This is literally the last day that I will be the English/Language Arts Director in this district. I am moving from 21 years of work in the teaching of reading, writing, and literary analysis to a position where I will work with all content-area teachers encouraging them to teach from an interdisciplinary perspective. In fact, as an educator who focuses on reading and writing, I readily work with an interdisciplinary perspective. So with a deep breath and some anxiety, I now take a road less traveled. A road where department walls are tumbling down and learning truly is the priority.
The last week of this aspect of my career included an excellent ISTE conference. For the second year I have traveled to listen to educators share their perspectives on teaching with technology. So many this year made it clear that the technology is not the priority; the priority is learning. If technology is the tool for learning, then we should use it. I listened to Ron Clark speak for about an hour. I was annoyed by the commercial for a specific technological tool, but his point in the end was one I have always touted--it is the relationship between the student and the teacher that is most significant. I see though that that relationship does not need to be the teacher as the font of knowledge but more of the teacher as facilitator, guide, assistant, nudger, encourager, advisor, challenger, questioner. I believe in stepping out of the students' way so that they may discover the next thing to learn.
Over the next few weeks I will share some of my learning from each session I attended. I hope that others who attended will add their new learning as well. This will give each of us an opportunity to reflect on what we have learned and set goals for the next school year.
Closing Session
Although I could not attend the closing session yesterday, I did watch it on my laptop this morning. The advice was given to go back into your new learning and reflect on what you have learned. It was suggested that we write down goals for the coming year. Since I am working in a position that has no definitive plan for next year, my goals will help to guide me through this year of discovery. I have 3 weeks before all of the new iCoaches return to the district and 5 weeks before the teachers return. In that time I want to have thought through several possibilities for staff development and for including students in the work with technology.
As always, suggestions and advice are always welcome.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
New tool, New tools, New tools
As I start looking at all of the possibilities of tools to use, it is overwhelming. I get two emails a day on new possibilities for education. Education Diigo sends an email with possibilities and we have a district diigo that folks can contribute to. There are so many different things that are really marvelous.
I write daily in a journal. I've always wanted to do it on my computer, but it never felt right. Today I found penzu.com. It is an online journal that I can get to from any computer--cloud technology I guess. It really is very nice. There is a version that requires that you pay. That has many more fancy pieces to it, but I don't need those. I wonder if our students would enjoy using that? I plan on building a technology learning consortium (TLC) that includes students. I think they might like this as well. I wonder if having at home and school--anywhere you have technology--would encourage folks to write. I wonder whether there is a connection for my ipad.
The idea that I am particularly interested in investigating is "gamification." I know that it has to do with turning things into games, but I want to look into tools for students to build games. If a student built a game around a math or science concept, wouldn't that have the likelihood of enhancing the student's understanding of the content? I am concerned that it is too difficult. I just need to find out more.
I have a comfort level with a tiny piece of this move into technology, but I have a lot to learn. I hope to hear from some of you with advice.
I found a second tool today that I like as well: thoughtboxes.es/ It is a planning tool. It gives you a place to identify a project and then you build boxes of ideas around those boxes. You could plan with someone else if you upgrade--$5 a month. If I have a team of folks who wanted to use it, that would be well worth it. It is structured like I think. I constantly make lists of ideas around a topic. I wonder if they have an educator discount--I would like for my students to use it to plan projects outside of the classroom. I know there are free tools out there, but this one is very easy to use.
The topic that I am interested in investigating is the notion of gamification. I know that it is the i
I write daily in a journal. I've always wanted to do it on my computer, but it never felt right. Today I found penzu.com. It is an online journal that I can get to from any computer--cloud technology I guess. It really is very nice. There is a version that requires that you pay. That has many more fancy pieces to it, but I don't need those. I wonder if our students would enjoy using that? I plan on building a technology learning consortium (TLC) that includes students. I think they might like this as well. I wonder if having at home and school--anywhere you have technology--would encourage folks to write. I wonder whether there is a connection for my ipad.
The idea that I am particularly interested in investigating is "gamification." I know that it has to do with turning things into games, but I want to look into tools for students to build games. If a student built a game around a math or science concept, wouldn't that have the likelihood of enhancing the student's understanding of the content? I am concerned that it is too difficult. I just need to find out more.
I have a comfort level with a tiny piece of this move into technology, but I have a lot to learn. I hope to hear from some of you with advice.
I found a second tool today that I like as well: thoughtboxes.es/ It is a planning tool. It gives you a place to identify a project and then you build boxes of ideas around those boxes. You could plan with someone else if you upgrade--$5 a month. If I have a team of folks who wanted to use it, that would be well worth it. It is structured like I think. I constantly make lists of ideas around a topic. I wonder if they have an educator discount--I would like for my students to use it to plan projects outside of the classroom. I know there are free tools out there, but this one is very easy to use.
The topic that I am interested in investigating is the notion of gamification. I know that it is the i
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
reading more about it:bud's blog, sophia, googlereader
I have been reading more about technology in the classroom. I just read an article on ASCD about interactive white boards. The determination is that the effectiveness of the use of the white board depends entirely on the teacher who is using it. Isn't that what all of education about--the teacher. How do the interact with students, how do they build the learning environment, how do they deal with the stresses of the job? It is in the teacher. We have the Promethian boards in all of our academic classrooms. Some folks jumped in quickly. Most of our English teachers use them like overheads, but in a good way. They use them to analyze literature, comment on student writing, things like that. I have never taught with one, so I am not fluent with the tool. We have a district person who guides our learning with the tool. I hope to get her to do regular one-hour staff developments on the tool. Then we could try it and come back for more. I like bite-sized pieces of learning.
