Well school has started and my new job is under way. I am somewhat overwhelmed by it all. I look forward to working with the teachers, but at the same time I feel a little sad about giving up my class. I know this is an unbelievable opportunity and I look forward to learning and growing right along with the teachers and students.

We had our first faculty meeting of the year and I addressed my fellow teachers and introduced them to our grant and our plan of action. I was met with a lot of support and a little apprehension. I can relate to how they are feeling, but I know they can do this. My assistant coaches have been selected and I feel confident that they will be valuable assets to their team members and me.

Well 70 % of teachers are on schoolnotes.com and we will continue to monitor and make sure that they are being updated. I am working on getting the rest of the faculty on and deleting those teachers that are no longer teaching in our county.

A great week has just reached its end. More and more teachers are becoming involved. I still have a few to get registered on epals and 3 more for schoolnotes. When they are on I will have 100% of the teachers registered. Now for getting these ladies and gentlemen to keep them updated.

What a horrible tragedy we have experienced this week. I am in a state of shock. I really had a hard time keeping focused on the tasks that were laid before me. My fellow teachers have felt the same. I believe we are all walking around in a daze.

That being said, I can tell you it was tough getting on with life. We are still working hard to get everyone on epals and keeping their schoolnotes up to date. We are holding after school workshops to train our teachers on these things. So far we are having a great turn out. We are also having some problems with other programs and individual work stations in our school. We have an average of 20 computers not working due to hub problems or power supply. Our technology department is working double time to correct these problems. We have at least 4 computers in each classroom in grades K-3 and 9 in grades 4 and 5. It is a huge task.

Our goal for next week in 100% participation in schoolnotes and at the very least 60% on epals. It is harder to do when our computers are not working to their complete ability.

Wow what a week!! I can't begin to tell you how busy it has been. We have been doing Terrific Tuesday training sessions after school and I have had a full house this week and I will have a full house next week if the sign up sheet is any indication. The teachers are still overwhelmed but for the most part everyone is trying to do their part with a positive attitude. Most of the faculty is working on their first project even though the equipment has not yet arrived. We have our two basketball teams working on student made programs using word, digital cameras and designing a cover using Kidpix. The cheerleaders and their coach are making a Memory book showcasing their games, competitions and camps using word and digital images. Each student on these teams are writing their own biography and player stats. This has really helped getting our PE teachers involved in the grant and using technology.

Open House was this week and it has been exciting watching how the teachers were preparing for this night. Several of the teachers have created slide shows with their students using digital images and Kidpix and putting them on PowerPoint. It was a great edition to their student's regular work that we show during open house. The Parent's seemed to enjoy watching the shows and were impressed with the designs the students had incorporated into the presentation.

We have had a very busy week here at MES. When the w32nimda virus was finally isolated we found out that our server had to be completely rebuilt and several of the workstations had to have Norton anti-virus installed. We have 400+ computers in our school and only about 1/3 of those had Norton protection on them and those that did have it had not been updated. This was either due to teachers not knowing how or missing the update when it came out on Wednesday. Needless to say we had a lot of work in store for ourselves.

Keeping an optimistic approach we used our Asst. Coaches to help with the problem. We spent 1 day and 1/2 of another moving from workstation to workstation and installing and updating Norton. By doing this we were able to get a monumental task completed in 1/2 the time it would have taken our 2 Technicians to complete. We also received valuable training. Now each teacher (all 58) knows how to run a live update and how to scan for viruses. It was a tough job but a wonderful opportunity for the rest of the faculty to see how hard the technology staff work and what a massive job it is to run a school with that amount of machines.

It is now Friday and our server is whole again and we take away a valuable lesson. One should never be lax in their virus protection. We are proof of that!

We spent one week without AR and Compass, two of our major programs our school uses these programs as extra practice and for testing purposes. We were unsure for three or more days if we would still have the student data or if it had been lost. I am Happy to report that all is well.

We have had another busy week! Our laptops have arrived! I am very excited but I have a lot of work ahead of me. After school trainings are going well, We have 70% of our teachers using epals and several more are signed up to train next week. I am overwhelmed by the enthusiasm we have experienced in the last few weeks. Many are working on their projects and I am very impressed with the results I have seen so far. Our P.E. teachers are working very hard on their projects. They are using Printshop and a digital camera to display the P.E. students of the month. One student in each grade is selected, a digital photograph is taken and downloaded to Printshop were the child designs their page and write what they like most about P.E.. The P.E teachers also write a little note about the student and why they were chosen. It has been a great success!

