OH, YEAH. WE ARE GOING 1:1
On Monday, October 17, our Nichols Middle eighth grade students were handed their Chromebook to utilize throughout their school day.
It was something we had hoped to start on Day 1 of the new School Year, but these advances take time. There was a whole lot of behind the scenes work that needed to be done by both the Technology Department as well as our NMS teachers with Administration.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but in retrospect, it might have been better this way. We got the initial "first days of school" introductions and guiding routines already imbedded with our students. They know what we expect and they have fully worked within this schedule for a few weeks.
But now, we have the technology, and now it is our time to start utilizing the 1:1 Chromebooks to their fullest. Parents will notice more assignments coming home that take advantage of this technology. Students will be asked to go to their Google Classroom or might be cooperatively collaborating with peers on projects through the Google Suite of Applications (formerly known as GAFE = Google Apps for Education; it is now referred to as "G-Suite").
Our teachers, our students, and our principal have been dying for this day to happen, and we are here. We are going to take advantage of this technology to support learning and make sure that the technology aids in our achievement.
New toys in the form of technology does not always equate to more learning. It takes a skilled teacher with detailed preparation and creativity to make these tools work for our student learning. This is what we as a school community are aiming to do. This is the work our teachers are doing, and the support of the district in the form of Professional Development (PD) we are engaged in.
I just read this awesome article by educator George Couros that speaks to how "Technology does not equal innovation, but using technology is often crucial to innovation." The article included this chart:
Here you see that it is the part of the educator and how the educator will use the technology which will help in seeing what is best for our learners.
In another great George Couros post, he included this chart, which is so powerful in understanding how the technology is a "TOOL" for learning; it is not the end activity. We want our teachers to utilize our new technology to support the learning of our students; not as something to supplant the learning outcome:
This is what we are working on with all of our educators in PD time, PD days, PLC blocks, and faculty and department meetings. We want to help our teachers and staff to support the learning of our students with the aid of our new Chromebooks.
And this is what I have seen in just one short week of it in our Eighth Grade. This is why we made it such an important budgetary decision. The gaining of time where students don't have to log-in and log-out each period has given us back golden learning time. Teachers can now prepare and plan knowing that all students will have the Chromebook in their hands during their block to make their lesson better.
Seventh Grade will start this week, and Sixth Grade will not be too long after. It has been a process, but believe me, it is worth it, if we continue to do it right.
Here are some pictures from the week of learning in our classes with the Chromebooks:
