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TechnologyLearningEnvironmentatMather

Whattools,software,operatingsystems,resources,Web2.0tools,elearningsites,and
equipmentareavailableinyourschoolandclassroom?

ComparedtomanyschoolsintheChicagoPublicSchoolsystem,Matheriswellresourcedfrom
atechnologystandpoint.Allteachershavelaptopsforschooluse.Therearelaptopcartsfor
severaldepartmentsalongwithalaptopcartforclassroomuse.Wehavetwocomputerlabsfor
classusealongwithlibraryclassroomsandspaceinthelibraryitselfwithcomputersforkidsto
useduringtheirfreetime.Wehaveseveralclassroomswithembeddedcomputersincluding
classesinourseparateITacademy.Someteachershaveaccesstotabletsorchromebooksfor
theirstudents.EveryclassroomhasaconnectedTVandLCDprojector.Wehaverelativelyfast,
reliablewirelessinternetforstudentandstaffuse.WehaveafulltimeITcoordinatorwitha
parttimeaidandseveralstudentworkers.

Ourlargedistrict(25,000+teachers)usestheGoogleEducationSuite,soallofthefaculty,staff,
administrationandstudentshaveaccesstoallofthecomponentsofthatplatform.Many
teachersareactiveinusingthosetoolsincludingGoogleClassroom,GooglePresentationsand
GoogeDocs.

Wehave2computerlabs,alibraryclassroomwithcomputersthatisavailableforcertain
periodsoftheday.Therearealsosomecomputersinthelibraryforselectperiods.Wehavea
fulltimeITstaffmemberwithaparttimeassistantandacoupleofstudentassistants.Mostof
thekidshavesmartphonesandourschoolWIFIisavailabletothem.Allteachersareissueda
laptopwithWindows7.EachclassroomhasaTVandaLCDprojector.Manydepartmentshave
laptopcartsfordepartmentaluse.WealsohaveanITacademywhichservicesasmall
percentageofourstudents.
FromthelistofglobalelearningsitesandWeb2.0tools,whichareavailableandwhichare
blockedbyyourfirewall.Howdoesyourschoolmakeuseofschooland/orteacherwebsites,

gradebooktechnology,GoogleAppsforEducation,onetooneeducationtechnology,flipped
classrooms,etc.?
ThereareactuallymultiplelevelsofaccesstotheinternetinCPS.Teachersaregrantedaccess
tomoresitesthanthestudentsincludingYouTube,andSoundcloud.Studentaccessismore
limited,butstudentshaveagreatdealoffreedomtoaccesswebcontent..Wehaveexcellent
technologicaloptionsforteachersincludingGoogleAppsforEducation,GoogleClassroomand
IMPACTstudentmanagementandGradebookfromGradeSpeed.Ouradministrationrequires
andencouragesustotakefulladvantageoftheseprogramsbyusingthemtodisseminate
informationandprovidingprofessionaldevelopment.
Howareyoucurrentlyutilizingtechnologyforstudentlearning,classroommanagement,
communication,professionaldevelopment,professionalnetworking?
Iamaveryheavyuseroftechnologyinallaspectofmypractice.Whendeliveringcontent,I
oftensimultaneouslyusemultipletechtools.Iteachmusicusingmultimediapresentationswith
videos,soundandpictures.Iregularlyrecordstudentperformancesandclassroomexperiences
anddisseminatethatmaterialonline.IuseGoogleClassroomtohavestudentsturninwork,
recordthemselvesperforming,shareworkwithothersandpeerreview.Iuseonlinenotation
programs,soundeditingsoftwareandsequencerstocreatealmostallofmyeducational
content.
Forthepastcoupleofyears,IhavebeendesigningassessmenttoolsusingGoogleSuitefor
Education.Ihaveadozentestsandactivitiesthatkidscantakeonline(smartphones).Ialso
havecreatedprojectswherekidsusetechnologytosharetheirstories,performancesand
artisticallycollaborateviatheweb.
Howwouldyouliketofurtherevolveyouruseoftechnologyintheclassroom?
Throughgrantsandschoolsupport,Iamaddingmusichardwareandsoftwaretosupporta
computermusictechnologyclass.Iamreworkingmysyllabustosupportanynewresources
thatbecomeavailable.Iwillcontinuetoaddhardwareandtrainmyselftouserelevant
softwareinthisregard.
WhatsitesandWeb2.0toolsarecolleaguesinyourbuildingusing?
Someofthesitesthatpeopleinourbuildingareusingincludeturnitin.com,Hyperhistory
online,InternetPublicLibraryResources,Webopedia,

Ourdistrictsubscribestothefollowingdatabasesforstudentuse.
GaleStudentResourcesinContext:fulltextmagazines,academic
journals,newsarticles,primarysourcedocuments,images,videos,and
audiofilesonabroadrangeoftopics.

GaleEBooks:Multivolumereferencesetsonabroadrangeoftopics.

GaleDatabases

EncyclopediaBritannicaOnline:Millionsofarticlesonasmanytopics.
IncludesInternetlinks,magazinearticles,teacherresources,timelinesand
more.Selecttheappropriategradelevel.

