March 27, 2008 01:37 PM

Qwest Grant: La Pine Middle School

Project Overview:
The two prongs of the project are equipment purchasing (document cameras and projectors) and release-time for training and strategically using the technology.

At the beginning of the project (prior to purchase and training), four projectors and two document cameras were available to the nine classrooms in the 5th/6th grade wing of the middle school. Teachers were uncomfortable with the technology and did not integrate it into teaching and learning (bringing the projection units in only for special occasions or to show a movie clip from Discovery Education or a similar situation).

In December, each of the nine was outfitted with a projector/docucamera, and we had a half-day of release time to become comfortable with the process of capturing and posting (on a blog or teachertube) classroom activities. We especially focused on math instruction using the document camera system.

In March we gathered again for a second half-day of release time to discuss successes and frustrations. It is exciting to see teachers becoming comfortable enough with technology that they are putting it into the hands of students and not just being the center of classroom attention.

In May we will gather evidence of technology infusion and describe the climate change that has happened on our 5th/6th grade wing.

Posted by timchase on March 27, 2008 at 01:37 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

January 18, 2008 08:04 AM

Local to Global: Ashland's Qwest Grant

With easy access to iPods and digital microphones, students will be able to capture, edit and publish oral histories. Using a multimedia workstation they will be able to present information about content, such as the Oregon Trail, through creatively written and produced video podcasts. Students developing book reports or biographies will express themselves through varied media.

Through iEarn projects students will experience authentic investigations and expand their audience for projects. iEARN is an organization dedicated to creating world wide opportunities for students. It is a global network that enables teachers and students to use the Internet and other new technologies to collaborate on projects that both enhance learning and make a difference in the world. http://www.iearn.org/

Through blogs and video conferencing, students will share writing and collaborate on projects with their classmates, students in other Ashland schools and peers around the globe. The ability to publish instantly and engage in interactive, two-way communication builds a powerful learning community.

Posted by morgancottle on January 18, 2008 at 08:04 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

January 15, 2008 09:01 PM

Qwest Grant: Mapping of the Buck Creek Cabins

The 6th Graders at Sunridge Middle School in Pendleton have been braving the rainy winter weather to begin their preparations of training to use the GPS and learning to import data on to Google Earth and Google Maps. In rotation, all nine classrooms are going through the GPS boot camp in preparation for Outdoor School at the Buck Creek Cabins in May. The students have had no complaints - even when we had a complete down pour in the middle of our geocaching activity! Boy, did they want the treasure!

The main goal of this project is to bring technology and the outdoors together. Using GPSs, digital cameras, and mapping software, the students will be adding another dimension to all they see and do while at Outdoor School. They will be recording coordinate data, species of wildlife, trails, and elevations while at the cabins. Upon return from Outdoor School they will be working together to put their collections together as a class into a collaborative multi-media mapping project.

As far as the laptops, set of GPS, and digital cameras, they have all been ordered and until they arrive, we have been content in borrowing from the UMESD!

For the immediate future, the goal is to get all the classes through the GPSs and imputing data training. I will also be working with groups of students from each classroom in the coming months on how to import photos and written reports into mapping software. We will be doing this through a smaller community mapping project of sites around our town. This way we will have experienced students in each class to be peer helpers. The 6th grade teachers are all excited to be a part of this project as well, with some of them attempting to use GPSs with their students for the first time through this project! It has been a fun process so far, and as the weather improves, it should only get better!

Posted by heidipaullus on January 15, 2008 at 09:01 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

Engaging all Learners – One at a Time

At the beginning of this school year we received two eInstruction student response systems to use in our school. We were amazed at how it changed the atmosphere during direct instruction and class discussions; allowing teachers to meter time on task for both the quick thinkers and the slower methodical thinkers, the openness of discussion when students were commenting on “most chosen” or “least chosen” answer, and the high level of active participation of even the most reluctant learners.

We dared to dream… “What if every grade level at Mabel Rush Elementary School had a response system to share and to create lessons for each other, collaborate on best questioning strategies, and encourage each other in the use of the systems in their classrooms?” Knowing change can be a slow process in larger schools, we started small (where we could be successful). We asked for teacher leaders to volunteer to be on the cutting edge of this learning. We had at least 2 teachers at each grade level excitedly step forward. Our short term goals are to:

Meet each month January to May to:
1) Learn how to set up and use the systems
2) Be focusing on developing questioning strategies, focusing on critical thinking and metacognition.
3) Sharing tips and tricks for using the systems in the classroom
4) Collaborating on the sharing and organization of grade level lessons we have created on our server.

The long-term goal of this project is to develop teacher leaders at each grade level who will then become trainers and supporters (guide on the side) of the other teachers in their grade-levels on the best practices of using student response systems in their classrooms.

As a side note, after we found out about this grant, funds came available to purchase 1 more system for our school, having a total of eight systems for first the 11 lead teachers and then our 25 staff members to use.

Posted by krisbower on January 15, 2008 at 12:05 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

January 14, 2008 09:20 PM

Skate Park in My Backyard?

