Creating a Lesson

Creating the inquiry based lesson made me think about how many skills can be incorporated into one lesson. Teaching kids a skill and then having them apply that skill to a project, while integrating multiple subject areas, can be both rewarding and lengthy. It's definitely worth all the planning and teaching and reteaching. I think its these lessons that show the students how and when they will use their skills in real life. Because its so realistic, the kids are more interested and focused. I am looking forward to helping teachers use this method in their classrooms as the school year finishes up.

Last PD I implemented.....

The last PD I implemented at Spencer was a 45 minute presentation on quick ways to use technology in the classroom.
First of all I found out I was doing the presentation about 1 day in advance, so I had very little time to prepare for it. So after thinking about what I could show the staff that they had not seen already, I decided on glogster.
The session was about 45 minutes to an hour which was shared with the Assistant Principal, the other Lead Tech teacher and myself. I decided to make a glogster project about using tech in the classroom to show a finished product but also take ideas from the audience and add to the project. From there we had about 10 minutes to look at the site and discuss how to use it in a classroom setting.
To improve upon this session, I would have has the teachers sign up for accounts previous to the PD. I would have also given a small assignment so that they could have some familiarity with the tool. I would have then discuss technical issues they had with the site, what they may foresee their students having issues with, and lastly what projects they want to do with their students. With the remaining time (if any), I would have had the teachers plan a math or vocabulary lesson that they could have gone back the next day and implemented.

Definition of Professional Development

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT— The term “professional development” means a comprehensive, sustained, and intensive approach to improving teachers’ and principals’ effectiveness in raising student achievement.

After reading this definition I wondered if I have been missing out on something at the PD's I have attended this school year. I am pretty sure that every professional development that I have attended did not intend to increase my effectiveness in raising student achievement.
I am not sure if I agree that this a necessary component of PD. I think that sometimes professional development can be used to inform, educate or simply raise the morale of a staff.

Even more importantly PD can be used to teach teachers and administrators new information that may not have an affect on student achievement. For example if we were doing a PD on using Grade Book, the end product would not raise student achievement but it's necessary so that teachers are aware f how to record students' grades.

Overall, I think that the majority of Professional Development should definitely increase a teacher's effectiveness in raising student achievement. However, I don't think that should be the all encompassing definition of professional development.

What is the best way to get others at your schools to use more technology in their teaching and the students' learning?

I think the best way to get teachers at my school to use technology is a combination of a few things.

First they have to see that it is easy to use for themselves. If a teacher thinks or feels comfortable using something they will be more likely to use it with their students. Along those same lines, they have to see that it is something that they couldn't do without technology. Most teachers feel that if they can get the same message across without having to sign-up for lab time or check-out laptops, they may as well teach the lesson more traditionally.

Second, they have to see the technology as something that their students will want to use. The teachers do not want to have to sell the students on using anything. They feel that if the students are already interested, teaching the tech will not over shadow the content material that they are trying to teach simultaneously. Most teachers at my school feel like they are already selling education and coming to school, and they don't need another item on their list.

Third, they have to know that it is mandatory for them to use! Like most things if they can get away with not using it or doing it then they will do just that. At my school, administration has to take a stronger role in making tech integration a must do. Our administration already embraces technology and loves to add things to the building for availability. But it will always be the same teachers who are using everything, because they want to use it.

21st Century Literacy Skills

Literacy itself is a very important aspect of life! Just as we have multiple intelligences we also have multiple areas of literacy. I think it would be difficult to label one more important than the other also nearly impossible to teach one without addressing another. The most important aspect of 21st century literacy to me is teaching children to "read the world". The video http://faculty.nl.edu/rrevzan/tie512w2010/21centlit.htm has very interesting concepts presented by educators. They speak about social literacy and outdoor literacy, which are really important but rarely taught directly to students.
I doubt that anyone would argue that technology skills must be taught to students to ensure that students will be ready to compete in the world. The definition of literacy can definitely be expanded to include so many different things. However when you really get down to it, the basic definition of literacy can encompass everything we want or need children to do. Being able to read and write are fundamentals that we will never be able do without.
If students are taught to "read the world", they can become successful at every area of literacy. They learn to read cues from people, how to read and use the areas in which they live, and how to meet their own basic needs.

Using Computer Games for Learning Purposes

The debate over using computer games as learning will probably never end. I however am I huge supporter of using games to help students learn, especially in the primary grades. There are some great games and or software that can be used to enhance student learning. The website: http://www.abcya.com/index.htm, is an excellent example of using computer games to enhance student learning.

One reason that I think its a great idea is because the games are almost always interactive. Also the games meet different learning styles all at once. Many of the games will talk for the auditory learner. There's required movement for the tactile leaner. Watching the examples or following the movement on the screen will serve the visual learner. Even more importantly the students can learn at their own pace, making small victories and mistakes at their own comfort level.
Also using these games in primary, introduces the students to using basic computer skills.

Personally I have seen computer games teach basic reading skills, language acquisition and many other skills. My son uses the games daily and has for the past two years. Due to his autism he was completely nonverbal until he started using starfall.com. Within two weeks of using the website he was naming objects, naming letters and sounds and counting. This website also encourage him to use the mouse more effeciently. He now uses pbskids.org, nickjr.com and many other websites. Most of the sites he visits uses similar learning objectives and he can spell words and finish sentences , even estimate! Most of these games go along with some TV show that he watches so there is some motivation for him there as well.

I think that as with anything else, these games are tools and if used properly, can be a great asset to students.

http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=531; is an online presentation by a teacher who uses computer games in his classroom.
http://www.articlesbase.com/computer-games-articles/educational-computer-games-as-effective-learning-tools-904236.html; an article about using computer games as learning tools

The last great PD

The most recent PD that was great for me was the Apple, iPods for education PD. I liked that PD basically because it provided me with lots of applicable ideas. The presenter provided all her handouts electronically. Which was great a great idea, in my opinion, because I was able to share this info with my teachers without needing to remake handouts or rely on my own notes. I also found it quite useful when the presenter showed us where to find language arts material in iTunes! She even showed us how to create printed materials from the FREE items we found in iTunes.
The presenter also took the time to gauge the audience to see how many people owned iPods, and how many had used them for educational purposes. A great portion of the presentation was spent on features of the iPod, which was not that useful to me but it was a great idea because a lot of people said they were not familiar with the model of iPods we were using.
The last thing that made it great for me was the last hour of the PD was spent exploring on our own at our own pace, with the presenter being available for questions or to help find things!!!
Overall I thought it was one of the better PDs that I have attended in quite some time!