Greenhaus Education and Other "Effects"

I just read this article by Eric Patnoudes  entitled "Beyond the Silver Bullet: Making 1:1 Matter" .  As a parent and former teacher, Eric's basically was saying that all the technology in the world and 1:1 initiatives will fail in the classroom if teachers are not provided with the training and support they need to CHANGE their practice. Professional development needs to go beyond how to use the technology and be more about how to teach with the technology in ways that are different and more appropriate for the technology. Using the same old 20th century teaching practices with new technologies is doomed to failure. Couldn't agree more. My last post speaks to this as well - not only do we need to analyze and plan for WHAT technologies are appropriate, but we need to plan and provide continued training and support to ensure the technology purchased is being used to change teaching and support learning. In my research regarding implementing technology effectively ...

Four months since my last posting, which again, points to the turmoil and conflict in my life of late. In my last post I talked about change and three things to consider, since I was in the midst of some major changes in my own life.  To recap: Change is emotional. Resistance/reluctance to change is multidimensional Some changes may not be for everyone I am here to say that I have just about finished my first week of 'unemployment' because I decided to take change by the balls and do something drastic - quit my job. I gave it the old college try - 9 months of trying to adjust to the emotional and cultural changes of going from a small, education, technology driven company who's culture and approach to education I truly believed in and felt empowered by, to a large, educational corporate company, where I did not have this same sense of belief in the mission and felt at best, marginalized and insignificant.  What I learned is I am NOT a corporate girl. I want to be in...

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted!  Lord - obviously my life is a lot busier than I thought, and I thought it was pretty busy. Alright, let's get to it. Last year I did an entire series on hybrid professional development centered around teaching mathematics with technology and the Common Core, with specific use of Sketchpad as the technology tool (series listed at the bottom of this post).  It was a really exciting experience for me, and one that I have to say has sort of become my mantra - long term, supportive PD that provides time, practice, support, and collaboration using both a face-to-face and online component. Time is a key factor here - long-term, slow integration of technology into instructional practice where the focus is on how knowledge of the technology, the content being taught, and teaching strategies work together to provide learning experiences that help students.  For those of you in the know, this is TPACK - Technological, Pedagog...

Just completed my second round of face-to-face workshops with my two cohorts I am doing my blended learning professional development with on Sketchpad and technology integration in mathematics. In my previous postings ( Planning for Hybrid PD , Follow Up Day 1, follow Up Day 2, Online Community Part 1 , Planning for Hybrid PD Part 2 ), I have been documenting this professional development experience, sharing my planning process as well as what has been happening in the face-to-face and online components as these groups move forward.  The ultimate goal by the end of this process is that these teachers have not only learned the software, but more importantly, have learned  to integrate Sketchpad into classroom instruction to help their students learn mathematics in an engaging way that improves student understanding and achievement in mathematics.  This week we met face-to-face after teachers had a month+ online to try some activities on their own to help lea...

I have been writing lately about my plans and experiences with hybrid/blended professional development, specifically with technology.  In my most recent post , I shared ideas for the next face-to-face meeting with my two cohorts.  Perhaps because this is foremost on my mind, I find that I am running across others' blogs and articles that are speaking of similar experiences or offering great advice about professional development and the need to rethink how and what we offer teachers in terms of professional development..  I wanted to share a couple that I have run across that I found very interesting. Mark Brumley ( @markbrumley ) wrote a short blog post the other day called Educating Educators Part 1 that talks about the importance of generating excitement in teachers about new technology BEFORE bringing them into any training.  I liked his ideas about creating almost a PR campaign to get teachers excited and interested in the new technology so that they come to a...

http://bostinno.com/wp-content/uploads//2011/05/community1.jpg My first thoughts are that it is NEVER a good idea to start something new with teachers, especially an online learning environment, right before the holidays!  Of course, I did not have a choice in the matter, so we are going to plug on, but unfortunately I think the fact that everyone is definitely in vacation mode is hindering some of the online community development that should be happening at this point. In my previous posts related to the hybrid PD I am working on for the next several months, Planning for Hybrid PD , Follow-up Day 1 , and Follow-up Day 2 , I reflected on what I planned to do in the face-to-face and gave some insight about what actually happened.  It has now been two weeks since my two cohorts have started their first online component and I wanted to share some thoughts on how that is progressing so far. I have posted a couple of course announcements (these automatically go to all parti...