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Past Issues

Issue #13-December 2005

  1. A Note from the Founder and President of My eCoach, Barbara Bray
  2. Team Spotlight – The Washington State Technology for Learning Disabilities (TLD) Project
  3. Featured Project
  4. Featured Resources and Products
  5. What's New at My eCoach and Upcoming Events
  6. Grants and Contests

1. A Note from the Founder and President of My eCoach, Barbara Bray

We wish you a very happy and safe holiday! One of the reasons we created My eCoach Online is for you to be able to join our learning community from anywhere at anytime: even on a freezing, rainy or snowy day. In fact, I'm writing this message in front of a roaring fire late on a stormy night! Holidays are for family and friends but don't forget that you are part of a growing and vital community.

With that said, enjoy your break and perhaps sip some hot apple cider while logging into My eCoach Online and see what's happening from your team and others in the community. Submit some of your favorite pictures or websites to the eLibrary, create a project you can use with your students in January, or write a blog and posts with our easy wizard. The more you share the more the community benefits.

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2. Team Spotlight – The Washington State Technology for Learning Disabilities (TLD) Project

Written by eCoach Jill Hallows
The WA State Technology for Learning Disabilities (TLD) project (part of the Federal Enhancing Education Through Technology Grant) provides technology, professional development, and strategies to assist teachers in integrating technology into their instruction for learning disabled students. My eCoach is used to deliver ongoing technology tasks for teachers to complete as they learn to integrate equipment they received in the grant into their teaching. My eCoach is also used to collect feedback on their experiences. This guides the direction of ongoing professional development delivered throughout the duration of the project.

My eCoach has given the TLD project a "pulse" and is in constant use, changing all the time. We are so excited about this feeling of new life. In addition, My eCoach has made the overall management of the grant project much easier. The items below will give you an idea of how it helps us:

  1. At the beginning of each month I (project administrator) create a course where I assign specific technology integration and other project related "tasks" to teachers participating in the grant.
  2. At the end of each month teachers give a report on assigned items in an ILP (Individual Learning Profile) along with a description of how it went as they incorporated the assigned tasks into their teaching. The ILP then becomes a living, progressive, professional development portfolio for both the teacher and their eCoach.
  3. The grant project evaluator (RMC Research, Inc. in Portland) also has access to these portfolios so she can collect data and document teacher growth.
  4. Teachers use eCoach email, the Discussion Board and Post a Resource to share ideas and information as they go along.
  5. When teachers share technology integration ideas with one another, they suddenly see the need for sharing their lessons via the Lesson Builders in My eCoach Online.
  6. Because we are using new reading/writing/study software with students (TextHelp Read & Write Gold), support personnel at TextHelp Systems are part of our eCoach team. They monitor the discussion board where Q&As are posted when teachers have questions or technical issues.

Thanks to my eCoach, David Tucker, we are still discovering exciting new ways to use this program and look forward to hearing what others are doing.

TLD Project Website

More My eCoach Team News

Congratulations to My eCoach Members Héctor Pérez, Jackie Lee, and Alice Packard of the Earn While You Learn Fellows Program Team who recently won Rampus-KCI Innovation Awards. The seventh annual Innovation Award recognition dinner honored local educators with exemplary technology programs or projects that benefit the Silicon Valley educational community:

  • First Place: Héctor Pérez, of Mountain View High School, Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District
  • Honorable Mention Awards: Jackie Lee and Alice Packard from El Toro Elementary School, Morgan Hill School District

Find the winning projects on the new KCI website.

If you would like to share some news about your program, email Leilani.

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3. Featured Project: Fourth Grade Bridge Systems, Graphs, and Place Value – Mike Meade: Newport, WA

Essential Question: How can I use my problem solving, group work, math and information gathering skills to build a great bridge?

Summary: This is a fourth grade integrated math, science and technology project where students understand bridge systems through research and hands-on projects. Find step-by-step lessons in the Teacher Guide along with handouts, research links, assessments, and a Student Guide.

Check it out at:
Teacher Guide
Student Page

Would you like us to add your project to our eLibrary and be considered as a featured project? Follow these steps:

  1. Use the appropriate builder checklist to ensure that all components are in place. To download the checklist, go to the Builders section in My eCoach Online and click on “Download Handouts” under the WRL, Activity, Custom, Inquiry, or UoP builders.
  2. If you have an eCoach, ask he or she to review your project or ask a peer to review your project.
  3. Email the URL of your project to Head eCoach Leilani at leilani@my-ecoach.com

4. Featured Resources and Products

Pearl Tong Collection: My eCoach staff member Pearl Tong recently submitted pictures from Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Check out her pictures of animals, city scenes, and other points of interest from her trip. Go to the eLibrary and type Pearl Tong in the Search box.

Holiday Resources and Projects – search through the Holidays and Events sub-directory in the eLibrary for clip art, pictures, and projects to use in the classroom.

The eLibrary provides free resources to anyone on the web. You can find copyright-friendly pictures, clip art, video and audio clips, handouts, web site links and book information. We need your help in keeping the eLibrary free. You can do this by purchasing a book from the eLibrary. Click on the Click here to purchase this book link to buy a book from Amazon.com. Thanks for your support!

