Brenda+Morton's+Journal

**June 13 - 20th**

 June 17 - Read through the syllabus and began to think through different project ideas. Clicked through the projects from last year and the prior year to get an idea of what types of projects students have completed in the past.

 June 18 **-** After meeting with my social studies students, I think I have identified my project idea.

 **June 20 - 27th**   **June 21-** Spent time on the wiki site. Did not find this as intuitive as I had hoped! I made a short list of questions I had sent a note to Robin Ashford and asked for assistance.

 **June 23 -** Met with Robin Ashford and received help with my wiki. Robin was, as always, very helpful. We also had a wonderful conversation surrounding Google sites and Foxtale. Robin shared many of her creations with me and I left our meeting excited and energized around technology and what I could integrate into my classes.

 **June 26 -** uploaded a few pictures to my computer to be added, hopefully, to my wiki space.

 **June 27 - July 4**

 June 28 - After considering several different ideas for my project, I decided to go with Google sites as a way to develop my project. I spent several hours "playing" on Google sites to see what it is capable of and to see if this is a workable platform. I am excited by the templates that are very engaging.

 June 29 - Began compiling my notes for my project. I needed time to consolidate the various pieces of scratch paper and notes I had jotted down on my iphone so that I had one list!

 July 1 - Had a conversation with a colleague in Redmond around this project. We are discussing ways in which we could use this Google site for a fall pedagogy course that we both teach. We left the conversation excited about the possibilities.

 July 3 - Chose a template and began to map out my Google site.

 July 4 - Sabbath - completely unplugged with the exception of the cell phone which was on only to receive a call from my daughter when her flight landed in Portland!

 **July 4 - 11th**

 This week provided multiple opportunities to interact with colleagues around the topic of technology!

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> July 5 - In a class entitled "Teacher and the Curriculum", a colleague and I applied the principles of planning to technology integration in our MAT program. Feeling challenged by the millennials, we are seeking ways to teach to the future of our students, not our future.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> July 8 - A colleague returned from a literacy conference in which technology was the main focus. At this conference, participants were challenged to consider the multi-faceted uses of technology in classrooms. Specifically, the conference stated that "literacy is technology and technology is literacy". This provided for a great three-hour conversation around what this means to those of us who are training MAT students to enter the classroom.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> July 9 - The focus today was on Ipads. Several colleagues and I had conversations around the use of Ipads in classrooms. We sought out applications that may be appropriate for the classroom and looked for ways to strengthen literacy instruction.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> July 10 - A colleague perused the text for this course and initiated a conversation about the views of the author. I have to say, I am a bit disheartened after reading through chapters 4 & 5. I do enjoy technology and believe many great things have come from the development of technology. I realize that filters can not take care of everything but want to be sure that we all understand that anyone can get around something if they have enough time and effort to figure it out. I was disappointed that the author chose to point to schools as the gateway to pornography on the internet. Schools are trying to protect students while also allowing access to students and teachers using these tools for good.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> July 11 - Visitation of colleagues Wiki sites:

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> Brenda Kephart - Project: Effective Behavioral Intervention Support Systems (EBISS) and Response to Intervention. Brenda completely changed her template! Well done Brenda! I am envious. Great pictures of your family.

Christie Petersen - Project: <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">training PowerPoint is Hillsboro’s K-12 Literacy Plan Implementation. Wow Christie, what a big change in the last few weeks! Congratulations to you. I am excited for you and will pray for you as you begin this new adventure!

Darcy Mize - Project: usefulness of “Second Life" as a potential media resource for educating Baccalaureate nursing students. Sounds like a wonderful project. I am very interested in learning more about "Second life" so I am excited to see your final project!

Rob Lindemann - Project: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">use of internet-based services for personal activities in the work place. ** Great wiki Rob! I look forward to reading and interacting with your final project.

Marcie Gowan - Project: Podcast. I do not have any experience in working with podcasts. I am interested to see how this works and how well it is received in this arena.

Brenda Pettigrew-Dobbins - Project: Digital Artists. Brenda, you never cease to amaze me with your projects! This looks exciting. I am anxious to see the final project!

RudyAnn Rivera - Project: the effects of internet networking on adolescents and create some sort of guide for parents on what to look for when their teen is abusing the privilege of having internet access. This is a great idea Rudy. Parents could really use this guide. I look forward to reading through your final project to see what suggestions you have for parents, like me!

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> **July 11th - 18th**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> This week turned out to be a bit frustrating in terms of this final project. I was able to work on my site for a half-hour here and a half-hour there, but I am really craving a few hours of focused work time.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> I contacted my teaching partner in Redmond to talk through this site and the direction I was heading in to see if it would meet her needs as well. I appreciated her suggestions and support. I began to organize the files of student work from the last two courses and prepare them to be uploaded.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> **July 18 - July 25**

This week I began to see a very bright light at the end of the tunnel! I had wonderful focused time to work on my Google site, instead of a few minutes here and there.

July 20 I worked on my Google site this morning for a few hours. I pushed hard to have a solid draft of the site in place by 6:00 when my class began. This evening I revealed my Google site to my social studies students to receive feedback and suggestions on improvement. As my site will be serving the social studies pre-service teachers, it was important to me to hear what they thought and what they wanted added.

July 22 Today I had the opportunity to spend three hours on my Google site. I made the changes my students requested and began to research the internet for updated resources to add to the site to support their requests. At the end of the three hours, I was very pleased with what I accomplished.

July 23 I had my two teenage children preview my Google site and ask questions and give me suggestions. I wanted to see if it was user friendly and engaging. No one better to give criticism than teens, so this was a great activity! I made notes and will work their suggestions into the site. I was again very thankful for several hours to focus on this project!

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">I worked on my Google site, adding resources and another unit. I also cleaned up a couple of items and changed a picture. I sent this address off to my colleague asking for feedback. I then completed my final posting in Foxtale, and included a link to my Google site. I am pleased with my final project.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> July 25 - 30th **

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">While I have now completed this course, I will continue to work on my Google site throughout the summer. Additionally, I have decided to create another site in Google for my cohort. I am appreciative of this course as it challenged me to step-out of my comfort zone and use Google in a new way.