JoelleGrimsley

**​My name is Joelle Grimsley and I have been a Preschool Intervention Specialist with Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools for 10 years! I have been married to my wonderful husband, Lance, for 6.5 years. We are blessed with 2 wonderful children, Sebastian (4.5years old) and Olivia (14 months old). **

Email: st_grimsley@smfcsd.org** [|Visit Stow-Munroe Falls City School District Website] **

__My favorite personal/professional use of technology:__
I LOVE to take digital photographs of my own children and my students. For personal use I enjoy creating scrapbooks and making cards and gifts for family members and friends. In my classroom like to use digital photographs to document our year as well as create fun and interesting classroom projects. Both personally and professionally I like to use e-mail to communicate. My wonderful husband is very technological and can help me when I get stuck. __The most frustrating aspect of using "technology":__ I wish I had more time to create all the great projects that I know I could with my students! I also never seem to have time anymore to work on my scrapbooks.


 * __Vision Statement__:** I envision my classroom as a place where the children have access to different types of technology and where I incorporate more technology into daily lessons and activities. One of my biggest goals this year is to create a video to broadcast at our end of the year program using photographs from all 3 of our preschool classrooms.

I have started using a listening center that was purchased for my classroom with my higher functioning class. They have been using CDs and follow along in books and with flashcards that correspond with our letter of the week. I have been trying to take lots of digital photos for the children - we have a bulletin board that is pictures of them from pajama day, and we have made several books together. I sent the digital camera home with my aide this weekend because her husband is a vet and is going to take authentic pictures at work for us to put in our dramatic play area which is a vet's office. The flip camera has been used for documentation. I have a student with Autism who is making extraordinary social gains and I have been able to document them and share them with his family. The computers in my classroom were replaced with laptops with internet access and the students have really been enjoying working through sites like nick jr. and pbs kids together. They seem to enjoy this a lot more then the CD-Roms we had been using on the desktops.
 * __How are you currently engaging students through the use of technology?__**

__**Networking Session 02-05-10**__ Questions: 1. I have been continuing with the same type of things that I started before last session. I was able to use the flip video for great documentation of students engaging with each other. With the digital camera the kids have been begging for new books about themselves so since last class my student teacher has created a book similar to Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by taking pictures of the children whispering into one another's ears and adding story text. I am in the process this week of creating a Valentine's Day book where I took pictures of the kids handing a heart to another student and then adding the text to the pages asking them to be their Valentine. My afternoon class is really into the listening center and new laptop computers. Here are pictures of the students engaged in those activities... 2. There were so many to go through! I really enjoyed exploring some of them with my own preschooler at home. At school I was able to go through many of them and either bookmarked them for later printing/creation later. Some of them I was able to print off and am in the process of putting together some of the adapted books, and pre-made Boardmaker boards that I found. A few of the sites actually had story boards or adapted stories that go with books I was planning on using in my classroom which I was really excited about. I think that the stories I read become more powerful to the students when they have something tangible to connect with the story. Attaching story props/Boardmaker symbols to a felt board with Velcro gives me an opportunity to see the children become more engaged, assess for comprehension (when they have to listen for the picture they are holding in the story), and keep the attention of my less attentive students. I am lucky enough to have access to a color printer and laminator in my building. I have a student teacher right now and I have been helping her create some materials as well. Here are a couple of pictures of her using some of the downloaded images with my students...

=**03-26-2010**=

__Book Study Reflection Questions - Chapter 2__ 1. What were the big ideas presented in chapter 2? 2. What were 1-2 strategies that everyone should be aware of from chapter 2?
 * demonstrating and presenting ideas and conclusions
 * use photographs to demonstrate conclusions
 * use photographs in charts
 * create field guides
 * allow the children to take photographs
 * focus on one conclusion at at time

__Action Plan Reflection__ 1. How far have I come? Where have I made progress? 2. Am I challenging myself to learn about technologies that are outside my comfort zone? 3. What has been successful? 4. As I reflect on my practices using technology I realize I need to... 5. My goals for the next year are...
 * This class has motivated me to do more than I have done in the past with technology. I have really enjoyed seeing the students get into the projects and then just spontaneously asking me to take pictures of something that they have done. I notice that I tend to think more along the lines of technology when I am planning a lesson, like how I can make it more meaningful for the students by using photographs and/or picture symbols.
 * To an extent. I am very comfortable using the digital camera and flip video. I am still working through editing and organizing.
 * I feel that all the projects I have done have been successful. I have to admit that I have not let the students take the pictures yet but I am working on my comfort level with that!
 * clone myself so I have more time to do things! Ha!Ha!
 * let my students be more in charge of the technology uses...i.e. I pick the websites, I set up the listening center, I tell them what we are taking pictures of.
 * think about how technology will be incorporated into the lesson before the lesson is taught.
 * finding more ways to use digital photographs in a home/school connection.
 * trusting the students more with expensive technology
 * displaying more photographic descriptions of lessons
 * using parent volunteers more to help me with the digital projects I don't seem to have time to do

=04-23-10= =Final Project= Using Technology To Document Student Learning Joelle Grimsley Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools

My Action Plan for Making Meaningful Connections Through Technology: Incorporate more technology into lessons and daily activities.

In my classroom I have made the following changes this year: Mercury PowerLink BookWorm All-Turn-It Spinner Talking Symbols Notepad Stepper
 * Set up a listening center
 * Replaced outdated desktop computers with wireless internet laptops & used laptops to enhance group lessons
 * Incorporated more BoardMaker symbols and digital photographs into play areas
 * Utilized more assistive technology devices for non-verbal students

This year I have expanded my ability to use technology to document student learning. When planning curriclum based lessons I was able to expand my thinking as to how I could use technology to document what the student’s have learned.

I had a lot of success with the following lessons:
 * SNOW
 * The Celery Experiment
 * Ocean Waves (oil/water mix)
 * I Can Build
 * Milking a Cow
 * How Many Blocks Tall Are You