Teaching with Technology Spotlight Home

In this issue of “The Server”, we visit with Dai Tolkov of Morris Middle School. Dai is a 7th grade teacher who incorporates technology into her curriculum by using a multitude of Internet resources and class participation.

Mrs. Tolkov shared some of her background with us. “I am a University of Texas college graduate and my degree was in Business Administration. Right after college, I got a job in Retail Sales Management, the field in which I worked in for 12 years. I left retail in 2002 to be a stay-at-home mom. My children at the time were 4 and 2.”

“My son went to a Catholic day school, and I volunteered to sub one day. The school director called to give me a job teaching Pre-K. I ask her to let me sub for a week, and I would give her an answer at the end of that week. Well, I took the job and really enjoy it.”

“Over the summer break, my husband got transferred to Colorado in 2003. In Colorado, I volunteered a lot in my son’s classroom. Pretty soon, they had me as the volunteer math tutor for the entire 1st grade class.”

“We lived in Colorado for 2 years until my husband transferred to McAllen in September of 2005. My children were supposed to go to Rayburn, but because of over-crowding, my children had to go to Jackson. My daughter started kindergarten at Jackson and my son was now in 2nd grade. Once again, I volunteered in the kindergarten class.”

“All the teachers that I had volunteered with told me that I should teach. I really did not want to go back to school again to get a second degree. I had heard about the Alternative Teaching Certification program (ACT). I looked into it and decided to substitute first, to see if I would like it. I was a substitute teacher, primarily for Rayburn and Morris and I enjoyed it.”

“Over the summer of 2006, I took classes through ACT, passed my required exams, and got a teaching job at Morris as a 7th grade math teacher. In my 1st year of teaching I was considered an Intern. The ACT organization recognized me as the Intern of the Year for the Rio Grande Valley 2006-2007. This is my third year teaching at Morris.”

Mrs. Tolkov’s Hobbies include gardening, sewing, and reading cookbook and romance novels.

Mrs. Tolkov uses a document reader, projector, and her iMac everyday. “We view funny math videos and go to math game sites where the students play as the whole class watches. The students get very competitive and excited.”

When she was asked how technology influenced her teaching, she responded with the following: “I realized that you will become “stale” if you cannot keep up with change. Google, the Internet, My Space, and YouTube are what the kids relate to. If you can relate to the students, then that is already half the battle of reaching them. It is so awesome to see what computers can do now-a-days, but I like to keep a nice balance. I will teach a math concept then go to a website to supplement the lesson with some interactive games on that math concept. I love technology and all of its advances, but I tell the students not to become too dependent on it. Life is about finding the right balance.”

“There are so many things that is on the web that can be use as a teaching or tutorial tools. Students can go at their pace and not have the pressure of having the correct answer as they would in a classroom. Computers are such an interactive learning tool as well as fun, that the students do not realize they are learning. If one has a question, Google can probably find the answer for you.”

“All companies operate with computers in some capacity. Jobs are posted on-line and companies prefer that applicants fill out the application on-line. One must keep up with change and computers are a sign of change.”

“You must have PASSION for what you do and all that you care about. I am passionate about teaching and my students feel it. I also have a passion for knowledge and learning. If you put passion in all that you value, you will find success.”

We thank Mrs. Tolkov for her service to our students and our district, and for helping to prepare our students for a successful future.

Student Multimedia Contest Home

• Multimedia
• Digital Video
• Digital Audio
• Animation
• Digital Graphics

• Daily (10%)
• Quiz (30%)
• Exam (60%)

• Daily % = 25% (10% / 40%)
• Quiz % = 75% (30% / 40%)
• Educator Access Plus Tips

Enter the 7th annual Win a Wireless Lab Sweepstakes for your chance to win one of five grand prize wireless computer labs for your school, including 20 laptop or notebook computers, interactive whiteboard, mobile cart, projector, printer, wireless access points, portable document camera, digital camcorder, and a $5,000 digital media grant from Discovery Education.

Registration Now Open for Area Programming and Area Robotics!

Take part in TCEA'S annual Student Contests, designed to recognize and reward thinking and creativity in technology education, through the use of programming and design. Best of all, you can show your stuff!

The newly revamped 2009 Student Contests offer a simple process, clear criteria, and recognition among your peers and professionals in the field. For the nitty, gritty details visit the Student Contests web site. Registration for area programming, robotics, and technology contests will be done through the TCEA web site this year. Watch the web site for details. Please note that this year, teams cannot attend the state robotics contest unless they qualify at an area robotics contest.

To stay in the loop with other sponsors across Texas, make sure to visit the Student Contest Message at http://forums.tcea.org/forum/. Questions? Please contact Katie Treat at treat@tcea.org or Janet Corder, student contest chair, at janet.corder@gmail.com.

*Registration for Student Contests will be unavailable from January 30, 2009 through February 9, 2009.

We invite you to visit the software store that has been set up for McAllen ISD at www.JourneyEd.com/Select.

Greetings Administrators, Teachers, and Librarians,

New and Improved Web Hosting Service for the 2009-2010 School Year

McAllen ISD is pleased to announce the award and approval of Web Hosting and Student Email services to Intrafinity/SharpSchool for the 2009-2010 school year. SharpSchool offers improved services and new features for schools, teachers, and students. This service will support the 2008-2009 District Requirement that every classroom webpage must contain specific content relevant to current week of instruction.
Click for full article and list of new features.
New Features:

• Live Webcam Recording supported.
• Wikis - allow groups of users to collaborate on publishable tasks and post and edit their collective writings online. Teachers can use this tool to conduct student research projects.
• Photo Gallery - allows users to create gallery pages that feature multiple albums. These albums contain dynamic features such as slideshows and moderated comments. These galleries are a great way to capture and showcase activities and events that occur throughout the district.
• Survey Tool - allows schools to gather feedback from staff, students, or parents about any number of issues relating to school life and educational culture.
• Assessments Tool - allows students to take tests and quizzes online as well as submit assignments in a virtual drop-box. This tool greatly reduces the time spent marking tests as tests are automatically graded.
• Document Management System - allows users to upload important documents, policies, notices and other school produced documentation on the website.
• Release Schedule - allows content authors to create web pages beforehand and schedule their release date. Content authors can work on pages in the summer and set them to go live once school starts. Event or season specific pages can be set to be archived once the event or season is over!
• Newsletter - helps school keep parents, faculty, and the community informed by simplifying the process of sending electronic newsletters. Authors can create mailing lists by inputting email addresses. A scheduler allows the newsletter authors to send out newsletters on specific dates. The system also archives all newsletters.

Carmen Garcia, Director for Instructional Technology

There are several Web 2.0 applications available that can help teachers increase student engagement and participation in the classroom. One fun and exciting application is called a Voki. Vokis are customizable animated vodcasts (video podcasts) that allow teachers and students to add their own voice or computer-generated voice to an animated character to communicate information. These animated characters can be used to introduce lessons, provide homework instructions, and/or convey instructional messages. Vokis are also an excellent tool for students to use to narrate or present information in blogs or discussion boards. Once a Voki is created, it can be easily shared through email, published on the web, or embedded in a classroom webpage. Click on the play button on the Voki below to see one in action.

Get a Voki now!

For more information, please visit the following site:
http://www.voki.com/create.php

Gaggle is being used in classrooms all over the world, and they want to know how you are supporting your students' achievement with their service! Are you using blogging for book studies? Email to conduct surveys for graphing activities? Chat rooms for test review?

Gaggle is looking for submissions for their new Curriculum Library, a collection of lesson plans using their technology tools to support state and national standards. There are a lot of you out there integrating Gaggle into your daily teaching, and using their tools in creative ways to motivate your students. Share your lessons with them, and not only will you help students win with higher achievement, you could win a prize from Gaggle!

Submissions can use any of Gaggle's tools in any curriculum area. Submissions will be reviewed monthly, and rated on the following criteria:

• Integration of one or more Gaggle tools
• Support of one or more state curriculum standards
• Creativity/Originality
• Completion of plan and inclusion of necessary materials

The Top Five submissions each month will receive a copy of Emergent Internet Technologies from FTC Publishing.

The best Gaggle Lesson Plan will be published on their website each month, and you will win your choice of a classroom subscription to Gaggle (up to 50 accounts for one year, valued at over $250) or a $50 Visa Gift Card.

All complete submissions will be entered in a random drawing for a $500 Visa gift card to be drawn June 1, 2009.

Complete the form and email with all accompanying documents to curriculumcontest@gaggle.net
Download the submission form.

For more information, click here.

Submissions become the property of Gaggle.Net to be published or posted.

Lightspeed Technologies provides information that is useful in helping you find additional sources of funding and to write effective grants to support bringing technology into your classroom.

Click here for tips and recommendations for applying for technology grants and for a list of funding sources.

