Dan Maas, CIO

Writing with Laptops Yr2

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Last year, students wrote on this blog sharing their experiences writing with laptops in class. From their writing, we were able to get the money to expand the project from just a few classrooms to every 5th, 6th and 9th grade class in the district! The students told their stories and convinced the Board and the LPS Foundation that having the triple-e laptops and giving our teachers exra training made for great learning.

Times are tough. And while our district budget does not have the money to expand this project further, there is still hope. We can still win grants and get donations from businesses that want great schools. People know that the best way to make sure America's future is safe is to give the best education possible to our kids.

Would you like to help? You can make a difference by writing! Reply to this blog with your story about how you and your teacher have used laptops in class.

What is it like to have laptops in class?

What can you do now that you could not do before?

What would it mean to you if you could not have laptops in class next year?

Have you changed as a student since you started using laptops in class?

We will use your comments to try to get more support for your school. I look forward to reading the inspired writing of the students, teachers and staff of LPS!

Celebrating Seuss

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Last week was Dr. Seuss's birthday and a number of us in ITS went out to read to children from the Dr. Seuss classics. I made my now traditional trip to Ms. Salzman's class at East Elementary School where they surprised me with this Lorax stuffed toy. My mother read the Lorax to me every day (at my behest) for years such that we both have the book memorized! So now, I like to go to school and recite the Lorax while the students follow along reading the text from a document camera. There are a couple spots where I get tripped up so I asked some students to come up and read for me for those sections. The kids did really well and I had a great time... how often do you get to take 30 minutes away, wear a Dr. Seuss tie and read with kids? Well, for me, it is a rare treat and easily the best day of the school year! Earlier this week, I recieved a letter from each student... and the writing was WONDERFUL! Students wrote with nice penmanship, good spelling and chose interesting words to express themselves. It is clear that Ms. Salzman is a good teacher!

But I wasn't the only one... Rody Smith supports computers in the district but also likes to take a little time out to read to the kids in the schools where he supports the technology. In this link, the Twain Elementary kids share a good book with Mr. Smith and Liz Aucone (the building computer coach) took a video and posted to their school announcements! What a wonderful way to share the joy of reading with our students.

What I am especially pleased to share is how the technology enhances and extends the human relationships in both cases. I was just reading an eSchoolNews article on 1:1 laptop initiatives where the research is showing that the real difference is the teacher... no kidding! That's been our philosophy from the beginning and it is the biggest criticism I have for 1:1 projects, and indeed most technology integration efforts. The tool does not replace the teacher because learning is about relationships... there is simply no way to get around it. Our approach has not been to equip the kids with technology hoping it will make a difference; it has been to empower our teachers with technology and training so they can get even better at what they do. Our philosophy is, and will continue to be that technology is a liability, and people are assets. Our technology program will continue to be focussed on our people and not the stuff...

Centennial Academy's Inspired Writers

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

In my visits to schools around the district, I try to drop into our Inspired Writing classrooms and see how the EeePC netbooks are being used in the writing process.

(Here, Mr. Reiner leads an all-class discussion)

Today I had a chance to get over to Centennial Academy for the Fine Arts and visit Mr. Reiner's 5th grade. As I walked in the classroom, the students were gathered in the front of the room discussing the different lenses they use to evaluate writing. Mr. Reiner was showing how one student had sent a message through their wiki to the class asking for specific feedback on a piece of writing. After the discussion, students went to their desks, the floor, even out of classroom to the media center with their EeePCs to engage in writing. Some students wrote on paper, but most used their computers. But even then, there were differences. Some students were writing on their own wiki pages, others were writing in a word processor and still others were using the web cam and microphone built into the computer to record their voices or take a picture of a book cover. After about 30 minutes, during which time students wrote, conferenced with each other and with Mr. Reiner, they came back to together to consider a nice section of writing from one of these Inspired Writers. Mr. Reiner went to the front of the room while a student took control of the computer and made sure the writing came up on the screen. The section of the story we heard was very descriptive as the author slowly allowed an image in our minds form as she told her narrative. At first, I thought the narrator was a child, but after a little while, I realized she was a lion or tiger! Nicely done.

If you wanted to see the work of this class, visit http://creativeclimate.wikispaces.com/ You will need to request access and identify yourself to Mr. Reiner as this is a secured wiki.

To the students in Mr. Reiner's classroom and other classes that have the new netbooks, I have some questions.

