I'm JUST

Today, I attended a one-day conference, advertised in some part as a technology conference.  It really wasn't.  It was more about the cool things several educators are doing around the state to make learning better for kids.


Before the last session, I sat with mostly folks from my own district, spare one person.  This person had also presented earlier in the day and apparently, at least one of our district people had attended the session, given the dialogue between the two of them.

The dialogue peaked my interest, so somewhere in the midst, I asked what her role was.

"I'm just a Kindergarten teacher."

ARG! 

Think of the last time you heard another professional say, "I'm just a [brain surgeon]."  Most professionals are glad to announce what they do.  Teachers, on the other hand, have had a bad rap, especially lately, and have been programmed to apologize for their career choice.

During all this dialogue, I ended up calling her on the "I'm just" statement, saying she has probably one of the hardest jobs in K12.  When the time came for other introductions and one of our people began by saying, "I'm just"... she quickly corrected them.

If you are a teacher, you are not "JUST" anything. Take ownership and pride in your role!  Wear it as a badge!

Deviscism

Every year our state public schools have to report on a lot of data elements that will be released in the "School Report Card".  Many of the data elements are accumulated through the state and for a few elements, schools/districts have to manually enter.  This year, as in years in the past, we have had two technology items to report:

1. The number of student Internet connected computers.
2. The number of student Internet connected computers less than five years old.

In recent years, we were told to use the "minimum standards" for machines to determine #2.  This was all well until this year.  Essentially, the "minimum standards" say that a machine that has a dual-core is okay and if it is not dual-core, then we have to look at other specs.  The problem is that dual-core is now +5 years old.  Should we not be re-evaluating these "minimum standards"?

I digress.  The wonderful addition to #1 above was to include iPads.  That's it.  No mention of Android tablets or Chrome Books.  If you have an iPad, you can count it in #1. 

I understand that there might be some pull for this due to a few districts that have decided to go 1:1 with iPads and they want to reflect those numbers. However, we currently have no "minimum standards" in place for iPads or any other device.  The question of "minimum standard" seems to be left to the person reporting it.  And based on our current standards, an iPad would not meet this standard. 

Should we not, instead, report a separate data element on "tablet devices" available for students.  And where do we draw the line?  Is an iPod okay?  Which Android devices are okay?  Or are we  assuming that only iPads can reach the level of a "real" computer?

Devicism at it's best.

BYOD ... Day 1 day past Midterm #1

[Sorry for the title ... I've lost count of the days!]

For those of you who haven't been following, my district has embraced a BYOD policy starting this school year.  At the moment this means that kids can use their own personal devices FOR their learning.

Since I haven't posted in a while how this is going, I'd like to give a tiny update:  all is well! 

Yes, there may have been a few transgressions and a couple of lost devices, but by-in-large, it seems to not be an issue on the student behavior side of things.

The really cool part of it all is seeing teachers embrace this "new" tool for learning opportunities.  Today, I had the pleasure of watching several 8th grade students using their phones or laptops to video scenes that they had story-boarded to produce anti-bullying PSAs for their Language Arts class. 

Besides the use of personal devices, I was most impressed with how the students were working collaboratively to produce their video.  They were making decisions together, everyone's voice was important and they shared responsibilities.  They probably didn't even realize the importance of their teamwork at the time, because they were having so much fun!

Since I mentioned one of the main C's in the 4 C's, this assignment also embodied critical thinking, creativity, and communication.  Students were analyzing their shots to make sure the message they were trying to send was captured.  They were devising a story and actions that would have the most impact.

For me, it was a good day!  I can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow....