For my interview, I interviewed “Cindy” . Cindy has been teaching for 13 years. The interview took place on Sunday January 21, 2018 at Cindy’s residence. Three keywords that stood out during the interview were: Engaging, Collaboration and Differentiation.
Engaging:
Cindy describes using technology as a powerful and engaging tool. “It’s an engaging tool that allows students to gain 21st century skills to make inquiries into their own lives.” Cindy has enjoyed using iPads and mobile devices with her class over the years as the students were excited to learn and take charge of their own learning. For example, Cindy now teaches Science as part of her new role as a Vice Principal and describes how engaging the Science Discovery Ed online textbook is. Cindy describes the online resource as “very interactive” and “great for English Language Learners as there are many visuals and links for students to explore.”
Collaboration:
Cindy believes that all staff “should collaborate in regular professional development together” as this helps to “foster a climate of sharing within the staff”. Cindy mentions that this can be achieved by having monthly lunchtime meetings where staff shares how they are incorporating technology within their practice as this helps to inspire others. Cindy discussed how using FreshGrade, an online digital portfolio for communicating student learning has opened the doors for collaboration as it allows teachers, students and parents to collaborate together and creates an ongoing dialogue. Cindy also strongly believes that workshops and opportunities should be available for teachers to attend and collaborate during school hours.
Differentiation:
Cindy also discussed the importance of using technology to support “at-risk” learners and how by using technology, we can differentiate to meet all student needs. Cindy discussed how the iPad itself has many built in accessibility features that support student learning. One feature being text to speech, which assists students who have difficulty reading but have great receptive skills can just highlight the text and it will read it to them. Cindy also described using an app called “iReadWrite” which is similar to a word processor and has word prediction for students to assist them with their writing assignments.
Hi Amanda,
I agree with ‘Cindy’ and think that one of the strongest forms of professional development is learning from colleagues and finding out what others are doing in their classrooms. For tech integration at my previous school, once or twice a year we would hold a “Tech Symposium” where teachers could present different things that they have done or tried in their rooms. We always had a large number of people who wanted to present and share their successes. I find that getting teachers on Twitter is also a great way to get a glimpse of what your colleagues in their classroom. If you see something you find interesting, you can go ask them about it and go see it in action in their class.
Are there any other formal or informal ways that you and your colleagues collaborate at school?
Cheers,
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for sharing about “Tech Symposium”, that’s a great idea! I do use Facebook and Instagram to see what other educators are doing in their classroom! I haven’t used Twitter yet, and I’m surprised I haven’t because I think social media is so powerful. I think I may need to create an account to explore it. At my previous school, we used to have regular tech meetings to share and collaborate during lunch time which was really helpful. I find attending pro-d workshops are highly beneficial but this is usually on my own time! Thanks
Yes, sign up for Twitter! For me, this is the resource I use the most to see what other people are doing in their classrooms 🙂 Definitely recommend!
Hi Amanda,
I like the idea of a monthly lunch meeting to support informal exchange of ideas and best practices. My university also has started such a lunch meeting for teachers last year. We meet around once a month. In each lunch meeting, one teacher volunteers to give a short presentation on a recent tool or idea that he has started to use in teaching, and on his experiences. This usually opens the floor for good discussions. I feel that these informal opportunities are very important to get teachers together and to motivate them to try something new.
Still, I also found that mostly the motivated teachers attend these lunch meeting – not those who would need it most. So my question to all: How can we motivate also less technophile teachers to joint these lunch meetings or other form of exchange (such as tech symposiums)? Are there any ideas on this?
Elske
Hi Elske,
You bring up a great point that its usually the motivated teachers that attend these lunch meetings! In our district we have several pro-d opportunities, where some are school based which means the pro-d committee plans the day and staff must attend. So if the pro-d committee were to plan one around using technology within the classroom then all staff have to attend and it may motivate and open the doors for those who are less motivated. Just a thought 🙂
Hi Amanda.
Like you mentioned, teachers are most effective when collaborating. We can really grow by observing and learning from others. So too, with our students. Collaboration helps them avoid misconceptions, retain knowledge, learn from each other.
Likewise, the most effective R&D is usually when we are engaged in some type of activity or interaction. This is also why we should be encouraging much more constructivist theory for our teaching practices as well. If it is modelled effectively for the teachers, it will work well for our students also.
Hi David,
I agree with you that as educators we should encourage more constructivist theory approaches within our practices. In your practice, how does your school staff collaborate with each other? Do you have built in collaboration blocks? Thanks!
Hi Amanda
I like the fact that you brought up the online textbook and how engaging it is. We are currently revising our online junior science courses and we have not found one vendor that we 100% like. So we are combining a few togther…hopefully it works out.
I wonder how often teachers revise their courses. I remember taking a PhD course and it was not revised in about 6 years. This course is going through revisions this year so that problems like CiteULike will be fixed. Also, should teacher’s be revising their online courses?
A good next step might be to explore “at-risk” students — what is the best solution. Is there one solution. I know parents struggle to find what is best for their own children. Where can parents go to find ALL the different types of solutions/schools/services?
Christopher