Tuesday, July 22, 2014


DAY 2

What is the best technology integration in education that you've seen?
  • gonoodle - first grade - movement?
  • 6th grade - globalization - child labor - website building, raise money, social media, final presentation,
  • nearpod - read books, formative assessments, small group instruction based on assessments,
  • classroom interactive software/tools/apps - 
  • facetime - record themselves - staff member uses them to share with staff that are not there. 
  • Evernote - Todd - notetaking, collection of digital content that is important
  • SAMR model - how does technology improve the experience?

ZHAO:
http://zhaolearning.com/2010/01/25/the-medium-is-the-message-educating-generation-m/


Douglas Bundy - Beaverton School District - Raleigh Hills K-8 - guest speaker - Google certified teacher

Well, G. Douglas Bundy's visit just solidified my thinking more as a teacher for next year.  Although I am here to wear my administrator hat, the reality is that in September I begin another year teaching fourth grade.  I also am charged with welcoming and teaming with two new team members who are arriving from Spain.  The two teachers being added to my team will be teaching within our dual immersion program and geographically will be across the Bear Creek campus.  This resonates as I have been a part of a team that has been closely guided by our administration within a Mathematics lesson study program and following a scripted math curriculum called Bridges.  Additionally, our district has put a lot of energy into teaching teams planning together within reading and writing and staying together tightly along our curriculum scope and sequences.  My English speaking teammate is a probationary teacher who leans away from my use of technology and is much more traditional in her approach. 

  With all of this in mind, I am really nervous about breaking away from what everyone else is doing and developing more of what I've learned in this class and many of my other recent graduate classes.  To some up those ideas and what I believe I should be doing instead of what my teammates will be doing isn't that "outlandish."  My goals would be to utilize technology to incorporate student structured talk, media (video, images) and other technology tools to better lead my class.  My goals would be to differentiate more within the class and provide more opportunities for the kids to break away from some of the traditional activities that the reading basal program asks them to do.  I will follow our content standards in the same time frame as my teammate but I will incorporate more connecting of the big ideas to outside resources and reading. I will utilize video and outside sources of information on our learning themes to generate discussion and we will write a lot using Googledocs.  Students will also be asked to present various ideas within small groups and the class.  I do see a good avenue here for using the blog feature of Google.  Asking students to blog around various topics and issues would certainly create some great communication opportunities. 


4 comments:

  1. I would love to keep in touch to see how your year goes. You seem to be energetic and forward-thinking and already embrace this new way forward. Your challenges will always be there, but find those who are warm to your thinking and keep doing what you think is best for kids!

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  2. I love the fact that your school is working hard to develop your teams as well as consistency around what your teaching. With that said, I also believe in what's good for kids outside of that framework at times. For example, your sharing of your beliefs around technology and what you'll be doing to implement the use of technology in your classroom, despite the lack of motivation of some of your peers.

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  3. I say, go for it, Seth! Try the new and different, but be willing to bring your colleagues along with you. Share what is working or not working. Don't push, just share! Enjoy your year with your fourth graders! You seem like an excellent, engaging teacher and I bet that your students will learn a TON from you and from their exploration this year!

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  4. So does this make you the department head? 2 exchange teachers from Spain and a probationary staff.... I wonder if there is a conversation you could have with your new principal that would help you front load the idea of the use of tech in your department, if you could lay out the use of tech and show how it will help the students make the best marks, better, quicker, more creatively (more effectively)... "I would like to pilot..." or "I would like to implement..." "...and this is why I believe it will be the best method for our students to show more success..." If your principal is on board, then when you share your successes with your teammates, he/she will hopefully be supportive in the back ground... it may be a tough trip, but it will be fun for the students and they will learn and remember it... do what's best for the kids. Good luck!

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