Featured Products in the Store: Sara Zimmerman Art
Greeting cards and prints featuring nature inspired reproductions of original art by Sara Zimmerman. You can choose from 32 selections. Sara Zimmerman lives in Truckee, CA in the Sierra Nevada mountains with her husband, Rob, and two dogs

To submit a resource to the eLibrary, login to My eCoach Online, go to the eLibrary, then click the "Submit a Resource" link.

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5. What’s New at My eCoach and Upcoming Events

New Coaching Programs

Alameda, California
Support providers and new teachers from Alameda Unified School District Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program will be using My eCoach to improve teaching practice and build a professional learning community. The Alameda BTSA program will serve as a pilot for the East Bay Consortium of BTSA programs.

Cayman Islands
John Gray High School Technology Integration Project (Cayman Islands) will use My eCoach Online with John Shillito as the Head eCoach to support 6 eCoaches representing all departments. The eCoaches will develop at least 10 technology-rich lesson plans between January and June 2006. John is working with his eCoaches and the My eCoach staff to input Cayman Islands standards, develop a skills profile for the eCoaches, and create an evaluation criteria to provide feedback on the efficacy of the program as a pilot for all of the teachers in the school and possibly for other coaching programs in the Cayman Islands.

Oakland, California
The Oakland Unified School District Urban Math Project will begin using My eCoach Online to support math teachers from four of the district’s middle schools in most need. Up to 3 eCoaches will work with the teachers combining face-to-face and online coaching through after school workshops and virtual collaboration and communication.

Educational Service District 105 Washington
Educational Service District 105 is using My eCoach Online to build a professional learning community supporting 35 math teachers across several districts in South Central Washington. Math Integration Specialists Catherine Ball and Laurel Carpino are the eCoaches who will help the teachers on enhancing research-based mathematics instruction through the integration of technology as part of the NO LIMIT! (New Outcomes: Learning Improvement in Mathematics Integrating Technology) program in Washington State.

New Features in My eCoach Online

Improved Individual Learning Plan

  • customize Individual Learning Plans (ILP) in My eCoach Online to track and monitor professional development
  • customize top and side labels in ILP
  • give each of your ILPs a name
  • provide a place for eCoaches to comment on your ILP
  • create a reflection blog to the ILP as a way of journaling/writing notes about their progress and as another way for receiving supportive feedback from their eCoach
  • export their ILP to a printer-friendly version in .rtf format

Enhanced Team Discussion Board

  • sort topics and posts by topic, author, date posted and last activity
  • view number of replies to each post
  • hide, show, and thread all posts
  • ability for authors to edit or delete posts and replies

Message Center

  • bcc and cc email features available when sending My eCoach Message Center mail
  • option to receive email notification to your normal email account for mail sent through the Message Center (select this option in your profile)

Recently Added Standards Sets

  • Arizona Academic Standards
  • National Performance Music Standards
  • National Staff Development Council Standards
  • North Carolina Standards
  • Wisconsin Professional Teaching Standards

Standard Sets in Progress: Cayman Island Standards, Minnesota Academic Content Standards, Oregon Content Standards

Professional Learning Communities Standards: We have drafted Professional Learning Communities Standards that will help our members create successful learning communities. We want our members and friends to be a part of the process in establishing and approving these standards so please provide us with feedback by emailing Barbara or if you are a member, reply to Barbara’s Professional Learning Communities blog.

Upcoming Events

(CAIS) California Association of Independent Schools - Menlo Park, CA January 23, 2006
Online Professional Learning Communities Workshop
Barbara Bray will present an all day hands-on workshop for K-12 teachers at the CAIS Technology Professional Development Day conference. As members of My eCoach Online, participants will create a hotlist of websites and collaborate with another teacher to publish their curriculum online. Participants will receive an account as part of the workshop.

Register today at www.caisca.org. Cost: $20 also covers light lunch. For program information, contact Anne Marie Schar (650) 321-1991 x124, or annemarie@mid-pen.com

East Bay CUE (Computer Using Educators) presents Cool Tools for Learning II – Alameda COE, Hayward, CA January 21
Barbara will be presenting her nationally recognized Into, Through, and Beyond workshop. This 3 hour morning workshop has participants creating activities that extend the curriculum while meeting the standards. In the afternoon, Barbara will present the Coolest Tips and Tricks session showing new resources and ideas. Cost: $40 for members - $70 for non-members. Register online at www.ebcue.org.

NCCE (National Council for Computer Educator Conference) – Portland, OR February 7-10
My eCoach will be at the NCCE conference in full swing. If you would like to schedule a meeting with Barbara Bray at the conference, please contact Leilani.

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6. Grants, Contests, and Fundraising

Check the updated WRL for new grants and contests for teachers and schools.

Please let Barbara know about any upcoming funding opportunities so she can add them to this WRL. We also can work with you if you plan to pursue any grant and want to include My eCoach.

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