Technology in Education: Notes from the Closet

This winter I am working toward adding a new credential to my learning: Quality Matter's  Teaching Online Certificate . This well-established and highly respected organization has put together a series of workshops that focuses on best practices of online teaching. I have reflected on each workshop as I completed them as a way to model metacognition. This post is the final reflection, 8 of 8. I'm fortunate to be at an institution that encourages and values continuous learning. As someone who has taught graduate courses for well known universities for 15 years, I feel I have a solid grasp of online pedagogical practices. Still, part of staying relevant is continuing to grow yourself and reflect on your learning. Having recently completed the workshops, this blog contains my thoughts about the process and content overall. In no specific order, here are my takeaways and tips for anyone considering working toward this credential. Build in space between each workshop. Not knowing an...

This post was originally written for the ISTE Community Leader's July 2022 edition . Happy summer break, coaches! I hope you have had an opportunity to reflect, refresh, and reset. As a director of a coaching program and former technology coach, I know that the work never truly stops; it just looks different for a few summer months each year. As you are reflecting and preparing, here are five tips and things to consider to make this next school year the best. Revisit Coaching Data . Did you conduct an end-of-year survey of your teachers? If so, revisit that data. What do your stakeholders think worked best? Are there professional development topics they want to learn more about? District initiatives you know of that need additional support? Whether your data is formal or informal, it is still essential and should drive your work. If you want to improve data collection this next school year, now is the time to prepare. I created a crowdsourced document of potential survey questions...

This June I wrapped up ten years of instructional technology coaching. Soon (tomorrow, in fact) I will begin a new journey in my career where I will still utilize my coaching skills but in a different capacity. This new opportunity has caused me to reflect on lessons learned throughout my time as a school-based coach. If you are a coach or aspire to be one following are ten tips I've learned during my ten years in the role. Be a model . Practice what you preach! If you want your teachers to join Twitter make sure you are already there. If they would like to try a new tool or lesson familiarize yourself with it first in order to lend additional support. Be honest . If you don't know something, say so. As a coach, your faculty will look to you as an expert. There have been several times throughout my career that I've said, "I don't know that tool/concept/strategy but let me see what I can find out about it." If you are a former classroom teacher, remind peo...

This is a copy of my final reflection as a Columbia College T.E.A.M. Fellow: You Mean There is More?! I’ve been in education now for twenty years.  Rather uniquely, all twenty years at the same school,  May Community Academy .  This is my last year at “May”.  I use quotations because my school is being  shuttere d .  The building may remain but the faculty and name will change (if you are interested in hearing my thoughts about that I’ll be blogging about it another day  here ).  I spent my first fifteen years doing the same thing: teaching 4 th  grade.  Even though the general content remained the same every year I worked just as hard to learn new methods of madness that would hold my students’ interests and to stay current with best practices. After 4 th  grade I became the Lead Technology Teacher for May. This job was loaded; I was charged with helping teachers integrate technology, maintaining the building’s techn...