And we're done... for now.

Okay... as with all of my blog posts... I'm standing at my computer, looking blankly at the screen deciding what to write. I'm not one for reflection... at least not the public kind and I find it difficult to get my ideas out not knowing if there is anybody else reading it, or for that matter, caring about what I'm writing.

So... here it goes. Last night of the course... I think, I hope I'm done all of the other components.

1. Describe one significant idea or issue that has arisen for you, as you were engaging in the topics during Learning Experiences #3 and #4.

I did like the idea of creating the 3-year strategic plan. I did have the ability to do many of the things that I included in the plan when I did my stint as the IT Consultant and many of the components that I included were adjusted based on things that I did that didn't run as smoothly as I would have liked. Maybe in the future, I'll get to try out many of my planned ideas. Ultimately, our plan has to have one desired outcome... achieving student success. The successes can and should be different and our plans need to accommodate for those differences. Through budget expenditures for purchasing devices, supporting the pedagogy behind their use, and creating community connections and chances for involvement, we are ensuring that our students are receiving the best possible environment for learning. In the end, it isn't what I like, what devices I use, or what the teachers likes are... it is what our students are getting. Sometimes that idea gets lost... sometimes, we need to ask our students what their needs are and act on that.

2. Elaborate on how specific resources, ideas or experiences in these Learning Experiences have contributed to your learning. e.g. reading material, course activities etc.

I think experiences, like the blog, the strategic plan, the training calendar, and the survey forced me to reflect on many of the situations that I've encountered in my career. I've seen a lot... I've talked to a lot of people.... and I've worked with countless teachers and an even larger number of students. I've learned a lot from my experiences. I think that everyone needs to have more experiences to have a greater understanding and appreciation for just how big the education system is and how important it is to move out of your comfort zone and learn something new. Teaching is an evolution and just reading many of the comments and ideas from my colleagues in the forums here opens your eyes to the bigger world that we are part of. It doesn't matter if you teach in Northern Ontario, Toronto, or across the planet... we are all teachers and have a responsibility to mold a person. We are contributing factors to how a person will grow up in this world.

3. Share how your participation in the discussion forums have contributed to your learning and connect this to your understanding of the Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession.

I think I covered this above... Just by being a part of this course and other courses, we are committing ourselves to learning more about the strategies, tools, and ideals needed to ensure that our students are getting what they need to be successful. The world is changing... education has to change too.

4. Discuss any outstanding questions and the steps you may take to further explore your interests as part of your learning in the course.

I don't know... honestly, With the completion of yet another task, I look forward to what I'll do next. I love to read, talk, and learn more about learning. I'll probably just keep doing that. Never stop exploring.

Thanks for the learning experience and to those reading this... if any, thanks for sharing in my thoughts.

Blog... From Reader to Writer

Blogs aren't really my cup of tea... from a writing standpoint. I know I should share more using this format, but with 4 young kids at home and a busy day job, I don't always find the time to write.

Let's do a pros and cons list... a la Ross on Friends.

Pros:

1. I like to share my ideas... this is just another method to do it.
2. Sometimes clarity comes from writing. I can use a blog to reflect on what I'm doing and my ideas around ed. tech implementation.
3. The world can help me with my issues... or clarify my thoughts... or share their thoughts with me to better my own.

Cons:

1. 4 kids under 8 at home... this severely cuts down on my online time and i don't want to take any more time from them.
2.  I don't have any more... just wish there were more hours in the day and more desire to sit down and do this regularly.

But... in saying all of this... I read way too much. I use Feedly on my devices to organize my reading resources. I'll share them here.

Ed. Tech Resources - Some of the Blogs I Frequent

Free Technology for Teachers - This guy is great. He compiles lists and provides pros and cons of different tools. Richard Byrne loves to share and this is my go to site for finding resources... I may not always agree with some of the ideas and things he says, but at least that makes me think.

Hack Education - Not many posts, but the articles are interesting and often provide a lot of "food for thought". Very focused on the link between education and government. This is a USA perspective, so not exactly the same as the Canadian connections, but interesting none the less.

The Principal of Change – Stories of learning and leading - I've seen him present so many times (every time is excellent!) that I now read his blog in his voice with his enthusiasm and excitement. Fantastic speaker; fantastic writer.

open thinking | rants & resources from an open educator - George's brother Alec... also very insightful.

Steven W. Anderson-Web20Classroom - Posts are generally short, but insightful... travels around with Tom Whitby... below on the list!

~ Mark's Musings ~ blog.markwcarbone.ca | Connect, Learn, Reflect, Share: Make a Difference Today - Shares a lot. OSSEMOOC and innovation are his foci.

Teacher Tech - Alice Keeler - Google guru! She shares everything... uses the tools in many new and innovative ways.

My Island View | Educational, Disconnected Utterances - Very well written blog... great speaker as well. Passionate about learning and tech integration.

Brian Aspinall – Blog: Dork. Teacher. Blogger. Speaker - One of my favourites. Coding and education... passionate about what he does!

The Love of Learning... A Personal Reflection

As I come closer to completing another module of IICT Part 2, I need to reflect on my learning experiences thus far... Here are my musings!

