Nicole's+Journal

October 8, 2007 I am meeting with the Assistant Director of the ELL Department tomorrow to discuss my project. The ELL Department is aware that there is a need for teachers to access ELD lesson plans. So, we are going to discuss a central location for teachers to access these lessons as well as which lesson to load on there to get things started.

October 9, 2007 I met with the Assistant Director of ELL today. We discussed my project and I think once it gets going it will be really beneficial to teachers. As with anything connected to the district, I need to jump through a few hoops as far as getting approval from the Director of ELL and the Director of Technology. As soon as I get that approval, I will meet with one of the Technology Specialists and get a tutorial on how to acccomplish this task. There are about 3-5 items that will be on this resource page for teachers. Item #1 K-5 ELD Curriculum Map. #2- Thematic pictures and vocabulary words for ELD activities. #3- Pictures of ELD charts used in classrooms as a resource... including the language function, language proficiency level, forms used, appropriate grade level. I asked the Director of ELL to get back to me regarding any other suggestions or items that he would want to see on this page. Oh and #4- A link to Elachieve, which is our ELD framework that we are using through the company Elachieve.

October 17, 2007 I spoke with the Assistant Director of ELL today and the ELL Department is waiting to communicate with the Director of Technology and Media. The Assistant Director of ELL will contact me tomorrow, Thursday. After our discussion regarding my resource project, the Assistant Director spoke with the Director of ELL and the "Eye on the District" site is for holding data. So, they have an idea of where they would like the resource page to be or have it linked to the ELL District page. Either way, I will use the space they would like me to use, or I can link from their page to a Wiki and post my project there. I can't wait to get started on it and actually make and see some progress. It is still in the communication... formalities stage.

October 21, 2007 **Nanci's project** Nanci's project is similar to mine in that she wants it to be a teacher resource of sorts, while also letting teachers add to it. I like that she is using a Wiki, which is something that I should have thought about, because my project is going slow due to needing permission from the ELL and Media & Technology Departments. It was interesting to read in her journal that only two teachers have used it or added to it and that was a little disappointing. I wonder if the teachers in my district will use the site that I set-up. Will they actually access it? Sometimes it is easier for teachers to share things face-to-face, becuase it is more personal, it takes less time than having to login, add it, scan the other items, etc. I share things with teachers in my building face-to-face daily, because it just seems easier, plus with my personality, I would rather talk to him/her than e-mail. I like the idea of uploading pictures- it seems very cool. I think that Nanci's focus on the 6-Traits to Writing being added on her wikispace will be more of an inentive for teachers to visit, because it is the goal for the year. Teachers might access it for help with the school's common goal. Nice job Nanci!

Tim's project seems very interesting. I would really like to read about it when he gets it going and journaling. Is he trying to build a project where two small schools in which he is the principal of are communicating through the wiki? or is he trying to use the wiki for a communication tool with the staff at one small school? If it is a small school, will they really use it to communicate? Tim mentioned that he would like to introduce it to them assuming they haven't been already. I haven't met one person that knows what a wiki is. I didn't know what a wiki was before this class and I have asked my colleagues if they have ever heard of a wiki in which they have all replied "no". So, I think it is pretty safe to say that Tim's project will be an introduction to wikis for most of his staff. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.
 * Tim's Project**

October 23, 2007 I can't believe how slow this is going. I am meeting with the technology person next Tuesday around 3:00 to get started on a resource page for teachers delivering ELD. I had no idea that working with the district on this would be so frustrating and take so long. I thought I could be effecient and effective in creating a project for this class with a purpose to meet teachers' needs, because this is what many of them have been asking for. November 1, 2007 The person that I was supposed to meet yesterday wasn't able to show up because her son was sick. She had to go pick him up from daycare. A very legitimate excuse; however, the clock is ticking and I am still waiting on district people. She and I are going to meet on Monday, plan it out and I can get to work. We will see how it goes. I didn't think that working with the district would be this obnoxious and take so long. November 5, 2007 I met with a Teacher on Special Assignment in the ELL Department today. There are too many issues to get around with the district and the district's idea is that I would e-mail the items I want on the web-site to the Technology Specialist and then he would put it on the web-site. I don't really care for this system, because then I am not really working with technology, except for e-mail. I have decided to create an ELD piece on a Wikipage and the district's ELL Department's webpage can have a link on it to my Wikipage with ELD themes, functions, grade level, pictures and vocabulary for teacher's to access. November 12, 2007 This project is seriously frustrating. The computer is slow today. I must need to breathe and have patience. I am always in a hurry to get everything done in both of my GFU classes and at work. This overwhelmed sense is an awful feeling. I signed up for December 3, 2007 at 7:00pm. I will need to connect with Dr. Headley, because I have no idea as to how I am presenting in a technological sense. I have never done it before, so this will be new too like most everything in this class. Technology frustrates me, so therefore, I am able to maintain balance, because I only use so much of it.

November 18, 2007 This is the worst project I have ever had to contend with. The school district takes forever, so I have to modify, then I can't add clipart to my wikispace. I don't know why, but I can't add microsoft clipart to my links. I am trying to add pictures and vocabulary. This has been the most frustrating project I have ever taken on. I will call Dr. Headly Tuesday afternoon/evening, because I have conferences from 8:00am to 8:00pm tomorrow. I have been working on this project for hours and haven't gotten much done at all.

November 21, 2007 I feel so much better now that I talked to Dr. Headley and uploaded a few pictures onto the wiki. I will keep working on the wikispace for my final project and on obtaining a microphone for the online presentation. Hopefully, this project will be used after this class on the Reynolds School District's ELD page.

November 25, 2007 I am going to keep working on my project this week and the powerpoint. I need to obtain a few documents from the ELD Department, hopefully they can send it to me in a timely manner. I think this will be a helpful wikispace when it is all said and done, but it has been a challenge. I will be very happy when it is well under way and teachers are actually using it for their benefit in teaching ELD.

November 29, 2007 My husband is so sweet. He went and bought me a microphone for my laptop for my presentation on Monday, December 3, 2007. I tried it last night and Dr. Headley said that he can hear me loud and clear. I was able to obtain a few documents from the ELD Department, so I will put those on the Wikispace. I am still waiting for a few more. I can't believe how slow going it is to obtain the ELD documents, but this will be a work in progress over the year. I want teachers to be able to access it soon, but I need to make sure that the ELD Department is done with their web page that will have a link to my page. Technology is supposed to make things occur quicker, but this has not been my experience. There hasn't been anything like this before, except for in meetings or conversations when teacher informally share their ideas and lessons, but this will be a resource for all to use and I hope they will. I hope this will relieve some of the teachers' stresses in teaching ELD!

December 9, 2007 The multi-tasking during the presentation was a little difficult. I think that I could get better at it with practice. This was all new, but exciting to be able to connect with others through voice interaction. I am still plugging away at my wikispace ELDresource page. I will keep adding pictures and vocab. I need to get the On Our Way to English themes typed up. Dr. Headley were you able to visit the Santa Maria Bonita School District's site?