Digital Eyes

As we fly closer to the sun, we sometimes feel closer to the light, but we sometimes feel closer to the heat. It seems to me that this year more than ever, I am becoming more and more aware of the fact that there are two sides to every situation: a positive and a negative. Here are a few examples: Providing more tools to teachers is increasing their ability to use technology effectively. It is also causing them more stress and making our access issues for students more apparent. Using student response devices across our district is increasing our ability to deliver formative assessments quickly and easily. It is also leading to some headaches when students break them or lose them or teachers find the one thing they can't do. Using Google Apps for Educators is increasing our ability to be mobile, to collaborate, to provide students with email accounts, and to create sites. It is also glitchy and causing problems when something doesn't work the way we want it to. There are so man...

I recently read Meris Stansbury's blog post on the Five Characteristics of an Effective 21st Century Educator. It got me thinking about where we are in Wayzata with regards to 21st Century-ness. After all, we are more than a decade into the 21st century. We ought to have arrived by now! Here are the five characteristics that Stansbury discusses: 1. Anticipates the Future. I am disappointed that this one came first. I would have preferred to build up to it. I believe this is the area in which we are lacking the most. Don't get me wrong. We are changing. We are looking at best practices and brain research. Using data effectively. We are even embracing some new technologies. But are we looking forward at what the world will be like that our students will enter? Not really. And I understand why. It is hard. Really hard. I don't know what the innovative breakthroughs of next year will look like, let alone 10 years from now. But there are trends that have been followed over the...

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmcJZGGArRI] There are many examples in our lives in which overcoming failure is a key element to success: Riding a bike Potty Training Hitting a baseball Tying your shoes Reading So why do our schools seem to increasingly be designed to minimize opportunities to learn perseverance. Too often we cover a topic and test the kids and they either get it or they don't. Units must take a certain number of days and if you don't learn within that time frame, you fail. Were you given a timeframe in which to learn to ride a bike? Tie your shoes? What if you were given an F because it took you longer to learn than your parents thought it should. Sorry. You just weren't cut out to go potty! I guess you will never tie your shoes! The determination that this little kid shows is way more important than the skill of riding a bike. If we can develop that in all of our students, they will be far more successful in life than if we slap a grade on them t...

I have been spending some time this week preparing a new teacher training for new staff. They will have a full week of orientation and one whole day of that will be technology training. For one day, new staff will be immersed in learning about the many tools they have at their disposal to help their students learn. From Smartboards to student response devices, MOODLE to Google Apps, Discovery education to their Schoolwires webpage, these teachers will need to hit the ground running. They will leave swimming with excitement and anxiety about all the possibilities. Some will jump right in and start using the tools, while others will have good intentions of trying them later on after they get their feet wet. There is no question that the expectations for new teachers are very different. Yet, they still come with the same preparation. I can't believe how many teachers come to us that haven't had any real experience with these tools. I was recently asked to be a guest lecturer about...

Welcome to the new location of Digital Eyes! Like all everything in life, things change. As our blog server goes away, it was time to migrate my blog to a new place. I hope you like it and continue to come and read. I am always open to suggestions. If you have an idea about how I can improve the site, please let me know. To kick off my new location, I thought it was appropriate to post about change. Just as we are changing our blog locations, we are also changing our district website, moving to Office 2010 and 2011, and putting student response devices in the hands of every student. This makes for a very busy summer and an even busier fall. I hear often from frustrated teachers about the rapid rate of change. It's not just technology either. Initiatives on formative assessments, data- driven decision making, cultural proficiency, professional learning teams, new curriculum also are underway. Teachers are frustrated because it is increasingly difficult to keep up with all this chang...

Which side of the bed did you wake up on today? On any given day, we wake up ready for all the information thrust at us. We must as educators make good sound decisions. The truth is that somedays, we are so overwhelmed that we say no to everything. We find reasons for them not to work. Some of the reasons are even good ones: equity, management, student distractions, high stakes testing. But none of these issues are really reason enough not to move forward if we truly believe that providing new tools or instruction are the right thing to do. On the other hand, there are days that we wake up and it is just easier to go with the flow. Perhaps we start to believe that we are just a negative Nelly. Maybe we feel like the rest of the world is moving forward and we'd better jump on board. Whatever the reason, it is not any more useful to say yes to everything than it is to say no to everything. So what are the criteria for deciding which ideas are winners and which are losers? The more i ...

