I want to flatten my school!

NO TIME

no time, no time

  I got got got got no time  

 No no no no no no no time  

 I got got got got no time

This is what I heard at ITEC and thought about on my way home from ITEC a few weeks ago. My fellow cohorts were talking about it,and I overheard teachers in the halls while waiting for a session saying, "What would really be nice, is if I got back to school and I could take a whole day to try some of these tools out".... I went back to my school so excited and asked my principal if she was going to give me a half day of PD to present some of what I gleaned to the staff. I'll give you 3 guesses as to what she told me....It seems, that schools and "the powers that be" want us to integrate technology but don't want to dedicate any professional development time for it. So- when will these teachers try it out? 

ON THEIR OWN TIME. Many teachers don't dedicate their nights and weekends to learning about new web 2.0 tools. They have families and other things going on, they have lives! This is what frustrates me the most. Wonderful web 2.0 tools, free, easy to use, and no time to try them out, and no time to show them to teachers.....Maybe we need to mandate some PD for tech integration...

who's for it??

Thoughts after ITEC

I went to ITEC in Iowa City and listened to a lot of tech people. Vicki Davis, Cool Cat Teacher was the keynote, and our cohorts were able to have some face time with her. Most or all of the things she said resonated with me. Like how she showed a picture of the biggest stacked sandwich and said this is most school’s PG& D…..wow, she hit the nail right on the head….we are overwhelmed by so much as teachers, and yet those of us who want to continue to integrate technology, there is EVEN more work to do! It is not a bad thing, except all of what we choose to take on, requires time that we don’t have to begin with! She also talked about how we need 3 big things to try to do this year. We can only do what WE can do…She told us to “be a transformer.” My school is piloting a new project where we are using smartphones. It is an amazing thing to watch these kids when they are told to get out their “pocket pc’s” and watch them fly. The teachers told me the other day that IT has happened: the kids asked to stay in for recess to work on them…We allow for “playing in the sandbox" as Vicki Davis called it, 1 night a month for 4 hours after school. We pay the teachers to try out new Web 2.0 tools or find new Smart Board activities.

If we didn’t do that, I am not sure if the teachers would use the tech tools…this all takes TIME!! This is something all teachers have a shortage of. I came back from ITEC with a list of things I want to show teachers from the MANY excellent and informative sessions I attended in additon to Vicki Davis's session, but first, I must “play in the sandbox” myself with some of these new tools and decide how/which tools would "fit" best with what each class is studying. Below is a list of things I'm going to "play with." ToonDoo, Classtools.net, Wallwisher, BigHugeLabs, Titanpad, to name a few! WOW! An amazing, energizing time at ITEC, but also exausting thinking about all I need to do in order to present these to my teachers!