#edcampehsthpt will be Saturday July 20 8:30-1:00pm. It will be formatted in the unconference model with educators sharing with educators in open forum discussion on topics surrounding education.
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When I began blogging, it was as I built my role as a technology resource in my building. My teaching career is as a teacher of those with learning disabilities, focusing on those with language based reading disabilities. Working with students in this role has been a focus of mine since high school. I have a B.A. in Child Development and M.Ed. in Special Education, no tech degree.
I have always loved technology, which I credit to my father’s genetics following Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. I have always been intrigued by and loved to use technology, looking back to the excitement I felt when my father brought home the PC Jr. and when I bought a Think Pad in grad school when I couldn’t really afford it, but tech was always calling.
Fast forward to today: I see how tech engages students when videos are shown, I see how tech engages students when I let them do tasks on computers over paper pencil, I see a path….
My admins saw my love for this and open the door for me to go further. I love teaching and I love working with my students on a daily basis, but this tech road is exciting… I get to combine my love of working with my students with learning challenges with my love of technology.
I couldn’t do technology in another school, as my passion comes from finding how technology can benefit students with reading disabilities. I don’t integrate technology for the technology, but for how I see it benefiting the learning and development of skills for the students at Eagle Hill-Southport.
A recent lecture by @BenFoss at our school reiterated for me that technology is a strong tool for these learners. It is a tool that can equalize, that can foster learning, that can help students achieve what is truly already innately in them. Ben is a entrepeneur and dyslexic, who has used his love of learning and his disability to invent the Intel Reader. What a fabulous tech tool to benefit those who struggle to learn from print. What was poignant to me was that despite his invention, he demonstrated how just even his iPhone supports him in his daily tasks through the accessibility features. Additionally highlighting sites like LearningAlly.org and Bookshare.org, that provide audiobook resources to those with print challenges. Ben Foss invented and supports how technology can support learning….that is my passion as well. He clearly expressed that it is just a tool that makes the same tasks, the same learning, the same challenges accessible to him, just as prosthetics would be to someone born without legs. Who can argue with a severe dyslexic that holds an MBA from Stanford?
I see my role as Director of Technology as not to what tech tools need to come in, but what tech tools can benefit my students to accomplish, to gain, to demonstrate, to learn….to be who they truly are and show that to the world. Technology today is becoming common place in the education setting. I love this for my students, because the shift will be from bringing in these tech tools to support them, but make them stand out…to supporting them and making see how they are just as capable as everyone else.
Posted in dyslexia, learning disabilities, technology, Uncategorized | Tags: dyslexia, edutechnology, learning disabilities
Entrepreneur and Dyslexic Ben Foss gives an inspiring talk at Eagle Hill-Southport
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: dyslexia
“A good retreat is better than a bad stand” ~Irish Saying
For a day and a half in the middle of May, #CAISCT edtechs, from Information Techs to Tech Integrators to Academic Tech Coordinators, escape to the hills of CT. The annual Academic Technology Retreat is the oasis away to learn, share, and grow to benefit the staff and students back in our buildings.
This “unconference” is homegrown PD for all areas of academic technology. Sessions are created on the fly and led
by attendees to discuss and learn together, with the ability to move between sessions, as needed, to fit ones needs. It begins with an engaging keynote, this year Dirk DeLo from @AvenuesEd talked about the use of technology within and to enhance curriculum. This was followed by the “Smackdown” where for 10 minutes attendees brainstorm apps and websites to share for personal and professional usage. The rest of the time is spent in awesome real time dialogue with people open to question, share, and demonstrate for all areas of academic tech.
This is authentic Professional Development (PD). It is need based, it is real life discussions, and it brings together people, from a variety of schools and levels, together to build together to benefit staff and students. To be able talk with others who understand my job ups and downs, and speak the same language, where others might think its all “Geek Greek” makes this such an awesome couple days.
