Common Core Statements:

• “Students who are College and Career Ready in Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening, & Language use technology and digital media strategically and capably.” (Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects)
• Mathematically proficient students “are able to use technological tools to explore and deepen their understanding of concepts”. (CCSS.Math.Practice.MP5)

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Question:

Is it jaded of me to say that I don’t think the curriculum changes made through Common Core and the NC Essential Standards will make a hill of beans difference in the use of technology for learning?  The two statements quoted at the top of this post clearly indicate that students must use technology.

But…

1. Robust standards. The standards raised the bar on the expectations of students.  Same amount of time to teach, but students need to learn more.
2. Testing.  EOGs, EOCs, MSLs, Benchmarks, Pre- and Post-assessments.
3. Money.  Not all budgets are created equally, and technology is expensive.
4. Teachers.  Some seek out ways to integrate instructional technology into their classrooms; others don’t.
   

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So…

1. Some teachers will realize that the only way to accomplish everything that is being asked of them and of their students is with the use of technology.
2. Some teachers won’t.  Some teachers will worry that they have too much to cover to take the chance on using technology.

Wisdom… from Maya Angelou

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“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.”

 Conclusion:

We, teachers who recognize the power of instructional technology, need to mentor, nurture, and encourage those teachers in our circle of influence who haven’t implemented digital tools into their classrooms.  Give them an easy first step to try.  Coach them and cheer them on.  Our students deserve it.

Another Question:

What is a good first step for teachers new to digital learning tools?

As I enter a new season of my professional career, I don’t really know what my classroom will look like next year. I know that my “students” in the fall won’t be adolescents learning English, but their teachers, which is simultaneously terrifying and exciting. As anyone who has led any type of staff or professional development can attest… teachers are sometimes your worst students. And yet, as I reflect on my summer externship so far, two connections stick out as I think about what I’ve learned this summer and its impact on my new “classroom”.

Model the model – Good teaching is good teaching, no matter the “student”.

The power of collaboration

This externship has been one inspiration after another. So much so that I’ve struggled writing this post because of the hurricane of great ideas in my mind right now.  It’s hard to know where to start.

• Do I hope the project I create for Home Base will be useful to teachers and benefit their students?  Yes.
• Am I ecstatic to show teachers, administrators, and PBIS committee members the awesomeness that Class Dojo could be?  Yes.
• Do I pray that the lessons of data literacy will empower the data-disgusted and overwhelmed teachers in my building?  Yes.
  

  Click for thinglink.
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Model the Model

But my primary curriculum next year will be the NC Professional Teaching Standards.  So the connections I keep coming back to are model the model and collaborate.  Eight days as a participant and two days as a presenter of professional development this summer have been my spring training for my new role as a curriculum and instructional coach in the fall.  The experience has brought back to mind the sage advice I received about modeling the model.  If I want teachers to walk away from a training and take it back to their classrooms, then I have to present in a way that is easily adaptable to the classroom.  The gradual release process (I do, we do, you do) works just as well in staff development as it does in the classroom. Coaching and practice and application time are critical components of effective staff development, and we saw this during the Institutes we attended this summer.

The Power of Collaboration

I’ve been inspired by the other Kenan fellows in the class of 2014, the presenters of Professional Development Institutes, and my mentor team.  What a joy it has been to have time to learn from teachers at all levels from across the state.  I am awed and inspired by the wealth of knowledge that the Kenan Fellows team has brought together.  My Kenan project is going the direction that it is and using tools that would have not have been possible without the collaboration that I’ve been a part of this summer.

So thank you.  I can’t wait for Opening Day on my new season.

leverage technology… empower learning… classroom… school… challenges

I ruminated on this word leverage; I broke it down and thought about what role lever plays in its definition. I’m no scientist, but I remember that a lever is a simple tool and that simple tools are supposed to make work easier. Or so I thought. Then Wikipedia informed me that a lever is a simple machine which provides mechanical advantage (also called…leverage). Back where I started.

Then I came across this little gem surfing Pinterest one evening. (Happy was I to track the license back to Raleigh-based teacher, Bill Ferriter.) This graphic does a much better job than any of my ramblings on summarizing what it means to leverage technology to empower learning.

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Just to write this post I had between 5 and 10 different tabs open looking for information… pinterest, twitter, wikipedia, flickr, TED talks, symbaloo, reference.com…  But none of those websites were the winning run, which was communicating my ideas about the challenges of leveraging technology to empower learning. They were just the singles I was hitting to get on base.

So where’s the curve ball in leveraging technology to empower learning? For me, it’s getting the students, teachers, administration, and the district all in the same ball park. When a baseball team is on defense, they all have the same goal and they all have to work together in order to achieve that goal. The same must be true in education if we are going to empower learning through technology. We all want students to learn.