This morning, I sent my son off to school to take the MCA state tests for the first time. As a third grader, this is the first of many testing "opportunities" he will have. As we talked about it, I did my parental duty and made sure he understood the importance of them, ate a good breakfast, got plenty of sleep. He was really excited! To him, this was a chance to demonstrate his knowledge. Unfortunately, this is how he has learned to define what his knowledge is. My concern is that even in third grade, my son understands that what is tested is what is valued. So the message to him is that basic knowledge of math and reading is what is important. While I will not argue the fact that they are important, I do feel like they have an overblown value in our schools. Here is what I mean. Look at some of the other things my son does that have equal (in my opinion) value if not greater value. Last night, he keyboarded an amazing three paragraph story. He took on a very challenging pia...

*Image from http://www.mediaspin.com/images/superstock/head-CFL-bulb04-hgrebe-800.jpg I have been reading How - and Why- to Teach Innovation in our Schools by Alexander Hiam. I highly recommend you read this article if you have not already done so. It really helped frame this idea of how to teach innovation in our schools. Our technology integration curriculum includes a strand on Creativity and Innovation, and Creative Thinking. However, when teachers ask me what does that look like, I don't always feel as though I have a great answer. This article has really helped me frame my answer. I knew it was there, I just couldn't put my finger on it. First, Hiam breaks innovation down into the Five I's: Imagination, Inquiry, Invention, Implementation, and Initiative. The fuel for imagination is defined as the "bridging between apparently diverse or unrelated ideas, skill sets, or objects." He asserts that many innovations in our lives come from combining two different c...

My official job title is technology integration specialist. The implication of that title is that my job is to help teachers integrate technology into the classroom. Makes sense. A large aspect of my job is to help teachers do exactly that. I do a lot of training on how to use our district technology tools. I answer numerous questions about how to use these tools effectively in the classroom. But... increasingly, my job is about other things. Redefining literacy, effective formative assessments, global perspectives, problem solving, and many other things that aren't solely dependent on technology. So maybe I need a new title. Something that focuses on learning rather than on the tools. Here are a few that come to mind. I would love your input!!! Learning Integration Specialist Learning Constructivist Digital Literacy Specialist Digital Instructor Digital Integrationist Information and Communication Specialist Digital Facilitator Curriculum Integration Specialist

I came across this video from Library Ireland Week. Library Ireland Week It got me thinking about today's libraries. Our school and community libraries are really in a state of transition. They want kids and adults alike to continue their love of reading yet what reading looks like is really changing. As reading becomes increasingly digital , how do libraries (or media centers, if you prefer) provide literature, research resources, and etc... in a format that people want? Do we still need brick buildings to provide them. Many libraries have robust websites for reserving books, doing research, downloading ebooks, etc..., but at what point, if ever, do we cease to need a place to go. I know,  I can hear many people arguing that the library is also a community space and we need to bring people together. When I visit the library (Yes, I go often!), I often see tutoring, meetings, collaborating, sharing, and librarians helping people. I love the collaborative spaces that libraries provi...

It's been a while since I posted to my blog. I had very good intentions to get back to it, but other things came about. So that has me wondering. How important is it to make time for blogging? We're all busy. We all have things competing or our attention and time. Where does blogging fit? The easy answer is that it is not that important. In the course of my day, I am inundated with projects, requests for help, needs to research new tools, communications, and much more. Giving up blogging would be a nice way to shorten my to do list. On the other hand, it has led to some really significant experiences. I have had people who I respect (and some who I do not) comment on my posts, leading to great discussions about topics important to me. Without my blog, these discussions might take place but they might only take place among those who I see regularly at work. This does not necessarily lead to a broader perspective. My blog allows the conversation to grow beyond our organization. I...