Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Blog #8 - The Final Countdown!



Hope you enjoyed the "final countdown" video! PS - Can't wait for this show to come back!

Now, onto the show!


BLOG TIME – Now that you’ve done all of this creating and discussing, it’s time to 
share with the rest of us!  Let us know what you decided to put in your toolkits 
and why.  Did you create this toolkit purely on selfish instinct—adding what YOU 
found interesting?  Did you have two particular colleagues in mind when you were 
creating this kit?  How would your kit change if you were sending it to an 
administrator? How about a teacher who doesn’t want to hear the “T” word 
(tech!)… How would your toolkit change then?  




I have created my first toolkit, ever! As many of you know, I have been a Social Studies teacher for the past few years. Due in fact to my love to technology and this program, I have actually accepted another position at my school - that of District Technology Coordinator! I couldn't be more excited at the opportunity, one that I believe, I will excel in. 

Based on this news, I crafted my toolkit on my current job and future job. I was very selfish in what I was putting into my kit. While I did share it with a few colleagues, they were thankful that I sent them some administrative links as well. Luckily, they were also interested in these links as well and found them informative and interesting. The safety and integrity of our network comes first in the new job. Without the network infrastructure, technologies such as iPads and mLearning would not be possible in a large school environment. 

Since I am an admin now, I think my kit would be admired by other admins. It shows that I am well rounded in my knowledge of technology. I know what it takes to set up a network and I also know what the ends to the means are - bringing, using, and immersing children with tech in the classrooms. 

Teachers who don't want to hear the word "tech" need to be given a reality check. They might be scared, they might be nervous, or they might be set in their ways. In any event, they need to roll with the times. Proper support, I by proper I mean nurturing support, will be necessary for these teachers who are behind the times in terms of tech. My toolkit, as it stands now, might not change their ideas but it would give them a better insight into what goes into the technology. Its not frivolous. Its a way of life and one that has a lot of hard work involved. 

Thanks!



2 comments:

multimedia-musings.tumblr.com said...

Tim,

Oh my goodness! Congratulations on your new position! I am so proud of you! That's sooo awesome. :) Just from what I've seen from your work in this class, I know you're going to be great. Yay!

How perfect is it that you found resources for your new position to put in your toolkit?!

Two books that I found super helpful when working with adult learners are: 1) Active Training by Mel Silberman; and 2) The Skillful Teacher by S. Brookfield. Both deal with designing PD to help adult learners (including resistant ones). They were required reading from a class I took at Rutgers with Aliza Belzer. They may help you out in your new admin position.

Best of luck!

Johanna Cella said...

Hey Tim! Congrats on your new position, that's so awesome. I'm sure you are going to be great at it. All the work you do for the technology course seems really top drawer. I wish you best of luck!!

As Sheila said above, it's pretty convenient that we're making toolkits now that you've been given this new position! Some of your resources I also took a look at, but didn't add because I was going for more of an educator-to-educator approach. But the Students 2.0, and the Creating an Effective Virtual School Program links looked really interesting. Could you post a link to your toolkit??

I think it is a great idea to add a link about grants, especially as budgets continue to get tighter. This seemed like a really smart, strategic link to place in there. I hope this works out for you!

Johanna