Week 2: The Digital Information Age - Who Are Our Students and Teachers

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jenny Gridley on January 27, 2010 at 12:54pm

Of the three questions you posed I connected most with the effective strategies that teachers use to connect with students born in the digital age. I have observed teachers in the TRC (past and present) modeling good use of the technology resources that are at their disposal. For example, using the Smart Board or document camera instead of their overhead. They are using those tools, even if they make them uncomfortable at first. They understand that the students find those tools engaging and will interact at a different level than with the "old way". I am also seeing teachers let go of some of the control in their classrooms, allowing the students to collaborate in the learning process. It is an exciting time that we are living in with all the change going on, it's fun having the opportunity that the TRC grant affords us to help blaze the trail for technology integration!

Permalink Reply by Melanie Farmer on January 28, 2010 at 11:54am

It is great to hear your updates from the field, Jenny! One of my favorite activities on the interactive white board is to fly through a Google Lit Trip or manipulate a 3D model. I am glad that you are seeing such great progress in the TRC classrooms and I hope it spreads :-)

Permalink Reply by Jona Neufeld on January 31, 2010 at 10:11pm

This past week my students made a great keynote (powerpoint) project to celebrate Kansas Day. Each student created a card for a famous Kansan and then we put them all into one big interactive museum. We hyperlinked a main card with their cards. When we presented this project to another class we plugged in the SMART and used that as our presentation tool. We didn't practice, we just did it. I was just amazed at how well they took control and used these fabulous new tools to make their project shine! Let the kiddos take off with it-- they will impress us all!

Permalink Reply by Thomas Schmitz on January 27, 2010 at 10:05pm

1) What are some leadership strategies that bring positive results in your school environment?

The TRC grant identified me as a facilitator during June of this year. I have strong technology credentials, but the administrative aspect of this roll made me nervous. I immediately utilized resources available to me. Mulvane’s instructional coach had a useful library (including books by Jim Knight). I recently discovered a new link: http://www.instructionalcoach.org/. I contacted our service center (http://www.sckesc.org/ ). I asked for two or three respected names to focus on. Robert Marzano and Harry Wong were the suggested focus points.
These resources are not new to education, but dedicated implementation does not seem to be the past norm.
A blending of what I knew and what I learned has brought great progress to USD 263. I continue to use this model within this school district.
FOR EXAMPLE: I specifically targeted a respected and successfully teacher. She is eager to implement new strategies, but was intimidated by technology. We discussed the benefits of using the Smart Response software for her spelling test each week. We discussed her personal teaching style and addressed her classroom expectations. These considerations were respected as I assumed full responsibility for three weeks. The classroom teacher actively observed as I administered the test during these weeks. She immediately appreciated the extra time. We team planned and administered the test cooperative for weeks four, five and six. I was available as needed for planning and only observed during the administration for the spelling test for weeks seven, eight and nine. Three building-wide trainings for the software have been facilitated by this teacher (with help as needed). She has become an advertisement for the use of technology within her building and is seen as a stronger leader.

2) What are some challenges for leaders in school environments as well as strategies to overcome the challenges?

Time and money – of course! Benjamin Franklin (and many others) said “Remember that time is money”. The TRC grant is an innovative opportunity that has provided time and money to our school districts. The social networking that is today’s society also provides similar opportunities. I have forwarded grant information that I have received from TRC to other buildings. Melinda Stanley has amazing resources. I believe mutual cooperation with other Kansas schools aided Mulvane in improving grant proposals written in past years. Mulvane was invited to participate with Ark City in the P.R.A.I.R.Y Project (a technology innovation challenge grant, 2002-2003). The P.R.A.I.R.Y Project provided me with my first laptop computer, colored printer, and digital camera.

3) What are effective strategies that teachers use to connect with students born in the Digital Information Age?

A current strategy is the integration of personal technology into the classroom. Personal cell phone use by students is not implemented in Mulvane, but it is a new topic of discussion. Cell phones are not longer confiscated at first sight. I have heard rumor that the Smart Response software will soon allow students to submit answers VIA a laptop and/or a cell phone. The communication devices of Captain James T. Kirk (guess I am not a digital native) represented anticipated technology for a time over 200 years in the future. Their only function was verbal communication. Any word on the release of a galaxy class starship?

Permalink Reply by Melanie Farmer on January 28, 2010 at 11:59am

You hit on such an important point, Thomas, to work with a team! The fact that technology integration is an ongoing process to plan, implement and assess requires many minds to be involved. Also, a small side note...on my PDA there is an application called "response system" so I am sure it is coming soon.

