Pleased as Punch - Week #4

My mentee is pretty fearless, I have to say! No matter what we tackle, she is more than willing to dive right in. Last week we took on the task of setting up her entire 2nd quarter classes in her gradebook program, this week... what to do with those digital pictures she has been taking with the digital camera I talked her into buying. There are endless projects that can be done with digital pictures in and out of the classroom. To accomplish these projects, however, the basics of digital picture manipulation need to be understood. It is so natural to turn the camera sideways to get that tall tree or that tall person. When the pictures are downloaded to the computer however, that picture will need to be rotated. What is the easiest way to do that? How do I delete the pictures I don't want to keep? How can I share my digital pictures with others? These are the questions that we answered tonight. Marjorie has a good introduction to all of the little picture tricks that I use all the time. We had already set up an account with flickr during the summer so we were all set to upload her pictures to the Internet. When she was done sorting through her recent pictures, rotating some and deleting others, we logged on to her flickr account and uploaded them all. She was happy that she could set the privacy so that only friends and family would be able to view pictures of her family. We then chose a buddy icon for her and to wrap things up, she made her blog post directly from flickr. Check out the awesome picture she posted below. I am very pleased with her progress. With only one week to go, we have laid a solid foundation for future progress. I have learned patience while working with Marjorie. She has been very excited to learn all of the "insider" tips about the technology that she is learning through our mentoring relationship.

Ka-Boom!

My mentee went to the mountains this weekend with her son to view the beautiful fall colors. What a suprise when she heard the report of rifles all around her! Nature can be dangerous this time of year. She managed to take some digital pictures with her camera,however. Tonight's lesson will be to download those pictures and explore ways to view them on the computer. She has already set up a flickr account. This should be fun!

Half-Way Point

I am at the half way point of my final imet semester and the half way point with my mentee. In both cases I feel that when these activities end they will actually be evolving into a new phase. I consider imet to be a foundation to opportunities for integrating technology into education. I consider my mentoring project to be sharing what I have learned on a personal level. I do not expect the momentum gathered in either one to stop at the end of the assignment.

Week #3 - File Management 101

This week Margie wanted to work on figuring out how to use her flash drive to ferry grade files from school to home and back again. The first quarter has just completed and it is time to set up the new class grading files. Margie uses the same grading program as mine. It is called "Making the Grade" and I recommend it highly. In fact, I talked Margie into taking the plunge and purchasing it. She had the program for an entire year before she "had the time" to learn how to use it. Now that she is moderately comfortable entering grades, we can venture deeper into the depths of the program's abilities. Fundamental to transferring files is a logical naming protocol. Another key element is folder structure. File management is a basic skill that, when practiced from the beginning, saves endless frustration later on.

Our objective this week was to set up her 2nd quarter classes in the grading program so that the files would be easy to manage. It is a trap to vary class file names. For example, Period 2 Life Science then Life Science Period 3. The files are not listed in order and it is confusing for the eye to distinguish between them. For this reason, Margie began each file name with the period number so that they would all be listed in the order that they occur in real time. She created a folder to hold only those class files for the 2nd quarter and finally, created a shortcut on the desktop to that folder for easy file retrieval.

The process of transferring the managed files to the flash drive was a little more of a mysterious matter for her and we will clarify that more as time goes by. For now, Margie has a good foundation in why file management is important and how to set up a file/folder structure that makes sense and is easy to manage.

Meeting #2 The Protocol is Established

OK! So I think that the protocol for our meetings has been successfully established. First, after school we walk the corgis, we have dinner (tonight we went to "Strings") then work on our tech mentoring. This works well because we are both relaxed and ready to get something done. Tonight we worked on the Unit Organizer for Cells on the GIST program. It was difficult for me to let Marjorie control the computer. I kept trying to grab the mouse! Involuntary reflex. Anyway, I think that we made some progress although there seem to be some bugs in the program when it comes to saving. I will call and find out what is going on for next time. Marjorie is going to work some more on her Cell Unit Organizer. We also entered another contact in her PDA by typing it in on the computer and hotsyncing. Marjorie is getting to be an old hand at this. I also showed her how to connect to another computer using skype.com. A friend of hers moved to another phone zone and she can use skype to keep in touch. She even wants to get a webcam! I tell you... by the time the mentorship is finished Marjorie will be wearing a flash drive around her neck and giving lessons on an LCD projector!

First Meeting Reflections-Marjorie

This is Marjorie.

My first official meeting with Mary makes me feel hopeful that I am actually joining the twenty-first century. Today, I was introduced to GIST. Mary installed this on my home computer. This program will help me to utilize district sponsored curriculum mapping content onto a computerized content literacy diagram graphic organizer. I really need to practice using this tool so I can "own" it. Fortunateyl ( or unfortunately) my first assignment is to complete this GIST frame that was started today.

I also learned about capturing pictures from Google and downloading them on GIST. Again, much practice is needed.

I have a P.D.A. but haven't used it much. After a little instruction, I feel confident that it will be put to good use and that I can retire my weighted (20 pound) planner.

My goals during this mentorship are to
1. use a flash drive to save my grades.
2. use my digital camera more.
3. send pictures.
4. learn to use a blog.
5. learn to use GIST.
6. learn to use Power Point
7. better utilize my P.D.A.
8. request and LCD projector for my room and reconfigure my room set-up for next year.
9. use more technology in my classroom teaching.

Reflection - First Meeting

This blog will be the primary data collection tool for reporting on the progress of the mentorship. Our first meeting was a great success. The list of things that Margie wants to learn is long but we managed to prioritize it to give presidence to a new program purchased to support our school-wide professional development. The name of the program is GIST and is a tool to create content literacy diagrams. I downloaded the program to her home computer and installed a number of templates. Our time was spent learning the basics of file management within the program as well as basic functions. We created a new diagram from a template and modified some text and added a little color. The routine to add links was a little more complex and we spent some time adding pictures to the folder for her diagram. We then linked to those pictures from within the diagram. We discussed the difference between edit and presentation mode so that I am confident that Margie will be able to complete the diagram on her own without my assisstance. For next week her assignment is to finish the diagram or make another that is relevant to her teaching. Margie is getting a lot of new ideas on her own for integrating technology in her classroom. She even plans to put in a requisition for an LCD projector so that she can give the great presentations that she is preparing. You GO girl!

As was our plan, I shared dinner with Margie and plan to sleep over. This was an enjoyable experience and I am glad that we have plans to continue to meet in this way. I believe this will be a very productive and enjoyable experience.