It is a fabulous way to end the year, to address those woes and go into the nearing summer with great ideas and a renewed vision to work on so that the next year might be a bit smoother. Also, with the fast pace growth and changes related to educational technology, what a better way to learn than by collaborating with colleagues who are also in the trenches.
What a smart group of people who decided to plan such PD at the end of the year, when we are all overwhelmed and burning out, to be able to get away to a beautiful location, do some authentic learning, and have many laughs. If you are a CAIS educational technology professional, you need to put this retreat on your radar. You have so much to gain in knowledge and relationships from this fabulous form of professional development. 
Thank you to the CAIS Commission on Technology for planning another fabulous opportunity for educators to have authentic professional development.
Images:
http://bergman-udl.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html
cais.org
aveneus.org
literacy.ning.com
Posted in education, technology
In the past week I have experienced two kinds of professional development (PD).
It is astounding the difference between these two events!
Conference A:
The conference began with a wonderful keynote, and there appeared to be strong attendance, although found out later that attendance on day one was a little over half of whom had registered. The sessions that followed were sorely disappointing. None of the sessions I attended were conducted by K-12 educators, but rather professionals in related fields and college professors, none directly in the field of dyslexia. Two sessions I attended covered that exact same material, and was to me and others I was with, presented as new content, but for us was 5 year old information. The four of us attending all ended up at sessions that were selling products, without knowing they were going to be such sessions. Sessions were highlighted as strategies, but once there, found it was only if you used their product. One session I sat in on did not even mention dyslexia at all, and was focused on multi-media. The presenter spent an hour on how to use photos to engage students…with so many great multi-media tools available, I had hoped to gain information, not feel way ahead of the curve. My presentation with a colleague was lightly attended…we were the second to last session on the second day…the attendance on day two was at least half or less of the first day. So despite paying for the conference, people were not attending, and were choosing to opt out. I feel their pain and left the conference feeling defeated as an attendee and presenter.
Conference B:
#icon2013 I learned about on Twitter from some fabulous educators I follow. It was a free conference organized by educators that I follow on Twitter and learn from daily. I threw my hat into the ring to present because there was choice to lecture, have hands on, or lead a discussion. Fabulous choices! Each session I attended was lead by a K-12 educator and addressed real time skills, issues or applications. They were talking real life, even if it was to get me to buy an app to engage my students or increase my productivity. There was not the sales pitch but rather the evidence of true application in the field. The information was relevant. All the presentations and conversations were real and applicable directly to the classroom. I was able to connect with and collaborate with educators I regularly “chat” with on Twitter, having great impromptu discussions before and after sessions. I left that conference invigorated and excited. I enjoyed my discussion session with educators dealing with Tech and the LD student and felt I had applied my knowledge to engage with and learn from others. It was real life PD, including the opening and closing sessions which were not top down, but reaching out to engage and entertain attendees as equals.
The Take Away:
The face of PD is changing. The old school way of spending money to attend organizations conferences is not the way to engage in 21st professional learning. It is the real world conferences and discussions created by those in the trenches educators, things like #edcamp ,#eduscape, and #icon2013. Amazingly enough they are usually cost effective or free, so available to a greater pool. Teachers are looking for those tips, tricks and strategies to immediately take away to apply in the classroom, not theory and research studies to contemplate. They want to connect with other educators in real presentations and conversations to impact student engagement and address real time classroom application. I would even pay for those over the scripted old school style.
The world of education is changing and evolving quickly for the 21st Century teacher and learner. PD needs to evolve as well to fit this model and engage educators to join in. Today’s 21st Century educators are learning daily in forums like Twitter, Pinterest and Learnist and PD needs to fit in to meet these new expectations. PD needs to be readily relevant, not discussions of the backstory. I was so engaged in conference B, as I could relate to the educators presenting, and felt the educators I was presenting to could be part of the real life discussion of the topic. I was meeting educators I regularly learn from on Twitter and finding new ones to learn from.