I have been working on sophia.org. It is very interesting. Educators need to go on to create material and to review what is there. We have had discussion around our students creating lessons and tutorials. This is the perfect venue for them. My computer did struggle with it--kept freezing up. It seems like it is in its infancy. This is a place we need to put some effort into helping to grow.
I found a great blogger--budteacher.com/blog He is very interesting. Today's topic was on bribing kids. Alphie Kohn would be proud. I also watched a video where he talked about building learning communities. I am following him!
I tried to do google reader but don't have that figured out. My husband is about to stop by. He is my constant help with technology. I hope that I can master that tool so that I can keep up with all of my new resources.
I am feeling better today--working on mastering one resource at a time! Your suggestions on the next resource are highly welcome.
I have been working on sophia.org. It is very interesting. Educators need to go on to create material and to review what is there. We have had discussion around our students creating lessons and tutorials. This is the perfect venue for them. My computer did struggle with it--kept freezing up. It seems like it is in its infancy. This is a place we need to put some effort into helping to grow.
I found a great blogger--budteacher.com/blog He is very interesting. Today's topic was on bribing kids. Alphie Kohn would be proud. I also watched a video where he talked about building learning communities. I am following him!
I tried to do google reader but don't have that figured out. My husband is about to stop by. He is my constant help with technology. I hope that I can master that tool so that I can keep up with all of my new resources.
I am feeling better today--working on mastering one resource at a time! Your suggestions on the next resource are highly welcome.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
changes begin
I work in a district in Texas. Yes, we are one of several states that are having financial troubles. But my situation does not really come from that. I have been in education for over 20 year. I now find myself in a district that is turning its beliefs about teaching and learning toward a new direction. Like most districts, we had an English department along with all of the other academic departments. Each department was led by a director. That person's role was to guide the department with a teaching and learning philosophy and help the administrators and teachers with their decisions based on that philosophy. We managed staff development including national consultants.
We are a successful district that is looking for a way to move student thinking to a more rigorous level. This new path to teaching and learning removes the focus on departments and moves it toward an interdisciplinary approach that includes the use of technology.
We began the move by eliminating the directors of all core content areas. We also eliminated our school improvement specialists in every building. There were two in each building. One who worked with math and science and the other who worked with ELA and social studies. The role of interdisciplinary coach (iCoach) has been added to each campus. The role of the iCoach has not been clearly defined--it will develop as we move into our new learning. We know that this person will know technology and encourage appropriate use of it. This person will also help to write curriculum that includes interdisciplinary units.
We began last week with Sara and Shelly from November Learning helping the coaches and administrators better understand how technology fits into good learning. I was invigorated by the three days of working together. I learned a lot about technology, but I also learned about building units with appropriate technology. I especially liked using jing to create tutorials. But in meetings today, the conversation was around different tech tools rather than the learning. Looking at one tool after another became overwhelming. It was suggested that a teacher acquire two new tools in a year. I learned about more than 30 tools today. Too much!
So I have decided to chronicle my change from someone who guided the English department to someone who works with all teachers in a middle school helping them to move away from thinking just about their content toward thinking about connecting their content with other content areas while also using technology.
As I was feeling overwhelmed today, I decided that I would use technology to help me make this move. I know that many of you out there have been using technology in your teaching for years. I would bet that many of you are also in an interdisciplinary environment. I need your help! I don't know how you will find me to help me, but I am putting this out there hoping to get feedback on my ideas as well as suggestions for additional ideas. While I am no "Julia," I am more than willing to put my ideas into the blogosphere and hope that help and encouragement will come flying back towards me.
We currently have ACTIVBoards in every classroom. Teachers are getting mini laptops (4-6) and 2 IPads in their classrooms. Our libraries have Macs, IPads, and Ipod touches. We also have digital cameras. So we have the technology basics. How can I help my teachers use these tools to improve learning among the students in my building and this district?
We are a successful district that is looking for a way to move student thinking to a more rigorous level. This new path to teaching and learning removes the focus on departments and moves it toward an interdisciplinary approach that includes the use of technology.
We began the move by eliminating the directors of all core content areas. We also eliminated our school improvement specialists in every building. There were two in each building. One who worked with math and science and the other who worked with ELA and social studies. The role of interdisciplinary coach (iCoach) has been added to each campus. The role of the iCoach has not been clearly defined--it will develop as we move into our new learning. We know that this person will know technology and encourage appropriate use of it. This person will also help to write curriculum that includes interdisciplinary units.
We began last week with Sara and Shelly from November Learning helping the coaches and administrators better understand how technology fits into good learning. I was invigorated by the three days of working together. I learned a lot about technology, but I also learned about building units with appropriate technology. I especially liked using jing to create tutorials. But in meetings today, the conversation was around different tech tools rather than the learning. Looking at one tool after another became overwhelming. It was suggested that a teacher acquire two new tools in a year. I learned about more than 30 tools today. Too much!
So I have decided to chronicle my change from someone who guided the English department to someone who works with all teachers in a middle school helping them to move away from thinking just about their content toward thinking about connecting their content with other content areas while also using technology.
As I was feeling overwhelmed today, I decided that I would use technology to help me make this move. I know that many of you out there have been using technology in your teaching for years. I would bet that many of you are also in an interdisciplinary environment. I need your help! I don't know how you will find me to help me, but I am putting this out there hoping to get feedback on my ideas as well as suggestions for additional ideas. While I am no "Julia," I am more than willing to put my ideas into the blogosphere and hope that help and encouragement will come flying back towards me.
We currently have ACTIVBoards in every classroom. Teachers are getting mini laptops (4-6) and 2 IPads in their classrooms. Our libraries have Macs, IPads, and Ipod touches. We also have digital cameras. So we have the technology basics. How can I help my teachers use these tools to improve learning among the students in my building and this district?
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