My students will combine the use of three types of technology (digital cameras, Google Earth, and Garageband) to create a virtual fieldtrip.

This project will include designing, planning, researching, synthesizing media (text, pictures, and location), writing to communicate what they have learned, and presenting it.

By using Google Earth, students will be able to see how geographic features impact city planning. They will also use Google Earth to design a virtual fieldtrip, and will explore various layers to learn more about the physical Earth. By using GarageBand, students will be able to make their voices heard around the world.

Google Earth has been used very little at my school and only in an introductory way. GarageBand was introduced last year to those of us that participated in an Ed Tech grant, but not as a focus for us. I’m confident that with my training this year and my help disseminating this information to my students and my fellow teachers, these are two technologies that could really lift us into teaching our goals of 21st century technology!

Posted by kimhernandez on January 14, 2008 at 09:20 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

Collaborative Writing Project

Fourth Grade teachers at Central Elementary were thrilled to learn that we received the Qwest Grant to help improve our writing program. We received the technology equipment....Macbooks, projectors, document cameras, and tablets during our winter break. We spent a couple days during the break to get the systems up and going. It was and is a fantastic learning experience for the students, as well as for the teachers. We have already seen an increase in student motivation to use proper conventions, better handwriting, and more details. Students never know if their work is what is going to be shared via the document camera. Here is our goal statement and lesson outline:

Project Goals

Central Elementary School, located in LaGrande, Oregon, has had a major shift in size and population in the last two years. We have seen our school change from a K-6 elementary school with 410 students and 25% free and reduced lunch, to a K-5 school with 468 students and 42% free and reduced lunch. As our school changes, the needs of the students change, our class sizes are growing, and our teachers are looking for ways to reach students in whole group settings, rather than the time consuming one on one conferencing approach.
Our School-Improvement Plan focuses on writing. We have seen our writing assessment scores go from 42% meeting or exceeding to 35% in 2007. We are getting more students that have lower reading and writing abilities, with less and less Title One money to pay for assistant help.
We seek the ability to reach all students as our class sizes grow and our opportunities to work one-on-one with students decrease.
Our goal is to incorporate technology that would allow interactive lessons during our writing sessions.
Our goal for our students is to provide scoring, instant feedback, and collaborative writing opportunities.
Our School Improvement Plan states that we will improve our writing assessment scores by 5 % each year.

Student Goals:
Students will use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

Students will use the writing process to produce quality writing samples that will met the Oregon 4th Grade Standards

Use a variety of strategies to prepare for writing.
Learn revision techniques
Learn how to paragraph correctly
Learn how to edit and what editing is all about
Use the REAL network at the Oregon Department of Education’s website
Learn the Oregon Scoring Guide and to score other students’ work.
Provide opportunities to explore the modes of writing such as narrative, expository, and persuasive.

The following are examples of how we will use technology with students in our classrooms:

1. The teacher will prepare a lesson on the use of an inviting lead sentence using literature and authors students are familiar with. It will be loaded onto the laptop and presented to the students via the projector. After discussion about the characteristics of an inviting lead sentence, students in collaborative groups will search for more examples of inviting leads within the classroom library. They will type them on their Quickpads and share with the rest of the class.
2. The class will collaborate on writing a five paragraph narrative essay with either a student or the teacher writing on a piece of notebook paper using the document camera and projector. When the rough draft is complete, using the Tablet PC, students and the teacher can add revisions and edit in such a manner that everyone in the class can see and contribute.
3. Using the Oregon Department of Education’s REAL network, students can interactively learn the Oregon Scoring Guide for writing. The scoring guide can be projected onto the screen, the teacher can highlight on Tablet PC, while students are highlighting their copies. Students can score available work samples, and using the Quickpads can beam their scores to the class laptop, and then discussion will follow.
4. Students have written a five paragraph narrative essay. Revision is the lesson goal. Students volunteer to take their essay up to the document camera to collaborate with the class on adding details to the essay. Students use the Tablet PC to interject editing marks or details.
5. The teacher shares descriptive writing (orally and visually) from literature and authors students are familiar with. Then she provides a very bland paragraph for group to collaboratively revise using figurative and descriptive language (appropriately, without going over the top). The groups type in their final copy on their Quickpads. It is then beamed to the projector for group assessment and discussion.
6. Under the dimension of Word Choice, using the Quickpads and projector, students can collaboratively brainstorm lists of words for topic word banks, lists of words to take the place of old tired words, use the thesaurus to look for synonyms of bland words that may be more exciting to use. These lists can be saved for future use or copied out and put in student writing folders.
7. Using the Binocular Approach, a picture is flashed on the screen showing a shot of a scene in a marsh from far away. Students write a story about what they see. Groups then use the Quickpads to list details that they see. The Tablet PC can be passed around for students to circle the objects they see. They share their stories using the document camera. They make revisions to their stories at this time. Then a close up picture of the marsh is shown. Groups list more details, discuss and revise their stories further to create more detailed essays.

Student-centered use of technology impacts student performance

Ideas/Content: *60%

The use of technology will open the world to students that rarely travel out of Eastern Oregon. The more students experience, the better writers they become. As we all know, it is better to write about what you know.

