Impact Videos

The four Impact videos I watched were very interesting. I teach at an Impact school and was anxious to see what new information I could learn from watching these videos. The four videos I watched were:
What is an Impact School?
Collaboration Q & A
Impact Components
Technology Integration in Subjects

I found the video that explained what an Impact school is to be the most interesting. It helped me see what kinds of things are missing at my school and what things we are doing correctly. One component of an Impact school is to have a full time Media Coordinator and full time Technology Facilitator. We have a full time M.C. but we do not have a full time T.F. She is split between two different schools so we normally only get her for 2 or 3 days a week. Since she's not there most of the time, when she is there she needs to catch up on tech issues and prof development. She doesn't spend much time working with us except for major projects, and even then it is pretty limited.
I also learned what the three goals of Impact are: 1. It is to help teachers integrate technology into the classroom. 2. To help students become technology literate by the 8th grade. 3. It is to impact academic achievement.
I believe for the most part my school meets these three goals. Teachers have been given projectors and document cameras to use in their classrooms. The majority of teachers have been given ActivBoards. There is a lot of technology. Our math series even has Internet based lessons in it. My second grade team and I do a lot of different activities and projects with my students all year that teaches them how to use computers and other technology. I believe our students academic achievement is being impacted by all of the technology and projects that we are doing.

The most important part that was emphasized in all four videos was that without flexibility, change, and COLLABORATION, Impact would not be possible. These are definitely important aspects and without them make Impact very difficult to occur. I enjoyed learning the new things that I did.