Goals

This past fall each individual set a personal technology goal and an instruction classroom technology goal. After assessing these, 83% felt they reached their personal tech goal in some capacity--meaning some actually had multiple aspects to their goal and mastered it to a certain degree. This leaves 3% that did not meet this goal and one TBD (this is scheduled to take place shortly). 96% of us stated we met the classroom/instructional goal, leaving 4% that did not. The feedback regarding goals was very positive. Many individuals stated they were still focusing on these items and wanted to improve upon them next year. I personally am thrilled by all that we have accomplished at the IS and look forward to next year and what it brings.

What about our direction for next year? We have a tech book study group that will spend valuable time researching and checking into various resources for our building. They will have different opportunities (blog, staff meetings, PD days etc.) to share these with our building. There was discussion of this group (along with any other interested individuals) creating tutorials on topics such as: options in SISK12, running AR or Star reports, how to create a detention letter, sending an office referral, etc. Another great resource will be the District's technology coordinator and having regular scheduled meetings during team plan periods with her. Some of the items that have been suggested are: clickers, blogs, merging clickers with Discovery Education probes, and the Discovery Education system.

I encourage you to add your thoughts regarding our growth in technology, and any additional thoughts you have about what you would like to see happen in the future.

Technology--Moving Forward

We are all aware of how important it is for students to identify similarities and differences--what better way to teach these than through technology. Once again, we hear of Inspiration as a possible tool; I was recently in a classroom in which students were creating a concept map. There was discussion of students using Inspiration in the future for a similar assignment. Students were excited by this idea...one student saying, "It would be so much better than doing it on paper!" I believe this sums up the majority of how our students feel. Hopefully with the addition of our new computers in the library, more opportunities will arise for incorporating technology. In chapter 9 there is also discussion of using Microsoft Word Drawing tools. I think students would find this very engaging and the perfect way to teach a lesson on similarities and differences (and other concepts as well). I personally love the classification charts and analogy puzzles. Why not have students create their own analogy to share with classmates? They would not just be solving but using higher order thinking in order to create. One 5th grade teacher recently shared how she does an analogy a day with her students--Fantastic! How neat it would be for students to also create and share their own! Sometimes I think the hard part is obtaining the resources to do what we want. What I find encouraging about the ideas in this chapter is that we already have them at our fingertips.

Chapter 10-I think we could have multiple discussions regarding homework and practice. This could be a topic of its own. I like the various web resources available in this chapter to support both homework and practice. Teachers in our building are incorporating Google Docs into lessons. There is more and more technology being incorporated daily; it is very exciting!