It seems like a while since my last post, but we've only had two weeks of school since then because of the Thanksgiving break, which we all very much needed.
I have to admit that my library media specialist duties have been keeping me busier than my TIS duties lately for a couple of reasons. First, it's research paper season, and during this time, I work closely with all of the language arts classes. Of course, I do use a great deal of technology during these lessons including online catalogs and reserach databases as well as tips on evaluating web sites and locating credible, reliable sources. Perhaps the most aligned with the TIS duties is the incorporation of SAS this year. I've especially been incorporating the lesson on avoiding plagiarism and have been encouraging teachers to use the writing reviser interactive tool. I've also been helping teachers and students use turnitin.com, which is a site that helps teachers address and identify plagiarism.
I've also been more focused on librarian duties lately because I've been serving as the field supervisor for someone who's working on a school library media endorsement. During her sixty-hour field experience, I've been trying to provide a wide array of experiences. Of course, technology is part of the library media specialist's job, but there are many other elements of the job that are best learned in a hand-on manner. In fact, many of these can't really be addressed in a classroom setting, so I have felt a great obligation to prepare this student as much as possible.
On a more TIS-related note, I've been assisting teachers with creating WebTop accounts and unblocking YouTube videos. For the 23Things assignment, I unblocked a YouTube video about a famous piece of art at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Students in my school recently visited the museum, and I unblocked the video for the teacher to use as she prepared students for their visit.
I've also been working with Acuity and WV Writes quite a bit lately. I usually help teachers access their accounts, set up their rosters, create assignments, and locate assessment results. I do provide support while they are working in the computer lab as well since the lab is adjacent to the library and I can monitor both areas.
This past week was especially challenging for me because my school's network server crashed and had to be rebuilt. Although I was not responsible for rebuilding the server, I was in continual contact with the district computer technicians, and I had to provide creative solutions for teachers who were affected by the problem.
Since I last posted, I also finished my Intel Assessments for the 21st Century course and registered for another course, Web 2.0 tools, which I will begin in January.
This coming week should be interesting as I will be providing training on WebTop/Google Calendar and possibly Edmodo as well (if I get the training time I requested for our Instructional Support day). I also received thirty Mimio Teach devices for teachers at the end of this past week, so I'll be working with those, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment