Paula Brown has joined the chat.
Catherine Ritter has joined the chat.
Catherine Ritter[9:48:54 PM]: Hey are you here?
Paula Brown[9:49:00 PM]: yes im here
Catherine Ritter[9:49:06 PM]: Yipee!
Catherine Ritter[9:49:36 PM]: I have the clip of the lesson online and I need about 10 minutes to finish putting the mentee conference online.
Catherine Ritter[9:50:26 PM]: Yes, I'm going to place both of them on my website so that you can get to them tonight.
Paula Brown[9:50:45 PM]: what's your website - im at home not school so i don't have the link
Catherine Ritter[9:51:39 PM]: www.netxroad.com/mttc/lesson2.wmv
Paula Brown[9:52:03 PM]: okay - ill check back in in a bit?
Catherine Ritter[9:52:06 PM]: www.netxroad.com/mttc/mentoring2.wmv
Catherine Ritter[9:52:14 PM]: OK

Catherine Ritter[10:30:03 PM]: Do you have the links to the videos?
Paula Brown[10:30:06 PM]: yes
Paula Brown[10:30:12 PM]: its playing now
Catherine Ritter[10:33:50 PM]: Do I need to give you more feedback on your video conference with your mentee?
Paula Brown[10:34:08 PM]: That would probably be good
Catherine Ritter[10:34:45 PM]: OK, I'll look at it here while you are watching mine
Paula Brown[10:34:54 PM]: sounds good
Paula Brown[10:47:37 PM]: im back - whenever you are ready
Catherine Ritter[10:48:39 PM]: Ok, the data gathering portion- do we just need to email that to each other or do it now as part of the post conference.
Paula Brown[10:49:03 PM]: whichever way is fine
Catherine Ritter[10:49:53 PM]: Ok, let's do it now.
Catherine Ritter[10:50:16 PM]: Want me to start with what I observed?
Paula Brown[10:50:21 PM]: sure
Catherine Ritter[10:50:52 PM]: Paula, great job asking questions of your mentee. I could see that you had well thought out questions. Your coaching session went well, your mentee had obviously been thinking about the lesson and ways that she could involve the students.
Paula Brown[10:51:18 PM]: yes she is on the ball
Catherine Ritter[10:51:41 PM]: You asked me to look for ways that you could improve your questioning.
Paula Brown[10:51:47 PM]: yes
Catherine Ritter[10:51:56 PM]: The only suggestion that I had was to relax. : )
Catherine Ritter[10:52:51 PM]: You had obviously thought about possible questions and your mentee was very up on her lesson.
Paula Brown[10:53:04 PM]: Yes she was excited
Catherine Ritter[10:54:12 PM]: It is wonderful to see teachers enthusiastic about using technology to enhance their lessons.
Catherine Ritter[10:54:21 PM]: Once they have completed the lesson they are so excited about how enthusiastic the students were during the lesson.
Paula Brown[10:54:44 PM]: yes she was fun to work with and it went so smoothly that she wants to do something again
Catherine Ritter[10:55:29 PM]: My mentee talked to me today about trying some team teaching with our students.
Paula Brown[10:55:43 PM]: that sounds good
Paula Brown[10:55:53 PM]: what grade level
Catherine Ritter[10:56:01 PM]: Second grade
Paula Brown[10:56:30 PM]: what did you want me to look for in yours (data gathering wise)
Catherine Ritter[10:56:45 PM]: Well
Catherine Ritter[10:58:22 PM]: How about the same line of thought - questioning?
Paula Brown[10:58:29 PM]: okay
Paula Brown[10:58:56 PM]: I like how you asked her what kind of tech skills they would be using. It’s good for her to be able to put it into words.

Catherine Ritter[10:59:20 PM]: I still need to perfect my questioning skills. I get so nervous on camera. I don't mind making a video, I just don't like being in front of it.
