Technology for school leaders on 'p' plates

I’d love to be tech savvy, so figured that I need to get in and try it for myself. If it’s technology related, I’m here to search out how to do it and how to engage our students.

This is a cry for help!!!! We are starting up Moodle at my school and I would dearly love to get it right from the start. Do you have any hints or tips? Moodle has this How-to for teachers, but is this all I need to know? I’ve seen some great themes, but they seem very tricky to personalise and apply. Is there a good site for help? Please let me know…please!

Tom Barrett has posted a great resource on using interactive whiteboards, sensibly named Forty-six interesting ways to use your interactive whiteboard in the classroom. I really must get in front of a board to play, so I can confidently use this resource. There are simple ideas here that would be easy to apply. I love the roll marking! Have a read to find out why click and drag is soooo last year!

How can we improve student outcomes? How can we engage our students to achieve outstanding results? Perhaps these are the questions, but I think there is one that is even more fundamental…How can we communicate with our parents to strengthen their support of the school and of their child’s learning?

If we really want to focus on student learning outcomes, we must involve our parents. They know their children best and want the best for them…why would we even contemplate leaving them out of the equation? However, through negligence we are often not tapping into our very best resource! How do you include parents? Perhaps a newsletter, parent teacher night, school noticeboard out the front, P & C and probably a school website. If they are particuarly lucky, they may even receive a phonecall when their child has misbehaved.

Is this really engaging our parents as part of a team in guiding their child’s learning? How can technology improve this situation? Planning needs to take place on 2 levels…educating parents in technology and using technology as a tool to strengthen your partnership.

Talk to parents and survey parents to find out what they would like to know more about in using today’s technology. Many will be as capable as their children, others will have not had opportunity to keep up with trends. Offer workshops to address these concerns during the day and evening.

Encourage staff to communicate with parents through their class blog or wiki. Let parents see what is being worked on and when it is due. Have forum’s where parents can participate in class discussions and surveys. Tap into the skills that parents have to offer. None of this is new…but how many teachers at your school actively seek this positive parent support?

If you have some ideas on how to engage parents in a positive partnership using technology, I’d love to hear about them here. Looking forward to your responses….

I have just stumbled across an interesting discussion around technology and faculty meetings by Brad Davis, Faculty Meetings. It got me thinking about my faculty meetings in the past and how I would use technology to engage  staff in a staff meeting now. It seems to me that we are demanding Quality Teaching in the classroom…how about demonstrating that same quality of teaching through the use of technology to engage our staff members at faculty and staff meetings? Could the whole traditional meeting structure be given a shakeup? I’d love to hear about your ideas on this issue.

Well I’ve never been tempted to twitter away my life…until now. I’ve stumbled across a terrific presentation that shows that it is an incredible technological tool for the classroom. Really? How could this be? Check it out for yourself…

 Tom Barrett, you are inspirational!

It sounds wrong doesn’t it? So often at the start of the lesson we give instructions to get books out, put the phones and ipods away. Could we really turn this around?

Schools ban mobile phones…out of sight and turned off is a typical catchcry. We announce the bans in newsletters, we promote the rule with posters, yet we continue to fight a losing battle. I must ask why we would be battling at all? Students are so adept at using these peices of technology that we should be looking to embrace it, not ban it.

Why? Because students love them and can use them well. No need to teach them how to use the technology, they are already a step ahead of you. And, most of them have them already…technology ready and waiting for you to use to inspire and engage young people.

So what do you do? Most phones enable users to take photos, videos and record voices for free , so digital storytelling is an obvious task. Many students have internet access as part of a plan, or may be able to pick it up through a wireless connection. Students could work together in groups if all did not have access, or remember also that ipods have wi-fi connection for the net. If a phone has GPS, you are only limited by your imagination as to how this could be used in the classroom.

Polls can be a great way to engage students in discussion. Try  polleverywhere to use the phones as a polling device. Or how about making your next excursion focused around a scavenger hunt. This where a clue is texted to you and, once you answer it correctly, you get the next clue. Almost like Race Around the World! Although I haven’t used it, I believe scvngr.com  is a great site to help you plan this.

For more information about these concepts and sites, you can’t go past an article titled “Use what their mamas gave them”.  This link is full of amazing ideas and further examples of why we need to change our school rules to accept and utilise mobile phone technology, rather than ban them as contraband. Perhaps we could even educate our students about responsible use of phones. Don’t see them as a threat but as tapping into a smart tool that aleady has our students engaged!

We’ve all heard of death by powerpoint, though I must admit that as a presenter, I really like it. It’s just when I’m in the audience that it can become boring…especially if the creator has tried to use a myriad of slide transitions. So my new best friend will be Prezi… and I intend to keep everyone awake with it! There is a great blog and video which will let you see how interesting it is. Check it out!

Inspired? Give it a try. There are lots of prezi’s available to reuse and adapt too.

A very practical site that will make life easier for us all. Andrew Marcinek posted this blog on Classroom 2.o. Take a look… 

I can’t wait to start using it!

I’ve often wondered how to do something on the computer, usually relying on trial and error to find my way. Is there something you want to know about? I’m no expert, but I’d love to try and find a solution for you. Post your comments and I’ll give it a go!