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.
Ok, I will try again. I was surprised that Colorado did not have enough of a budget to buy computers. I had always heard it was a wealthy district. I also like that they have 3 inhouse tech people.
It does seem like there would be ways to get around this. In the text, it spoke about donated computers being refurbished and used. I wonder if this is something they could try. If they are interested in getting computers, they might be able to get donations like the author spoke of (page 13). It would be interesting to see where they are at now, since this text was written many years ago!
It is great that the staff has choosen to support the idea of larger class size in favor of having tech support people. That would be a big commentment from the staff. Janet
Hello Book Study Buddies!! This is Jenn Stuck (sorry-I don't think my whole name shows up in the profile). Anyway, after reading the first 4 pages of this book, I was honestly ready to stop and choose a new book study group to join. I could tell the book was old just by looking at some of the pictures. A copyright date of 2007 confirmed my beliefs. Technology is evolving so rapidly that a book published 5 years ago seems out of date. However, I’m glad I didn’t give up on this book. While some of the ideas are a little outdated (like the list of equipment purchases on p. 12), the information is still relevant today.
I had several “aha” moments while reading, but one idea that kept emerging was the idea that technology should be used to enhance the curriculum. I know when I first started integrating technology in my classroom, I would think of the technology and then try to decide how to make it fit the standards. But, I quickly learned that the curriculum has to come first, and technology should be integrated into that curriculum (and definitely NOT a stand-alone lesson). One quote that supports this thinking is “As teachers improve their use of technology to deliver and assess knowledge, they create more powerful learning opportunities for students. For Lenski teachers, the use of technology is no longer an extra; it truly is a natural part of their teaching repertoire” (p. 4).
I was fascinated with the thought that “technology provides gender-neutralizing effects” on page 5. That’s not a benefit of technology that I have ever read about. When they talked about boys learning best from interacting with the computer or teacher (in the 3rd paragraph on p. 4), it made me think of flipped classrooms—where students view tutorials and/or videos the day before the lesson is taught. Hopefully the book will address this more in depth in later chapters.
Hi Jenn! I also took away the idea of technology supporting the curriculum and instruction, rather than standing alone. Although, I think with changes in technology over time, there are some opportunities for technology to stand alone as well. (online classes is one example)...technology changes so fast that it doesn't take long for the text to become dated.
Jenn, I was also a little disappointed in the book not being very current. I'm hoping it gets better. As I skim the book, I don't see too many "up to date" ideas.
As teachers plan for technology to support curriculum, teachers must also intentionally plan for student complex thinking and creative problem solving. The collaboration piece is also essential.
I thought that the "gender neutralizing" thing was interesting. I was wondering if that shows up in any other schools that are focusing on technology intergration.
"During the debrief session, the visiting principals commented on students' focused attention to their work. They speculated that the use of technology increased the level of engagement in the classrooms."(Hamilton, 2007, p. 4) I have found this to be true as well -students think that it is fun to use the computers, which increased their ability to become invested in the project.
On page 14, there is mention of teachers co-teaching a technology lesson. Through this process, they gain new skills. I can see this as an idea similar to that of book buddies, where students from 2 different classes get together and work on a project with the use of technology. It would be a fun way for older students to share their knowledge and "teach" a skill through technology to younger students.
I do like the recommendation at the end of chapter one (on page 28). The author suggests that teachers take it slowly in regards to integrating technology. "Teachers will experience more success if they limit themselves to simple projects at first and a maximum of three new ideas a year. Each year they can build on the previous year's successes." (Hamilton, 2006, p. 28). I think it would seem more attainable if teachers integrated technology in this way.
Mandy, I like the idea of having Book Buddies help students learn new technology skills! I underlined the thought about starting small on page 28. I know that I have all these ideas and try to do everything at once. I like the story on page 16 that talks about starting small. The author said, "No one can or should use every tool and adopt every great idea in technology. Sometimes great technology tools simply do not fit the style or needs of a particular school." -Jenn Stuck
Technology does keep students interest. Even with me using pedometers the students are engrossedwith them. I did read that the test scores were higher with classes that used technology. Can't argue with data. Becky Cook
Yes, any form of technology does keep students interested. It is the technology age. Unfortunately, students tend to not be interested in any higher order thinking skills that are not technology oriented.
