In less than two weeks the new school year starts and my district has a "new" program in place: BYOD (or BYOT, Bring Your Own Device/Technology).
It's not really new; we've never actually disallowed students from bringing laptops or other devices to use in class and our current policies support the use as long as it is "authorized by a certified employee." What's more, it seems kids don't really need that authorization. They do it anyway; either teachers are okay with it or kids are hiding it from adult eyes.
The paramount question to ask is, "How are our students using their own technology?" I believe that we aren't doing what we should, as educators and parents and as a society, to help children understand how the technology they are using can be much more than a tool for frivolous (and sometimes inappropriate) social connections or for entertainment.
Technology is also a tool for learning. When combined with the concept of BYOD, technology affords personalized learning: said one way, give a child a task/goal and let them use the tools they know to accomplish it.
The journey doesn't really begin this school year. I'm not even sure when it really started. For years, we investigated the options for 1-1 at the high and perhaps middle levels. However, the push for BYOD evolved from questions from folks about the lack of textbook funds. (Textbooks... I'm not going there tonight.)
After a Board meeting, with support from all for the initiative, our little county got some news, as the Henry County Local reports.
I've had questions from state-level folks and other districts, and I'll oblige when I can, but, heck school is starting in less than two weeks!!!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
How I spent my Summer break
In a little over 3 weeks, the new school year starts. I love this time of year because, at least for me, I feel a sense of excitement and purpose among all of my colleagues. It's a time of a rejuvenation and creativity in action; all educators (teachers, principals, district administrators) have the time to learn new things and devise better ways for accomplishing our goals.
This is the time that we have to attend local, state, national, or international conferences. This is the time that we have to contemplate our approach last year and make revisions for the upcoming year.
Since I (like principals and other administrators) have an extended contract, I have had very few days off during the summer. And, like teachers, I've volunteered days in the work that we all do.
This is how I've spent my Summer break:
This is the time that we have to attend local, state, national, or international conferences. This is the time that we have to contemplate our approach last year and make revisions for the upcoming year.
Since I (like principals and other administrators) have an extended contract, I have had very few days off during the summer. And, like teachers, I've volunteered days in the work that we all do.
This is how I've spent my Summer break:
- Conducting some good ole fashioned tech trainings on new tools.
- Coordinating (and attending to) the technical needs of local workshops hosted in our district.
- Collaborating with several folks on local and state initiatives that are imperative for the upcoming year.
- Clerical, paperwork types of things (placing orders, filing eRate forms)
- Creating new staff accounts in most all of our systems and shortly new student accounts.
- Coping with changes: adding new staff, removing exiting staff, making name changes, attending to room switching, and dealing with new labs in places not designed for them.
- Connecting with people -- face-to-face and via the web.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Social Networking in Education
In our small district, we used to block a lot of sites based upon categories, such as Games, Entertainment, etc. Over the last several years, we have opened up several categories because of the frequent requests to unblock a site to be used for educational purposes.
While we still block the obvious categories as required by law, the ones we have allowed aren't inherently anti-learning. Take "Streaming Media", for example. YouTube falls within this category and I happen to be of the camp that there is a lot to be learned from YouTube. There is also a lot that only serves to distract a person from a learning goal. Some are quick to realize this and claim that sites like this should be blocked. Why? Because we'd rather prevent all distractions then educate our kids how to focus their attention to the task at hand.
At this moment in time, the only reason we would block Streaming Media (or other high use categories) is when it becomes a drain on our bandwidth. We did this during online state testing at the end of the school year, "just in case".
The last category standing today is one called "Online Communities". Sites like Facebook and Twitter fall under this category. We have explicitly allowed access to some of these sites, upon the request of teachers, for example Twitter and Pinterist are open.
As a district, we have our own Facebook Page and, now, a Twitter account. It's a tad ironic that some of the methods we are using to connect with our community are blocked for our kids while they are at school.
As educators, we all see the result of kids using social networking in an inappropriate way. Even when these sites are blocked at school, the problems surface during the school day. If we open up social networking at school, will this lead to more of these problems and possibly put the school at legal risk? Are we able to use this access as a teaching/learning moment and show kids how to use these tools to better themselves?
I'm extremely curious what my readers (as few as they may be) have to say. Please provide your thoughts, your own experiences.
While we still block the obvious categories as required by law, the ones we have allowed aren't inherently anti-learning. Take "Streaming Media", for example. YouTube falls within this category and I happen to be of the camp that there is a lot to be learned from YouTube. There is also a lot that only serves to distract a person from a learning goal. Some are quick to realize this and claim that sites like this should be blocked. Why? Because we'd rather prevent all distractions then educate our kids how to focus their attention to the task at hand.
