Week 11- The Nitty Gritty

Michael Fullan's reading was very timely and relevant in light of my own experiences this week. The kids are up and flying with the iPads and we are really seeing the change in their learning. They are leading the way with activities and tasks and teaching each other. They are rapidly leaning new technological skills as they work and there is a real buzz about their learning and excitement in the room. HOWEVER, i am in now doubt that there is still a big place for the teacher. They are the facilitators in learning but teachers cannot be hands off, they still need to be making sure the kids are on task and that their activities are relevant and purposeful. Because they are ubiquitous and 24/7 teachers do need to set protocols and guidelines for their use and make kids accountable for what they are doing when in front of they screen, as they are so tempting and multipurpose. I have had to redirect kids away from Minecraft……So many of the issues I face at home with 2 tech savvy screen addicts have wised me up to the temptations and distractions of the screen. As a teacher I need to be aware of creating a culture of discriminating use and the view of it as a tool for learning. That said, i am loving how it is slipping seamlessly into their learning, for example while placing photos of shape patterns into a book creator page one boy decided on his own to record an explanation of the pattern he made. Way beyond what we had thought of for the task but so rich - especially for our English learners.

As for the change plan, I will keep in ming as we work that it almost needs to be a SMART plan- I think that is like a Skinny plan. Acheivable in a timeframe.