Wailing Over Wiki

So far this school year, I've been waiting for approval to use and get access to my wiki in school. This past week, it was given approval. 22 weeks of using it, to a limited extent due to not all students having access at home, and it's finally approved!!! That was GREAT news to say the least...which was shortly followed by the email stating that the IT department was not able to open up access to my wiki alone. All of wikispaces was opened, which, considering that not all people are in education, was not good. The decree came down that the wiki would not now or any time soon be available to the students in the school setting. Not a good day.
I'm still holding out hope, but doubt that this tool will see the light of day in school this year. Another sad thing for me in my teaching experience. It seems that the more I try to improve my teaching, the more things hit me in the face to force me into the standard teaching box.
It started a couple of years ago when my project based method was terminated to more closely match the seasoned teacher teaching opposite of me and to be sure that all students were receiving the same education no matter which team they were on. Strike 1.
I started to do things more like my counterpart. More worksheets, less teaching, less of the newest things in science, less reading work etc. I admit it's a lot less work to give the students something to do than it is to expend the energy teaching and motivating them. Strike 2.
This year also brought about the end of my newsletters. I no longer have the ability to create these or access my old ones due to the lack of MS Publisher. I miss this contact with parents and the positive responses I received from parents. Along with that program went the "Positive Points to Ponder about Your Prize Pupil" that used to go home to many students that usually don't get things sent home but that work and do well in class. Strikes 3 and 4.
Add to this the fact that I'm unable to install the Starry Night program on this new computer. This was a staple in demonstrating numerous concepts. I don't have the ability to install the school's own program to use in class. Another strike...5 I believe.
The scanner that currently does nothing but hold up the phone in my room is another strike. I can't install this school item either. This was really nice for taking student work and using it for an example or for editing and made taking things from the book to show and draw on extremely simple. Another great tool falling by the wayside. If memory serves, that's strike 6.
Add to this the death of the smartboard, for some unknown reason( it just doesn’t cooperate at all), and it's been a pretty lousy few years for advancing my teaching. Strike 7 puts me two more away from the end of the inning and ready to retire from pushing this behemoth of contradictions we call education into the current time, let alone getting into anything that even approaches futuristic. Wait, did I mention that I can no longer email progress reports to parents (strike 8) and that printing grades to post on my wall (by anonymous numbers) now takes 45 minutes or so to create, cut and tape together (strike 9 and end of inning)
Sometimes I really wonder why the (pick and expletive here) I'm learning new tools if each and every one gets a fresh, steamy crap taken on it?? Why waste my time and money? In the words of texting students: WTF???? Why bother? Becoming the worksheet king is acceptable and apparently preferred in my school. Why try? It's the end of the 9th and I lose, that's the way it is.
Sorry about the post being so negative today, even though I decided not to post last week when the pooh really hit the fan and wait to see what happens. I am happy that I did do a good job of waiting to process exactly what the 23 weeks of wiki work being lost really meant in the grand scheme of what I'm learning in education. If I'd simply reacted, I might have lost the extent to which everything I do is completely in control of someone else in education. I'm happy that I see this VERY CLEARLY now. I guess that's a positive, or sort of. Anyway, that's my recent Ed Tech experience and I can fully understand why so many people consider teaching a lower profession. Excelling is not reward but punished. There is no competition, and no reason to push for new things or methods. Status quo seems mandatory, as I'm forced, kicking and screaming into the standard teaching box. What a pile!!! Looking for other options seems necessary, but where to go from here?

Still Plugging Away

Nothing really new to report. I'm still working on the wiki, which I think is one of the best things going for education, and trying to do what I can to make all of my students "proficient" in the eyes of the all knowing department of education. The wiki was actually accessible in school last week. It was short lived though. What happened I don't know, but I know that on Monday, students were saying that the could get in during school and were pretty happy about it. Then on Wednesday I started hearing that they were blocked again. I will most likely never know what happened, but the response was great when the could get in and use it. When it's actually accessible, maybe I'll have more students taking part in keeping it up and adding to knowledge base. BUT, like I was told, "It's like changing course on a large ship. It takes time." While I think that 19 weeks is MORE that sufficient, apparently it's not.
I'm also still working on finding some blogging that will engage the students more. The big issue is that there are sooo many this year that are unwilling to put effort into anything at all. I'm getting a bunch of comments that sound as if the students are in early elementary and LOTS that are mere recounts of earlier posts. Laziness is the common thread this year. There are students that are great, read and comment, question and think, but they are really outnumbered this year. Even when the idea is to check out some video, some evidently don't even take that much time/effort and type a line of BS attempting to act like they did the assignment. While their grades reflect this, as long as the assignment doesn't show up as a "0" they're happy. I'll continue to work on this aspect and try to do what I can to make this more useful and draw more students into taking active rolls.
For now, as we approach the midway point of the school year, it's time to perfect what's out there and not go nuts trying too many things. I think that this approach is sensible and might result in improvements.
By the way, wikispaces ROCKS!!!! I love the setup and ease of use! It's so nice, even though the tech department here claims that wikispaces itself states that it's "not recommended for education" (why then are the offering 100,000 free wikis to educators?), it is really the most useful and simple to add to and edit web presence going. Parents seem to like the idea of knowing what we're doing, and a FEW students have commented on using it while they're out sick. I have to admit that it could be better on my end. If it were accessible to all during school, I'd have to put more on there. Until then I'll keep them coming with previews of tests, etc. I hope that I can continue to push the envelop here and bring my little district up to date without too many issues.
Hope all is well in your education world!
Good luck

Good things

Things are good in the tech world, more or less. Many of my students are enjoying the idea of the blog, while others simply copy another post's thoughts. It's interesting to see how some think. This should develop into something much more useful soon. The wiki is still not available in school. Week 15 is well underway and no progress there. It is getting hit pretty hard though. I'm getting good comments from the students that are actually using it. These are two really good tools that will grow and develop throughout the school year. I'll have to wait and see what happens, but at least the blog is working through the filter. Who knows what will come next.

