Final Project
Teaching teachers to implement 21st century tech. in Classrooms.
Michael Crews
Rational: I chose this topic because it is a very important step between the theory that everyone would agree with that "we should have relevant technology in classrooms" and the practical "here is a lesson based on modern technology" which many teacher today dont know how to use themselves therefore can not hope to teach students in this stream of thought. Learning throughout life is a necessity for teachers because modern society changes/reinvents itself every decade almost so if we dont keep up we, and by proxy the students we teach, are left using items that are considered items from an archaeological dig. lets not be those teacher.
Preparation for the project:
- Do some research: This is the phase when you take a good look at what is out there, not just what is used in most schools, but what is coming out right now and what has proven itself to be useful in classrooms. Look at cutting edge teachers blog that discuss what they are using and how well its working in their classes. This can focus your searching from the thousands of to dozens of good ones available. use the blogs to interact with those teachers to bounce ideas about how it could be used in your classroom.
COST: that evil little detail that is the big difference between what we want and what we have. Working in a small school means that even if you find a marvelous software package or hardware system, if it costs tens or hundreds of thousands to realize then we should move on, find things that are possible so you dont spend time on something that will most likely never occur in your school.
RESOURCES: looking at available hardware, if your school is running certain software/hardware then you can't run some tech. knowing what you can and can't run will reduce hours of frustration if you do all the work then find out it cant happen without a whole system overhaul. Also simple amount of resources, if you have older/cheaper technology then running something blazing fast just on the market software will probably cause lag and frustration with the program for everyone involved.
Ok now you have a list of what is available from your research. look at this from the eyes of your teachers. If you have mostly elementary teachers then focus on software they can easily integrate into their classroom. If you have more high school then look for more higher level thinking type technology.
see what you will need to run these chosen programs. If you need smart boards then see that your classroom have them, if you need other interactive technology (iPads, laptops, signaling devices for answers ect...) make sure you have them available. Subscription to content video serves would fall into this category too, its not just physical items that you need to collect to be ready to start this process. Youtube is good but there are specialized educational video libraries that require accounts.
LOCAL RESOURCES: contact other schools in the area, see what they are using. Meet with those teachers that have success in using tech in the class. The more you know about this before you begin the better it will probably go. IT support, your local IT person would be good to have onside since it will inevitably end up being you and them getting this system working when you start.
TIME SCALE: draw up a plan that takes into considerations the wide ranging levels of knowledge that will walk into this meeting. From the 23 year old that has most technology in their plans already to the teacher in their final stretch to retirement who needs help setting up the DVD player. Give participants enough time to complete the projects but not so much that they forget between meetings what they learned in the last one.
Prepare to distribute this as a google doc as part of the first lesson.
IMPLEMENTATION:
First meeting should be in the week before school starts, this is when things are getting setup for teachers so if there was a good time to add something this would be it. Nobody wants to overhaul a plan mid way through. During this first meeting plan to give out the afore mentioned timetable through google docs so this is a time to teach how to use that. The google drive function of Gmail is useful for forms and permission slips that multiple people use and wanting a standardized school form.
Then do a survey asking people to rate their knowledge/.experience with the list of options that you found out over your research. this will allow you to spend more time on things that are less familiar and breeze through powerpoint or exel if everyone knows them.
TEACHER HOMEWORK: everyone will love this.... between now and the next meeting have them try out the programs at home (demo or if you have installed on the network already) then do research on what other functions this can be used for. finally look for webinars or course that teach use of some programs.
FROM THEN ON: each meeting should start with show and tell, having teacher sshow what they have done with previous technologies in their classes, this will inspire others and give idea. We need to be sharers of good ideas, its not like if you keep it all to yourself that makes you better than others. Once this time is over we move on to another innovation to use in classes. Some options could be Blogs for classes, or facebook group for a class so if you send a message on facebook all in that group will get it (this is more high school level where most have facebook accounts.) Edmodo is another good group connection program.
