Ejournal Coordinators:   

Region 1- Pat Lavender     Region 2- Terry Young     Region 3- Donna Wise

Rookie Ejournal #5/ Veteran Ejournal #4- We are going to share the same ejournal assignment this time.  All teachers love to tell kid stories.  Tell your ebuddy a successful kid story- tell him/her about a kid that you have dealt with this year that has benefited from your participation in the project, either due to the increased technology or the change in your teaching style.  This gets at the reasons we are all here- it is what we are all about.

Ejournal #4- I know that it is hard to believe, but we have reached the 6 month point of the grant cycle. It is already time for us to file a midyear report. Could you take a brief moment to reflect on your progress since the project began. The question is, how have you grown as a result of your exposure to this project? By grown, we mean- 
    have you increased your technology usage for teacher related administrative tasks? 
    for teaching and learning with your students? 
    are you less afraid of technology- more willing to take risks? 
    has your teaching style changed? 
    are you sharing information more with other teachers? 
    have you received more information from other teachers? 

Have your peers grown as a result of your exposure to the project? Have your students grown? 


What would be your gripes about the project? 

Tell your ebuddy about your answers to these questions.. 

Ejournal #3- You have a choice this month.  I want for your buddy to hear about a concrete example.  Sometimes it is easier to understand theoretical concepts if you can hear about concrete examples. Therefore, please share briefly with your ebuddy about a time in your classroom this year where you either:

    1) Applied a lesson learned during the Word training or

    2) Pulled something from students when in the past you would have pushed it

Here is an example that I can give you from my experience for #2.  I taught middle school science. I used to give out notes for students to copy on the different biomes. This was a lesson that we didn't spend a lot of time on and I wanted to get through quickly, but they never seemed to do well with this concept on the test afterwards . So the next time, I put them in groups and required them to investigate one particular biome.  Each group then gave an oral report. Students at their seats filled in a chart of characteristics for each biome. Once all groups had a complete chart, I showed them pictures of different biomes and they had to identify which one it was. Groups discussed their choice and what in the picture led them to chose the type that they chose.  Guess what, test scores were better and it didn't take much more time than it did for them to copy notes. (Middle schoolers copy slowly).

Ejournal #2- I told you when I came back from Washington D. C. that one of  the presenters suggested that the change that needs to take place in education is a move from a push to a pull methodology.  By this he meant moving from pushing information at our students to teaching them how and where to pull it for themselves.  Reflect on this idea.  What excites you about this thought?  What do you see as the biggest benefit to students both now while they are still in school and in the future when they enter the job market?  What do you see as the biggest challenges for education as a whole?  for yourself in your own classroom?  Share you thoughts with your ebuddy. Don't forget to send a copy of your ejournal to your ejournal coordinator.

Ejournal #1-  Did you complete the activity that you said that you would complete in your letter of intended practice that you filled out at training? Tell your Ebuddy about what you decided to do.  Was it successful?  What challenges did you face?  Were they different than the challenges you had predicted you would face? What surprised you? What are your plans now?