Language Department CTE Luncheon - 5th period

CTE, April 13th, 5th period; Technology in the classroom
Moderator: Daniel Paolicchi
Faculty in Attendance:
Robbie Quinn Matt Smyth
Kevin Frantz Cherie Roberts
Daniel Paolicchi Catharine Hollifield
Michael Kelly Jan Pippen
Robert Sawyer Beatie O'Connell
Roderick Russ Jo Palmore
Ed Tarkington Samuel Lester
Dede Clements
Daniel opened the session by directing our attention to handouts provided by Sarah (NETS handout about national standards for technology in the classroom).
The discussion started with Daniel's presenting tips given by Ed Gaffney in the previous session (Ed uses the "comments" feature through our electronic gradebook -- used for both praise and explanation -- particularly useful for explaining to parents why a grade was what it was; as Ed's classroom has no chalkboard, Ed frequently uses School Pad. He can save the lesson and load it to his web site making the notes accessible to boys who are absent. He can also set it up by dates from year to year and access what he's done when in the past. Daniel carefully noted that the notes do NOT replace a student's notes in class. Also Ed uses the first class "memo" feature to record who came to help class and when and what was accomplished.)
Part two was Daniel's showing some power point slides for use in Spanish I and II -- images, NOT words. The students generate the vocabulary as they work in pairs or as a group. Daniel had scanned pictures from texts as his departure point. Daniel then discussed the Language Department's use of Google Calendar (Sarah's idea!) to schedule our language lab dates -- this scheduling is considered by us all, I think, to be very helpful.
Part three was a demonstration by Ed Tarkington of his use of the program Drop Box which enables him to do digital grading while at the same time cutting down on paper use. He also uses the function with a folder for his class sponsor duties. He's found that once he's gotten used to the correction "macros (grammar, style, spelling, etc. corrections)," he can get to and return student work more quickly. Ana and Haywood also use The "comment" and "track changes" features on MSW. Ed pointed out that many college professors are moving to this kind of student assessment, and that it's a good idea for our boys to get used to functioning in this way.
Robbie was set to give a presentation on library technology, but we ran out of time! He will mail the presentation to us.
The lunch period passed quickly, and all presentations were helpful!
Respectfully submitted,
Beatie O'Connell, scribe