Creating Buy-in

With all that teachers have to do on a daily basis from lesson planning to managing an ever more active classroom, technology integration can easily fall to an insignificate slot on our list of priorities. I could list a number of legitimate reasons that I have heard from many teachers about why they are not using technology. It is up to the Technology Specialist in a school building to find a way for teachers to really buy-in to the benefits and model the use of technology.

Teachers have to see technology used on a daily basis in and around the school and by the administration. Every professional development should include a technology component, even if the topic is not technology based. Reluctant teachers need to see other teachers be successful with technology. Teacher should be encouraged to share best practices in small settings like grade level or course team meetings. Teachers need individual and group planning time around technology integration. They need to know that they will have the support that they need if things go wrong, as they occasionally do. Lastly, the technology has to fit and be easy. If something is too difficult to coordinate, or use, that is all the more reason for a teacher to choose not to use it. Enough class time is wasted on management issues, we don't need technology to provide another black hole where into time disappears.

My Best Professional Development Experience

My best PD experience would have to be the very first one that I participated in. I had just been hired, mid-year at a school, and didn't know anything about professional development or workshops. The principal sent around a sign-up sheet for teachers who wanted to go on a trip to Mackinaw City, MI for a week long professional development on Writer's Workshop. I, of course, jumped at the chance. I had spent a little time in Michigan, but had never been that far north.
During the week, not only did we learn about facilitating Writer's Workshop from Smokey Daniels himself, but we actually participated in Writer's Workshop. We got an opportunity to see various people model what a teacher would do, and we had the opportunity to feel what a student would feel. It was a very powerful experience for me, and one that I cherish to this day. I did continue to use Writer's Workshop as one of the foundational components of my language arts class up until my leaving the classroom. And if by chance I ever found my way back into a classroom, Writer's Workshop would follow me there.

Are Games Just for Play?

I can attest to the fact that children and teens spend more time playing games than they spend doing homework. I have four children of my own to prove my point. Those games range from simulations of real world families to multi-player combat to simple puzzles. Like my own children, young people have a myriad of choices of gaming platforms: arcade, computers, gaming systems, handhelds, and even cellphones.
Many people feel that these games are a waste of time, and that children couldn't be learning anything from games. I beg to differ. There are educational benefits to gaming that may not occur as quickly in other ways simply because of the motivation that gaming proliferates. If offered the opportunity to do a puzzle on the computer, or complete the same puzzle in a book, I am sure that at least 8 out of 10 children would choose to do it on the computer. Handheld games require a mastery of fine motor skills while gaming mats and boards and many games played on the Wii system develop gross motor skills and body coordination. Simulation games allow children to try out activities that may otherwise be out of reach for them. They have the opportunity to play dress-up, visit a far away place, create and maintain a family, build a city, or start a business. These are all opportunities that could increase background knowledge, foster creativity, and enhance educational opportunities, depending on how they are used. Because children do remember the characters, scenes and situations involved in games, there is definitely a reason to integrate educational material into games.
The biggest obstacle in using gaming as an educational tool is that as children get older, the options get slimmer. There are hundreds of educational games for toddlers and primary children, but there are fewer for middle school children, and even less for teenagers. The gaming industry needs to do a better job of creating games that can be of educational benefit to teens instead of all the blood and gore.