Organization: *55%

Students come to fourth grade knowing how to write one paragraph. They need to be able to write essays using paragraph skills by the Writing Assessment window which is in January/February. Using collaborative writing, students can learn how to use paragraphing effectively. Students can write their rough drafts, show them to the class using the document reader. The paper can be cut up to show what belongs where and the whole class can participate. Students can judge collaborative writing in the area of writing an inviting introduction and a satisfying ending. Access to graphic organizers on the web will help students to organize their thoughts before they begin to write.

Sentence Fluency: *55%

Students often have problems with sentence fluency. Some create long sentences that take up the whole essay. Some have short, choppy sentences that are very boring to read. Giving students the ability to see and experience sentences that flow across the page as opposed to those that are choppy and mechanical, invites the students to incorporate appropriate sentence structure into their own writing. Working collaboratively with the Tablet PC, Quickpads, Document camera, and projector, students can quickly share their new and improved sentences with the class for their critiques.

Conventions: *42%

Editing, editing, editing. Just telling students they need to look for misspellings, punctuation, indenting, capitals, and left out words, does not do the trick. They do not transfer it over to their own writing. They need ongoing work with learning to edit. One program we use is the daily edit or Daily Oral Language. The two sentences for the day can be projected, students can write corrections in their DOL journals. Then the Tablet PC can be given to a student to note corrections for the whole class to see. Or, students can volunteer to have a collaborative edit session, where the whole class can help to edit their paper.

* Percentage of students meeting or exceeding in this dimension 2006/07

Posted by lesliegraham on January 14, 2008 at 07:15 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

Qwest Grant - Thurston H.S.

On a weekly basis, as students stream into the classroom, someone comments on the large check displayed proudly on the back wall of my classroom, and there is a sense of mixed excitement and anticipation that comes with my explanation of the project the check makes possible.

Go.Map.Springfield: The Springfield Storymapping Project will challenge Thurston High School students to share stories of the place they call home. This concept of story mapping, www.storymapping.org/, involves students in the process of going out into their community, unearthing stories connected to specific places in Springfield, interviewing those involved in the stories, turning it into a digital story format, and then publishing via Google Earth to share the stories.

As a culminating part of this project, students will share the stories they find by inviting the community to attend a special screening of Go.Map.Springfield: The Springfield Story Mapping Project. In addition, the stories will be available online for others to see; this interactive map of Springfield with digital stories that can be clicked and viewed will only be the first in what, I hope, will become a larger collection of stories created by Springfield students about their community.

I plan to implement this unit by guiding students, working independently or in small groups of two or three, through the following stages:

1. Discovery. Students will choose to share either a story of place already familiar or find a new story of place. Through this process of discovery students will research their community using the internet, books, the local newspaper, school yearbooks, and other resources. In addition, they will find community members knowledgeable about the places found within Springfield and will conduct interviews with these individuals.

2. Scriptwriting. Students will work through the stages of the writing process, writing a script about their place story using information gathered in the interview and research process.

3. Storyboarding. Students will plan and organize the images, script voiceover, transitions, music/sound effects, and special effects that will later be blended together to create a digital story about the place they chose to tell a story about.

4. Gathering Resources. Students will collect and digitize video, photographs, and audio files that contribute to the story.

5. Movie Making. Students will work through the movie editing process using iMovie technology to blend all the elements together in the creation of a three to five minute digital story.

6. Publishing. Students will participate in planning and presenting their stories during a movie premiere. In addition, students will assist in the creation of the Go.Map.Springfield: The Springfield Story Mapping Project website where their stories will be made available to the public via Google Earth.

In February, the first group of students, about 120 sophomores, will begin storymapping. After receiving the first grant payment in December, I was able to order all items necessary for student recording and editing kits, a digital projector and mounting system, and additional recording and editing accessories. Five student recording kits for student use in school and available for student check out to provide students with quality products to capture audio and/or video interviews, photographs, video clips, and audio music clips. Each recording kit, packed in a protective photo/video carrying case will include one iPod nano equipped with a microphone and a Canon digital camera. In addition, five classroom editing kits, including microphones and headphones, will enable students to listen to, record, and edit audio elements.

Posted by ginnyhoke on January 14, 2008 at 10:33 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

January 13, 2008 01:36 PM

Project Title: Optimizing Listening/Learning Opportunities for Deaf/Hearing Impaired Children Through Integration of Assistive Listening Devises and Current Technology

Alison Kaiser, Teacher of the Deaf and Marcia Zegar, Speech/Language Pathologist are thrilled to have their grant funded through QWEST. Both Alison and Marcia work at Salem Heights Elementary in Salem, Oregon. Salem Heights is the Center Site for Deaf/Hard of Hearing Students from Salem-Keizer schools and surrounding communities. With the advent of digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, students now have access to sounds never before achievable. This provides opportunities for auditory learning but also demands updated teaching methodologies and integration of current technology. With optimal integration of assistive listening devises and technology, many of our students can now “learn to listen and listen to learn”. The purpose of our project is to use technology to aid a student’s auditory language development in each of the 4 areas: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Through funds provided by the grant, 2 Listening/Learning Labs will be created. Each Lab will consist of a Mac Book, InFocus Projector, and iPods. Students will also have access to MP3 players paired with books for take-home activities. Students will learn how to link their assistive listening devises to the above mentioned technology to enhance auditory learning. Students will also learn basic processes to incorporate use of iLife features and iPods in the speaking, listening, reading and writing processes. Productions will include podcasts, auditory stories, iMovies, iPhoto books, iWeb design, and exploration of the many features of the operating system, Leopard. Use of Garage Band and the external Snowball Mic will enhance auditory learning and will be integrated into productions.

