Screen Shot

Pardon my absence - I have been repairing computers. Take a look at my work......

 

Santa came early and brought me a box of laptop screens and bubble wrap. :)

 

 

Here is one broken screen. I have heard it all from "It was broken when I resisted arrest." to "I just opened it up and it was like that."

 

Remove the bezel. Unscrew the four tiny screws that hold the screen in place.

 

Ruin your manicure by peeling up the blue sticker that holds the pin plug in place.

 

 

New screen with protective screen plastic. Now we work backwards, unwrap, plug in pin plug, re-stick the blue sticker and replace the four tiny screws.

 

One of the tiny screws.

 

 

Power it up and make sure it works. If it doesn't work, remove the screws and check the plug.

 

Replace bezel. Ta Da!!!!

Charge!!!

Well, approximately 800 laptops have been issued to students. Of course, one of the first questions asked was “Where and how are we going to charge all of these laptops?” Teachers were issued two multi-plug surge-protected power strip extension cords. This would allow half of the class to charge for half of the class period and the other half to charge their laptops the second half of the class period. In addition to that we added charging stations in the cafeteria. Now, these are not fancy stations like you would find in an airport. These charging stations were created with the same power strip extension cords that teachers were issued, two long tables, and a plethora of zip-ties.

Kickoff!!

I am not a football fan so, the title of this week's post should get me an extra point. Maybe it could be considered a field goal?! Last week was the kickoff of the 1:1 Laptop Initiative at DRFS. It was a great week. I even got to teach Digital Citizenship to some of my former students. So, here is a recap of the week’s lesson.

Digital Citizenship is how we relate to others online. It is what we do with digital media. Digital media is electronic devices and media platforms such as computers, cell phones, video, the Internet, and video games that allow users to create, communicate, and interact with one another or with the device or application itself.

We discovered that we can be both digital consumers AND producers. We also learned that digital responsibilities belong to everyone.

The lesson ended with students writing a simile. One student went beyond the simile and wrote a brief response to the lesson.

               My digital life is like a river. It flows constantly because I move from one subject to the next. It could be games, videos, text messages or phone calls. But I believe that my digital life is controlled. It does not interfere with my real life. It has never interfered with school nor has it taken time away from my family. I control my digital life, I don’t let it control me.

---- Michael Nicholl

 

For more information and lessons about Digital Citizenship check out Common Sense Media.

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/scope-and-sequence

 

--- IT Girl

New Year = New Project

Welcome back!!!!! Hopefully everyone had a restful summer vacation and is ready to hit the ground running. While you were away this summer the Technology Department was hard at work. We built a wireless network at Del Rio Freshman and Del Rio High School. We purchased laptop computers for every teacher and student at Del Rio Freshman.

Looks like Christmas came early.



One Pallet = 120 laptops

 












We even created a brand new department - the Instructional Technology Department. (I can officially say "we" now as my department of one has grown into a department of TWO.) And this is our blog.

Since you're here, let me walk you through the rest of our site.  Hopefully you found us by visiting www.sfdr-cisd.org and clicking on the Instructional Technology Link under the Instruction Tab.

Training Links - you will be able to see any available training that we either subscribe to or that are available free of charge. (This is a great way to not only increase your instructional technology knowledge but to get valuable professional development.)

Teaching Resources - you will find a variety of instructional websites for you to use with your students or for your students to use for reinforcement of concepts, homework help, study aides or maybe even educational fun. (sshhh!!! That last one is a secret.)

Web 2.0 Tools - This is my favorite link. These are all free tools that will allow you and your students to create content about what you are teaching and what they are learning.

Instructional Technology Blog - Yup, you're reading it! :)

Help and FAQ's - a list of documents about training topics or one page Tech Tip cheat sheets or anything else you may need to help you learn something new.

Students and Parents - this link mirrors the Teaching Resources link. I would like to add a section of fun review sites. So feel free to send those links in.

Thanks for reading our blog. We will be back with a new installment of our adventure next week.

Until next time,

IT Girl and Gigabyte (Gigi)

(I felt like we needed superhero names..........perhaps next week I will explain why.)