As a new teacher, I am a constantly trying to develop my personal teaching style. Fortunately, I have found that several of my more experienced colleagues have been able to offer me a great deal of help and support; however, they are often unable to assist me with technology. Consequently, I found this blog very useful as it provides five practical ideas for professional development. My personal thoughts about the ideas are as follows:
- Build a tech team
- Establish a technology “point person” who can help with easy/quick fixes
- Support staff and administrators can be great tech resources
- The age of the teacher's students or their primary teaching subject do not impede with assisting other staff with technology
- Scaffold effective professional development
- Find a balance for technological PD (too much can be overwhelming and too little can be boring)
- Provide support if teachers want to try a new piece of technology in their classroom after a PD event
- Ask teachers what they would like to learn about – give them a voice instead of forcing technology onto them
- Allow for feedback so future sessions are beneficial and a valuable use of time
- Make time
- Provide opportunities for teachers to learn about technology (ex. take 10 minutes out of a staff meeting to show a new tool)
- Encourage staff to sign up for PLCs so that they are able to learn about and implement new technology
- Make it relevant
- Understand the difference between using technology and using technology effectively!
- Encourage risk-taking and provide support
- Encourage conversations to take place about technology (ex. the project that my students did using Audacity worked well because...) and challenge other teachers to try it out in their own classrooms
- Encouragement
- Always encourage colleagues who are willing to try new things
- Offer support and be open if asked about technology (if you don't know the answer, perhaps you can find the answer together)
Overall, this blog opened my eyes to the need for technological professional development to be purposeful and important. As 21st century teachers, we expect our students to be lifelong learners. Shouldn't we be the same?
Blog #2: Using E-Portfolios in the Classroom
With the increasing amount of technology available in most schools, it seems only normal that a shift would occur from physical copies of student work to e-portfolios. This blog offers a list of several tools that allow students to “collect, organize, and share their work.” Specifically, it provides both free and online options that students would be able to access from either school or home. As a teacher of about 150 students, a 'cloud' of student work is definitely easier for me to work with than 50 pounds of handwritten assignments!
Teaching students to build a portfolio is also a beneficial life skill as it teaches meta-cognitive and critical thinking skills which they will need in many aspects of their adult lives. Students should also be encouraged to reflect on their pieces and share their work with others such as their parents to continue academic discussion in the home in order to promote positive communication. Furthermore, e-portfolios would be an excellent asset for blended learning. Particularly with online classes, students would be able to view and critique the work of their peers even if they never met face to face. Consequently, I believe that all 21st century learners should be encouraged to start and maintain an e-portfolio. Teachers can also model this skill and create an e-portfolio that includes personal items of importance. As a result, students and teachers are sharing in the development of their learning which strengthens and encourages lifelong learning.
I found that this final blog was able to effectively sum up the reason and importance of technology in the classroom for student learning. Specifically, the blog focused on the 4 Cs of technology:
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Connection
- Creation
Each of these is explained in more detail in the blog itself; however, I would like to share my thoughts on the 'creation' aspect. It is my belief that allowing students to be builders or constructors of their own knowledge is essential in the 21st century classroom. Using technology to assist students in using higher order thinking skills is, in my opinion, a key reason for implementing technology into the classroom. These days, students are not required to memorize and recall facts so much as to be able to process and derive meaning from information. For example, my cousin in grade 7 could look up the year that Canada became a country. However, through the use of Bitstrips she could imagine and communicate her ideas about how the confederation debate around the table in Charlottetown unfolded. Personally, I believe students should be challenged to create and produce a new product that holds personal meaning to them (and embodies Bloom's taxonomy) as opposed to memorization and recall.
I am going to check out each of the blogs you have reviewed. It's interesting that you mentioned the 4 C's bc our board has included 2 more C's - Critical Thinking and Character Education. You also tied in the critical thinking aspect nicely here. One of the key messages about 21st century learning is that technology is the means by which we use to include and plan with the 6 C's. Do think that sometimes teachers forget about the C's and focus too much on an APP, or iPad?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reply.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of adding two more C's. They definitely seem to fit in nicely. Which board is it?
As for forgetting, absolutely! I think that a lot of teachers focus so much on using technology that they are unaware (perhaps untrained) as to how it can be used effectively. Simply putting an iPad in a child's hands is not going to unlock their full potential!