7.4 Integration of Digital Skills and Tools

Exploring Web Literacy in the Digital Age

I have decided to incorporate and explore a classroom blog as a means of exploring web literacy.  The inspiration for this came from the article in this weeks lesson:  Creating a class blog:  A strategy that can promote collaboration, motivation and improvement in literacy by Dr. Hani Morgan.  

I realized that it is actually an easy way to incorporate all aspects of Connecting through participating on the web.  With the use of a classroom blog or even individual student blogs students accomplish:

Sharing - Students can create a blog that can be viewed all over the web.
Collaborating - Through a classroom blog, collaborating becomes key to a successful blog.
Community Participation - The focus on the blog can highly impact a community.  Focusing a class blog on              helping the homeless connects the class collaboration to the community it surrounds.
Privacy - All blogs sites have key privacy settings that can control who reads and comments on blogs.                    Privacy is learned through a better understanding of digital citizenship.
Open Practices - Open practices allows students to explore the methods that work well for them.  Even                though the blogs have basic templates, the customization aspects of each individual site allow for                    students to openly create something their own.



Helpful inks:

Starting a new blog:
https://startbloggingonline.com/get-started-classroom-blogging/
Existing classroom blog:
http://missgiraffesclass.blogspot.com/2016/10/25-chatty-class-classroom-management.html

6.3 Exploring Media Literacy in the Digital Age

A Family History Tale 
Grades:  6th-8th

The idea for my lesson plan came from the PBS website:  http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/povdocs/2015/11/media-literacy-and-documentaries/ . 

The purpose of creating this family documentary style video is to allow students a wider range of creativity versus a standard family tree written report.  The documentary will give students time to spend interviewing family and capture genuine reactions to the history of their own family members.  Students will be given time on computers to edit film they take via various devices of their choice.  They can use traditional video camera, tablets, iPhone/smartphone or a combination.  Software will allow them "jazz" up their documentary with various post production items like credits and music.

Items needed:

Any one or combination:  smartphone, table or video camera
Desktop/Laptop with video editing software
Outline and "script" of their documentary

The following resources have great tips and advice on creating a lesson plan involving a documentary style video:
http://www.pbs.org/pov/behindthelens/lesson-plan-4/
http://www.pbs.org/pov/behindthelens/lesson-plan-1/

8.1 Discussion: Tech Leadership - Taking Action Part III

Of the practices mentioned by Kouzes & Posner I chose the action of being a great learner.  Chapter 12 discusses the idea that the best leaders are the best learners.  I have seen and already put this into action in my years of retail work.  I was taught to never think you know too much.   There is always room to learn and by doing so, I have been able to help inspire and lead my peers.

The other action I will focus on is to be humble.  When I have peers or students who are helping with a project or task, I will make it a point to recognize their participation.  If my peers help me learn something new or correct something I thought was correct, it will serve as a humbling experience.  It is not done in spite, but to help me.

These are the types of actions I wish to impart on the students I interact with as well.  These actions go a long way to make an individual stronger and better at leading.  Not only in school and work, but also in life as one comes across new obstacles.

7.1 Discussion: Tech Leadership - Taking Action Part II

1.      Educate, educate, and educate yourself and your constituents.

2.      Find a balance between people's skills and the challenges associated with their work.

The first action I can implement in my daily routine at work is:  educate, educate, and educate yourself and your constituents.  I truly believe this action works for peers and students alike. In order to better myself in my role, it is important that I contribute to seek out new knowledge and new methods to share and implement technology. This is definitely a role in which one cannot become comfortable and relaxed, by doing, you begin to fall behind in all the latest information, techniques and methods. In regards to helping students, teachers and other staff must make it a priority to continue to push them and encourage the learning process.  As mentioned in our text by Kouzes & Posner, "People can't do what they don't know how to do."  In other words, people don't know what they do not know.  One of my previous managers used to tell me that all the time and made perfect sense then and continues to. Our staff and students do not know what they are missing out on if we do not present them with new ideas or activities in which they can push their own abilities.

