In the comment section below, share at least one "aha" moment (evidence) and "why." Read comments by other group members and respond to posts by at least two other teachers.
I feel like our district really does a great job of providing technology experiences for our teachers. We have great support from the ITS department and Kathi is so into technology, too! We have everyone on board! I also love the curricular planning guide for each standard and grade level. We really need to implement this! I truly believe that we need to work a little harder at Lincoln to get all grade levels using more technology!
I agree, Mary Jane. We seem to be way beyond the ideas presented in this book. It would be nice to see our ITI team more involved in our buildings. I know they are limited by the size of our district but there is a lot more that they could do working with teachers in our building. (as in the ideas presented by having a technology specialist in our buildings as a positioin)
I agree as well. As I was reading my thought were "man......what would it be like to be in a builing or district that needed the first 4 chapters in this book?? I am so glad that I am not in that situation." I guess I take it for granted.
I agree with all of these comments. Until you have taught in other school districts (or talk with others across the state)do you truely appreciate the technology level that this district believes in and supports. As a district, we are very connected to technology and until we have days like recently when IC was down for a time do we realize how much we are dependent on it.
We are very lucky that our school district furnishes us with new equipment and lots of it. I can not imagine trying to teach students in this day and age without technology.
As I am not really enjoying this "outdated book", I did have a thought. Wouldn't it be nice if more tech sessions were offered in our individual buildings instead of the Devin Center. It seems that everything is offered during the school day anymore. I don't want to leave my classroom teaching time. I wouldn't mind having sessions at our school beyond just the Inservice days. Maybe a tech class that meets afterschool for a few days or once a week for several weeks. Perhaps this could count for some of our flex time instead of other meetings or things. Would be fun to work on tech stuff with others in our buildings. Then, the collaboration could occur!
Greg, in the last two years, I have been able to attend several tech classes after school. I have not seen as many this school year. The collaboration with others in the district is encouraging!
It is so crazy that after just five years, a book like this can be out of date. It was copyrighted the same year that the iPhone first debuted. With the creation of that, mobile technology has reached new levels. Google Docs was just a beta at this time, and Dropbox was initially created (the start of cloud computing). But, that's how fast technology moves; it doesn't sit around and wait for public education to catch up to it. The book did have an idea that I liked about having technology leased to schools. I don't know if that is what our district does, but it might be a great way to keep up on new technology.
So.....I thought that the chapter on Curricular Planning had some highlights. I aggree, and am an example for "thchnology should be taught when the learner has a reasen to use it...make the practice memorable and useful".p.39 There is lots of great technology that I have seen at Learning Labs and Tec. Days, but don't get back to them because I forget or have not the time to play around or am not creative/confident enought to make it fit in my curricular day. I did like the idea of the curriculum map having a Tech section on it. That would be a good place to start making my Tech intergration more intentional and less sparratic (probably more useful for the studetns as well). I also thought that the scope and sequenc chart on page 44 put a nice perspective on how and were to start whith primary kids and their begining tech skills.
I find that I come across lots of great ideas, but am not able to spend the time I feel necessary to plan for them in order to implement into my own classroom. I completely relate to your comments about why you may not be able to fit it into your day!
Jennifer, I agree that a scope and sequence chart for technology is invaluable. We must make sure our primary students are ready for the amount of technology they will be using in Middle and High Schools.
I agree with the idea that technology needs to be integrated within the current curriculum rather than being a separate curriculum. "Practicing skills for authentic purposes makes them meaningful and memorable." (Hamilton, 2007, p. 39). Our goal as teachers is to support students on their journey to becoming successful and productive members of society. Much in the way that I believe it is important for students to learn to read and enjoy reading in a way that adults do, I think that technology will be vitally important for our students' futures. It will soon be imperative that students are skilled in the area of technology.
Mandy, I agree so much with your comments on preparing students for their future. Technology will be such an important part of their lives...not only in their personal down time but in their work lives. I too had the quote on page 39 marked and hope to have it more in the center of my planning for future units for our Gifted students in the district as Kristi and I plan.
I "love" the last couple of sentences of Chapter 2 on page 37..."When technology is seamlessly integrated with classroom content instruction, students not only are more engaged in learning, but they also become better thinkers, planners, problem solvers, and citizens. Isn't that what teachers desire for all students?" I feel this summarizes all of the comments above and I am sure all of those still to come. We (I) need to keep this as a goal for planning for the rest of this school year.