Many of our students are at the early stages of “learning to listen”. Through a generous donation by a local recording studio, selected literature will be recorded at stages of auditory development. Signal to noise ratios will be controlled and auditory background information will be introduced in developmental steps to aid the student’s auditory processing and development of auditory figure/ground differentiation.

Students will share their newly learned technology skills for select projects in their mainstream classrooms along with organizing a ‘parent night’ to display their many project productions.

At this time (January 15, 2008) we are anxiously awaiting arrival of our Apple purchases so we can begin this merger of hearing aids, cochlear implants, and personal FM systems with current technology through the QWEST grant purchases.

Posted by marciazegar on January 13, 2008 at 01:36 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

January 7, 2008 03:17 PM

Hand in Hand Learning with Promethean Boards

Our Hand in Hand Learning Project is about enhancing all students’ learning while engaging the special needs students using Promethean Board Systems. Desert View is K-5 school in Hermiston, Oregon. This project involves a 1st, 3rd, and 4th grade classroom and the media specialist. The main goal of this project is to motivate and improve student learning in Math and Writing using the interactive white Boards. Each of the 3 classrooms will receive a Promethean Board, a slate, a wand, and share a set of ActiVotes. The teachers will also attend the ITSC conference and receive training on using these systems.

Teachers will integrate the Interactive Boards with a variety of lessons across the curriculum. Learning will be student centered starting with an introduction to basic prerequisites, involve student exploration, teachers will facilitate student collaboration and sharing within the grade level, teach others across the school, and publish on the web. Teachers will team monthly at Professional Learning Community events to share discoveries, teach other teachers about their impact on student learning and what’s been most motivating.

The second goal of this project is to increase teacher skills incorporating this interactive and motivating tool into student lessons with more boards in the future. Our teachers have used Promethean Boards before on a check out basis, but need to have them permanently available in their rooms to impact on-going student learning.

Our project blog can be viewed at: http://danahill.umesd.net/journal.php?catid=0

Posted by danahill on January 7, 2008 at 03:17 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

December 21, 2007 10:50 AM

Smart Boards Prevent Bored Students

Six of our teachers at Juniper Elementary School will be receiving and creating lessons using Smart Board technology in their classrooms for the first time. Our goal is to provide teachers the equipment and training in order to use the Smart boards effectively in the classroom. Or focus will be to create lessons that are student interactive, were students use the technology to teach and learn while the teacher is free to move about and work with children on their level.

At this time, our teachers have completed a selection process. We hoped to focus on teachers who felt that they would or could use the technology daily in their classroom. Our school is a technology Magnet for our district and this has been of great benefit as much of the needed infrastructure was already available in many of the classrooms. By luck or interested teachers represent nearly all grade levels in the building. There classrooms are also in places throughout the campus that evenly distribute the equipment for long term use.

This entry will be updated upon arrival of the equipment and then again during training in the case that anyone would like to be involved in the training opportunity.

Thanks to everyone who is making this possible!

The grant application is available upon request.

Posted by scottmcdonald on December 21, 2007 at 10:50 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

December 14, 2007 08:37 PM

Write (Around / Across) the World

The project began by learning to connect with other classroom teachers via E-Pals. Thus far, I have made connections with teachers in Germany and England. One wants to become pen pals as we conduct similar units and share information about each classes learning.

We are working to get all of our waivers (parent consent required under thirteen) so that we can obtain e-mail addresses for each student. Our district has asked all parties involved to be certified with I-safe in order to use E-Pals. I must note that only e-pals can send messages to other e-pal addresses. Our IT specialist will teach a safety class and proper etiquette when sending e-mails or searching the web.

Today, students received a demonstration with a piece of assistive handwriting technology called the Fly Fusion Pen. It is a pen which has a micro-camera and special paper used to import handwriting into a word document and either leave as is or convert to text. Both E-pals and Fly Fusion Pens have technology to translate language; however there is a small up charge of $810.00 for 30 pens to be upgraded with software capable of translating languages beyond very basic words like car, cat, dog...

Next, we will engage in writing interactively with classmates to test their e-mail accounts and editing procedures when importing handwriting into text.

We have created our bulletin board and added a few countries and soon the cities we plan to make contact with. Once we start getting letters we will post them on the bulletin board with a string connecting each city with the letter sent from that city to ours and out to a boarder made up of the letters they send us.

