I like how LeBaron has broken planning into two groups in the Chapter.
1. The strategic plan-lets everyone know why they are doing what they are doing
2. The operational plan-lets everyone know what they are doing and when they need to do it by.
Great Stuff. We need to implement various routes of planning within a school in order for it (technology) to be successful. What I am finding at the school I work for is that only a few teachers are planning with technology. It is a difficult concept as we have said all along for people to grasp the idea of using technology in the curriculum. I know that in ten years we will wonder why the frustration of adding technology into the curriculum was ever a hassle. Like the book says..."it is hard to believe that there was ever a time when we did not have computers." LeBaron, 2001.
I guess that I never realize that so much went in to planning. Strategies that keep the planning on track, assessing the needs of the curriculum, goals, key inputs, etc. It is all there and I realize that teachers have to plan but I never really realized that this much information is taken and thought about before a plan is implemented. Nice. Hard to do, but nice!
In Chapter 4 the main concept that I got out of it was that there is simply too much data "out there" that one can't memorize it all. It is impossible. How do we use the data to improve achievement? Well, that is tricky as everyone is pulling different data off the internet. What is reliable and what is not? I can identify with the comment in the conclusion of the Chapter..."The skills of independent searching, elaborating, managing, and extending knowledge will be critically important..." Jarvela, 2001.
How do we assess and evaluate the data in classrooms is up to which way we decide whether we all use the same data and test on it or whether each student uses different data. What is important is that the student learns the content. Not how he/she learns the content. So, I guess assessment can be done in various ways. I would like to incorporate powerpoint presentations, tests, teaching others, and other ways to assess whether the students are learning the curricula.
LeBaron, J. F. & Collier, C. (2001). Technology in it's place: Successful technology infusion in schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
4 comments:
It does seem to be a difficult concept for many to use the technology tools that we have available to us in our classrooms. I wonder what each school can do to provide time, opportunities, strategies, etc. to each teacher for their specific curriculum needs? Does anyone have any ideas? Now, what can you do as part of the community?
We do need to take all of the data that is available to us from the classroom and critically analyze it and create meaning from it. This is important because we want to ensure that our students are learning. Only by collecting data on students continuously throughout a lesson will we truly be able to determine a students understanding. Kind of sounds like the ideas of our UbD authors doesn’t it.
It sounds terrible, but I think we almost have to force teachers to at least try the technologies. By "force" I mean maybe delegate teacher teams to create presentations on different technolgies at in-services and/or faculty meetings. Otherwise, I think a lot of teachers will shy away from incorporating technologies simply because they have gotten along fine without it. I think once they see how easy many are to use and get over the "fear of the unknown" stigma, a lot more will embrace it and start to see what they can do with their
...lesson plans.
(continued from last post) :)
I agree that there is a lot of planning that goes into integrating technology into the curriculum. Its diffult now for many teachers but like you said in about 10 year most of the frustration will be gone.
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