At our faculty meeting last week, we were all introduced to the newest members of our school community: our new school set of iPads. Our district is in the middle of a large initiative to get every school equipped with at least one set of iPads to share with the whole school. Considering our school just had WiFi installed for the first time about month ago, this set of 30 iPads is actually a pretty big deal. We talked about the sharing procedures, different useful apps, how to transport them to our classroom, and other basics. I had just completed the Professional Development module last week, so I was excited to get to participate in this new PD in our school, as well as take part in using the iPads.
However, even though there was much excitement surrounding the possibilities that come from having iPads available, when I went back to my classroom, I was met with another, less welcome, surprise. Our district has some pretty strict filters and restrictions on the internet, and when I went to look something up on Google, I could not access the website. The website, www.google.com, was blocked on my computer. It usually works, but for whatever reason that day, I could not access Google. This experience prompted me to really get to work on researching and proposing some changes that could be made to our diocesan technology resources.
I found out that the diocesan educational technology office supplies resources and provides support for 8,500 students in 36 elementary, middle, and high schools across southern Nebraska. The budget although sufficient, is by no means overflowing, and the people in charge are rather strict about what is and is not allowed in the schools. In today's society, I do understand the need to make sure that the media our children are receiving are high quality and beneficial, but the teachers also should be able to teach without being worried about constantly being blocked or filtered away from a website.
The one resource that I think we are missing out on the most in our district is access to Google Drive. Thie resource is hugely helpful to both students and teachers. Basically,
each student creates an account on Google Drive, and then they have access to
all of the assignments and resources provided for them by their teachers
online. The possibilities for teachers are limitless-they can create assignments,
projects, upload videos, provide links to websites, manage assignments, track
progress, provide timely feedback that can be accessed at any time by the
student or teachers, ask questions and give comments to students outside of
class time, allow students to work collaboratively on projects at any time, and
so much more. With Google Drive, teachers and students are connected in a way
like never before, which greatly enhances the learning experience. Google Drive
is also a great tool for communication between teachers and other teachers or
teachers and parents. Teachers can send out editable documents, surveys, or
videos for teachers or parents to view and contribute to, and this can all
happen at any time in any place.
The project I ended up with will hopefully be at least a good starting point for a conversation about some of the issues we have regarding access to resources. I know this is a commonly discussed problem in our schools, and I hope we can make a change with the right conversations.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Difficulty in Resource Selection
Throughout my first year of teaching, I have had so much support in my school. My principal is the picture of what a principal should be, my fellow teachers are very supportive, the parents of my students are wonderful, and I truly love my students. The school system is very community-oriented and we all care about each other. However, one area where my school really struggles is in the area of using technology resources. We have a sufficient amount of technology (not too much, but sufficient), but we are extremely limited in what we are allowed to use.
For example, I took a class during undergrad that was all about using technology to support and enhance classroom instruction. I learned SO much, and really planned on using as much of the material from the class as possible. However, one major tenant of this class was focused around using a certain resource: Google Drive. I am a person who has used Google Drive for years; it was instrumental in all of my jobs in college, and I used it during practicums and student teaching. My technology teacher also used it for almost everything, and I was so excited about using it in my classroom. However, our district does not allow teachers to use Google Drive for anything. In fact, it is completely blocked on our computers. Many times throughout this year, I have thought about how useful Google Drive would be in whatever situation (sending a parent survey, editing a collaborative document with the other 3rd grade teacher, communicating with fellow teachers, etc). The rationale that the district provides is that we cannot use Google Drive because the company of Google has many moral and ethical disagreements with the Catholic Church, and we cannot support the company as a result. While I have not done much research about that, it seems like this argument might be a little diluted, and I need to look into it some more.