Quick Update

Things are going pretty well on the tech front. The class blog is gaining momentum, even though it's not what I'd envisioned just yet, and some have been vocal about their dislike for the idea. It is however getting some of the more subdued students involved and active. I'll keep working on it and working toward its improvement. Today I changed the appearance, in favor a a simpler, easier to use template. It's been noticed by a student already...so at least one student checked it out on the weekend!
I'm still waiting for the wiki to be officially approved in school. I haven't been told to shut it down, but the tech department has yet to give the students access on school computers. That has kept the wiki use to a minimum. It's tough to use it for required things when not all students have internet at home and the school doesn't allow them to see it. Those that are using it seem to be positive and are taking advantage of the availability of class information. One actually consulted it during an absence and had the work done before returning to school! Some things make me smile...that's one thing.
Overall school's been interesting. This new stuff I'm trying, thanks to UFL, really has some great potential. I hope to continue improving and making the best learning environment I can. I should also be back in classes soon. I'll see what happens.

Still Plugging Along

I'm still working toward more tech in the classroom. The wiki works great!...as long as the students don't try to access it from school. It's the 10th week of school next week, and I'm still not getting access for the kids yet. Maybe soon?
The blog has started. Some students love the assignments, while others have yet to visit it. The comments I've received have been positive and some have really made me laugh. I have a really great bunch this year. Hopefully this blog will evolve into something more in the near future.
I started SAP training. Student Assistance Program training has a BAD reputation around here. The first presenter gave us handouts which she read point by point from her PowerPoint. That was painful! I think we can all read. One part where she did stray from the written part is when a question was asked about whether this SAP is required in schools. She stated that it wasn't mandated, but that they'd "take your buses away" if schools don't adopt the program. So, it's not mandated, but funding will be lost if it's not implemented. Confused? Me too.
So far, I've been to two FULL days of training. Those are two days of my life I'll never get back! I'll wait and see if any lawsuits come from the last session, where religion was really pushed...at a school training...hmmm. Then there was the "you're pregnant, right" comment from the presenter, which lead to unexpected pregnancy versus intended pregnancy in wedlock, followed quickly by comments about how most troubled youths are from families without tight ties to church, and then about how churches are free etc. Ya, it was a really iffy day on the legal scale. Something about the separation of church and state? On top of that, I lose interest pretty quickly when a "professional" removes her shoes and starts into too many stories that are off topic and about how great her family/kids are.
We did have one presenter, that knew her presentation, added enough of a personal touch and didn't merely read her information to us. That was a nice change, just too bad it was about 2 1/2 hours out of the 16 so far. Oh well, just two more days left next week and I'll be a SAP.

PowerTeacher Changed Views...?

I know that I was pretty harsh on the PowerTeacher set up. After a bit (OK much) playing around with it, there are some really nice aspects. I guess that this shows that, just as in everyday life, letting your thoughts out in the open when you're frustrated is a bad idea.
The feature of exporting to and excel-like document (which is working now) is nice and so is having access to the grades my students have in other classes. I see that there are some gains, as it's on 1.0.3.1...or something like that.
While I do feel bad about blasting the program, I'll leave that post instead of trying to erase my mistake. I will, however, not be so harsh on the program. I'm still waiting for any response from a rep, but understand that I sent 2+ pages of thoughts/complaints/wishes. Maybe a month isn't long enough to figure out what I mean, or it's just not something that's top priority. Either way, I'm making headway in my uses of this product and have a crew of 4 people that are to be helping to facilitate its use. I'm hoping to hear something soon, especially in relation to lengthy and paper intense process of creating reports for missing work, student grades by assignment and a couple of other things, but I've resigned myself to the fact that my thoughts are just not that important. I am but a peon, not to be acknowledged or heard. That's life in public education. If you think about it, from the top down, things are dictated, things must be done. Just look at NCLB....how long can you show progress before you hit the 100% mark? Then think about the 4-5% of the population that has no interest/desire to do anything other than cash a monthly check from the government...well anyway, that's the point. We are to do what we're told, right or wrong.

Still Moving Forward

This past week, things went pretty well. The blog and wiki are still growing...I have my first student-made change! A few others are signed on, but this is the first addition to the page so far. This should really become more useful when the wiki is available on all school computers. When that happens, I see the uses and edits expanding quickly.
The blog is growing as well, with many positive comments and some students running with this new type of assignment. Others contribute little/nothing, but that's no different than any other assignment :)
On that line of thought, I thought that I might want to start a delicious (or some other online bookmark system) for my students. The first research project showed that having some mechanism for sharing worthwhile pages would be useful. I'll talk to the tech department and see if this is possible from school, or not.
Things are moving forward, and all is well on the teaching front. I'm just waiting for my level II cert to arrive. I've been told that it was approved on the 16th, but the actual document is in transit somewhere. Nothing big there, just wait and see.