on 21st Century learning and very valuable collaboration amongst our Rebel family.
17. Teachers learning and playing together.
18. Staff members presenting information they are excited about which would make you excited about using the tool presented!
19. Cooperative learning.
20. How far I am behind in technology and what great opportunities lie in the future.
21. The constant buzz of different technological tools as people experienced many different conversations and applications.
22. Teachers working together to help each other be more effective.
23. Teachers learning the tools needed to reach the 21st Century student.
24. Highly effective teachers increasing their knowledge for a technology driven curriculum and school year.
25. Supportive instruction.
26. How dedicated the Godfrey-Lee staff is to trying new things and implementing technology into their classes, not only so that their students learn and grow in an exciting way, but so that they can learn and grow from their students!
27. Individuals talking together, helping each other and an understanding of issues that arise from technology.
28. Teachers in students' shoes learning new ways to engage their students.
29. Fantastic ways to connect with others and explode learning into bits of fun, fantasy and future use.
30. How hard Dan T. works.
31. Many professional and talented educators modeling and teaching their peers.
32. Enthusiasm, excitement and empowerment.

The buzz of Rebel U could also be found on Twitter and TodaysMeet. Some of the tweets noted from the day:

1. The excitement leading to Rebel U.
2. The Tech team working early to get ready for the day.
3. Teachers looking for bribery.
4. Teachers using Twitter on their mobile device for the first time.
5. Past Tech team members still joining in the day.
6. Teachers overcoming technical difficulties to keep the learning going.
7. Teachers learning about Twitter while using Twitter.
8. Teachers sharing resources they learned about in their sessions.
9. Teachers collaborating together for session presentations.
10. Teachers promoting the motto of the Tech & Media team.
11. Guest presenters participating in a panel discussion.
12. People not associated with GLPS or Rebel U enhancing the discussions of the day.
13. Teachers exploring test taking strategies.
14. Tech team members calling each other out.
15. Showing some sponsor love!
16. Panel discussion members being serious.
17. Tech team members reminiscing about Rebel U preparations. (Picture here.)

Doesn't it make you wish all technology professional development was like Godfrey-Lee's Rebel U?

Rebel U 2011: Recap

For the second year, the Technology & Media Team at Godfrey-Lee Public Schools has put on a district-wide professional development opportunity, Rebel U, that allows teachers and administrators to explore ways to integrate technology into their classrooms and professional practice. The theme for Rebel U this year was "Innovation Through Collaboration," allowing participants to collaborate with one another and delve into new ways technology can be utilized in the classroom. We had many teachers that stepped forward to share tools and resources they are using in their classroom as well as techniques and strategies that have proven effective for their students. This day would not be the success that it is if it weren't for our fantastic presenters!

The day started out unexpectedly with some server and Internet connection problems, but despite being a day focused on technology, teachers and presenters adapted and the day went on. Shortly after our second session began, all connections were restored and the sharing and learning continued. Although this is not the ideal start to a day focused on technology, I think it represents an issue that can happen any day in the classroom. As great as the technology is that we have in our district, glitches happen and the learning must continue. Teachers don't completely throw a day of learning out the window because their plan A didn't go as planned - plan B begins and the learning continues. This is exactly what happened at Rebel U and is representative of the day's theme - "Innovation through Collaboration" - teachers came together, improvised and the learning continued.


One of the goals of the Technology & Media Team for Rebel U is to foster a learning environment that is comfortable and relaxing. As the day is structured after the model that many other technology conferences use, the time allotted for lunch is limited. After a morning of attending several sessions, teachers often need a break to step away from technology and refuel. One thing we have been proud to do for our teachers last year and then again this year is to provide a free lunch. As funding was tight this year, we had to look to outside sources to help us offer a free meal as part of the day. We had an awesome sponsor step forward this year, Townsend Innovative Collections, and cover the costs of providing refreshments and lunch for the day. It was a beautiful day and teachers were able to relax on the front lawn of the high school and enjoy burgers, brats and hot dogs that were grilled up by one of our administrators, Brett Lambert, and a school board member, David Townsend.


As part of our on-going efforts to provide meaningful and effective professional development, we asked all participants to complete an evaluation of the sessions they attended as well as the day in general. On part of the evaluation, teachers were asked, "In ONE word, how would you summarize your Rebel U experience?". There was a wide range of responses that were received, but the most common response was "Informative" (as seen in the word cloud below). I believe this truly speaks to the fact that there are many technology tools, resources and strategies that are available that there is always something new that one can learn.


We hope that the spirit of Rebel U will continue throughout the school year and teachers will continue to explore, collaborate and utilize technology tools with their students. The Technology & Media Team would also like to extend a special thank you to Superintendent David Britten, who firmly believes in the benefits of using technology as a tool in the classroom and as a professional development tool and makes it possible for us to organize a professional development day focused on technology for the teachers and staff at Godfrey-Lee Public Schools.

Look forward to further posts regarding Rebel U 2011. We have several more posts lined up about some of the exciting aspects of Rebel U and also had many teachers volunteer to be guest bloggers and talk about their experiences during Rebel U. The sharing continues!

Preparing Devices for One-to-One

This summer we took a step forward in our one-to-one program by welcoming 150 Dell 2120 netbooks to our 6th Grade Campus. As last years 6th graders take their 2110 models with them to the 7th grade, we now have over 300 devices that we have to prep for the new school year. We went back and forth trying to find a convenient and efficient way to manage these devices especially as we continue our program through middle school and eventually through high school.

