Reflection Technology Standard II

“As educators, we must take our cues from our students’ 21^st century innovations and behaviors, abandoning, in many cases, our own pre-digital instincts and comfort zones.” Prensky is absolutely correct. Many teachers are more likely to take a cell phone away from a child instead of changing their own thinking. That teacher could realize the impact of the cell phone and begin finding ways to utilize the cell phones the students already have. We have a teacher in our district that was even featured on the evening news because the press was so enthralled with a teacher utilizing cell phones in her High School classroom. All the teacher did was set up simple surveys on www.polleverywhere.com and the students were so excited. High school students excited about going to class should not be a novelty. "A second key barrier to technological adoption is more challenging. Schools famously resist change. . . . But resisting today's digital technology will be truly lethal to our children's education. They live in an incredibly fast-moving world significantly different that the one we grew up in" (Prensky, 2008).

I work with Digital Immigrants on a daily basis. Many want to embrace new technology. There seems to be a group, though, have insurmountable difficulties understanding technology. I know of several teachers who have tried learning how to do a simple copy and paste but must look up their notes on the topic before they will even attempt this small feat. On their same team, these teachers will have colleagues who are using Web 2.0 tools without even realizing their coworkers have no idea how to integrate or use these tools. How does a school tell parents when they end up with a teacher who mentally cannot learn technology that their students have full year with this person?  I am frustrated for the teacher who has a block where technology is concerned.  But, more importantly, I have sadness for the students in their class. I continue to work with all the teachers and try new innovative ways to help them each learn.

“Teachers may know how to operate technology, but they are not sure how to implement technology into the classroom to support student learning” (Williamson & Redish, 2009, pg. 37). For the past eight years I have worked with LeeChel and Chris Moersch as a consultant with Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi). To help create an atmosphere where teachers understand the connection between technology and curriculum is vital. Most teachers are challenged with how to implement technology effectively and lessons at a high cognitive level. We need to provide our teachers with a guide for a balance in technology integration.

I truly enjoy my job since I am able to meet with teachers regularly to help them plan lessons that integrate technology. At the end of September, 2010, the third grade teachers wanted to start a project with their student’s favorite places around our city. I met with the teachers to discuss the possibilities of branching this lesson so that the student could take the idea global. We started with the logistics of students gathering pictures of their favorite spots around University Park, Texas. The students were to create a five or more “slide” narrated VoiceThread about their favorite spots around town which we called hot spots. We contacted our district Global Teacher, Edna Phythian, to help us connect with a class in Madrid. We created a shared Google doc to keep everything organized and in writing. I met again with the teachers in early October to finalize lesson and to create a simple blog where we could link each students VoiceThread for others to easily find and interact. On October 21 I updated our shared Google doc to have links to each teacher’s VoiceThread Hotspot project on the blog. Later the teacher from Madrid shared her link.

On December 12, 2010, I met with the second grade team on integration strategies. One of the areas the team was having difficulty was in the teacher trying to help every child during computer lab time. I talked with the teachers about showing one or two students how to do certain steps and the student helper could go around the lab and help students. The teachers appreciated the tip and began utilizing computer helpers in the lab.

During the same meeting I gave the second grade teachers ways to utilize the three classroom computers without interruption during lessons and class work time. I showed them to take popsicle sticks and put a student name on each stick, divide the sticks into three equal groups, and place each group into one cup without a label on one side of each computer. Then I put another cup labeled “finished” on the other side of each the computer. I explained that if they took one stick randomly out of the cup and placed it on a student’s desk they would know to be the first at the computer station. The procedure would be then that when the student was finished with their computer time, to put their stick in the “finished” cup, and then randomly choose another stick. They would put the new stick on the correlating student’s desk and that student would recognize that it was their turn at the computer station. They would repeat the procedure for each group’s computer station. At the end of the day, the teacher would also know which students had the chance to use the computers and who still needed to go the next day. Once all students had a turn at the computers, they could start all over with the procedure. This has been a great tool for many teachers at the schools I have worked. The teachers appreciate because they no longer have to “keep up” with who has gone and who still needs computer time.

 

References

Prensky, M. (2005/2006). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 10.

Prensky, M. (2008). Adopt and adapt: Shaping tech for the classroom. Edutopia: The George Lucas Education Foundation.

Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). ISTE’s technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.