Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monitoring My Game Plan
I have had success in finding information I need to implement my GAME plan. I have been especially encouraged by the wealth of information I have read and received from my classmates at Walden. The social bookmarking is an incredible resource. At the current time I do not feel the need to greatly modify my game plan. I have spoken with administrators in my building and I am scheduled to present at the next PD day on February 12th. They love that I want to promote integrating technology and are eager for my involvement in improving the skill level in our building. They are very supportive of my professional goals and plan. So far I have learned that my students appreciate and get excited about working with new tools and are feeling a sense of accomplishment. I was surprised to learn that many of my 9th grade students have very little experience with computer based technology tools. Many were even unfamiliar with PowerPoint so I have decided to greatly increase their access - even if it means many headaches and frustration on my part to get their hands on it. I owe it to them as their teacher. I am still struggling with the question of where to find grant money to try to get resources for my students. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!
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I think that your fervor for teaching your colleagues is impressive. Good luck with your professional development day. It can be difficult to present new technology to a staff and have them feel comfortable. Will you be doing a presentation or having each staff member at their own computer? One thing that my staff development teacher uses during staff trainings is uses the program Syncroneyes. This is a computer program that allows you to monitor each computer, share with the computers what one student is doing or project your screen on all computers for them to observe. This is a great tool to use with students, but can also be helpful with staff because the presentation feels personal because it is on the computer in front of them.
ReplyDeleteWhile what you are doing for your staff is absolutely admirable, it can be very time consuming and labor intensive on the part of the staff and yourself. Finding the time to do an entire staff training can also be difficult. One new idea that my school has implemented is the technology tip. We complete this at every staff meeting (once a month) and at one team meeting (for example, the 7th grade team) a week. While this is not true for all departments, the math department (the department I am a part of) has begun doing technology tips as well. These technology tips are no more than 5 minutes long and introduce either a new program or tip for a current one. It does not need to be implemented by the professional development teacher, but any teacher who feels they have something to share. This is a great way to get a lot of information out in a short amount of time. I have learned some neat tricks and have shared a few times myself. Also, the tips spark conversations and we learn a lot.
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteThe "technology tip" is a great idea. I will be sure to pass it on. The way we are scheduled is in breakout sessions so the staff will rotate between several classrooms and work in small groups on various topics. I will be working with about 15 teachers at a time in a lab. The thing I am most worried about is the griping I will hear that goes something like this: "this is a great tool to use... too bad we don't have computers for our students to get on!" I believe we have to dedicate funds for more access to computers - there is no way around it.
Molly,
ReplyDeleteThe way you have taken the initiative to get involved in such a leadership role in your school is very inspiring. I think sometimes we can easily assume that someone else is teaching our students how to use the technology tools that are out there, but once we look closely, our students really are lacking. Good for you for presenting at your schools professional development day!
Have you ever tried donorschoose.org for getting some of the materials that you know you need? I know teachers who have received great materials through this site. Good luck!
Magan
Magan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip. I will visit this site and check it out. I agree that many teachers assume technology is happening in "other" classes. I was flabbergasted that my students have so little interaction with technology across the board. I guess it is up to me!