So, as a first year teacher in a system where we are greatly limited in our options of resources to use, I am torn about what to do exactly. While I have made it work without Google Drive, I know it would make my life easier to be able to use it. I also know that the administration in my school is on the same page as I am in regards to this, so talking to them would not probably help. I need to talk to the people who are higher up on the ladder, but I do not know who to talk to or how to talk to them. I'm planning on reaching out once I have my project done for this module to hopefully have some more definite and concrete answers and arguments for them. Until then, I will make it work with what I have!
For example, I took a class during undergrad that was all about using technology to support and enhance classroom instruction. I learned SO much, and really planned on using as much of the material from the class as possible. However, one major tenant of this class was focused around using a certain resource: Google Drive. I am a person who has used Google Drive for years; it was instrumental in all of my jobs in college, and I used it during practicums and student teaching. My technology teacher also used it for almost everything, and I was so excited about using it in my classroom. However, our district does not allow teachers to use Google Drive for anything. In fact, it is completely blocked on our computers. Many times throughout this year, I have thought about how useful Google Drive would be in whatever situation (sending a parent survey, editing a collaborative document with the other 3rd grade teacher, communicating with fellow teachers, etc). The rationale that the district provides is that we cannot use Google Drive because the company of Google has many moral and ethical disagreements with the Catholic Church, and we cannot support the company as a result. While I have not done much research about that, it seems like this argument might be a little diluted, and I need to look into it some more.
So, as a first year teacher in a system where we are greatly limited in our options of resources to use, I am torn about what to do exactly. While I have made it work without Google Drive, I know it would make my life easier to be able to use it. I also know that the administration in my school is on the same page as I am in regards to this, so talking to them would not probably help. I need to talk to the people who are higher up on the ladder, but I do not know who to talk to or how to talk to them. I'm planning on reaching out once I have my project done for this module to hopefully have some more definite and concrete answers and arguments for them. Until then, I will make it work with what I have!
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Professional Development for iPad Implementation
Although my school is quite limited in technology currently, given the fact that my classroom has only one computer, and it is my school laptop, we are beginning to take baby steps in this area. Starting in August, the school will have access to a shared iPad cart with 30 iPads for the school. There are 12 classrooms in the school (2 per grade, K-5) who will be able to check out the whole cart or a number of iPads on a sign-out process. I don't know exactly how this will work as far as individual student usage (signing in, saving data, etc) but I am excited regardless!
In my research about effective professional development in the school setting, I found that one of the most important things principals can do in this area is to provide clear objectives for their PD. Just as teachers must have clear, measurable objectives for their lessons, principals must do the same. Without a clear purpose, even a well-run PD session can leave the attendees wondering what they were supposed to gain. My principal, who will be mostly in charge of implementing the iPads into our classrooms, is an effective educator who should be able to do this without a problem.
For my project, I researched a variety of iPad implementation techniques and connected those to an 8-month PD plan. I did research about what should and should not be done when a school implements iPads into instruction, and incorporated a lot of those ideas into the plan. For example, we start by talking about general iPad care and expectations and basic functions. We also will discuss our goals and objectives for using the iPads before we dive into specific functions. By the end of the year, we have met our objective of each teacher using the iPads at least once weekly for whole group and once weekly for small group instruction in any subject area. The teachers in my school come from a wide background of technological capabilities, with some brand new teachers and some who have been teaching for 30+ years. For this reason, it is important to provide some differentiation and some general instruction to all 12 of us. Hopefully, even though we do have some differences, we will all be able to meet the goals.
There is a lot of discussion and many expectations already about using the iPads next year, and I hope we will be able to use them for instruction and not to replace instruction. With an effective PD plan, we should be able to incorporate our iPads efficiently and successfully into our classrooms.
In my research about effective professional development in the school setting, I found that one of the most important things principals can do in this area is to provide clear objectives for their PD. Just as teachers must have clear, measurable objectives for their lessons, principals must do the same. Without a clear purpose, even a well-run PD session can leave the attendees wondering what they were supposed to gain. My principal, who will be mostly in charge of implementing the iPads into our classrooms, is an effective educator who should be able to do this without a problem.