Paula Brown[10:59:33 PM]: me too
Paula Brown[11:00:26 PM]: I thought the "anything you need from me" question was excellent
Paula Brown[11:00:37 PM]: it lets her know that you are open and available for her
Catherine Ritter[11:00:45 PM]: She was so good to work with. She really tried to develop the lesson.
Paula Brown[11:01:23 PM]: I like how you reworded the question about her goals – I believe you were asking her about her professional goals but she told you about her goals for her students. So you just reworded the question and asked again without missing a step.
Paula Brown[11:01:46 PM]: that happened to me during one of my conferences too
Paula Brown[11:02:04 PM]: Your questions really made her think through all the steps of the lesson
Paula Brown[11:02:21 PM]: I could tell you were trying to cover all areas
Catherine Ritter[11:02:26 PM]: Thank you
Paula Brown[11:03:02 PM]: She reminded me of my mentee - both very eager and into the lesson planning
Paula Brown[11:03:31 PM]: do we want to do our post conference now
Catherine Ritter[11:03:40 PM]: She was so excited and once she taught the lesson, all she could talk about was how the kids had fun.
Catherine Ritter[11:03:56 PM]: Let's do our post conference.
Paula Brown[11:04:04 PM]: thats great - she will do it again
Paula Brown[11:04:07 PM]: okay
Paula Brown[11:04:13 PM]: who first
Catherine Ritter[11:04:22 PM]: I'll let you go first this time.
Paula Brown[11:04:45 PM]: so will I ask you about yours or tell you about mine - i dont remember how this goes
Catherine Ritter[11:05:20 PM]: Can't remember, let me check real quick.
Paula Brown[11:05:57 PM]: it looks like i ask you questions about yours
Paula Brown[11:06:02 PM]: i think
Catherine Ritter[11:06:53 PM]: That is what it looks like to me too.
Paula Brown[11:06:59 PM]: Okay
Paula Brown[11:07:23 PM]: Was there anything that surprised you while you were observing this lesson
Catherine Ritter[11:08:11 PM]: How focused the students were on the activity. They were very engaged and working.
Paula Brown[11:08:34 PM]: How did you assist your mentee with the tech part of the lesson
Catherine Ritter[11:09:49 PM]: She and I discussed how to develop the graphic organizer and how she could use the ELMO with her students.
Paula Brown[11:10:31 PM]: Did the teacher get the column chart ready
Paula Brown[11:10:51 PM]: She had made a comment about having everything ready for the students
Paula Brown[11:11:08 PM]: I think when she was talking about classroom management
Catherine Ritter[11:12:19 PM]: Yes, she developed it on her own and saved on disks. We loaded it onto the computers in the lab during lunch so that the students would have it available and ready for the lesson.
Paula Brown[11:12:41 PM]: that really helps and saves classroom time
Paula Brown[11:13:08 PM]: How do you think the technology aspect enhanced the lesson
Catherine Ritter[11:13:12 PM]: Yes, the students just had to click on the icon on the desktop to start working.
Catherine Ritter[11:14:00 PM]: The students focused more on what the were doing because the technology made it seem more like fun.
Paula Brown[11:14:31 PM]: Is there anything that you or she would do differently
Catherine Ritter[11:14:47 PM]: The students commented after the lesson about how much fun it was writing on the computer.
Paula Brown[11:15:12 PM]: thats good - its kind of like killing two birds with one stone
Catherine Ritter[11:15:24 PM]: Yes,
Paula Brown[11:15:57 PM]: Sounds like a successful lesson
Catherine Ritter[11:16:08 PM]: We really didn't have anything about the lesson that we would have changed.
Catherine Ritter[11:16:17 PM]: Thank you
Catherine Ritter[11:16:31 PM]: Well, how did the lesson go with your mentee?
Paula Brown[11:16:48 PM]: it went well - she was very prepared
Paula Brown[11:16:54 PM]: and has the students prepared
Catherine Ritter[11:19:06 PM]: Was there anything about the lesson that you would change?
