I'm an instructional technology specialist, ITS. In the district I work for, an ITS is assigned a feeder pattern, a high school with all of the elementary and middle schools that feed into it along. Many of us also serve auxiliary and special schools in that area. When requested, we also serve the private schools in our area. On average, each ITS serves 9 to 11 campuses regularly, year round, with anything instructional technology.
Personally, my favorite days are when I team teach a technology integrated lesson with a teacher and work with students. It's a great way to remember my roots as a classroom teacher. How else can you continue to relate with the people you work for? I don't ever want to be that staff developer that people point out and say, "She has forgotten what it's like to be in the classroom."
Many of my actual days fill up quickly providing technology staff development, supporting my campuses in various ways, leading special PLCs, teaching a small group who are planning something specific when they don't see a training offered on-line, or one-on-one sessions for teachers that feel more comfortable with a tutoring session away from their peers. Let's not forget squeezing in time for endless paperwork.
Since I move from campus to campus, I've decided to offer a new way for my teachers to follow me if they want to know when I am at their campus. I created an account with Foursquare. It's a social networking tool you can use to check in when you arrive somewhere. I have been using Foursquare to check in when I arrive or as I'm leaving a new location at work because I can't provide a consistent schedule. Then, I set up my foursquare to also post to my facebook and twitter automatically. If someone needs me, there are many ways to send me a message so that I will know to stop by when I am on campus. If you notice I'm on one campus more than another, that's simply because I'm being requested there more. I do work for 9 campuses, film What's Appening at the EPISD TV Studio, work with the Gene Roddenberry Planetarium, have staff meetings, and am asked to work on special projects and present at conferences for the district. I think Foursquare is going to help me become more visible with a simple check in.
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Day 1 at Podstock was amazing. I could only attend one session at a time. I really wish I could have broken myself into several parts take part in every session. Here are the sessions I attended. Launch Me with Kevin Honeycutt I've been wanting to attend a real Launch Me Session for at least a year now. It's a little difficult to attend if you live as far away from KS as I do. So when I saw there was a 45 min. preview, I took a front row seat. I also couldn't pass up the chance to listen to Kevin Honeycutt speak. He says so many things that make me think. His stories draw me in and remind me why I began my journey as an educator. :) "You guys are dying of humble. Where are the stories of what you are doing with your students? If you don't want to brag on yourself, brag on your kids." Many teachers are so worried that their colleges will be mad at them. They hear, "Stop it, or we are all going to have to do that!" When I step back and think about it, it's completely true of myself. I'm not completely ready to brag on myself, but I'm 100% ready to brag on the kids and the amazing teachers I work with. It's definitely the place to start. I've always been scared to share because I thought people might be critical or judgmental. I really need to get over that. It just doesn't feel comfortable to me. One thing I picked up from this conference is, if you get too comfortable, you'll stop learning. Kevin said, "Anytime you don't feel brave, remember you are a warrior for your kids." Just think, "I might get beat, but I'm going to fight." I'm going to do this. I still want to attend the whole Launch Me Session with Kevin Honeycutt. I want to continue to learn and improve my skills as a educator and presenter. I want to inspire others the way Kevin inspires me. "Know why you are here. This will direct you as you plan, grow, and learn." Kevin Honeycutt CSI-Investigation Storytelling Investigation with Dean Mantz and Wesley Fryer The room was set up like a crime scene. It really felt exciting when you entered. QR Codes were placed on the outlined bodies. We had the chance to investigate storytelling. I wish I would have taken more notes during this session. I blame Dean and Wesley. I was so busy investigating that I forgot to write things down. I was engaged. :) These guys had the class moving around, scanning QR Codes to view digital stories, then answering questions that required us to really pay attention to the digital story. I think my partner and I watched the digital stories 3 times each just to make sure we caught everything and invesitgated well. We were able to view the class input with a shared spreadsheet. When we regrouped, we used padlet to share our thoughts. Teachers added great feedback to the CSI Padlet. Dean Mantz also shared something that I will continue to share with educators I work with. "Don't think of FAIL as a negative. It's just the First Attempt in Learning." Try it again. The videos we investigated were from Celebrate Kansas Voices Project which was based on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices Project. This is a project I intend to look into. The digital stories we investigated told stories from the past. When Teachers Start Thinking Like Game Designers with Curtis Chandler