At this moment in time, the only reason we would block Streaming Media (or other high use categories) is when it becomes a drain on our bandwidth. We did this during online state testing at the end of the school year, "just in case".
The last category standing today is one called "Online Communities". Sites like Facebook and Twitter fall under this category. We have explicitly allowed access to some of these sites, upon the request of teachers, for example Twitter and Pinterist are open.
As a district, we have our own Facebook Page and, now, a Twitter account. It's a tad ironic that some of the methods we are using to connect with our community are blocked for our kids while they are at school.
As educators, we all see the result of kids using social networking in an inappropriate way. Even when these sites are blocked at school, the problems surface during the school day. If we open up social networking at school, will this lead to more of these problems and possibly put the school at legal risk? Are we able to use this access as a teaching/learning moment and show kids how to use these tools to better themselves?
I'm extremely curious what my readers (as few as they may be) have to say. Please provide your thoughts, your own experiences.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Musings on US Ed Policies
I am a United States citizen; I've been that since the day I was born. I didn't choose this country, but I have chosen to remain a citizen due to the ideals upon which it was founded.
I am an educator. I was not born into this profession; in fact, I did not choose my profession when applying to college. I learned my love for learning during my undergraduate years, thinking I'd pursue a career in post-secondary academia, but eventually was driven toward K12.
More than 20 years ago, I realized that I wanted a career in education. I admired how the most talented teachers could ignite a passion for their trade. I loved (still do) learning new things that excite me, challenge me, and make me want to learn more. I wanted to instill this love for learning in our youth.
But that was college, and I was fortunate to have a socioeconomic background that provided me with, first and foremost, supportive parents with high expectations, providing me with a great secondary and post-secondary education.
Today, I still hold these ideals of education and what true learning can mean for every young person. However, today, I am also saddened that many of the proposed "reforms" in our nation serve only to make our youth hate learning. From NCLB to RTTT, our nation has dictated the inner-workings of our public schools. NCLB proposed an evaluation system for schools and districts, otherwise known as AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) based upon mostly standardized testing. RTTT promised relief from those chains if states can propose an alternative measure. And the new measure? It's a convoluted quagmire of student growth, teacher effectiveness, college/career readiness, and student achievement, based upon, to one degree or another, standardized tests.
These tests do have a place in measuring our nation's effectiveness in education, but it does NOT have to be every kid. It does NOT have to be every year. Instead of allowing our most brilliant and creative teachers to ignite the same passion for learning that I had, we are forcing them to "teach to the test". Moreover, assessing deep thinking is extremely difficult through multiple choice exams. Any argument that points to extended response questions are missing the point as well; the extended response I want "my kids" to do is NOT in one sitting.
Lastly, the policies proposed, by both sides of the house, are made by people that don't know poverty. They have no clue what a child, a being that did not choose their place in life, endures at home. Forget for a moment that we are speaking of children. For any person, if they are hungry or neglected or abused, will they be productive? It's easy for us to say that an adult in that situation had choices; does a child?
As a child, I did not have choices, I had influences. As an adult, I am choosing to believe in our country. While I'm saddened by trends of late, I have hopes of greater things to come.
Here's to our future...
I am an educator. I was not born into this profession; in fact, I did not choose my profession when applying to college. I learned my love for learning during my undergraduate years, thinking I'd pursue a career in post-secondary academia, but eventually was driven toward K12.
More than 20 years ago, I realized that I wanted a career in education. I admired how the most talented teachers could ignite a passion for their trade. I loved (still do) learning new things that excite me, challenge me, and make me want to learn more. I wanted to instill this love for learning in our youth.
But that was college, and I was fortunate to have a socioeconomic background that provided me with, first and foremost, supportive parents with high expectations, providing me with a great secondary and post-secondary education.
Today, I still hold these ideals of education and what true learning can mean for every young person. However, today, I am also saddened that many of the proposed "reforms" in our nation serve only to make our youth hate learning. From NCLB to RTTT, our nation has dictated the inner-workings of our public schools. NCLB proposed an evaluation system for schools and districts, otherwise known as AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) based upon mostly standardized testing. RTTT promised relief from those chains if states can propose an alternative measure. And the new measure? It's a convoluted quagmire of student growth, teacher effectiveness, college/career readiness, and student achievement, based upon, to one degree or another, standardized tests.
These tests do have a place in measuring our nation's effectiveness in education, but it does NOT have to be every kid. It does NOT have to be every year. Instead of allowing our most brilliant and creative teachers to ignite the same passion for learning that I had, we are forcing them to "teach to the test". Moreover, assessing deep thinking is extremely difficult through multiple choice exams. Any argument that points to extended response questions are missing the point as well; the extended response I want "my kids" to do is NOT in one sitting.
