Daily+Blog

January 11, 2010 I began my Practicum officially by meeting in Franklinville at 3:00 pm with Mrs. Jessica Schirrmacher-Smith, Special Education Director at Franklinville Central School who is my site supervisor for this practicum and my St. Bonaventure University Supervisor, Dr. Greg K. Gibbs, Ph.D. We went over the details of the practicum and who is responsible for what. I'm quite excited at this stage and eager to learn more. I'm working at home right now reading some blogs that I've been following and listening to a video from the University of California at Davis Mind Institute.

January 15, 2010 I accompanied a team of administrators from Franklinville Central School to the HodgsonRuss Conference at the Millenium Hotel, Cheektowaga, New York. While at the conference I attended a session on how to best frame and prosecute a 3020-a hearing, Special Education developments in school law cases from around the nation that have happened in the last year. I attended a session on best practices to develop a policy to protect schools and teachers in a digital age from the dangers of the disclosure of information on social networks. I also attended a round table discussion of issues related to special education and the law. Since Wednesday January 14th I have begun a series of updates to the special education section of the Franklinville Central School website.

January 18, 2010 I spent an hour reading tonight about Part 200 and Part 201 Special Education regulations. They are a bit dry but provide me with a better understanding of the complexity of the landscape. I'm really struck by the tremendous responsibility that Jessica and othe Special Education Directors must face trying to identify which students are in need of 504 and I.D.E.A services when they move into a district like Franklinville with its highly transient population. It's a daunting task. I wonder how much cooperation exists between County, Town and Village governments and schools. I also spent sometime tonight writing an email to Jessica asking if I could go ahead and contact special education teachers to begin the process of identifying a scope for an assistive technology component to the school district technology plan. I also signed up for EDL 620 at St. Bonaventure University today. It's entitled the Superintendency and will be taught by Dr. Robert Olczak. I'm also looking at how I might incorporate aspects of School and Community relations with my practicum.

January 19, 2010 - I worked on a couple more pages on the Special Education website. I updated and improved the Introduction to Kurzweil 11 and How to Study using Highlighters in Kurzweil 11. Both pages are now active on the site. I also met for about a half an hour with School District Business Official Jeremiah Kane to determine how we can finish the budget section of the school district technology plan. I also spent sometime corresponding with Jill Holbrook of the Western New York Regional Information Center (WNYRIC) about a possible pilot of Stoneware. Stoneware is a private cloud solution that would enable students and teachers to have the same desktop applications at school and at home. This would be good for special education students looking to utilize Kurzweil at home and it would level the playing field for all of our students and decrease the digital divide. I finished the day reading HodgsonRuss Part 200 and 201. I have about one-hundred pages left to read in that book. I'm gaining ground and conceptual familiarity with terms and procedures in Special Education Administration.

January 20 & 21, 2010 -- I worked on some more pages with the Special Education site. I met briefly with Jessica after the school day to show her my Practicum log. She asked me to return on Monday to discuss it in more detail. We discussed the website and her likes and dislikes and constructive critique of what I have done so far. I spent part of the 21st working on the E-rate technology budget and spent some time on the phone with Jeremiah Kane, school business official, and we worked on E-Rate Form 471. I called Tom Potter at CA BOCES to obtain budget numbers for three technology COSERs that Franklinville is involved with to add this to the technology budget that is a part of the E-Rate Technology plan.

January 23 & 24, 2010 -- I learned from my wife that "The curious incident of a dog in the night time," is a good book to read in trying to get a better understanding of Asperger Syndrome. I also learned that their in a new movied, Adam which is about an young man with Asperger's. I plan to go to the theater to see it soon. I also experimented with using embedded audio/podcast on the special education "Overview Page." I'll review this with Jessica to get her sense of this approach.

January 27, 2010 -- I've been working on website materials and gaining familiarity with Bookshare on the desktop. I wrote Michelle Okal at WNYRIC about whether SONY E-Readers could be "talk" text back to students. They will not. I spend an hour and a half preparing to meet with the special education teachers and then an hour at their meeting. Jessica spoke first about special education issues, and distributed some books written by Brenda Smith Myles. I hope to read them along with the materials I'm developing. I didn't think I did a great job of running the first meeting with the special ed. teachers. I wasn't as clear as I could be but I did tell them that I was their servant and would do whatever I could to make sure that the assistive technology piece gets written in the technology plan.

I attended the Technology Coordinator's meeting at Moonwinks on January 28 and represented the Franklinville Central School there.

