Currituck County Schools Media and Tech

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Shanan Chappell taught a workshop today on integrating technology in the classroom. We had almost 50 teachers come out for the two days of training! These teachers came on their own time and they worked very hard. They were so engaged in their tasks they kept working even after lunch was announced.

For me, the theme for the day was, “Moving from teachers teaching with technology to students learning with technology.”

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The Technology Department has been working to get the computers ready for students at Jarvisburg Elementary School. Here we see the new computers stacked and ready for imaging. The imaging process is used to install software. This ensures every computer is set up correctly.

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We are delighted to have Kathryn Blades, our new technology facilitator, onboard. Kathryn is a certified media specialist and technology facilitator. She has years of experience working with teachers to integrate technology into the classroom.

Kathryn brings excitement and enthusiasm for education that will be obvious when you meet her. She is already busy planning staff development for Smart products, Mimeo, and Gaggle.net, our student email provider.

Kathryn is temporarily stationed at CCMS in the office with Joe Baisley.  When all the school moves are completed this fall she will move to the Knapp building with me and Thelma.

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Students at Central Elementary are using the SmartBoard to program Lego robots they create. Ms. Leousis led the activities. Later, she will conduct staff development so other teachers can learn how to use the Lego robots with students.

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Ms. Leousis works with students at Central Elementary in Currituck County. The students are attending a summer technology camp. They are building and programming Lego robots.

I had the pleasure of attending the National Educational Computing Conference, NECC 2008, in San Antonio, Texas this week.  This is the premier educational technology conference in United States.  Frankly, it was a little overwhelming.  I attended several very informative sessions.

There was a panel discussion on online safety featuring several prominent experts.  They discussed the research I mentioned on this blog in an earlier post.  I encourage you to go to eSchool News and watch the video of their presentation.