I really like what the author shared about what one of the principals at Lenski commented about. From page 16, next to last paragraph: “He cautioned them that they needed to base their decisions about PTO programs on the needs of Lenski students and not on the “grass is greener” concept. Lenski staff keeps that guideline in mind. No one can or should use every tool and adopt every great idea in technology. Sometimes great technology tools simply do not fit the style or needs of a particular school. …Some ideas and tools have been deliberately ignored-not because of deficiencies in those technologies, but because we choose to do what meets our students’ needs.” I think this sounds awesome. I felt like the use of technology was “teacher and student need” driven in this school. Another example of this was the idea of a twice-monthly optional meeting where teachers could highlight projects that their students had completed. That sounds like fun and helpful.
I think it would be neat to see other's projects and uses of technology in their classroom. The rest of us might get some ideas for our own classrooms.
I underlined the same quote about the principal's advice to the PTO!
Did I miss the idea of twice-monthly meetings to highlight projects that integrated technology, or was that your own genius idea? What a great way to learn from others! How do you see that working for us? Let's try that idea somehow!
I think it would be awesome to share projects between our sister schools! I love how Kristi and Janet are Lyncing and collaborating with their students!!
My "aha" moment was that there were "no gender gaps in any of those areas over six years except for a couple of years in third grade writing." It would be interesting to really know why! I found this interesting since our school is trying to address gender gaps in test scores.
I agree, I don't always think we as teachers take the time and think about how different students learn best. One size doesn't fit all. This topic could prove to benefit this school and what we are attempting to address.
The concept of integrating technology into the classroom is vital for 21st Century skills. The definition of integration reminds teachers to consider technology for introductions, reinforcement, extension, enrichment, assessment, and remediation. The reminder of Marzano's effective instructional strategies, also provides essential connections for the use of technology in the classroom. Those are great guidelines for all of us!
Itinerant staff would benefit from the synergy of technology collaboration. I am jealous of the teachers having planning time with the librarians for their technology instruction. I plan to make time for collaboration as to how I can incorporate additional technology with gifted education. It is wonderful to have the resources of the district technology staff. They have been very helpful! The synergy does make a difference!
I feel that our school is deep in the process of technology integration through the use of the library. We do have a computer lab for our BAT time, but our lab person does not feel extremely comfortable with all types of technology projects. She is coming on board and we are doing more!! My "Aha" moments have been throughout the book whenever I write "our district does that" or "our school does that!" We are lucky that our district is supportive and up-to-date!!
I'm not sure if I agree that our district is up-to-date. When I look around at other districts in the area, I am shocked at our district. I feel that they waited too long to jump on board the technology wagon, and now it will be a big expense for the district to catch up in the future.
I am returning to the classroom after spending 4 years in an instructional coaching position. This is significant in a conversation about technology integration in classroom instruction because my first year out of the classroom was the year that everyone got their Smart Boards. I have felt that I'm playing catch up with other teachers in the realm of technology integration. I really liked the idea of the author to have schools utilize the knowledge and skills of the technology experts within the staff. These teachers can be observed and/or taped for others to see effective implementation of technology. I would enjoy having a tech savvy colleague coteach with me within my classroom as well.
I think doing that would be a great use of time and effort. Teachers need these ideas to help them with integrating the technology. If only you knew a tech savvy colleague at your building...
I liked the list of the Nine Instructional Stratigies on page 23-25. I know our principal is very motivated by technology and excited to bring that motivation in the classrooms. It is nice to have the support already set up at our school with our Librarian and principal and Lab. Support. I feel like we are ahead already. My porblem is I don't have the tool box of ideas to use with my kids. I am hoping to get some tool's through this book study. I am Very OPEN to idea sharing!
