Technology Standards for Teachers – pt.1

As an educational technology facilitator, I truly appreciate that work that ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) has accomplished in regards to standards for the integration of technology in schools. I am specifically referring to the ISTE NETS*T (National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers) in this article. Over the next while I shall write about the other four standards, so watch for them!

Before diving into the subject, let’s do a self-evaluation. What do you know about technology integration in the classroom? What do you want to be able to do? Understanding where you ARE right now is an important step to furthering your progress in unraveling the NETS*T.

The first standard is “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity”

Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:

a.	promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.
b.	engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.
c.	promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.
d.	model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.

(Excerpted from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm )

Let’s break it down a bit.

In regards to (a), our school division is in the midst of the second year work on Critical Thinking with support from TC2 – Critical Thinking Consortium. Teachers are starting to see how they ARE already doing well in this standard and where they need to tweak an activity/lesson/unit.

With (b) the opportunities to connect in real-world issues are endless. For example, we have an upcoming municipal election and our schools have been challenged to work on the project In Pursuit of Excellence! This activity walks students through the process of selecting and voting for a candidate for an Alberta Order of Excellence award.  Other schools have established video conferencing connections through our own http://www.2Learn.ca opportunities and yet others have worked on exchanging their learning through the use of Voicethread and some great examples from K-12 schools can be found on this wiki started by @ccassinelli.

For (c) collaboration has come in small groups, large groups, offline and in online ways. Below is a listing of some of the online ways our students, teachers, administrators and parents have worked online simultaneously:

• Todaysmeet
• Google Docs
• Titan Pad
• Smartboard Notebook
• Wallwisher
• Wiki discussion tab
• Blog – edublog, wordpress, kidblog
• Video with Youtube, Schooltube, Teachertube, Videoconference, Skype
• Graphic organizers and Project-Based Learning activities from http://www.readwritethink.org
• Taking It Global – TIGed and The Center for Global Education – CGE

In regards to (d), modeling collaborative knowledge construction can be a scary step for teachers. No longer are they “the experts” in the field. It is key to show them that there are excellent ways to engage students with outside sources that are meaningful and authentic.

Take time to review standard one, pre-assess (if you haven’t yet), where you are and then try ONE thing and ANOTHER and soon you will realize that you are showcasing learning in a variety of ways. For further inspiration I have included some of the great TED Talks on creativity. Enjoy!

• Ken Robinson – Schools Kill Creativity
• Tim Brown – Creativity and Play
• Elizabeth Gilbert – Nurturing Creativity
• Child prodigy Adora Svitak – What Adults Can Learn From Kids

Please share how you are engaging your students, yourself and even others in this first standard. It is always great to hear from others and pass on the exciting things happening in and out of the classroom.

Image – http://www.weblo.com/asset_images/large/creativity.com_479f886238782.jpg

 

Tailor-made Twitter Lists for Teachers

Tailor-made Twitter Lists for Teachers

For those of you who are new to twitter OR who are looking to follow specific groups, I have created several Twitter groups. These twitter groups each contain a list of people with a brief intro to each of them. You can choose who to follow, click on your twitter account and instantly you have new people to connect with!

Groups include: art teachers, special education, counselors, kindergarten, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, grade 4, grade 5, grade 6, middle years, music, librarians, English/Language arts, PSD#70.

Go to this form to enter your information, I will add you to a group(s) and send the link directly to you! Also, I will not share your information in any other format other than the twitter list.

Image- http://www.dreamstime.com/twitter-bird-talking-thumb11436196.jpg

 

One Day on Earth Project

One Day on Earth is a collaborative effort of filmmakers, journalists, educators, students, and inspired citizens in every country of the world, who will collectively document the 24-hour period of October 10, 2010 with video and photography. One Day on Earth has built free online educational toolkits to facilitate school participation in our project, and to empower students to use digital filmmaking technology to help tell the world’s story on 10.10.10.

The toolkits include lesson plans, worksheets, slideshows, project ideas, and recommended viewings and readings. The educational materials can be incorporated into any grade level from kindergarten through college through age-specific worksheets. They can also be integrated into many subject matters though subject-based project ideas, which have been designed to align with local and national educational standards. http://www.onedayonearth.org/page/eduv3-1

Image- http://www.dreamstime.com/multiracial-hands-around-the-earth-globe-thumb14115467.jpg

 

Next is Now

Thanks to @jmedved for finding this gem of a video! I am so impressed by the amount of information presented within the video that is truly Canadian content. I hope it goes viral throughout Canada to all school stakeholders. It is worth the four minutes and raises the question (from a school environment context), what can we do to support these tech-infused students in a learning environment? How do we want this technology to support learning?

I would be interested to hear/read your thoughts!

 

Children-driven Education

TED Talk is one of my favorite places to find reflective, engaging and motivating videos to share with colleagues. As an Educational Technology Facilitator for a school division, I am lucky to have the ability to share TED as a great resource for administrators and teachers.

Various other bloggers and my own PLN agree that TED is an amazing resource. Learn-gasm has gathered 25 TED talks for teachers.  There’s a wiki to assist teachers in using TED talks within the classroom to start discussions, reflections and even as a culmination activity. Even Lifehack has chosen 10 videos that will change our opinion of the way we see the world.

As you can see TED talks really reverberate with a variety of people and organizations.  This week, I had the opportunity to spend 17 minutes engaged in a summer 2010 talk by Sugata Mitra (famous researcher for his Hole in the Wall experiments in India). He takes us on an incredible journey.

After watching the video, one of my colleagues, Diane, commented that we could show it at an Administrative Leadership meeting and follow it with a U-shaped discussion (Support Material: U-shaped Discussion) . The discussion could be based on the question, “Can a computer take the place of an effective teacher?” After debating the issue, we could co-create criteria for an “effective teacher.” (Or, before watching the video, build the criteria, and then re-visit our criteria after having watched the video…) Our school division is involved in a critical thinking iniative that is really making an impact for administrators, teachers, students and parents so this video and activity would be a perfect opportunity for our Learning Services department to share a great video and model a sound teaching strategy (not just critical thinking but touching on differentiation and technology integration).

How would you use/share this video in your position? After viewing the video, what are some of the BIG IDEAS that you came out with?

 

Technology Tuesdays

What can you accomplish when integrating technology

into the classroom or daily work process?

Within my school division this year I am offering Tech Tuesdays which will attempt to answer the above question. These aim to be individual workshops open to any PSD employee who is interested in learning about a specific technology integration topic. The session topics have come in from various sources over the past school year. The sessions will run every two weeks from afterschool.

Examples of topics: Be Semantically Aware, Audio Roundup, The Benefits of Polls and Surveys,

Expanding your PLN with Twitter, Playing with Images, Online Research Exploration, Presentation Reform, Backchannel and Chat Features, Integrating Feeds and Aggregators to Collect Info, and so much more!

I am really excited to work with people, and expand on our technological knowledge and skill level within the division.

 

The 23 Things Project

In education, we all understand that the face of education is changing. The 23 Things Web 2.0 Project is designed to introduce school division personnel to the tools that can transform learning in their classroom or school.

Activities can be completed independently, as a small learning community or as a large staff.

The project goes through 23 activities to introduce some of the tools of the Internet. Web 2.0 tools are bringing  students in touch with the entire world through social networking, wikis, video, podcasting, and gaming sites.

The entire project should take between 8-10 weeks. Each week there are a new set of tools to

learn about, experiment and use. Progress can be tracked and recorded  in a blog.

Check it out at http://23thingsproject.wikispaces.com.

I am looking forward to the learning, fun and discussions!