For my project, I researched a variety of iPad implementation techniques and connected those to an 8-month PD plan. I did research about what should and should not be done when a school implements iPads into instruction, and incorporated a lot of those ideas into the plan. For example, we start by talking about general iPad care and expectations and basic functions. We also will discuss our goals and objectives for using the iPads before we dive into specific functions. By the end of the year, we have met our objective of each teacher using the iPads at least once weekly for whole group and once weekly for small group instruction in any subject area. The teachers in my school come from a wide background of technological capabilities, with some brand new teachers and some who have been teaching for 30+ years. For this reason, it is important to provide some differentiation and some general instruction to all 12 of us. Hopefully, even though we do have some differences, we will all be able to meet the goals.
There is a lot of discussion and many expectations already about using the iPads next year, and I hope we will be able to use them for instruction and not to replace instruction. With an effective PD plan, we should be able to incorporate our iPads efficiently and successfully into our classrooms.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Effective Professional Development
I am currently in my very first year of teaching, and feel I have grown so much and learned a lot throughout this year. The school in which I work is a fantastic school; we have a great school community, awesome teacher support, lots of parent involvement, and fantastic students. My principal is also wonderful, and has provided me with much support and many resources over the course of the year. I have been very blessed to work in such a great environment for my first year of teaching!
However, even with all of these great things that my school has, one thing we are lacking is technology. I have one computer in my classroom (my school laptop), a projector, and a smartboard. Students really only use computers during their weekly computer class, and we have no iPads or tablets of any kind. We had WiFi installed in our building just last week, which was very exciting! As a result of this lack of technology, I have received very little in the area of professional development (PD) with regard to technology. During my first year of teaching, I think PD is extremely important, so I definitely would have appreciated more.
The importance of PD cannot be overstated for any teacher, regardless of level of experience. When teachers are continually improving themselves by learning new techniques and teaching strategies, they are becoming more effective teachers, which leads to higher achieving students. This constant PD in the area of technology is especially relevant today, with all of the new advances in technology that are constantly happening.
Throughout my first year of teaching, I have received some PD in the area of discipline, but almost none in technology. This makes sense given our current shortage of resources, but our school did just receive a cart of iPads to share among the building. There are 12 classrooms who will be using them next year, but I have high hopes that I will be able to implement them into many parts of my classroom. I also know we are going to have some PD towards the end of the year about effective use of iPads in the elementary classroom, so I am very excited about that. For example, I'm hoping to set up a guided math system next year with math groups, instead of my current whole group instruction system. This will help me differentiate my math lessons, and one of the stations can be fact practice or concept review on the iPads. I am looking forward to this opportunity, and can't wait to take part in the professional development that goes along with it!
However, even with all of these great things that my school has, one thing we are lacking is technology. I have one computer in my classroom (my school laptop), a projector, and a smartboard. Students really only use computers during their weekly computer class, and we have no iPads or tablets of any kind. We had WiFi installed in our building just last week, which was very exciting! As a result of this lack of technology, I have received very little in the area of professional development (PD) with regard to technology. During my first year of teaching, I think PD is extremely important, so I definitely would have appreciated more.
The importance of PD cannot be overstated for any teacher, regardless of level of experience. When teachers are continually improving themselves by learning new techniques and teaching strategies, they are becoming more effective teachers, which leads to higher achieving students. This constant PD in the area of technology is especially relevant today, with all of the new advances in technology that are constantly happening.
Throughout my first year of teaching, I have received some PD in the area of discipline, but almost none in technology. This makes sense given our current shortage of resources, but our school did just receive a cart of iPads to share among the building. There are 12 classrooms who will be using them next year, but I have high hopes that I will be able to implement them into many parts of my classroom. I also know we are going to have some PD towards the end of the year about effective use of iPads in the elementary classroom, so I am very excited about that. For example, I'm hoping to set up a guided math system next year with math groups, instead of my current whole group instruction system. This will help me differentiate my math lessons, and one of the stations can be fact practice or concept review on the iPads. I am looking forward to this opportunity, and can't wait to take part in the professional development that goes along with it!
