Karen Abbott - March 2011

When I was asked to help write a technology grant to the Cape Elizabeth Education Foundation, little did I know where that path would lead. I never expected the overwhelming response from CEEF and experiences that lay ahead. I just knew how much technology was impacting my classroom and felt it was important to try and move our school forward. 

Not a day goes by without a child mentioning their use of technology;  Skyping with grandparents, listening to an iPod, playing a video game, or getting time on the computer at home. How many times have we, as adults, asked our children to help figure out the TV remote, program a VCR, or figure out a new phone? This is their world and as a teacher, I sometimes feel like I’m playing catch-up. The children definitely live in a world that is technology rich. There have been times in my class where the children solve a ‘techie’ problem before I do. I would never dare tell my first graders that they wouldn’t understand how to solve a problem because I’d get an earful. They are definitely involved in the process and that is how it should be. When I leave my classroom to a substitute, I may say, “If you have a problem with the SMARTboard, just ask a child, they usually know what helps.” One of the most important things I try to impart to my students is that adults are not the only teachers in the room. They are each teachers as well. When dealing with a laptop that suddenly “is doing something funny” or a listening center where “we can’t hear anything, it’s not working”, peer assistance is both powerful and empowering. Children seem to absorb technology almost intuitively and we need to nurture and build on that skill. I began to realize that besides being fun, technology truly made a difference in how children perceived themselves as learners. This process allowed them to show how they could collaborate and communicate their knowledge in a creative and innovative way. Sharing it with their families, friends, and community gave them an audience. As a teacher, I discovered technology allowed them the freedom to experience and direct their own learning. 

Kids are engaged. They want to contribute and be a part of what we’re doing. I can demonstrate concepts in a clear, efficient and effective way, even the more abstract ones. Because of this, it is possible in many cases to increase the pace and depth of what I teach. For instance, teaching the life cycle of a butterfly used to require a lot of cutting and pasting, challenging for little first grade fingers with fine-motor issues. With a SMARTboard, they use their finger and move pre-typed words to the correct spot on the cycle. I can assess the skill and take the fine-motor piece out. Watching a child working on the SMARTboard, I notice peers watching, posing questions, predicting outcomes, and offering their own ideas. They make new connections and deepen their understanding of the concept. 

The students aren’t the only ones collaborating. Through the generosity of the Cape Elizabeth Education Foundation, this influx of technology tools in our school required professional development for teachers. TimHattaway, our technology integrator, 4th grade teacher Erik Nielsen, and I collaborated to teach workshop sessions to help teachers with new SMARTboards. Thanks to a supportive administration, we are building time into our professional development workshops to continue staff training and meet the needs of teachers whose skills are now at different levels. In a tight budget environment, finding alternate ways to meet these challenges is critical. This kind of professional sharing and learning is one of our school’s strengths and it’s obvious the children (and we) are reaping the benefits.

In class a few weeks ago, the children were having some free time before dismissal. I needed to check email and make sure there were no last minute dismissal changes. That’s when I realized my computer was attached to the SMARTboard where some children were playing a math game, the two available student laptops were being used, as well as the iPad. It made me stop and smile. Technology had certainly become quite an important part of our classroom. So how did I get my email? My iPhone, of course! 

Susan Dana's Blog- September 2010

           The Spanish Embassy program for educators has a worldwide reputation for excellence and it offers cutting-edge, relevant courses for certified Spanish teachers, grades K-12, and college professors. Courses are taught in Spain by university professors, and participants bring their language skills up to date, they learn and experience authentic culture, traditions, and history, and they have the opportunity to meet Spanish teachers from around the world.

            I was accepted by the Spanish Embassy program to attend the The Road to Santiago, a three-week course taught at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) in Spain. Santiago de Compostela is in Galicia, a region in northwestern Spain, north of Portugal. The Embassy housed us in university residence halls and we took courses in language, history, art, geography, literature, and music, all in relation to Galicia and its history since the Middle Ages.

            There were twenty-six people in the U.S. group, (one from Maine!) and we were part of the three hundred Spanish teachers from around the world who studied through the Embassy at USC in July 2010. There were Spanish teachers from forty countries, including Morocco, Finland, Brazil, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Bulgaria, England, and Uzbekistan.

            My reasons for taking this course were (1) to immerse myself in Spanish culture,

(2) to learn culturally authentic material to enhance the Cape Elizabeth curriculum, (3) to make global connections to bring into my classroom, i.e. make contacts for skyping with Spanish classes in other parts of the world, (4) to become a student again, to have time to study, research, and reflect without the demanding time constraints of a teaching schedule, and (5) to take advantage of a unique professional development opportunity that could never be replicated in Maine, the chance to study in Spain at a first-rate university.

            The Road to Santiago exceeded my expectations; it was an exhilarating experience to study, live, talk, attend cultural events, and travel in Galicia. Immersing myself in Spanish culture and life was invaluable to my language skills.  Also, having a venue in which to converse with Spanish teachers from around the world was amazing. It was fascinating to compare and contrast our educational systems, share teaching ideas and lessons, and to use Spanish as our common language to learn about and become acquainted with each other.

            Cape Elizabeth students will benefit from this Embassy program because I am invigorated by my summer study and I have lots of new ideas, cultural experiences, and material to use and share. Three major units that I plan to develop as a result of my studies are Global Classroom Digital Exchanges, Traditional Galician Games, and a Spanish Iditarod unit.

            You might be asking yourself, “What do Galicia, Spain, and the Alaskan Iditarod have in common?” It’s one of the many stories and interesting connections from my summer study. I became friends with a Spanish professor in the program, from the University of Alaska, and she told me about a website for educators about the Iditarod. (http://www.iditarod.com/)  Students can pick a sled dog with whom to blog and there is a dog who will respond in Spanish and my friend happens to be the dog’s writing assistant. I’m excited for my students to use their language skills to blog and to learn about the Iditarod via lessons I’ll create in Spanish. I plan to incorporate math (distances traveled), science (weather, climate), geography, and reading and writing skills, albeit on an elementary Spanish level. I’ve discussed this idea with colleagues and we plan to implement it in our classes this winter.

            Another result of this professional development is Timoteo’s Blog. Timoteo is a stuffed animal who is the class mascot for third and fourth grade Spanish classes at Pond Cove. Last spring I visited the Pond Cove third grade classes and told them that Timoteo would be traveling with me to Spain and that he’d be back in Fall 2010 to tell them about his trip.  I asked them what they wanted Timoteo to learn and the students generated questions and ideas, such as What type of music is popular? What are some good foods? Go swimming. Find a Spanish cow. Timoteo blogged about his experience. http://timoteospain.blogspot.com/ I will visit the Pond Cove classes within the next few months to talk about his trip and report back on their scavenger hunt questions.

            I didn’t take the real Timoteo with me but a flat version, similar to a Flat Stanley, and I took about two hundred photos of Timoteo as he tried to accomplish all that the Pond Cove students had suggested. Timoteo became well known by the other teachers in my program. At times I wanted a break from photos but they would say, “Debes sacar una foto con Timoteo! / You have to take a photo of Timoteo here!” A number of teachers liked the idea of a Timoteo blog and they plan to implement a similar idea in their lessons. We had numerous opportunities to exchange teaching ideas and Timoteo is one example of that.

         In spite of bleak economic times, teachers must keep up-to-date within our profession to create fresh, relevant, exciting lessons for our students. In order to realize that goal, educators themselves must experience fresh, exciting pursuits. I hope that my summer study keeps alive the importance of ongoing professional development.             

            The Cape Elizabeth Education Foundation is an incredible resource for our students and schools. CEEF’s partial funding of my Spanish Embassy program was invaluable and made a big difference in my ability to participate. I used personal monies for part of it but the CEEF funding and support made the opportunity more accessible to me. An intangible benefit is that I feel validated as a professional educator because CEEF understands the critical importance of innovative, relevant professional development and it’s willing to support teachers in our endeavors. CEEF is an organization that benefits our students, teachers, and community in so many ways. Thank you CEEF for an amazing professional opportunity! 

AnnMarie Dionne's Blog- April 2010

The National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC) in conjunction with the Spanish Embassy and George Washington University offered a Spanish Immersion in Washington, DC in June 2009.  There were a myriad of enriching activities that enhanced my professional development, my curriculum and the skills of my students.  It was an exciting and worthwhile opportunity!

The Spanish Immersion began with a session on Spanish film presented by Sheila Cockey.  Several years ago a Spanish professor at the University of Virginia, David Gies, wrote a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to compile not only clips from various Spanish films, but accompanying lessons and activities.  Sheila is one of the site’s contributors so her guidance was quite valuable.  We were led through the comprehensive site and shared movies that we have successfully used in the classroom.  I looked forward to sharing this resource with my colleagues as a way to bring authentic language and culture into the classroom!  The website, called Cine Con Clase, is located at:  http://hitchcock.itc.virginis.edu/SpanishFilm /principal.html

The next session took place at the Spanish Embassy.  It was exciting to go inside and be “in Spain.”  It was wonderful to hear the Spanish accent again!  The Embassy provided us with a tour of their website and several educational materials published by the Embassy to take back to our classrooms. In a subsequent session presented by the Spanish Embassy, we learned about España Verde, the most northern regions of the country.   I have not yet visited that area of Spain and I learned that I am missing out on a beautiful landscape and a unique experience on the Camino de Santiago!

In the afternoon, our group received a private, guided tour of the Spanish collection in the National Gallery of Art.  I enjoyed seeing the Picasso and Dalí.  Afterwards, we viewed the Alejandro Amenábar film, Mar adentro.  It was a sad, heavy topic, but the film is beautifully put together.   A discussion of the film followed.

Prior to arriving for Spanish Week, we were all asked to provide a lesson to share with the group.  Each of us had time to share our tried and true lessons with one another.  Since we were a varied group of teachers, from grade 3 through college, we were able to brainstorm ways to adapt the lessons to the different language levels.

The Spanish Immersion also featured a session with a Spanish-speaking teacher/guitarist.  That session marked the first time I had ever held a guitar! The guitar sessions were a source of struggle for me.  It was tough to look around and see others jumping right in and playing songs while I plucked along trying to make sure my fingers were in the right spot to play the chord!  It later came out that those who just “got it” had some prior musical instruction.  However, in the midst of my frustration I realized a couple things.  One was that experienced guitarists make it look easy to remember the chords to a song, form the chords, play the chords and sing along all at the same time!  The second thing was that I was glad I was experiencing frustration while learning something brand new.  I know that there are students who experience the same anxiety and frustration as I did with guitars with language learning.  It served as a valuable reflective teaching moment for me.

I encourage other teachers to connect with CEEF about future opportunities.  Throughout the grant process I felt comfortable and supported.  I appreciated that the grants committee asked questions about my proposal that demonstrated a true interest in my professional development idea.

A big thank you once again to CEEF for making this professional development experience possible.  It was both worthwhile and enjoyable.  I was able to learn from colleagues in other parts of the country, practice my own skills, visit the Embassy and garner a wealth of resources and ideas for the classroom.  I have created lessons based on materials from the NCLRC website and Cine Con Clase.   There is a selection of Internet resources for colleagues at: http://guest.portaportal.com/srtadionne.



VEX Robotics - March 2010

Check out a photo gallery of the VEX Robotics Club latest meeting on March 3, 2010!  You can view students meeting after school preparing their robots for competition.  Click here to view photos!

Evan Thayer's Blog

Looking back through my records recently, I noted that I have been fortunate enough to receive four CEEF grants over the past five years.  These grants have been essential in helping me develop what started as an after-school Lego robotics program for middle school students and what is evolving into an after-school Robotics and Engineering program for students in Pond Cove through high school, coupled with the development of an Engineering elective course for seniors.

What is my motivation?  Well, I have a degree in Engineering.  Chemical Engineering in fact.  I worked for five years in the environmental engineering field.  However, the longer I work in education the more I am comfortable stating that engineering was probably not the best career fit for me.  When I was in high school, I excelled in math.  The advice I got was "if you're good at math, go into engineering."  There was a certain appeal to that career, so that's what I did. 

Why did I leave engineering?  It probably has most to do with personality.  Now I don't want to "broad brush stroke" engineers too much, but the best engineers I worked with had a certain "let's do it, this is fun" attitude towards solving problems that were both physical and mental in nature.  My educational background, I felt, was largely that of solving paper-and-pencil problems.  I had a hands-on void.  Now that's not to say I couldn't have found an engineering niche where I was more comfortable, and I certainly want to encourage students interested in engineering to pursue this career, but for me, once I sampled teaching (quite by accident), I knew I had found a career in which I could contribute and be very happy.

Back to the after-school Robotics and Engineering program.  Robotics is a great program because it indeed offers "hands-on, minds-on" challenges that I believe simulate the real world of engineering.  The Lego Robotics and VEX Robotics competition programs are global.  Academic curricula for high schools to support VEX Robotics engineering is available.  This is the aspect of our program that is tied to national, if not international, standards for excellence.

I think there can be an equally-important home-grown nature to our afterschool Robotics and Engineering program as well.  With the support of CEEF, I am reaching out to the local and greater Portland communities to develop sustained after-school programs in electronics and small engines.

I also believe there are members of the community who could work on small one-time projects with students.  During the 2008-09 Engineering elective course for seniors, members of the local and greater Portland communities helped with projects that had students converting a bicycle to a moped, and had students refurbishing and racing an electric car at Beechridge Speedway.

The final component of the Robotics and Engineering program, which has yet to be developed, is that of organized job shadows.  In this age of rapid communication, it seems that interested students could be rapidly connected to members of business and industry during times when they are performing something of educational value.

It is my goal to keep this blog updated with the status of each of these program components.  Thank you, CEEF, for all the support you have given me!

Click here to see a photo gallery of Evan Thayer's students at work.