Technology Bits

Great night at Independence Elementary in Lewisville. Our Parent Engagement Committee & Technology Committee joined forces with the 21st Century Program & Career Center East to share LISD technology with our school family. Members of both campus staffs worked with parents, students, & community members to share 21st Century skills we are learning. Check out the Independence Facebook page for more pics tomorrow. If you missed it, don't worry, we will be hosting another event in January. Stay posted for more details.

Thank you to all staff members, students, and parents who dedicated their time & talents to our 1st Technology PEN. Fly like an Eagle.

Technology Bits

  Good night- Tonight on Twitter - Had a great time with IES staff on #chaties. Related story on storify http://sfy.co/qHqK Very impressed by the comments & commaradory. LisaMarie has the official list for jean passes if you tweeted with us tonight. Don't forget to contribute to IES student council to wear jeans the entire month of November.

Looking forward to our writing workshop at IES tomorrow. Workshop will be facilitated by Laurie Parish of Shadow Ridge MS. She will share strategies she uses in her classroom for develop young writers. The workshop will be from 3-4:30 in our hostesses room - 4th grade team leader Mrs. T. Rodriguez. Ms. Parish's background is diverse & she has a laser focus on the writing process, grammar, mechanics & spurring the creative process in young writers.

Bring an open mind, a device of your choice, and burning questions you may have about developing young writers.  Sign up in Eduphoria if you have not done so yet -http://pdas.lisd.net/wshop/default.aspx?cid=7802 We will see you there. #ieslearns

4th & 5th Grade Teachers for this Session I

WAC @ IES Writing Across the Curriculum @ IES

Registration for this course is closed. Please contact me if you have not registered yet @mcalisterc@lisd.net

The class starts:
November 4, 2013 at 3:00 PM

The class ends:
November 4, 2013 at 4:30 PM

Technology Bits

What Makes an iPad (or any of our new technologies) More Than a $500 Worksheet?

It is clear that iPads are changing the learning landscape in Lewisville ISD. In the words of a 4th grade student “An iPad has everything - a dictionary, educational apps, Safari, notes, iMovie, Garageband and more. It’s a tool for education - if you have access to the Internet or not -It is a tool that will improve our academics.”  

Leveraging our technologies as tools for learning is one of our Strategic Design goals. As articulated in our Strategic Design - Goal 2

Engage learners through the use of technological tools to access, create, and share content as well as collaborate with other learners throughout the world. 

Are we meeting this goal?

A 7th grade student responds to this question “As a student, I think using iPads for research and school makes learning more interesting and engaging. It makes the lessons you don’t understand easy to learn with all of the educational and interactive apps. If you just used worksheets, the students wouldn’t pay much attention and completely understand the topic. It makes it easier on the teachers, as well. They don’t have to go through the trouble of making and also printing out billions of worksheets for all of their classes. It also reduces the amount of paper wasted, that many students hardly take a second glance at it. It saves trees and the environment by not using paper. Some people might say that the school districts that gave out iPads wasted their money, but I think they made a good decision and used their money wisely to make learning more fun.”

Another student interjects -” You can take pictures, use it as a research device, take notes, do many activities to improve your skills, complete your homework on the device, and many more features. It is very handy, mobile, and fun (plus, your dog won’t eat it as your homework). iPads are very popular, modern, and fun to use. There are many different settings you can use to personalize your device to really make it your own. They also can be very entertaining, because you can do a lot more than just school work. You can play games on your free time, talk with friends, Skype, and with the Kindle app you can even read your books (so you don’t have to carry them around all the time).” 

It appears that we are meeting the LISD Strategic Design goal of utilizing technology to access, create, and share content as well as collaborate with other learners throughout the world. Students and teachers alike are energized by this new addition to our toolkit. The movement to place a device in the hand of every student is not a trend - it is the new learning landscape. This change requires a paradigm shift by teachers, students, parents, and the community. As we work collaboratively with all stakeholders on this project, we move closer to closing the gaps in learning and achievement because we can and will provide all of our students with a relevant, quality education allowing our students to compete in today’s global classroom and marketplace. 

Technology Bits

This month has passed rather quickly. Lots of stuff happening on our campus. #socktober was a success due to our great counselors @mason4llearning & @amberolson_lisd. Over 1200 pairs of socks were donated and will be given to a local homeless shelter. IES is such a generous school.

 

Teachers gathered together on Friday to give our counselor - @mason4learning  a heartfelt thank you & goodbye.

We will miss our friend but wish her & Hedrick ES all of the best.

Fortunately, we will stay connected through Twitter & Facetime. Continue following Mason @mason4learnng. (I realize this request will skew the Twitter follower race results temporarily but @camcalis will catch up with her later)!

Technology Bits

Gaining momentum on Twitter. We are thrilled to have @3cardenasgirls on Twitter as of today. Just mention that you are interested in Twitter and you will be connected very quickly. We want our parents to have access to us and recognize that Twitter allows that instant communication that we have all grown to love. 