This project will allow students to teach our own community through publishing work shared with citizens throughout the world. Students will present information about their own learning by sharing letters and reports they create. They will be sharing and learning content by communicating with a captive audience. Students will also be using the data they collect to educate others about newly aquired knowledge that happens in a small corner of the world like Madras, Oregon. After all, how exciting can it be to present information to an old teacher or parent sitting in the same room when you can send messages around the world to a person your own age studying the same things?

Posted by twheeler on December 14, 2007 at 08:37 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

November 13, 2007 12:35 PM

Regional and ESD Cadre Mini-Grants

For the past two years ODE and OETC have been able to fund efforts in the replica of our Oregon EdTech Professional Development Cadre. We are funding ESDs and Districts committed to cadres in their region that provide training in instructional technology using the tools and resources provided at the state cadre.

For 2007-08 we are happy to announce the funding of all applications.

Baker and LaGrande School Districts	Mark Freeman &Tim Welch
Clackamas Education Service	Gerry Balaban
Harrisburg School Dist. 7	Alex Allen
High Desert ESD	Steve Prull
Hood River Cty Sch Dist	Dr. Pat Evenson-Brady
Klamath Fall City Schools	Leigh Ann Arthur
Mapleton District #32	Connie Eastburn
Southern Oregon ESD	Virginia Petitt
Springfield Public	Lynn Lary
Umatilla Morrow ESD	Joe Buglione
Willamette ESD	Corin Richards
Malheur ESD	Darbie Dennison

Posted by jena on November 13, 2007 at 12:35 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

QWEST GRANT WINNERS

Congratulations to the first round of Qwest Grant winners. Teachers are involved in regional/district cadres and are partnering as teams to make a difference in instructional technology opportunities for students.

Kim Hernandez	Centennial Elementary	“Skate Park in My Backyard?”
Heidi Paullus	Sunridge Middle School	Community Mapping of Buck Creek Cabins
Ginny Hoke	Thurston High School	Go.Map.Springfield: The Springfield Story Mapping Project
Tim Chase	La Pine Middle School	Teaching & Learning Math w/ Tecnology Integration
Morgan Cottle & Mark Sherbow	Walker Elementary	Community Connections: Local to Global

We are awaiting word on the ability to fund additional applications. We will keep you posted.

Posted by jena on November 13, 2007 at 12:16 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

September 28, 2007 04:09 AM

Two Oregon Grant Opportunities

ODE and OETC are working on providing two different grant opportunities for the cadre in 2007-08.

• Oregon EdTech Professional Development Cadre Incentive Grants, For District/Regional Cadres. This is a draft of the application and requirements. A final copy will be replaced here in mid September.


• Qwest Foundation for Education, Competitive Mini-Grant Application Package for Regional Cadre Teachers and Teams.

Posted by jena on September 28, 2007 at 04:09 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

September 14, 2007 08:18 AM

Interwrite Makeover Video Contest

If you know a teacher that might like to win $15,000 of Interwrite products, here is a fun opportunity. Teachers and students will have a great time working together to make a short music video that demonstrates how they use (or would like to use) technology in the classroom. Learn more.

Posted by jena on September 14, 2007 at 08:18 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

August 8, 2007 04:48 PM

Grant opportunity...

I think this might be a great grant opportunity from Best Buy if any of you are interested.

Posted by jena on August 8, 2007 at 04:48 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

March 27, 2007 03:24 PM

2006-07 Awarded Grants

Powered by bubbl.us

Posted by jena on March 27, 2007 at 03:24 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

February 12, 2007 10:30 AM

Qwest Grants: Blachly Sch3/27/

The goals of this project are to 1) increase teacher and student access to teaching and learning tools, 2) use technology to increase student achievement in social studies, and 3) increase teacher and student ability to integrate technology into daily classroom lessons. Through the use of a interactive white board teachers and students can construct interactive presentations utilizing various types of technology.

As an example: an innovative approach to local history might be to use SMART technology (interactive white board) to generate layered maps of a local area. These maps could include topograghy, economic concepts, historical sites and so on. Using the mapping software students could construct layers to be added to the base map. The story of who came, when they came, and why they came could be told on the interactive white board. Active buttons on the interactive board could be added to show oral interviews, pictures and video recordings of the locality. Groups of students would be responsible for portions of the final presentation (SS 08 HS 07 and SS 08 HS 08). The completed project could be recorded on the laptop for distribution to those who participated, absent students, and/or special needs students.

Information on white board techology-http://smarttech.com/

Posted by tonywynn on February 12, 2007 at 10:30 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

February 11, 2007 10:58 AM

Qwest Grant

Project Title: Kids, Kameras and Kreativity

The three goals of the Kids, Kameras and Kreativity project are to:

Integrate tools of emerging technology into classrooms in a simple and friendly manner
Engage students with these tools through a process that illustrates application, analysis and evaluation of their learning
Demonstrate and facilitate these uses in other classrooms throughout our school

Project Overview:

Funds awarded by this grant will be used to purchase approximately 15 digital cameras, a student response system, and other materials to support those tools.

The gist of this project is students going out and taking photos using digital cameras, then interacting with their photos, and those of their peers, through the student response system.