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January 31, 2010 -- I spent a great deal of time reading and researching for ideas to get the assistive technology planning committee going a bit further and I found a motherlode of information in the process and found websites like http://www.cast.org and read about NIMAS and NIMAC. Today was very productive in that sense. I'm still struggling to find an "online" report generator for Google Docs. I tallied my hours for the month of January which began officially on January 11, but I didn't start amassing hours until about January 13. In 18 days I have 48.25 hours. I'm very pleased with that. I'll get in a great deal more time this week.

I finally figured out how to best report my hours that come from Google Docs Spreadsheet and that is to use OpenOffice Writer in conjunction with the spreadsheet merged to the word processor for a print out in either a paper of PDF document. Cool beans!

February 2, 2010 -- I met with District Superintendent, Michelle Spasiano to discuss my upcoming Board of Education Presentation and she liked it generally and offered a couple of constructive additions which I added and now I am nearly ready to present this to the Board of Education at their annual retreat on Friday, February 5, 2010. Here are the slides for the presentation I will deliver on Friday.media type="custom" key="5281021"

February 4, 2010 -- I spent some time tonight rehearsing my presentation for tomorrow's Board of Education Meeting and I also spent a bit over an hour learning more about Bookshare.org and Read Aloud software. I cannot get over what an incredible resource this is for students with print disabilities. I need to spend more time explaining this to teachers. This is exciting stuff. I also want to set up a meeting next week for teachers to brainstorm ideas for an Assistive Technology vision.

I met with the Assistive Technology Planning group in Jessica's office on Thursday, Feburary 11, 2010 and we did agree on a vision and a couple of goals statements. Here is a link to the Vision statement along with a graphic I designed. I have done a tremendous amount of work on the Franklinville School District Special Education Section of the website. [|Here is a link to the site].

Met with Dr. Gibbs and Jessica on Tuesday, February, 15, 2010 to discuss the progress of my practicum experience. I presented them with a narrative of everything I have learned up to this point along with the materials developed which include this website and the the FCSSpecial Ed site I have developed for the process of defining an Assistive Technology Plan. I met with Franklinville Superintendent Michelle Spasiano on Wednesday, February 16, 2010 to review a possible public relations piece which will work towards course requirements in EDL 522 but also allow me to gain some practicum experience too. I really enjoyed our meeting and I came away with a workable focus on the project which will be a public relations piece to elevate the school in the community. I will be developing a website that will highlight achievements of Franklinville graduates and tie their stories to the integral role Franklinville Central School played in their development and their success today with the hope that today's students will make a connection to these stories. Also I will develop some material to promote both the website and the program. In that vein I have contacted Franklinville alumni, John Moriarty and Devin Watkins who have graciously agreed to help. I spent sometime on Thursday February 17 and Friday February 18 working on completing the Franklinville School District technology plan which must be filed with the WNYRIC (Erie 1 BOCES) by March 1, 2010.

February 22, 2010 -- I worked for two hours writing, researching the Franklinville Central School Report Card data on the New York State Education Department web site to determine the number of free and reduced lunches and other demographic data to be included in the school district technology plan. Then I added an assistive technology section to the technology plan and wrote a goal and action items.

February 23, 2010 --- Preparing lesson plans for my regular education classes and actually looking for a Twitter connection to Google's Sketchup software I came upon a link that is really yielding very positive results for Autism and Spectrum disorders. Google Sketchup is being used by students on the spectrum and here is the link to more information, http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dcdkdbkp_0c88w7ndd. Also, I had two requests from Jennifer Mest and Michelle Shoemaker to enroll them in Bookshare and install the software on their computers.

February 25, 2010 - Attended the Cattaraugus Allegany BOCES technology coordinator and integrator dinner at Moonwinks Restaraunt in Cuba, New York. We heard a teleconference on "one-to-one" computing by Dr. Peter Reilly. We also heard a presentation on scientific probes for the classroom and a presentation by Michelle Okal and Carmelita Bientek about how students at nearby Scio Central School are using iPods in the classroom. We also heard a presentation by Laurie MacVittie and Betsy Hardy on work being done at the media center at Cattaraugus-Allegany BOCES and also a presentation on e-learning resources including Moodle at CA BOCES. This is video from that meeting.

