Monday, February 22, 2010

Staff and Technology

 I thought I would take a moment to share a couple ways our staff has been experiencing and embracing technology new to them.

In January, Jon and I did a wiki training for our staff. The week before, our staff meeting was dedicated to differentiation in our instruction. We discussed collaboration and sharing our materials and differentiation tools. Jon and I suggested that the Kemp Shares Wiki would be a great place for that. So we were given a staff meeting to train the staff on how to use the Kemp Shares Wiki, specifically how to upload and download files.

Also in January, the latest batch of SmartBoards arrived and now all classrooms K-5 have SmartBoards. Our principal had Dave in to do a SmartBoard training for our staff meeting and then hands on trainings at each grade level team meeting the rest of the days. All the teachers I talked to were excited to have Dave come in and even more excited get their fingers and hands on their new boards. I've been having a lot of fun sharing some of my enthusiasm and favorite parts of the Notebook software.

As Global Learners we share 21st century learning with our students as well as other teachers. I applaud the willingness of my colleagues to jump right into using new technology and new methods.

2 comments:

Emily Taylor said...

That sounds awesome! Did you guys get a grant to pay for all of the Smartboards? Have teachers been using them? It sounds like you and Jon are being powerful leaders of technology in your school. They are lucky to have you!

Kelly Berry said...

How wonderful for your school staff and students! What an opportunity for your teachers to receive training from Dave, Jon and yourself and then be able to implement it immediately! I can also imagine the amazing collaboration your staff will have once they begin using and creating lessons through the SmartBoard software.