For example, students in primary grades may take photos of things that start with the sound "ca" as in "cat". With appropriate guidance and instruction, this will bridge to lessons that help children associate the sound with different spellings, and many different words. They will use the student response system to interact with photos that they and their classmates have taken, identifying those that fit with the concept being taught.

Intermediate students may use the cameras and response systems in a similar manner to demonstrate an understanding of geometry in the natural world, or to increase their understanding of the classification of different species. These tools could also be integrated into writing lessons dealing with word choice and descriptive language, or science lessons on native and non-native plants.

These are just a few of many joint uses of these tools that I have come up with. There are many more possibilities, and my ideas for their independent uses are never-ending!

Furthermore, because I am an Instructional Technology Specialist part time, as well as a part-time classroom teacher, I am afforded a wonderful opportunity to develop content-based lessons to use in my own class, teach and refine them, then modify those lessons in order to model the use of these tools in other classrooms around our school and district.

I hope that these model lessons will inspire other teachers in Central Oregon area schools to develop ideas for the use of either one or both of these (simple!) tools in conjunction with their curriculum, and apply for some of the many grants available to obtain them for their own use.

At this point, I am still waiting to receive my digital cameras. My student response system has arrived, and I am learning how it works. I look forward to sharing my successes, challenges, and lessons with all of you once my complete program is up and running!

Respectfully,

Amy Lundstrom, Instructional Technology Specialist and 4/5 Teacher, Bend LaPine Schools

Posted by amylundstrom on February 11, 2007 at 10:58 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

February 9, 2007 08:24 AM

QWest Grant

Project Title: Panther Prints

Where we are at so far:
We?re up and running with our photo-shoot business! This grant allowed the Business Ed teachers at Redmond High School to purchase a photo-quality color printer and wireless notebook computers. With this equipment, we operate a business that markets and sells action photos at school events and activities. At the events, we take digital photos, download them to the computer, let customers view the photos on the laptops where they can then select photos and purchase them on-site. The business teachers act as supervisors or mentors, while the students take the photos, download the pictures, and process (print) the final photos on the color printer.

The Panther Prints business has operated at several athletic events thus far. We conducted sales at a 3-day basketball tournament (8 visiting teams) during the holiday break, at 2 wrestling meets, and we will be again operating the photo-shoot business on February 20 and 22 at our last home men?s and women?s basketball games.

Students continue to be the primary ?doers? of all aspects of this business. They handle the on-site sales and productions, they complete pricing and cost analysis activities, they create and post advertisements and flyers, they email and/or mail customer solicitations, they archive the finished photos by burning them to a CD, and they handle the bookkeeping and recordkeeping. The money made from this student-run business is used for three general purposes: 1) to reinvest back in to the business; 2) to help pay for an end-of-year educational field trip; and 3) to fund college scholarships for graduating seniors.

Goals:
Our goal is to expand the photo-shoot business to a variety of other school activities. Business students have prepared a publicity kit whereby examples of the quality of the photos are displayed in portfolio form. This kit is being used to present and solicit our business endeavors to other organizations within our school and to community members. We have been given the nod-of-approval to do future photo-shoot events such as dances (prom and homecoming), senior graduation, and more. Our coaches of the Baseball and Track teams have already contacted our Panther Prints business to do photo-shoot sales at upcoming Spring sporting events. By next year another goal is to have our sales made available online. Making photo sales available online requires having a means of an electronic order-taking and electronic payment system. We are already investigating the logistics of how to make our online sales happen next year.

What we hope to accomplish:
Our high school is in the process of restructuring the curriculum for our six high school Academies (Business, Health, Arts & Communication, Science, Human Resources, and Industry & Engineering). Staff and administrators see the relevance for student-based projects such as the Panther Prints business. A new Business course that is scheduled to be taught next year is a course titled Project Management. This is a marketing-related elective course that will involve students managing all aspects of a variety of on-campus businesses, projects, and endeavors?including the Panther Prints business. The idea for this Project Management class came-to-be as a result of recognizing the need for students to learn business and marketing skills in a hands-on environment. Furthermore, there is a need at our high school for students to learn the importance of managing on-going project work, of working in groups to accomplish project goals, and of being able to multi-task on project endeavors.

Posted by dawnlillis on February 9, 2007 at 08:24 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

February 8, 2007 12:44 PM

Qwest Grant-Blachly Schoo3/27/

Title: Student Mathematical Achievement Realized Through Technology (SMARTT)

Goal: Provide 4th and 5th grade students access to technological tools to enhance mathematics instruction and improve student achievement through the use of innovative technology.

Through this grant I hope to bring technology to rural students. It is my desire to use a variety of technology including an interactive whiteboard, laptop, projector, and digital cameras to enhance mathematical understanding. For example, we will be photographing pictures around our school where geometrical rotations occur. We will then download those photos onto our SMART Board graph paper, students can use "digital ink" to draw the access of rotation and using the manipulative, virtual protractor, we will measure the angle of the rotations.

