Welcome New PESD Teachers

The new year is about to begin. It's always a treat to welcome the new teachers to the district. Here's the information for new teachers to the district that I promised to post:

Services Available from the Instructional Technology Department
• Blogging, Web Posting Policies
• Professional Development
• Media Services
• Classroom Technology Coaching and Technology Integration Activities
• Classroom Demonstration and Model Lessons
• One-on-One Technology Help
• Internet Resources
• Troubleshooting Problems with Interactive White Boards, Projectors, and Other Hardware and Software

How To Get Service
• E-mail:
• Describe the problem
• Provide us with your name, school, room number and phone number
Or Call:
• John Kain at 2899
• Linda Cooper at 2879
• Noreen Strehlow at 3786

On-line Help and Information
• http://www.phxelem.k12.az.us/technology_and_learning/index.html
• http://www.phxelem.k12.az.us/technology_and_learning/on-line_learning/index.html
• http://pesdtech.wikispaces.com/Smartboard+FAQs
• http://pesdinstructionaltech.blogspot.com/
• http://pesdtechnostuff.blogspot.com/

What is Acceptable Use
• Use district’s computer network & Internet to meet district goals & objectives
• Network and Internet to be used only in support of education and work-related research or projects
• Support teaching and learning
• Explore Internet for sites of educational value
• Use network resources to support curriculum goals, student achievement or work-related projects

What is not Acceptable Use?
• No personal use
• No political campaigning
• No product advertising or sales
• No profanity or obscene material
• No network tampering
• No chain letters

Acceptable Use and E-mail
• District E-mail is not private
• E-mail should be used to further district goals
• Be aware of Student’s rights to privacy when using their names in an e-mail
• Chain letters and jokes should not be forwarded
• Be careful what mail or attachments are forwarded. Ask yourself, “Does it have an educational purpose.”
• Mail from outside the district may be monitored and stopped by the district SPAM filter.
• No flaming
• No spamming
• Use Netiquette guidelines

The E-mail Rule . . .
• “Don’t write anything in e-mail that you don’t want to see on the front page of the Arizona Republic or on the 5 o’clock news.”

Staff Responsibilities
• Sign Acceptable Use Policy
• Acquire skills to use computer resources & Internet appropriately
• Supervise & educate students when using computers
• Work-related projects
• Read and follow the Internet Policy

Keeping Children Safe—Blogging and Web Posting Policies
• When posting photos of children, use their first name only.
• When posting student work, use their first name only.
• Blogs and web pages that are attached to the district web site must be error free and must use accepted formats including using capital letters and appropriate punctuation.

What to do when . . .
• Inappropriate material is found:
• Turn OFF computer monitor or close the laptop
• Remove students from area
• Turn monitor/laptop ON & write down the URL
• Notify Supervisor who will contact MIS to block inappropriate site

Have a great year!!

PESD Blogs & Wikis

June was a busy month at Emerson Court. Forty staff members participated in our summer Technology Boot Camp. We have been promoting blogging for our teachers and students. Boot Camp participants had a chance to create blogs. Some are finished and linked to the district web site and some are just getting started. Check out some of our teacher's blogs and wikis at the links listed below.

http://bethunemediacenter.blogspot.com/
http://mtmediacenter.blogspot.com/
http://prepcoyotetracks.blogspot.com/
http://whatsupmrroper.blogspot.com/
http://msshores.blogspot.com/
http://msrentzsclass.blogspot.com/
http://osinskij.blogspot.com/
http://msalfaro.blogspot.com/
http://basnettsbusybees.blogspot.com/
http://www.mrquicksclass.blogspot.com/
http://mracedosclass.blogspot.com/
http://mrscastro.blogspot.com/
http://floresclass.blogspot.com/
http://msfranksclass.blogspot.com/
http://lacyslearners.blogspot.com/
http://misspettitt.blogspot.com/
http://www.schoolrack.com/mrsramirez/
http://mrsprieto1grade.blogspot.com/
http://mrsbernalsclass.blogspot.com/
http://pharris205.blogspot.com/


http://pesdtechnology.blogspot.com/
http://pesdtech.wikispaces.com/Smartboard+FAQs
http://pesdinstructionaltech.blogspot.com/
http://pesd-librariesalive.blogspot.com/
http://pesdtechnostuff.blogspot.com/
http://techcamp08.blogspot.com/

School's Out--School's In

Today is just the second day of "summer vacation" for our PESD students. For teachers it is a different story. There are several professional development activities going on in the district--some of them have already begun. Our office is providing a "Technology Boot Camp" for teachers. It's always interesting to work with adult learners.

To provide our teachers with information about the Camp, a Boot Camp blog has been created at this url: http://techcamp08.blogspot.com.

Have you heard a tall tale lately?

I know a good place to read some really great tall tales. Ms. Dhaliwal's students at Emerson Elementary School wrote tall tales. Now they are using SMART Notebook to illustrate their stories. I'm looking forward to printing and reading all of their stories. The little bits and pieces that I have seen so far show that they have good writing skills and very vivid imaginations. SMART Notebook is a great tool for this type of lesson. The graphic resources and tools give kids lots of options to be creative with their stories.

Catastrophic Events

What does a scientist do with all of their research data??? The sixth grade scientists in Andrea Shores class at Dunbar Elementary are presenting their information to the class using the SMART Board and SMART Notebook. After completing their research, each team is reporting on a specific event. Their reports include photos and video clips.

Life Cycle of a Butterfly

In Mrs. Eckhardt's 2nd grade class, the students are using Microsoft Power Point to illustrate the life cycle of a butterfly. They started the project by watching as their butterflies developed in the classroom. Then they used the Internet to find pictures to illustrate their life cycle Power Point presentations. They found some really great web sites with butterfly art and information including the ones listed below:

• http://butterflywebsite.com/clipart/constructtable.cfm


• http://www.webstarwest.com/Butterfly/index.html


• http://bsi.montana.edu/web/kidsbutterfly/


• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterfly/


• http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/insects-butterfly.shtml

Rulers and Measurement

Last week students in Ms. Dhaliwal's class at Emerson Elementary started learning how to use rulers and other measuring tools. They took rulers and yard sticks and measured everything in and out of the classroom. To integrate technology into the lesson, we used the laptop computers and a SMART Board to practice. The students opened a SMART Notebook file from flash drives and proceeded to measure the objects on the screen using a ruler that can be manipulated to measure how tall and how wide each object is.

When they are finished measuring and recording each object, they will go to the following URL's to practice in a game like format:

• http://www.quizville.com/usingRuler.php
• http://www.funbrain.com/measure/index.html