Learning Things

Getting to Know Folks

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:41:00 -0600

In this 21st century technological world, many say that we are not as connected "face-to-face" as we used to be and that is weakness of our 21st century world. As an idealist and technology "aholic", I disagree that it is this way because of the technology. I believe it is because of the personality of the person and choice of the person whether it becomes a weakness or not.

I am more connected in every way - face-to-face, electronically and on an even deeper level in this 21st century world. One of my goals this year that I consciously decided and have been implementing as well as having happen naturally is getting to know folks on a deeper level. Perhaps it is because I have been with my new district for a year now and it is just naturally starting to happen, but several times a week now, I've had the opportunity and taken it to get to know acquaintances better, more, deeper and share with them about myself on that level. Each time it happens, I feel awesome, appreciative and thankful. I am loving this! I love the reflections I get as a result. I am growing.

Who have you gotten to know on a deeper level this year? Was it through technology, as a result of technology's efficiency's that provided you more time, or just because. No excuse is a good one . . .I want to know the folks that I work with because it enables me to work with them better, because I care about them, and because it goes both ways. And it is not just folks in the district - it is everywhere.

Have you ever planned to get to know folks better and deeper and done it? What were the results? Do you have time to do this, or are you just surviving treading water? Could technology help? Are you ready to use it to help? How could it help perhaps?

"Facilitated Communications" and Autism - Thoughts and Reflections

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:04:00 -0600

My sister Sandy and I spent over a hour last night talking with each other on our iPhones about the concept of "facilitated communications" for autistic individuals. Sandy indicated that as a part of the Educational Psychology class that she is "facilitating" with a group of Master's students, that this term is one of the concepts she has on the list to cover.

I didn't really know what it was, but after having her explain it to me, had a wonderful dialogue with her. She sent me the video above so I could gain further information.

Amazing to me the many things that were so obvious to Sandy and me in the video weren't instantly obvious to many folks in the video. It is astounding to me that the folks didn't consider the possibility of the facilitator unconsciously directing the communication of the autistic individuals. That realization is kind of scary to me.

It is a long video but well worth the watch. Check it out and let me know what are you thoughts, reactions, conclusions.

I just enjoy learning things :)!

Communications and Collaboration Experiences

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Wed, 6 Jul 2011 12:22:00 -0600

Yesterday was a wonderfully insightful day of communications and collaboration experiences. It was not the kind you normally think of in education - working with teachers, librarians and tech folks to help bring about the best possible learning experiences for students - but rather a day of getting to know folks in the district administration in a whole different way. Getting to know them, value them - the real them - while at the same time collaborating to come up with workable solutions to issues.

As a result, I have decided that I need to get to know one person a day in a deeper way than I already know them. It was a blessing to get to know these folks in a deeper, personal way. It made my day and I couldn't help but reflect on it yesterday and today - hence this posting. It was a light bulb moment for me.

Thank you to those great district folks in 27J for increasing my reflection, thinking and for trusting me and sharing with me the real you. I am not the best listener, I've been told, but yesterday I did listen and hear and learned - you enriched my life and I appreciate it.

Learning things is a wonderful, never ending opportunity. What have you learned today that has clearly impacted you? Thanks for listening. . . :)

eReaders and eTextbooks - some thoughts

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:36:00 -0600

"The Future of the Textbook" is a great read. Thank you Mike J. for sending it to me. If you deal with library media, textbook adoption, instructional technology, curriculum adoption, implementing standards, you should click on the link and review the article. I registered as I want to read the rest of the articles in this series.

Why? I am dealing with this issue right now as the Brighton Early Morning Rotary is working with our school district through a grant to provide ereaders and ereader textbooks for our students. Currently the only adopted textbooks that are available as ereaders are the language arts selected library books that are part of the curriculum. How are other schools and districts doing this? Where are they getting the eTextbooks? I can't really find any.

Someone or several folks have helped me to realize that since we have access to current information via the internet, that with a "good" teacher and "good" standards, the world is now our textbook - or should be. . . Of course we have to teach students to "drive" the internet and follow the "laws" and we have to "enforce" the consequences of not "driving" appropriately also. And we have to give kids and teachers access to the information that they need to use and it has to be available at a moments notice. Is that still too big a list of requirements for districts without proper funds, or families without enough income to supply the access tools?

I think it boils down to if you provide it, it will happen and yes we'll have to provide course corrections and displine when mistakes happen and most folks don't want to be the bad cop, they'd just rather never risk. But at what cost is that to students when they get out in the world and don't know how to drive properly? I think that option is even more deadly. I'd rather my kids make a mistake while they are with me at home, so that I have the opportunity to help them with their mistakes, rather than let them make the mistake once they are on their own and they have to deal with the real police, and permanent results of bad decisions.

Experiential, just-in-time learning, evaluating resources to be sure they are correct rather than just accepting a textbook as totally perfect (which nothing is, right!) are some of the requirements and benefits of using the world as our textbook. Wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to have anymore textbook adoptions? Districts could certainly save money and time and keep the resources current and up-to-date all of the time. :)

I believe schools are at a point in this process where with curriculum standards, textbooks no longer need to be adopted, but curriculum standards need to be followed in instruction and resources for accomplishing that learning needs to be just-in-time, current sources from where ever they may be accessed. Being limited to only one district adopted textbook for a class now limits learning potential as there are so many ways to get better information online.

Other benefits include student and teacher engagement, increased, active learning, and always staying current as a teacher as well. Of course, there is always the danger of the teachers doing as they have "always" done (not a real rationalization on my part, but) and using their same old materials that are tried and true (and yes probably boring). Teacher evaluation systems need to provide the accountability and motivations to keep that issue from being an issue.

Another benefit is students will be learning what is up to the minute. Teachers will know what is up to the minute and our society will be better as a result and hopefully keep up a little better with the speed with which our world is changing. Maybe there needs to be speeding tickets for the fast pace with which the world is changing. Yeah, right. That will never happen. Thanks for listening. Let me know your thoughts through your comments below.

Happy internet driving!

That Get Together After Work That I Promised So Long Ago

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:07:00 -0700

This past Friday after work, the Brighton School Instructional Technology Technicians, Teacher Librarians and Library Paraprofessionals had the opportunity to meet and visit at the Copper Rail. Over Nachos, Hot Wings, Chips and Salsa we solved all of the world's problems! I wish!

Mike Jurkiewicz, Tiah Frankish, Carmen & Jeff Castro, Diane & Jeff Jewell, Kim Thoms, Julie Hacker, Paula Chalmers, Angela Trunkenbolz, Kim Westerman, Jennifer Rice, Julie Ann Baker and I all enjoyed appetizers, coffee, tea, soft drinks, water and great conversation and friendship. (I apologize in advance if I forgot and/or added anyone to the list). We missed everyone that was unable to attend! Maybe next time. . .

As a result of this get together, we planned a Potluck/Collaborative session for the next Professional Development Day. Originally we thought it was to be February 11th, but March 4th is the actual PD day. I look forward to helping each of you as you help our students to learn. I am excited to see what folks have to share regarding needs, successes, technology, books and who knows what else!

I am proud to be a part of this group! You are an awesome asset to Brighton 27J and our students are so lucky to have you to assist them in their learning!

We also had the opportunity to visit with Julie Hacker, say goodbye and offer hugs. Julie is returning to Alabama. She will be near family and her husband has accepted an engineering position there. We are so happy for Julie and her family, but sad for us and the kids at Southeast that will miss her terribly! Perhaps she should Skype in and read them a story one day!!

Now we need to plan "That 2nd Get Together After Work" - does April sound like a good month?

Do you and your colleagues get together after work socially to get to know each other and support each other? Looking forward to hearing from you on how you get together informally to build bonds and relationships with colleagues. Thanks!

I'd also like to say thank you to the Copper Rail and their staff! They did an excellent job attending to our group and we appreciate it!

My New Second Home - Brighton, CO - Part 2

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:53:00 -0700

My New Second Home - Brighton, CO - Part 1 was written on November 8th. A lot has happened in the past 42 days - good things! But I bet you thought you were never going to hear Part 2 since it has taken me so long to get back to it. Well here ya go - :)

The District is taking a serious, research-based look at Cloud Computing productivity tools. A Cost Benefit Analysis has been completed by Technology and my report on the State of Instructional Technology in the District is written. We are considering Microsoft Live@EDU and Google Apps for Education. We plan to pilot them both. Two of the instructional technology key requirements are:

simultaneous editing of shared documents for teachers and student, and
the ability to create forms that auto populate a spreadsheet.

A key question that we have is, how many of our teachers and students currently use the personal versions of Microsoft Live@EDU or Google Apps for Education and how much training time can be saved by choosing the one that most folks already use personally?

Last year the District was awarded an $150K E2T2 grant by CDE. We are in the process of modifying the grant details to address completing the remaining tasks by May of 2011. Teachers and students are using formative assessment, EDU20, slates, projectors and document camera's to enhance learning. Things we need more of and perhaps will always need more of is professional development, up-to-date workstations to enable the slates and document cameras to perform, clickers to replace the missing projector clickers so we can black them out when it is necessary to access IC in the middle of a lesson and adhere to FERPA rules, wireless in those classrooms and wireless enabled devices, so that we adhere to Risk Management Safety Guidelines of no cords across the floor, time for the grant participants to get together as needed to collaborate, to plan on-going professional development as the program expands. Well I could continue on this topic forever, so on to the next one.

"If we all share the load and responsibility, we will learn and gain even more than we share." is my personally created quote included in my 27J signature line. Due to state budget issues, every Colorado school district has had to have their staff wear more "hats" this year. No one gets to say "No - that's not our job" anymore. Everyone needs to be doing whatever is necessary (within appropriate district guidelines), to help out where there is a need. I said all of that to prepare you for an opportunity within 27J. In January all staff will be able to participate in an Instructional Technology Expertise survey (and yes, it auto populates to a spreadsheet :)). The purpose of this survey is for folks to let others folks know where they'd like to know more from an instructional technology standpoint as well as what areas of instructional technology you might feel capable of helping someone else. This spreadsheet will include best times to contact each other to help or get help and will be available to everyone via a link that is live and up-datable 24/7! Go Prairie View High School for the idea!

Let me know your thoughts and comments and also "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year". As a new employee to the district, I will not be taking any vacation during the holidays as I won't have enough days to escort my daughter to all of her out-of-town cheer leading competitions if I did that!

A ReBlog of one everyone needs to read: "Facebook as an Instructional Technology Tool"

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Tue, 9 Nov 2010 16:35:00 -0700

Okay this is a partial quote (ReBlog - Retweet, you get it, right) of one you need to read. Though it is in a college class, I just love it. It could be done the same way in high school, couldn't it? Check it out:

Facebook as an Instructional Technology Tool
by K. Walsh on August 11, 2010
Can the wildly popular social network be used constructively in the classroom? This student’s story says it can.
Yesterday, student Kristen Nicole Cardon submitted a comment in response to my post 5 Reasons Why Educators Need To Embrace Internet Technologies in which she explained how she used Facebook in a course she took. I really appreciated her well stated discussion of how Facebook was used in the course and how the approach succeeded (slightly edited in the following excerpt).

“In my British Literary History course last winter semester, my professor created a class facebook group which we all joined. We’d finish our reading for class and then get online and write a paragraph about what we’d read, focusing our comments on the specific course

iPad Thoughts - Part 1

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Tue, 9 Nov 2010 12:39:00 -0700

Today I finally spent more time on the iPad I've been using to find APPS for teaching and learning in Brighton 27J. Though there are some things I find very frusrating, I think now that I have it all set up for use, I will use it more. This iPad is not 3G capable and I do not have internet access with it in the district. I had to stay home (or go to a hotspot) to set it up and install the APPS to review. And there are alot of them!!

Downloading the APPS was frustrating. There are pages and pages of iPad Education APPS. Even with a fast wireless network, the iPad couldn't stay up with me. At one point I was about 16 APPS ahead of the downloads. To get to the APPS that were twenty pages in, I had to page through the entire twenty pages every time (did I miss something here?). I did not like that at all, but I guess most people don't go downloading everything they can find in a category all at once or at least not after the initial first time. I hope I don't have to do that again soon.

Dropbox was my first APP to load, and I like it for what I used it for - to load a CD's worth of files that I'd left at home on my MAC (but had uploaded to Dropbox) to my Hewlett Packard PC at work. Worked great! Still accessing those files from Dropbox as it is just easier. But Dropbox can only upload video or photo files from the iPad it seems without finding an alternative APP. So if you download a document type of file to the iPad, you have to find an APP to load it in to to edit it there and to be able to upload your revised version back to Dropbox. Can anyone offer any insight into a better way to do this?

After I have review all of the free APPS for math, writing, reading, and etc., I will write part two of this blog post. If anyone wants to share educational iPad APPS that they particularly like, please comment on this post. Comment on the usefulness and quality of the APPS listed below if you have experience with any of them and thanks!

APPS to review include:

Books

Free Books
Umbrella
Wattpad
Kobo
DC Comics
Marvel
iBooks
Alice Lite

Language Arts

Word Search
ABC Phonics
Flashcards
Sight Words
NOVA Free
ABC Free
123 Writing
Words HD Free
Phonics Free
Sight Words Free
ABC Writing Free
ABC Tracer
Play and Learn
Alphabet Racing

Math

Shapes Free
Dino Math
Dots
Piggy Math
Flash to
Math Ninja
Mad Math
Kids Math
Algebra
Math Play
Number Battle
Kosmic Math Lite
Math Board
Math Tour
Glow Burst
Graph Book
Under Sea Math
Kids Math
Units and Constants
Times Tables

Others

Mia's Playground
Virtuoso
Stack the States
Educa Food Free
Art HD

My New Second Home - Brighton, CO - Part 1

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Mon, 8 Nov 2010 16:03:00 -0700

Today has been another reflective day for me as I get to know my new city, Brighton, CO. No, I am not living there, but I am working there as Manager of Instructional Technology for Brighton School District 27J. I am spending about ten hours a day in Brighton and the surrounding communities working to help use instructional technology as a tool in student learning. It is interesting how it feels to try to function in a new city when you don't know where the services you like or need to use are located.

The Brighton location of the Rangeview Anythink Library was one of my stops during my lunch hour. I'd signed up for a temporary library card online which allowed me to request books and put books on hold. Today I went by to get my official library card (so that I can access their online subscription databases) and to talk with Todd Cordrey, Anythink Manager, and Melody Costa, Guide, about working with the Brighton 27J school district. My goal is to work toward registering all students and teachers as library patrons of Anythink. Then they too can access the online subscription databases for school assignments and research. Students throughout the district can have free access to safe, qualified resources through Anythinks subscription databases. For the district to purchase these databases would require funds of well over $50,000 annually.

One of my goals in my position is to find ways to most efficiently and effectively utilize the instructional technology tools already available to us. I look forward to partnering with Lynda Freas, Anythink Adminstrator, to help all Brighton 27J students increase their access to information through Anythink membership and get online at school or at home using these 21st century tools to assist them in their learning.

If you would like to help with this project scaling throughout the district, please comment on this post!

The databases available through Anythink include:

Academic Search Premier
Search for scholarly articles from over 8,450 journals, including the social sciences, humanities, education, engineering, applied science, and ethnic studies fields. Full text is available for more than 4,600 journals.

ALLDATA
Find detailed car and service information from 1982 to present.

Ancestry: Library Edition
Discover more about your family history by searching a wide array of sources, including census reports, birth & death records, and immigration records. Fill in what you already know with newspaper articles, yearbook photos, and much more.

Associations Unlimited
Find information on over 475,000 non-profit organizations. Search by subject, location, organization name or acronym.

Beacham’s Guide to the Endangered Species of North America
Search extensive data on the habitats and ecosystems of more than 1,200 species identified as endangered or threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service.

Business Source Premier
View company profiles and full-text articles from over 2,150 business publications.

Chilton Library
Find step-by-step repair instructions, maintenance schedules, recalls, diagrams and more. Search by specific year, make and model.

Consumer Reports
Get ratings and reviews, recommendations and buying advice for thousands of products across several industries.

Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco: Learning About Addictive Behavior
Approximately 200 articles cover topics ranging from binge drinking to the role of genetics in addictive behavior for researchers in grade six and above.

EBSCOhost
Search across multiple EBSCOhost databases simultaneously.

Encyclopedia of World Biography
Learn about individuals who have made significant contributions to human culture throughout history and the world.

ERIC
Find education literature and information about practice in learning, teaching, educational decision-making and research in this online digital library.

FirstSearch
Find library catalog records, journal articles, or ebooks by searching extensive collection of databases, including WorldCat, ArticleFirst, and MEDLINE.

Fuente Académica
Access articles in Spanish from scholarly journals published in Latin America, Portugal and Spain, with particular emphasis on the subjects of agriculture, biological sciences, economics and more.

Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia
Search over 25,000 encyclopedic entries covering a variety of subjects.

Gale Legal Forms
Find and print up-to-date legal forms and informational booklets online, including forms for power of attorney, divorce and bill of sale.

History Reference Center
Thousands of biographies, historical documents, full-text articles, maps, historical video and more are available.

Infobase Ebooks
Over 150 ebooks are now available right from your desktop on a variety of subjects - from health to history. Geared towards readers grades 6-12, users can view, search or print any of the titles.

LearningExpress Library
Take comprehensive, interactive online practice exams for academic, civil service, military, and professional licensing and certification exams. Registration is required.

MAS Ultra - School Edition
High school students can find articles, photos, maps, flags, biographies and more for their school projects.

MasterFILE Premier
Access thousands of images and full-text articles from over 1,700 periodicals, nearly 500 reference books, and more than 164,400 primary source documents. MasterFILE Premier also includes an image collection of over 502,000 photos, maps and flags.

MedicLatina
Find medical research and investigatory journal articles from renowned Latin American and Spanish publishers, including full-text articles in native Spanish.

MedlinePlus
Learn information about drugs, latest health news, and find answers to health questions. An illustrated medical encyclopedia and interactive patient tutorials are also available.

Middle Search Plus
Middle and junior high school students can find historical essays, biographies, maps, images and more to help with school projects and research.

Newspaper Source
Search full-text articles from 25 national and 260 regional U.S. newspapers, including the Denver Post, Greeley Tribune and Pueblo Chieftain, and transcripts from TV and radio news.

NoveList
View fiction reviews, award-winner lists, and recommendations. Includes breakdowns by age and genre as well as resources for book discussions and curriculum.

NoveList K-8
Fiction guide for young readers includes discussion guides, award-winner lists and recommendations.

PubMed
Access thousands of biomedical citations and abstracts from over 5,000 journals published in the United States and 80 other countries.

Primary Search
Elementary kids can find articles on every subject for their school projects.

ReferenceUSA
Research businesses and individuals for class projects or market research for small businesses. Search for professional biographies, brands and products, or contact information.

Regional Business News
Search articles from regional business publications and full-text for more than 50 sources.

Science Reference Center
Learn about topics from biology and chemistry to environmental science from this comprehensive research database of science-oriented content, including full-text for over 600 science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals and more.

TopicSearch
Find over 139,800 articles on current events topics like aging, crime, drugs, energy, health, human rights and world affairs, from over 4,800 sources, with 1,650 full-text periodicals.

TumbleBooks
Online, animated talking books for kids in English, French and Spanish. Includes puzzles, games and audio books for independent learning.

TumbleReadables
Search online collection of read-along titles for elementary, middle school and high school students featuring adjustable online text and complete audio narration.

TumbleTalkingBooks
Listen to high-quality audio versions of classics of American and world literature, non-fiction, fiction, and children and teen books. Ideal for readers of all ages and abilities, those learning English as a second language, and people who may be visually or mobility impaired.

Illumination and Transformation - 2010 CAL Conference Exciting Sessions!

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:41:00 -0600

What a great conference this year! The brand new facility, the keynotes, the presentations, the layout of the conference all were fantastic! Thank you CAL Conference Committee for all of your hard work!

This was my 6th year to attend CAL and my 3rd year to work on the signage for the conference. Here are the events from which I benefited.

Keynote "Beyond Information to Transformation". It's all about choice, fun, hospitality, no guilt, relationships, community, favorites, tools and simplicity. For more information, click on the linkable title to go to the website by the presentators.
Session "Uncover...Discover...and Read" - a digital book talk on teens and tweens books by Brighton 27J Teacher Librarians Tiah Frankish, PVMS and Dawn Lewallen, Stuart Middle School. Check out their blog: ConsumedByBooks's Blog.
Session "Library Advocacy with the Maasai in Residence Program at ThunderRidge High School" - where their library hosted a Maasai warrior from Tanzania for a week of interactive lessons and cultural exchange. If you want to get in on it, he'll come to your school for a full day for $500. Contact Paula Busey at ThunderRidge.
Keynote "I'm Sorry You Hated This Book: A Conversation with Censored Author Lauren Myracle" - an Intellectual Freedom best-ever session in my opinion.
Session "Unconference within a Conference: School Librarians and the new Content Standards: Taking the Lead with 21st Century Skills". Wow - click on the session linked title to see all of the great information on their CASL wikispaces!
Session "Becoming Anythink - How Rangeview Library District turned everything upside down or at least sideways". They eliminated fines, thought totally out of the box for Summer Reading, energized themselves into such positive power houses individually and as a group. I went to this session specifically because in my tours of my new district, I've seen their mobile libraries at our schools.
The Colorado Association of School Librarians Board Meeting - At this meeting I joined the Awards Committee and will be doing the publication of this effort through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and the like. We also as a CASL membership are doing a letter writing campaign to publicize the awesome stories going on in our districts through the local newspapers. Thank you to the CASL Board for preparing all of the collateral material needed to make this easy for us. This project aligns right in with a project we brainstormed in our District Leadership monthly meeting - marketing our schools and our district by sharing positive stories that are happening everyday in our schools.
Session "Libraries: Are we the center of our community? John Creighton, public policy researcher, community organizer and St. Vrain Valley School District School Board President, presented his finding from his analysis of public trends and community values and forecast impacts on our institutions. The shifts that are impacting communication, school districts, and politics impact libraries as well. John's visonary thinking enabled me to see and understand how we need to look at our potential roles for the future differently. It was a new way of thinking for me and I must say exciting!

All of the session handouts will eventually be available on the CAL Conference Handouts Link. Check back occasionally so that you can benefit from these great sessions as well.

Did you attend CAL? What were the"bests" for you?

Thank You Everyone!

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 23:27:00 -0600

I started a new job this week with Brighton 27J. The position is Manager of Instructional Technology - the same position I had with St. Vrain Valley School District for the past five years. During those five years at St. Vrain, I worked with and got to know many, many wonderful folks. Holli Buchter, the Coordinator for Media Services, I believe, has had a hand in a very positive first week for me. Some how many of these great people found out that my new job started this week and every day so far, I have received emails wishing me well in my new position! Hearing from everyone such positive and loving comments has really made my week and I so appreciate it!

Thank you so much everyone! The emails of support and care as well as those that have me and my best in their thoughts mean so much to me. You guys are really making me learn all over again what true friendship is all about. I am so lucky to have you all in my life!

The picture above is from my second year with St. Vrain's wonderful library folks. It is one captured memory of some of the kind and loving men and women I am honored to know in the library world.

Friendship - you've all certainly shown me its value and reward. I hope that my girl's realize its value over the long term and get to experience such a wonderful feeling of warmth and caring. You are all very special to me and this feeling and experience has really helped make my transition to my new district a positive, exciting one.

By the way, I am loving my new opportunity in Brighton and look forward to having a positive effect on the achievement of Brighton 27J's students. Wonder if I should present the idea of a Student Technology Fair in Brighton? :)

Hugs,

Connie

One of the Best Learning Adventures

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:14:00 -0600

A learning adventure that I only remember once during my youth (at age 14 in the White Mountains of Arizona) is camping. My memories of that particular camping experience were my brand new white tennis shoes getting wet in the creek and my Mom putting them by the fire to dry and theyir suffering a burn :) and brushing my teeth over the creek (we wouldn't do that anymore). I wish I had had more camping experiences, but have made up for it as an adult and parent.

Reflection is at its best in the flames of the fire at night with an alternate view of the Milky Way, the trickling of a waterfall in the creek over the rocks and pebbles, and walking alone with your thoughts and feelings, but also with family and friends on a hike with millions of views of nature along the path.

Normally we see beautiful rocks, flowers of every color and size, boundless greenery as well as pine trees dying from bark beetle infestations, remains of past fires, bones of animals, feathers of birds, beaver dams, animal tracks including domestic ones and most anything else you can imagine. This past weekend was a first - "gillions and gillions" of mushrooms. Every size and color and quantity!

Beautiful red!!

We called these popcorn!

Where are the fairies?

We saw white, orange, brown ones. You know - the ones you always see. But we also saw gold and purple tops like the red one.

This was the first camping trip ever for my new daughter. I dare say the five mile hike in the wilderness with the 700' elevation climb was a first as well. It was awesome to see her intrigue with the rocks of every shape, size and color. We were lucky to have additional family to mentor her along the way. Change - denial, anger, sadness at what happens to you in life can be reflected upon as you walk safely in nature. It is hard, hard, hard. But as hard as it is, it is good, releasing and healthy.

I had to leave early to get to another commitment, but I heard that both daughters with us were awesome breaking camp! Yea! Great kids! Almost adults. . . Sad though, they didn't want to go back next weekend like we older folks do. Hope we didn't over do the hike length. Time will tell.

What have you learned, reflected upon as you camped?

A New Learning Adventure!

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:18:00 -0600

3X School starts today for my "triplet" 17 year old high schoolers. Yes I said "triplet". This week we gained guardianship of a friend of Jacey's so my twins now have another sister! She spent the summer with us and I watched everyone grow as a result. Now we all have the opportunity to grow and learn even more. I plan to journal our journey over this next year, so stay tuned. She is our second daughter through guardianship. We learned and grew so much with our first guardian daughter - I am excited about what this next year and on will enable me to learn. Join me in the journey. Happy First Day of School!

How Can We Help Those Students That Should Be Entrepreneurs?

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Fri, 2 Jul 2010 11:26:00 -0600

What programs are out there to support a passion for entrepreneurship? Do K12 schools address this? What universities are offering this field as a major? This TED idea really has me thinking? Let me know of positive opportunities of which you may know. Thanks!

Bored in school, failing classes, at odds with peers: This child might be an entrepreneur, says Cameron Herold. At TEDxEdmonton, he makes the case for parenting and education that helps would-be entrepreneurs flourish -- as kids and as adults.

Education Does Pay!

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:54:00 -0600

Yes, it does.

A high school diploma, Heckman (the author of the linked article) and others have shown, is worth $11,600 a year in incremental salary.
Why then, don't students and parents demand the results for the money spent on their education? According to Heckman, the U.S. education industry produces many "defective products" from their $660 billion factory. We wouldn't accept this from other products that we pay for - so why does education get away with it?

There are ways to produce better end products. Thank goodness!

James Heckman, a University of Chicago economist and 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize, has spent much of his career studying this point. Heckman is a realist about the challenge that public schools confront. "Most of the gap in test scores is there at age 5, before they enter kindergarten," he says. He says to address this gap, collect data, look for small changes, intervene quickly and move resources to the formulas that work. Some of the better management techniques come straight out of the 1930s, but other steps look more like an information-driven company than an old-fashioned school district.

Quiz scores, homework, attendance records - every detail of a student's performance, needs to be entered into a computer database where teachers/administrators should examine the constantly unfolding record and quickly adjust lesson plans and individual teaching strategies in response. We need to be constantly using this data on an ongoing basis to adjust our teaching and learning to provide a better product - a giant payoff!

Only one questions remains in my mind - are educators all willing to do what it takes to produce successful, prepared students?

Linchpin by Seth Godin

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Wed, 5 May 2010 10:31:00 -0600

Just sat in on an Elluminate session with Steve H. where Seth talked about the message in his book, "Linchpin:". Here are my notes from that session.

We need to teach our kids how to solve interesting problems and how to lead. If school aren't, can't, won't, don't realize, or don't want to – we need to "homeschool" our kids from 3 pm until school starts the next morning to stand out. We need to teach kids to not “fit in”; we need to reward kids for standing out rather than fitting in unfortunately while at the same time maintaining NCLB test scores. We need to remember that the real customers are the kids, not our superiors.

We have enough time and resources in the school day to let kids start speaking up. We need to stop asking about test scores and start talking about how to make a difference. If you can persistently put ideas in front of people who trust you, sooner or later the "nickel will drop". It is that flip that should be our goal. If kids realize that others want this change, they will start doing it as well.

We need to say to our kids, "You are a genius, the world needs your contribution!" They need to know their gifts, talent and responsibilities. One teacher said she tried it and her 5 and 7 year olds get it, and they know each others gifts!

We can change this culture and the system with these conversations with young kids. Genius means – not Albert E., but solving a problem in a way that it has never been solved before. Unfortunately we scare it out of kids today, by telling them they broke a rule, etc. Yes, it is not easy to manage a class of 33 geniuses, but making it easy is not the point.

Seth mentioned a concept that I really wish someone would take the chance and do - "non-schooling" – providing resources and letting kids figure it out.

How do we break things into small enough groups with enough unique voices. Let’s fail 10 percent of the time with experiments like Google does as a company. Great employee characteristics is what we should be looking for in students. Reward risk taking.

We need to seek out risk taking teachers and celebrate their failures. We need to praise those that fail when they tried something that didn’t work.

Do what is necessary to make an impact. When enough is at stake, people chose to be a major maverick. If we want real change, it is going to happen one person at a time even when what people say is wacky.

How to start? One example was to start a father - daughter book club. Read something that would never be on the curriculum that will lead to "real" conversations. Again, the right books will lead to the right conversations. It will work. If we teach people that they can look into the words and then have provocative conversations where there is no right answer, we’ll build on their genius.

Make a difference and be unreasonable about it!

K12 digital textbooks? Yes, no or maybe?

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Mon, 5 Apr 2010 11:48:00 -0600

Check out the recent Education Week article discussing digital textbooks. With the release of the Apple iPad now, how much closer are we to seeing the development of K12 digital textbooks? The article says, "They're Coming", but really, are they?

In an ideal world, I'd love to see digital textbooks available and used. I am a strong proponent of being on the leading edge, but . . .

In the 80's, they said word processing and email would end the use of paper as a medium for communications. And while it has certainly decreased the amount of correspondence that gets put on paper, it has also increased the amount of correspondence/communications. I wonder if we counted the number of printed communications then and now would we see and increase or a decrease. I think it would be an increase.