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March 1, 2010 - Called Dr. Teh Yuan-Wan, Director of Technology, New York State Education Department, Albany, New York to get more information about how to fill out and apply for EETT Grant for our special education students. I told Dr. Yuan-Wan that I was an administrative intern and that I was trying to fill out the necessary paperwork to qualify for the grant. Dr. Yuan-Wan reviewed our school district paperwork and determined that we do not have enough children living in poverty to qualify and recommended that we contact or local LEA which is Cattaraugus-Allegany BOCES in order to make our application with them instead of going it alone. I will email these findings to Jessica and continue to pursue other funding opportunities.

March 8, 2010 -- Created a book study section of the school district Moodle site at http://www.franklinville.wnyric.org/moodle. The purpose of the book study is to facilitate a discussion among special education teachers about Brian Mendler's book, "Tips for Teachers." I decided on a topical format for the Moodle and created a forum for each topic along with a podcast of that particular topic. I identified 3 teachers and Jessica and created logins for them and sent them a link to the Moodle along with their login.

March 9, 2010 -- I met with Mrs. Jennifer Cappelletti, elementary principal at Franklinville Central School to discuss concerns she had about academic computing in the Waterford computer lab in particular. Our discussion covered many topics including the possibility of virtualizing Waterford and/or providing to our students by way of Stoneware (a private cloud) that we will pilot later this spring. We also discussed the possibility of setting up training for teachers in grades K-3 for Waterford. I also met with High School Principal, Mr. Thomas Kopp, to decide which grade levels in the high school would participate in the Stoneware pilot. We reached consensus on Mr. Derek Schunke's classes.

I also emailed Mr. Mansel Wells of the WNYRIC to determine when the Waterford staff development could occur and at what cost. I called Jeffrey Labenne of the WNYRIC to determine if we could install Waterford on Windows terminal server 2008 which has recently been installed. Jeff will install the software on Thursday and we will pilot that too.

March 10, 2010 -- I spent a little over an hour preparing a spreadsheet for tomorrow's meeting with Business Manager, Jeremiah Kane and Superintendent Michelle Spasiano to discuss next year's budget. I collaborated with Messrs. Robert Morgan and Bryan Spencer and called Mrs. Julie Cassada from the Western New York Regional Information Center to get firm budget numbers on New York State Agg buy computers from Dell.

March 10, 2010 -- I spent part of today brokering an arrangement for the movement of the school district's lone polycom cart which is currently being used for instruction in the high school to the elementary school for a virtual field trip next week. I was able to get all parties in both classrooms and administration to agree on the strategy I proposed which leverages the cart to its maximum, disrupts the educational process the least and minimizes the amount of work required of our maintenance staff while they face the rigor of our ongoing building project.

March 11, 2010 --- I joined the members of the Technology department in a 2.5 hour budget conference with school district business official, Mr. Jeremiah Kane and our school superintendent, Mrs. Michelle Spasiano to discuss our proposed budget for replacement hardware and software. A lengthy yet productive discussion ensued and in addition to that Mrs. Spasiano asked for our input on an improved system of public relations which might include the use of social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin along with the broadcast of special school district events using UStream.tv.

March 15, 2010 -- Read most of "The Dark Side of Educational Leadership." Very discouraging book but glad to have the opportunity to read it as the embrace of the "dark side" is necessary to successful leadership. Met with Michelle Shoemaker to discuss a problem she is having with one of her students being able to log into Bookshare. I contacted Bookshare and received a case number. I will followup with them. I also designed and implemented a web page for the Special Education site that announces our participation in the Special Education Quality Review that is being conducted this week at Franklinville Central School.

March 17, 2010 -- Conferenced with Curriculum Director, Mrs. Katie McFarland, who came to me to better coordinate the setup of fifty notebook computers, projectors and three computer labs for an all day staff development session planned for March 22, 2010 at our school. We brainstormed with Mr. Robert Morgan and Mr. Bryan Spencer finally deciding to change a couple of venues for the training that will be held on Monday.

March 18, 2010 -- Attended Google Sketchup Training at Southern Tier West, presented by Cattaraugus Allegany BOCES and featuring Ms. Bonnie Roskes. I wanted to learn more about Google Sketchup and specifically how it could be used with students on the spectrum. I learned so much in six hours of training that I am still absorbing the implications both for special and regular education student populations.

March 19, 2010 -- Another mini-conference with Katie McFarland via phone and in person to decided what our needs were going to be for Monday's Superintendent's Day staff development. I also spent much of the day involved in the SEQA Special Education Focused Review of Transition programming at Franklinville Central School working closely with Jessica Schirrmacher-Smith, the NYSED representative and Special Education Teacher, Ms. Amanda Sutz. This was very valuable as I gained more insight into IEP creation and finding information on IEPs to complete the focused review. We also made plans for visiting the classrooms of the two students that I will be charged with reviewing.

