EETT teachers met and shared ideas, tips and projects as they completed a final day of training. Each teacher created a website for their classroom to facilitate sharing digital content, current events and classroom news. Their websites will be linked here soon.
EETT teachers please register on line at workshops.putnamschools.org for a follow-up day of training. I look forward to seeing you soon.
There are great projects unfolding on our campuses. Renee Wright's math students at Jenkins Middle School wrote word problems involving rational numbers and created mini math movies to present their problems to their peers. James A. Long Elementary School and Price Middle School teachers are sharing projects and tips on their own EETT project wikis. Eight Graders at Q.I.Roberts Middle School made great history presentations which included excellent photographs and video clips they had captured in St.Augustine on a field trip. Palatka High School students in Todd Dixon's class used presentations to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts of communication and design as they created kiosk presentations for an imaginary technology museum.I could go on and on! Way to go EETT participants.
All equipment is in place and exciting reports are being shared. EETT teachers are meeting and planning strategies for using labs. Videos and happy pictures of students using technology are popping up on our websites. Slowly but surely we are making progress. Thanks for your hard work EETT Teachers! You are making a difference in Putnam County.
We are midway through the process of placing twelve mobile labs in schools. 78 teachers have received four days of training at UCF, and a new laptop, projector and Flip video camera. Our Action Research Project will begin later this month. Teachers are sharing projects on a wiki and we are already receiving feedback on the new labs. Watch Miller Intermediate School's video Loving the Laptops
On the last day of the Institute I asked our teachers to write a brief reflection about their week. Here are a few of their comments:
"This is the best workshop/institute that I have attended. Collaboration with other teachers, from other schools, new cross platform equipment and software that really seems far superior to what we have had, it is really incredible."
"I learned so much and found so many new resources! I met new teachers and shared information; enjoyed talking, laughing, along with learning. I didn't know so much was available to me."
" I received my Mac on Monday night. I didn't even know how to turn it on. It is Friday and I can navigate the Mac quite well. I can create my own music in Garage Band or Audacity, I can edit and manipulate images using iphoto and imovie . I have made two wiki pages and learned how to make graphic organizers out of outlines. ...To me this is amazing. This is how workshops should conclude."
"...Overall I had a change of opinion regarding technology in the classroom. A light bulb went on for me."
"This weeks experiences were exciting to the point of overwhelming but in a fantastic way. The amount of information that I was exposed to has really opened my eyes to the varied types of technology available in the classroom."
"It was a very exciting and at times stressful experience. I learned more than I thought I was capable of learning...I am anxious to use what I have learned in my classroom."
"The information that was presented ...was not what I expected. Each day I felt like a kid in a chocolate(with almonds) candy store. Everything on the agenda was enticing and thought provoking... If excitement is contagious look out science students, you will be infected."
Podcasting, movie making, wikis, digital storytelling, Garageband and various web 2.0 tools were topics covers at the Teaching and Learning Institute in Orlando.
7/29/08 New laptops are being distributed to eighty Putnam County teachers this week. The recipients, all participants in the 2008 - 2009 Enhancing Education through Technology Grant Project, will travel to Orlando in August to attending a four day Florida Digital Educator, Teaching and Learning Institute. This project, Infusing Digital Education in Putnam ( iDep) , was written to leverage a state wide initiative to provide teachers with training and tools to integrate technology in their classrooms. The project's focus is on Project Based Learning.
Putnam County has been awarded the EETT grant for the 2008-2009 school year! The district will utilize the funding to provide opportunities for teachers and students to develop essential 21st century skills through project-based learning and authentic technology-supported instructional methods.
Eighty Putnam teachers will attend a Florida Digital Educator Teaching and Learning Institute in August to kick off the project. The Florida Digital Educator program is a state wide initiative focusing on standards based technology integration, project based learning and action research. It is part of a large scale professional development opportunity which is making an impact across our state in using technology to make a difference in our students’ achievement and in preparing them for the future. Project Based Learning promotes high levels of student interest and engagement. It requires the use of higher order thinking skills and encourages creativity while providing students with a platform for meaningful and relevant inquiry.
Each teacher involved in the project will receive a laptop and digital video camera to use in their classroom and twelve schools are targeted to receive Mobile Learning Labs. Research and professional development will be ongoing.
