Digging a Little Deeper - Top 4 List

We harvested our family garden on the weekend and as my beloved and I were undertaking this task, we talked about how her parents' carrots pull out with no problem as the soil is sandy. Not so in the clay encrusted Prince Edward County shoreline. We need to dig a little deeper.

Here's my attempt at digging a little deeper.

4 Suggestions for Getting Educators to use Technology in the Curriculum

1. Embed technology within the Curriculum

My most successful sessions with teachers during the last school year were when we planned together how the software would work specifically within a 3 week unit plan.

2. Familiarize Teachers with the software Ahead of Time to Built Confidence

It may not be always possible, but if software sessions could be planned ahead of time that would be great.

I managed to arrange a half day where two intermediate teachers got a chance to create the magazine cover of their choice. The confidence level of the teachers soared during the 2 days where we co-taught the magazine cover session to the students in the computer lab.

4. Spread the Wealth - Learning Team Meetings

It is all good to get one or two teachers going with a particular software or Web 2.0 environment, but my most successful schools last year had me join learning team meetings. From here the sky was the limit. Once the teachers could see how the software worked within the curriculum area, they were more likely to go to the next steps.

5. Get the School Principal Involved

Include the Principal in the process. We all have schools where the Principal is the catalyst for technology change.

My Big Six - NECC 2009

At our Educational Technology District Level team meeting this week, I was asked to share my experiences about NECC 2009.

Knowing that time was limited, I shared about 1/6th of what I really wanted to say. Just the highlights.

My standard response was, "It's about the people". The sessions were amazing, but it was the many folks from my Twitter PLN and others I met along the way who made the trip to D.C. all worthwhile.

As I was finishing my comments about the conference, our Senior IT Officer, and meeting team leader, asked me to present the "Big 6 ideas" from my experiences at our next meeting. "I'd be happy to, I responded". Now what?

Well, for the last 48 hours I've been thinking, "What were the big 6 ideas I took away from NECC 2009". Although it wasn't easy, I have narrowed down my choices and identified 6 people from whom I'll draw my ideas.

Here is my list. The links are the istevision recordings of the presentations. You'll need to sign up to view the sessions.

1. Alan November - Designing Rigorous and Globally Connected Classrooms

2. Erin Gruwell - Freedom Writers

3. Malcolm Gladwell - Digital Citizenship

4. Bernajean Porter - Grappling's Spectrum

5. Tom Carroll - Transforming Schools into the 21st Century

6. Will Richardson - Here Comes Learning

O.K. , now comes the difficult part. Synthesize the words and ideas from these speakers into a short presentation.

I'll try.