Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Where do we go now.

Reflecting on the past year I have decided to write down my experiences. Here is the what was and what will be.

My year and "life" into the new interweb started one Wednesday morning in early September when my principle handed me a division email he had printed off. It was a request for each school to send a teaching staff member to join a division committee on technology. The committee was to be a part of a laptop project with the goal of being technology support people within the school. I was excited about having a laptop to use but had NO IDEA had much I would learn.

I was always interested in technology but had very little hardware and an average amount of time using different software. In a couple months I went from ...














to here ...















How you ask?

With the help of Donna DesRoches, my In-tech group leader, and the rest of the in-tech's, I allowed my inner-geek to come out. I began as many do, sign up for everything under the sun. I also started adding these new web applications to my teaching...
  • Problem #1 - I began to add technology for the sake of having technogy.
I learned quickly that not only are the students not as interested as I thought they would be, but I presented it to them thinking they would have my same excitement. I changed many of my ideas, assignments and pedagogy after attending the k-12 online conference.

One major success that I had was taking on Konrad Glogowski's blogging assignment and using it for my ELA 10A class. I designed a full unit of blogging and allowed my students to use some of their interests to engage in writing, reading, speaking, listening, viewing and representing. Many students enjoyed their successes, as did I, and the new knowledge they were learning.

Another major success was combining with a colleague on some interdisciplinary assignments using the new technology skills we had learned.

Along with many other bumps on the road and successes along the way, I transformed my classroom into a much more engaging environment.

This is just a few thoughts from the teaching perspective. Next post will be on the changes as "the techie" on staff.