Permalink Reply by Stacy Aschenbrenner on January 29, 2010 at 11:24am

What are some challenges for leaders in school environments as well as strategies to overcome the challenges?

The biggest challenge we have in our building and school district is the divide between the teachers. We have teachers that are digital immigrants and digital natives. However, we also have teachers that are digital immigrants that have embraced the fact that technology is here and they are taking on the challenge of changing their teaching style. Another challenge is providing professional development on relevant topics. I believe if professional development was provided in the area of technology at differentiated levels, we would get closer to closing that divide between our teachers and the divide between our teachers and our students.

I also believe that money is a challenge, but it seems like in our district/school, “if there is a will there is a way.” The TRC grant has provided us with a lot of technology, but our district has also provided 2 other laptop carts for our building through funds from another grant. So it seems like they are willing to get the technology into the buildings, they just have not quite embraced the professional development side that goes along with the technology.

Permalink Reply by Melanie Farmer on February 1, 2010 at 10:32am

I think a differentiated technology learning day sounds very helpful! I always encourage teachers I work with to set mini goals because I think that part of the challenge is jumping over the hurdle of something new, and if they try to do too much it can be easy to get frustrated. Of course, that is why we have you to facilitate the process :-) Keep up the great work!

Permalink Reply by Jill R. Pfannenstiel on January 30, 2010 at 9:41am

There are several effective strategies that I have used that connect with the students learning in the Digital Age. This grant has really changed the way I have taught this year and I'm really enjoying it. It has also been a challenge for me to get used to, but I feel that it's a challenge that has made me grow professionaly as a teacher. I have enjoyed the change and have become more used to using the technology this grant has provided my students and me. I now have laptops, document camera, digital cameras, scanner, and a big tv at my disposal and the students disposal that we use on a daily basis. It was definitely a challenge to incorporate those at the beginning, but I now find myself incorporating them into almost every lesson. This connects with my students because this is what most of them are used to doing every day. They actually teach me some things once in a while and I learn from them. It's amazing to see the learning taking place in the classroom when technology is involved. The deeper understanding of concepts and self guided learning that happens is amazing to see. The students find all of the above mentioned tools very engaging and fun to use, therefore, making the learning more fun and exciting for them. A lot of the time, they don't even see how much they are learning because they are so engrossed in the technology. It's a great time to be a teacher, and this grant has just made it more exciting for me.

Permalink Reply by Deborah Bantam on February 1, 2010 at 2:10am

Agree. .. this last week the kids worked on a project with Keynote. The kids loved collaborating and I agree they are oblivious to the learning- because they are so engrossed! Their creativity is amazing and it is so much fun to see their motivational factor bumped up! We are living in exciting times. . .am so thankful for the TRC grant =)!

Permalink Reply by Melanie Farmer on February 1, 2010 at 10:36am

I love to hear that integrating technology is part of the learning process in your classroom and to think about the growth that you've experienced over the course of the year...way to go! When I was teaching web design I quickly learned to tap in to the wealth of knowledge in my students. I believe the team approach to learning can promote a healthy and vibrant learning environment.

Permalink Reply by Tammy Gilley on January 30, 2010 at 11:20am

In my district teams operate as PLC teams. Each team has a leader that has attended many workshops on leadership over the past several years. Our most recent workshop was held by Tony Pricket called "The Adaptive School." Tony has worked with the staff on developing communication and questioning skills that balance participation among group members. This is hard work, but helps every member of the team feel as if they are being heard.

I have notices the differences in the body that makes up our staff over the last five years. We have all the different types of generations mentioned in the book. I think this is somewhat of a challenge in our district because work ethics and skills are different among the different groups. On way to overcome this challenge is to remember the quote on page 39. "teachers could not be forced to integrate technology, but needed to progress at their own rate;" therefore, I think it is important that we "allow teachers to incorporate technology as they are comfortable in using it."

One strategy that the grant has helped us to achieve is to let students use the tools that they are familiar with and engaged by for learning. Another strategy is to forget the old "stand and deliver" method because students do get tired of hearing the same voice all day long. We can accomplish that very easily by using web based resources; such as, websites, youtube, educational streaming, moodle, webquest, and much, much more.

Permalink Reply by Jenny Gridley on February 1, 2010 at 9:46am

I agree Tammy, we have to meet teachers where they are not where we think they need to be...I struggle with that because there are so many neat ways that students can be showing what they've learned in different ways but if the teacher isn't ready for it I can't force it. I just keep reminding myself, baby steps...baby steps.

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