Twitter is the 24-7 source of Professional Development that makes the pay-to-attend conferences seem stuffy and irrelevant, but also leads you to such great planned, engaging PD across the country. Even if you cannot be there, the information shared from educators to educators is astounding. With such continuous learning opportunities, for conferences to be successful, they need to be organized to be real, relevant, and authentic, not forced and antiquated. I commented with a Twitter colleague after the two conferences, my go to now will be ensuring that when I attend future conferences, it will be one that has a hashtag, thus ensuring that it a conference that is working within the confines of #21st Century teaching and learning.
Thank you to my PLN for always being such fabulous sources of inspiration and information. I learn and grow daily . You know who you are.
Images
http://mriddett.com/essays/the-rational-choice-approach
http://libinfo.uark.edu/ata/v6no3/understandingjoys.asp
http://www.longwood.edu/graduatestudies/41537.htm
Posted in education, professional development, Uncategorized
This past year, the focus for our technology classes @EHSSouthport was the WebQuest. I recalled readlng about WebQuests in @HeidiHayesJacob book Curriculum 21 during my graduate studies last year. When approaching my Director of Curriculum to plan tech classes this year, he brought up WebQuests as well as a focus to implement. Great minds think alike.
In preparing for a preservice to get the staff up to speed on this concept, it was amazing to realize that the concept of WebQuests began with Bernie Dodge back in 1995. Thinking back to this time of the Internet and technology tools, I cannot even imagine how the first WebQuests worked.
WebQuests are “an inquiry oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with resources on the Internet.” (Dodge, 1977) These activities clearly fit into today’s education field focusing on project-based learning. Additionally, they are ideal for students with learning disabilities. The tasks are broken down into clearly defined tasks that give the opportunity for modification and variation of content, process and output. WebQuests are not just about the end, but also treat the process as a learning opportunity. It fosters collaboration, thoughtful interaction with Internet resources, and the ability to demonstrate knowledge in a variety of ways. This can benefit all learners, and create strong students in the 21st Century world.
As Bernie Dodge stated, “A well-designed WebQuest will involve the student in the processes of analysis, synthesis, and evaluations.” (1995) Bloom would be doing cartwheels to see the Taxonomy being so deftly highlighted in the design of such activities for students.
WebQuests are meant to extend a unit of study, either in the beginning to build a level of background knowledge, or to finish a unit of study, creating a summarization activity to synthesize knowledge. What is most poignant is that they support the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to accommodate students with diverse learning needs, identified or not.
As I continue to research the basis and effectiveness of WebQuests for a presentation at EveryOneReading.org in March, I continue to see how great Bernie Dodge’s concept was, and how it fits so much into today’s academic environment as the essence of 21st Century learning.
Posted in education, learning disabilities, technology, Uncategorized
See on Scoop.it – Eagle Hill Southport
computers, tablet computers, such as the iPad (and iPhones) are lightweight, portable, and kid-sized.
See on dyslexiauntied.blogspot.com
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Currently attending a conference on Social Media in Schools; However, it should be called, Where there is a door and a window, kids will find another way out.
It is no debate that from generation to generation, kids are more tech savy than their parents. I, who first learned my love of tech from my IBMer father, now get tech help calls from him. Just the other day he called with a problem that I had not experienced before. What did I do? Google it of course and found the solution. I found the way.
Students do the same. In my current tech class with upper elementary aged kids we are working with a project-based Webquest based on the Three Little Pigs. Students have various higher and lower tech options to complete tasks. The majority chose the options that include Kerpoof or Glogster, as they offer them the creative tech option. Most students had no experience with these sites, but does that stop them from interacting with them? No, kids, when motivated and tech is motivating, will try and play, usually with success. Often discovering parts of these learning tools that I had yet to find.
With our recently started ability to BYOD (Bring your own device), although limited to tablet or laptop, I have been given a glance at novice kids with tech, more than I had before. Students will figure out how to make the devices and apps work for them. They don’t mind experimenting, which is one reason I love iPads for schools. There is less ways for kids to “mess” them up.
