Still waiting...

Still waiting....

Purchase orders taking a long time to process.

Waiting

I'm told the orders are being processed. Now we wait for all the T's to be crossed and hopefully something is on the way to Seymour soon.

Somethings I am struggling with:

1. How to set up the iPads for multiple users. Should I use dropBox and other services? Will the student be able to log-in and out easily? Or could we create some sort of over-all log-in?

2. Need to figure out basic configuration for initial app set-up.

3. My technology director insists on doing to initial configuration. I'm hoping this runs smoothly.

In many ways I just need to start. If I set them up wrong I start over. Not a big deal. I was so hoping to have them here when students arrive, but we will have to wait.

Money Arrives

I received the grant notification about one month ago and today I received the check. One of the challenging parts of this grant is that I have not been able to order anything until the check arrived and students will be here in a week. I so wanted to have things ready. Hopefully everything will process quickly downtown.

I found Frasier Speirs and I have been following what he is doing. He is launching 115 iPads this fall. He is way ahead of us at this point but I am learning a lot from reading his triumphs and mistakes.

MiFi has intrigued me but I am wondering about cost and filtering issues. I think it would be helpful to be truly mobile.

Dance: Where are the boys?

So I have been watching 50's sing-dance movies (7Brides, etc..). Like many of us I come from a family of musicians/performers. My grandmother taught dance in the 40's and 50's. EVERYONE took her dance class. Boys and girls. This was social/ballroom dance.

We don't do that anymore. Boys almost never take dance.

In fact, boys are maybe 30-40% at best of our music programs. 15-20% of our theater programs. There are obvious exceptions.

Is this something that needs to change? If so, it starts at ages 3-4 with those creative movement classes. It fits into so many areas (obesity, arts, school readiness, etc...).

Anyone have research, grants, ideas?

WCSU Meeting and Ordering

Today I went to Western CT State University to meet with an old friend, Dan Goble. We worked together a lot when I was at Derby High School. It was a productive early meeting and we threw around some ideas of how we could work together. We had these initial ideas:

• Students will visit WCSU for a day and explore offerings.
• Use SHS as a lab for iPad apps and discussions for grad students.
• Use WCSU faculty and students as a sounding board for technology ideas.

I have also started the first round of ordering:

• 15 iPads ordered. No discount for schools.... $20 discount for volume.
• I ordered a storage/charging cart from Spectrum. By far the cheapest. Hope it works.
• Sound system and TV display, probably from Soundtree. I definitely prefer them, but waiting to see how many quotes I need. I've gotten two quotes that didn't beat their price. I trust them.

Budget

I hope to order some things today.

I am over budget. Perhaps I am trying to do too much. I have been hoping for an iPad discount or additional district funds. Neither seem likely.

I think I may have to let go of the recording studio set-up for now. I'm fighting the $1450 for an iPad charging cart, but I don't really see any other option.