IT Making A Difference

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.

Watch the video to learn about a wiki. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY

Wikis are a great tool for students to publish their knowledge.  David Warlick  explained today to a group of educators  that Wikis are used for starting and creating collaborations.  Each student contributes their learning and thoughts. Wikis are  easy to write and edit  and add links It becomes the student’s personal webpage. 

Here are some guidlines that other great wiki developers have used with their classes.

1. Post meaningful, relevant information that they have learned.

2. Summarize information they find on the Net and link to it.

3.  Do not delete information of another unless it was redundant or they paraphrased/edited it to make it better.

 Look at how students are using wikis:

Check out the new wiki by Mr. Lee’s Fifth Grade at Walker Creek Elementary

What does a  Wiki bring to the classroom?  How do student’s feel about using a wiki to collaborate?  Do they engage them or give them a purpose for learning? How does it compare to traditional classroom assignments?  What do teachers observe about the use of  a wiki in the classroom? 

Daily Five Live At Smithfield
Today at Smithfield Elementary Mrs. Bartlett’s First Grade Class streamed the Daily Five Lab to Walker Creek Elementary First Grade Team along with Marta White the principal.  After some technical difficulty  we connected and the teachers at Walker Creek were able to chat and ask Mrs. Bartlett questions about the lab setting.  It was a great experience. 

Teachers will find the use of broadcasting helpful when parents cannot come to a class presentation or they want to broadcast an important lesson to parents or a student that might be home bound for a illness.   Ustream is free and basically easy to use.  All you need is the Internet and a web cam. 

This year in Birdville we are dreaming or flying if you are Dr. Waddell. 

The dictionary defines dreams as a condition or achievement that is longed for; an aspiration.  What will be our dream or aspiration concerning the digital natives that we teach each day? My dream for each of my schools this year is that we will have students creating  digital content that we share with others around the globe.  I have a dream that the students in our schools will collaborate and communicate globally with the other digital natives that long to share and build knowledge.   I would love to hear what your dream is for us this year. 

Please share your dream below. 

This school year I want to empower you to reach for your dreams with technology infusion.  I will be looking for the teacher that is really reaching and aspiring using technology.  Each six weeks I will feature that teacher on my blog page that is titled “Risk Taker”.  That teacher will receive from me one free hour of technology fun for their students while they take a break.  I am looking forward to a great aspiring year.

I am starting with Allison Ross from Holiday Heights. She rocks with new technology.  Click on the page to view her great work.  Allison name the date. 

It is not enough that we teach blogging to teachers and have them create cool looking blogs.  Those of us in Instructional Technology must have a deep understanding of how the students in their classroom learn.  I introduced blogging to a group of K-3rd grade teachers in a workshop.  Some of the participants looked at me like I had lost my mind.  You really think Kindergarten students can blog?  Yes, I do.  It might look at little different than a 5th Grader blogging at first but they CAN DO IT!  My understanding of the reading and writing learning  process with kinder and 1st graders helped me to help them start to think of ways are younger students can begin using technology to build their literacy skills .  We have to get educators thinking outside the box concerning technology.  These digital natives are jumping at a chance to show that they CAN DO it.  One example I gave for kinders is to let them podcast their postings in a blog at the start when their literacy skills are in storytelling.  Another idea was to have them draw their stories and then take a digital picture to post to the blog.  Parent would love to comment on their children’s beginning writing. 

How do others view blogging and what it can do for literacy skills?

I am really looking forward to being in the great town on Decatur tomorrow with elementary teachers learning about blogging and how they can integrate blogging into their classrooms.  Blogging is a great tool to help students create and publish their writing and thoughts to the web.  I hope that the teachers will get really excited!