One of my goals as Technology Integrationist is to organize and lead a team of teachers that will help personalize learning in our district. The team is made up of 13 people from four buildings and our early childhood center. Not thinking about educational acronyms, I started off on the wrong foot but naming the team – Technology Integration Team! There were several teachers in our community that wanted us to have shirts printed up with our new acronym.
After overcoming that obstacle with a clever new name we have set out on our journey to embed 21st Century Skills into the curriculum we teach using technology as the vehicle. We remind ourselves often that Will Richardson told us to take what we currently teach and make adjustments to embed the skills. We shouldn’t start with the technology and then figure out what to teach.
We are a diverse group of educators. We are new teachers and experienced teachers. We teach Kindergarten through 12th grade. We teach core subjects and electives. We meet once a month to share ideas, frustrations and hang out with other teachers that are passionate about educating our students for the 21st Century. We energize one another. We are part of each other’s Personal Learning Network (PLN). We tweet and encourage one another.
I am always open to the team’s suggestions. I encourage them to share the tools and ideas they use. I learn from them, they learn from me – we all grow in the process and the students grow in the end. I know where I want to go on this journey, but I also know that I can’t get there without this powerful team. There has been talk about actually making t-shirts for the team because we are proud of what we are doing, we are proud of our journey, we are proud to be making a difference in our students’ future.
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The Journey...
On June 11, 2011, I boarded an airplane for a trip I had been dreaming about for almost two decades - a journey across the world to see my sister in Australia. The trip started off quite bumpy because of a missed connection and took us more than 48 hours to arrive at the much anticipated destination. Our Australian Journey brought us to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and 70 feet below sea level exploring the Great Barrier Reef.
This August I set out on another meaningful journey – a journey with its own hills and valleys. In addition to teaching a couple classes, I also took on the task of Technology Integrationist for my school district. My mission is not about technology for technology’s sake, but to enhance the learning experience for our students. I love the quote by John Dewey, "If we teach today's students as we did yesterday's, we are robbing them of tomorrow." Today’s student doesn’t look like the student of yesterday. I’ve included some of the words that describe today’s student in the word cloud above – connected, creative, experimental, knowledge hungry, global citizen, collaborator, innovator – and I could go on.
In this quest to educate the 21st century student my district is going about it in the right way - the focus is on learning. Our journey is about personalizing learning for students and embedding 21st century skills into their day-to-day learning. When I meet with other people in my state that have a similar position, they are only thinking about the technology. Being passionate about technology – I get this. It’s easy to get excited about the newest and greatest tool. I just always keep in mind that a tool is only as good as the work and/or skills that it helps us produce.
At our welcome back in-service, my school district sponsored Will Richardson (@willrich45) as our keynote speaker. His presentation focused on the implementation of 21st century skills and how the learning styles of students are changing. He was the absolute right speaker at the right time for so many educators in our district. He defined learning as wanting to learn more. Students can get information from their smart devices at any given time. Most are “connected” 24-7. As teachers we need to make a shift from knowing to learning. The web is at their fingertips and we need to adjust our teaching styles to this new student.
One of Will's other big themes was that without sharing there is no education. I really agree with that theme since I have been an avid Twitter user for the past several years. In my opinion Twitter is the single greatest professional development tool on the internet. I have learned so much from the great educators that I follow. They are part of my new Professional Learning Network (PLN). In the past we have only been consumers of education and we need to be producers. My goal is to share what I learn on this journey. I plan to write to reflect, to learn and grow both professionally and personally.
I’m excited about this journey. Like Will Richardson, I’m concerned about my own children and their education to be productive citizens in the 21st Century. The picture below of my children in Australia took many takes. Not everyone was on board at the same time. Small steps were taken and adjusted and eventually the final product worked. I expect this new journey will be similar. I expect hills and valleys, but I know that our goal is the right one and I can’t wait to enjoy the ride!
[caption id="attachment_56" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Gold Coast - Australia"]
[/caption]
Follow @Susan_Simonson
This August I set out on another meaningful journey – a journey with its own hills and valleys. In addition to teaching a couple classes, I also took on the task of Technology Integrationist for my school district. My mission is not about technology for technology’s sake, but to enhance the learning experience for our students. I love the quote by John Dewey, "If we teach today's students as we did yesterday's, we are robbing them of tomorrow." Today’s student doesn’t look like the student of yesterday. I’ve included some of the words that describe today’s student in the word cloud above – connected, creative, experimental, knowledge hungry, global citizen, collaborator, innovator – and I could go on.
In this quest to educate the 21st century student my district is going about it in the right way - the focus is on learning. Our journey is about personalizing learning for students and embedding 21st century skills into their day-to-day learning. When I meet with other people in my state that have a similar position, they are only thinking about the technology. Being passionate about technology – I get this. It’s easy to get excited about the newest and greatest tool. I just always keep in mind that a tool is only as good as the work and/or skills that it helps us produce.
At our welcome back in-service, my school district sponsored Will Richardson (@willrich45) as our keynote speaker. His presentation focused on the implementation of 21st century skills and how the learning styles of students are changing. He was the absolute right speaker at the right time for so many educators in our district. He defined learning as wanting to learn more. Students can get information from their smart devices at any given time. Most are “connected” 24-7. As teachers we need to make a shift from knowing to learning. The web is at their fingertips and we need to adjust our teaching styles to this new student.
One of Will's other big themes was that without sharing there is no education. I really agree with that theme since I have been an avid Twitter user for the past several years. In my opinion Twitter is the single greatest professional development tool on the internet. I have learned so much from the great educators that I follow. They are part of my new Professional Learning Network (PLN). In the past we have only been consumers of education and we need to be producers. My goal is to share what I learn on this journey. I plan to write to reflect, to learn and grow both professionally and personally.
I’m excited about this journey. Like Will Richardson, I’m concerned about my own children and their education to be productive citizens in the 21st Century. The picture below of my children in Australia took many takes. Not everyone was on board at the same time. Small steps were taken and adjusted and eventually the final product worked. I expect this new journey will be similar. I expect hills and valleys, but I know that our goal is the right one and I can’t wait to enjoy the ride!
[caption id="attachment_56" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Gold Coast - Australia"]
[/caption]Follow @Susan_Simonson
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