Lastly, the policies proposed, by both sides of the house, are made by people that don't know poverty. They have no clue what a child, a being that did not choose their place in life, endures at home. Forget for a moment that we are speaking of children. For any person, if they are hungry or neglected or abused, will they be productive? It's easy for us to say that an adult in that situation had choices; does a child?
As a child, I did not have choices, I had influences. As an adult, I am choosing to believe in our country. While I'm saddened by trends of late, I have hopes of greater things to come.
Here's to our future...
Thursday, May 31, 2012
EdTech .. savior or demon?
I'll preface this post by saying that I have been an EdTech professional in K12 for 13+ years, in the same position as the first day I started my career in EdTech. To boot, I've been in the same small district for my entire educational career. I believe this gives me a certain perspective to watch our district evolve over the years.
For 13 years, I have been advocating more TRUE technology integration in our schools. In my mind, we still aren't there yet and I'm not just speaking of my own district, but countless others.
TRUE technology integration is hard to define if you don't first have a solid belief on what TRUE learning is. We struggled for years trying to convince folks that teacher-use of technology wasn't the end goal. We've also struggled trying to convince folks that just because a kid creates a Powerpoint(less) presentation to regurgitate information, doesn't mean she has used technology to better herself.
Over the last several years, I have seen an enormous swell of "Web 2.0" that educational folks have promoted for learning purposes. I have seen the same swell in physical devices that promise the same. The echoes of "this is where are kids live" still bounce around inside my mind.
My daily professional life collided today with my virtual one when a coworker sent me a link to Paul Barnwell's article in EdWeek. I read the article and all of the comments, some of which touted that the title of the article was misleading. One comment by Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) was reposted today on her own blog with additional commentary.
I'm writing tonight to say that I agree with both of them. They both are looking for ways that technology can be used by our students to enhance their learning, to promote real thinking and problem solving. They are finding ways to do this that are comfortable to them and their students. Paul has seemingly abandoned the short and quick nature of social networking tools because he values deep prolonged thinking, citing blogs as a way to do this. Vicki has found a way to use those short posts as a stepping stone to greater learning. (If either disagree with my summary, please feel free to comment!)
EdTech is neither a savior or a demon. First and foremost, it is a tool. As with any other tool, if you don't use it appropriately, you won't get the desired results. Every educator should be ignoring the gimmicky attraction and ask first, how will this help my kids learn?
For 13 years, I have been advocating more TRUE technology integration in our schools. In my mind, we still aren't there yet and I'm not just speaking of my own district, but countless others.
TRUE technology integration is hard to define if you don't first have a solid belief on what TRUE learning is. We struggled for years trying to convince folks that teacher-use of technology wasn't the end goal. We've also struggled trying to convince folks that just because a kid creates a Powerpoint(less) presentation to regurgitate information, doesn't mean she has used technology to better herself.
Over the last several years, I have seen an enormous swell of "Web 2.0" that educational folks have promoted for learning purposes. I have seen the same swell in physical devices that promise the same. The echoes of "this is where are kids live" still bounce around inside my mind.
My daily professional life collided today with my virtual one when a coworker sent me a link to Paul Barnwell's article in EdWeek. I read the article and all of the comments, some of which touted that the title of the article was misleading. One comment by Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) was reposted today on her own blog with additional commentary.
I'm writing tonight to say that I agree with both of them. They both are looking for ways that technology can be used by our students to enhance their learning, to promote real thinking and problem solving. They are finding ways to do this that are comfortable to them and their students. Paul has seemingly abandoned the short and quick nature of social networking tools because he values deep prolonged thinking, citing blogs as a way to do this. Vicki has found a way to use those short posts as a stepping stone to greater learning. (If either disagree with my summary, please feel free to comment!)
EdTech is neither a savior or a demon. First and foremost, it is a tool. As with any other tool, if you don't use it appropriately, you won't get the desired results. Every educator should be ignoring the gimmicky attraction and ask first, how will this help my kids learn?
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Twitter as Professional Learning?
I became a Twit on Nov 7, 2009. I resisted this new form of social networking for a good deal of time, but eventually succumbed. I had little activity in my new Twitterverse then, but decided around March of this year to engage once again. Since then, I have found it to be a large source of my professional learning.
I'm completely in love with Twitter for helping me learn new things and connect with others. I still don't have a lot of tweets, I'm not following an enormous amount of people, and a modest amount of folks follow me.
Twitter can be intimidating. Depending on who you follow, there may be more tweets than you can handle. However, I've found that spending 5 to 10 minutes looking at a few tweets a day can lead to new discoveries.
