Flex Modular Scheduling - Here We Go!

On Wednesday, our school board approved the implementation of the Flexible Modular Schedule for the 2015-2016 school.  With that, let the planning begin!  We will be meeting in a few short weeks to develop a plan for the upcoming school year.  This plan will focus on ALL the items that need to be completed prior to the schedule impacting our staff and students in August of 2015.

I had the fortunate opportunity of presenting in Westside School District in Omaha.  While it was great for me to give information to teachers and administrators in Westside, it was EQUALLY advantageous for me to receive a tour of their high school and to have a twenty minute conversation with staff and administration on how they conduct their modular schedule in a high school of 1800 students.  They have implemented the Modular Schedule since 1967.

I have compiled a video of the tour of the school.  I used an iPad Air and iMovie on the iPad to edit the movie.  I also used my iPhone and the included Voice Memos app to record the principal and assistant principal providing valuable, candid statements and advice.  I used Garage Band to clean up the audio (we were in a noisy area).  Exporting the "podcast" to my iMac and uploading to Google Drive worked great to get the information to others.

Creating a public Google Drive Folder compiles the recordings into a very presentable format.

WATCH & LISTEN to the conversation!

I am planning to document the continued progress of this journey.  The Green Bay Press-Gazette has already written a story about it! Please join in the conversation on Twitter #FlexMod as I know that the Sheboygan School District and maybe others are implementing this schedule as well.

I am proud of our high school and our district!  This isn't going to be easy, however, nothing great every is!

n2y Winner, Mrs. Morgan!

Technology can present itself in so many ways.  n2y and Symbolstix is a technology tool that has revolutionized Mrs. Morgan's classroom learning environment.

In September 2013, Mrs. Morgan approached me with the idea of entering the n2y contest in which n2y wanted to hear how the Unique Learning System was utilized in classrooms across the United States.  After understanding the task at hand which was filming and producing a video telling the story of how the Unique Learning System has helped Nalia become verbally engaged in learning, I agreed to help.

Part of the job of a Learning Support Teacher & Technology Integration Specialist is thinking about and enacting the best work flow for a task.  My initial thought was to use iPads and Skitch to tell the story.  However, I knew I needed to talk with Mr. Manning, a media teacher.  He immediately recognized the importance of the story and decided to become an integral piece to the puzzle.  From him, I learned how to transcribe each video clip (we used Google Docs so that both of us could work on the document).  Transcribing allowed us to tell the story through the teacher, students, and parents.  Our final product was well received!

The reaction of Mrs. Morgan and her students is priceless.  Congratulations, Mrs. Morgan!  You deserve it!

View Celebration that was created completely on an iPad Air with iMovie.