How is it different to have a classroom with the EeePCs compared to only working with pencil and paper?

Are there things you are learning that would be really difficult (or not possible) without the computers?

What would you say is the most important thing you have learned this year?

Thanks for welcoming us into your classroom and thanks for all the great writing!

Inspired Writers at Field Elementary

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Any day when I can visit a school is a good day. I do miss my classroom (can it really be 13 years?) and having even just one hour with teachers and students is a real gift.

Yesterday, I visited Field Elementary and watched Ms. Moore's 5th grade classroom where netbooks are a part of the daily activity. The students were totally on task and worked on the main assignement which involved drafting a thesis. They made use of their wiki (http://moorelearning.wikispaces.com/ this is a secured site so if you want to join, you will need to identify yourself to Ms. Moore) to compose drafts and share information both with their teacher and with each other. What really excites me about classrooms like this is how students come to really own their learning.

Several students had been sick earlier and needed to catch up with the group. They were working on the previous assignment and were getting help from others to catch up. Students used the wiki, accessed information online, composed their writing both on paper and electronically and generally engaged in high quality learning. Ms. Moore shared with me how they use their wiki for other subjects beyond writing including science and social studies projects. Scanning through the work, I could see how the teacher had taken advantage of the collaborative wiki to leave comments for students on how to improve their work and even how some students send her messages after school. One student even monitors the wiki for the teacher's uploads so she can get a head start on the lesson plans!

Field is defnitely a great school and seeing classes like this makes me wish I had Ms. Moore for a teacher in my day. As I am writing this, I wonder if the students at Field have comments they would like to share. So I'll pose some questions I've asked students before:

How is it different to have a classroom with the EeePCs compared to only working with pencil and paper? Are there things you are learning that would be really difficult (or not possible) without the computers? What would you say is the most important thing you have learned this year?

Good luck on your CSAP next month and thanks for sharing your classroom with me!

Monday Models: Writing and Publishing

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Last night's class was a fun exploration into different ways to engage students in writing on the computer. We looked into word processing, etherpad, and coveritlive. We had already touched on Google Docs. The etherpad linked below is an activity where we explored various bibliography management tools. Thanks to everyone who joined us for the session!

http://etherpad.com/toKksS2uhW

Twain's Inspired Writers

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

I visited Twain Elementary yesterday and had a chance to visit Mrs. Jordan's 5th grade class during their writing block. The class was working on an Olympic unit in which they were developing various writing skills that will be required both on the CSAP and in the life of an educated person [;-)

I have linked their unit plan and wiki rubric here:

Olympic Unit Page 1

Olympic Unit Page 2

Wiki Comments Rubric

The students welcomed me right away and yet stayed on task. They handled their technology well and were keenly focussed on their work. I watched as they researched various nations competing in the Winter Olympics and they took notes in preparation for a brochure project later this week. Some students wrote their notes on paper and others used their EeePC netbooks to jot down important tidbits of information. Mrs. Jordan said she felt like she was still learning, but that she is really enjoying the class and would not want to go back to teaching without netbooks in her room.

I am very proud of Mrs. Jordan and her students. You can see their wiki HERE which shows how they easily publish their work to the world and learn using all the technology they have in their classroom.

As I write this, I wonder if the students would like to share their thoughts. How is it different to have a classroom with the EeePCs compared to only working with pencil and paper? Are there things you are learning that would be really difficult (or not possible) without the computers? What would you say is the most important thing you have learned this year?

Good luck on your CSAP tests next month and thanks for welcoming me into your classroom!

Learning 2.0.3 Loveland HS

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Today, the Learning 2.0 was hosted at Loveland High School. Our own Arapahoe HS and Heritage HS hosted this event last year. Scott Elias and the leaders from Thompson School District have done a great job taking this event forward for 2010. Wifi is working great and the agenda looks delicious! I will return to this blog post several times today to capture some notes.

Melinda Miller: http://weprincipal.blogspot.com

Toni Theisen: http://globalcompetency.wikispaces.com/

recommended: www.edsteps.org

John Creighton: http://colearning.wikispaces.com/2010l3

Some reflection: I thought the conference (or unconference) went well despite the snowy conditions. This meant that the organizers (thanks Scott Elias for taking on the hosting this year) had some extra sandwiches by the end of the day. The theme was very much about how to tie technology to support the instructional practices of the classroom. Nobody seemed to need convincing that technology for technology sake is a bad idea. I really enjoyed how Toni took her French classes and has turned them into Global Competency classes. Her message that learning a new language gives you the path to develop global competency but that just learning some fundamentals of language and experiencing some of the ethnic foods is not enough any more. She espoused learning with the world, not about the world... I really liked that. She made me want to take a French class, and that's a first for me [;-)

I thought John Creighton had some really good insights on how to manage a change process from building awareness, to working through the details and then implemention. And Melinda was fun to meet and inspiring as a principal because she is fearless in her pursuit of the best education she can provide for her students.

