Dean Mantz

, Male

United States

Profile Information:

School / Work Affiliation
Sterling USD 376
Blog
http://dmantz7.edublogs.org
Website
http://www.ustream.tv/dmantz7
Skype Account
dmantz7
Twitter / Plurk / Other Account
dmantz7
About Me
I am working for USD 376 in Sterling, Kansas as their Network Coordinator. One of the biggest benefits of taking this position is getting to work with my wife and be in the same school district as both of my children. I previously worked for USD 405 in Lyons, KS. I worked for the district for fourteen years. I originally taught at the middle school. I was responsible for developing an Exploring Technology module class. I also taught American History. In 2000, I assisted in the development of the Rice County Technology Academy. The academy provided opportunities for students to enroll in a variety of career curriculums. Students could participate in A+ training, Webmaster curriculum, and develop themselves as Certified Cisco Network Associates.
I have truly enjoyed my time working with kids and teachers on how to integrate technology. I have participated in McREL's program, Intel's Master Teacher training, and LoTi's mentorship program. Another venture I have truly enjoyed is becoming a member of Discovery's Star educator network. I find that the programs offered by Discovery are an excellant source of supplemental materials for all classrooms and grade levels.

Comment Wall:

  • Kevin

    Dean, You were great with the teachers and I love presenting with you!! I know we can do more training and I think our styles compliment one another. You are great at making new tech tools both exciting and easy!

    Jun 5, 2007

  • Peter Dawson

    Sounds great Dean. I'll give it some more thought after the craziness of the last few weeks is over. I like the idea of a holidays project but I'll have to scope out my new school. It's in a tough area and the kids don't get to do much, high ESL content, lots of single moms in subsidized housing. I'll keep in touch though.

    Jun 11, 2007

  • Peter Dawson

    Sounds like our schools have a lot in common. Lets make sure we keep in contact over the summer. I'll give it more thought

    Jun 11, 2007

  • Tuanua Swartz

    Dean,

    Do you know of any free/open source software for video conferencing? We want to try it while we are overseas. I trie webhuddle, but it wouldn't allow video conferencing, unless I didn't do something right...which is possible!
    Tuanua

    Jun 20, 2007

  • Tuanua Swartz

    Super thanks!

    Jun 20, 2007

  • Kevin

    Dean,
    Thanks for the reply! I am looking forward to MACE!

    Jun 28, 2007

  • Peter Dawson

    Hey Dean,
    Just letting you know that I'm still around and haven't forgotten about collaborating. I was thinking about this: besides a holiday traditions kind of project, how about native animals too? We could do a comparison, look at migratory paths (?), or other such stuff.

    Let me know your thoughts.
    P.S. I might have a contact in the U.K. who's intersted too, so maybe we could do some projects as a group of 3 (or maybe more - smile).

    Cheers,
    Pete

    Jul 12, 2007

  • Ken Pruitt

    Hi Dean,
    Thanks for the kind words. At the end of the presentation I linked to the sites that I gathered info from. A great deal is from Ian Jukes. His handouts are excellent material for changing educational practices.
    http://web.mac.com/iajukes/iWeb/thecommittedsardine/Home.html

    Also George Siemens at www.knowingknowledge.com has kept me busy for a month.

    Hope that helps. If you need anything else I will help the best I can.

    What is your focus this year? As I am just starting I need all the help I can get.

    Jul 19, 2007

  • Dean Mantz

    I appreciate my community members posting to the Unitedstreaming blog. I have uploaded my presentation, support materials, and extra reference materials in a zip file. Visit the Unitedstreaming blog and the MACE.zip file. Please fill free to download and use the material. If you have any questions just contact me. Thanks.

    Jul 24, 2007

  • Shawn Jackson

    How are things going? I am teaching a computer class at a small private school and there are no books to help me. I need to teach kids K-8th grade and I really don't know where to start. We are running office 2000 on P3 and lower computers. they are slow. So we are also looking for new computers free or cheap p4 or better. Can anyone help?

    Jul 25, 2007

  • Peter Dawson

    Good morning Dean,
    Love your photos! You've got a beautiful family.

    I'm not too sure how to put the code for your weather widget on my page, but I'm going to try. I'm still a newbie at this sort of thing.

    I'm certainly willing to help with any migration projects your teachers may have, if I can. I'm wondering if any of your contacts may be doing something to do with either The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, or Chicka Chicka Boom Boom? I've actually had a contact from someone just outside Wichita who wants to work on Chicka. Now, she tells me that you guys get back to school with kids on Aug. 15. Is that true all through the States? Here in Ontario, we don't have kids until the Tuesday after Labour Day, and the way our entry for kindergarten at my new school works with staggered entry, I probably won't have the full class until the following Monday.

    Let me know what you think. Cheers

    Jul 26, 2007

  • Tuanua Swartz

    Dean:

    Hey...we made it back from Thailand. Skype worked great, however we could only video conference with one person at a time. What was great was the option to be able to call land lines while we were overseas! The cost per call was peanuts!

    See ya at nerds!

    Jul 27, 2007

  • Tim Holt

    Dean, My version of the Friday podcast is online:

    http://web.mac.com/timholt/Byte_Speed/Pod_Speed/Pod_Speed.html

    Enjoy.

    Tim

    Sep 10, 2007

  • Peter Dawson

    Hey Dean!

    I have a contact in Maize (Kansas) who is willing to do a project using VoiceThread. She's going to send me a Teddy bear and I'll take picutres of the bear around the school, which the kids can comment on through voicethread and send to her. Then the Teddy gets sent on to someone else. Think any of your teachers might be interested? or someone on a worldwide scale?
    Let me know......
    Pete

    Sep 20, 2007

  • Mrs. Deines

    Hey,

    I am just writing to ask what your opinion of ning.com is for the classroom. I made a ning website for my 1st grade classroom. At first, our firewall was not blocking the site. Now it is, listing it as a "personals and dating". I am having a super hard time with my tech. guys. They can't figure out where the pictures, videos, etc. are posted (IP addresses) to "unblock" them from our Firewall (Watchguard). It is unfortunate that they will not unblock the site. They have given me permission to log in without the firewall to show the site to my kids, so we can look at things. However, I wanted to have sites for my teachers and other classrooms...they will not allow everyone to do this. Do you deal with these kind of issues in your district?

    Sep 21, 2007

  • Mrs. Deines

    Great! I will keep you in mind when we open it up to parents. It is coming along, slowly. We will see what happens at grade card time!

    Sep 26, 2007

  • Mrs. Deines

    Yes, I completely agree with you! I wish that our tech guys would open it for students to use! They say that since "Watchguard" says it is not safe, then we couldn't possibly use it! Anyway...maybe one day! Thanks!

    Sep 26, 2007

  • Craig Scribner

    Dean, I attended the Essdack workshop on Loti. I would be interested in what you are doing in Lyons at the K-5 level with Web 2.0. What sites are you using, etc...

    Oct 5, 2007