On the Trails

There is not a tool that assesses a teacher’s level of technology integration in the classroom in an easy-to-use fashion. The tool I am speaking about has to be as simple as using a tire gauge or a cooking thermometer. My job is to teach teachers how to integrate technology [...]

The National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association have teamed up to create a web site called Read-Write-Think. I use the student materials (tools) in lessons everyday.  In this post, I want to share a lesson idea regarding the Acrostic Poem tool.
An Acrostic Poem is an excellent assessment tool. Students need [...]

Vision
All members of our learning community will have the resources and skills to effectively use technology to:

aid assessment processes
facilitate learning
enhance achievement
expedite communication
retrieve and manage information efficiently
[...]

Mission
The Alden Central School District will fully implement and integrate the use of current and future technologies

To enhance the teaching and learning process
To provide appropriate, cost-effective tools to communicate, manage, process and analyze information.

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The Five Basic Steps of Facilitating with Technology
If you plan to use technology as a facilitation tool, be prepared to take these steps:
1. Determine if there is a need for facilitating with technology.
2. Select the right technology for the right purpose.
3. Do session pre-work.
4. Take the measures needed to create a successful session.
5. Do follow-up [...]

MBTI Dimensions and Preferences
Dimension a
Related Dichotomy
Energizing—How and where people get their energy
Extraversion–Introversion—Are you energized by the outer world of people, things, and activities or by your inner world of ideas, impressions, and emotions?
Attending—What people pay attention to when they gather information
Sensing–Intuition—Do you focus on concrete data gathered through the five senses or on broad meanings, [...]

Imagine how different the typical organization or work team would be if every single person knew the answers to the five key questions as they applied to him or her individually:
1. Our group exists to …
2. We want our activities to result in …
3. We will measure our success [...]

An expert is a fellow who is afraid to learn anything new because then he wouldn’t be an expert anymore.
—HARRY S TRUMAN
Behavior that’s rewarded gets repeated.
Learn where things went right and where things went wrong, and search out new techniques and approaches to enable improvement.
In 1987 Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister Our ability to [...]

“Increasing tension often leads to the opposite of relaxation, which is increased stress. When under too much stress, most people undergo a measurable change in blood pressure, an increase in adrenaline, and an elevation in glucocorticoids, which are potentially destructive hormones. There may be an increase in respiration, perspiration, or even heartbeat. By the time [...]

If you don’t embrace spirituality, you are not a full human being – Dr. Loyd Elm

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Schedule a parent night for PS to show them how to use the site
Collect Technology Lesson/Project Best Practices
Create a comprehensive technology reform – Begin with defining the leaders in each school – next identify what is special about us – identify problems – create a technology integration rating scale
Need to email curriculum for students
- get [...]

By: Barbara R. Frey
& Ruth B. Noller

Information taken from
the Journal of Creative Behavior, 1983.

The CPS Facilitator/Mentor provides processes for people to resolve problems on their own – E. Paul Torrance
The Qualified Mentor possesses these characteristics:

Personal Position Process

Requirements of the Protege

Ambition Trust Ability Desire

Although Mentoring can be informal, recent thinking has resulted [...]

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How would you get to Washington, D.C.?

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A facilitator should always ask the client:
Do you have enough to get started?
after clarifying the problem, generating ideas, and overcoming concerns.

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Materials

Easel, chart paper, dots, extension cord/adapter, yellow and
blue sticky notes, a timer, forced connections book

Agenda

Overview of Process

Roles – Client, Resource Group & Facilitator

Client – the person(s) for whom we are going to provide
ideas
Resource Group – a group of people who will use their
minds to generate ideas
Facilitator – a person who will guide the group through
the [...]

What would you do if you were not on someone’s buddy list?

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In the Exploring the Challenge section of the CPS process, the facilitator’s job is to help the client identify goal, wishes or challenges to bring to the resource group. The resource group, in the Explore the Challenge section, helps the client create the “right” problem to work on.
If a problem is known, solutions can [...]

If your school is like my school, any digital artifacts that kids work on are usually stored on the school network and thus, inaccessible at home. This does not have to happen, students can use save to the Internet and be able to access their documents from anywhere. I believe that this is going [...]

Alex Osborn – Seven- Step CPS Process from Osborn’s Applied Imagination

Orientation
Preparation
Analysis
Hypothesis
Incubation
Synthesis
Verification

After 1982 tools were provided for convergent thinking. Prior to this point, divergent thinking was the main thinking model.
Mess-Finding

highlighted the importance of obstacles and outcomes
ownership of the problem became an important factor

Effective problem solving requires people to consider more than facts

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In a workshop I delivered the other day, I used brainwriting to get a group of 5th grade teachers to brainstorm curricular topics. They spent 5 minutes using the sheets and came up with over 100 curricular topics. We then clustered similar topics together. Within these clusters, teachers picked one topic to [...]

Check in with the client often
Use the back of the flip-chart to reveal the process
Get a process buddy
Know when to say when

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Title of Lesson – Collaborating with Explorers, Lesson #1

Grade Level – 3 – 5

Content Area – Social Studies

Standards
New York State Standard – Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history [...]