Saw my first iPad today and I love it! But, it really seems like, if dropped, it would be "DOA". Every iPod that I see owned by a "kid", has cracks in them. To Apple's credit, even with a shattered screen, those iPods still work and the "kids" still use them.

I truly wish that the textbook vendors could just at least make the textbooks available online digitally and some have, but they are not scaled enough yet to be really feasible in all classrooms even in high school. Guess I just need to be patient, perhaps.

I am one who loves reading fiction for pleasure on electronic devices. Have done so on my Blackberry and G1, when I had them and continue to do so on my iPhone, but mostly only when I am waiting in an office for an appointment, on a bus, in a car (and not driving). Those are also about the only times that I have time to read these days. (Heavy sigh!) Getting students and teachers using e-texts in classrooms and outside of the classrooms for homework and research is going to take a long, long time, I believe. The best use I think is for students away from their classrooms doing research and homework and perhaps in classrooms through a projector as a reference while learning.

So, what do you think?

Help Longmont Win! Students enter to win an iPad!

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:37:00 -0700

DO YOU WANT GIG FIBER ACCESS IN LONGMONT?

Check out this Student Video Contest Flyer! Join the City of Longmont, Ridgeview Tel and St. Vrain Valley School District in voting for Longmont to be selected as one of Google's Big with a Gig experimental fiber recipients.

Students in the St. Vrain Valley School District geographic area are eligible to participate in the video contest - home schoolers, students at private schools and St. Vrain students.

For more information on the Google Big with A Gig opportunity for Longmont and our homes and school internet access speeds, please go to the City of Longmont google fiber page (while you are there, nominate Longmont) and Google's Gig fiber Informational Page about this opportunity.

Please get the word out to everyone you know that is a resident of Longmont, or participates in a Community Group in Longmont.

Searching for the Data: Online Learning with the Teacher at a Distance

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:20:00 -0700

Where's the beef? Is online learning showing positive results for students? Is it better with a teacher at a distance or not? Which vendors offer curriculum online that is designed or works well with the "teacher at a distance"? These are all questions to which I am seeking answers as I draft the application due April 1, 2010 for Colorado multi-district certification of what I am calling our online school - St. Vrain Valley eLearning School (SVVeLS).

In September of 2009 St. Vrain's Superintendent, Don Haddad, tweeted:

We are planning to implement an Online learning school in St. Vrain during the 2010-11 school year. This will add opportunties for students. 6:32 PM Sep 22nd, 2009 from web http://twitter.com/SVVSDsupt.

Even before then, I had been researching the best way to implement an online school for St. Vrain students. Please send me your ideas, comments, resources that you have found to be helpful or think should be included.

If you have applied for multi-district certification in Colorado, I'd love to see your application. You could share it with me on Google docs: cmasson50@gmail.com.

Here is one post from Odysseyware's blog that tells of postive increases in student results. I need more. I also need to know which vendors offer an online curriculum that lends itself to utilizing the teacher over the internet rather than in person. If your school district has done this, please tell me about your research, your results, your failures, your successes.

At-Risk and On-Line

News on January 23rd, 2010 No Comments

Students in metro Detroit’s Westwood Community School District are excelling, and not just the students in mainstream classes. Students in the at-risk, alternative education program at Westwood have enrolled in an online class called “Cyber School,” where they can take their courses, receive credit, and matriculate along with their peers without ever having to set foot in the school itself. This remarkable opportunity has yielded results for students reaching as high as 32% increases in previous year grades. From the Detroit News:

Kyle Grigg, who was forced out of Melvindale High school for falling behind, is now heading toward graduation because he’s no longer confined to a seven-hour school day.

The flexibility means Grigg, 18, could play Scrabble with his teacher recently in the cyber school lab. His mentor turned the game into an English assignment: Write a two-page fiction story using all the words they formed.
“It’s all your own pace,” said Grigg, who buses tables in Greektown and completes schoolwork at night or on days off. “It’s all on me now. If I don’t graduate now, it’s my own fault.”

Exactly. That is why online curriculum works. Students who take the initiative to want to learn and seek the opportunity can use curriculum, like OdysseyWare, in a way that meets their individual lifestyle and allows them the freedom to learn in a manner that doesn’t restrain say a part-time job. We encourage students like Kyle to contact us and learn more about ODYSSEYWARE and how we can raise your test scores as well. http://www.odysseyware.com/blog/

I look forward to learning from you and receiving any materials, information that you can offer to assist me in this project!

Picture resource: http://www.combination-boiler-training.co.uk/learning.html

The Tablet and eTextbooks - Humm . . .

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 12:01:00 -0700

From: http://www.amazingiphone.com/whats-new/appletablet/
Key points

Bookmark where you left off
Ability to take notes that stay after book expires
Choice in read through, search
Search textbook, all of them or the web
Break from reading to video on class
Up pops a psychology test alert
Buy the study guide to help
Calendar shows when you have time to study

The future of textbooks is now for college.

How close to you think it is for K12?