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Branding in the Hastings Area Schools
These past two weeks, I have been doing a lot of research and digging into what branding is, why it is important to schools, and how to brand a school well. For my project, I decided to compare and contrast the branding efforts of the Hastings Catholic School system with the Hastings Public School system. I was interested in finding results in terms of quality of posts and reach. To find out about a school's branding efforts, I focused completely on social media for this project, because this class is focused on technology.
Both Hastings Catholic Schools (HCS) and Hastings Public Schools (HPS) are K-12 school systems. HCS has two buildings (one middle/high and one elementary), while HPS has seven (one high, one middle, and five elementary). Because enrollment is much higher at HPS, they automatically have a larger reach, because more people are interested in following them on social media. However, quality branding of a school is about more than just number of posts or followers. It should instead be focused on the quality of the posts. The ultimate goal of branding is to tell the story of a school, and to do this, schools need to have a variety of well-rounded posts on social media.
HPS does a much better job than HCS in terms of telling the story of the school. For example, the most recent posts made by HCS include mostly high school extracurricular highlights, with a few mentions of the elementary school. Meanwhile, the most recent posts from HPS include a teacher highlight, technology updates at the high school, as well as updates from the high school and middle school extracurricular activities. Overall, it is important that social media coming from schools tells the story of the school by sharing well-rounded, accurate, and positive posts about what is happening at school. In this way, people involved in the school system, as well as those from outside, can learn the story of the school by the way it is portrayed on social media.
Both Hastings Catholic Schools (HCS) and Hastings Public Schools (HPS) are K-12 school systems. HCS has two buildings (one middle/high and one elementary), while HPS has seven (one high, one middle, and five elementary). Because enrollment is much higher at HPS, they automatically have a larger reach, because more people are interested in following them on social media. However, quality branding of a school is about more than just number of posts or followers. It should instead be focused on the quality of the posts. The ultimate goal of branding is to tell the story of a school, and to do this, schools need to have a variety of well-rounded posts on social media.
HPS does a much better job than HCS in terms of telling the story of the school. For example, the most recent posts made by HCS include mostly high school extracurricular highlights, with a few mentions of the elementary school. Meanwhile, the most recent posts from HPS include a teacher highlight, technology updates at the high school, as well as updates from the high school and middle school extracurricular activities. Overall, it is important that social media coming from schools tells the story of the school by sharing well-rounded, accurate, and positive posts about what is happening at school. In this way, people involved in the school system, as well as those from outside, can learn the story of the school by the way it is portrayed on social media.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Week 1- School Branding
Throughout this past week, I have been doing some research into school branding. One of my favorite ways that school branding was described was as a school telling its story (Davis & Molnar, 2014, p. 8). Basically, every school has a story to tell, just as every human has his or her own story to tell. This story includes the history, legacy, current activities, school culture, and future of the school, and each school has something unique to offer in this area. I loved this comparison that makes schools take on almost a human form and really come to life. Schools have the responsibility to make sure their stories are told, and one way to do that is through branding, specifically social media.
Social media is consistently becoming more and more present in our society, and I don't personally think it is going to be leaving anytime soon. It is a (usually) free and always effective way to market a school, because so many people use social media throughout each day. Because this class is focused on technology, I chose to compare and contrast elementary and secondary school branding efforts in social media. I teach third grade in a school building that is K-5, but our school system includes K-12, so I thought I would be able to find some interesting research about the benefits, challenges, and possibilities that exist in elementary vs secondary school branding. I also wanted to discover what makes an effective branding platform in the educational setting.