My "aha" moment was the exact same paragraph as Janet Parrish. "The classroom teacher is the KEY to successful integration. Technology tools can reinforce, extend, and assess students' understanding of curricular content (p. 37)." The more comfortable I am with technology and applying it to the curriculum that students are already learning, the more enriched and engaged students will be with their learning.
The curricular planning and mapping is an essential goal. I am already doing that with gifted education. Intentionally implementing new technology in the classroom is an exciting piece of 21st century learning.
Chapter 3 was a chapter that I found very beneficial. The sentences "Practicing skills for authentic purposes makes them meaningful and memorable," as well as "The library media specialist was a liaison at first to coordinate how technology would be included, but the partnership gradually became a triad of the classroom teacher, library media specialists, and technology teacher," were two key sentences in this chapter.
When we first went through the district orientation, we had hours and hours of training. By the time that the training was finished, I remembered barely anything. I didn't have a practice use for a lot of it, this is also due to me not being a classroom teacher. I was very u pest to find that there are some tech sessions that the district offers, but are only open to media specialists. I feel that we should be able to attend what ever sessions we would like, as long as we have a plan to utilize them in our lessons.
I really like the idea of the library media specialist being a liaison to our tech department. We have a great media specialist at our school, she does so much for our students, but I think that it would be silly to put all of the stress of technology on just her. I feel that we do a pretty good job at working together and getting the entire school involved in integrating technology in our classrooms. It can not just be a triad, it has to be a school-wide partnership, with each and every teacher doing their part to integrate technology seamlessly.
I really liked how the book showed the table with when technological skills should be introduced, developing, and mastered. It gave a very nice visual of when to introduce different aspects of technology and when to expect students to be able to display those skills. I do think that many of our students come to us with ample experience with various technology, but it's important that we show them the "school way" of using those tools. I also found the curriculum mapping including the technology integration interesting. It's nice to think of technology as a integral part of core content instead of what the students do at the computer lab.
I feel like our district really does a great job of providing technology experiences for our teachers. We have great support from the ITS department and Kathi is so into technology, too! We have everyone on board! I also love the curricular planning guide for each standard and grade level. We really need to implement this! I truly believe that we need to work a little harder at Lincoln to get all grade levels using more technology!
ReplyDeleteI agree, Mary Jane. We seem to be way beyond the ideas presented in this book. It would be nice to see our ITI team more involved in our buildings. I know they are limited by the size of our district but there is a lot more that they could do working with teachers in our building. (as in the ideas presented by having a technology specialist in our buildings as a positioin)
DeleteI agree as well. As I was reading my thought were "man......what would it be like to be in a builing or district that needed the first 4 chapters in this book?? I am so glad that I am not in that situation." I guess I take it for granted.
DeleteI agree with all of these comments. Until you have taught in other school districts (or talk with others across the state)do you truely appreciate the technology level that this district believes in and supports. As a district, we are very connected to technology and until we have days like recently when IC was down for a time do we realize how much we are dependent on it.
DeleteWe are very lucky that our school district furnishes us with new equipment and lots of it. I can not imagine trying to teach students in this day and age without technology.
DeleteAs I am not really enjoying this "outdated book", I did have a thought. Wouldn't it be nice if more tech sessions were offered in our individual buildings instead of the Devin Center. It seems that everything is offered during the school day anymore. I don't want to leave my classroom teaching time. I wouldn't mind having sessions at our school beyond just the Inservice days. Maybe a tech class that meets afterschool for a few days or once a week for several weeks. Perhaps this could count for some of our flex time instead of other meetings or things. Would be fun to work on tech stuff with others in our buildings. Then, the collaboration could occur!
ReplyDeleteI am excited as well to get to the parts of the book with the ideas that can be put to use.
DeleteGreg, in the last two years, I have been able to attend several tech classes after school. I have not seen as many this school year. The collaboration with others in the district is encouraging!
DeleteIt is so crazy that after just five years, a book like this can be out of date. It was copyrighted the same year that the iPhone first debuted. With the creation of that, mobile technology has reached new levels. Google Docs was just a beta at this time, and Dropbox was initially created (the start of cloud computing). But, that's how fast technology moves; it doesn't sit around and wait for public education to catch up to it. The book did have an idea that I liked about having technology leased to schools. I don't know if that is what our district does, but it might be a great way to keep up on new technology.
