Daily Archives: November 1, 2006

Frieda Foxworth
Lexington, South Carolina, USA
Blog: http://friedafoxworth.edublogs.org/ 

Ron Bosch 
Lexington, South Carolina, USA
http://www.lexington1.net/rbe/21cc/index.html

John Geanangel
Lexington, South Carolina, USA
https://www.edline.net/pages/Red_Bank_Elementary_School/Instructional_Coaches/Technology_Coach_-_John_Geanan 

Presentation Title
“Cultivating Digital Educators”

Bio
Frieda Foxworth and Ron Bosch are fifth grade teachers at Red Bank Elementary School. They are partner teachers in a technology-enriched classroom. Their class, the 21st Century Classroom, was begun as a pilot program in their district in 2003. John Geanangel has been their Technology Integration Specialist since 2002. Their school now has 5 similar 2 to 1 computing classrooms in a program called Global Horizons. They have overcome many challenges and continue to work through new ones as they have worked to create a culture of digital educators. They have given presentations about our program at district, state, and national levels.

Description
How do you transform a traditional school environment into one where teachers effectively use technology for collaboration, curriculum development, instructional delivery, and student engagement? It doesn’t happen overnight, and many challenges must be overcome. Changes must be made in the pedagogical attitudes of both administrators and teachers. Necessary equipment must be secured within the realm of limited budgets. Educators must be transformed from lone workers on an island into contributing members of a collaborative community. Instructional practices must shift to keep pace with the daily changes occurring in the global digital world. This presentation will share how these obstacles have been overcome, and how transformation is taking place at one elementary school. Vision and leadership have paved the way for teachers to embrace radical change that is occurring through the taking of many ‘baby steps.’ Web 2.0 tools have played an important role in this process. A wiki was used to develop the Global Horizons Technology Initiative, a plan for creating classrooms committed to technology-integrated instructional practices. Wikis have also been used by teachers for grade-level collaborative planning and by students for writing stories online with a partner. Blogs are beginning to be used for staff development, as a parent communication tool, and for the delivery of some instructional activities. Students are learning to use a blog as a way to reflect on learning. A podcast will be used to make this presentation and will include samples of the solutions listed above.

Presentation
http://k12online.wm.edu/cde.m4v

Shawn Nutting
Trussville, Alabama, USA
Blog: http://vwnutt.blogspot.com/

Presentation Title
“Internet Access with Minimal Filtering”

Bio
Shawn has been involved with IT for over 16 years. Most of his expericnce comes from emerging software development companies. For almost two years now Shawn has been the Director of Technology for Trussville City Schools. He enjoys applying current technology in his schools. Shawn believes that Web 2.0 tools are essential in todays classroom.

Description
Parental and district concerns for internet safety is something that his school system invests a lot of time in. Internet filtering is an obvious key to this. Their basic level of internet safety was to install a filtering piece that maintains state and federal standards for K-12 internet safety. Their current product is very limiting. It blocks a lot of sites they would like to have open for teachers. They encourage and push teachers to use the 21st Century and Web 2.0 tools. This year they are changing products to allow them to be more customer service oriented. Teachers will have more freedom than ever with internet use in the classroom. A huge concern of their technical department is this freedom. Open internet access in the hands of a non-tech savvy teacher could do catastrophic political damage within their community. They invest a lot of time on professional development for their faculty and staff. They  also spend a lot of time with the Board of Education and City Council. In addition they have open forums with parents and bombard parents with information about their technology use within the classroom. After conversations with them, they walk away understanding the need for Web 2.0 in the classroom. They also have an open communication with teachers. Blocking or unblocking sites should only take a few hours, but no more than 24.

Presentation
http://k12online.wm.edu/K12Online_sn.mp4