Starting the New School Year with Tech on your Mind

The start of the new year is a great time to change up your methods and pull in new things for the coming year.  A good example of this is with the use of Technology.

Check out the following site to get some great ideas for ice-breaking on the first or second day of school here:  http://zite.to/NuXBUA

Try one or two of these and share via responses to the Blog. 
Special thanks to Karen Marshall from MCESC for posting this link on Twitter.

Remember, your time to make a change is on the first day of school.  Be sure to capitalize on the beginning of school to try out some new things...Make 2012-2013 a year that you try new things with your students that include lots of technology!

Technology Planning

Why do Technology Planning?  This is a great question!  Keep in mind, there is the process of creating a technology plan for your district/building which is submitted to the State for approval.  This Technology Plan is particularly necessary when applying for E-Rate.  Writing a new Tech Plan is a long and arduous project.  You really need to talk to loads of people at every level to come up with your needs...and where you want to go in the future (in the case of current Tech Plan, that would be the next 3 years).

Previously, we used guiding questions from Edie Holcomb as a backbone for Tech Plans...Where are we now?  Where do we want to go?  How will we get there?  How will we know we are getting there?  How will we sustain our progress?  I think these questions make it so much easier to create a good plan.  They really can keep you on track...and encourage good planning.

Writing the Tech Plan and getting it approved is the start.  The real work comes in implementing the plan.  This takes buy-in from different groups in the district/school.  The Technology Department cannot do it all!  This is also why it is critical to include a variety of stakeholders in the planning process.  It helps to prepare a draft timeline for implementing your plan.  Different sections and different strategies in your plan will need different people to take the lead toward implementation. 

When you have a good Plan, it will drive the direction for new purchases.  This should eliminate the idea of folks buying "cool things" because they are new and fun, rather than purchasing "things" that fit the plan...that fit where we have decided we want to go.

A good Tech Plan is very important.  So is good tech planning, which includes a variety of stakeholders.  Implementation of the Plan is critical!

Remember, although the plan covers 3 years, you should do an annual update.  This would be the time you could add a few things to the plan that have come up since the plan was written. 

Wikis?  Why would I create one?

There are many reasons to create a wiki...a place for collaboration, a place for planning, somewhere to save your favorites sites, a place to post documents, etc. for use by a group, and much more!  I have created several wikis in the past...for many of the reasons I mentioned above.  One of my very favorite things to collaborate with on a wiki is Grant Writing.  When doing a wiki for a team working on a grant, I make a separate page for each section/question that needs to be addressed...in fact, I copy and paste from the RFP right onto the wiki so that everyone can see each page in isolation.  Members can use this area for brainstorming as well as to do some of the writing.  In a perfect world, you could probably do all the writing on the wiki!  I I also like that we can even jot down ideas that we want to remember to put somewhere in the grant-very handy.

If you are creating a wiki for use with the staff of your building, there are loads of things you can include.  Naturally, you could post information, forms, etc. as mentioned above.  You could also have staff contribute to pages to solve "problems" or issues without having a face-to-face meeting-a real time saver!  Another good thing is that you can make the wiki private, so nobody else will have access to see or edit what you have.

I know you are asking, "Why a wiki?  Can't I do all these things on other tools such as webpages, Google Docs, etc.?" You can do many of these tasks on other things, but sometimes a wiki is best, quickest to create, easy to manipulate, and can be either permanent or temporary.

What are your experiences with wikis?  Which tool do you prefer?  I generally use wikispaces, but there are loads of other tools out there.  What are your ideas?

Web 2.0 Tools-Blogs

There are so many Web 2.0 Tools that it is hard to even think of most of them.  This week, we are focusing on several of the ones that I think have application in the classroom.  I love the blog with the teacher posting information or food for thought and the students respond...I think that students like to be asked what they think, even if they do not expound on it the way we would like.  It is surely a good way to get them to write.  Remember that you need to give them pretty detailed descriptions/examples of appropriate posts...you could even consider giving them a rubric for grading so they would know exactly what you expect.  A blog like this one is very appropriate for adults and some older students.  A blog like the one on Pow-Pak is great for schools as it is easy to use and the teacher must approve any comments before they will be published.  This guarantees that you will not find inappropriate comments on your blog.

I am really going to try to keep writing this blog a couple times a week...I plan to use it as a journal of sorts.  Hope I can stay with it!

Engaging Today's Students

Isn't this what it is all about?  It is so important for us to engage our students, and it really is not all that easy compared to a generation ago!  Today's students are used to having lots of things going on at once (music, texting, homework, Facebook, etc.) and most include an on/off button.  Gone are the days when my Dad could look for me by following the phone cord!

The world our students live in is not necessarily in books or newpapers or network tv like many of us are.  Therefore, we must engage them in their world.  No, I am not saying just let them do what they choose...I am saying that we can reach them and engage them by putting our feet in their shoes.  Once we get their attention, then we must create learning that will address standards, prepare them for high-stakes tests, and prepare them with 21st Century Skills that will prepare them for the world of work.

We need to strive for true active engagement.  I found this cool diagram on the web that I want to share:

I think this really gets one thinking about the students we "see" as engaged who probably really fall into the passive compliance or ritual engagement categories!

What does authentic engagement look like?

March 6, 2012

This will be the initial posting for this new Blog.  I hope to take advantage of this space to pass on cool things I find and new information (sometimes not so new information!) and other things that I think will interest folks in K-12 Schools.

Those of you who already know me know that I believe that students will do things on the computer that they will not do with pencil and paper. Therefore, we really need to capitalize on this to get our students to do what we need them to do.  Now, my hope is that I can find some things to inspire you...but I promise that I will not encourage you to have students do things that would be better on paper...let's hope I can help you to get to higher levels of work by using technology with your students,

I am also a huge fan of 21st Century Skills and P21.  I believe that what they have found is true...that these skills-communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity-the 4 Cs-merged with the 3 Rs-reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic-are what we need to teach our students today.  I believe that these 4 Cs are what employers want, whether the job is engineer, doctor, scientist, or McDonald's worker.  We have spent so many decades now teaching students for the high-stakes tests that we have not found time to prepare them for the world of work!  The good news is that these skills can be "taught" along with what we need to teach for the tests.

Enough for today!  What do you think?