Elementary Tech Links - contains a variety of hyperlinks for web resources targeting elementary math, language arts to use with a PC and/or several recommended apps and app resources.
http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/elementarytechlinks
Elementary LA - Free Apps - IN USE by district staff
http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/elemla
Elementary Math - Free Apps - IN USE by district staff
http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/elemmath1
MISC Resources to try - Links to things like Flickr Creative Commons, Zamzar, Glogster, GoAnimate, etc... Links for things to use or things to try...
http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/resources104
Olympics Related Links
http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/resources104
Elementary APPS - Cost Associated - Recommended
http://www.symbaloo.com/shared/AAAAAifE3tAAA41_HEZvyg==
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Sunday, February 2, 2014
I don't know if you would call this an "aha", but here goes...
Definitely something I am wondering about.
I subscribe to Teaching Channel and receive weekly emails listing videos suggestions that match the criteria I selected for my profile.
Over the last several months, I've watched several of the recommendations and have learned a great deal about how to teach...strategies designed to improve my professional practice / art as a teacher. Many of the strategies claim alignment with Common Core Standards, but the truth is, often these observed practices make sense. The teachers in the videos are sharing methods, routines, suggestions that could easily translate into daily experiences. It's not a sales pitch...it's real and something of substance that can be applied / adapted to daily responsibilities as a teacher.
Here's what I noticed today. In each of the three videos recommended, no technology was highlighted in any of them. I would have to go back and re-watch them to look for signs of technology around the room, but in each of these videos, the students were guided in strategies or acted to build understanding by using conversation, questioning, application (problems to solve - paper/pencil), chart paper examples hung around the room.
Hmm...so maybe the applications in these three particular videos don't necessarily need technology to accomplish their instructional goals. In the grand scheme, I'm comfortable with the notion that not every aspect of my practice is better accomplished through the use of a "tech device or program". I'm also comfortable with the notion that we may not have figured out yet how to improve our practice using an emerging technology, computer or mobile applications.
So, I searched from technology integration and found results for integration. Next, I searched for technology...zip, zippo, zilch, nada, none... WAIT A MINUTE, not ONE video that's tagged as technology integration in addition to whatever other the instructional strategies are highlighted?
I have to admit, I was taken aback by this revelation. Now, in all fairness, I could probably migrate to sites that grew around the practice and importance of technology integration. I'm sure they exist. I'm sure there are fine examples of effective use of technology to accomplish these same tasks...
So many questions come to mind, but the immediate question I ask is has my respect for this site...the quality of the resources, the quality of the content, the quality of the practice...has it changed? Must it change now that I realize technology is not even mentioned or recognized in the practice? Is this a throw-back? Are these exceptional examples of Common Core applications in real classrooms, with real students (maybe a bit staged) no longer valid without the big T?
As teachers, our practice is molded by how we were taught, what we were taught, through genuine day-to day experiences, through conversations with our local professional peers, through conversations with professional peers beyond our brick and mortar walls, through professional development designed to bridge conscious transitions from practical methodologies, or just simply to add another "tool" to our "toolbox".
I'd like to think that we are at the edge of some exciting and exhilarating educational leap. I'd like to think that for as much as studying others who may have jumped already, we need to remind ourselves this motion is as individual for our districts / schools as it is for our students. One size does not fit all. Ideas take time to nurture, to grow, to build. Ideas often start out with broad concepts that need to refine with practice. Practice requires time to plan, time to test, time to focus, time to trouble-shoot, time to reflect, time to refine and reapply.
So, if I go back to my original revelation and decide that ALL - OK, SOME - of these good things, these "best practice" suggestions can become better or more efficient with the addition of some form of technology, I'm ready to take on the challenge.
But, here is my theory. The reason they stay away from showing specific technology examples is that integration is so unique, so individualized, so intricate to the specific mindset, vision, budget, infrastructure, beliefs, from the largest aspect to minute details...that any form of grander scale replication requires careful consideration, careful planning, careful communication.
It has to be understood and agreed that all aspects of these intricacies have to gel / repel through the considerations, planning, communication. It has to be understood that the ultimate goal is not to be like someplace else, but to be, to create the best of what you are as a school /district community. It has to be a "how can we" right here conversation...
I subscribe to Teaching Channel and receive weekly emails listing videos suggestions that match the criteria I selected for my profile.
Over the last several months, I've watched several of the recommendations and have learned a great deal about how to teach...strategies designed to improve my professional practice / art as a teacher. Many of the strategies claim alignment with Common Core Standards, but the truth is, often these observed practices make sense. The teachers in the videos are sharing methods, routines, suggestions that could easily translate into daily experiences. It's not a sales pitch...it's real and something of substance that can be applied / adapted to daily responsibilities as a teacher.
Here's what I noticed today. In each of the three videos recommended, no technology was highlighted in any of them. I would have to go back and re-watch them to look for signs of technology around the room, but in each of these videos, the students were guided in strategies or acted to build understanding by using conversation, questioning, application (problems to solve - paper/pencil), chart paper examples hung around the room.
Hmm...so maybe the applications in these three particular videos don't necessarily need technology to accomplish their instructional goals. In the grand scheme, I'm comfortable with the notion that not every aspect of my practice is better accomplished through the use of a "tech device or program". I'm also comfortable with the notion that we may not have figured out yet how to improve our practice using an emerging technology, computer or mobile applications.
So, I searched from technology integration and found results for integration. Next, I searched for technology...zip, zippo, zilch, nada, none... WAIT A MINUTE, not ONE video that's tagged as technology integration in addition to whatever other the instructional strategies are highlighted?
I have to admit, I was taken aback by this revelation. Now, in all fairness, I could probably migrate to sites that grew around the practice and importance of technology integration. I'm sure they exist. I'm sure there are fine examples of effective use of technology to accomplish these same tasks...
So many questions come to mind, but the immediate question I ask is has my respect for this site...the quality of the resources, the quality of the content, the quality of the practice...has it changed? Must it change now that I realize technology is not even mentioned or recognized in the practice? Is this a throw-back? Are these exceptional examples of Common Core applications in real classrooms, with real students (maybe a bit staged) no longer valid without the big T?
As teachers, our practice is molded by how we were taught, what we were taught, through genuine day-to day experiences, through conversations with our local professional peers, through conversations with professional peers beyond our brick and mortar walls, through professional development designed to bridge conscious transitions from practical methodologies, or just simply to add another "tool" to our "toolbox".
I'd like to think that we are at the edge of some exciting and exhilarating educational leap. I'd like to think that for as much as studying others who may have jumped already, we need to remind ourselves this motion is as individual for our districts / schools as it is for our students. One size does not fit all. Ideas take time to nurture, to grow, to build. Ideas often start out with broad concepts that need to refine with practice. Practice requires time to plan, time to test, time to focus, time to trouble-shoot, time to reflect, time to refine and reapply.
So, if I go back to my original revelation and decide that ALL - OK, SOME - of these good things, these "best practice" suggestions can become better or more efficient with the addition of some form of technology, I'm ready to take on the challenge.
But, here is my theory. The reason they stay away from showing specific technology examples is that integration is so unique, so individualized, so intricate to the specific mindset, vision, budget, infrastructure, beliefs, from the largest aspect to minute details...that any form of grander scale replication requires careful consideration, careful planning, careful communication.
It has to be understood and agreed that all aspects of these intricacies have to gel / repel through the considerations, planning, communication. It has to be understood that the ultimate goal is not to be like someplace else, but to be, to create the best of what you are as a school /district community. It has to be a "how can we" right here conversation...
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| Images taken from - ASME Rapid Design Challenge http://goo.gl/wrbEjO |
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