Airserv is a program that i use to project the contents of my iPad to the class projector, if i have a great app or just want to have interaction from a student i can just hand them the iPad. Also it allows me to be wandering the class while writing on the board so i can be in a superposition of here and there at once.
moodle based videos that can be accessed at anytime to flip the classroom..
narration over a powerpoint so that they can watch it with your explaining as it goes.
ect..
This would be the input stage getting the info into the teachers but it shouldn't end there. During the year there should be checkups and more work with programs/ technology. These checkups would be checking into classes once a month to see what is happening with these new ideas, are they being implemented and another set of eyes seeing where other things could be done in your class.
Another part of the support for running this would be having a technology wizard come in and take a class of yours with your plans and techno it so you could see how it could be done, also see the students reactions to it from the seats (we cant easily assess it if we are teaching at the same time so let this be your time to look for yourself). Finally we would offer a weekly "tutoring" session for teachers that are having problems, they can come in and get help using this new technology. Even using PD days if available for course or hands on practice to become confident with it. As the teacher we need to have confidence using the tech. if we are doddering and "ummm what do i do next?" there is a loss of confidence in the teacher so lets not be that teacher.
ASSESSMENT:
Assessment would come from above and below, what i mean is that the checkups to see if its being used would tell if there has been change in performance in class with most classes using technology then we see that its effectively being used for the positive. If there is a negative performance with a good record on the checkups then we could check to see if the use of the new technology is interfering with the knowledge transfer and maybe more practice with the technology would help make it fluid and not deter the students
STUDENT SURVEYS: to get the students perspective on the use of technology, was it effective to aiding their learning, was it better then traditional class.
A little competition to help bring out peoples best: have monthly competitions to see who can create the best technology drive lesson. Have rewards of gift card or software for their own home use. From this we will see who is leaders of the pack in technology integration and make them mentors for other struggling technophobes.
TEACHER BLOG: Setup a blog that has a collection of ideas, videos, resources, etc. for all the staff to access so that we can all stand on the shoulders of giants to achieve greatness in our classes. Again i say that hoarding your secrets from others is not helpful to your students or your friendships with other teachers.
FINAL SCORES: It will inevitably end up at this point, to see if there is a trend to better learning and performance on standardized test will always be looked to as assessment. Now i will insert a comment that scores of standardized tests are not the end all and be all of teaching success in my opinion but that is how most people judge it.
MANAGEMENT:
Management of this project will be as technological as the plan itself so lets see.
Google doc will be used for any communications about meetings or anything.
Blog of sharing ideas will be used to manage and monitor what is coming out of the classrooms.
Podcasts of meetings will be made so that just like any student that is having trouble with a subject can go back and watch it multiple times until it is clear, the teacher can review it until they remember the process to create whatever project they are working on.
Social media bookmarking of resources will be used so that anytime you can get onto your facebook/twitter account you can have access to the information you will need, wherever you are.
Finally PRINT IT. If you are having trouble with the technology side of this then you will probably not be comfortable reading from a screen for prolonged time periods so with a simple CTRL - P or PRT SCR you can pront most information so that you can hold it in paper form.
LOCAL RESOURCES: contact other schools in the area, see what they are using. Meet with those teachers that have success in using tech in the class. The more you know about this before you begin the better it will probably go. IT support, your local IT person would be good to have onside since it will inevitably end up being you and them getting this system working when you start.
TIME SCALE: draw up a plan that takes into considerations the wide ranging levels of knowledge that will walk into this meeting. From the 23 year old that has most technology in their plans already to the teacher in their final stretch to retirement who needs help setting up the DVD player. Give participants enough time to complete the projects but not so much that they forget between meetings what they learned in the last one.
Prepare to distribute this as a google doc as part of the first lesson.
IMPLEMENTATION:
First meeting should be in the week before school starts, this is when things are getting setup for teachers so if there was a good time to add something this would be it. Nobody wants to overhaul a plan mid way through. During this first meeting plan to give out the afore mentioned timetable through google docs so this is a time to teach how to use that. The google drive function of Gmail is useful for forms and permission slips that multiple people use and wanting a standardized school form.
