TWTW Teaching with the Web

 

 

The Instructional Technology Journal of

Greenwood School District 50

 

http://www2.gwd50.org

 

Volume 2, Number 3

August 1, 2006

 

Laptops for New Hires

8/1/06  Newly hired teachers should receive a laptop when they report to work the first day of school.  The following describes the process for distributing laptops to new hires:

·   Laptops should be distributed only to classroom teachers – not literacy coaches, Reading Recovery teachers, counselors, librarians, etc.

·   Each laptop must be checked out through the school media center and should be issued immediately when school starts – so new hires have a chance to play with the laptops before their training sessions. 

·   New hires will be required to attend a three-hour workshop in order to keep the laptop beyond the first couple of weeks of school.  Three or four workshops will be scheduled.  That schedule will be posted before the first day of school.  At the end of the training, new hires will receive a new flash drive.

·   If a school had an increase in its teaching staff, a laptop will be moved from a school with a corresponding decrease.  Additional laptops will be purchased for teacher use, if necessary.

Important Teacher Notes

·   Before returning for the first day of school, PLEASE remember to update virus definitions and run a full scan on your computer.  See the instructions in the last issue.  Please.

·   When you run the full virus scan on your computer, be sure to plug in your flash drive so it will be scanned too.

·   When you return to school, please remember to take your laptop immediately to the media center so it can be scanned back into the school inventory; then check it out again for the school year.

·   In most cases, you will have your old desktop to use as a student computer; be sure to plan some lessons and activities that will let students have the opportunity to use that computer.  In some schools, the classroom desktops have been moved to create multi-purpose labs for classes to use; be sure to plan activities that will take your students to those labs.

·   Please plan strategies in your grade level and department meetings for compiling resources that can be used by all teachers.

·   See the links at the bottom of his page for access to instructional resources and planning strategies.

·   We are still working on wireless solutions for most schools.  More information will be coming to you soon.

Montage Video Resources
Available for Teachers

The district has licensed Montage video resources for teachers to use in classrooms.  Those resources can be accessed as follows:

·   Open Internet Explorer and type the URL for your school on the address line.  The URL is your school’s abbreviation followed by a dash followed by the word “montage” (for example, GHS-montage, BRW-montage, etc.; see school abbreviations below).

·   Your username is the same as your Novell username; your password is “montage.”

·   After you login the first time, change your password:

o   Click “Settings & Tools” in the bar along the top of the screen

o   In the section labeled “My Login Information,” click the “Change Password” link.

o   Type in your new password and click “Update.”

·   Your personal account lets you set up your own playlists for use in your classes.

 

Currently, the Montage servers are accessible only from inside the district.  

 

Standard School Abbreviations

END=East End; HOD=Hodges; LAK=Lakeview; MAT=Mathews; MER=Merrywood; OAK=Oakland; PIN=Pinecrest; SPR=Springfield; WFD=Woodfields; BRW=Brewer; NSD=Northside; WST=Westview; EMD=Emerald; GHS=Greenwood High; VOC=Career Center; SSD=Southside; DIS=District Office.

Site Survey:

Websites that Educate, Enlighten, Entertain, and Engage

·   Smithsonian Source
http://www.smithsoniansource.org  
This website provides primary source materials and tools for social studies.  Topics include Civil Rights, Colonial America, Invention, Native American History, Transportation, and Westward Expansion.  Lesson plans, study guides, assessments, and more are available.

·   Microbe!
http://www.microbe.org
You can find everything there is to know about microbes – from what’s on your hands, in landfills, causing colds, and in the news.  There is also a click to study microbes “en Espanol.”

·   Simple Machines
http://www.edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/
You will learn about simple and compound machines while you explore the house and the tool shed.  There are teacher guides, vocabulary lists, activities – and, most importantly, the animated interactive videos that are entertaining and informative.

·   Illuminating Mathematics
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivitySearch.aspx
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has 90 online interactive activities for all grade levels – correlated to NCTM standards.

 

The Laptop-and-Projector Project Website

Tech Project:  http://www2.gwd50.org/TechPlans/TechPlan2006.htm

Instr. Resources:  http://www2.gwd50.org/TechPlans/StaffDevResources.htm

Previous TWTW Issues: http://www2.gwd50.org/techplans/TWTW-Index.htm