I remember the beginning of the school year, when I was still feeling the burn from my summer Urban Stem experience, and I got a bit preachy with the 7th grade team about turning up the “tech-o-meter” with my students, and they should as well. Of course I was met with polite but firm ambivalence, no surprises. I don’t let much stand in my way, and rejection from my peers wasn’t about to stop me. I rolled out the tech at every opportunity. I found it addictive. I found myself constantly looking at ways to step up my game.
I like to get what I want when I want it. Getting more technology was important to my students success, and I needed to be able to plan as well. Because each grade level had a Chromebook cart, I offered to house the 7th grade cart, as soon as it was made available. I love those Chromebooks. I’ve had my own for several years, and use it night and day. I think I get a little gleam in my eye when I look at them. They seem to do everything I need and more. Occasionally a team member would ask to use the cart for Compass Learning, or some other online learning site. Not a big deal, because I keep a laptop cart in my room as well. Not my preference, but it serves a purpose.
I wish I could call this story “I Get What I Want”, but of course it’s complicated. The students tend to talk, teachers began to take notice of the work on my bulletin board, and I stayed on message reminding teachers there were easier and more exciting ways to do things. They started to listen. Baby steps at first, but soon my precious Chromebook cart was spending more and more time with other teachers.
This past week I was helping a student get to an assignment in Google Classroom, and I noticed I was not the only teacher in there. Math, Writing, Social Science, Computer Science, Health, and Art are all there. The genie is definitely out of the bottle. So what, it can’t work it’s magic if it stays in...
I like to get what I want when I want it. Getting more technology was important to my students success, and I needed to be able to plan as well. Because each grade level had a Chromebook cart, I offered to house the 7th grade cart, as soon as it was made available. I love those Chromebooks. I’ve had my own for several years, and use it night and day. I think I get a little gleam in my eye when I look at them. They seem to do everything I need and more. Occasionally a team member would ask to use the cart for Compass Learning, or some other online learning site. Not a big deal, because I keep a laptop cart in my room as well. Not my preference, but it serves a purpose.
I wish I could call this story “I Get What I Want”, but of course it’s complicated. The students tend to talk, teachers began to take notice of the work on my bulletin board, and I stayed on message reminding teachers there were easier and more exciting ways to do things. They started to listen. Baby steps at first, but soon my precious Chromebook cart was spending more and more time with other teachers.
This past week I was helping a student get to an assignment in Google Classroom, and I noticed I was not the only teacher in there. Math, Writing, Social Science, Computer Science, Health, and Art are all there. The genie is definitely out of the bottle. So what, it can’t work it’s magic if it stays in...