A virtual field trip is a guided and narrated tour of web sites on a particular topic that have been selected by educators and arranged in a "thread" that students can follow from site to site with just the click of a single button. Virtual field trips are the best way to assemble the most important sites that tell a story or follow a theme. In addition to an easy-to-follow thread, the narration window contains text explaining the site, putting it in context for the grade level and theme you are studying, and providing additional links to take students to key pages on the site. Tramline, http://www.tramline.com/vft/index.htm, is one of many sources out there for Virtual Field Trips. This particular site makes it very easy for a presenter to navigate through the virtual trip. You will find a listing of their virtual programs here: Printable list of the field trips and descriptions.

For any questions, please contact our office at 956-972-5600.

Carmen G. Garcia, McAllen ISD Director of Instructional Technology, was elected to the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) Board of Directors.

TCEA is the largest state organization devoted to the use of technology in education. TCEA is divided into twenty areas across Texas. These twenty areas are defined by the Regional Education Service Centers. Ms. Garcia was elected as Area 1 Director. She will be the chief elected officer for the Region 1 geographical area (37 school districts and 24 charter school campuses in the seven county areas of Cameron County, Hidalgo County, Jim Hogg County, Starr County, Webb County, Willacy County, and Zapata County.).

As Area 1 Director, Ms. Garcia will attend and vote at all Board meetings, she will act as a liaison between Area members and the TCEA Board, organize specialized Area activities, promote Area membership, contribute to the TCEA communications network, budget and direct the Area 1 funds, work on various committees as assigned, chair the Area Council, advise Local Chapters in Area 1, and promote the use of computers and technology in educational settings.

TCEA’s primary focus is on integrating technology into the K-12 environment and providing members with state-of-the-art information through conferences, workshops, newsletters, the Internet, and collaborations with higher education and business. TCEA is affiliated with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) which provides a two-way channel of information throughout the world.

Congratulations, Carmen!

Web 2.0 Tools

• skrbl
  skrbl is an online collaborative whiteboard; just create the free whiteboard, share the URL, and allow others to come in and work with you for planning, drawing, and much more!
  
• Edmodo
  Edmodo is a private microblogging platform that teachers and students can use to send notes, links, files, alerts, assignments, and events to each other. Students do not need an email address, just a code obtained from the teacher.
  
• Google Notebook
  Google Notebook is a very useful tool (especially for students) for gathering clips, information, URLs, and notes to yourself as you are conducting research. With or without the browser plug-in, you can organize information, export to Google Docs, and share and collaborate on your notebook with others.
  
• Gliffy
  With Gliffy online diagram software, you can easily create professional-looking flowcharts, diagrams, floor plans, technical drawings, and more. The online diagram editor makes it easier than ever to create great looking drawings.
  
• voo2do
  Voo2do is easy to use and collaborate on web-based to-do lists. It contains advanced task and priority management for busy, ambitious individuals.
  
• Penzu
  Penzu allows private journaling with a neat, clean interface.
  
• Zoomerang
  Zoomerang is an online survey creator that allows 20 questions and 100 responses for free.
  
• PBWiki
  PBwiki is the world's largest consumer wiki farm. Wikis are simple Web pages that let you share and collaborate with others.
  
• bubbl.us
  An easy-to-use, online concept mapping tool similar to Inspiration; great to use when introducing a topic and using an interactive whiteboard or in a computer lab when students are starting a project. Plus, it’s free!

Interactive Sites for the Classroom

• Cells Alive
  This site provides interactive models of cells, as well as other interactive pages covering cell biology, microbiology, immunology, and microscopy.
  
• San Francisco Symphony Kids' Site
  The Music Lab is an interactive site that allows students to learn the basics of sound, tempo, rhythm, pitch, harmony, and symbols. Students can also compose a short musical piece and experiment with instrumentation.
  
• America's Story from America's Library
  This Web site is brought to you from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the largest library in the world and the nation's library. “America's Story from America's Library" wants you to have fun with history while learning at the same time. They put the story back in history and show you some things that you've never heard or seen before.
  
• Storynory
  Free audio stories for kids! Storynory is an online treasure trove of audio stories. Here you will find a mixture of new stories, fairy tales, and specially adapted myths and histories, and a sprinkling of verse.
  
• National Geographic Xpeditions Hall
  Welcome to the interactive “museum” that takes you on geography journeys. Here you’ll climb a mountain, hover over the Earth, speed across Europe, visit an archeological dig, and even order sushi—plus games, animations, and more!
  
• If I Were President...
  This is an online game where students can spend the government’s money.
  
• Illuminations: Resources for Teaching Math
  Illuminations, a part of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, provides standards-based resources that improves the teaching and learning of mathematics for all students.

The Instructional Technology Department has scheduled training sessions for the Spring semester. Limited seating is available.

Administrative Staff Sessions - Call 972-5600 or email Cris Garcia to enroll.

Time Equivalency Sessions - Enroll now on ERO