Monday, July 6, 2009
Contribute to the Solution
I urge all people interested in the advancement of technology integration to share their opinions as the next version of the National Educational Technology Plan is developed. The initial round of comments was solicited at NECC. You can share your thoughts by visiting www.edtechfuture.org. Register, sign in, read, and respond!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
I drink the Orange Kool-Aid
I have just completed my first year openning up the newest school in Baltimore County Maryland (Vincent Farm Elementary). We are tech-rich school with an onsite TV studio, one stationary computer lab, six mobile laptop labs with 24 laptops each, Promethean ActivBoards and Elmo document cameras in every classroom, a podcasting kit, a poster maker, and a digital camera kit with 10 cameras.
The most amazing technology has been the ActivBoard. They are changing the we we teach daily. They arrived in October for half the teachers and April for the rest. I've had mine since October and I can't imagine teaching without. It is so hard to explain the value but it makes teaching and learning so much more multimodal, engaging, and tailored to the way digital natives prefer to learn.
Last July, a group of educators from BCPS went to Activ08 in Boston. We were so impressed with the passion and enthusiam that the Promethean teachers demonstrated. It almost felt like we joined a cult. We coined the phrase for how this felt (i.e., like we drank Orange kool-aid). Well, I'm happy to report I too have sipped the Orange kool-aid and I try to convert any teachers in my path to the wonders of teaching with ActivClassroom technologies.
Please share your thoughts with me on interactive whiteboard technologies.
The most amazing technology has been the ActivBoard. They are changing the we we teach daily. They arrived in October for half the teachers and April for the rest. I've had mine since October and I can't imagine teaching without. It is so hard to explain the value but it makes teaching and learning so much more multimodal, engaging, and tailored to the way digital natives prefer to learn.
Last July, a group of educators from BCPS went to Activ08 in Boston. We were so impressed with the passion and enthusiam that the Promethean teachers demonstrated. It almost felt like we joined a cult. We coined the phrase for how this felt (i.e., like we drank Orange kool-aid). Well, I'm happy to report I too have sipped the Orange kool-aid and I try to convert any teachers in my path to the wonders of teaching with ActivClassroom technologies.
Please share your thoughts with me on interactive whiteboard technologies.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Freedom Writers
The other day I finished The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them. If you haven't read the book or seen the video, put them on your summer to do list!
Erin Gruwell is a novice high school English teacher who inspires her students to overcome the violence, bigotry, and poverty of their East L.A. neighborhoods through her effort to form personal connections with these students and allowing them to express themselves through writing. Visit her website to learn more about her teaching practices.
Ms. Gruwell’s students articulate the pain of abuse, neglect, bullying, drugs, homelessness, abandonment, shop lifting, prison, suicide, and gang wars to name a few. The students feel like outsiders because of their race, sexual preference, learning disabilities, obesity, -- you name it. They suffer a loss of “childhood” which results in a loss of hope. Ms. Gruwell shares with them the stories of Anne Frank, Zlata Filipovic and others so they see that even under extreme adversity an individual can make a difference. Her message is so empowering.
Although I teach elementary school students in a working class suburb of Baltimore, the story still resonates with me. At my school, I too see students who are not protected from the harsh realities of the world. Columbine, 911, and the Virgina Tech shootings make it difficult for any child to stay a child for long. Additionally, the rapid pace of change and increasingly impersonal aspects of a growing society adds to students’ feelings of isolation. A caring teaching and the ability to voice one’s story are potent tools to combat these forces. The leads me to ponder how Web 2.0 technologies can boost this process.
Erin Gruwell is a novice high school English teacher who inspires her students to overcome the violence, bigotry, and poverty of their East L.A. neighborhoods through her effort to form personal connections with these students and allowing them to express themselves through writing. Visit her website to learn more about her teaching practices.
Ms. Gruwell’s students articulate the pain of abuse, neglect, bullying, drugs, homelessness, abandonment, shop lifting, prison, suicide, and gang wars to name a few. The students feel like outsiders because of their race, sexual preference, learning disabilities, obesity, -- you name it. They suffer a loss of “childhood” which results in a loss of hope. Ms. Gruwell shares with them the stories of Anne Frank, Zlata Filipovic and others so they see that even under extreme adversity an individual can make a difference. Her message is so empowering.
Although I teach elementary school students in a working class suburb of Baltimore, the story still resonates with me. At my school, I too see students who are not protected from the harsh realities of the world. Columbine, 911, and the Virgina Tech shootings make it difficult for any child to stay a child for long. Additionally, the rapid pace of change and increasingly impersonal aspects of a growing society adds to students’ feelings of isolation. A caring teaching and the ability to voice one’s story are potent tools to combat these forces. The leads me to ponder how Web 2.0 technologies can boost this process.
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