DeleteSo.....I thought that the chapter on Curricular Planning had some highlights. I aggree, and am an example for "thchnology should be taught when the learner has a reasen to use it...make the practice memorable and useful".p.39 There is lots of great technology that I have seen at Learning Labs and Tec. Days, but don't get back to them because I forget or have not the time to play around or am not creative/confident enought to make it fit in my curricular day. I did like the idea of the curriculum map having a Tech section on it. That would be a good place to start making my Tech intergration more intentional and less sparratic (probably more useful for the studetns as well). I also thought that the scope and sequenc chart on page 44 put a nice perspective on how and were to start whith primary kids and their begining tech skills.
ReplyDeleteI find that I come across lots of great ideas, but am not able to spend the time I feel necessary to plan for them in order to implement into my own classroom. I completely relate to your comments about why you may not be able to fit it into your day!
DeleteJennifer, I agree that a scope and sequence chart for technology is invaluable. We must make sure our primary students are ready for the amount of technology they will be using in Middle and High Schools.
DeleteI agree with the idea that technology needs to be integrated within the current curriculum rather than being a separate curriculum. "Practicing skills for authentic purposes makes them meaningful and memorable." (Hamilton, 2007, p. 39). Our goal as teachers is to support students on their journey to becoming successful and productive members of society. Much in the way that I believe it is important for students to learn to read and enjoy reading in a way that adults do, I think that technology will be vitally important for our students' futures. It will soon be imperative that students are skilled in the area of technology.
ReplyDeleteMandy, I agree so much with your comments on preparing students for their future. Technology will be such an important part of their lives...not only in their personal down time but in their work lives. I too had the quote on page 39 marked and hope to have it more in the center of my planning for future units for our Gifted students in the district as Kristi and I plan.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI "love" the last couple of sentences of Chapter 2 on page 37..."When technology is seamlessly integrated with classroom content instruction, students not only are more engaged in learning, but they also become better thinkers, planners, problem solvers, and citizens. Isn't that what teachers desire for all students?" I feel this summarizes all of the comments above and I am sure all of those still to come. We (I) need to keep this as a goal for planning for the rest of this school year.
ReplyDeleteJanet, I agree that technology does keep students engaged in their learning. I look forward to using it more and more with our gifted education.
DeleteMy "aha" moment was the exact same paragraph as Janet Parrish. "The classroom teacher is the KEY to successful integration. Technology tools can reinforce, extend, and assess students' understanding of curricular content (p. 37)." The more comfortable I am with technology and applying it to the curriculum that students are already learning, the more enriched and engaged students will be with their learning.
ReplyDeleteThe curricular planning and mapping is an essential goal. I am already doing that with gifted education. Intentionally implementing new technology in the classroom is an exciting piece of 21st century learning.
Chapter 3 was a chapter that I found very beneficial. The sentences "Practicing skills for authentic purposes makes them meaningful and memorable," as well as "The library media specialist was a liaison at first to coordinate how technology would be included, but the partnership gradually became a triad of the classroom teacher, library media specialists, and technology teacher," were two key sentences in this chapter.
ReplyDeleteWhen we first went through the district orientation, we had hours and hours of training. By the time that the training was finished, I remembered barely anything. I didn't have a practice use for a lot of it, this is also due to me not being a classroom teacher. I was very u pest to find that there are some tech sessions that the district offers, but are only open to media specialists. I feel that we should be able to attend what ever sessions we would like, as long as we have a plan to utilize them in our lessons.
I really like the idea of the library media specialist being a liaison to our tech department. We have a great media specialist at our school, she does so much for our students, but I think that it would be silly to put all of the stress of technology on just her. I feel that we do a pretty good job at working together and getting the entire school involved in integrating technology in our classrooms. It can not just be a triad, it has to be a school-wide partnership, with each and every teacher doing their part to integrate technology seamlessly.
I really liked how the book showed the table with when technological skills should be introduced, developing, and mastered. It gave a very nice visual of when to introduce different aspects of technology and when to expect students to be able to display those skills. I do think that many of our students come to us with ample experience with various technology, but it's important that we show them the "school way" of using those tools. I also found the curriculum mapping including the technology integration interesting. It's nice to think of technology as a integral part of core content instead of what the students do at the computer lab.
ReplyDelete