Today I helped Lisa input registration data, scanned answer sheets into Testgate, and verified emergency contact information from the online registration. What a relief to be done with my Internship!
Overall, this Internship has been a great experience, and I have enjoyed working with and helping out Lisa over the past couple of months. I am definitely more aware of the duties and responsibilities that come with a LSTC position. I have discovered that while she wears the "administrator hat" on some days, she also wears the "teacher hat". One of the biggest discoveries I made is that there is a process to EVERYTHING she does and not just a magic button to be pressed in difficult situations. She said the most important thing to remember as an LSTC is where you are in any process and have the ability to determine future steps. I saw this play out many times during the Internship. A surprise to me during our time together is that she spends very little time in the classrooms compared to what I originally thought. After hearing from another GCPS LSTC in Studio last semester, it sounds as if the job description varies between schools. In the future, I would be interested in observing other LSTCs in the county . I can safely say that, at this time, I am not interested in persuing an LSTC position in the near future. It will remain a career goal, but for now, I'd like to remain in the classroom.
Time logged on 9/19: 1 hour
Total time logged: 33 hours
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Wrapping Up the Internship
It was another early morning at NGMS! Along with three other colleagues, I attended the post observation webinar to discuss how everything went on Thursday at Berkmar. Overall, the in-service went pretty well. We all gained new ideas to bring back to our curriculum areas on best practices for teaching literacy through the integration of technology and specifically, Discovery Education. The key takeaway is that students need to find evidence in the text (i.e. article, story, video) to support their opinions. This skill is consistent across the three grades levels as students must find textual evidence to fulfill the new Common Core State Standards.
During both hours of planning today, I helped Lisa with the Parent Portal Progress check letters and online registration updates. 7 weeks into the school year and we are still updating the database with student information. I also gained a student teacher today, so she had the opportunity to see a little "behind the scenes" work as I wrap up my internship hours.
Time logged on 9/17: 3 hours
Total time logged: 32 hours (1 more to go!)
During both hours of planning today, I helped Lisa with the Parent Portal Progress check letters and online registration updates. 7 weeks into the school year and we are still updating the database with student information. I also gained a student teacher today, so she had the opportunity to see a little "behind the scenes" work as I wrap up my internship hours.
Time logged on 9/17: 3 hours
Total time logged: 32 hours (1 more to go!)
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Parent Portal Updates
During my planning time today, I spent an hour going through progress check letters and noting students IDs so that I could check and see which parents had an account, which ones didn't have an account, or which ones requested an application but never created an account. Lisa and the front office staff will be calling parents to touch base.
Since Lisa was not at school on Friday, I will have to get with her on Monday so that I can print hard copies of progress reports to send home. I was hoping to finish my hours this week; however, Lisa has been unavailable for two days. I will finish my remaining hours early next week!
Time logged on 9/14: 1 hour
Total time logged: 29 hours
Since Lisa was not at school on Friday, I will have to get with her on Monday so that I can print hard copies of progress reports to send home. I was hoping to finish my hours this week; however, Lisa has been unavailable for two days. I will finish my remaining hours early next week!
Time logged on 9/14: 1 hour
Total time logged: 29 hours
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Berkmar Middle School Observation
This morning, I spent a couple of hours at Berkmar Middle School in Lilburn observing a 7th grade language arts class. The class was lead by a Discovery Education representative and teacher from North Carolina. During the lesson, the teacher previewed a novel, The Outsiders, with the students. For the lesson, she presented various pictures, video clips, and articles for the students to view and discuss with their classmates. I was really impressed with the students' interactions during the lesson, which was taught in a new classroom and by a different teacher. I also liked how technology was integrated into the curriculum to engage the students. On Monday, we will all attend a post-observation Webinar to debrief.
This opportunity has given me a chance to network with other teachers around the county who share the common interest of integrating technology in their classrooms. We had a chance to meet briefly after the lesson and discuss how we use eClass and technology in our classrooms. We also vented about the challenges of implementing Common Core in language arts. I look forward to sharing what I observed today with my language arts colleagues tomorrow morning in our Vertical Team Meeting.
Time logged on 9/13: 2 hours
Total time logged: 28 hours
This opportunity has given me a chance to network with other teachers around the county who share the common interest of integrating technology in their classrooms. We had a chance to meet briefly after the lesson and discuss how we use eClass and technology in our classrooms. We also vented about the challenges of implementing Common Core in language arts. I look forward to sharing what I observed today with my language arts colleagues tomorrow morning in our Vertical Team Meeting.
Time logged on 9/13: 2 hours
Total time logged: 28 hours
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Gwinnett County's New Teacher Evaluation System and Progress Check
On Tuesday during our curriculum meeting, we were introduced to Gwinnett County's new teacher evaluation system through an online orientation through eClass. For the orientation, Lisa used my laptop to show the "teacher view" of what we will be seeing soon with the evaluation process. I guided the teachers through the site and showed them what they would be seeing when the time comes to start evaluations. We watched a video presented by the county on the purpose of evaluations and learned how to complete the planning phase.