March 20, 2010 -- Traveled to the Cattaraugus - Allegany Legislative Breakfast at Salamanca Middle and High School for a breakfast session where we had a chance to meet NYS State Senator Catherine Young and Assemblyman Joe Giglio and hear their side of the budget situation in New York State that will effect this year's education budgets. I also stopped at Wal-Mart in Olean to purchase some extra extension cords that we will need for Monday's training.

March 22, 2010 -- Arrived at work at 6:40am in preparation for today's staff development. Working together with Curriculum Director, Katie McFarland, Mr. Robert Morgan, and Mr. Bryan Spencer we setup fifty laptops in the elementary cafeteria, deployed a projector and multimedia sound system to support our presenter, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. I also setup the Polycom cart for a presentation on virtual field trips and insured that all presenters had all the materials and support they needed. After the setup I stayed close to teachers and offered on the spot support as they learned to use Twitter, Google Reader and other Web 2.0 tools. We tore everything down at the end of the presentation and stowed all gear properly. I was also invited to sit in with Mrs. Spasiano, and the other administrators for a wrap up discussion of the presentations.

March 23, 2010 -- I attended special Autism Training session at the Cattaraugus Allegany BOCES Center in Olean. This was extremely useful and full of great information. I also obtained a NYSED certificate for training which will become part of my file.

March 24, 2010 -- Insured that distance learning cart was returned and properly connected in high school and then insured that Mrs. Jern, the classroom aide was aware that the Polycom cart was back in Rm. 318 for online instruction. Met briefly with Mrs. Michelle Shoemaker about Jack Bushnell's permission form for Bookshare.org. Made a copy of the form for Mrs. Shoemaker. I helped Ms. Kim Whitling design and send an electronic form using Google Docs to assess Monday's staff development day. Ms. Whitling was very happy and thanked me profusely. I also designed a form for Elementary Principal Jen Cappelletti that she could send to teachers to collect RTI data.

March 25, 2010 -- Received an email from Julie Cassada of the Western New York Regional Information Center concerning training for micro-computer technical support specialist, Robert Morgan at Niagara Wheatfield Central School District. I met with Mrs. Spasiano and we agreed to delay the reponse to BOCES until we could learn more of our financial commitment in the process. Later in the day I received an email from Elementary Principal Jennifer Cappelletti requesting help in coordinating a family movie night in the elementary school on Friday, March 27, 2010.

March 26, 2010 -- Met with Michelle Spasiano, Jeremiah Kane, Diane Soulvie, Robert Morgan about our technology spending plan for the 2010-2011 school year. Our meeting covered many topics including network wiring and server purchases and resulted in some positive accomplishments for the technology department.

March 29, 2010 -- I wrote an article for inclusion in the school district newsletter that highlights the new section of the school website called "Franklinville Chooses Success." Later in the day I received an email and then a call from Senior LAN Specialist with the WNYRIC, Jeff LaBenne regarding new content filtering software that we can implement on our LAN to give teachers more access to certain kinds of websites for instruction. I decide to put off deploying the software until speaking with District Superintendent, Michelle Spasiano.

March 31, 2010 -- Received an email from Mrs. Spasiano regarding the use of Rosetta Stone software with LOTE students. I called the company and I am awaiting word from their New York State sales representative. Mrs. Spasiano would like to purchase 3 copies of the software.

March 31, 2010 -- Received a great email from Adriane Spencer, St. Bonaventure Disability Support Coordinator that gave me three new links to websites that will aid us at Franklinville supporting the transition goals of Franklinville students. I also added a page along with the links to the school district website.

April 7, 2010 -- Mrs. Spasiano met me in the high school hall and asked if I could write an article about cloud computing for the school newsletter with a graphic. I completed the article and the graphic and gave it to her. She was delighted with my article and quick turn around time to produce an article.

April 12, 2010 -- I talked with Michelle Shoemaker regarding her student assigned to Bookshare. I met the student and asked him whether he had installed the software at home. I created an email account for a student for Mrs. McColl so that the student can access Bookshare. (.5 hr.) Called Dominick Drumsta, CTE teacher at Ellicottville Center to arrange a meeting to evaluate assigned student for Focused review. I will go to BOCES North Center on Wednesday at 12:30 pm for evaluation. I emailed Dominick a copy of the evaluation form so that he can review it prior to my visit. (.5 hr.)