EnciclopediaBritnicaenespaol

BritannicaSchool

AnnalsofAmericanHistory:Over2000primarysourcedocumentsand
700multimediaresourcesfromover1500coveringAmericanhistory.

AnnalsofAmerican
History

ImageQuest:3millionrightsclearedimagesfromover45ofthebest
collectionsintheworld.

ImageQuest

FactCite(TheLincolnLibraryOnline):TopicoverviewsonBiographyfor
Beginners,SportsChampions,ShapersofSociety,U.S.andWorld
Biography,Mythology,AmericanHistory,Science,CountriesandCultures,
Literature,FoundingDocuments,andmore.

FactCite

MackinFactCite:Studentscanaccessebooks,audiobooks,and7online
databases.

FactCite

Newsbankisawebbasedresourcethatprovidesaccesstonews
publicationsfromcountriesworldwide.Thesesourcesincludethefulltextof
majornationalandinternationalnewspapers,newswires,transcripts,
magazinesandvideos.

Infoweb

TeachingBooks.net:providesoriginal,instudiomoviesofauthorsand
illustratorsandawealthofmultimediaresourcesonK12booksthat
generateenthusiasmforbooksandreading.

TeachingBooks.net

NBCLearn:Accessthousandsofhighqualityarchival,original,andcurrents
eventsvideosforuseinclassroominstruction,studentprojects,and
homework.

NBCLearn

ChicagoPublicLibrary

ChicagoPublicLibraryprovidessubscriberaccesstoover30databases
forchildrenandadults,includingJuniorQuestMagazinesProQuest
NewspapersSIRSDiscovererSpanishlanguagedatabasesand
WorldBook.Stepstoaccess:
1.
Visitchipublib.org.
2. ClickBROWSE.
3. ClickOnlineResources.
4. ClickAZResources.
5. ClickthedatabaseyouwanttoaccessandenteryourCPLcard
numberandPIN.
ECuip:Referenceandreadingmaterialsspeciallycreatedinsupportofthe
CPScurriculumforteachersandstudents.

ECuip

TheHistoryMakers:FreeonlinesourceforAfricanAmericanbiographies,
history,timelines,events.


TheHistoryMakers

TheLibraryofCongress:FreeonlineresourceforAmericanhistory.A
digitalcollectionofmorethan8millionprimarysourcematerials,including
historicmaps,documents,audioandvideo.

TheLibraryofCongress

EncyclopediaofChicago:Free,comprehensivereferencesourceof
Chicagohistory.

Encyclopediaof
Chicago

Manyofthetextbooksthatourstudentsusehaveanonlineversionwithaddedcontent.Our
districtsubscribestothewebsupportforthesematerialssothatkidscangetapasswordto
accesstheseresources.
Isthereasystemforevaluatingstudenttechnologyliteracyinyourschool?Ifso,howeffective
or helpfulhaveyoufoundtheassessment?
Wedonthaveaspecificsystemforevaluatingstudentliteracy.However,ourprincipalhas
madeanintrotocomputingclassmandatoryforallfreshmen.Further,ourprincipalhas
supportedthedecisiontostartanInformationTechnologyacademyatourneighborhood
schoolwhichwilldrawstudentsfromoutsideourattendanceboundary.This,Ibelievewillraise
theleveloftechnologicalliteracyofthestudentbody.
Isthereasystemforevaluatingeducatorstechnologyliteracytoidentifyareasofneedand
match thoseneedstoprofessionaldevelopmentprograms?
Tomyknowledge,oursystemdoesnothaveaformalizedsystemtoevaluatetheteachers
technologyliteracy.Thattaskfallstoeachschooladministration.
Describetheprofessionaldevelopmentopportunitiesavailabletoproperlyintroduceyouto
and trainyouintheuseofvarioustechnologies.

Wehaveagreatdealofprofessionaldevelopmentavailabletothemotivatedteacher.These
include:
GoogleTipoftheWeek.WeeklyemailshighlightingdifferentstrategiesfortheGoogle
Suite.
Googlepalooza.FreeGoogletraininginthesummer
TechTalk.Fulldaytechnologyworkshopsonprofessionaldevelopmentdaysduringthe
year.
CPSUniversityacollaborativeplatformdevotedtoemployeelearninganddevelopment.
Therearemanyfreeonlineclassesavailabletoteacherswhichsupporttechnologyinthe
classroom.

Howdoestechnologyhelpyoutoglobalizeyourclassroom?
Accesstoinformationisthegreatestwaythattechnologyhelpstoglobalizemyroom.Technology
allowsmystudentstofollowtheirowninterestsandexploremusicfrommanydifferentcultures.I
havestudentscometomeallthetime,smartphoneinhand,withexamplesoftunesthattheywould
liketolearn.Formanyofmystudentswhowerebornoverseas,theseareoftentraditionaltunesfrom
theircountries.

OftenIhavestudentswhowouldliketolearnpoptunes,songsfrommovies,animeandvideogames.
MystudentsregularlyconnectwithstudentsaroundtheworldonplatformssuchasSoundCloud,
YouTubeandNoteflighttoexchangesoundclips,sheetmusicandinstructionalvideos.Ihavehad
studentswhostarttheirownYouTubechannelsandposttheirownperformances.Theyarereviewed
bystudentsandadultsworldwide.

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