“The problem’s plain to see
Too much technology
Machines to save our lives
Machines, de-humanize…”
-“Mr. Roboto,” Styx

As some others have already posted, there isn’t really an inherent connection between implementation of Common Core/Essential Standards and the success or failure of technology in the classroom. I do have to admit: when I saw the increased rigor and deeper analysis that the ELA Common Core rested upon, I had an excited vision of laptops closed, books open, and the class being guided by sticky notes, pencils, and old-fashioned face-to-face discussion. In fact, it was during one of those scenarios this past year that I got the BEST review from my principal ever! He said I was doing a great job implementing the rigor and complexity of the Common Core Standards. Sure I didn’t use technology–that time– but it should not be an every second, every day requirement. I was confident an administrator would return during a meaningful use of technology. There was no reason to put on, as one of the other posters hilariously referred to it as, a “dog and pony show.”

I have realized that there is no need to be an alarmist that there is “too much technology” in the classroom (hear that, Styx??). The world is changing, and in order to prepare my students not only for the Common Core, but for successful LIVES, it is my duty to keep abreast of new technology so I can thoughtfully choose meaningful resources to enhance my curriculum.

HOWEVER—and this is huge—it is also our job to allow students to think without technology in order to truly meet the lofty goals of the Common Core. Sometimes they need to “grapple with the text” (buzzword!) using their own brains and each other’s. Sometimes googling the answer limits the scope of all possibilities of what the answer COULD be.

When used thoughtfully, technology enhances the curriculum.

When used thoughtfully, Common Core enhances the curriculum.

Let’s use both thoughtfully, and neither for lip service.

To conclude, a happy Lenovo tablet story! My adult ESL and basic education students have LOVED using the tablet with me during our night classes this summer. Most are not yet computer literate, and the tablet is much less intimidating than a desktop. Last night, the ESL students used the tablet to tape each other during speaking practice.

They then listened back to their conversation (none of them had ever heard their recorded voice before!) and wrote down what to fix. For the FIRST TIME, they were able to realize what they need to fix to allow people to understand them better. Since I’ve been teaching some of them for almost three years, this is BIG. Success!

Another prompt is due today but once again (shockingly) I am going to be off topic. However, I will write my real post this weekend, promise!

My last two days were spent volunteering for and attending sessions at the DPI Summer Institute.

First things first. THIS HAPPENED:

Oh, you know, just some Kenan Fellows chatting with the state superintendent over lunch! She asked each of us about our projects and expressed interest in each one. She was warm, funny, and down to earth. I hope I got the chance to express to her just how much teachers appreciate all the work she’s done in standing up for us.

Speaking of “I hope I got the chance to express….” I was able to meet up with some of the top people from my county during the county work session for the first time since beginning my externship.

Coming to DPI, I assumed I would be in the position of an ambassador for my school; I would be their voice and their representative. I think I have done a satisfactory job with this by getting out the word of how much I love my school, sharing what makes it great, and making sure to ask all the questions I’ve heard teachers ask.

However, after having members of my county express interest in hearing more about my fellowship, I just realized that when I get back to school, I will also sort of be a teacher ambassador to DPI.

My project goal is essentially one of communication; how to find out the informational gaps and help fill them with information that is helpful for all. (Errrr….I realize that’s kind of a tall order, but we’ve got to dream big, right???)

So: I am realizing now that this project is not really due in March; I’ve actually been presenting it from the first day I arrived at my externship.

I have decided the best way to handle my “ambassador” status is to do a short presentation to my county during the beginning of the year staff development as to what I am doing and why I am doing it. That way I can give some context without having to answer questions I am not prepared to answer yet.

DPI has the back of us Kenan Fellows 500% (everyone from both within the testing department and outside of it has been so willing to help, it’s awesome!), but it’s just as important that teachers back me up too.

DPI fellows, do any of these thoughts resonate with you as well?

I’m going to need to change this prompt a little. We have been asked to write today about connections we can make between our externship and our classroom curriculum. Due to the nature of my externship, I know it will have a monumental impact on me as a educational professional, but in a different way.

I’ve never worked in an office environment. Ever. Therefore, my first week at DPI was really hard: sitting down all day! Being in charge of my own progress and goals! Meetings! Talking quietly! And did I mention sitting down all day?

After my first day, I saw my summer shaping up about like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then it started getting really cool.

No matter what your personal political perspective is, anyone who follows our state government right now is aware why this is a fascinating time to be working right next door to the legislative building. When they are in session, I get to walk by state Senators and members of the House on my way in to work. I’m even allowed to eat in the cafeteria in that building (but haven’t gotten up the guts yet to go). And, of course, on Mondays, the weekly protests are right in between me and where I park.

I never used to be interested in state politics, but being so close to it has made me realize how extremely important it is to us, especially in terms of educational policy. Now I can’t get enough.

How does any of this relate to me as a professional? Well, maybe it doesn’t, but it’s really cool so I wanted to write about it anyway.

