Building a Master Schedule

We just finished building our master schedule.  It is quite a process, and one that if completed conscientiously, can make a big difference as to how many students can really get the classes they want and need.  Usually, this process is done with a month or so of school to go, so that schedule conflicts can be worked out.  This year, due to budget issues - which led to staffing issues, we were put on hold.  We have never built a schedule this late.

We use a process that was developed by Pearson.  They run workshops to train school administration and support groups how to build schedules so that a maximum number of students can schedule with no conflicts.  We have 1200 or so students, so conflicts will be an issue, especially when you offer IB and AP courses.  It is a fun "puzzle" to put together.  We use scheduling boards and scheduling chips to help with the process.  You can see them below.

For the past couple of years, we have been fortunate enough to use a computer program to help us with this process.  A teacher from a neighboring school district developed his Schedule Builder program, and it has cut more than a day's worth of time off the process.  I would like to say thanks to Jake Tawney.  If you would like to see his product, contact him.  It is really easy to use and saves a lot of tedious work.  Thanks, Jake.  This program is worth every penny.

I am glad that I am part of the process.  It is a challenge that really adds to the school year, but people don't realize what goes on.  If you get a chance to work with your administrative team on building a master schedule, you should try it.  Our team consisted of principals, guidance staff, special education staff, science department members (room issues abound in the science department), IB coordinator, and others.

Dublin Tech Camp 2011

Almost 100 teachers gave up two days of summer vacation to come to Tech Camp 2011.  My technology colleagues and I had the opportunity to work with teachers on various topics and activities.  The morning was filled with presentations, and the afternoon provided time for teachers to work together in small groups on different projects of their own interest.  I was privileged to be able to present on two great topics.

I worked with Beth Politz and Joanna Doyle to present on Synchronous Communications - Skype, iChat, and Elluminate.  All 3 are available for teachers to use from school.  We showed teachers how these programs worked and gave them ideas of how each could be used with their students.

The other sessions I presented were on Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers.  I got to present this twice, and both times the turnout was wonderful.  Teachers were eager to hear about Twitter, Google Apps, Blogger, Flickr, Shelfari, and other free online applications.  I have posted this presentation here  - http://scottsibberson.blogspot.com/p/presentation.html.  You can view the presentation here, as well as other resources that were used.

Thanks to all teachers that showed the interest to attend.  Keep working and "playing".  It doesn't come easy.

iChromy

Where have I been for months?  What a busy spring!  Plus, I've been playing with a new iPad.  We'll save that post for a later date.  WOW - it may be a game-changer.  But let's get back to today's topic - iChromy.  iChromy is available at the iTunes Store.

iChromy is a web browser application created by Diigo for the iPad.  It's free and easy to use and there are a couple of features that are outstanding.

First, the ability to forward a webpage to your others accounts is quite easy to setup and easy to execute.  iChromy will attach to your Twitter, Facebook, Diigo, Google Reader, and more.  It will also allow your to sent the URL via e-mail to others.  I find this very helpful as I am gathering resources to share with other people.  To have all of my account just one click away is extremely helpful.

The other feature that I find helpful, is the feature of saving a website for later reading - offline.  There is a "glasses" button that allows you to save a website.  You can then access the information from that website at a later time, even if you are not connected to the web.  This is quite helpful if you are going to be in a car or on a plane, where internet access is limited.  You can load up some of those articles you want to read for a later time, then just delete them when you are done.

I would recommend that you try iChromy.  You will find it easy to use and quite a nice time saver.

More than Bracketology

NCAA Tournament brackets are everywhere.  It seems like everyone is doing it.  Some play for money, some play for fun, some play for personal pride.  I love that Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic bet on one sheet they call the "Sheet of Integrity."  I have found less desire to fill out many brackets (even though I have run many in the past) and more desire to try just one and compare with friends, just for bragging rights.  I just love this time of year for college basketball how teams play when they get to their conference tournaments, with the possibility of making the NCAA Tournament.  I can't turn it off.  I call it research....

By research, I really mean research.  My real contest this time of year combines the excitement of the March Madness Bracket and fantasy sports.  My friends and I get together and conduct a fantasy draft of players involved in the NCAA Tournament (one of our players is connecting by Skype, due to the fact that he is out of town).  We draft 10 players for our individual teams.  The team that scores the most total points in the tournament wins.  We use Googe Docs to share the results - the spreadsheet is there for people to keep up with scoring throughout the tournament.  Yes, it is quite competitive.  And there is a lot of smack talk, but, my team involves a lot of research and data collection.

Data?  Yes, data.  I have compiled a list of over 150 players that will be involved in the "big dance."  I have also collected the stats involving their points per game average.  Spreadsheets (thanks Google Docs) involving that data and also the anticipation of how many games they will play.  This is where the bracket comes into play.  You have to be able to predict a team's success, to be able to select their players for your team.  So you crunch numbers to establish a draft order for the big night.  Do you take high-scoring players in a few games, or a medium-scoring player in a lot of games?  That is where different people take risks.  I tend to side with players that play a lot of games.

What data is most important?  Some select by taking players from their favorite teams.  Some select from the teams that they feel will advance the farthest.  Some select from teams that are hot, while I try to take the scientific direction.  What players score big on teams that will play the most games.  I hope that my buddies don't pick all of my top players.  I try not to deviate, but draft trends sometimes cause me to leave my sheet, just so I don't get blocked out of teams that I want to cheer for.  I love my local Buckeyes, and always cheer for the Tarheels.  The key players for our competition often come from the Cinderella teams that advance when unsuspected.  Last year, Butler and Gordon Hayward took me deep into the Tournament.

So, do you pick players that score a ton? Or, do you take players that should play a lot of games?  That is what makes our draft fun and competitive.  There is so much more you can do than just fill out a bracket.  I will spend a lot of time over the next day or two making some decisions in establishing my draft order.  I hope I don't choose players that end up on an upset team or a player that is on the injured list (did that a couple of years ago - oooops!).  I know it will be fun, interesting, and keep us interested in the whole tournament, even if the teams we cheer for are ousted.  Have fun with your bracket.  I will.

Dublin Literacy Conference

Last Saturday was the Dublin Literacy Conference.  Around 600 teachers from Ohio and the neighboring states came to Dublin, Ohio to learn about literacy and hear speakers cover different topics related to literacy.  I have been involved in the conference for many years, providing technology support for the presenters.  It has been a very rewarding experience, allowing me to meet many wonderful people and hear many moving speeches.  This year was no different.  Actually, this may be one of the best conferences in many years.

One thing that was different this year, for me, was that I was one of the presenters.  I was given the opportunity to share information about Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers.  My presentation focused on tools that teachers could use personally to build their professional learning network.  I shared information about Twitter, Google Applications, Flickr, Diigo, Shelfari, and Blogspot - or at least that was my plan.  I was able to share quite a bit about Twitter and Google, but found myself time-restricted in the introduction of the other topics.  I figured that was what would happen.

I have arranged my blog to include pages that would allow the attendees to go back to my blog and see my presentation, a slide share, as well as other Web 2.0 Resources, which contain Diigo bookmarks that update whenever I add new bookmarks.  Teachers seemed to be receptive to the information, even if they were not current users.  I tried to give examples of how they could use these tools, both personally and with students.  Check out the slideshow and links.

Poll Everywhere - Data Collection

I recently signed up for an account with Poll Everywhere, so I could see if it provided data feedback that could be easily accessed and set up.  I am going to give it a try with a poll at a presentation I am conducting this weekend.  Poll Everywhere is easy to setup, and provides the audience with three ways to send in their response.  Audience members can send their choice by text message, by tweeting to an account, or by accessing a website.  Because of it's flexibility, it should be easy and convenient for audience members to find a way to reply to the questions.