1. Describe one significant idea or issue that has arisen for you as you were engaging in the topics during the Learning Experience:

There seems to be a common thread of what is effective Professional Development for teachers with regards to technology integration. Authentic training needs to be ongoing, focused, and job embedded. Too often, training is a gloss over set of strategies that aren’t focused on staff needs, but more to meet an agenda item of broad school goal. In our classrooms, we are supposed to meet the diverse needs of our students by providing differentiated opportunities to sustain inquiry and challenge thinking. We should be able to help students make connections with curricular goals and real life situations and challenges… yet, we rarely apply this to teacher learning. Instead, we often force a one-size-fits-all methodology and expect that everyone can reproduce, while still meeting the needs of all their students with a constantly changing set of tools.

2. Elaborate on how specific resources, ideas or experiences in the learning experience have contributed to your learning. e.g. reading material, course activities etc:

I think for me, the challenge is getting my ideas out. I like to share… in person. I’m a talker. I like to meet the people I work with and find out what they like, the type of person they are, and how I can help them. The online tools and activities, seem a bit impersonal, and I can’t share what I know as effectively in this environment.

3.Share how your participation in the discussion forum has contributed to your learning and connect that to your understanding of the Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession.

The sharing of tools and strategies specific to teaching and learning show a commitment to students and student learning. Any AQ course we take is for the purposes of furthering our knowledge, skills and abilities to meet the needs of our students. We demonstrate the love of the learning process by taking courses and demonstrate our resilience in learning more. Teaching is purposeful and if we as teachers fail to grow as learners, we aren’t modeling the love of learning to our students.

How far have we come so far?

Honestly? I came into this course hoping to learn about some new tools... tools that I could bring back to my board... my position... to the students I interact with. What I've found, is that we are all focusing on the same subset of tools to enable learning independence and nurture creativity in our classroom.

Does that mean that we are stagnating? Or does it mean that we have come to see that we shouldn't live in an "app for that" education system where one tool does one job. I look at everything I've done in my past role as a curriculum consultant, and the biggest impact for student engagement and learning with technology has come with the Google Apps for Education platform. 

Yes.... Office does the same things and is the tool of choice for businesses and yes... I do think it is a better product... BUT and a large BUT... it isn't a better tool for our students (and me too). I don't want to spend more than 20 minutes explaining how to use a tool. I think if it takes longer than this, students better be in a technology class. I want the focus to be on what the student is learning. I want to them to achieve curriculum goals while at the same time, being able to show off their learning in a variety of different and exciting ways. Google does this... and from the sounds of it, by reading the posts and comments of others, many others in the class see the same things.  

We are all in this education thing together. We need to focus less on the tools and more on the what are you doing with it. What is your end goal? Is the technology necessary for what you are doing or is it just a distraction? Are you assuming that just because you are using technology in the classroom that students are learning better or engaged... I hope not. 

To Tech or Not to Tech... That is not a question anymore.

Necessary for some, good for all.

I've had a great teaching career. I've had my own classes and for the past 7 years have been lucky enough to help out in classes from K-12... even got to teach a few university instructors along the way.

Nothing, however, rings more true than the statement above. Necessary for some, good for all became the mantra of the IT4 Learning Team at the District School Board of Niagara. Special Education focused tools such as Word Q and Read & Write were good for everyone. There was always a tool that could be of some use to students, whether they were in Grade 1 or Grade 12. Training a classroom of students how to use the text to speech feedback meant that the student that needed it to read didn't look any different than the students who could use it to improve their writing skills... 

The flipside also applies when integrating technology into a class for the purpose of being assistive. Tools like Office, Google Docs, Video Creation Tools, etc. are then tools for a regular streamed classroom. They, again, are tools for everyone. Just because the label assistive technology is applied to specific software, does not mean that all of the other available software can't be assistive. 

All of our students need to belong. All of our students need an outlet for creativity. All of our students need to be treated fairly. Maybe the statement "necessary for some, good for all" shouldn't be just a statement. It should be an ideal. It should be the norm... or maybe it should just be abolished and replaced by "necessary for all." Maybe this is what needs to be said to abolish the notion that our special needs students are any different than any other student.

Oh... The Blog

I, like many others, have always struggled to get into the blogging thing. I understand the reflective nature of my role and although I love to share my musings, I like to do that in person with the teachers I work with. Although, the reflective writing process opens you to new ideas and insights into your own work, I struggle finding the time to make that happen. I know that these thoughts and musings are supposed to help others and I really enjoy reading the reflective journeys of my teaching partners around the world.

I like to read... a lot. I read blogs, I read twitter, I just read. I try to find new and exciting ways to engage students and create a bank of ideas that I can use when working with teachers through all of the things that I read. I tinker. I make. And all of this is for the students and teachers I work with, including my kids. I just want to know more.

We are all struggling as teachers. Our kids are changing. They are evolving from the classical notion of a student into worldly, passionate individuals who are (often!) more aware now of the world they live in than we were when we were in school. The ever-changing technology landscape has shifted our role from the traditional purveyor of knowledge to the facilitator and guide on their educational journey. Rather than fearing the very tools of distraction, like social media, we need to learn how to harness their energies into our classrooms to ensure our leaders of tomorrow are prepared to use everything at their disposal.

My FAVOURITE George Couros quote challenges our teacher roles and resistance to change.

"Integrating technology is no longer optional for us. It’s not okay to say, “I can’t use this type of technology because I don’t know it or I’m not good at it.” None of us would accept that response from a student who was struggling to learn something new and complicated, so we shouldn’t accept it from ourselves."

We need to model change. We need to model resilience.

I'm dropping a TEDx video in here as food for thought... Brian Aspinall on Education Reform. Fantastic speaker with a fantastic message.