So I downloaded the free app, bought a book: "Supporting Learning with Technology: Essentials of Classroom Practice" by Joy Egbert, 2009 through FRCC for around $30.
You get access to it for 180 days.
Any notes you take do not go away after the 180 days.
Seemed just as expensive as buying a college text book - average around $60, but perhaps that is cheap theses days. Do college texts really cost double that today?
Too small for me to really use on iPhone, but tablet will be just right and works fine on my laptop, but nice that it can be acessed on the iPhone.

Will post an update after using the textbook for a while. Tune back in.

A Learning Commons Lab in a Tote

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Sat, 9 Jan 2010 11:31:00 -0700

Here is a great, inexpensive way to increase your school's Learning Commons value to student learning.

From Youtube channel: livelife1936

What could your school's implementation of this possibly look like? How would this model address some of the needs of your teachers and your students, of learning, of your district goals?

What do you consider important technology in your classroom for learning?

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Thu, 7 Jan 2010 16:48:00 -0700

The chart* shows the results of a recent survey of teachers in St. Vrain. They were asked to rank the technologies listed (in their opinion) in order of importance to aid in student learning and accomplishing the goals of the district.

Laptops or desktops came out as the most important technology listed. In our district, classrooms have administrative workstations for grades, attendance, email and etc. They are called thin clients and use the Citrix Enterprise system. They are great cost effective devices for administrative processes, but do not lend themselves to the instructional environment as the picture and sound capabilities are not high quality, and there are no drives for playing or burning cd's or dvd's, but they are sort of cloud computing at the district level. Not really cloud computing, but in the atmosphere between the desk and the cloud perhaps as the storage is in a server "farm" at the district's technology building. Desktops and laptops are in many of the classrooms and we've begun a conscious effort to provide equity of instructional desktops/laptops to the classrooms.

Projectors, the 2nd highest rated technology, coupled with the laptop/desktop for instruction is also being installed across the district consciously. These two devices coupled with our faster and more open access to the "cloud" is providing for global learning in the classrooms. Global learning is, I believe, where "it's at" today. If we are not helping our kids to learn globally, they will not be prepared for college and the work world.

Document camera's, the technology that ranked third, is an amazingly wonderful tool. It is the tool nation-wide that all educators are clamoring to use. They too require the projector, but eliminate the need for an overhead projector, enables you to use your old overhead projector materials, but also adds a deeper learning possibility through all of the things it can do. See document camera uses, capabilities for more information.

The fourth on the list is interactive whiteboards. We've recently begun to rethink their value versus expense and use. What do you think? I'm not sure they should be fourth on the list any more, but perhaps slates should be on the list instead. We had one school return all of the IWB's as they couldn't buy one for every classroom and then purchased slates for every classroom with the funds. It "walks around the classroom", isn't fixed to the wall, and meets the student where they are rather than pressuring the student at the front of the classroom. Just ponderings.

The last item, an audio enhancement system, should be higher perhaps. It is the one tool with documented data showing there are real benefits to it's use. Teachers are less tired at the end of the day, students can hear, no matter where they sit in the room, and students with special issues around sound are more easily accommodated. But they only help if you use them.

What do your teachers consider the top five most important tech tools in the classroom for student learning?

*2009 SVVSD Educational Technology teacher survey question results.

Watch a Fellow Teacher and Students Talk About Google Apps Education

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Wed, 6 Jan 2010 16:30:00 -0700

ANNOUNCING

Google Apps Education Edition for St. Vrain

The St. Vrain Valley School District is pleased to offer a new set of collaboration tools to district staff and students to use toward achieving district goals.

Watch below to hear what some students and teachers think:

For more information, check out this blog post. In this post, there are great short clips explaining each app as well as what other teachers are saying about it's use in their classrooms. Have fun learning about our new offerings!

To visit about it, call Connie Masson, St. Vrain Apps Coordinator, at extension 7741 or 303-702-7741.

Committee Members: Joe McBreen, Bill Brayshaw, Steve Borecky, Greg Martien, Jesse Gonzales, Darrin Tams, Becky Williamson, Michelle Bourgeois, Bud Hunt.

*video clip recorded at Adams 12 in 2009

What An Amazing Possibiity. . .

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:56:00 -0700

Communication has changed. Think of the time when people lived above their place of work - they were able to communicate with family regularly, or in agriculture where they worked on the farm where they lived. Then came the industrial era where people worked in factories with no access to communicate with their family unless they were perhaps in management and had a phone at their desk. Now, today, with the internet, IM, Skype, texting, Facebook and etc., studies show that people are able to be in direct communication with their family and friends as never before. So though some think that technology is preventing people from talking with each other, it is really increasing that communication in a way that has never been before. I know that I have greater communication with my husband and kids than my mother did. I have greater communication with my mother than I ever did growing up.

Check out this November 2009 TED Talk presentation by Stefana Broadbent on "How the Internet enables intimacy". Good to ponder.

Stefana Broadbent: How the Internet enables intimacy

I believe we are in an era of opportunity for incomparable learning in our educational institutions if we take advantage of the communications possibilities via technology. We can capitalize on what is available and learn more, deeper, further, differently, etc. (you get the picture) or we can restrict it and pass by an unlimited growth possibility.

What are you going to do in 2010 to move forward engaged learning for all?

Joyce Valenza's K12 Online presentation video - great for your PLN

cmasson@comcast.net (Connie Masson) — Mon, 7 Dec 2009 09:58:00 -0700