As a teacher-librarian, I see myself as an educational leader whose role is to not only keep current in my practice but to support and facilitate this learning amongst my colleagues. To continue to pursue this goal in my position, I want to integrate the learning I have done in the past 4 months in this course in my own teaching but also work with and support my colleagues. I feel I have a responsibility to my students to assist teachers in my school to use web 2.0 tools. In his research, Larry Cuban found that "20% of teachers use information and communication technologies as part of their instruction" (Pletka, 2007, p.19). If I was able to find the same statistics in my school, my guess is that it would not be much different.
To support my colleagues in learning web 2.0 technologies and integrating them into their classrooms, I feel I need to do three things:
- Model web 2.0 tools to my colleagues
- Provide supportive hands-on learning experiences for my colleagues
- Be available to support my colleagues while they integrate these tools
In the past three years at my school, the technology situation at my school has gone from good to great (but not terrific!). We have acquired two mobile laptop computer labs, one full stationary computer lab, at least one computer in each classroom and 9 brand new computers in the school library for student use – both Macs and PCs. We have internet access on all of these computers with minimal filtering. Access to hardware, software and the internet is in a plethora at my school. Rarely does a student or staff member go without technology when they need it. How great is that!
The barrier however, is the lack of experience students and teachers have with this access. Teachers in my school are keen and willing to use technology to teach but are still using very basic means to do so. It is not our computers, but teachers and students who need upgrading in the area of web 2.0. So this is where I can help!
As there are many ways that I can promote these tools, I am going to take the avenue of showing my colleagues how web 2.0 tools can help them meet our two school goals that focus on literacy and social responsibility. I will create a “Tech Cafe” where I will spend an hour to two hours once a month after school putting on a workshop focused on a new tool. Each "cafe" teachers will get to learn how to create, use and integrate the tool while enjoying a hot drink and tasty treat! I want it to be hands-on, applicable and something that will uplift and encourage not bog down and frustrate teachers. To provide this I will ensure I am able to support them not only with my understanding of the tools but also with my time during the "cafes" and as they integrate the tools in their teaching. I have collaborative time in my schedule where I can work with teachers on this.
I feel the very first tech cafe should start with Will Richardson's (2009) advice:
"Before you attempt to bring these technologies to your students, first be selfish about their use in your own learning practice. While there is no doubt my classes were in many ways profoundly changed by blogs and wikis and the like, the bigger truth is that transformation in my own personal learning practice is what informed my work with students. It wasn't until I fully understood how these technologies can facilitate global connections and conversations around my own passions, how they could help me create powerful learning networks and communities, that I was able to see what needed to change in terms of my curriculum and my teaching" (p.8).
After giving my colleagues Will Richardson's advice, I am going to start by introducing social bookmarking to my colleagues. I feel by creating social bookmarking sites, I will draw on their already developed ability to use websites in their teaching by giving them a tool to organize these sites and share them with each other through the mail tool.
Secondly, I am going to introduce my colleagues to voice threads. Here is how I may introduce it….
After these initial steps, I will assess how the "tech cafe" model is working and decide if I will continue with it or tweak it to include more of my colleagues.
I anticipate my biggest problem is initially getting teachers to commit their time to coming to the “tech cafe” as like most teachers, their time is already in high demand. I plan on not only providing a hot drink and tasty treat as a tiny incentive to coming to the workshop but also keeping them short and sweet in that we do a lot in a short amount of time and then play some more in context of their teaching in my collaborative time.
Even if I can get one teacher on board at first, I know the interest will slowly spread when my colleague and I can showcase how we have used these tools with our students – maybe in a school wide assembly! What better advertising than having students showcase their learning through web 2.0 tools in front of the school and then allowing students and the teacher time to give their testimonies of how easy and fun it was to do!
Although I assume my colleagues will be most interested in working with the tools, creating them and applying them in their teaching, I will have available the following books in the library for them to borrow as well as links to the following websites to support them, give them ideas and provide them with theory and research on teaching with web 2.0 tools. I will also direct them to explore a variety of the blogs of my classmates in this course as they have worked hard exploring and examining these tools. They can access them through my blog or I can send them the links on their new delicious accounts!
Books & Articles:
Asselin, M., Doiron, R. (unknown) Towards a Transformative Pedagogy for School Libraries 2.0. Retrieved November 20, 2008 from http://asselindoiron.pbwiki.com/AERApaper
Burniske, R. (2008). Literacy in the digital age.
Nelson, K. (2008). Teaching in the digital age.
November, A. (2008). Web Literacy for Educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Pletka, B. (2007). Educating the Net Generation: How to engage students in the 21st century. Santa Monica, CA: Santa Monica Press.
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
Valenza, J., Rodoff, K. (2008). Information fluency. Retrieved
Websites:
Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day @ http://janeknight.typepad.com/pick/2008/11/blurb.html
Learning 2.0 @ http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/
Mount Prospect Public Library Web 2.0 tutorials @ http://mppllearning2point0.pbwiki.com/
Tame the Web @ http://tametheweb.com/
Wonderful Web 2.0 Tools @ http://techitupwebtools.pbwiki.com/
Women of Web 2.0 @ http://www.edtechtalk.com/taxonomy/term/219
5 comments:
Love you're idea of doing reading assessments via voice threads. I will pass that idea on.
I think your staff is really fortunate to have a barista like you!
Jacquie
Andrea,
Your "tech cafe" sounds like a great idea. Even if only one or two staff members come out, I'm sure that your Web 2.0 message will catch on as others pass the word. I think it's a good idea to follow up your cafe with individual support. Good luck!
Jo-Anne
Andrea,
I like how you have outlined three goals to integrating Web 2.0 technologies at school. Many of our colleagues need support when it comes to new technology learning.
Go "Tech Cafe"!!
carol t
Thanks, Andrea. I love your idea of a tech cafe--as Jo-Anne says, even if only 2 or 3 people come that's a few more people you are converting to the cause! And it's a great way to lead by example!
You have some pretty awesome ideas! Thanks for sharing. I am going to remember the tech cafe! That'd be so much fun.
Post a Comment