Kathy Schrock Rocks

Kathy Schrock has created a Blooms Taxonomy, digital version using only Google tools.
Check it out for yourself: Google Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

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 http://blog.kathyschrock.net/

RTT and things that come with it

Our state was one of the few to receive Race to the Top funds.  I'm really impressed with what my school district has decided to do with the $1 million dollars that it will receive.  One of my fears was that the funds would be used to buy a bunch of technology that would then be dispensed to schools - something that we have had in the past and has yet to lead to more than a massive collection of dust bunnies.  Instead of our Central Office deciding what everyone would receive, sessions were held on the topic of Learning Environments which focused participants on the practice of teaching and what constitutes an effective learning environment.  The information gleaned from these sessions was used to create a competitive grant which schools are in the process of applying for and will be read and awarded by judges outside of the school system.

One of the great parts about being a tech coach is meeting with schools and hearing about their ideas on transforming their teaching practices and technology integration.  I'm looking forward to seeing the implementation of the grant in the winning schools!

The demise of clickers?

This week is Spring Break for our teachers which makes it a great week to catch up, plan ahead, and do some maintenance on our equipment for check out.  One of the check out items needing the most attention is our CPS clickers.  We've had them for several years and they are always a big hit with teachers for preparing for testing and informing instruction.  Which means they have needed battery replacement detail this week, ugh.... but while changing batteries I've been multitasking on my iGoogle page to catch up on all the iPad2 news, disaster in Japan news, and just plain thinking about the Ed Tech world I live in.  All this thinking makes me wonder how long single purpose devices like the clickers will last.  I sold my Kindle DX as soon as I got my iPad realizing that carrying one device that did one thing really well along with a device that did the same thing reasonably well along with doing a ton of other things made no sense whatsoever.  As most students now carry cell phones, I see the future of clickers being in the apps they can write for smart phones so that schools can get out of the battery changing business.

Google Day

Today the three tech coaches were participants instead of trainers. What fun to be a part of the audience and be an active learner instead of the one running the show. There was so much information that early on the idea hit me to create a google doc to take notes that could then be shared and edited with the group. Here is the document.

Team Tech

How wonderful it is to have a cohesive group of technology coaches, working on projects, creating new classes, and helping as many teachers as possible along the way. Each of us has a specialty which makes for a great learning experience. We are trying out new ideas such as our mnpstech.org site powered by Google, and learning the Interwrite Software along with Mac classes.

Why I am a Tech Coach

Being a helping hand to those who have been passed by the techno-revolution is what being a tech coach all about. There is a dualism in today’s educational faculty, those who have technology skills and those who have not.
While the technologically adept teacher embeds technology in their instruction and creates an innovative classroom, the teacher who has not made the switch is commonly branded as old-fashioned, behind-the-times, and ineffective.
While there is no doubt that times have changed, there is a doubt about this population’s ability to adjust to the new technologies that are flooding the instructional community.

What are the factors holding these teachers back from jumping into the “edu-tech” pool?

• Fear of Humiliation- for a teacher that is used to being the expert and showing others the way, it can be a humbling and frightening experience to try something their students do better than they can.
• Lack of Equipment - if the school district has not invested in the equipment, the teacher has no resources to learn and teach with technology .
• Lack of Training - many teachers have learned and taught themselves the basics of using technology simply by playing around with programs and computers, they have taken courses, and some have even asked their students for help. However teachers currently lacking technology skills do not fit into this category. They are individuals that need a guiding hand to competently and compassionately show them the way.
• Lack of Recognition - some simply do not recognize technology’s applicability to their situation, they see technology as a non-constructive way for their students to waste time.

All of these factors can be overcome with time and a dedicated group from within the teaching community that can bring training with compassion. They can share from a teacher’s point of view how technology can be used in a multitude of situations to positively affect instruction.

When this approach is paired with district support to push-out technology resources into the teachers’ hands, a radical change occurs.

Wiki Spaces

Wiki Spaces is a free wiki hosting site. We used it to plan our meetings, write lists of ideas for trainings, create our wish list for supplies, and I’m thinking of authoring a potluck luncheon with it too! Potluck aside, this is a seriously simple way to get ideas going among a group of people that may not be able to get together in real space, but with a wiki they can get together in cyberspace.

Other uses for wiki spaces:

• classroom site to share information and post homework
• classroom site for discussion, each student can post their thoughts
• school site to post faculty opinions
• school site to share resources and communicate committee progress
• department sites to plan and research
• research repository that can be accessed from any location
  

Wiki’s are fun to play with and have a lot of practical purposes.
The Wiki Spaces site is user friendly and has simple functions. It’s not too fancy which is a bonus for teachers who just want the basics.

Not sure what a wiki is? Go to this site.

Happy Wiki-ing!
To get your free wiki at wikispaces go to: www.wikispaces.com