I attended this session and learned about a lot to tools that can be used in the classroom. Our students are gaming. Why use gaming in the classroom? It's fun, active and immersive. Curtis said we don't need to spend more time playing video games, we need better use of them. Tools that were shared during this session. Link to the majority of the Tools Curtis shared during his session. iCivics - games to help children really understand Citizenship and Participation, Separation of Powers, The Constitution and Bill of Rights, The Judicial Branch, The Executive Branch, The Legislative Branch, and Budgeting. Google Earth + 3D Simulators - to learn and explore places on Earth Minecraft -a game that allows you to build anything you can imagine. Check out the article Curtis wrote about Minecraft for Ed Week. SimCity - a game that allows you to build. Look for SimCityEDU to launch. Curtis talked about rethinking the way we display student success. Teachers can think about game design and begin looking at using progress bars instead of grades. What about using leader boards instead of grades? What if we allow the students to level up in class? Students would begin at the lowest level and aim to reach a higher level. He even challenged the audience to consider allowing the students to design their own game for achievement. For homework, I shall watch Classroom Game Design: Paul Anderson at TEDxBozeman as recommended by Curtis Chandler. "Instead of asking how do I get my students to learn this, ask how do I get my students to experience this." Curtis Chandler
His story "It began in elementary school, because as a kid, you are curious," he said. In school, he was allowed to work with the website team (which included a few teachers and him.) His church accepted him as a volunteer to work with media productions. He says his big start came when he was given the opportunity to fill in for the boom operator at church. Around this time, he says he began creating more, "The more you create, the more you learn. Even if it's crappy work, you're still learning. Who cares?" It also feels good to create stuff for other people. His biggest supporters were his parents and his teacher, Eric M. Mark has always been an Apple fan, because it just works. He said the iPhone is so powerful because it can document your life. It is what documented his journey. You can take photos, videos, and find answers. When he was in high school, he had all the information right there in his hand, while others struggled to get it in on time. Yeah, some teachers didn't approve of him using his device, but he would sneakily take photos of the notes as he left the classroom anyway. Most of his teachers were okay with it when they figured out what he was doing was productive and helpful to his learning. He began putting himself in environments with a lot of adrenaline. He said he didn't want to let himself get too comfortable because that's when you stop learning. It takes a lot of drive and passion to follow through with your dreams. It's easier to give up. He found an opportunity to work with a company that was producing. He had to approach his high school and ask if he could work with them as part of the co-op program. They agreed and for 5 months he gained experience in the field and attended high school once a month. He says it was so hard to go back to school the next semester. He had teachers that would let him use his talents to turn in assignments. There was a class he struggled in, just didn't get. The teacher of that class would modify the instruction to help him understand the concept by relating it to film. He believes education should be personalized in that way. Through his learning he found that learning when you need to know is beneficial. He says that he is learning as he is going. When you need an answer, you'll search for it. Check him out on Vimeo. He has accomplished so much. I'll be following his work. Like any teacher, I want to see my students follow and live their dream. He's an inspiration and good example of why teachers and parents need to get to know our students/kids passions and help them reach their dreams. Questions and Answers with Mark
I was so impressed with Mark, that I skipped the session I had marked on my calendar. I hoped to hear more about his dream and advice for students that have already found their passion at a young age. Random things I typed on my iPad during his Question and Answer Session. -Check out his Africa Project Video on Vimeo -Vimeo is a safer place to host student videos because it is more of an art focused place. It is, more of, a place to empower. Read the comments on YouTube and Vimeo, you'll see how the comments empower. -Students should connect and go out of their way to find someone to help them, sit down with them, and talk to them. -Read the Art of NonConformity by Chris Guillebeau. It's a great book to read. -Taking a risk as a teen is the best time. If you are an adult with a family to support it's more difficult. -Ask teachers if you (a student) want to try something different-if they are open to it, they'll let you try it. -You don't have to have all the tools, you should ask and borrow. -It is destructive to allow a student to believe they will not be successful because they do not have the highest grades. They should be there to learn not to get a grade. I was asked to give an 18 minute talk about a technology topic in my district. I wanted to speak to those who think it's too late to begin a journey integrating technology. Don't wait. Begin somewhere. Here is the recorded video of my Ed Tech Talk. I share how I began my journey integrating technology in my classroom. I am learning new things everyday.
