If you have not heard me preach about blogging, today I found my research and backup to all my preaching.  Please take the time to look at this site and study what blogging can do for the writing process in your classroom. 

http://langwitches.org/blog/2011/10/29/learning-about-blogs-for-your-students-part-i-reading/

I look forward to the responses that I get from my friends and colleagues at Birdville and cannot wait for the implementation of  blogging in your reading and writing classroom. 

This morning when I opened up my email I discovered and interesting article supplied by Kim Marshall in her newsletter.  I usually scroll through and just glance at the articles but this one caught my eye.  As I read it, I agreed with the author and felt affirmed with what we as Instructional Technology believe as we see the potential that tools of technology has to offer teachers and our students.  Enjoy and I hope you respond back with your opinion.

How Will Technology Affect the Teaching Profession?

            In this Education Gadfly article, Bryan Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel argue that “digital education needs excellent teachers and that a first-rate teaching profession needs

digital education.” They believe technology will transform teaching in three ways:

            • Extending the reach of the best teachers – In the digital future, highly effective teachers will make even more of a difference to students, say Hassel and Hassel. Technology will deliver core knowledge and skills to more students. What will differentiate outcomes for schools, states, and nations is how well teachers do the more complex instructional tasks:

-    Motivating students to go the extra mile;

-    Teaching time management;

-    Addressing social and emotional issues that affect learning;

-    Diagnosing problems and making changes in real time.

The best teachers have always done this, but in traditional classrooms, they only reach 20-25 percent of students. Technology has the potential to take care of mundane instructional work, freeing top-notch teachers to spend more time on higher-level activities and reach more students. It will also be possible for master teachers to reach students in other classrooms, cities, and countries by using web cameras, videos, and well-designed instructional software.

            • Attracting and retaining the best – Technology-enhanced teaching should make the profession more rewarding for the best and brightest, say Hassel and Hassel, “wooing unfulfilled engineers and lawyers to a better life.”

            • Boosting effectiveness and job options for average teachers – It’s not just the super-stars who will benefit from technology, say the authors. “Digital tools will also help average teachers by freeing their time, providing frequent data about their students, serving up tailored professional development, and letting them play focused roles tapping their strengths. They’ll be able to join teams that support fully accountable excellent teachers, with the chance to develop and become excellent instructors themselves.”

            Overall, the digital future will result in fewer, better-qualified lead teachers, supported by new roles such as lab monitors and tutors working shorter hours for lower pay. “The net effect,” conclude Hassel and Hassel, “will be a smaller but much stronger and better paid teacher workforce supported by an array of support staff and digital tools, just as we see in most other professions.”

“Opinion: Like Peanut Butter and Chocolate, Digital Learning and Excellent Teachers Go Well Together” by Bryan Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel in The Education Gadfly, Nov. 17, 2011 (Vol. 11, #45), http://www.edexcellence.net/news-commentary/education-gadfly.html

http://www.youtube.com/user/terlawson?feature=mhum#p/u/0/6PDaQuv2kh8

Check out my You Tube Channel and watch the video. Then ask yourself they question? How will we teach them? Will we continue to teach in the sage on the stage style? Can we afford their future in doing so? I would love to hear what is happening in other districts in teaching the students of our schools today? In Birdville we are looking at the curriculum and replacing the ways we do things with students. For example, instead of testing with a traditional assessment, test the knowledge with the creation of a wiki or blog posting. Let students show what they know.  What are your thoughts for the future of our kids?

Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacob

Upgrading Curriculum for 21st Century
Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacob

Yesterday Birdville ISD had the opportunity in our district to hear Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs.
Principals, Teachers, Leadership, Curriculum and Instruction were there to hear Dr. Jacobs challenge for us as educators to upgrade our curriculum to meet the demands of our 21st Century Learners.
This link is to the 21st communication that was going on in the room while she was speaking.
http://www.scribblelive.com/Event/Dr_Heidi_Hayes_Jacobs

This link is to a great website that the organization she has that if you join(free) has Web2.0 Strategic Interactive Applications
http://www.curriculum21.com/
If you click on the tab “clearninghouse” you will find great Web 2.0 applications.

