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March 23, 2006
NCAECT Tech Conference
Let me start with a quick apology. The company that hosts my website made some major upgrades and we lost the ability to upload and resize images. I never thought it would be almost two weeks before we got back on track. I wrote several entries saving them to post when we had full useage. When I get back to school I will compile them into one article covering our last week.
It is late on Thursday evening and I find myself in Charlotte at a Technology Conference. This is the first time I have attended this particular conference and in all honesty, it has been an extremely productive adventure. NCAECT puts together one heck of a developmental experience for teachers.
On Thursday, I sat in on six different sessions. One of the things I am extremely interested in is streaming video. This way we could create our own Norwayne News Show and stream it to our website so that parents could better keep up with what is going on. The potential for academic applications is huge. I also spent time in the Discovery Channel’s area learning about UnitedStreaming. They have compiled 45,000 digital videos and clips, not to mention the hundred thousand plus images, that teachers can search and show to their students to compliment what we are teaching. In Wayne County, because of very limited internet bandwidth, we can not use this service YET. By the end of this school year we should have completed the new upgrades and every school should have a 10meg connection to the internet. For Norwayne to have full access to UnitedStreaming the cost is $1500. Ms. Johnson and I discussed where exactly we were going to locate the money for this program. I offer a great big “Thank You” to Damien from Discovery for his patience and help. Your level of service is a testament to your professionalism and your company.
I also spent a great deal of time today browsing the different interactive white boards that are located here. Over the last couple of years I have labored to add the components needed to have an interactive high energy classroom. We have the visual presenter, the individual response system, the document camera, laser and color printer, scanners, digital cameras, and a strong computer to run the show. All we are missing is an interactive white board. (And digital video content searchable and available on demand) The cost for the board is consistently between $1500 and $2000.
I sat in on a session with a gentleman, Jeff Ertzberger, from UNCW where he discussed something important to me. He has worked to develop educational based games that will help make learning more exciting and interactive for the students. I am so excited to share these with everyone at NMS and add them to our Hollywood Squares, Jeopardy, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire games. I think the kids will really enjoy them.
Tomorrow we plan on spending some time in grant writing workshops that we hope will help us pay for all the new items we want to add to our schools. Then it’s a long ride back to eastern North Carolina. Be looking at the blog to see us using all the new things I have learned here.
Posted by hlperson at March 23, 2006 11:20 PM
Comments
HEY MR. PERSON HOW ARE YOU DOING. HOPE YOUR YEAR IS GOING GREAT. I AM HEAR IN UTAH HAVEING A BLAST. GO TAR HEELS!
Posted by: KYLE J. at March 24, 2006 08:05 PM
Mr. Person, I just wanted to tell you that Mr. Aycock did a great job subing for you. He picked right up and taught us like it was his own classroom. I enjoy it when Mr. Aycock subs for you because he is a wonderful teacher.
Posted by: Brianna E. at March 25, 2006 08:50 AM