This leads me to the second action that I can implement at my work site:  Find a balance between people's skills and the challenges associated with their work.  This one made an impact on me while reading because t is something we are already implementing.  For the month of March, our school decided to step away from the 3 or 4 weekly meetings for all staff and decided to used each of the 5 weeks to help individual grade levels. The meetings will take place in the following groups: K & 1st, 2nd & 3rd, 4th & 5th, 6th and finally 7th & 8th.  We feel that this will have more of an impact on the teachers on multiple levels. One level will focus on what they already know and how to continue that positive technology related behaviors.  Many of the teachers already know different skill and we did not want to put the advanced teachers through and entry level Google Classroom Training.  The second level will impact what they would like to know or what they would like to incorporate into their classroom/lesson plan.  By taking this approach, it allows the teachers to perform their own brainstorming and prevents the technology team from giving them a ready-made assignment.

6.1 Discussion: Prof. Dev't at your School

Professional development at my school currently consists of bi-weekly meetings in which teachers share with their peers items that they bring up during the meeting.  The other topics discussed are geared towards issues/concerns that I see and hear on a daily basis.  For some of the lower grades it involves use of Google Classroom, while in upper grade it may involve the use of certain templates and importing them into various programs.

One change we will be trying in March is every week our tech. team will meet with 1 or 2 grade levels and review their lesson plans.  Having them send them to us prior to the meeting will allow us to help build a "tech" oriented activity for them to incorporate into their classroom.  The goal is to eventually have them creating their own activities based on those that we present them.

4.1 Discussion: Tech Leadership - Taking Action

Model the Way – Ch. 3 Set the Example

By being open to my peers and even students, I can model the behavior of setting an example.  As teachers or administration, we must learn from everybody.  Being open to feedback from peers and students, is an important quality a leader must have.  This is my first role at a school, as tech coordinator, I am expected to know everything.  When other staff gives me suggestions, I am open to it because they provide me with an important point of view I have not experienced.

Inspire a Vision – Ch. 5 Enlist Others

The way in which I will inspire a vision for my co-workers, as well as the students I interact with, is by doing what I say I will do and doing what I am asking of my peers and the students.  Today at my school site we had a tech skill development meeting.  Our tech teams ants to bring all staff to the same level, in order to do so we have to start at the bottom.  A few teachers have not had the pleasure of incorporating Google Classroom into their classes and we taught them how to set up a class and how to set up a Google Hangout.  The staff wanted to learn something new and asked, so I helped the experienced teachers assist those less knowledgeable.

Part of our responsibility is to mean what we say.  As the tech coordinator, when I say, “Come to me with any and all questions”, I have to be open to them all.  By enlisted in the more experienced staff, those less knowledgeable were more receptive because they got to see in action by other teachers.

Challenge the Process – Ch. 7 Experiment and Take Risks

Once again, experimenting and taking risks, is something that will be put into practice at my school site.  We all have teachers who are stuck in their ways.  I have a few and by being open to talking to them about what their lesson plans include and suggesting ways in which we can incorporate technology, I can help them take risks.  Also, by providing support to the teachers who are taking those risks already, I can help those risks and experiments be more successful.

1.2 Discussion: Defining Leadership

When I think of leadership, I think of somebody who can rally the rest of their team towards a common goal or task.  In the banking industry, I was the leader of a team of 6 individuals and our common goal was to run an efficiently operating bank while continuing to meet and exceed our sales goals.  I am sure you are aware of the fact that there are many different personalities in any work environment and that challenge to succeed is part of the task of a leader.  The leader is not necessarily the best performer on the team in one aspect or another, rather, the effective leader has a all around great performance that allows them to connect and inspire their teammates or colleagues.

Frazier writes a great example of a leader in the text, “The technology coordinator is expected to help establish the vision for technology in the school district, create policies that support that vision, train staff to make progress toward the vision, and assist end users to solve problems associated with technology.”

Nowhere in that sentence does Frazier state that the technology coordinator is to boss around and manage their peers.  Instead, the idea behind that description is that the technology coordinator is to help facilitate the goals of the school/district.