SchoolKiT International Newsletter

SchoolKiT News
A newsletter for SchoolKiT customers committed to lifelong learning and the meaningful use of new technologies.

U.S.A. Edition, December 2003

SchoolKiT Profile: Issaquah School District

Nestled in the foothills of Washington’s Cascade mountains is the Issaquah School District where over 14,000 students regularly rise to the high level of expectation held by community stakeholders. Sharing the commitment to continuously improve teaching and learning, educators in Issaquah provide learning tools that help students gather, organize, evaluate and synthesize information in order to develop their ability to think critically and creatively as self directed, lifelong learners.

“Technology tools play a key role in this process,” said Colleen Dixon, Director of Educational Technology, “because, when effectively integrated, information and communication technology resources help make learning more meaningful for students. One of our core learning beliefs is differentiated learning and I‘d be hard pressed to think about doing this without technology. These tools allow kids with unique learning styles to tap into different modalities and meaningfully interact with information, expand their learning horizons and illustrate their learning in new and innovative ways.”

Knowing that the critical component for sustaining this vision is focused teacher professional development, Colleen and her team of dedicated educators created the Issaquah Technology Project (ITP), modeling this program on the successful Teacher Leadership Project (TLP). Colleen said recently, “One of our primary professional development objectives is for teachers to develop the skills to integrate technology into their instruction autonomously, aligning their curricula with Washington’s Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRS) and Issaquah benchmarks to enhance student achievement. We use SchoolKiT because their integrated technology learning resources support the curriculum standards and have fit perfectly into Issaquah’s professional development program.”

Since Microsoft Office is the Issaquah district standard, the Office suite of productivity tools are available on every district computer. Colleen also said, “One of the great things about EDclass is that with the step-by-step guidance in the activities, teachers do not need to have all the technology answers to create great lessons. They can use the activities to integrate Word, Excel and PowerPoint into their instruction while still ensuring the primary focus is on achieving the curriculum objective.” She goes on to say, “Perhaps the most unique thing about SchoolKiT is that the activities not only integrate the use of Office applications seamlessly, but also appropriately because in each activity the technology guidance is provided at the moment in the activity when that particular technology skill is needed. Because of this ‘just in time’ focus, everything connects up for kids. It makes sense to them and the next time they need that skill, since they have learned it within a meaningful context, it will come back to them.”

SchoolKiT is pleased to support great teaching and learning with technology in the Issaquah School District.

Holiday Greetings from SchoolKiT and FableVision!

SchoolKiT's much loved logo, Rex, was drawn by well-know children's book author and illustrator, Peter Reynolds. You can drop into Peter's online studio/gallery/café at www.peterhreynolds.com. Peter's books are inspirational and make wonderful gifts.

Peter is the also the founder and president of an award winning multimedia design studio called FableVision. In his words "At FableVision, we are advocates of the wonderful classroom. Our mission is to help all learners discover their true potential." A visit to www.fablevision.com is a fun way to spend an hour. It is packed full of resources for educators. It won't take you long to see why SchoolKiT is honored to be working with Peter and FableVision.

Institutionalizing Great Learning Cultures

"We learn courageous action by going forward whenever fear urges us back. A little boy was asked how he learned to skate. "Oh, by getting up every time I fell down," he answered." - David Seabury

Driven by the requirements of NCLB, schools, districts and states are responding to heightened pressure to demonstrate how their substantial investment in technology is being leveraged to improve learning for all students (see examples in the May edition of SchoolKiT News). It is worth noting the patterns evident in programs recognized for their excellence in teaching and learning with technology. In our ongoing dialogue with these leading learning communities, we have found three key factors are common when systems improve their integration of technology for learning in the classroom context:

§ The learning community provides easy access to “embedded” professional learning for all staff with an immediate application of this learning to the classroom setting.

§ The learning community openly encourages participation in the professional development courses and facilities offered with a regular and deliberate cycle of application and review conducted at all levels.

§ Organizational and individual goals and resources are aligned with content and learning standards and the longer term plan of systemic improvement of teaching and learning with technology.