We are all enjoying the PowerPoint slide shows and we are working on compiling the class shows into one and having a school slideshow to present at our Awards Day Ceremony at the end of the school year. It will be great to see the slides the teachers and students have created.

I was so excited after leaving our training on Thursday. My teachers were also excited to learn that they could incorporate their favorite lesson plans into our technology plan. I learned so much; I look forward to sharing all the ideas I brought back. I am amazed daily that there is so many wonderful ideas out

Here for us to use.

It has been another busy week. We have been working very hard to get our laptops up and going. We have had some very good training sessions this week. I had a full house for our PowerPoint training; I was very impressed with the ideas the teachers have come up with. I think everyone ending up learning from one another. We had 17 show up for training and only 14 had signed up. I am so overwhelmed by the response we have had. I am very proud of my teachers and all that they have accomplished so far.

We have had several teachers submit their first projects. I am very impressed with their creativity and integration ideas. One teacher read the book *Brown Bear, Brown Bear* to her students. She then put her students on the computer to re-write the story using their classmates. For example-Teacher, Teacher what do you see? I see Zach looking at me. Zach would then tell who he saw and so on. The illustrations were done using a digital camera and inserting the pictures on the document. They then bound the book and designed a cover page. It is adorable and the children love reading a story about their class.

A fourth grade teacher is in the process of creating a scavenger hunt for his class using schoolnotes.com. He is designing it so that his students will learn how to surf the web to find answers to various questions. His topic is space. He has provided links to his schoolnotes address with questions under the link. The answers can be found only using the links. After the students find the answers they will have to type them out and email them to their teacher. The emailed answers will serve as the evidence that the activity is complete and will help the teacher get a grade for that activity. He is using some wonderful sites; nasakids.com and spacekids.com are two of these. They have a vast amount of information. When this project is complete I will add the URL to my page.

Wow, what a busy and interesting week! I really enjoyed the conference and I am please to add that my fellow teachers enjoyed it as well. Several of my teachers have already asked if they could go back next year. WE hope so! I was impressed by the variety of seminars that were offered and I was also very thrilled that there was something for everyone. Two of our teachers attended the Terra Nova Seminar and were ready to order the website and tools before they left Nashville. They had already called our Assistant Principal to ask for the money to purchase. This is the kind of response we all want to see. Many of the teachers have volunteered to share the ideas and what they have learned this week with their fellow teachers. I am so proud of them. I believe it was what we need as a group to get inspired and motivated to do our jobs in a different way. Teaching children is a tremendous responsibility and it is our job and duty to make it fun and interesting. My teachers loved to Jeopardy with PowerPoint seminar and several have already designed their own games in their minds. I am excited about what I will see from these teachers and what they plan to share with the rest of the faculty. It has been a very busy week and I am exhausted but it was well worth it.

I have had an incredible week. My teachers are responsible for 4 projects by the end of the year. Due to the slow rate of progression involving my equipment I have allowed the teachers a little bit of extra time before their first project was due. I set a deadline of November 30th. We have 57 teachers. Before the deadline I had about 10 projects turned in. Since I set the deadline I have had 30 turned in. I was so excited. I have a deep appreciation for all that the teachers have accomplished. We have so much on our plates as teachers, They are in the process of implementing several new programs including Four Block and trying to get all of their students on level. Adding these projects to their already full load has been a bit overwhelming for them. I can totally relate. We are held accountable for so much, one more thing sort of tips the scales. They have handled it beautifully. They have turned in some fabulous work and I look forward to seeing all that they will accomplish with their students the rest of the year.

Another week has past and I am amazed at how quickly the first half of the year has flown by. I have had a great week with my teachers. Graph Club is a huge favorite in our school and I am now trying to move them on into a new program. Kidspiration Training will be held the next two weeks followed by KidPix. I am having more and more projects turned in to me. I continue to be impressed by their progress and creativity. I hope that they are truly enjoying what they are learning and teaching their students.

The only problem I seem to be having is several of the teachers think I am the technician. I am in no way a computer tech, nor do I want to be. We have around 420 machines in our building and over 1400 in the county with an army of 3 to take care of them. I know next to nothing about the network and the configurations. I can not fix a computer that I know nothing about. I am in a quandary about how to handle the problem in a way that the teachers do not think I am ignoring them. I have a "Problem" notebook and I report the problems to the techs but beyond that my hands are tied. I understand how the teachers feel but I don't think they are putting themselves in the shoes of the 3 that handle the problems.

