Collecting and Curating Resources

With the multitude of resources available at our finger tips via the Internet, it is so hard to keep track of everything you curate to use as a resource.

I know in the technology side, programs are always changing and updating. Keeping track of what each program does and how it would be of benefit to a classroom we created a spreadsheet of data in Google Docs. Then we shared the spreadsheet out with all of our staff with some of the following information:

Name of program
Purpose of the program (Word Processing, Ebook Reader, etc.)
Web site you can visit to learn more about the program
What version of the program we are currently running

This allows us to keep an updated listing of programs real time for our staff.

Now the trick comes back to how do we get staff to look at the document before calling the technology office the questions that are answered on this document.

We try and email out and share often the existence of this document to keep everyone looking at it first before contacting the Technology office to ask about a program. In time, I do believe that it will become a natural habit to look at the resources we post in our tech resources shared folder for our staff.

But as a teacher, I could easily see making your own online "database" of information sorted by discipline that could help when it comes to planning new lesson plans. It might require making a calendar reminder to go and visit the resource once a month or so to get into the "routine" of visiting and checking the validity of the resource because as we all know, sometimes resources that we love go away.

The Reflect topic to this module is: "Do you believe that authentic assessment is possible in every subject area? Can students at every grade level demonstrate mastery through authentic assessment? Why or why not? It it practical to ask teachers to complete these types of activities in the current, high stakes testing environment?"

This question is really tough to think on. Do I believe it is possible in every subject area? I really think it gets tough to have authentic assessment in certain Special Subject Areas. How do you do authentic assessment in a Physical Education class? Kids can re-explain techniques, but how do you really show some of this? As well as all kids are at different physical levels so what does not appear to be very well performed physical activity, might actually be a modified version that supports the abilities of that one particular person.

Can every student at every grade level demonstrate mastery through authentic assessment? I believe the answer to this is yes, but I do believe it is harder at the younger age as they do not posses all the skills that older children posses.

I personally feel this type of assessment should not be performed for every learning objective in a classroom. I think it should be performed once in a while on some learning objectives, but if you did it on every learning objective, it would be too time consuming for our teachers. What would be a great outcome to this type of final assessment is that you could find the actual point where a student is losing a concept, as opposed to thinking they just don’t get the whole picture. I think this could lead to a whole different level of RTI for our kids.

Reflecting on “The Puzzle of Motivation”

I found this video very interesting, and motivated me to think about my role as a Technology Director and how I can take advantage of 20% time.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y

The candle problem really can be related to today and our integration of technology. Each person is going to see a different way of integrating the technology. Some of those ideas just aren’t going to work effectively. There will probably be very few in reality, that will take the technology tool “guidelines” and use them in a way other than how the tool is presented for use.

‘Definition: Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards, such as money or grades.’

'Definition: Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual. The motivating factors are external, or outside, rewards such as money or grades. These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide.’

I find it interesting how the study showed that if the task was simplistic, then the incentive reward  (extrinsic motivation) group won out. However, don’t we see students do the same thing? They don’t put so much effort into a hard assignment, but kick butt in the extra credit assignment that is very simple?

But, when we allow kids to focus on something they find interesting, and give them clear guidelines to the assignment, of their choosing, they work harder and return results due to the intrinsic motivation. There is not a need for an external motivator.

This is enough to make me think about my role as a technology director. We don’t have a 20% time, but we do devote time on Friday’s to solving problems/coming up with new ways to do things. Maybe its time to turn Friday’s into 20% time and become more creative for the kids sake.

Are we really using New Tools or replacing old Tasks?

“using technology for the sake of using technology” makes it difficult to produce individuals equipped with the skills they will need in the 21st century workforce.

There are so many times that we see a new way to use a current tool, and think we have hit the jackpot on something new and revolutionary. Unfortunately, many times this is not true at all. I loved the article in our explore section ‘The principal of Change Don’t use a Web 2.0 Tool in a Web 1.0 way.’  (http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/3307)

The following excerpt from that article really struck a chord with me:

‘Yet, having followers does not mean that you have people who “buy” what you do or whom you are; they use your service because they have to, not because they are loyal. Schools should think about that as well. ‘

That little segment of the article really brings us back to the first quote at the start of this blog entry regarding our use of technology. I have been personally thinking about starting a Technology Twitter account for us to use for communicating information out to parents and students to help educate them about technology. Many of them use smart phones, tablets, gaming systems and computers. However many of them are not knowledgeable in the finer points of responsible usage of these devices. I feel so much of society is using the device “for the sake of using the device” not for making a change.