I've been to a few technology conferences in the past few years. I'll have to say that I have a favorite now. Podstock2013 was more than a conference, it was an experience. The atmosphere was welcoming, friendly, and inspiring.
The UnConference Wednesday night, I attended the unconference. This was a great way for a Podstock/Kansas newbie to get to know other educators and get involved in conversation. We, the participants, were in charge of suggesting and voting for hot educational topics and trends. Educators that were passionate about the voted topics, became the facilitators of the conversations. They were not presenters. Their main role was to keep the conversation moving, allowing everyone the opportunity to talk. -iPads: Are consumption apps a good or a bad thing? Educators in this session were open to listening to each others ideas. Here's the deal. Each campus is different, each district has different policies, each tech department decides how much they want to lock down or keep an iPad open. That was a nice eye opener. Mostly, we all agreed that consumption apps should be tied to a learning standard or used for remediation at the appropriate time. Not anytime, all the time, for no reason at all. Using an app as a digital baby sitter is a big NO NO. We discussed why creation apps were wonderful. Higher order thinking skills, 21st century learning skills, and student engagement are all great reasons to use them. In the end I walked away feeling like there needs to be a balance. One teacher said consumption apps are the way she lures teachers in. I usually lure a teacher in with a creation app like Puppet Pals or Educreations. As a classroom teacher, you know the needs of your students, let's start there and decide what is best for the iPad in your classroom. -How can administrators support technology integration? I was interested in this session because two administrators were the facilitators and were asking for input from teachers. The first administrator impressed me. She is active on social media and attends technology conferences. She even invites her faculty to come to Podstock (only four accepted). Even a techie administrator is looking for new ways to reach teachers that are reluctant to use current technology in the classroom when it is available. Participants shared ways they promote proper technology use. Most of the ideas were incentive based. I heard ideas like give more technology to the teacher that will use it and take away from the teacher that doesn't. I have to say that I disagree. Giving to the rich and taking from the poor is not going to solve the problem. Here is my idea. What if we give to innovative teacher integrating technology and ask that person to give back to the school by mentoring one willing teacher with that same technology though out the school year? They could learn together. Maybe this way, we could give to both, promote collaboration, and build communities that work together. I feel giving more technology to the teacher that will use it and taking it away from the teacher that won't use it is not going to change their way of thinking. My goal is to hook the teacher not turn them away.
A month or so ago, I was invited to speak about a technology topic for our EPISD Tech Fest 2013. I don’t know about you, but sometimes work and life seem to be going a 100mph and you are just trying to keep up. Your brain is thinking a million things and you know the right thing will come to you...at night while you should be sleeping. As I share my thoughts, my hope is that anyone who feels nervous about using technology will just give their students a chance. Technology has been here for a good amount of time and it’s not going away. It’s not a fad, it’s always changing, I think it’s exciting and there is no doubt that our kids are engaged when we use it the RIGHT way. It’s 2013...I have to say I really realized that the other day when I was signing a car loan. The finance manager said, "when the car is yours in 2019..." "2019," I thought. That’s right, it’s 2013 and I’m financing for 6 years. 2020 is only 7 years away. Why the fixation on the year? Because it’s here. In 6 years, my daughter will be in middle school and the devices we use now and consider innovative will be considered old. We’ll have different laptops and different phones by then. Did you know the Apple App store just celebrated it’s 5th birthday. It didn’t exist 5 years ago. That app you have at your fingertips and open 10 times a day, it wasn’t on your phone 5 years ago. There will be a lot of new technology births in the next 5 or 6 years. You and your students can learn anything with help of technology? Are students passionate about what they learn, are they creating with the same kind of tools they might have in their homes? If they don’t have the technology in their homes, are we giving them the opportunity to utilize them in the classroom? Are we preparing them for their future, for now, not they way things use to be. I felt sad a few yeas ago when I heard an innovative speaker who quoted a student that said, “Whenever I go into class, I have to power down." This was quoted back in 2007, a student said that 6 years ago. I just want you to think about it? I keep hearing of this popular video game, Assassins Creed, people play the video game for fun and while they play they learn about the history of our country better than I ever did in the classroom because they are apart of solving the problem. We should model a love for learning, inquire with our students, and help them really understand why the concept is so important. We should encourage creativity and show students that they can be the best that they can be now, because it’ll be 2020, 2030 in no time. School shouldn’t