 

 

 

 

Now on to what the prompt actually is: in just a few weeks, this externship has “grown” me.. Here are some things that I now do that I never thought I’d do:

1. Through the meetings generously set up by my mentor, met many of the top people in state assessment and curriculum….and they asked for my opinion!!! And I gave it!!! And they were interested!!!
2. Started setting up my OWN meeting/s
3. Reserved conference rooms for the meetings I set up (fancy!)
4. Understood how to write effective office e-mails (surprisingly nuanced), the power of cc-ing my mentor on them (quite powerful), and how to get help from very busy people
5. Learned how to do (quasi) scientific RESEARCH design for my project, which is impressive since I usually won’t touch math or science with a 10-foot pole
6. Figured out that I can contact my county, convince them that I have something important to say, and get a county-wide professional development spot when we get back to school
7. Wear business clothes (the most shocking change of all)

When I get back to school, my skills here will help me be a more confident professional. I think I have good ideas but have never been a self-promoter, so those beyond my department aren’t really aware of them. My new knowledge base will help me come in to school well versed in how educational decisions are made at the state level and how they are passed down to schools. I also want to help other teachers understand how this information can give them power and influence in their own schools and beyond.

Maybe I will be a (*gasp*) leader.

Part I: The Good

I am always impressed to see talented teachers incorporate meaningful technology into their classrooms. After all, ever single piece of technology I have used is because I saw another teacher using it and was able to imagine how I too could find success in it. Even though I am sometimes skeptical (for example, about the flipped classroom), if someone makes an excellent argument for it (like the NCCAT presenter!), I can easily get on board. I mean, by the end of the week at NCCAT I had already e-mailed my principal asking if I could do some staff development on inquiry-based learning and the flipped classroom.

I have for sure been able to use technology to improve student engagement and understanding.

Part II: The Bad

My school is very lucky to have a 1 to 1 laptop program and a strong tech infrastructure (the internet does crash from time to time, but that happens everywhere, as we found last Tuesday!). However, I also feel very lucky to have a school policy of no mobile devices in sight during instruction. My dream come true! I don’t have to stop my lesson to repeatedly tell the kids to put their cell phones away, because they know I can TAKE them away. I am also allowed to confiscate for the ubiquitous secret pocket or lap texting, which I have to say I have been quite good at tracking.

When it’s time for discussion or an activity, no student is looking down at their phone or at their laptop screen (I have a strict policy of laptops closed when not in use for this reason—their eyes naturally drift back there). Their eyes are on the person who is directly interacting with them. And in English, interaction is KEY.

I learned at NCCAT that Augmented Reality can only be properly done with mobile devices. I wasn’t too worried about it, because even though it’s really cool, I think I have found technology that has a similar point but without the all-encompassing nature of Augmented Reality. However, what I learned at NCCAT is that mobile devices are increasingly being used in the classroom. Many schools are skipping laptops and going straight to tablets. Tablets are understandable due to the lower cost and higher portability, but the use of smart phones shocked me! I purposefully did not bring my smart phone to most of the NCCAT sessions because I knew I would be distracted by texting. The one time I did bring it, guess what….I WAS DISTRACTED BY TEXTING. I am an adult with supposedly some level of self control, so why do we assume a 14 year old can exhibit enough self control to not text during our activities?

Perhaps you could say because they love the lesson so much and wanted to not miss anything so they do not do that. To which I say….if I was a 14 year old with a smart phone I don’t care how much I loved the lesson or how difficult it is; I would totally text any time I could get away with it. Because BOYS.

Another very serious concern is that nefarious activities that could be made easier by cell phone use. It cannot be denied that texting is the easiest way to communicate plans such as selling drugs during school, which I have experience from when I went to high school. I graduated high school in 2002, so cell phones were much rarer, but people had beepers. They had to implement a strict no beeper policy due to these issues becoming rampant.

You could respond with, well, kids will just do it on their laptops instead. I disagree: since the laptops are monitored by the school regularly, a kid opening a chat with such information will be seen by someone in the school. Kids at my school have gotten in trouble for exactly this, so they know it’s possible. Texting is completely private (even though it seems that, if enough proof is put forward, kids can get their cell phones confiscated and their texts/pictures looked through. I am fuzzy on these laws….does anyone know details?).

QUESTIONS FOR ALL OF YOU:

I dunno…am I being silly for thinking that phones could cause a security risk?  

I would love to hearfrom you all who use smart phones in your classroom! How does this work? Do the kids text? What do you do? Do you feel that kids can text during class and it doesn’t take away from the lesson?  

Also, are any of you like me and are confounded by the use of cell phones in the classroom? Or is this an inevitable development and I need to get on the bandwagon?

Part III: The Ugly

NOTE: This section is very specific to technology that teachers must use as either county or state-wide mandates.

I really really really really hope that Home Base will stick around. Like, seriously. Every year we are told THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE SYSTEM OUR SCHOOL IS USING! LEARN IT! DEDICATE YOURSELF TO IT! LIVE IT! THIS IS YOUR NEW ONLINE CLASSROOM! *cough cough school fusion cough cough* Then the next year, or maybe even in two years if we’re lucky, there’s a new thing. Oh, and you CAN still use the old thing because you dedicated so much time to it, but you have to use the new thing too. Then I end up managing two sites that do the same thing; one because I put so much time into it (*sob*) and the other because I am required to use it.

This makes teachers, especially veteran teachers, wary. Um, is this one for real? Should I really put a lot of time into it like I did all the other times?