I spent my planning time today and one hour after school helping Lisa with progress check letters. Parents had two choices to pick from for the 5 week Progress Check. They either have Parent Portal and access to their student's grade or they do not. If they checked that they do not have access to the Portal, I had to print a hard copy of the student's grades and give to their homeroom teacher. After printing the grades, I had to figure out which category the student fits into: 1)Have Parent Portal Account (forgot password) 2)Requested account, but have not set it up 3)No Account. If they fit into the first two categories, Lisa will call home to either troubleshoot or help the parent access the account they set up. If the student does not have an account, our registrar will call home to have the parent fill out an application. Our goal is to have ALL parents on the Portal to gain access to their student's grades and progress. When I rejoined Lisa this afternoon, she was quite frustrated with all the phone calls she had to make. Some parents realized their mistake, while others were impatient with the process of figuring out their mistake.
Tomorrow morning, I will begin my day at Berkmar Middle School observing a 7th grade language arts lesson integrating discoverychannel.com into their lessons.
Time logged on 9/11 & 9/12: 3.5 hours
Total time logged: 26 hours
I spent my planning time today and one hour after school helping Lisa with progress check letters. Parents had two choices to pick from for the 5 week Progress Check. They either have Parent Portal and access to their student's grade or they do not. If they checked that they do not have access to the Portal, I had to print a hard copy of the student's grades and give to their homeroom teacher. After printing the grades, I had to figure out which category the student fits into: 1)Have Parent Portal Account (forgot password) 2)Requested account, but have not set it up 3)No Account. If they fit into the first two categories, Lisa will call home to either troubleshoot or help the parent access the account they set up. If the student does not have an account, our registrar will call home to have the parent fill out an application. Our goal is to have ALL parents on the Portal to gain access to their student's grades and progress. When I rejoined Lisa this afternoon, she was quite frustrated with all the phone calls she had to make. Some parents realized their mistake, while others were impatient with the process of figuring out their mistake.
Tomorrow morning, I will begin my day at Berkmar Middle School observing a 7th grade language arts lesson integrating discoverychannel.com into their lessons.
Time logged on 9/11 & 9/12: 3.5 hours
Total time logged: 26 hours
Monday, September 10, 2012
One Busy Day
My day began at 7:45 this morning with attending a Webinar focusing on integrating technology through DiscoveryEducation.com in the language arts classroom. On Thursday of this week, I will be observing a lesson at Berkmar Middle School that was discussed this morning. After the observation and final Webinar, I will be responsible for reporting my findings to the rest of the sixth grade language arts department. I look forward to seeing how Berkmar integrates technology into their curriculum and being given the opportunity to network with other teachers in our county that will be in attendance.
During both of my planning hours today, I helped Lisa with a few different tasks. First, I helped her with comparing the list of students who had not completed required online registration forms to paper copies the students needed to return. While it wasn't required this year for paper copies to be turned in (one sheet from their agenda books), it certainly helped to narrow down our list of students with outstanding documentation. Next, Lisa showed me how to go through the My Payments Plus website, where parents pay various school fees and indicate whether they've read required forms, and "simulate" the parent to check off documents. It's hard to believe that 5 weeks into school that we are STILL completing necessary tasks for registration.
For the students who did not have updated information in the online registration system received a packet of papers to take home with their 4 1/2 week progress check paper to complete. At the end of the day, I went back up to Lisa's office to help with updating parent contact information and emergency contact information. This required me to log in to the SASI database and search for a student and change the indicated information. This process took a while because one student may have phone numbers to change as well as emergency contact information for up to 4 people. This task will help me wrap up my Internship hours because these sheets will be coming in this week and next as students return their progress check letter.
Today was evidence of how much work our LSTC is responsible for. The work is very tedious and time consuming at times. Much of it seems repetitious; however, it is necessary.
Time logged on 9/10: 4 hours
Total time logged: 22.5 hours
During both of my planning hours today, I helped Lisa with a few different tasks. First, I helped her with comparing the list of students who had not completed required online registration forms to paper copies the students needed to return. While it wasn't required this year for paper copies to be turned in (one sheet from their agenda books), it certainly helped to narrow down our list of students with outstanding documentation. Next, Lisa showed me how to go through the My Payments Plus website, where parents pay various school fees and indicate whether they've read required forms, and "simulate" the parent to check off documents. It's hard to believe that 5 weeks into school that we are STILL completing necessary tasks for registration.
For the students who did not have updated information in the online registration system received a packet of papers to take home with their 4 1/2 week progress check paper to complete. At the end of the day, I went back up to Lisa's office to help with updating parent contact information and emergency contact information. This required me to log in to the SASI database and search for a student and change the indicated information. This process took a while because one student may have phone numbers to change as well as emergency contact information for up to 4 people. This task will help me wrap up my Internship hours because these sheets will be coming in this week and next as students return their progress check letter.