The problem is, kids will find a way. As one presenter noted, no child should have a better phone/device than their parents. If the child has a smartphone, while the parent has a flip phone, how is the parent to understand the power they have put in the child’s hand? If a parent doesn’t grasp the concept of all the device can do, then how can they parent the use of such a device with their child?
With a background in Child Development, this is the area I see and fear most. Kids do not have the cognitive ability to truly grasp the power and consequences today’s devices hold. Kids need to be taught, they need to be watched, they need to be held accountable. If parents cannot take these steps, they should not be putting the device in their child’s hand.
I have witnessed my students walking that fine line, and that is only what I see. With new and advanced apps and Social Media, it is getting easier and easier for “accidents” to happen that could have long term negative effects on kids. Kids will skip the door and the window, even if they are open, and find another way without forethought to what could be on the other side.
Education to these starts at home, before the device is put into the child’s hands. Just as kids are taught to look both ways before crossing the road before we let go of their hand, they need to be taught to use tech devices by looking all ways, before it goes into their hands.
Posted in education, technology, Uncategorized | Tags: education, technology
Over the last few years my school, Eagle Hill-Southport, has approached tech adoption at a slower pace than many. There was caution to ensure it fit the mission of our program, a skills based approach for students with learning disabilities, and did not provide compensation while we were working on remediation. Additionally, there were not administrators who could adopt the vision to lead technology integration further. Understandably, our school has addressed students needs for more than 25 years without the need for technology.
BYOD
Teachers need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought, or an event. – Heidi-Hayes Jacobs @heidihayesjacob
As various components have changed, and the need to accept tech integration in the building as pedagogical practice is evident, the doorways are opening. Previously students utilizing their own devices was on a case by case decision, and limited to our older students. However, this past month we went BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), allowing all students who have a laptop or tablet, to utilize them in the academic day, as appropriate to the task.
Teacher Perspective
“We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world.” – David Warlick @dwarlick
I was excited to see how many students opted in to this, particularly right before Digital Learning Day 2013, #DLD2013. In my writing class, 5 of the 6 students have their own devices. Prior to this, they used word processing devices to type due to the limited access to school owned laptops. This opened up my ability to introduce them to Kidblog.org, a safe site for kids to write and share online. The students have bulletin board blogs in my classroom, and were excited to take this practice online. I see some students who wrote in spiral notebooks with struggle due to their learning difficulties, now wanting to write all the time. This has been observed in other classrooms as well.
It the few short weeks of BYOD, other teachers are sharing their views with me.
“We used student’s tablet to get more information. It was great to have something they all could see easily and we found the information that we needed.”~teacher
Another teacher stopped in to let me know how convenient it was to have students each have their own device, versus having to retrieve them from carts. She finds the students engaging well with the devices.
Not Wearing Rose Colored Glasses
I am well aware that this venture is not without issues. More students with more devices means more opportunities for kids to be kids. Some students have mastered the chat window of Google Drive, others find it easy to get distracted by their apps, and of course the temptation to be off task by engaging with other content on their devices. However, is this really any different from the notes I secretly passed in class, or the doodling I was doing in side margins of my notes when I was a student?
Teach the Tool
“Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is most important.” – Bill Gates
Just like anything in the classroom, students need to be taught appropriate usage. They also need to experience the right and wrong times for the use of their devices. Teachers need to not be afraid to say no to students using the device if it is a distraction or does not fit the objective of the lesson. I certainly can’t teach cursive to my students with an iPad. (And yes I still teach them cursive)
Technology is a regular part of the modern world, so why shouldn’t it be in the classroom. We are preparing students to be citizens and productive members of society, and they need guidance on many academic areas to achieve that, including developing skills with tools that can support and enhance their learning, as well as foster their engagement in today’s world.
Thank you Daniel Edwards for this great blog post. Follow him: http://dedwards.me
5 Essential Tips To Help Integrate iPads Into Your School.
Posted in education, technology
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The opposite of growth is death.
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