I now have my SMART Board on my wall and ready to go. I have had some bugs with my projector but after having it replaced by the manufacturer, hope to have it up and running by the week's end. I still need to acquire the digital cameras, and the laptop works beautifully. My students are very excited to start using the board and applauded the day it was brought in. I am thrilled at their excitement to learn with the new technology.

Posted by jreed on February 8, 2007 at 12:44 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

February 1, 2007 08:18 PM

Qwest Grant: South Lane 3/27/

Project Title : Math and Science Alive!

Goal: The overall goal is to narrow the ?Digital Divide? that separates my students in this rural and low SES school from other students who have knowledge and access to technology tools. By embedding technology tools in the existing content areas of second grade science and math my students will use these tools daily to share and explore their thinking. Not only will my students become more proficient in these two content areas, but also will become comfortable, competent, and competitive with technology, therefore eliminating it as a barrier to school success and career choice.

How Will This Be Accomplished?: By making a computer, projector, screen, and cameras classroom tools, students will become proficient in the use of these technologies. Students will increase their discourse by presenting their visual models using the document camera, digital cameras, and computer. Additionally, my students will communicate and collaborate beyond their immediate peers to include real-time/real-world science and math experts using telecommunications. The diverse interests of learners will be efficiently addressed by accessing information through streaming educational movie clips, investigating web sites, and creating a weblog thus learning from each other and creating shared experiences.

Status: Just today the laptop computer, document camera, projector, speaker system, and assorted cords and cables arrived in my classroom. With some head scratching my building?s tech specialist and I set up the workstation in the front of my classroom. We got everything working after consulting the instructions. My students are going to be stunned tomorrow morning to see the monstrosity of cables, metal, and light in the spot where the rickety, but sleek, overhead projector used to be. I can?t wait!

Posted by nunruh on February 1, 2007 at 08:18 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

Qwest Grant

Project Title: Digital Technology and the School Science Fair

Goal: To create an interactive teaching and learning environment that will enhance all areas of the 6th grade curriculum, and in particular, the school science fair.

This grant has provided the funds to create an interactive classroom which will include an interactive white board, 6 student 'slates' for small group use, handheld voting devices (class set), a projector, and speaker system.

What I hope to accomplish: I will be using these new items along with other peripherals such as digital cameras, document cameras, video cameras, and a classroom set of laptop computers in order to instruct students in creating their 6th grade science fair project presentation in a digital form. We will use this new technology to brainstorm, collaborate, collect data, compose reports, edit and revise those reports. Instead of the traditional 3-fold cardboard display, students will create a powerpoint presentation to demonstrate what they have learned.

Current status: We are in the process of comparing pricing and features of different manufacturers of this technology and will then be ordering and installing the equipment.

Posted by kellybeaudry on February 1, 2007 at 01:20 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

January 31, 2007 07:22 AM

Qwest Grant: Junction Cit3/27/

Project Title: SmartBoard and Projector Project

Goal: The ultimate goal of bringing in these technologies is to increase student learning. In order to see that take place, I have a few goals for this technology in my classroom. (1) Students will be able to access classroom instruction both in the classroom, and re-access that same information outside of class to review. (2) Students will learn how to effectively utilize internet resources and information. (3) Students with writing difficulties will be able to get class notes printed from classroom discussions. (4) Students and teacher alike will learn how to use the technology efficiently.

What I hope to Accomplish: I would like to see students be more interested in their math and science classes. Many of my students are at the lowest levels, especially in math. Many have decided they don't like the materials, or believe they are incapable of understanding. With the addition of some cool technology, perhaps we can get a few more students to tune into what we do. Students also have a higher absence rate, and making class notes available online will help these students stay current with the class. Finally, many of the students have challenges with reading and writing, so having these notes available will take some of the pressure off of them during lecture times.

Status: We have recieved all the equipment, and installed the SmartBoard. I currently have the digital projector sitting on my old overhead cart. We are waiting on an electrician to mount the projector. Students are very excited about the new technology. I am learning alot of cool tools and functions of the equipment. Students are eager to come up and show how to solve problems.

Posted by jaredbrougher on January 31, 2007 at 07:22 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

January 30, 2007 09:12 AM

Qwest Grant:: Athena-West3/27/

Project Title: Information and Technology Literacy Project

Goal: To increase access to technology tools and multimedia equipment in the classroom which will enhance and support the curriculum, make classroom management more efficient, and promote project-based learning

Mission: At Weston Middle School, we have a vision of using technology in the 7th and 8th grade language arts classroom to support different learning styles, address multiple intelligences, reach all academic levels, and integrate technology into all core subject areas.
Specifically, all 7th and 8th grade language arts students will select a literature, science, or history topic of their choice to research. Using the research process, the students will gather information on their topic and then create multimedia presentations using Windows Movie Maker and/or podcasting.

Status: Recently at my Umatilla Morrow Regional Educational Technology Cadre meeting, I learned how to create a Windows Movie Maker project. Then I created an example project on lions with Windows Movie Maker for my students to watch. They were very excited to learn that they could create such a project as well. "Can we start today?!" they all screamed. And to top off the excitement that day, the computers arrived!
As of today, all 7th and 8th grade students have chosen their topics of interest...Let the research begin!

