I'll be the first to admit that teaching other teachers can be a frustrating process. In my second and third year of teaching I presented sessions at our provincial English teachers conferences. In my short 7 year career (this is year 8 for me), I've presented to well over 800 teachers in two different provinces on a variety of topics. Some of those topics have included technology, others have included literacy. I do not say this to brag, just to provide context to my point that I understand and sympathize with those who teach teachers either for a living or as a hobby (that's a thing, trust me)! One session I conducted early in my career (and likely one of the biggest sessions) was on outcome-based assessment, where I relayed what our school was doing and what I was doing in my classroom. To condense what I talked about: there are 54 outcomes in Manitoba's English curriculum. There was no way I was going to singularly assess each outcome every single assignment in my high school classes. The principal at my school had us choose around 16 outcomes for each class (you can see in the photo below I had 23), and since I taught multiple grades over the years, I chose outcomes we could build on and streamlined the English curriculum. By the end of the 3 years, I had my students addressing each of the outcomes, but I was not assessing more than 5 outcomes each time, or at least was trying not to. That discussion did not go over well with a number of veteran teachers in the audience. However, it's the way Manitoba's curriculum was/is headed, and there were a number of other schools who were about to go down the same path. I was scoffed at - because what does a teacher (in the first 5 years of their career) know about what outcomes are important in the curriculum? Surely I did not know what I was talking about. What the audience members did not know is the disaster my house was, because I had provincial exams mapped out over the last 10 years taped to my walls, I had mapped the curriculum, found trends, and happened to have the data to support just how often other teachers, courses offered through correspondence or BlackBoard Learn were addressing each of the outcomes. And how often each was assessed. I had done my own research to back that up. But hey - I was just a teacher in a small rural community who just so happened to sit on the provincial exam test development committee. I think that teaching teachers is tough. But so is being a Kindergarten teacher who has to teach and remind about nosepicking behaviour. It's just a different kind of tough. Source: https://me.me/i/stop-picking-your-nose-noses-4-price-www-bliayteans-com-%3Cp%3Ebut-there-rsquo-s-22542374 I am eternally thankful that I have such a supportive staff at my school and my heart breaks every time I think about me leaving at the end of this year. Given that I will be leaving, I have to leave my mark on them, quite literally, because they will be on their own for managing their technology and technology PD. I have been trying to pass along all of the information that I can for doing all of the little things I do on a daily basis. I know that no one is going to remember, so I have started a Google Drive Folder for all of what I do to be stored and held. This includes setting up Google Classrooms, resetting student passwords, using Microsoft HUP, and accessing the volume portal for Microsoft. All issues I have addressed in the last two weeks. Yesterday, in the hallway, after spending an hour in her classroom, I shouted down to our grade 3 teacher that I will not answer her phone calls when I am in Victoria as she is asking me to reset her password. Not that I wouldn't want to help her, mind you, but I couldn't because my school account would be inactive. I have been doing my best in my school to get teachers using Google Classroom, set up and roll over Raz Reading accounts and Prodigy accounts. I think it's fairly easy now to justify to teachers that using technology and equipping our students with ICT skills is necessary. I also think that a number of teachers who are not "technologically advanced" do not know what ICT skills look like, sound like, or can even be in their classrooms or content areas. To those teachers, I present... the Manitoba Literacy with ICT framework (link opens in a new window)! I am sure the other provinces have a similar framework, but I am really fond of Manitoba's. Source: https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/tech/lict/teachers/index.html The big ideas in the curriculum are always what I start with when I discuss this curriculum with teachers.
Teachers typically sigh a lot after I go over what the curriculum states. Not out of frustration, but out of relief. What the ICT curriculum asks teachers to do is no different than what they have been doing - except it just looks different (using technology), and it might feel different (uncomfortable) if they aren't familiar with using technology themselves. I believe I was in a discussion group in another class (sorry if it was someone else's post in this group!) and my colleague stated that she felt a lot of pressure to teach coding to her students. She ended up learning the basic language and letting her students go with it. I think that for those uncomfortable with using the technology themselves, being open to learning about it, and letting the kids kind of figure it out, and putting their trust in the kids is perfectly acceptable. We can't all be the best at everything (a pill I personally have found hard to swallow lately). The best part starts around 1:30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPjYj0Tpwjo Overall, I think there are some things that TL's can do to support teachers in their journey with learning about and using ICT in their classrooms:
References [Stop picking your nose]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2018, from https://me.me/i/stop-picking-your-nose-noses-4-price-www-bliayteans-com-but-there-rsquo-s-22542374
[Teacher2Teacher]. (2016, September, 7)., Kid President's Pep Talk on Teacher Togetherness [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPjYj0Tpwjo Manitoba Education. Literacy with ICT for Teachers. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2018, from https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/tech/lict/teachers/index.html Mardis, M. A., & Bishop, K. (2016). The collection program in schools: Concepts and practices. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, An imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC.
