Supporting Students Passion for Technology

I am responsible for technology integration at my school and it makes my day when I get to work with students who are eager to learn about computers, apps & technology in general. I’ve been able to engage students by creating a “Student Tech Guide Program” at my school. This program provides G-Suite Apps training (Gmail, Calendar, Drive & Search) for those students who want to expand their technology skills. It also helps create a certain level of capacity in each class that ends up helping everyone.

 

This is a voluntary program for grade 4-9 students and sixty-five signed up for the program. At the start of our first training session I asked each student to tell me why they signed up to be a “Tech Guide”. Their responses tended to be very similar:

• “I love working with computers”
• “I want to learn new skills”
• “I want to help my mom and/or dad with technology”
• “I like helping my teacher when the Smart board doesn’t work”

What struck me was the passion and joy displayed by these students. No matter what the skill or topic was they were engaged, focused and happy. As there are so many groups (14 in total) the training sessions are held only every three weeks. This has led to students regularly stopping me in the hallway and asking when their next training session will be; talk about enthusiasm.

If you are a technology integrator I encourage you to focus on both the teachers and students at your school. I firmly believe that regular and responsible use of technology will develop when you engage both of these very important groups. Good luck!

A Step Forward

Technology integration is my number one priority at my school. Last year, the integration process felt like a tug of war between two equally matched opponents; small gains here and there but nothing really significant. I am a realist though and I understand that change can be a slow process.

This year, two important initiatives have made a significant impact on the culture and mindset at my school. The first was a dedicated PD activity for teachers to participate in. Ours is called “Tech Tuesday” and technology integration staff offer learning opportunities throughout the day from 7:45 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Each Tuesday, one topic is discussed and there are several drop-in sessions to choose from throughout the day. This provides teachers the flexibility to choose a session that fits into their busy schedule. If a teacher cannot make a session, one-on-one learning can be scheduled at another time. To date, our sessions have been well received by staff and the value of these opportunities is becoming more and more appreciated.

The second activity that raised the profile of technology integration at my school was the first annual ACAMIS Technology Conference. Four teachers from my school presented at this conference and the three sessions that they led were very successful and well received. For all of them, this was the first time that they had presented to peers outside of their school. Each of them provided sessions that were relevant, engaging and well-attended. Beside the positive feedback that was received, each presenter was able to add new members to their PLN.

Moving forward, our primary goal will be to continue providing relevant and engaging learning opportunities to our teachers. My school will host the next ACAMIS Technology Conference (October 2017) and I look forward to more staff taking advantage of this amazing learning opportunity.

Willing to Fail

As a member of my school's leadership team, I was recently involved with the training and orientation of new staff. Since my areas of responsibility revolve around technology, I found it important to discuss not only technology (hardware, platforms, supports available etc.), but also attitudes toward technology. Both are important when it comes to ensuring effective technology use and integration in schools.  

It is exciting when new staff join my school as these individuals bring with them invaluable knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to an already strong staff. Yet it is important that these individuals are on the same page as other staff when it comes to school mission, vision & culture.

Regarding technology, I share one simple message with teachers: “You must be willing to fail”. A recent article on the business site Entrepreneur points out that fear of failure leads to inaction. Here is a great quote from this article:

All too many of us grew up learning that mistakes are bad. We walk through life on eggshells, trying desperately not to take a wrong step. When we live this way, we can’t learn from our mistakes and grow into new possibilities. Retrain your brain to know that mistakes happen, and it’s okay that they do. The most important thing is what you learn from a mistake about how to do better next time. The mark of a successful person is not based on how few mistakes they make, but on how quickly they get back up, learn from mistakes and move forward.  

I’m happy to report that my message is being heard. More and more teachers are telling me that they want to play around with a new app/tool/device first before seeking help from others. As for myself, I continue to fail forward on a regular basis; it’s just become part of my regular learning process.

Take the Time to Reflect

As the school year comes to an end, it is important to reflect upon the achievements made over the past year. This is a crucial process for teachers as it justifies and validates all of the hard work put in over the past ten months. The tricky part is that the last month of the school year tends to be extremely busy. There is graduation, farewell celebrations, that last bit of marking and report cards. It can be a crazy time and it is easy to forget to reflect upon the previous nine months as we approach the finish line.

