Even though we were eagerly anticipating the Mid-winter break on Monday and Tuesday, middle school teachers were attending some good sessions on Friday afternoon. Sessions offered included Differentiated Instruction, Formative Assessments, Curriculum Crafters, and Technology in the Classroom.
Greg Mileski did a great job showing how to use Google accounts, RSS feeds, Bookmarking, and Blogs. Basically, if you have web access, you can access your materials and sources by using these tools. For a great example check out Mike Kaechle's blog that is replacing the paper in his classroom. http://concretekax.blogspot.com/
Curriculum Crafter is a great program from Kent ISD that will allow all KPS educators to access lessons, benchmarks, standards, assessments, and curriculum webs. Need a lesson? Find it at http://curriculumcrafter.org/
As Greg said the average coal miner uses more technology than the average classroom teacher. WOW!
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It is great to see teachers using technology to improve their teaching. Like anyone, teachers have a lot to gain from technology. And when teachers benefit, guess who else benefits? Students!
ReplyDeleteI hope that not only will this technology help teachers teach more effectively (i.e. to save time that would be better spent helping students), but that more teachers will use this technology to better familiarize students with it. Whether they graduate in 2010, 2022, or somewhere in between, current Kentwood students will enter a world in which technological competency is necessary for success.
Take blogging, for example. This spring, we had a blog for one of my classes at CMU. Each of us was required to write three posts on the blog and comment four times on posts written by our peers. While I myself love blogging, many people are unfamiliar with it; thus, employing blogging as a tool in the class helped students understand it better. For another example, see this blog, in which a cousin of mine at Carlson High (in the Downriver Detroit area) was required to participate for class points.
With the many pitfalls technology can offer, this world will also require that people are equipped to navigate through this technology responsibly. When I was in school, we were warned early and often to stay away from drugs, don’t talk to strangers, etc. Now, I feel that it’s just as important that students are warned to be careful online.
Given technology’s use in our society today, KPS must orient students to technology and guide them in its proper use if they are to become the “successful, productive citizens” we hope they will be.
-Scott Urbanowski
EKHS Class of 2005