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Disclaimer: I turned 30 this year. I am married, without children, have four cats and one dog. Currently, I live alone in Alberta while my husband builds a life for us (with the animals and his parents who live with us) in Victoria. The reason for the disclaimer is this: my thoughts and perspectives are not going to be the same as anyone else in this group or class. Making friends, connecting with colleagues, and learning together is not going to look, sound, or feel the same as any other person. When I moved from Manitoba to Alberta, I had one friend who I knew lived in Edmonton, about 30 minutes from where I moved to. We have known each other since high school, and are both teachers. We also play a game called Pokemon Go (yes, it's still a thing, and yes, 2016 was a very long time ago thanks for asking). Image Source: cdn0.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/shutterstock_568034230-796x398.jpg I received a contract for a grade 5 position in an independent school connected to my church's congregation. This means that I teach at a faith-based school where we go to chapel every Wednesday, have Christian Studies classes each day, and pray three times a day: devotions, lunch, and the end of the day. I did not know if I would love this job, because I did not know how I felt about integrating two pretty important parts of my life together so closely. Also, previously I taught grades 9-12, and I have a bit of a dry sense of humour, but it turns out I do love it - grade 5, working with people I see on the weekend regularly, all of it. Part of the reason why I love what I am currently doing is the support and the people I work with. This week we are being asked to discuss developing our ICT Skills and Pedagogy. When I taught high school classes, I taught a computer course to grade 9 students. The teachers in the school wanted our students to become fluent keyboard users since they were transitioning into 1:1 Chromebooks. Since moving to Alberta, I became the co-director of technology for our school. Let me be the first to tell you that our little school is a small fish in a great big pond... and dealing with Apple (or even getting in touch with someone from the purchasing in Education department) is no easy feat. For two years, I tried to hand Apple thousands of dollars, I filled out credit applications, sent many emails (if I said hundreds I would be lying), and played phone tag for weeks. Finally, this year, after two long years of phone tag, emails, support people, and the like - I was able for Apple to finally recognize us as a school, get us credit, and allow us to pay for apps. I told them a few times that I wanted to go about this the honest way, instead of purchasing apps and putting them on ten different iPads (the way sharing works in a household). They finally listened... the heavens opened (pun intended), we can purchase apps! Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-uvyL-sAHY I do not think I have ever had such a difficult time trying to give someone (or a company) money! I am considered the technology person in our school, so that means that nearly every day I have someone coming up to me in the hallway, outside the bathroom, while I am on a prep period, or leaving the school at my car asking me to take a quick look at something. Most of the time it is a quick fix, and other times it takes a bit of time on my part. I receive 40 minutes a week to work on technology in my school, but I do not usually get the full time as I wait for coverage for my class. I am not complaining, because I do get that time. However, it also means that I am the one to fix and troubleshoot everything. We have a class set of iPads, and two class sets of ChromeBooks in our school. We are trying to purchase another class set of iPads, but Apple still will not let me purchase a charge cart through them (please, just take my money)! Given my position, I do not have anyone else to go to to fix anything, run ideas off of, or receive any kind of help from. Google has become my best friend! GIF Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/black-and-white-text-google-xePnbnJiehT1e The great thing about my school is that if there is a need, administration is really supportive. Myself and the other technology co-director have gone to the Technology Summit in Edmonton for PD, and come back with some valuable tools and networking experiences. I would do that again, and I would also consider doing the Google Certification. I value the Facebook groups I belong to as well - because I belong to a number of teacher groups and technology groups for teachers. Often, I find new ideas there. I did not know about the streamlining of Google Classroom after I completed my survey at the end of June, but early to mid-August, sure enough, someone posted about the new features in Google Classroom. When the principal of my school started showing the staff how he planned to use it, I was able to help him by saying "this is a new feature" and "only within the last few months" to a number of things he touched on (do not worry, I was asked to interrupt and shout out my support for what he was showing). I think that taking classes of any kind help connect teachers to what is current or going on in schools. It can be isolating being in an independent school, because we really have no one to collaborate with. The newest teachers in our school come from the public system and are bringing in new ideas, which help with updating how things work within the school. I know that my UBC classes have certainly helped me in envisioning something great for my career and also for my school. I am excited to continue learning in these courses. I do not typically share anything on my Facebook news feed related to teaching, technology, or what I am doing in my classroom. At one time I might have, but I feel like with privacy issues and wanting to create a separation between personal life and career life, I need to avoid making those posts. I do contribute to Facebook groups, but do not update my profile. I belong to a Grade 5 Teachers in Alberta group that I am constantly bouncing ideas off of. I find that group (with it's focus) is so valuable! I think that it would also be valuable for someone to create a BC (or Canadian, so I could join) Teacher Librarian Facebook group, because I could not find one when I searched at the beginning of this course. If someone is interested in making it I would co-moderate! That being said, at the start of my career, I was fairly active on Twitter as it was part of my professional growth plan. I grew tired of notifications and trying to keep up. I hated feeling like I was "always on" and "always thinking about school", so I let that slide. Trust me, my conversations with my husband are no longer all about school, they also include hobbies, interests, and current events. I prefer it that way. Here are my take-aways or my summary of my thoughts on this topic:
Given all that I've said, some days I just feel like I need to pull a Ron Swanson. References [Amit Xavier]. (2013, December 13). Hallelujah Chorus Silent Monks funny !!! [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-uvyL-sAHY
i don't know idk. [GIF]. Retrieved from https://giphy.com/gifs/black-and-white-text-google-xePnbnJiehT1e Mobile Payments. [GIF]. Retrieved from https://media.giphy.com/media/9tvgtoRFLtTwY/giphy.gif [Pokemon Go]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2018, from cdn0.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/shutterstock_568034230-796x398.jpg |
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