My "aha" moment did not come until the second chapter, and I had 3 of them. "In my experience, teachers need technical support, preliminary ideas for projects or lessons, and permission to try and, on occasion, fail. Once they begin to take risks with technology, each success will motivate them to try another idea."
I have found that a lot of teachers that have not used a lot of technology in their classrooms is because, 1. teachers don't have easy access to technology and 2. They don't know how to use technology as an enhancement of their lesson opposed to a hinderance. I have tried to use technology inside and out of my classroom, and this has proven to be a struggle, but due to the support of my staff, it has started to become a success. I got my ideas from my experiences in college, but a lot of my co-workers have been out of college for a few years. At this day in age, if one is not on top of new technology daily, they will be years behind very quickly. I just don't feel that we have very many opportunities to experiment with technology as much as we can.
"When teachers try new ideas and persist it an end product, they need opportunities to share their students' work with staff."
This is a place where I feel our school and district do pretty well, but I don't feel that it is advertised or embraced as much as it should. I got asked to present at the district technology fair, but haven't heard anything about it, or knew anything about since I first got asked to do it. I don't know why the technology doesn't send out an e-mail invite to it with some sort of incentive to get people to come to it.
"...a computer teacher needs to know the curriculum for each grade level. That way, the computer teacher can suggest projects or Web resources that will support the content area instructions."
When I read this line, I instantly inputed "music teacher" instead of "computer teacher." With a project I have been doing with my 3-5 graders, I made sure to link it with the new Common Core Standards. I didn't want to waste anytime playing catchup to the Common Core Standards, when my job will depend on it in the future.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIs this thing working?
ReplyDeleteI thought I blogged something on Friday.
ReplyDeleteOk, I will try again. I was surprised that Colorado did not have enough of a budget to buy computers. I had always heard it was a wealthy district. I also like that they have 3 inhouse tech people.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like there would be ways to get around this. In the text, it spoke about donated computers being refurbished and used. I wonder if this is something they could try. If they are interested in getting computers, they might be able to get donations like the author spoke of (page 13). It would be interesting to see where they are at now, since this text was written many years ago!
DeleteIt is great that the staff has choosen to support the idea of larger class size in favor of having tech support people. That would be a big commentment from the staff. Janet
DeleteHello Book Study Buddies!! This is Jenn Stuck (sorry-I don't think my whole name shows up in the profile). Anyway, after reading the first 4 pages of this book, I was honestly ready to stop and choose a new book study group to join. I could tell the book was old just by looking at some of the pictures. A copyright date of 2007 confirmed my beliefs. Technology is evolving so rapidly that a book published 5 years ago seems out of date. However, I’m glad I didn’t give up on this book. While some of the ideas are a little outdated (like the list of equipment purchases on p. 12), the information is still relevant today.
ReplyDeleteI had several “aha” moments while reading, but one idea that kept emerging was the idea that technology should be used to enhance the curriculum. I know when I first started integrating technology in my classroom, I would think of the technology and then try to decide how to make it fit the standards. But, I quickly learned that the curriculum has to come first, and technology should be integrated into that curriculum (and definitely NOT a stand-alone lesson). One quote that supports this thinking is “As teachers improve their use of technology to deliver and assess knowledge, they create more powerful learning opportunities for students. For Lenski teachers, the use of technology is no longer an extra; it truly is a natural part of their teaching repertoire” (p. 4).
I was fascinated with the thought that “technology provides gender-neutralizing effects” on page 5. That’s not a benefit of technology that I have ever read about. When they talked about boys learning best from interacting with the computer or teacher (in the 3rd paragraph on p. 4), it made me think of flipped classrooms—where students view tutorials and/or videos the day before the lesson is taught. Hopefully the book will address this more in depth in later chapters.
Hi Jenn! I also took away the idea of technology supporting the curriculum and instruction, rather than standing alone. Although, I think with changes in technology over time, there are some opportunities for technology to stand alone as well. (online classes is one example)...technology changes so fast that it doesn't take long for the text to become dated.
DeleteJenn, I was also a little disappointed in the book not being very current. I'm hoping it gets better. As I skim the book, I don't see too many "up to date" ideas.
DeleteAs teachers plan for technology to support curriculum, teachers must also intentionally plan for student complex thinking and creative problem solving. The collaboration piece is also essential.
DeleteI thought that the "gender neutralizing" thing was interesting. I was wondering if that shows up in any other schools that are focusing on technology intergration.
Delete"During the debrief session, the visiting principals commented on students' focused attention to their work. They speculated that the use of technology increased the level of engagement in the classrooms."(Hamilton, 2007, p. 4) I have found this to be true as well -students think that it is fun to use the computers, which increased their ability to become invested in the project.
ReplyDeleteOn page 14, there is mention of teachers co-teaching a technology lesson. Through this process, they gain new skills. I can see this as an idea similar to that of book buddies, where students from 2 different classes get together and work on a project with the use of technology. It would be a fun way for older students to share their knowledge and "teach" a skill through technology to younger students.
I do like the recommendation at the end of chapter one (on page 28). The author suggests that teachers take it slowly in regards to integrating technology. "Teachers will experience more success if they limit themselves to simple projects at first and a maximum of three new ideas a year. Each year they can build on the previous year's successes." (Hamilton, 2006, p. 28). I think it would seem more attainable if teachers integrated technology in this way.
I just realized that my whole name didn't show up...this is Mandy Scholz. :)
DeleteMandy, I like the idea of having Book Buddies help students learn new technology skills! I underlined the thought about starting small on page 28. I know that I have all these ideas and try to do everything at once. I like the story on page 16 that talks about starting small. The author said, "No one can or should use every tool and adopt every great idea in technology. Sometimes great technology tools simply do not fit the style or needs of a particular school." -Jenn Stuck
DeleteI also like the idea of setting a goal of 3 new technology intergrated lessons to do a year! That sounds like something I can do!
DeleteTechnology does keep students interest. Even with me using pedometers the students are engrossedwith them. I did read that the test scores were higher with classes that used technology. Can't argue with data. Becky Cook
ReplyDeleteYes, any form of technology does keep students interested. It is the technology age. Unfortunately, students tend to not be interested in any higher order thinking skills that are not technology oriented.
DeleteI really like what the author shared about what one of the principals at Lenski commented about.
ReplyDeleteFrom page 16, next to last paragraph: “He cautioned them that they needed to base their decisions about PTO programs on the needs of Lenski students and not on the “grass is greener” concept. Lenski staff keeps that guideline in mind. No one can or should use every tool and adopt every great idea in technology. Sometimes great technology tools simply do not fit the style or needs of a particular school. …Some ideas and tools have been deliberately ignored-not because of deficiencies in those technologies, but because we choose to do what meets our students’ needs.”
I think this sounds awesome. I felt like the use of technology was “teacher and student need” driven in this school. Another example of this was the idea of a twice-monthly optional meeting where teachers could highlight projects that their students had completed. That sounds like fun and helpful.
I think it would be neat to see other's projects and uses of technology in their classroom. The rest of us might get some ideas for our own classrooms.
DeleteJanet,
DeleteI underlined the same quote about the principal's advice to the PTO!
Did I miss the idea of twice-monthly meetings to highlight projects that integrated technology, or was that your own genius idea? What a great way to learn from others! How do you see that working for us? Let's try that idea somehow!
The paragraph that talks about this is on Page 15, first paragraph after #5. Let's see how we could do this!!!
DeleteI think it would be awesome to share projects between our sister schools! I love how Kristi and Janet are Lyncing and collaborating with their students!!
DeleteMy "aha" moment was that there were "no gender gaps in any of those areas over six years except for a couple of years in third grade writing." It would be interesting to really know why! I found this interesting since our school is trying to address gender gaps in test scores.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I don't always think we as teachers take the time and think about how different students learn best. One size doesn't fit all. This topic could prove to benefit this school and what we are attempting to address.