This is our Red Ribbon kick off week. Students are participating in all of our events. Monday was a great day. Students wore pjs to dream away drugs. Our K Students enjoyed participating in pj day. As you probably know, it is socktober month. Please send a package of socks for needy students on Friday. Students are making strong connections about drugs & how they can negatively impact your future. Tomorrow is western day! Giiddyup! @mason4learning #ieslearns

Technology Bits

Julio Artieda, IES 4th grade teacher, was recognized by the entire staff at a recent faculty meeting.  Mr. Artieda exceeded our campus-wide goal of learning several new apps in preparation for this school year's iPad deployment. The iPad Competency Project (ICP), was led by the IES Technology Team over the course of the summer. He is soaring with iPads at Independence and the students are definitely benefitting from his aptitude for apps. We are proud to have Mr. Artieda on our team. You may congratulate him on his accomplishment @ArtiedaJulio - That's right, he's on Twitter now!

Technology Bits

It was a great day at IES yesterday. Student centered learning was evident on our campus in many forms. @sarahtieken1 was energetically working with her students as they classified a variety of objects into specific categories they created. Students were eager to share their products with the class  via visuals and a brief explanation to their classmates. 

On Twitter: 

Lots of chatter on Twitter today - we are gaining momentum utilizing it as a PLN and a way to connect with our parents. People are busy! Use what works for you, your parents, students, and staff. Challenges include the comfort level of some people as they try utilizing social media as a tool and the importance of keeping our students safe in this worldwide, 24/7 environment. It is definitely a journey we are taking together. @bluesquarex, @mason4learning, @pretendplayprek @mrs.sfocht, @mrsearroyo, @amberolson, @tammyfarmermac, @mrsmondlock, @02erod, @garciasyp, @mrs_sayre123, @ortiz19, @sewella08, @v_deneumostier, @teddie_winslow- keep your tweets coming!

Check out some pros/cons of social media:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/information/pros-cons-social-networking1.html

Keep tweeting @camcalis

Technology Bits

Still working on followers ... Mason = 91 McAlister =86 

Having a great time getting people connected on Twitter. Our campus is very receptive to new learning and collaborating with one another. @mrsummersjd joined Twitter today. As a 1st year teacher, he is truly seeking the best methods to reach all of his students. @mason4learning and @amberolson_lisd did a great job of kicking off Rachel's Challenge this week. As we come to the end of the week, it is a great time for reflection and regrouping. We have big challenges and are fortunate to have a talented staff that is ready and committed to providing our students with the rich educational experiences they deserve.  @sewella08 lead the IES Math Investigations team today as they worked to develop a dynamic session of professional development for Oct. 11. #ieslearns 

Technology Bits

Yes, the title changed but I will continue to share the Twitter trials. It appears that @mason4learning is currently exceeding my followers by 9 followers. 

I was thrilled to find Smore and create a great flyer for our tech team. 

Tuesday was another great day of learning at IES. Students and teachers have seamlessly integrated our new tech tools into everyday activities. It amazes me that the rate of learning seems to be increasing exponentially. Maybe it's just my imagination, but the 4th grade students and teachers have started a journey that has more navigators than passengers. Students are creating their future. #ieslearns

Today on Twitter

Enjoy learning something new. Took a very short break from Twitter this weekend. Participated in two Twitter chats tonight. If you have not done this yet, I highly recommend it. You can participate using your regular feed or you may actually register on twubs if you have the #

Go to http://twubs.com, enter the hashtag you want to explore.

1. 

2.

3. Press send and your post will display

4. You may also register your own #hashtagifitsstillavailable and you will be its administator

#tryitforfun

Today on Twitter

What? See below - the story continues to unfold. Welcome @trod4learning & @MrsMondlock- so glad you are connected. Next step is to get Summers & Artieda on board. It has been a busy week of learning and meetings. Students and teachers continue working together to learn new things. The 4th graders are learning how to care for their iPads & utilize them as an additional tool in the classroom. The 4th grade teachers are taking the lead in applying/integrating technology in their daily activities. #ieslearns #4thgraderocks

Today on Twitter

 Ok, here are the latest stats

Not quite sure what is happening! Is she buying followers? I will continue to solicit for more followers. It is a great day for adding new users - @karamauldin is now on board the Twitter train. This is definitely a learning experience for us all. Great things are happening at Independence. Keep tweeting.

Today on Twitter

The chronicles of Twitter continue - @amberolson_lisd and @Tammyfarmermac are now followers. Pretty pumped about these additions to the IES Twitter Family. As promised, here is the report of followers:

The most important thing is, we continue to grow our knowledge base/PLN via Twitter. New ideas and inspiration are alway available. Harnessing the power of this and making it work for our campus is a mini-project of ours. Looking forward to a great learning experience with @SarahTieken1 tomorrow morning. #ieslearns #lisdlearns

 

Today on Twitter

Added another Twitter follower today @mrswfrazier. Still waiting for  @AmberOlson_lisd to follow me! Correction, two new followers @tammyfarmermac is now following. Trying to grow an online PLN is hard work. I have not checked on @mason4learning today but will report who has the highest number of followers tomorrow. Our campus is beginning to embrace the connectedness of mobile learning via iPads and smart phones. We all share a strong desire to learn new things and work daily to instill this same desire in our students. #ieslearns