Personally, I’m running low on gas as I near the end of the year. Instead of crossing the finish line with a sprint it will be more like a brisk walk. That’s fine by me; most people who run a marathon don’t sprint across the finish line. Having taken a few moments to look back upon my year, my review provided me with a sense of satisfaction and it also gave me a bit of an energy boost. Overall there were many more ups than downs throughout the year and there were also a number significant events as well (some of which I had forgotten about).

One particular event stood out to me. I had met another technology integration coach at a conference back in September and we stayed connected via twitter and Google+. In the spring she suggested we collaborate on a project and we ultimately decided to pursue a mystery skype. We ended up connecting two grade 4 teachers and we worked with them to prepare the activity. I was blown away with how well it went and I still remember to this day the energy in the classroom as the students worked together to determine where in the world the other students were located. When the students achieved their goals (country, city & school), cheering and dancing broke out!!

This wasn’t a particularly huge event for me but for the students (and me) it was one of the more memorable moments of the year.  Do you have some memorable events to look back on? I’m sure that you do… just make sure that you take the time to reflect upon them. Have a great summer!

Google Educator Certification Process

As a follow up to my last post, I'm happy to report that I've successfully attained my Google Educator Level 2 certification. There was a significant amount of preparation and studying on my part prior to writing; even then I still failed on the first attempt. The Google for Education Training Center is a great place to start if you want to be Google certified. There are several units to work through and they each have review questions that will test your knowledge.

Other potential sources of information that may help you prepare include Google+ and twitter; I have fairly extensive networks on each and I've come across useful bits of information from time to time.

If you are new to Google Apps for Education I suggest you take the time to familiarize with the core apps before taking any of the exams. I did not take the Level 1 exam prior to the Level 2 one (you don't have to) but most people recommend doing this if your skills are still developing.

I'm now preparing the Google Innovator certification by gathering the necessary prerequisites. Wish me luck!

Reflections on Learning

It’s been a year of change for me. New position, new routines and so much to learn. My situation reminds me of a previous principal of mine. During his first year at my school he spent much of his time “learning about the place” as he called it. No big changes occurred that year. A few people thought this was odd, but looking back I think it was brilliant. He wanted a clear picture of how things worked and an understanding of people's roles before introducing changes in year two.

I find myself in a similar situation. A good chunk of my time has been  spent learning how things work and “who does what”. There have been changes made out of necessity, but I see more changes in year two and beyond. Having said this, the learning process has still been eye-opening. Having spent several years in my previous position, I now realize how little I learned over that period; I had become complacent and taught like I was on autopilot.

Now my brain is absorbing new content on a daily basis. There has been Google apps, Moodle, iMovie, Seesaw & Chromebooks to learn about. There are staff members to help and supervise.  It has felt overwhelming at times, but all of this learning has been invigorating as well.  

Not all of the learning has been smooth. I’ve been improving my own knowledge in order to be “certified” by various organizations. The last “test” I wrote I failed - even though I felt quite confident going in. I was a little disappointed in the outcome, but the preparation process had me learning so much that I consider myself ahead of the game. As for the test, it can be rewritten.

Another benefit of all of this learning has been empathy. I have a better understanding of how it feels for students and staff who are learning something new. My experiences guide my preparation & planning and I have become more patient as well.

I hope my learning doesn’t stop and I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that will present themselves in the days and weeks to come.

Sharing - An Integral Part of Professional Learning

I was fortunate to attend two learning conferences this school year, the first being the 21st Century Learning Conference (21CLHK) and the second being the annual ACAMIS conference. Both events offered a variety of sessions that were led by teachers and administrators. What impressed me though was the amount of sharing that took place in these sessions.

For example, I attended a session titled “Fish Bowl PD: Professional Development That Works”. The session was led by Ben, Steve & Art, three guys passionate about technology and professional learning. During their presentation they shared a PD model that they had developed over a period of years. It covered topics such as rationale, resources, evaluation and marketing. It was very comprehensive and the best part was that they shared every aspect of their model; resources, templates, forms… everything! I was blown away by the fact that I had a wealth of information that I could take back to my school and incorporate into our professional learning model.

