Back to School Meetings

I can't believe the back to school season is beginning already. Next week, I have my first back to school meeting with all of the building technology specialists. We are hoping to come away from the meeting with a concrete plan as to how we are going to encourage and train teachers to use technology in their classrooms. We do not want teachers to use technology just for the sake of using technology. It should be used in ways that will benefit students and improve the learning experience. One thing we really want to focus on is creating meaningful professional development for our teachers. What are some of the best PD opportunities you have had and what made them so great?

Digital Natives?

I have always been a bit skeptical as to the notion of digital natives. The term itself suggests that today's children are born knowing how to use technology. This is certainly not the case. Just a few days ago, I asked my eleven year old brother to email something to me, and he did not know how. Sending an email should be easy for a digital native right? Children and students might be able to pick up on and learn how to use technology more quickly than many "older" adults because they have likely had more exposure to it, but that does not make them native to technology. They still need to be taught about digital citizenship, online safety, how to email, netiquette, how to use the G-Suite, etc. They are most definitely not born with this knowledge. 

I found the information from Professor Thomas C. Reeves to be really interesting. There is such a push to change the face of education and to use technology in instruction, but Reeves contradicts this idea. That is not to say we shouldn't be using technology in our classrooms, but there is a time and place for everything. I love how Reeves suggests we should not be tailoring our instruction to a particular generation, but rather we should "identify the needs of any given set of learners" and design a learning environment that would be most beneficial to them (Reeves, 2006. p.21). As educators, part of our job is determining how to best meet the needs of our learners, and this is going to look different in every classroom because no set of learners is the same.

References
Reeves, T.C. (2008, January 22-25). Do generational differences matter in instructional design? Online discussion presentation to Instructional Technology Forum.

Be Our Guest

Today's guest blogger post is a little different than most. As a technology integration coach, I am obviously heavily pushing the use of technology in schools. I thought it might be fun to hear from the other side, so this guest post is brought to you by a fifth grader.

At my school we don’t use much technology. If technology is being used it is
for a test, research, or reports. Technology is a huge resource to everyone
especially on homework, but in school it might be a good idea for these few
reasons. When you become an adult you use technology daily if you teach
students how to use technology in their youth that could help them tons in their
later life.
Technology is full of websites that children could use to learn and help them in
their school work. In my school the younger kids do that all the time. My school
has a computer lab that maybe you might like too. We use our lab for research or
big end of the year tests, but only with supervision from our teacher. For some of
the younger kids the lab is used for learning websites for children but still with
adult supervision.
As you can see technology can be a good thing but if you use the wrong way it can
be dangerous. My school is very safe about technology and it has helped my grade
and everyone else learn and progress throughout the years. If your school uses
technology and is safe about it, it can be very helpful.

Online Safety: The Responsibility of Schools or Parents?

I recently read a blog post on why parents should be concerned with teaching their children about digital safety. (You can find the link below if you would like to read it.) Many people believe that it is the schools responsibility to teach students about online safety, but in his post Corey Tutewiler suggests that it is more of a partnership between schools and parents. He argues that children begin learning in the home before ever coming to school and most children, whether good or bad, tend to exhibit behavior more similar to their parents than any teacher or educator.

I tend to agree with Tutewiler's point of view. I definitely think the responsibility of teaching children about online safety falls on the shoulders of both parents and educators. It is important for students to be safe while at school, but once students leave school grounds, educators cannot be solely responsible for what students do online. Parents need to be aware of what their children are doing on their devices.

I recently had a colleague hand me his phone because he was on Facebook and couldn't figure out why an inappropriate account was showing up on his feed. He said he had denied adding the account to his friend list. As I took his phone, I looked at his feed and the account wasn't showing up because he was friends with the person. It was showing up because his daughter had accepted a friend request from the account. My colleague was shocked that his daughter would add someone to her social media that she did not know and was clearly inappropriate. We talked about how as parents we assume our children know how to be safe online because a lot of times they know more about different sites, apps, etc. than we do. He determined that when he got home, he would sit down with his children and talk about online safety and make sure they got rid of people they do no know on their accounts.

I think this is an important discussion all parents should have with their children. Social media was not a very big thing yet when I was in high school, but my parents only allowed my siblings and I to have a MySpace (I know, old right!?) and later a Facebook account if they had our passwords. We also knew that our parents could take our phones whenever they felt like it and read any texts on there. My parents did not do this in a malicious or overbearing way. They explained that it was for our safety, and they tried to respect and allow us some privacy while still making sure we were being safe. Technology is going to continue to change, so as parents, I think we have to stay on top of the parental controls and tools that are available to keep our children safe.

Gaggle Speaks - Safe Schools Begin at Home: Why Parents Should be Concerned about Student Online Safety

Learning Spaces...What Do You Think?