This link is to a middle school that has taken on the challenge and is “Making Learning Irresistible for Over 25 years.”
http://mabryonline.org

Birdville Curriculum 21 Ning
Now the “Ning” that I would love for you all to join. Our goal within our district is to create interactive curriculum for students of the 21st Century. I want all my schools to be informed. I know you are saying “Ning?” “ What a crazy woman!” A “ning” is a great web 2.0 tool that some teachers are using to share, communicate, and collaborate with other peers and the global world.
http://birdvillecurriculum21.ning.com/

Check out this video that tells you about a Ning

Cheryl Schwaebler and myself are presenting at TCEA. 
“Crusing into the 21st Century with Social Networking”
Teachers and Leadership help presenting a real easy process with so many great things going on all over BISD with Networking.
The video on Social Networking will not work on the google docs so be sure to watch the video about the Social Revolution called Social Networking.
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Effective PL encompasses these things:

1. Learning community/collaboration

2. Continuous Coaching

3. Modeling of Best Practices

4. Availability at any time through a variety of delivery systems

5. Integrated and aligned with district and campus standards and goals

The Instructional Technology Team has adopted these beliefs concerning Professional Learning this coming year.  With these in mind I would like for each of my campuses to adopt along with me these  beliefs as we step into teaching ourselves and the students the 21st Century Skills that we all need to be successful and a contributing part of the global world in which we live.  When we think about the technology learning needs lets continuously keep before us these beliefs.

I look forward to pushing forward in this new school year with you and your students.

Accelerate Learning with Technology + Mission Statement= Student Achievement and Engagement

Vision and Mission of Birdville ISD

“We engage and encourage students and staff every day through meaningful work in a safe and caring environment.”

Last week in Birdville the ITS did a two day technology training called ACT, Accelerating Classroom Teach-Nology.  The purpose was for all stakeholders in Birdville to have the opportunity to learn great technology tools that will engage and make learning have purpose and meaning in the classroom.

Accelerating the implementation of technology in the classroom combined with Birdville’s Mission Statement, teachers and students can create meaningful and purposeful learning When After  reading the mission statement that the Design Team created I breathed a sigh of relief.  Not that every lesson is made engaging with technology but how fortunate that teachers and students have a myriad of great technology tools to incorporate if it will contribute to the learning with purpose and meaning.  My mind begins to swarm with great ideas to help teachers plan exciting, engaging and meaningful lessons that include technology. 

I look forward to working with teachers and students next year to create meaningful work for teachers and students.  All of the campuses that I work are working hard to make technology apart of the system by incorporating technology into the campus plan.  At some of my schools each grade level is encouraged to make technology goals for themselves and their students.  What great leaders I work for that have the insight that it takes this to make it happen.  These goals are not mine but each teacher’s which makes it meaningful.  Then we work with the Continuous Improvement Process to plan, study, act, and reflect on the goals that each grade level has set.  I look forward to improving this process and incorporating in all my campus

Here are some great ways to start thinking about making the learning meaningful and purposeful.  These were a few of the classes that were offered and will be offered before school starts again. 

GPS was a great class at ACT. Participants left with a whole new perspective on what is GPS is, not CPS, and how it can really excite and make learning fun as students plug in coordinates and use higher order thinking to track down those Geo-cashing treasures.

Wikis are a collaborative way to engage students because it gives our digital native students a highway to a web presence while investigating, creating, and reflecting on the learning we are asking them to engage in.  They are also a great way of teachers and others to collaborate and learn about their own learning.  Check out our Acceleration Teach_Nology Ningand check out the Wikis that Work Group. 

Movie-Maker and Photostory

21^st Century Learners are excited to plan, create and show their learning through the use of multimedia.  These are great tools that are easy to learn and easy to implement in the classroom. 

Death by PowerPoint

We all love PowerPoint but please don’t just limit students to using PowerPoint in the classroom. Randy Rodgers showed Web 2.0 tools that are taking students and teachers beyond the use of powerpoint.  Glogsters is an awesome tool for creating digital, online “posters” including video, images, sound, more.  I want to use this tool at the first of school for students to create learning goals  Voicethreads is digital storytelling made simple.  Students create a digital story that is shared within a secure network enabling others to comment on their work. 

Connect, Communicate, and Collaborate with Distance Learning 2.0

I am convinced that it is our jobs as educators to create students that can communicate and communicate with the global community. Using tools like Skype and the new feature of Gmail  that allows video chat combined with a webcam gets you started with the connecting part.  Then use your imagination on the collaboration that can take place.  Teachers in Birdville like Tiffany Bingham are creating collaborations for her first graders at AFCT.  Just think about first graders collaborating at first grade level and what their skills will be at the High school level. 

My mind is swarming with all the possibilities for the learning that will take place next year in our district. 

Last week at Corpus Christi , Distance Learning Specialists met for a week of great workshops, inspirational speakers, and collaborations that enhanced and promoted the use of distance learning in education.  Birdville ITS made a presence with dynamic presentations of the great tools that they teach within the  district.  Randy Rodgers wowed the audience on his knowledge of Tweeter and Web 2.0 tools that build collaborations and communication.