Poll Everywhere compiles the data live, so you can see the responses come in.  You can do multiple choice questions, T/F questions, or open-ended questions.  With upgrades to your account, you can even mediate the responses before they are displayed on the screen.  I think it will be interesting to see which online tools my attendees use most frequently - it will allow me to adjust how much time I spend on each tool.  It would be a nice way for teachers to obtain data from students, to help guide where more instruction is needed.

Poll Everywhere also provides educators with extra benefits, as well as discounted pay accounts.  They have K-12 accounts, Higher Ed accounts, as well as whole-school and district accounts.  Each provides added controls and features, but I am trying the free teacher account.  I can poll 32 people (which should more than cover my session - unless people read this and come see how it goes).

I'll write back later to share my thoughts and results.

EDUCON 2.3 - A Couple Days Removed

I can't believe the weekend is over.  Luckily, we had great flights to and from Philadelphia.  Some of our friends didn't and had to spend nights and days in layovers and cancelled flights just to get there or get back home.  I do feel lucky about our travel.  I had so looked forward to the conference, because I had heard so many great things.  I knew a lot of people that would be there (because Twitter makes you feel like you are their friends), and had read a lot about past conferences.  I was ready.

After the first couple sessions, I was blown away.  Here we are at sessions, hoping to learn a few things about different topics, and we are right in the middle of conversations with people about the topics.  This conference wasn't like most.  We were there to have conversations, to share ideas, not only with the presenters, but also with the people sitting around us.  It was incredible.  The audience was filled with so many smart and insightful people, all willing to share their experiences and ideas.  All thinking about ways to improve the experiences of students - and not focusing on test scores.  Innovation - how can we do things differently to create outstanding, authentic learning experiences for our students?  How can we help students become passionate about their futures?  How do we create an environment in which students can fail, then learn from their experiences, so they can react to new situations and find success?

Sessions were held that covered many topics, presented by outstanding educators.  Discussions between outstanding educators and non-educators provided insights as to how we can alter what we do to help all students succeed.  We need to work to create environments where we can model skills that students need, providing mentorships and connections that will provide them support into the future.  Helping make connections was one of the many thoughts I came away with.  How do we make connections with people to help support growth?

Making connections was one of the things that I found so energizing about EDUCON.  I was able to re-connect with some people that I had previously met.  I had the opportunity to meet people that have influenced my growth over the past year.  I was able to meet them face-to-face, rather than just communicating through Twitter and email.  I think those contacts are so helpful.  I was also able to make a couple new friends.  Technology will allow us to continue to communicate easily.  It is amazing how easy sharing thoughts and experiences is now that Twitter and blogging have become so popular.  I hope that I can convince my colleagues of the importance of connecting with people in their areas of interest, learning and sharing with people with common goals and hopes.  We need to support each other and grow together as we try to help our schools become better places for learning.

I'd like to give a special thanks to some of the people that I met and learned from.  Theses are truly amazing people.  You should follow them, to see for yourself.

Dean Shareski (@shareski)  http://ideasandthoughts.org/
Alec Couros (@courosa)  http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/
George Couros (@gcouros)  http://georgecouros.ca/blog/
Patrick Larkin (@bhsprincipal)  http://www.burlingtonhigh.blogspot.com/
Chuck Poole (@cpoole27)  http://www.throughourwindowroom101.blogspot.com/
Chris Craft (@crafty184)  http://www.crucialthought.com/
Michael Wacker (@mwacker)  http://mwacker.blogspot.com/
Troy Hicks (@hickstro)  http://hickstro.org/
Sara Beauchamp-Hicks (@yoopertechgeek)  http://hickstro.org/cccl/
Bill Fitgerald (@funnymonkey)  http://funnymonkey.com/
Rodd Lucier (@thecleversheep)  http://www.thecleversheep.com/
Leslie Davison (@lesliedavison)
Cindy Minnich (@CBethM)

These people, along with many others, shared of their time and knowledge so that many others can grow and learn.  It is truly fantastic that all of you are willing to give so much back to the profession.  Chris Lehmann and the students of Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy should be so proud of the event they put together last weekend.