Footnote: The computers have been set up, installed, and are running in my classroom. We are waiting for the delivery of CDs and the software Inspiration.

Posted by gailturner on January 30, 2007 at 09:12 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

November 27, 2006 03:48 PM

Qwest Teacher Grants

Congratulations to all Qwest Teacher Grants. ODE and OETC had thirty-four applicants totaling $173,000. Qwest awarded $50,000, so the process was VERY competitive. Thank you to ALL that applied!

Gail Turner	Athena-Weston SD	Weston Middle
Amy Lundstrom	Bend-LaPine SD	Buckingham Elementary
Dawn Lillis	Redmond SD	Redmond High
Jared Brougher	Junction City SD	Junction City High
Jeremi Reed	Blachly SD	Triangle Elementary
Katy Mallott	Lowell SD	Lundy Elementary
Kelly Beaudry	Bend-LaPine SD	LaPine Middle
Nancy Unruh	South Lane SD	Harrison Elementary
Tony Wynn	Blachly SD	Triangle Lake High

Posted by jena on November 27, 2006 at 03:48 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

October 31, 2006 03:07 PM

Mini Grant Awards

Congratulations to the district and ESD regions that were awarded EdTech Cadre Mini Grant Awards for 2006-07: ~ Malheur ESD ~ Three Rivers School District ~ High Desert ESD ~ Douglas ESD ~ Klamath County School District ~ Klamath Falls City Schools ~ Lane ESD ~ Hood River City School District ~ Umatilla Morrow ESD ~ North Marion School District ~ Clackamas ESD ~

Posted by jena on October 31, 2006 at 03:07 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

September 25, 2006 06:36 PM

EdTech Mini Grants

Here is the Mini-Grant Grant Application for the EdTech Cadre participants. Only school districts, and ESD Regions that are going to host regional cadres are eligible. In addition, you have to commit to the 2006-07 year of Oregon EdTech Professional Development Cadre meetings. We will talk more about the details of the mini-grants at 6:30pm, September 25, 2006.

In addition there will be teacher grants available from Qwest. Download the application packet here.

Posted by jena on September 25, 2006 at 06:36 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

EdTech Mini Grants

Here is the Mini-Grant Grant Application for the EdTech Cadre participants. Only school districts, and ESD Regions that are going to host regional cadres are eligible. In addition, you have to commit to the 2006-07 year of Oregon EdTech Professional Development Cadre meetings. We will talk more about the details of the mini-grants at 6:30pm, September 25, 2006.

In addition there will be teacher grants available from Qwest. Download the application packet here.

Posted by jena on September 25, 2006 at 06:36 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

September 20, 2006 09:47 AM

Qwest Regional Cadre Teac3/27/

ODE and OETC are working with Qwest to offer your regional cadre teachers an opportunity to be eligible for classroom grants. If you are having a cadre and would like any of your teahers to apply, give them this application. Qwest Regional Cadre Teacher Grant Application. Apps are due November 15, 2006. More details will be given at 6:30pm on September 25th.

Posted by jena on September 20, 2006 at 09:47 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

June 19, 2006 04:06 PM

Welcome 2006-07 EdTech Gr3/27/

Welcome to the EdTech Cadre, we are glad you are here! We look forward to getting to know you and sharing about your grant progress.

Posted by jena on June 19, 2006 at 04:06 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

May 12, 2006 08:27 AM

HIPCast #1

We're excited to offer our first HIPcast. Today, project directors Todd Hamilton (Eugene SD), Colt Gill (South Lane SD) and Lynn Lary (Lane ESD) gathered around Todd's computer to reflect on the past three years working with the NW Handheld Integration Project.

We would like to think this will be a regular event, but this HIPcast is actually part of a learning activity for the Oregon Ed Tech Professional Development Cadre. In any case, we hope you enjoy our thoughts and reflections.

Program (Total Time 16:47)
HIPCast #1

00:31 - HIP Challenges
Along the way we faced many challenges.
? Misconceptions of handhelds
? Overcoming technology anxiety
? After the trailblazers
? Evaluating impact on student achievement

04:09 - HIP Successes
We shared our successes implementing handhelds into the teaching of reading, math, writing, and science.

12:14 - HIP Applications (our personal favorites)
We shared a few of our personal favorites:
?Cribbage
?Fish Tycoon
?Tide Tool
?Plucker

16:12 - Final Thoughts
This HIPcast provided us with a means for reflecting on our successes and using those reflections as a springboard for paving the future direction of our projects.

Posted by llary on May 12, 2006 at 08:27 AM| Permalink | Comments (0)

September 26, 2005 12:25 PM

Research Basis for Grant 3/27/

I am interested in helping districts develop their Ed Tech applications. One of the problems in applying for a grant, is that sometimes the applicant doesn't know what the possibilities are.

The Metiri Database will provide a good foundation for districts that are targeting literacy in their Ed Tech grants. By having them read about "solutions that work" they will be able to craft a proposal that is based in research. Additionally, the database will also help them to design the grant implementation. How great is that?!

Posted by llary on September 26, 2005 at 12:25 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)