Paula Brown[11:19:10 PM]: Yes
Paula Brown[11:19:36 PM]: She could only book the lab for one period because that was the only opening
Paula Brown[11:19:46 PM]: So she had prepared the students for this
Paula Brown[11:20:03 PM]: They created a handwritten layout of the brochure
Paula Brown[11:20:19 PM]: I felt like we had to push to get them finished
Paula Brown[11:20:27 PM]: They did a good job
Paula Brown[11:20:48 PM]: We had one group that had two slow readers and they really needed more time
Catherine Ritter[11:22:00 PM]: What kind of accomodations did she make for her students with special needs?
Paula Brown[11:22:10 PM]: They created brochures to go along with an infomercial presentation
Paula Brown[11:22:41 PM]: She placed them with another student who interacts well with them and takes the lead somewhat
Paula Brown[11:22:53 PM]: She also checked on them often and redirected if necessary
Catherine Ritter[11:23:53 PM]: Sounds like she had a plan for those students to be successful.
Catherine Ritter[11:24:02 PM]: Was there anything about the lesson that surprised you?
Paula Brown[11:24:21 PM]: That they did such a good job in a short amount of time
Paula Brown[11:24:38 PM]: The class consists of 9-12 students so it was a varied bunch
Paula Brown[11:24:48 PM]: She had good classroom management skills
Paula Brown[11:24:56 PM]: and they really did not have any time to mess around
Paula Brown[11:25:07 PM]: They were proud of their brochures
Paula Brown[11:25:21 PM]: I printed them in color so they could keep them
Catherine Ritter[11:25:33 PM]: She was well prepared it sounded like and from the video the students looked engaged.
Paula Brown[11:25:37 PM]: They displayed them on the document camera during their oral presentation
Paula Brown[11:25:56 PM]: Yes they were
Paula Brown[11:26:05 PM]: They came in knowing what they had to do
Paula Brown[11:26:37 PM]: alot of times students come into a computer lab and spend a large amount of time just figuring out what direction they are going in
Catherine Ritter[11:26:44 PM]: I thought that was a wonderful way for everyone to see their brochures. Wish I had one available all the time in the computer lab.
Paula Brown[11:26:58 PM]: It was in her classroom
Paula Brown[11:27:06 PM]: I just ordered one for the computer lab though
Paula Brown[11:27:22 PM]: In fact she got the doc cam about 3 days before this lesson
Catherine Ritter[11:27:29 PM]: It saves everyone a lot of time in the lab if the students are prepared.
Paula Brown[11:27:31 PM]: so she was happy
Catherine Ritter[11:27:38 PM]: Wow.
Catherine Ritter[11:27:58 PM]: Are you ready to wrap this up?
Paula Brown[11:28:06 PM]: Sure
Paula Brown[11:28:48 PM]: Are you going to TCEA - where are you located again
Catherine Ritter[11:29:16 PM]: It has been wonderful working with you. Yes, I will be at TCEA. I'm in Springtown, TX.
Paula Brown[11:29:28 PM]: great - hope to see you there
Paula Brown[11:29:38 PM]: Connie said she would try to set something up
Catherine Ritter[11:30:19 PM]: I will be looking for you. I hope Connie is able to get everyone to meet during TCEA so that we can put a face with the names. : )
Paula Brown[11:30:19 PM]: You know after tomorrow nite I don't know what im going to do with myself
Catherine Ritter[11:30:30 PM]: All our free time.
Paula Brown[11:30:35 PM]: yes that would be great
Paula Brown[11:30:52 PM]: Well enjoyed working with you and have a Merry Christmas!
Catherine Ritter[11:30:59 PM]: My family will be glad to see me again.
Catherine Ritter[11:31:12 PM]: Merry Christmas to you too!
Paula Brown[11:31:13 PM]: Definitely without bags under my eyes
Catherine Ritter[11:31:19 PM]: : )
Paula Brown[11:31:25 PM]: Good Night
Catherine Ritter[11:31:29 PM]: Good Night