Then tie in our youth, the millennials, and social media. They feel defined by their social media accounts. If I have 1K followers, then I’m amazing! But do these kids really know 1K people? Are they posting something out there that is life changing for someone else? Are they using social media responsibly or using it to replace normal daily interaction? I mean come on, we all know it isn’t official until it’s Facebook Official.

I challenge each of us to think about our use of new technology tools and evaluate what it is we are really doing. Are we really teaching the kids to use technology in a 21st Century type of way, or just replacing the normal tasks with a piece of technology?

Foundational Skills

To move forward after deciding to change my mindset on technology integration, I have to look a little deeper at my foundational skills. Today, you have to keep learning. You can't learn a skill from last year, and keep repeating that same skill over and over. To make a lasting impact on the kids, I think you have to be sure that your lesson has a valid lesson within it that they can see relevance within.

I'm going to relate my "lesson" to PD sessions I have taught. Remember, I get 1 hour once a month at each school. In year one, I focused on sharing resources that could enhance the classroom. This did not leave much time for the actual exploration of the resources. I would rate those PD sessions as an Entry to Adoption level approach. And at best, we only touched on hitting the following characteristics of learning: Active, Collaborative, and Constructive.

In year two of PD sessions, I made my focus a little more narrow and detailed. We adopted Google Apps for Education as a platform we would invest in using. So this year I broke each session down to a detailed session on Google Mail, Google Drive, Google Apps (Docs, Sheets, & Slides) Calendar, and Contacts.  While I felt this made things more basic, I feel that we really reached into the levels of Adaptation and Infusion. The teachers had time to explore the single resource in depth, and start practicing how they could put it into use in the classroom. I asked for more collaboration by asking teachers to share how they have used the resource in different "outside of the box" ways in their classrooms. This lead to some great meaningful discussion and exploration by my teachers.

While we never set clear cut "Goals" for where to go with the resources, I gave the teachers some basic "challenges" to get their creative juices flowing to think of ways to use these Google Resources in their classrooms that were outside of the box.

I do believe with the focus that I took this year, I saw teachers grow and gain a confidence in their skills.

We have to remember, not all of us have the same foundational knowledge as the next person. Some have to start with the very basic square blocks before they are ready to add the additional shapes into their structure. But gaining that support system of your peers, will grow each persons confidence.

Moving Mindsets...Where to?

Technology is an ever changing field. When I think back almost 16 years ago, when I began working in the school district, I wonder now how I was able to keep busy for a full 8 hours in a day. This field does not sit still for very long, and once you start to get comfortable, its time for a major change.

While I don't teach a class, I help lead Professional Development for my teachers. This is a challenge at times. Some times Technology Professional Development is met with eagerness and excitement, but then there is always that person sitting there staring at you with their arms crossed. (This is usually the same person who comes to Tech PD intentionally without a device.)

This was year two of leading Tech PD on Wednesday mornings, and I did change how things rolled this time around. Year one, I introduced Tech Resources and shared how they could be put to use. Year two, I went for the more hands on PD approach. I only had 1 hour, but I jam packed a wallop of a punch I felt this year to get everyone thinking differently. Not only did I do my research, this year I had other teachers demonstrate for their peers what exactly they did with the resource of the day in Tech PD. This was met with much enthusiasm and started many conversations among each of my teachers.

When we learned Kahoot, I made a small Kahoot and started the session with getting everyone logged in and we took a brief "Useless Trivia" quiz. Then I asked for a show of hands of who has already used Kahoot in the classroom. Then as we all created accounts. I asked those that had used Kahoot already to talk about the good and the bad. I felt this was very important for those that had not used Kahoot to hear, that yes, there are things that will go wrong. But its ok!

I felt that this lead to many good conversations, and teachers that hadn't stepped out on that proverbial technology ledge, did by the end of that week. Some even took that leap of faith, and came to tell me that yes, they did use Kahoot in their room, and it was a successful addition to the class.

Is change an easy thing for us to face? Never...we like comfortable, but not taking that first step to try and make a change to meet our kids as 21st century learners, in my mind that is setting them up for failure.  So while it is hard for me to make those major changes, I know it's a necessary part of moving forward and teaching the youth of today what they need to become successful and productive Digital Natives.