Essentially, I found that what works for businesses in terms of branding also works for schools. Schools should focus on what sets them apart, keep their branding strategy simple and consistent, and use as many different venues as effective for the setting (Stine, 2002, p. 10). For example, one principal in New York updates a school blog, posts things on Facebook and Twitter, and has a relevant and current web video channel. In this way, he is able to reach many people, and all of those things cost him virtually nothing! (Davis & Molnar, 2014, p. 8)
As far as elementary vs secondary school branding, I was not able to find too much about branding elementary schools at all. I did find a couple of articles from principals who said that even though some people don't see the purpose of it, he wants to use social media to tell his school's story, or else someone else will do it for him (Davis & Molnar, 2014, p. 8). However, in the secondary school setting, branding is much more important and used because of school choice. People choose secondary schools based on many different aspects, like academic rigor, extracurricular opportunities, or carrying on a legacy, and social media is the easiest way to build a brand around those things (Chang, 2011, p. 4).
All in all, I was able to find a lot of information about how to build an effective brand for a school. By sticking to a specific strength and following the business branding model, schools are able to use social media to help build their name and tell their story. I hope to be able to use these ideas in my role as a school leader one day, especially because these issues are bound to be even more relevant in the future.
References
Social media is consistently becoming more and more present in our society, and I don't personally think it is going to be leaving anytime soon. It is a (usually) free and always effective way to market a school, because so many people use social media throughout each day. Because this class is focused on technology, I chose to compare and contrast elementary and secondary school branding efforts in social media. I teach third grade in a school building that is K-5, but our school system includes K-12, so I thought I would be able to find some interesting research about the benefits, challenges, and possibilities that exist in elementary vs secondary school branding. I also wanted to discover what makes an effective branding platform in the educational setting.
Essentially, I found that what works for businesses in terms of branding also works for schools. Schools should focus on what sets them apart, keep their branding strategy simple and consistent, and use as many different venues as effective for the setting (Stine, 2002, p. 10). For example, one principal in New York updates a school blog, posts things on Facebook and Twitter, and has a relevant and current web video channel. In this way, he is able to reach many people, and all of those things cost him virtually nothing! (Davis & Molnar, 2014, p. 8)
As far as elementary vs secondary school branding, I was not able to find too much about branding elementary schools at all. I did find a couple of articles from principals who said that even though some people don't see the purpose of it, he wants to use social media to tell his school's story, or else someone else will do it for him (Davis & Molnar, 2014, p. 8). However, in the secondary school setting, branding is much more important and used because of school choice. People choose secondary schools based on many different aspects, like academic rigor, extracurricular opportunities, or carrying on a legacy, and social media is the easiest way to build a brand around those things (Chang, 2011, p. 4).
All in all, I was able to find a lot of information about how to build an effective brand for a school. By sticking to a specific strength and following the business branding model, schools are able to use social media to help build their name and tell their story. I hope to be able to use these ideas in my role as a school leader one day, especially because these issues are bound to be even more relevant in the future.
References
Chang,
Y. (2011). Does branding matter in secondary schools? The Free China Journal, 16, 3-5.
Davis,
M. & Molnar, M. (2014). Entrepreneurial models shape principals’ work. Education Week, 2, 8.
Stine,
G. (2002). The nine principles of branding. Branding
Solutions, 9, 3-32. Retrieved from Polaris-inc.com.
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Introduction
When it comes to using technology, I would say I would have a lot to learn. I currently teach 3rd grade at a relatively small Catholic school in Hastings, NE. There are about 250 students in the K-5 building, with two sections of each grade. We have some difficulty using technology in our building for a couple different reasons, which I am sure I will get into later. However, for now I know I am looking forward to learning how to use technology as a school leader for the best benefit of my school.
In this class, EDU 617, taken through Creighton University, entitled "Leadership in Administration in Educational Technology," I will be looking into the topics of Branding, Leading Professional Development, and Resource Selection. I am excited to dig deeper into these topics and learn how to use them to benefit my school both now and in the future!
In this class, EDU 617, taken through Creighton University, entitled "Leadership in Administration in Educational Technology," I will be looking into the topics of Branding, Leading Professional Development, and Resource Selection. I am excited to dig deeper into these topics and learn how to use them to benefit my school both now and in the future!
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