Posted in Food for Thought

Do ITRTs Make a Difference?

Posted on by Tina Coffey

A recent report from SETDA (State Educational Technology Directors Association) found that we do!

“In 2006, the Virginia Department of Education commissioned a study that examined the relationship between the instructional technology resource teacher program and levels of technology practiced in schools, impact of the instructional technology resource teacher program on classrooms and teachers, and impact of the instructional technology resource teacher program on students. The results indicate major improvements occurred in 32 % of the subject areas tested by the Standards of Learning tests, most dramatically in English reading. “

If you’d like to see a summary of the report for yourself (which also shows programs other states are implementing), click here.

A big, “Thanks!” to Brian McKee in Portsmouth for sharing the info on his blog.

Posted in Uncategorized

Download Handouts

Posted on by Tina Coffey

There are handouts for most of the programs we use at school (and some websites too) available in the blue box to the right. Here’s how you find them:

Use the arrow at the bottom of the box to scroll though the list of handouts. When you find one you want, click on it.bluebox1

Then click on DOWNLOAD.

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Choose a place to save the handout on your computer so you can find it. Then click save.

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Posted in Food for Thought

Jill Bolte Taylor’s Ted Talks Presentation

Posted on by Tina Coffey

Garr Reynolds, a self-described design evangelist, has a very interesting blog called Presentation Zen. He also has written a book by the same name that I just started reading. Today I noticed his most frequent blog post: an 18 minute video of Jill Bolte Taylor’s presentation at TED Talks. It floored me. She describes her experience of surviving a stroke, with a Neuroanatomist viewpoint, and how the stroke really clarified for her “how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.” It’s totally worth the watch!!![kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/UyyjU8fzEYU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Posted in Projects, Salem City Schools, Web 2.0

Scuba Diving ITRT Embarks on Another Adventure

Posted on by Tina Coffey

Meg Swecker, an ITRT for Roanoke County, is getting ready to take another scuba diving trip, and she wants to take you with her virtually! Listen to the voice thread below. If your class would like to send her questions for her to answer while she’s there, let me know! I’ll teach you how to use Voicethread![kml_flashembed movie="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=78327" width="480" height="360" wmode="transparent" /]