My experience impressed upon me the importance of sharing and how sharing can have a profound impact on the teaching profession. The notion of sharing is getting a lot of traction these days as noted in this video by Dean Shareski:

In this video Dean discusses the moral imperative of sharing and how we all have the ability to share. The key point though is that sharing has to be seen as something “necessary to do” rather than something “nice to do”. This recent blog post further supports the notion of sharing by teachers. In it the author states “(i)t is now an expectation…no, a responsibility that we all have to write, to blog, to post, to tweet, and to share our thoughts, our expertise, our successes and failures, and our collective knowledge about what is working for students and for schools”.

I consider myself a “sharer” and I’ve subscribed to the “pay it forward” mentality. Early in my career I benefited from teachers who shared their ideas, resources and experiences; without their help I don’t think I would have survived. Even now I depend on others for inspiration and ideas; these help me to grow and develop. When I present at conferences or in-house, I always share my resources. How about you? Do you share with others? Are you connected to teachers who readily share with others? I certainly hope so!

You Don't Have to be an Expert

I work with amazing teachers every day. They do incredible things in their classes that really make an impact on their students learning. When I see these things I often end up saying to myself  “I wish I had known about that” or “I really want to try that”.

Imagine if everyone shared their best tools, tips & tricks etc. with their peers?  I think you would end up with one amazing school. “Sharing” does occur in small pockets but teachers, in general, do not share with large groups of people. Why? I can think of two reasons. The first is time - teaching is an incredibly busy profession and teachers often have every minute of the day filled. The second is mindset. Many teachers feel that they need to be an “expert” on a certain topic before they would even consider sharing their knowledge with others.

The reality is that most of us don’t have the time and/or desire to become an expert. When I attend a conference session or PD activity, I want the presenter to be “knowledgeable” about their specific topic - nothing more. If I get one or two take-aways (tips, ideas, resources etc.) then I’m happy. I don’t mind if the presenter doesn’t know everything either, just so long as they are honest and upfront about it.

When I speak to groups of teachers, I begin my presentations by saying that they should learn at least one or two new things today and that I will do my best to answer everyone's questions. If I can’t, I say that I will search for an answer and get back to the person at a later date. Often someone else in the room can provide an answer or at least some insight into a possible solution. I have found that people attending my sessions appreciate my honesty when I can’t provide an answer.

After presentations people often ask how they can become a “presenter” and what qualifications they need to have. My response is simple: you don’t need any special qualifications - you just need to be knowledgeable about a topic. If you think other teachers could benefit from what you know, you are definitely qualified to share your knowledge with others. If you find the prospect of “sharing” daunting, I suggest the you start by sharing with a small group of your peers. Good luck!

New Year's Resolution for you: Ask questions!

I've been the Technology Coordinator/Coach at my school for four months now. It's been a fantastic change for me professionally - full of new responsibilities, routines and challenges. The most exciting part of the job has been working with teachers to develop lessons that incorporate technology. This allows me to share my skills & experiences while learning more about other subjects and grade levels.
I've learned about teachers too. Most of them are frequent users of technology and do some amazing things with it in their classes. They rarely contact me because they've got it going on; if anything I've learned some things from them.
Other teachers are keen but unsure about how to proceed. They reach out for help and are eager to try new things. I've appreciated their courage and honesty throughout this new learning process.
There have been a few teachers who have been hesitant to seek help. I'll admit that this has puzzled me at times. I wasn't sure if I should just wait, assuming that they would eventually call me? Or should I make contact and break the ice? This played on my mind for some time but I eventually decided to make first contact.
Schools have historically been places where teachers have worked in isolation. Progressive and forward-thinking schools focus on collaboration & teamwork to improve both teaching and learning. But the change process can be slow as the move to a more collaborative environment requires a major cultural shift to occur. There are many steps that can be taken to help this process along but one simple one can and should occur: People need to ask more questions. As a collaborative team we are here to teach and learn from one another. It needs to start with being willing to seek help and ask questions.
Here's a great video that outlines the benefits of asking questions: