Problem Solving in the Tech Lab MTI562 Wk.2

One of the blessings of working at a private school with a parent community that is very supportive of tech investment is that I am able to keep our technology pretty up to date. The downside of that is sometimes the various technologies we use end up having compatibility issues. There are some programs we can’t use until the software developers bring out an up to date version – for example the Scholastic Office Keys which we loved for Office 2007 but do not work for Office 2013, or Ice Cream Truck from Sunburst. For other programs there are workarounds. One of the coding games my students love is Kodu from the Microsoft Fuse Research Labs. We had all sorts of issues running it native under Windows 8, but when we ran the compatibility troubleshooter (right click on the program icon) we were able to run it in Windows 7 mode and it worked just fine. Phew. Here is a screenshot of the fix.

MTI 562 Week 2 E-Book Review

For MTI562 I read 98 Tech Tips from the Classroom. This e-book has some really useful tips and tricks .Although some of the solutions are no longer relevant now that we have Windows 8 & Office 2013 (some of the Alt & Ctrl options don’t work, and some things you don’t need anymore – e.g. you can hide your desktop just by clicking on the Windows key), there were some really useful things in here that I didn’t already know. I will be sure to be teaching my students in the fall – for example that you can just print the highlighted text off a web page using Ctrl+P and the ‘Selection’ option. We have been copying & pasting in word which seems daft now I know better. 

Some of the links need updating I was really excited to see the easy way to make charts but the link was broken - http://smaatechk-3.wikispaces.com/This+Week+in+Tech--Third+Grade. I always tell my students that Microsoft gives you at least 3 ways of doing everything, there isn’t a right or a wrong answer – just find the one that works for you, and if in doubt Right Click, so I was pleased to see that in there! Another useful hint is to truncate the URL if a link is broken to see if you can find what you are looking for on the site. I will be using some of these to make a laminated survival guide as we transition to the teachers bringing their students to the lab without being dependent on me.

Hello

Welcome to my blog. I am the Technology Specialist at Chestnut Hill Academy, a private elementary school in Bellevue, WA, where I have been teaching technology as a standalone subject for the last 9 years. This year I am transitioning to the role of Technology Integration Specialist where I will be helping the core class teachers make better use of the technology in their classrooms. Our intention is that the students will end up learning the same technology skills but in the context of core lessons rather than a seperate technology class. We will most likely still have break out sessions for keyboarding and coding. As part of this transition I have signed up for MTI 562 The Tech Infused Teacher which I hope will help me better support our staff.