The Technology Department along with Dan Verwolf, our previous Network Admin, sat down and discussed some possibilities and we came up with the perfect solution. We decided to use Linux Ubuntu as our main source for deployment. We figured we will start deploying this build on all of our incoming netbooks.

We made the decision to go with a open sourced Linux operating system rather than a Windows OS for many different reasons. We feel that this solution would save money for the district in the long run which will allow us to purchase more sturdy and reliable devices. We also feel that the web resources that we have available for the district will allow us to work in the cloud and not rely on software applications. We also feel that our Technology Integration Support and Professional Development led by Sarah Wood was more than adequate to support our needs.

The issue that we ran into was how we would efficiently deploy this build to the lot of netbooks. We tried many different options until we came across Ubermix. Ubermix is based off of the Linux Ubuntu operating system, but comes with a mix of user applications that are effective for school use. Jim Klein, Director of Information Services and Technology for the Saugus Union School District in California and his team are responsible for this wonderful solution to our deployment problem. Their SWATTEC program has inspired us to use Ubermix and I can personally attest to the effectiveness and quality that this build brings to our program.

In less than 5 hours, Melissa Gill (6th Grade Teacher) and myself inventoried 150 netbooks and imaged 330 devices with 15 usb flash drives. This has certainly been the quickest and most efficient deployment we have had. Not to mention the clean and easily customize-able look the dashboard has. We sincerely offer Jim Klein our thanks and appreciation for his continued efforts to bring quality technology into our classrooms.

Please feel free to read more about Jim and Saugus Union School Districts work.

~Dan Townsend

District Technology Coordinator

Moving Forward

Last week, the Technology and Media team said goodbye to one of its valued members. Our Network Administrator, Dan Verwolf, accepted an opportunity at another institution and will no longer be working for Godfrey-Lee Public Schools. This is certainly a bittersweet ending to the week as we say farewell to our friend, yet we know that he is moving on to another level of his career. We are extremely happy for Dan and his family as they make this transition.

Working alongside Dan has been a rewarding experience for me, through the years we have shared many conversations that I will remember for a lifetime. He has openly shared his knowledge with me and I am grateful for that today. Even through our disagreements I feel that my beliefs and ideals have strengthened because of him. Dan’s creativity and innovative thinking has been a contributing factor in the growth of Godfrey-Lee’s Technology program and the success that has come from it. We were blessed to have him as a part of our team and he will be truly missed.

With that being said, we must continue to move forward providing quality support for the Godfrey-Lee School District and its stakeholders. We are determined to deliver a level of continuity for our staff and students as we come to the end of a tumultuous school year. We know that none of us are perfect; we all fall short sometimes. However, we are willing to strengthen the areas in which we are weak, embrace our failures and use them to take us higher. In a time where K-12 education is fighting to stay afloat, teachers and students need support more than ever. Our Jobs go beyond providing technology support. We must let our teachers know that we support them in every way.

The Godfrey-Lee Technology and Media Team is ready to go above and beyond expectations. We are ready to be more than a voice on the other end of the phone. We are ready to stand on the front-lines and prove that Godfrey-Lee is a community worth fighting for, because our kids are worth fighting for. We have some of the best students in West Michigan because we have some of the best Educators in West Michigan. Standing together, there is nothing we can’t do.

Here’s to a new frontier.

Student Views on Technology in the Classroom

As the end of the school year is upon us, I decided to send out a survey to students asking their thoughts about using technology as a tool in the classroom and their preferred learning habits. The survey was sent via e-mail to all 6-12 students and 66 students responded to the survey over a week's time period. Some of the responses were what I expected to see, but others were a bit surprising. Some of the questions and responses collected are listed below.

Most of the time I enjoy participating in class.

I enjoy working with classmates on class assignments.

I enjoy applying things I learned in class to real-life problems.

I like thinking about problems with no obvious "right" answer.

I like using technology to help me learn.

I like looking for answers to problems instead of my teacher giving me the answer.

I feel comfortable asking my teacher if I can complete an assignment a little bit differently.

I also asked the students several open-ended questions about the online resources they use to complete their work and how using online resources has changed the way they do their work. The students provided honest answers and I was surprised that outside of our district's web portal, the main resource they used was Google. The students use Google to not only search engine for information, but also as a way to be directed to specific web sites. This proves the necessity for information literacy to be an integrated component of content instruction.

The question that provided the most interesting information was that of, "If you could give your teachers a message about using technology in the classroom, what would it be?". Some of the responses included:

• "I would tell them to let us use computers and laptops more so we can study."
• "Make everything on the computer."
• "Let us use computers more to take notes rather than hand writing them."
• "This Is The Message I'd Give Them: Dear Teachers, Using netbooks in class helps us very much so I think you guys should let us use them more."
• "To put more assignments on the computer."
• "To allow us to use it to our advantage. "
• "To let us use our phones."
  

What does this say about our students and their thoughts on their learning? The biggest thing that speaks to me is that they want to have a voice. The students had no problem sharing ways that would help them learn in a manner that is more efficient and effective for them. The responses varied based on individual student learning preferences, and not everyone was in favor of using technology (one student responded with, "I HATE using computers they separate the connection and help a teacher gives."). This statement alone speaks to the important role that teachers will always play in the learning process, regardless of the technology used and how often it is used.

While reading the responses of this survey, what I enjoyed most was reading the honest responses from students. The evaluation piece of implementing technology in the classroom is critical, but is some times overlooked in lesson planning and implementation. If you are using technology in your classroom, how do you use student feedback to guide your re-teaching or future instruction?