Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Teaching: The Unprofessional Profession

I thought this article provided some valuable thoughts to ponder. While the content targets administration as boring or claims that teachers blame administration for being boring, I think we need to look past it and analyze what the message means to us as teachers. If we are getting nothing from professional development (this could be applied to anything in life), maybe we should look a little deeper into our own personal motivation. Should bettering ourselves professionally and raising academic achievement be extrinsic or intrinsic? Is it someone else's job to motivate us, or should we be responsible for our own learning?

Teaching: The Unprofessional Profession

Friday, March 5, 2010

Teresa Alesch

One-to-one Computing Initiatives: Critical Elements for Optimal Learning
The purpose of this research was to investigate one-to-one computing initiatives, where schools provide wireless connectivity and equip students with personal laptops. My guiding question was, “What features do successful one-to-one programs have in common?” To answer this, I examined the results of published one-to-one implementation and outcome reports authored by state and technology/education organizations.
From these studies, I identified common themes in successful programs and extracted six elements that provide a foundation for positive outcomes: leadership system, technology management, professional development, research-based pedagogy, program evaluation, and implementation plan. Though each initiative differed in structure and in goals ranging from raising academic achievement, increasing equity, decreasing digital divide to preparing students for today’s technology-driven workforce, data used to measure success remained similar including stakeholder satisfaction, instructional observation, discipline, attendance, and achievement.
Multiple studies mention constructivist teaching as a variable, so I drew from educational theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Dewey and further deduced that coupling laptop technology with active learning methods results in positive outcomes. Previously published findings report that teachers incorporating active learning approaches transition more proficiently into differentiated instruction, project-based facilitation, and higher-level inquiry-based teaching. As a result, students respond eagerly to a more relevant curriculum allowing teachers to increase engagement, individualize instruction for varied learning styles, leverage resources, and level the playing field with universal access.
Using the six elements with an emphasis on constructivist instruction, I created a formula for implementation, which may guide administrators, teachers, librarians, and IT coordinators in integrating laptops as instructional tools.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Join the G-T Staff, Students, and Community in Flipping Our Library!

We are attempting to gather multiple stakeholders to combine efforts in redesigning our library space. For too long, the G-T library has gone unchanged (other than the change of deteriorating carpet, shelving, books, paint, etc.) We would like to enhance our space to provide greater opportunity for students and staff to use and enjoy our space.

Please visit our project site and our collaboration blog.