Then do a survey asking people to rate their knowledge/.experience with the list of options that you found out over your research. this will allow you to spend more time on things that are less familiar and breeze through powerpoint or exel if everyone knows them.
TEACHER HOMEWORK: everyone will love this.... between now and the next meeting have them try out the programs at home (demo or if you have installed on the network already) then do research on what other functions this can be used for. finally look for webinars or course that teach use of some programs.
FROM THEN ON: each meeting should start with show and tell, having teacher sshow what they have done with previous technologies in their classes, this will inspire others and give idea. We need to be sharers of good ideas, its not like if you keep it all to yourself that makes you better than others. Once this time is over we move on to another innovation to use in classes. Some options could be Blogs for classes, or facebook group for a class so if you send a message on facebook all in that group will get it (this is more high school level where most have facebook accounts.) Edmodo is another good group connection program.
Airserv is a program that i use to project the contents of my iPad to the class projector, if i have a great app or just want to have interaction from a student i can just hand them the iPad. Also it allows me to be wandering the class while writing on the board so i can be in a superposition of here and there at once.
moodle based videos that can be accessed at anytime to flip the classroom..
narration over a powerpoint so that they can watch it with your explaining as it goes.
ect..
This would be the input stage getting the info into the teachers but it shouldn't end there. During the year there should be checkups and more work with programs/ technology. These checkups would be checking into classes once a month to see what is happening with these new ideas, are they being implemented and another set of eyes seeing where other things could be done in your class.
Another part of the support for running this would be having a technology wizard come in and take a class of yours with your plans and techno it so you could see how it could be done, also see the students reactions to it from the seats (we cant easily assess it if we are teaching at the same time so let this be your time to look for yourself). Finally we would offer a weekly "tutoring" session for teachers that are having problems, they can come in and get help using this new technology. Even using PD days if available for course or hands on practice to become confident with it. As the teacher we need to have confidence using the tech. if we are doddering and "ummm what do i do next?" there is a loss of confidence in the teacher so lets not be that teacher.
ASSESSMENT:
Assessment would come from above and below, what i mean is that the checkups to see if its being used would tell if there has been change in performance in class with most classes using technology then we see that its effectively being used for the positive. If there is a negative performance with a good record on the checkups then we could check to see if the use of the new technology is interfering with the knowledge transfer and maybe more practice with the technology would help make it fluid and not deter the students
STUDENT SURVEYS: to get the students perspective on the use of technology, was it effective to aiding their learning, was it better then traditional class.
A little competition to help bring out peoples best: have monthly competitions to see who can create the best technology drive lesson. Have rewards of gift card or software for their own home use. From this we will see who is leaders of the pack in technology integration and make them mentors for other struggling technophobes.
TEACHER BLOG: Setup a blog that has a collection of ideas, videos, resources, etc. for all the staff to access so that we can all stand on the shoulders of giants to achieve greatness in our classes. Again i say that hoarding your secrets from others is not helpful to your students or your friendships with other teachers.
FINAL SCORES: It will inevitably end up at this point, to see if there is a trend to better learning and performance on standardized test will always be looked to as assessment. Now i will insert a comment that scores of standardized tests are not the end all and be all of teaching success in my opinion but that is how most people judge it.
MANAGEMENT:
Management of this project will be as technological as the plan itself so lets see.
Google doc will be used for any communications about meetings or anything.
Blog of sharing ideas will be used to manage and monitor what is coming out of the classrooms.
Podcasts of meetings will be made so that just like any student that is having trouble with a subject can go back and watch it multiple times until it is clear, the teacher can review it until they remember the process to create whatever project they are working on.
Social media bookmarking of resources will be used so that anytime you can get onto your facebook/twitter account you can have access to the information you will need, wherever you are.
Finally PRINT IT. If you are having trouble with the technology side of this then you will probably not be comfortable reading from a screen for prolonged time periods so with a simple CTRL - P or PRT SCR you can pront most information so that you can hold it in paper form.
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