We are now two months into the school year and two months into our major technology initiative of having a SMART Board in every classroom. It has been exciting to watch how the teachers first invested themselves in the training that was offered at the start of the year and how they have continued to learn from our Technology Integration Specialist and from each other (and sometimes the students). In my time in the classrooms, I have witnessed a variety of ways teachers have been using SMART Boards to help with classroom management, instruction, demonstration and student learning activities. The student engagement has clearly improved.
While I still believe we are just beginning to implement the way we use technology with students, it has been impressive to watch such a fast transformation from school that used very little technology on a daily basis, to one that now relies on the tools for our daily instruction. We still have more to come and much room to grow but every classroom uses the SMART Board every day. Our next steps will be working with teachers and students, so students are producing work and publishing work online and through other means of technology. I'll be sharing some of these products as the year moves ahead. We are also planning on purchasing some e-readers, like a Nook, for our library and for student use.
Teachers have found ways to "replace" what they previously did on paper with a more visually engaging activity. Many teachers are taking the content directly from our Storytown Literacy program and using it for integrated lessons. We have seen YouTube videos to help introduce a math concept and we have seen teachers using outside sources like TumbleBooks e-readers. These are just a few examples.
While I still believe we are just beginning to implement the way we use technology with students, it has been impressive to watch such a fast transformation from school that used very little technology on a daily basis, to one that now relies on the tools for our daily instruction. We still have more to come and much room to grow but every classroom uses the SMART Board every day. Our next steps will be working with teachers and students, so students are producing work and publishing work online and through other means of technology. I'll be sharing some of these products as the year moves ahead. We are also planning on purchasing some e-readers, like a Nook, for our library and for student use.
As our curriculum shifts to the new State Frameworks based on the National Common Core standards, we must shift our instructional strategies and our expectations for students. We'll be focusing our efforts on making sure that students are engaged with problems and tasks that require them to think, work cooperatively, and be creative, while using technology as a tool to solve problems. These are the skills of a 21st century learner.
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