School+Visit+-++Birmingham

Observation of Birmingham Covington School Investigating the Implementation of Technology Observation January 24, 2008 Mr. Farris, Music Teacher, Oak Grove School

Birmingham Covington School is located in Birmingham, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Matthews requested I observe this particular school because it is in the district she recently left to join the Oak Grove School District. Birmingham Covington School is a ‘school of choice’ whose emphasis is on Technology and Science serving grades 3-8. Although the school utilizes a wide variety of technological equipment, the tools are not necessarily the highest caliber products you would expect at a school emphasizing technology and science. There is however an ample supply of resources for classrooms and students to use. The school’s vision implements the use of technological tools, and resources in every aspect of the curriculum. Nearly every assignment requires the students to use some form of electronic media. After spending the day with the leaders of the school’s Technology Team, I gathered the following notes on the Birmingham Covington Schools’ use of technology:

➢ Technological Tools Available for Classrooms & Students: - Wall Projector Display: 1 mounted in every classroom. - 11 Computer Carts: 1 shared between every two rooms. - 2:1 Student to Computer ratio. - 2 Computer Labs: Approximately 30 computers per lab. - Flip Cameras: Allows 30-60 minutes of recording on hard drive, and only $100-200 each camera (great value). - Promethean Boards: Similar to Smart board technologies, or touch activated white boards. - Aver Vision Document Cameras: Used to project live images without needing to make overhead copies. - Every student has their own set of headphones at school, preventing the spread of head lice.

➢ Technological Resources Implemented in Classrooms: - Teachertube.com: Similar to You Tube.com, but appropriate for students and use in schools. - Learnerblogs.com: A place for students to learn how to create web-logs, or blogs. - Storycenter.org: A website for digital storytelling. - G-cast.com: Podcast software allowing students to use phone to record podcast. • Podcasts/Videocasts created by both students, and by teachers. Teachers post Podcasts of lessons for studying purposes and absent students. - ALEKS: ALEKS is a web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. - United Streaming: Movies for teachers to use in class. District provides an account. - Audacity: A music recording program, which Oak Grove currently implements.