What's On the Horizon

These last couple of days I have been gearing up for our first TILT meetings for the school year. As I look at my groups of teachers and where they are in the learning process, I struggle to decide what to focus on for each group. Some teachers need more time to increase their technology literacy while others just need time to develop lessons and activities. BUT...everyone is always interested in the latest technology and how it can fit into education.

If I had it my way, I would just spend the day showing you cool videos from YouTube like
My YouTube Story
The Mom Song

but alas, there is more to technology integration than this.

So...what are some of the things we will be exploring this year...

This year we will be incorporating Bloom's Taxonomy into our technology exploration. There are some great resources for the new revised taxonomy and how it applies to the 21st Century learner.

We will be taking a page (or several pages) out of Classroom Instruction that Works. We will be looking at the 8 most highly effective teaching strategies and what emerging technology works best with each strategy.

Hmmm...sounds like the old school staff development is making a come back - watch out, next we will be studying brain research. If you have been in TILT, you know that is not the case. We will have some great, engaging days.

In Phase III we will be doing a lot more collaboration - get used to Google Docs and wikis folks.

In Phase II there will be more time spent developing lessons and classroom activities.

In Phase I...well, probably the most structured phase, we will explore all kinds of technology. We will start with the basics but work hard to explore many new tools.

One thing to keep in mind. This year my goal is to produce a podcast on how we have been integrating technology in our district. If you have a lesson or activity where you are integrating technology, please invite me!! I want to document as many of these innovative activities as I can.

Be sure to check out our agenda blog to get specifics on our upcoming meetings.