ASPEN...take 3

ASPEN is becoming the bane of most people's existence, but I really don't mind it! Today during our department meeting, I showed the staff how to complete report cards with ASPEN. It is SO much better than last year because we are using the ASPEN gradebook. All this means, is that teachers have to simply import their gradebook grades into the report cards and post them! The same can be said for attendance. I cannot believe that we are going to be doing report cards in 3 weeks! YIKES!

The issues that we had today were not really with what to do. I think that people seem to have a pretty strong grasp on that. There was tons of complaining because of the attendance issues and how it takes 6 steps to change a student's absence from the default unexcused to excused. ASPEN will automatically update the absences for the report card, but you have to go back and change every unexcused absence to an excused one if you want it to be accurate. The parents are going to have a field day with this one! I do not mind doing this part simply because it helps me hold the students accountable with whether or not they are permitted to make up their work. My department is not so happy with all of the extra steps...I just think it becomes routine and a good habit after a while.

I'm hoping that after a full year of ASPEN that teachers will be more used to it and that everyone will stop freaking out so much. I really feel that if teachers spent as much time working on ASPEN as they do complaining about it, that all of their work would be done!!! Overall, today went well, but I am getting really sick of the complaining.

The last ASPEN session will be on course recommendations. I am very excited to do these online this year because it means that the students will not be able to forge our signatures! I do not know what it looks like yet, but hopefully, it will be fairly easy. I am going to play with this feature when we come back from vacation. After that, the teachers will have everything that they need for ASPEN for this school year. Next year could bring a new round of PD sessions if they open online submission of assignments as well as student accounts. So far, I have resolved any issues that existed between the old grade program and the new one by using Moodle with my students!

Study Stack

This afternoon, I led a PD session on Study Stack, a web 2.0 application that creates online flashcards and games for students to practice vocabulary, events and dates, or even science/mathematical terms. I was only quasi excited about this session, even though my students use the application every week.

Since we are right in the middle of fourth quarter, I guess most people are busy because I only had a few people come. It is okay though! A few others have told me that they are using the site, but didn't have time to or didn't need to come. They know that I am still here for support though.

I walked the small little group through the account set-up (one person had already done that part), setting up the first stack options, and inputting data for the flashcards. I think people were surprised how easy it was.

The session was fairly short (only 30 minutes) compared to the 45 minutes to and hour and 15 minutes that some of the others have been. I answered everyone's questions, and people went on their way. I sent the PowerPoint presentation to everyone so that if they had questions the next time they needed help setting up a stack that they could walk through something that has screenshots and directions.

The next PD session is next week for ASPEN with my department. I am going to add one more session in December for my staff because I love Glogster so much, and I really wanted to share it with my staff since I will not be able to share it in depth with my department. The plan is still to graduate this winter...that's if I can ever get this portfolio done! I set it up over the summer, but now I am finding it difficult to have time to work on artifacts and descriptions. I know that I will have the time as it gets closer to the end, but right now, all that I can focus on is this seminar class (with my discussion leading pending) and vacation in less than 2 weeks!

Moodle Discussion Board

The pilot team of four of us met this past week to make sure that we had everything ready for our students to log on to Moodle and to verify their accounts. The beauty of Moodle is that the students can enrol themselves if you set up an enrolment key.

Each of us set up our individual sections of classes...which took awhile to figure out! We have no guide through this mess application since we are piloting it, so it has been in baby steps. We each created an opening activity that was appropriate for the upper level of the language. We also wanted to ensure that we were not doing a similar activity so that we can use this from year to year if possible. This way, the students would be forced to immediately create their accounts and have an activity in which to engage them. So far, I have only had a few emails from the students regarding technical problems, and most of those could be fixed if the students closed their browser and reopened it or if I confirmed their accounts from my account because their confirmation email arrived in their spam!

My students are completing a debate in an online forum on whether cell phones should be permitted in schools or not. This is also in accordance with the new Race to the Top argument writing.

Here is their prompt:

Here is part of a current discussion:

 

So far, I am only missing 7 students (who have until tonight at midnight) who need to create their accounts and participate in the debate. It is interesting to see how many of the students have already personalized their accounts by changing fonts, colors, and uploading pictures. Students were provided with a document (on Moodle of course!) on appropriate netiquette on discussion boards.

I spent a good deal of the summer creating "quizzes" on Moodle that will be part of the literary analysis for Spanish 4 Honors. Every time they have short story or poetry analysis, they will complete half on paper and the other half on Moodle (which will grade itself! YAY!). There is a lower risk of cheating because Moodle will scramble all of the questions and the answers, and I have set it up so that students can only take each quiz once. I felt lost the first time that I had a hybrid college class where a portion was online and another was in class; I had no idea how to participate in a discussion board. I am hoping that these students will feel more confident upon entering college if they have practice with a program like Moodle.

Although this ate up the last half of my summer, I am excited to see where it will take these classes. My only fear is that the county will say that we cannot use Moodle next year or that we switch to another server and lose everything that we've been doing!!!

ASPEN Follow-Up Sessions

I have been providing SO many one-on-one follow-up sessions for ASPEN. These have been not only for people in my department but also all over the building!!! It has been exciting because I've actually had answers for people, but it has been exhausting as well. I am not sure how people have been able to complete all of their work and their internship, but I am hanging in there.

I have been able to answer a great deal of questions about the new program and have helped people with some quick fixes that really changed how they used the program. I've also been trying to encourage people to play with the program without the instructions sheets in front of them. The instructions limit them to accomplishing a task the only way the county knows, even though there are many shortcuts that I have figured out. I've even been helping my husband!

On another note, I am leading my next staff PD on Thursday for Study Stack. I was only going to have one more for the staff as a whole, but I just used Glogster with my kids, and they have been telling other teachers about it. That being said, I think I am going to lead one more session in early December for that. Also, the following week, I will be leading the next ASPEN session for my department! I know they will not be happy that there is more to come about the program, but I'd rather be able to be there to help them than to let them try in on their own and be frustrated. So far, I think I am one of the only people in the whole county who actually likes the program!!! It could also be due to the fact that I am using Moodle with my classes and it supplements some of the things that ASPEN cannot and will not offer. Oh well! Such is life! I'm off to edit my Postman paper and finish the reading for this week!!!