I had a great Google hangout with Jeff Korich, @kordichj today about technology in schools.
It was great hearing the thoughts on technology from another #physed teacher. As I was chatting with Jeff, I asked myself what has played a big role in my development as an educator over the last 12 years and I would say that it was technology. According to the Teacher Leader Model Standards (TLMS) Domain 3 talks about Promoting Professional Learning for Continuous Improvement. This has been done in a great deal through technology. I have added some great "tools" to my teaching toolbox that are technology based. As a physical educator, its the apps on my iPad such as attendance, digital rubrics that I can just click the microphone and voice to text so I can go back and see notes from the unit that will help me in making sure I give a fair assessment of their work in class, apps that help me make even and fair teams with the push of a button. Apps that allow me to video record students in game play so I can go back and see things that I may have missed so I can give them feedback on the next lesson. There are dozens of apps by the #PEGeek and the sky has been the limit with how I as a teacher can use technology to better assist me in teaching my students.
Technology is used and really helps with TLMS Domain 6: Improving Outreach and Collaboration with Families and Community. We talked about how the second I submit a grade, a parent is able to see the grade on the portal. A low grade may trigger a conversation between the parent and student, it may be followed up with by a quick email from the teacher, all without even having to take time to set up a meeting and have the parent come in. Now don't get me wrong, I am not a big proponent of no face to face interaction, but technology helps us as educators stay connected with parents and the community. Many schools have Twitter accounts or Facebook pages along with their school's website. These provide great communication with parents instantaneously.
My daughter was just in a talent show two weeks ago and our family in the States were not able to be in attendance as the 15 hour flight might have been a little much for the 1minute she was on stage, however the school live streamed the talent show and we were able to provide her grandparents with the link. This happens for many extracurricular events where busy parents who may be out of town on business trips can still watch their son or daughter.
Another form of collaboration with parents and community is in the form of surveys done through Google Forms. Parents are able to provide feedback and with the click of the button Administrators can gather that data and make potential decisions with the input from the stakeholders.
As much as I feel technology is a necessity in education and also a tool that can be very helpful, we can't get too caught up in all the gadgets and miss the boat that we are dealing with humans, young ones that want a positive relationship with their teacher, the one who recognizes them and says "hi" to them when they walk in the door. That has a heart to heart conversation about something they are passionate about. We can't ever lose sight of that. That is something technology can not help with But for many of the other things, technology sure is great!
No comments:
Post a Comment