DeleteThe concept of integrating technology into the classroom is vital for 21st Century skills. The definition of integration reminds teachers to consider technology for introductions, reinforcement, extension, enrichment, assessment, and remediation. The reminder of Marzano's effective instructional strategies, also provides essential connections for the use of technology in the classroom. Those are great guidelines for all of us!
ReplyDeleteItinerant staff would benefit from the synergy of technology collaboration. I am jealous of the teachers having planning time with the librarians for their technology instruction. I plan to make time for collaboration as to how I can incorporate additional technology with gifted education. It is wonderful to have the resources of the district technology staff. They have been very helpful! The synergy does make a difference!
I feel that our school is deep in the process of technology integration through the use of the library. We do have a computer lab for our BAT time, but our lab person does not feel extremely comfortable with all types of technology projects. She is coming on board and we are doing more!! My "Aha" moments have been throughout the book whenever I write "our district does that" or "our school does that!" We are lucky that our district is supportive and up-to-date!!
ReplyDeleteAGREE!! we are so lucky
DeleteI'm not sure if I agree that our district is up-to-date. When I look around at other districts in the area, I am shocked at our district. I feel that they waited too long to jump on board the technology wagon, and now it will be a big expense for the district to catch up in the future.
DeleteI am returning to the classroom after spending 4 years in an instructional coaching position. This is significant in a conversation about technology integration in classroom instruction because my first year out of the classroom was the year that everyone got their Smart Boards. I have felt that I'm playing catch up with other teachers in the realm of technology integration. I really liked the idea of the author to have schools utilize the knowledge and skills of the technology experts within the staff. These teachers can be observed and/or taped for others to see effective implementation of technology. I would enjoy having a tech savvy colleague coteach with me within my classroom as well.
ReplyDeleteI think doing that would be a great use of time and effort. Teachers need these ideas to help them with integrating the technology. If only you knew a tech savvy colleague at your building...
DeleteI liked the list of the Nine Instructional Stratigies on page 23-25. I know our principal is very motivated by technology and excited to bring that motivation in the classrooms. It is nice to have the support already set up at our school with our Librarian and principal and Lab. Support. I feel like we are ahead already. My porblem is I don't have the tool box of ideas to use with my kids. I am hoping to get some tool's through this book study. I am Very OPEN to idea sharing!
ReplyDeleteHey all, late post, I know.
ReplyDeleteMy "aha" moment did not come until the second chapter, and I had 3 of them.
"In my experience, teachers need technical support, preliminary ideas for projects or lessons, and permission to try and, on occasion, fail. Once they begin to take risks with technology, each success will motivate them to try another idea."
I have found that a lot of teachers that have not used a lot of technology in their classrooms is because, 1. teachers don't have easy access to technology and 2. They don't know how to use technology as an enhancement of their lesson opposed to a hinderance. I have tried to use technology inside and out of my classroom, and this has proven to be a struggle, but due to the support of my staff, it has started to become a success. I got my ideas from my experiences in college, but a lot of my co-workers have been out of college for a few years. At this day in age, if one is not on top of new technology daily, they will be years behind very quickly. I just don't feel that we have very many opportunities to experiment with technology as much as we can.
"When teachers try new ideas and persist it an end product, they need opportunities to share their students' work with staff."
This is a place where I feel our school and district do pretty well, but I don't feel that it is advertised or embraced as much as it should. I got asked to present at the district technology fair, but haven't heard anything about it, or knew anything about since I first got asked to do it. I don't know why the technology doesn't send out an e-mail invite to it with some sort of incentive to get people to come to it.
"...a computer teacher needs to know the curriculum for each grade level. That way, the computer teacher can suggest projects or Web resources that will support the content area instructions."
When I read this line, I instantly inputed "music teacher" instead of "computer teacher." With a project I have been doing with my 3-5 graders, I made sure to link it with the new Common Core Standards. I didn't want to waste anytime playing catchup to the Common Core Standards, when my job will depend on it in the future.