Technology in Classrooms

My greatest pleasure on the job is hearing from teachers about the work they have students doing in their classrooms with technology. It is gratifying to know that as a district we have made the move from "teaching technology" to "learning with technology." With approximately thirty labs of computers for student use, as well as many individual computers for students to use, technology is a regular part of our classrooms. We are asking students to research, to create, to solve problems, and to collaborate with others. Rather than focus on the acquisition of the latest technology toy, we focus on what we want to students to do, and then we decide what best works for that. Usually it's something we already have right here in the district, although often we determine we need more of what we already have!

Here are some examples of what our students are doing right now:

1. Mrs. Warkentin's and Mrs. Jacobsons's third graders are creating Google Presentations about different Native American tribes. They are comparing and contrasting "types of clothing, hunting methods, food they ate, and...how the location of the tribes...affected their way of living." This has been a cooperative learning activity as the students have all worked in pairs.
2. Mr. Baker's fourth graders are studying immigration. Their project is to do "family history interviews," tying their knowledge of immigration to their own families' experiences.
3. Mrs. Huntress' third grade students continue to blog. Recently, they have been blogging about Native American tribes, both current ones and those from the past, allowing comparing and contrasting. From this study, the students have written about the needs of Native American communities today, and they have collaborated with a classroom in Okoboji to get input on their writing from students from outside the district. They even Skyped with a Lakota reservation school.
4. Kindergarten classrooms continue their collaboration with schools outside the country, including Canada and Japan, among others. They've created classroom presentations to share. They've recorded introductions about themselves to share. And, they've Skyped with students in other classes. What a great way for our little ones to think about culture!
5. Mrs. Tucker's seventh graders are writing their own music compositions.
6. Mrs. Cole's students are creating book trailers that are available on the SLCSD YouTube channel. You will also see video projects from other district classes on our YouTube channel.
7. Mrs. Hixon's seventh grade science students are "researching environmental problems...such as habitat loss, endangered animals, and global warming." They are taking the next step, though, and they are using technology to "create awareness of the problem and/or to provide a solution to the problem." They are creating and publishing "websites, PowerPoints, and Prezis...to make the public aware of what they can do to help."
8. Mrs. Green's high school English Language Learners are creating "web-based portfolios" that can be used not only for assessment but also "as a tool for future job or college applications." The students are using Google Apps as the place to work on their projects, because they can collaborate there and get almost instantaneous feedback.
9. The high school geometry classes taught by Mr. Grant are using software called Geometer's Sketchpad for "hands on demonstration to help visualize different parts of a triangle."
10. Mrs. Vieira has her high school Spanish students blogging, researching poets and creating presentations in Voicethread, using Google Docs to share vocabulary in sentences for immediate feedback, and accessing Spanish resources to increase their Spanish skills. In addition, the Spanish 3 class collaborates with three other Iowa schools regularly for learning.
11. Mrs. Mouw's Accelerated English students are doing a research project about cultural history, that makes extensive use of technology. They have "researched, questioned, created, written, revised, problem-solved, collaborated, and exercised their inventive individuality in how they are choosing to fulfill the assignment's requirements." I've seen the assignment, and it is authentic, cross-curricular, collaborative, and demanding. Combining family history with research, history, literature, creative writing, reflection, and collaboration is enhanced enormously with technology.

Realize this is just some of the learning that is going on in the district this very day using educational technology.  It's becoming the way we do business here in the Storm Lake Community Schools, and that is a very good thing!

Attend EdCamp Iowa

Attend EdCamp Iowa

This is your chance to collaborate with and learn from others in Iowa who are interested in improving education for Iowa students. Teachers, administrators, students, parents, interested community members. Come one, come all!

You really must reserve Saturday, February 16, 2013, for this event:

EdCamp Iowa Info and Registration

Jorge Sanchez

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Jorge Sanchez, a senior at Storm Lake High School, who passed away yesterday.

“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together..

there is something you must always remember.

You are braver than you believe,

stronger than you seem,

and smarter than you think.

But the most important thing is,

even if we're apart.. I'll always be with you.”

--Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne

What I Learned at ITEC

I just got back from the annual ITEC conference where tech directors, teachers, and some admins get together to learn more about technology in education. It was a wonderful conference held at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines with over 1200 attendees. What I learned:

1. Focus on the student and the learning outcomes and not the technology. Once you know what your learning goals are, then you can think technology -- And, start with what you have!
2. If you haven't tried Evernote, you should. It's a great place to store your thoughts. Better yet, I learned I can buy a Moleskine notebook, get three months of Evernote premium free, put a special sticker on each page of the notebook, take a picture of my handwritten notes, and they will go to Evernote to the right folder based on the sticker. For someone who loves to write things by hand sometimes, this is fantastic! My handwriting is my art. The best thing about Evernote, in my opinion, are the search and features.
3. iPads, although created for consumption and personal ownership, can be coerced into doing some pretty amazing, creative things. I'm still not sure they are worth the expense with the short period of time before they are obsolete and need to be upgraded, but boy, teachers have found ways to use them effectively. Jamie Fath has some great info.
4. I may just be ready to move to virtualized servers. I've been reluctant to add the complexity, but I learned enough at the conference to realize there are some real benefits to going this direction.
5. You don't need a classroom full of technology to be effective. You can have a few things and do great technology integration by sharing. Follow @mrnidey on Twitter. He's a third grade teacher who has truly transformed his classroom.
6. If you aren't using your interactive whiteboard as more than a screen for your projector or a worksheet substitute, you are missing some great educational opportunities for your students. Try making your whiteboard one of your Student Centers and give your students the reins.
7. Offer your kids authentic choices, and they will fly. Let them collaborate outside the school walls.
8. Using primary sources will bring history to life. Seriously, I think I would have loved history had my teachers gone about it this way.

And that's just the beginning. It was a wonderful time to network, collaborate, and try new things. If we just keep the focus on the students and the learning as we are in our school district and quit obsessing about the technologies, we will be able to improve education astronomically. Like I've said over and over in this blog - Huge Internet pipe, robust wireless, and mobile Internet connected devices in as many students' hands as possible. Add to that the teacher who loves to learn, learns new things regularly, and models that love of learning to the students, and kids will fly.

Electricity

We had an electrical wire torn out in an accident today and have been reminded how dependent we are on electricity. First, we lost Internet and switches. Then the Internet came back for awhile. Oops, Internet and fiber gone again. Then with the battery backups running down, I've shut off servers. No email. No grade book. Sometimes you might as well go home . . . . Unless you're the Tech Director and need to make sure it's all back online once the power returns. Thank goodness for my phone while I wait!

Teachers helping teachers

Together we are awesome.

Summer was too short

We are working on some great projects here in the SLCSD EdTech Department. Between a new web version of JMC that has some bugs that need to be worked out at JMC, to early MAP testing, to 180 new student computers, to 8 new SMARTBoards, to EdTech PD coming up next week, to two new servers and on and on, some of the little things remain to be finished. As you can see, sorting out the hurricane that hit my office from the flurry of work that has been going on is becoming a number one priority.

More in the next couple of days. That EdTech PD coming up is going to be awesome!