There is a small amount of hostility coming from those few that think I am the reason they are not fixed. I promise I am doing what I can.

Another very productive week has come to an end. I am so OVERWHELMED! I think the grant is a wonderful thing, but when you have a large school it is hard to juggle and schedule all of your teachers. I set a deadline for our first project to be completed. They are due TODAY! I have all but 5 turned in. Out of 57 teachers I think that is a huge accomplishment. I have had a little grumbling, but for the most part they have not done it to my face or too loudly.

Technical difficulties are still a number 1 issue and of course, a priority. I do what I can, as do our underpaid, overworked and definitly under-appreciated technicians. I am experiencing some degree of hostility from a small number of teachers. I do understand and I do feel their pain. I was there, I know what it's like to have to wait and wait so long that you feel it will never be finished, but two people can only do so much.

On a more positive note, I have several teachers who are working on different projects to submit and then train their peers. I am so excited by the degree of accomplishments these teachers have exhibited. Next week, We have training scheduled Monday through Thursday and each sign up day is full. This is a testement to the dedication and work ethic my teachers exhibit on a daily basis. They do take some of the stress away.

We continue to be held up by our cart for the Wireless Lab. The cart is "on the truck" and has been for 3 weeks. WE (I) am to "the raise a stink" point!!

I agree with some of my fellow coaches that it would be an asset if we were to receive the grant money in full at the onset. It is very hard to stager the ordering process, and work this grant to it's fullest capacity. It seems we are always waiting for something to be ordered or delievered. Thankfully the majority of my teachers are understanding. At least they appear to be.

I hope to see my cart next week!! But then we all have dreams!

Well, we had another exciting week. It was great getting together with my fellow coaches and learning from one another. I was relieved to find that many of you are experiencing some of the same problems and have found wonderful ways to solve the problems or simply adapt to them. Our biggest obstacle has been our wireless lab. We are currently waiting for the arrival of our cart. The laptops have been here for 4 weeks. It is getting beyond ridiculous. I have tracked, traced, cried and begged, none of which have done any good. We are praying for it's arrival next week. It was promised for Tuesday, Let's hope.

OUR CART IS HERE!!!! HOORAY!!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. Pathetic HUH? Eastern Computer sent a tech to help me set the lab up and now we are good to go. It is such a load off. Our teachers were beginning to doubt the lab's existance and I was right there with them. I am so excited about the lab. I do need some suggestions on how to manage my time with the lab's checkout. Such as, how often do I need to schedule down time for charging. It is a 20 laptop work center with roughly 1 1/2 - 2 hour battery life. I am concerned with how I should go about scheduling. Should I allow them to check them out or should I assign times? I am open to any suggestions. The teachers are leaving it up to me. At least when I ask for their suggestions, I do not get a response. If anyone has any (suggestions) let me know.

Well we are back at school and excited to begin another new year. My daughter has strep throat so I am at home working on technology. Fortunatly for me I had not scheduled anything until early next week. I knew the teachers would need some time to get their students settled in. I have several people lined up to train our teachers. Our first training will be held sometime in the final week of the month. A web designers is coming to train 16 of my teachers on how to create a web site. We are very excited. Myself included. I will let you know when we have a set date. There may be some slots available if any of you are interested in attending.

January 7-11

Well another great week has come and gone. We have been working very hard to get as many trainings in as we could. Kidpix Deluxe 3 is going to be a huge hit. Several of my teachers have viewed it and are very pleased by the endless possiblities. I think that things are going to be on a more positive note from here on out. Next Monday I will be leading a training on our Wireless lab and Kidpix for our inservice day. I am a little nervous but excited as well. We plan to cover the rules and regulations and also train on the new version of KidPix. I hope that it goes as soothly as I plan. This is the first time I have trained the entire school in one day. Normal training sessions are after school for a couple of hours and I have anywhere from 10 to 15 people. I will train 50 teachers on Monday. I hope I can keep their attention. Inservice is typically not the favorite of trainings around here. I will let you know how it goes.

Well I had a wonderful training day on Monday. The first session was rough but it was with my former grade level and they were very understanding. The "airport" of my wireless lab was not picking up a signal. Ten minutes and a migraine later we discover that the prong in the plug was bent. We did get it fixed but this is an example of what can go wrong with even the most careful planning. We were able to train in the first group and the lab and

Kidpix was a huge success. I had to kick out the first group to make room for the second group. We had allowed for one hour and 15 minutes in each session and everyone wanted longer. I was pleased by this. We held four sessions during inservice and several teachers asked for more after school training on KidPix and several asked for idea sheets that they could add to. I was very excited by their willingness to contribute to the program.

Another eventful week has come and gone. The lab is a huge success. It has been a learning experience for one and all. The first day it was checked out 4 laptops died before one hour had passed. The teacher who checked it out next (after it charged again) had 6 to die before 15 minutes were up. The third teacher to check it out had smooth sailing. I must say my headache was huge. I could not understand why they were not lasting. We figured out that the chargers were not making a good connection when we traveled over bumps. That fixed we set them up to charge for the night. Little did I know that the Utility District was going to be working on the lines after school. Power off no charge! The teacher who had checked them out had 16 out of 18 die inside of an hour. We thought that we had a battery problem. I was in a fit. I investigated further and learned of the Line work from the night before. Problem solved. I went home with the worst kind of headache but with the knowledge that there will always be bumps in the road, it is how you go over those bumps that matters.

Technology Infusion Efforts:

This week has been an interesting week. We have infused technology through several trainings and many have been teacher-led. We are in the process of training on FrontPage so that teachers and students can build their own class pages. This has been a goal of the teachers and several students are eagerly waiting to participate. On Friday of next week we will have our second web page training. I am enjoying the excitement the teachers are showing in relation to this training. The best part of this training is the cooperation between the teachers. Our Faculty is so large and turnover so great that many of our teachers do not know one another well or are not comfortable with each other. While planning for the training the teachers have been working together to build grade level pages. It has been great. My responses to these weeks trainings have been very positive! The teachers have become more comfortable with the technology and I think they are enjoying working on new projects.

Our goals for the program next year are simply being able to keep up what we have started. We plan to take the library and convert it into a media center complete with all of our new equipment as well as the new items we will buy with our bonus money. (I'm thinking positively!)

Progress Indicators and Attitudinal Shifts: I think our best indicator of success is our teacher attitudes. They began the year with worried minds and fear of the unknown. Now they are working with confidence and pride. The response to the lab is overwhelming. Not a day goes by that it is not in use all day. My teachers are hard workers and strive to do their best everyday. I am completely comfortable in my new role now and I think that the teachers are as well. We as a staff have made progress with our attitudes with one another as well as accepting something new. It is very rewarding when you walk through the halls and see evidence of the program. I love the reaction of the students when they discover something new on the laptops or when they explore a web site for their scavenger hunts. This is what it is all about!

Management Challenges:

Were do I begin? The lab is the most checked out item. I have posted a schedule for check out for each week with 2-hour time slots for each check out, which only allows 2 teachers per day to check out the lab. It has been extremely difficult to instill a sense of fairness in this process. I have several teachers who have been checking the lab out on a weekly basis and others who can't get to the sign up sheet before it is full. I have had to come up with check out rules, which I wanted to avoid. It is wonderful to see the lab in use, but I had hoped the teachers would be more willing to share it. The lab management has been the biggest of my challenges.

February 25- March 1

This has not been a very productive week for me. My daughter woke Sunday morning with a temperature of 100 degrees and by Monday morning had gone down to 99. I took her to school only to be called after about 2 hours. We took her on to the doctor to discover that she had tonsillitis, and ear infection and a mild case of the flu. Needless to say I missed 3 and a half days this week. I had to cancel my training and spent the week holding my baby while she coughed and cried from feeling bad.

I called into school daily only to find out that a few individuals were upset with me for "neglecting" my duties as the coach by not being at school. Needless to say I was a little upset. I came in for a half day on Friday to diffuse the situation and talk with the individuals who were unhappy. I went on to explain that my child was ill and I would not neglect her to be there with the lab. Keep in mind the faculty and staff was told daily of my child's illness and why I would not be there. After much politicking as my dad refers to it, all is well. Next week will be spent working double time on my work to get caught back up.

I did have several teachers’ work together with the lab to train other teachers who had not had the lab yet. It was a wonderful success and it allowed the teachers to learn from each other.