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I believe this is true even for students… up to the point when they learn that school isn’t for learning.  It’s for sitting quietly in your desk, completing worksheets and study guides, and taking tests that you either pass or fail with no help from the busy work you did before the test.  It is painful to watch students suffer through mind-numbing classes all in the name of “learning”. (I hesitate to even use that word because a bored mind is not a learning mind.)

Students crave technology, but even in this wireless, BYOD age too many students must leave their technology in their pockets when they enter a classroom. If teachers are not guiding students on how to use that smart phone or iTouch to take responsibility for and empower their learning, then who is?

I get that at the same time students thirst for technology-rich classrooms, many of the adults in their lives fear it. And there are some valid reasons for those fears.  Teachers worry about accessibility, time, covering the content, liability, etc.  School and district administrators have the same concerns.  But the fear of striking out shouldn’t keep us from playing the game.

Put ’em in coach!

Put students in engaging learning situations, put technology in their hands with a purpose, put skills and strategies in your own game bag, put in your pinch hitter when technology doesn’t go according to your game plan. But let’s play ball.

Here’s David Pogue’s funny 5-minute take on TED Talks on using technology to save time. David Pogue: 10 top time-saving tech tips

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Take me out to the ball game

Take me out with the crew

Buy me some peanuts and local brew…

Would be the way I’d write the NCCAT version.  The Kenan Fellows week at NCCAT – following a week in Raleigh training on the OER rubric, the NCLOR tagging system, and Home Base- could have gone foul of the information-overload line.  But insert Patio PD at night and one glorious day on the river and for me the week stayed fair of that line.

The lineup Lisa and Craig put together for the week at NCCAT was impressive.  I am ecstatic that I have several notes in an Evernote notebook of innovative ideas to try in the fall (more flipping, augmenting, inquiry, and blogging here we come).  But the setting of my strongest memories from the week at NCCAT is outside.  Summers for me are a time to recharge my batteries for the next year, and nature is my recharging station.

So while I appreciated the opportunity to be awed and inspired by and learn from such innovative educators, sitting in a room without windows for hours at a time was a challenge.  (Something I must constantly remind myself and others of when designing lessons for our students.)  Cue the nights sitting on the patio – meeting and getting to know other Fellows and getting to know my fellow “Home-Basers” better.  As the fireflies came out and another bottle of a regional brew was opened, topics of discussion ranged from life-changing surgeries to pedagogy to the acting chops of Leo.  The patio provided the perfect place to unwind from the day’s activities and congregate with others who have chosen this exhilarating and exasperating profession.

The cleanup hitter for the week, however, was the rafting trip down the Nantahala.  I love that river.  I’ve been down it several times, but had no idea that one of the most diverse plots of land on the continent resides on its banks.  Listening to Peter talk about the culture and the environment of the river made me think of Richard Louv’s work about the importance of finding the balance between technology and nature.  The beautiful, natural setting of NCCAT at Cullowhee was an idyllic place for the week.  I hope and pray it will survive.

“The future will belong to the nature-smart—those individuals, families, businesses, and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.”
—Richard Louv 

Okay. Hate is a bit strong, but I definitely don’t like baseball. But I love the plethora of baseball metaphors and idioms that exist in the American vernacular. So as I contemplated…and thought about…and reflected… (hence my lateness) on the theme of my blog, I decided to stick with the baseball analogy that fits so nicely with my fellowship.

During my Kenan Fellowship, I will be working with DPI as North Carolina makes its transition from NC Wise to Home Base. When I accepted the fellowship, I expected to be working with individuals at DPI as I identified high quality resources for ESL teachers around the state. In Raleigh last week, however, I learned that I would also be working with an amazingly diverse group of teachers that are just plain fun to be around.  I was also introduced to the entity that is CUACS. So far I have learned that CUACS is responsible for EOGs, EOCs, and MSLs. How that fits in with their website tag line that states that CUACS is “conducting research to improve the lives of North Carolina citizens”  (www.cuacs.ncsu.edu), I haven’t quite figured out yet.

As the end of my school year and the beginning of my fellowship approached, life through me another curve. I accepted a new position in my district as a secondary instructional coach. As I wrapped my head around leaving my position as the ESL specialist at my two schools to being the coach at the same two schools, I hoped that I would be able to center my fellowship on finding resources for teachers who have English Learners in their classrooms. But teachers in all disciplines at all levels have ELLs in their classrooms. So I have chosen to narrow my initial search for resources for middle grades social studies teachers who have ELLs, oftentimes without support, in their classrooms.

This brings me to what I expect to gain from my fellowship: 1. a wealth of resources that I can share through Home Base with the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Social Studies teachers at my school, in my district, and across the state and 2. a deeper and more intimate knowledge of America’s pastime on her language.

So I close my first belated blog post with a request for the baseball fans out there. Got any suggestions of favorite baseball terms, metaphors, idioms, allusions, etc. that I can add to my lexicon?  

Let’s play ball.