Learning spaces were mentioned multiple times during the P20 Conference I attended this past week. The discussion focused around the idea that we should create learning spaces that are more authentic, comfortable, and allow for creativity. We were shown pictures of students sitting on large yoga balls, bean bags, and laying on the floor while working. One of the sessions focused on the idea of caves, campfires, and watering holes shared by the ISTE after a study tour in Australia. Caves are an area for students to work when they need to have quiet to think and work alone. Campfires are for students to share their work, discuss, and collaborate. The watering hole is where students come for instruction, whether that be to the teacher, a video, or text. To learn more about this idea, check out this short article.

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1015175.pdf

What do you think? Should we try to change our learning environments and get rid of desks in straight rows? What does your learning environment look like? To what extent do you think learning environments impact student achievement?

On My List...

Yes, I am one of those people that has a list for everything. I have a list of my lists. My job as a Technology Integration Coach is a new job this upcoming year. It is not just new to me, but a completely new position in the district. There is not a job description even in place yet, so it is up to me to define what this job is going to look like. Our goal is to get both teachers and students more comfortable using technology in the classroom. We also want them to use technology with a purpose and in ways that will enhance learning. Currently, one of my longest lists is that of ideas for the upcoming year. Feel free to add to my list with any ideas of your own or provide feedback on any items you have experience with.

1. Kyte Learning - Our district has access to Kyte Learning, which is a site with training videos on tons of technology tools and how to use them in education. I can actually assign teachers certain courses to take according to their individual needs.

2. Google Certification - I am working towards becoming a Google Certified Educator and am considering offering the same opportunity to any staff members who may be interested.

3. Swivl - The Swivl is a small robot that holds your iPad and swivels around to follow a person holding a remote. It is a great way to record yourself and reflect on your teaching. I could also use it to video myself of other teachers to share with the rest of the staff.

4. Book Study - I am considering holding a book study as a staff. I am not sure what book yet, but it would be something motivating and technology oriented.

5. Lunch & Learn - I need to gain the trust of the staff in our two middle schools because many of them do not know me. I would like to hold a "Lunch & Learn" once or twice a month where we would eat lunch together and discuss teaching practices, technology, ask questions, etc.

6. Digital Badges - I would really love to develop a badge program for our professional development to encourage teachers to try new things, share what they try, and then be able to recognize them for it. I am not exactly sure how this will look yet though.

7. Google Communities - One complaint in our district is the lack of opportunity for collaboration among the different schools, subjects, and grade levels. I would like to create Google Communities for each subject and grade level for teachers to talk, share, and collaborate.

9. Tech Newsletter - I am planning on using Smore to create a newsletter with technology tips and tricks that will be sent out to teachers once a month.

This is just a sample of what is on my list. I am still adding things all the time. As you can see, many of them are still in the early planning stages. I still have lots of work to do before school starts in August!

Love to Link

I have been at the P20 Conference for educators in Twin Falls, Idaho for the past two days. It has been awesome connecting with other educators and gaining new tools and ideas for the upcoming school year. I thought I would share a few tools to involve and get feedback from an audience or your students during a presentation. I had heard of and used a couple two of these sites before, but the other two are new from the conference. Each tool has a similar purpose, but all are different. Try them out to see what works for you.

TodaysMeet

• Provides a link audience members can follow and can respond to a question. Everyone can see responses in real time.

Dotstorming

• Dotstorming is similar to TodaysMeet, but participants can vote on each other's responses. 

Mentimeter

• Allows audience members to respond to a variety of question types. You can see results in a word cloud or a variety of charts.

Poll Everywhere

• Really simple to use. Ask students a question, collect responses, and see the data in real time.

20 Time in Advisory

My high school has an advisory period three days a week. Advisory is 30 minutes long, and there is no set curriculum to follow. In the past, it has often turned into a free for all where students play on their phones, goof off, or sit and do absolutely nothing. Most of our staff feel that it is a waste of time and would really like to get rid of it, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I have really been pondering how we could make it a more worthwhile part of the day, and as the technology coach, I would really love to get students creating with technology. Here enters 20 Time. For those of you who have never heard of it, 20 Time is the idea that students or employees should take 20% of the time dedicated to work or school and spend it on a creative project of their own choice. Google has done it with their employees, and that is how Gmail, AdSense, and the Google Teacher Academy were born.

In education, it would require students to find something they are interested in, come up with a project, draft a proposal, conduct research, create a final product, and present their end result to an audience. I have seen some of the projects students from other schools have done, and I think it is pretty amazing. I would love to incorporate 20 Time into our advisory period and turn advisory into something productive. What are your thoughts? Have any of you tried 20 Time before? I would love to hear about any experiences you have had! I've also included some resources below if you are interested in learning more about 20 Time in education.

20time.org 
The official site of 20 Time. The videos under the "How" section are especially great.

20-Time in Education Inspire. Create. Innovate.
A site created by educators who use 20 Time in their own classrooms. Lots of great project ideas.

Why "20% Time" is Good for Schools
An article that tells how 20 Time can benefit students, teachers, administrators, and parents.