Great ideas:
- Appy Hour - Friday morning share out with teachers on great apps they have found
- Class Dojo - individual behavior management
- Google hangouts for meetings
- Center Court - not a techie thing - post a question and let the discussion begin - question today was, "What has been the best tech integration story in education that you've seen?"
- Diigo - an app that takes websites and articles, etc... allows you to highlight what you want from the reading and saves only the highlights in your library (wondering if Evernote does this?)
Yong Zhao Article:
The Medium is the Message: Educating Generation M
To engage our children, we must use their platform. And that requires major transformative actions and efforts.
But unfortunately, most of our schools underestimate the importance and complexities of media literacy, often reducing it to the teaching of technical skills.
To do any of these requires a shift in thinking, requires us to accept that world our children live in and will live in has changed. How and what we should teach them should also change. But the current education policy priorities are clearly not on preparing our children to enter this changed new world. The Common Core standards and the Race to the Top funds seem to have completely missed the reality of today’s children and the future world they will enter.
Doug Bundy - Beaverton School District - Raleigh HIlls K8 teacher
20% - The notion that autonomy/breathing room for things to get done
150'
Innovation
Google Lit trips
Real World Math - using Google Earth to teach math
Sketch Up - app to download
Books I must read:
Drive - Daniel Pink
A Whole New Mind - Pink
John Medina - Brain Rules
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Reflection on the day!
Yikes, my brain is overflowing with information. Doug was great and really motivating, but it's one of those experiences where I walk away feeling overwhelmed before I start with all I want to learn and do versus the time I have and the know it all to actually do it. He did reinvigorate me with the power of Google. I keep trying to switch over to "all" Google, but get frustrated and impatient in the moment to figure things out as I'm working. I find myself going back to Word and Excel.
I'd love to find a way to integrate it all. I feel like so much of my working day is navigating all these systems and rarely do they all talk to each other. My calendar and email don't talk to my other calendar or Synergy. Then there's the new eval system, the data warehouse, OAKS portal, and it goes on and on. My username and password list grows and grows. I feel like I'm swimming in the tech, but never getting good at any of it. Maybe that is the new normal. Someone in class used the term, "tech native." I can compare that to my search for native Spanish teachers for our dual language program compared to a native English speakers who are semi fluent in Spanish. I've learned quickly we must have native Spanish speakers teaching our kids Spanish. I'm the native English chick trying to teach Spanish to our students when it comes to technology. I'm trying REALLY hard, using the language all day, but always feeling like I'm not quite grasping the whole picture! And yet my rationale brain tells me the minute I actually grasp something technology wise, it will change and I'll be learning again! Awesome! So the learning here is to get used to feeling a bit uncomfortable, but keep reaching out and taking the risks. I won't ever be native, but fluent... maybe!
The content was rich today, but yes, it can be overwhelming. I'd try pick out one or two to play with, see if it's applicable after 15 minutes, and if not, move on to the next one. Thanks for having a great attitude toward it all.
ReplyDelete"In its semiannual report on Internet Access Services, the Federal Communications Commission found that as of June 30, 2013, roughly 70 percent of households had fixed Internet connections of at least 0.2 megabits per second, a rather slow speed but generally faster than dial-up. Most people with Internet connections have even faster speeds, however. About 54 percent of all households can download data or video at a rate of three megabits per second or better. The F.C.C. defines broadband, or high-speed Internet service, as having a minimum download speed of four megabits per second."
ReplyDeletehttp://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/f-c-c-issues-snapshot-of-u-s-internet-service/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
I agree with you. I feel like I am always catching up with the latest and then there is something new. I wish everything "talked" to each other. I think Google is on its way. They are still working on it. In fact, I hit a road block last night; spending a few hours on something and realizing it is just not going to do what I want it to do...yet. Time well spent? Not sure. Don't worry. You are not the only tech native!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Deb. Other than the comment that non-natives shouldn't teach Spanish (yikes, hits close to home as that's my job), I am on the same page. (BTW, I get your point but still disagree--a good teacher is a good teacher :) I did feel the same way after Doug's motivating, energizing presentation. So much info. that I am not sure where to begin. What I am trying to filter out of it is what few programs make sense for me, and letting the others sort of exist in my file somewhere in case I can access another time. We are being asked to learn a lot of systems as educators, and few of us will be experts in all. I think this class is helping me learn the lingo, tho, so I don't feel like an ignoramus. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Breck,
DeleteI think I need to elaborate on my comment... it was quick and naive of me to compare that way. It's been a quest to find awesome teachers who have strong enough Spanish to teach in a dual language immersion program. What we've found in the two schools (mine included) doing an immersion program, is that a native speaker is best. Research also supports this. When 90% of the day is taught in Spanish, it makes a difference. However, we also have fluent Spanish speakers who native language is not English in classrooms doing a great job. You are right, it's finding the best teacher that is most important. As a district we are committed to hire teachers who also look like a large percentage of our kid population. It's been a big challenge and so competitive to find these teachers for our kids. Hope that makes a little more sense about my quick comparison.
Speaking of frustration...my comment that I just wrote disappeared. We all get frustrated using technology, but this is a normal response. Keep persevering and remember many of our students feel the same frustration sitting in our classrooms learning new material.
ReplyDeleteI'm no longer frustrated...I found my comment.
ReplyDeleteLearning anything is new can be challenging and often frustrating. Just think how many of our students feel. So, when you are working in Google and feel like your at your wit's end, remember your frustrations are normal (most people feel this way with technology) and the more you use it the easier it will become.
I can defiantly relate to your statements about the varied online systems you need to navigate on a daily basis. Data Wharehouse, synergy, email, google calendar, outlook calendar, I feel like I spend the majority of the day toggling between all of these systems. There are some apps that will sync some of these elements, and if syncing between outlook and google apps is an issue you might check this link https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gappssync
ReplyDelete