Thanks to everyone who made the journey!

IT in LPS: how does it compare nationally?

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

In a report released by the US Department of Education's National Center for Educational Statistics, a number of trneds have been identified for IT in public schools. You can read the report for yourself HERE. I will pull out the "Selected Findings" from page two and compare them to LPS. Green indicates where we meet or exceed the national trend and red indicates where we don't.

97% of schools surveyed have Local Area Networks and 100% of those with a District network are connected to the Internet.
LPS: All schools have a Local Area Network and are connected to the Internet
55% of schools linked to a District network are connected via fiber-optics.
LPS: The District network is fiber-optic and does connect all LPS schools. The Charters are also linked to our network via a Qwest leased connection.
37% of Districts have a direct fiber-optic connection to the Internet.
LPS: The District has a direct fiber-optic connection to the Internet.
67% of Districts have a formal computer replacement program reflected in long-term budget planning.
LPS: All computer replacement funds have been exhausted and no long-term funding plan is currently in place. The roll-out of netbooks has been funded by competitive grants, the LPS Foundation and the remaining one-time capital funds from the 2004 Mill election.
87% of Districts provide online resources to all teachers.
LPS: LPS resources online include Assessment Data, Absence Reporting, Student Data Management, Financial Data Management, File Storage, Web Presence, Email, Forms, Instructional sources, Professional Development, etc.
82% of Districts have online library resources for secondaries and 72% for elementaries.
LPS: K-12 schools have access to online library resources and video streaming services.
83% of Districts provide file storage for secondary students and 62% provide for elementary students.
LPS: K-12 students can save files electronically.
Policies for student use of email (82%), social networking (76%), wikis and blogs (52%), and other Internet use (92%).
LPS: Policies have been updated to address all of these.
100% of Districts keep student data electronically. 85% have systems for assessment data.
LPS: Infinite Campus is our solution for student data and AssessTrack is our assessment data system.
51% of Districts have a technology leader role. Only 5% of Districts larger than 10,000 students do not report having a technology leadership position.
LPS: The CIO supervises IT and reports to the Superintendent of Schools. The title was changed from Director of Technology to reflect the reporting structure change in 2006.
Teacher training includes integrating technology (95%), using Internet resources (91%), and Internet safety (89%).
LPS: Training includes all these topics.
83% of teachers agreed to a survey question asking if "teachers are interested in using technology in classroom instruction." 58% indicated teachers were sufficiently trained to do so. 42% agreed that funding for technology in classrooms was adequate. 83% agreed that technology funds were being spent in appropriate ways.
LPS: No data

So except for the obvious funding issues the entire district faces (not just in technology), we are meeting or exceeding the trends for technology in public schools. What's missing? How about voicemail alert lights on our phones? That's for another post...

Board Report: Powering Up grant

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

The video presented here is a summary of the report presented to the Board of Education on January 28th, 2010.

Dr. Warschauer visits East and Hopkins

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Dr. Mark Warschauer is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and author of a number of books about the use of laptops in classrooms. He visited Littleton this month as part of some research. He was interested in visting some of our schools because we have over 3,400 netbooks in use today!

Dr. Warschauer first visited East Elementary to observe the 4th and 5th grades and then he went on to Hopkins Elementary where he visited the 5th grades. All are 1:1 netbook equipped classrooms. He has promised to write us with what he thinks of our work.

But the story in LPS can't be told just by visiting two schools. We have netbooks in use for writing at every school in LPS. So I think Dr. Warschauer would enjoy hearing from students about your views on the Inspired Writing project in your school.

Students, please share your thoughts on this question from Dr. Warschauer:
(parents and educators can share too)

Lots of people think that computers are a waste of money, and that students should be learning important skills like writing and reading rather than wasting time on computers. Do you agree that computers in the classroom are a waste of time and money? Why or why not?

Thanks to everyone involved in the Inspired Writing project!

-Dan Maas,
Chief Information Officer
Littleton Public Schools