be that time to "power down.” I want to share my beginning with you. It’s more like my confession. It was my first of teaching, back in 2002. I had an IBM desktop in my classroom. I didn’t use it and neither did my students. I averaged all of my grades with a calculator, twice, it took hours. If I left my gradebook at school, I couldn’t catch up at home and I lost time. I wrote out every single progress report for my students. I didn’t even know how to connect the wires on my computer. I was scared I would break something and sparks would fly from the wall. My campus had a computer lab and I walked my class there once a week. During our time, I did what everyone else did. I let my students play games. Games that didn’t add value to the concepts they were currently learning in class. I didn’t know any better. I didn't know there were Technology Application TEKS (adopted in 1998). I didn't know about the National Technology Standards. How did I miss that? I thought that was what we were suppose to do in the computer lab. :( The point is, 11 years later, when I look into computer labs, I still see me, 11 years ago. My confession is that I didn’t get it. I didn't understand the value of technology in education because I wasn't taught with it and I certainly didn't grow up with all of it. As I was in the classroom, I had a few AH HA moments. My students liked it when I brought my digital camera to school, they liked to take the pictures during our science labs, they liked to write the captions for the pictures they took. They liked to record themselves singing and reading. This was my start. One day I heard I could win a trip to a conference, ISTE. I didn’t know what it was. All I knew was I could win a free trip. I had to try to use the BNI Video Conference Cart on my school and connect with another class and I was entered to win. It was a rough year, personally. I needed a trip. I found the BNI cart at my school and called my closest science teacher friends from around the district. Our students presented and we covered our Science TEKS. The students loved it and learned so much from each other. I continued to connect with those teachers the rest of the years I was in the classroom. The following year, while I was still in the classroom, I had heard about this thing called the SMART Board. I asked if I could have one. Then I needed a projector. There were no SMART Trainings yet. I couldn’t wait for someone to teach me. I didn't understand YouTube as a learning tool. I had to look at the wires and figure out where they went and find the software. I learned on the job. Slowly I began to see it all around me. I knew why and how technology could be used in my classroom. When we collected data we would take the opportunity to make a graph using excel in the computer lab. It was slow but progressive. Mostly, I wanted you to know that I didn’t grow up with a computer in my home. I wasn't born with all of the answers and knowledge. My drive to use technology in the classroom was fueled by my students. I still remember the month we were hitting it hard, preparing for the Writing TAKS. The students asked me why we weren’t using the SMART Board. The truth is, I didn't really know how to use it in writing. I want to share what helped me begin. 1. Build a Professional Learning Network. Add educators, community members, amazing students that you can pull from, ask questions, and learn from. Your network could be on Twitter, Facebook, or ProjectShare. 2. Ask Questions. I asked so many questions while I was trying to learn. I must have annoyed a few people. I learned who would teach me and who would shut the door in my face. 3. Share. Be a cheerleader for what you are doing. Share what works and what doesn't work. 4. Shake off the Fear. Think like a 5 year old. Look at the icons, buttons, tabs and then press them to see what they do. It is better to wear out a piece of technology than to see it sat in the closet for 6 years because someone was afraid to break it. I ended up winning that tip to ISTE and learned a lot. Where to begin? Be a life long learner. Challenge yourself to give your students opportunities to learn and even teach you a few things. There are so many reasons to Blog. For many, many years, there has been a voice inside me that worries about failing. It whispers things like, "don't post your thoughts until you really understand what you are talking about," or "leave it to the experts to share it the right way," or "no one will really care what you have to say." They are all terrible reasons to refrain from beginning a blog. So here I am trying to begin a blog, again. I think it's a good time to reflect on why I know this is the right time for a new beginning.
I have always feared sharing my thoughts about technology integration and education because I do worry. I worry that someone will disagree, or that I would appear ignorant because I haven't heard all the sides. Now, I think this is the right reason for me to begin blogging. I only know what I have read and experienced. By blogging, I will open the door to collaborating with others who have different experiences and knowledge. By chance, if there is one person out there that can benefit from my posts, I'll consider this a success. Often times, I'm sharing my ideas, apps I've discovered, and sharing the amazing things I see occurring in the classroom. It's about time that I put it on-line to share with the rest of my Professional Learning Network. My PLN is my inspiration. |
AuthorKaren Wright-Balbier is a mother, wife, believer and life long learner. She enjoys working out, listening to audiobooks, watching TED Talks, time with her family and a good joke. Archives
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