What does technology instruction look like in your school? Have you had conversations about how best to embed the technology into curriculum? Who trains and supports the teachers as they add to their teaching load? Who troubleshoots? Does your district feel the need to be "Cutting Edge" with their technology tools or use of technology? How many initiatives in tech does your district try to accomplish at once?
I often wish, that I had a colleague to discuss BEST practices in technology education. How to support teachers with implementation if technology tools and web 2.0 tools.
Up until two years ago, I did what I love every day, teach. I've taught at various levels and I can always find ways to enjoy the learning that takes place for both myself and students. I also used technology, read teach blogs, and followed ISTE rock stars on Twitter. That landed me with an offer to step out of the classroom and be a Technology Integrator in grade K-8. That's about 150 teachers.
There are two more Technology teachers one our PreK-2 school and one at our Grade 3-5 Intermediate School. These ladies are also have full flex schedules. Our labs are full everyday, people mainly word processing, researching, presentations and using Noodletools. We also support the computer based testing in the district. We have lots of technology, we are not a 1:1 school, but we are at about a 1:2 ratio of computers to students and we also allow BYOD.
Now that we have all of this "stuff" how can we start a conversation about ways to showcase what we do. When will tech become part of the fabric of what we do versus one more add on? More importantly how can I help make that happen.
Thanks for letting me ramble.
You raise such important questions! There was a great picture that went around twitter of a set of markers and a caption that said "What a great tool! How can I build the curriculum around it?" Did you see that? Teachers need time to incorporate technology tools into their practice, but also to understand the purpose, and certainly some will embrace it all more than others. Good luck with your work--you have a challenging job!
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