In my district we have 12 middle school people who focus on tech integration (one at each school). We all create lessons and share resources with our teachers but have not until now worked together very consistently/effectively. So at our meeting on Friday we hammered out an idea to what is outlined below.
I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time and while I do fear I am being naive in some ways I have high hopes for what this might become. There’s only one lesson there right now- but it’s been a busy weekend for me :).
The current incarnation- ITRT Plans
- a blog for posting good lesson plans in a semi-structured manner
- including documents (rubrics, instructions, notes, whatever)
- samples of student work from the lesson
- a little reflection on how things went, ways to improve or how to change things
- I’m using a lot of images if possible and installed the snap.com preview script. Visuals are often a deciding factor for me and I imagine the same will be true of others.
- if someone uses or adapts the lesson I’m hoping they’ll add their experiences and how they changed things
- Lessons will be grouped according to subject and tagged according to VA SOL and keywords.
- a group del.icio.us account
- since a number of us have our own accounts which serve mixed purposes I’m using the for: tag to send links to this communal account. I think that simplifies things and allows a little more flexibility without a lot of extra work. Currently links tend to be passed via email or worse in documents (this is bad for me anyway, seems to work for some people).
It’s a simple start but we’re all coming from different places and experiences. I think this combination will give some value to everyone.
I know someone is wondering “why not a wiki?” We’ve tried those with this group before and I think the blog format will be preferable in the end. I’ve given everyone admin rights so I’m hoping it’ll even out in terms of being able to change things.
Anyone have better ideas? Anything missing from the sample lesson plan that you’d want to see as a teacher?
Keep us posted. I would say the wiki format is more suited or better design for the project you are describing, but if you have tried previously and it didn’t work, then you would know best.
One other option if this doesn’t work so well would be collaborative documents in Zoho or the like. The advantage there is if people get comfy with Zoho you can start to use more of the apps (like the chat function or wiki).
Interesting project to be sure.
Joe
Hey Tom,
Here’s an idea … maybe you’re already doing this … in our district, we try to shine a bright light as often as we can on the people (classroom teachers, not the facilitators) who are doing great things with technology. It’s infectious; first, people (the recipients!) like the accolades, who doesn’t? Second, other people see their peers doing and trying things, and getting recognition, and it inspires them to try. Third, by spreading these accolades out among people at various positions on the tech-savvyness curve, you can share the wealth in a meaningful way that appeals to all learners. Bottom line, when you say good things about people, good things come of it, always. It’s karma, baby.
-kj-
Kevin Jarrett | Technology Facilitator, K-4 | District Webmaster
Northfield Community School: http://www.ncs-nj.org
SchoolFusion Classroom: http://elementary-computer-lab.northfield.groupfusion.net
eBoard: http://kjarrett.northfield.site.eboard.com
Grade 4 Computer Repair & Service Club: http://computerclub.northfield.groupfusion.net/
Edtech Blog: http://www.ncs-tech.org
kjarrett at ncs-nj dot org