Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Negaunee Update

The MI-Champions project has been a catalyst for change at Negaunee High School. The assembly of a team of teachers committed to learning about, implementing and promoting technology use in the curriculum has been amazing. In the last year there has been an increase in the use of wikispaces for teacher learning areas. Students are blogging, creating multimedia projects, using online resources and have begun to utilize Google Apps for Education on a regular basis. The district purchased a mobile lab with with 30 Macbook laptops. They are divided into to 15 cart units. Each has it's own printer and wireless access. The timing was perfect.

We also wrote a mini-grant through the Upper Peninsula Writing Project to cover substitutes for a series of 1/2 day work session for the MI-Champions team. We have met twice with two additional meetings coming in the winter semester. This has helped us create a vision for where technology should take us and also allowed us to discuss many of the challenges faced by teachers with the rapid changes occurring.

We are looking forward to another year of MACUL and the networking, learning and excitment that it can bring!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Thinking About MI-Champions & MACUL 2009

It's been nearly a year since we've been involved in the MI-Champions project. We've attended MACUL in March 2008 and received training at MARESA in the summer of 2008. It's time to think about 2009 as the project continues. Register NOW to attend the 2009 MACUL event in Detroit. Teams will get reimbursement for registration and a night's lodging. Everyone should have received an email notice about proceeding with that reservation. It's a busy time for us educators, but do take the time to reflect on your use of technology and your needs for the future. Attending the MACUL conference is a great way to get re-energized to forge ahead!