The MACUL Conference was held in Grand Rapids, Michigan last week. The conversations, networking, and social events helped me connect with others, and spending time with others who "get me" for three days was pretty cool.
The pre-conference session with Jason Ohler on digital storytelling was a highlight, for sure. Jason was masterful at helping everyone see that digital stories have everything to do about the story, and little to do with the technology. By the end of the day, EVERYONE had written and produced a short digital video using either iMovie or MovieMaker, then we shared our creations with the group. The stories were fabulous!
I attended a wide variety of sessions, and picked up at least one thing from each of them. I was on the MACUL blogging team, so I wrote about many of the sessions on the Conference blog.
So, now it's time to set goals to figure out new ways of bringing the joy and effectiveness of technology into the arms of the students and teachers in the classrooms. After much thought, I think that one of the things that needs to be done is to find ways to reach the school principals... the instructional leaders at the building level. One principal from my district attended this year, and he has already made plans to add on-line collaborative experiences for the students at his school. What could happen if all the principals were to attend MACUL next year in Detroit?
So far I haven't found a way to systemically communicate the need for keeping abreast of newer technologies that were not available even a few years ago to the building principals. I've been asked to train them on using Word, PowerPoint, Excel, email, etc. I'm happy to do that, and learning to use these programs help them with their administrative tasks, but somehow there hasn't been time for more meaningful types of staff development. When I do have the opportunity to speak with the group, I have a short amount of time in their packed agenda.
I plan to work closely with the principal who attended MACUL, and I'm banking on him having clout with his peers to ensure that we find time for doing what we need to do to prepare our students for the world they now live in. We cannot do it without technology.
I just talked with my daughter's principal today and I asked for some time to talk to his staff. I plan on sharing some of Andy's material and some other tidbits that I picked up along the way. He was receptive to the idea and has suggested their staff meeting next month, hopefully it will come to pass!
ReplyDeleteI feel for you on the limited time for staff development on truly meaningful work that utilizes technology. I've been fortunate to be given 3 hours next week for a tech meeting with teachers from around the school, and I'm looking forward to leading everyone through what they learned at MACUL, but in the long term, I can see a LOT of work that will have to be done (including getting my principal to MACUL next year) in order to keep technology relevant to our teachers.
ReplyDeleteOK Pam, when can you get to the other MS teachers? Since Info Tech is on its last legs, the impetus for integrating technology that is relevant and current is even more critical. As one of the teachers who, along with Sharon Ratzlaff, are always looking for new resources and trying them out in the classroom-even spending a day together on Spring Break at Panera surfing and chatting, I need my principals support to keep things moving forward. (how about that for a run on sentence.....)
ReplyDeleteQuestion for you and the implementation of course management systems in WLCSD. What is the status of Moodle? How does it compare to Hotchalk.com? Sharon and I spent some time exploring Hotchalk and really like the user interface (though I have not used moodle in awhile and I understand they were doing some overhauling). I also like the quick access to NBCnews video clips (3-5 min) on various interesting topics. You can imbed the videos as resources into a class assignment and then have kids watch a clip and take a quiz. We did not want to go too much further figuring things out (like what about kids who dont have an email) before we understood the WLCSD relationship with Moodle. What is happening at the HS level?
BTW-check out the edublog I made for the Math,Science, Technology Through Design in collaboration with Oakland Schools. mstdesign.edublogs.org
Lack of time to meet with staff seems to be the huge log in the road right now. Those of us that attended MACUL are of like minds... now we need to put those like minds together to figure out how to get the administration moving with us. For me, the building principal couldn't be more supportive really... but the support needs to begin even higher to really make things happen. I've had one meeting with those folks and plan for another one before summer begins. I've always come back from MACUL filled with ideas and excitement but feel let down when the spark I carry back isn't always readily seen by those in the trenches being bombarded daily by students, parent, curriculum, etc. I came back this year determined to keep spreading my spark bit by bit. After spending a couple summer weeks in Lansing working on tech infused lesson plans, I'm determined to push, pull, drag... whatever to make sure that our "tech plan" becomes an "Ed Tech Plan" in the very near future.
ReplyDeleteEnough ramblings from me! (for now)