Considering these three commonalities, there is an additional observable trend in successful schools and organizations: the curriculum and technology leaders within these learning communities model the behavior they desire of their colleagues and staff. “Walking the talk” is of vital importance when seeding, sustaining and supporting a vision for professional development initiatives in general, and technology integration programs in particular. This may very well be the deciding factor when differentiating successful programs guided by a larger vision for systemic improvement from ineffective, ad hoc professional development.

To learn how SchoolKiT can help your ongoing professional development or school improvement plans with our proven content, please contact us at service@schoolkit.com.

Visit SchoolKiT Theater at NSDC Conference in New Orleans December 7^th – 9^th

If you or a member of your professional development team are attending the NSDC conference in New Orleans this weekend, plan on visiting the SchoolKiT theater, Booth 204/206, in the conference exhibit hall. Or, send us a message at service@schoolkit.com if you would like to schedule time with one of our education consultants. We look forward to assisting with your professional development or school improvement planning using SchoolKiT’s proven resources for teachers and students.

SchoolKiT International Welcomes New Educational Consultant

SchoolKiT International is pleased to welcome our latest Educational Consultant, Eric Ensey. Eric brings over 10 years of teaching experience, both in the intermediate level classroom and as a district technology integration specialist. Eric served as a lead instructor for the Teacher Leadership Project (TLP) and helped found a similar model of the TLP in his own school district. Eric works with our clients providing ongoing consultation on effectively integrating technology into curricula and instruction.

December/January PDclass Online Workshop Calendar:

SchoolKiT PDpoint subscribers can take any of the following online workshops in the weeks to come (note that beginning in December, PDclass workshops commence and end on Wednesdays):

December 3	Creating Newspapers – Technology and Authentic Learning
December 10	Using Digital Cameras for Performance Analysis
December 17	Integration Ideas in the Reading Classroom – Book Reports
December 24	Spatial Reasoning with Patterns & Percentages
December 31	Making Graphing Easy in the Geography Classroom
January 7	Desktop Video – 1. Working with Existing Movies
January 14	Using Databases in Science
January 21	Integration Ideas in the Reading Classroom – Vocabulary Development

These Instructor-led workshops can be found at www.pdpoint.com. Login with your PDpoint account details and click on "Course Enrollment" and then "PDclass."

To access any of the courses at any time, you can enroll in a workshop in On-demand mode. Login to PDpoint with your account details and click on "Course Enrollment" and then "PDnow."

EDclass activBook Feature: Fibonacci and the Golden Ratio

The Fibonacci sequence is a famous sequence of numbers named after an Italian mathematician who studied them in the 13th century. In the activity “Fibonacci and the Golden Ratio,” (activBook # E375) students use Excel to discover the connection between the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden ratio, a ratio used to divide sections into aesthetically pleasing proportions. This connection has been fascinating mathematicians, architects and artists for the past seven centuries. By measuring the dimensions of common objects and recording their measurements on an Excel template, students determine which objects best display the Golden ratio. As an extension, the students find proportions in the human body that display the Golden ratio.

This and hundreds of other K-12 constructivist activBooks are available in the EDclass library. If you are an existing SchoolKiT client and would like to transition to EDclass, please contact us at service@schoolkit.com, or, for more information, go to www.edclass.com.

Plan to Visit SchoolKiT at FETC in January!

The Florida Educational Technology Conference is a seminal event for teachers, administrators and program directors from across the country. Make your plans now to visit SchoolKiT in exhibit space # 332/334. We’ll look for you in sunny Orlando!

SchoolKiT - A Community of Learners

The SchoolKiT community is comprised of educators around the globe who are committed to great learning and the meaningful use of new technologies.

We are pleased that you are part of our community, and encourage you to participate by sharing ideas, stories and strategies that others will find helpful. If you have any thoughts about what you would like to see featured in this newsletter, please let us know. You can email the SchoolKiT Newsletter Editor.

Let your colleagues know they can get their own monthly copy of this newsletter by registering at the SchoolKiT website. It only takes a moment:

1. Go to the SchoolKiT International Website at www.schoolkit.com.
2. Click Community on the horizontal menu.
3. Under the Newsletter heading, next to schoolkit_news click Subscribe.