Today was evidence of how much work our LSTC is responsible for. The work is very tedious and time consuming at times. Much of it seems repetitious; however, it is necessary.
Time logged on 9/10: 4 hours
Total time logged: 22.5 hours
Friday, September 7, 2012
eClass Scavenger Hunt
Our school is currently piloting eClass which provides access to a number of digital tools geared towards specific grade levels and content areas. Tonight, I created a Scavenger Hunt that Lisa will use for a session she is doing on eClass. The Scavenger Hunt will allow teachers to explore online resources available to them as well as Collaboration Tools to aid in developing lessons that incorporate technology.
Time logged on 9/7: 30 minutes
Total time logged: 18.5 hours
Time logged on 9/7: 30 minutes
Total time logged: 18.5 hours
Online Registration Data Collection and Techno "Thursday" Update
This morning I helped Lisa with distributing paper copies of the online registration forms to homerooms that still have incomplete registration forms. I was pleased to see that our number of incomplete registrations is down from 200 to 74! Woo hoo! Once the students return their completed paperwork next week, I will be able to update data in SASI (a student information database). Lisa warned me that while this won't be the most exciting thing, it is still one of her responsibilities.
Later in the day, during my planning time, Lisa and I met to catch up. During that time, she updated me on the morning technology meetings. The first change is that it will now be called "Techno Thursdays" (mainly because the dates that were finalized were on Thursdays and not Tuesdays). Also, instead of teaching two tools per morning session, it will be one. The topics that will be taught have been changed to: Socrative.com, QR codes, Paper Slide Videos, Digital Media, Blogs, and Wordle. The morning classes will begin in October and end in May. I will be leading the class on Socrative.com in November. I'm looking forward to it! Lisa also mentioned that if teachers attend all classes, they will earn one professional learning unit. It's amazing how much the idea of "Techno Thursdays" has evolved so much in just a few weeks!
While we met today, I asked Lisa for some advice on my Studio project. A concern I had with my previous idea of a "Techno Thursday" tutorial website was that not many teachers would access it. She gave me a lead on an awesome idea. Her idea was for me to create a website for our school to use to honor teachers using technology in their classroom. The website would contain a form for teachers to nominate colleagues for their usage of technology. Along with that I could spotlight one Web 2.0 tools per week that could be incorporated into any content area. What a great idea!! I can't wait to see how this idea develops.
Time logged on 9/7: 1.5 hours
Total time logged: 18 hours
Later in the day, during my planning time, Lisa and I met to catch up. During that time, she updated me on the morning technology meetings. The first change is that it will now be called "Techno Thursdays" (mainly because the dates that were finalized were on Thursdays and not Tuesdays). Also, instead of teaching two tools per morning session, it will be one. The topics that will be taught have been changed to: Socrative.com, QR codes, Paper Slide Videos, Digital Media, Blogs, and Wordle. The morning classes will begin in October and end in May. I will be leading the class on Socrative.com in November. I'm looking forward to it! Lisa also mentioned that if teachers attend all classes, they will earn one professional learning unit. It's amazing how much the idea of "Techno Thursdays" has evolved so much in just a few weeks!
While we met today, I asked Lisa for some advice on my Studio project. A concern I had with my previous idea of a "Techno Thursday" tutorial website was that not many teachers would access it. She gave me a lead on an awesome idea. Her idea was for me to create a website for our school to use to honor teachers using technology in their classroom. The website would contain a form for teachers to nominate colleagues for their usage of technology. Along with that I could spotlight one Web 2.0 tools per week that could be incorporated into any content area. What a great idea!! I can't wait to see how this idea develops.
Time logged on 9/7: 1.5 hours
Total time logged: 18 hours
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Techno Tuesday Follow Up and Online Registration
Since my last post, I have updated the Techno Tuesday flier and Lisa has submitted it to our principal for approval. We also had a preview to what Techno Tuesdays will be like during our monthy curriculum meeting. The teachers seemed to be interested in the presentation and the demonstrations that were done. I'm excited to see how it all turns out!
Today, I worked with Lisa on online registration follow ups. The first step in analyzing the registration data was to clear up any mistakes made with student numbers. The next step is to filter data to figure out which students are still missing documents in their registration. Progress Report letters will go out Friday, and Lisa also wants to send out letters to the students with missing documents. I am realizing how many steps there are to one task. This is great experience for me, but I am realizing all the jobs Lisa is responsible for!
Time logged: 1.5 hour
Total time logged: 16.5 hours
Today, I worked with Lisa on online registration follow ups. The first step in analyzing the registration data was to clear up any mistakes made with student numbers. The next step is to filter data to figure out which students are still missing documents in their registration. Progress Report letters will go out Friday, and Lisa also wants to send out letters to the students with missing documents. I am realizing how many steps there are to one task. This is great experience for me, but I am realizing all the jobs Lisa is responsible for!
Time logged: 1.5 hour
Total time logged: 16.5 hours
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