I've also found the #EdChat Tweet Chat enormously enjoyable and a profitable learning experience. The tag is used for education musings everyday, but on Tuesday there are two different hour-long live chats focusing on particular topics. Watching one of these is not unlike watching a popular IRC chatroom of days past. Post a thought and see who responds or retweets.
Go ahead. Meet new people, whether they be like or unlike yourself. Contribute to a larger community. Grow yourself as an educator.
I'm completely in love with Twitter for helping me learn new things and connect with others. I still don't have a lot of tweets, I'm not following an enormous amount of people, and a modest amount of folks follow me.
Twitter can be intimidating. Depending on who you follow, there may be more tweets than you can handle. However, I've found that spending 5 to 10 minutes looking at a few tweets a day can lead to new discoveries.
I've also found the #EdChat Tweet Chat enormously enjoyable and a profitable learning experience. The tag is used for education musings everyday, but on Tuesday there are two different hour-long live chats focusing on particular topics. Watching one of these is not unlike watching a popular IRC chatroom of days past. Post a thought and see who responds or retweets.
Go ahead. Meet new people, whether they be like or unlike yourself. Contribute to a larger community. Grow yourself as an educator.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Generation Gap
I'm back to writing about EdTech.
For years we have heard how our youth are much more savvy with technology than adults. I read an interesting article today that reports research that suggests the contrary. The study was done with college age students (I believe). The findings include that the younger students are adept at using technology for social and entertainment means, but not so adept at using it for their own intellectual learning (as opposed to older students).
Also apparent to me (being a PK-12 educator) is the existence of a good percentage of kids that indulge in social media, and technology in general, who don't necessarily use it appropriately (ethically, morally, legally, etc.) This use is NOT due to the nature of technology, it is due to the nature of young people trying to find a place in the world. Whether "real" or "virtual", it has always been the adults that are charged with helping our youth differentiate between danger and safety. And, today, adults are largely unequipped to deal with these inappropriate uses. Why? Because even our adults have not embraced technology as a means for life-long learning. The shame is that this is where our kids live and what are we doing to help them be literate in this "new world"?
As I see it, the generation gap is not defined by technology. It is defined by the willingness to take risks. Us old folks are less willing to learn new things, so we shy away from the exponential growth of new technologies. Our youth embrace everything new, but they do it in a way that meshes with their interests and helps them connect with their world. For a young person, this is primarily social.
Our adult population has adopted the social mentality as well, yet the adoption was a tad slower for the old folks. Our adults have been mimicking the actions of our youth. How many adults have reconnected with classmates of years past due to Facebook? How many adults feel comfortable sharing pictures of their kids online, but aren't connected and share with a larger world to help them be better at their profession?
We owe it to our kids to help them discover the wonderful opportunities technology affords and to teach them how they can use it responsibly.
For more information on helping kids learn these lessons, check out Common Sense Media, or the Digital Driver's License.
It's time we all step into the digital age, stop using technology for purely social/entertainment purposes, and help our youth learn to respect the plethora of sharers in this world.
For years we have heard how our youth are much more savvy with technology than adults. I read an interesting article today that reports research that suggests the contrary. The study was done with college age students (I believe). The findings include that the younger students are adept at using technology for social and entertainment means, but not so adept at using it for their own intellectual learning (as opposed to older students).
Also apparent to me (being a PK-12 educator) is the existence of a good percentage of kids that indulge in social media, and technology in general, who don't necessarily use it appropriately (ethically, morally, legally, etc.) This use is NOT due to the nature of technology, it is due to the nature of young people trying to find a place in the world. Whether "real" or "virtual", it has always been the adults that are charged with helping our youth differentiate between danger and safety. And, today, adults are largely unequipped to deal with these inappropriate uses. Why? Because even our adults have not embraced technology as a means for life-long learning. The shame is that this is where our kids live and what are we doing to help them be literate in this "new world"?
As I see it, the generation gap is not defined by technology. It is defined by the willingness to take risks. Us old folks are less willing to learn new things, so we shy away from the exponential growth of new technologies. Our youth embrace everything new, but they do it in a way that meshes with their interests and helps them connect with their world. For a young person, this is primarily social.
Our adult population has adopted the social mentality as well, yet the adoption was a tad slower for the old folks. Our adults have been mimicking the actions of our youth. How many adults have reconnected with classmates of years past due to Facebook? How many adults feel comfortable sharing pictures of their kids online, but aren't connected and share with a larger world to help them be better at their profession?
We owe it to our kids to help them discover the wonderful opportunities technology affords and to teach them how they can use it responsibly.
For more information on helping kids learn these lessons, check out Common Sense Media, or the Digital Driver's License.
It's time we all step into the digital age, stop using technology for purely social/entertainment purposes, and help our youth learn to respect the plethora of sharers in this world.
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