Day 2 of my 30-Day Blogging Challenge for teachers from teachthought.com

Day 2 of my 30-Day Blogging Challenge for teachers from @teachthought.com

Here is the link to the site with the 30-day challenge. 
http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/reflective-teaching-30-day-blogging-challenge-teachers/

Day 2. Write about 1 piece of technology that you would like to try this year and why. You might also want to write about what you're hoping to see out of this ed/tech integration. 


Since I left the classroom this school year, I have a lot more time to research and discover new pieces of educational technology. However, since I do not teach at all, it makes it more difficult to implement and practice what I find.  Luckily, our district has given each school 3 DTC's (Division Technology Coaches) who get a release period, and act as an extension of myself in the classroom. So as I take a look at new technology, I need to look at it through 2 lenses.

The first lens is as a teacher; I don't necessarily have "new" technology that I want to implement, but instead, I want the teachers in my building to try something new. Our district has done a great job over the past few years of introducing different LMS's (Learning Management Systems) and letting the teachers run with whatever they are most comfortable using. My focus this year has not only been to try and get every teacher on some sort of LMS (such as: Schoology, Google Classroom, Moodle or EdModo) but also get the teachers who are already on an LMS to try something new within the classroom they have created.

For example, our district has really gravitated towards Schoology. It is very user-friendly, especially for those who are, "not tech-savy." However, some are merely using it as a "substitution" (See SAMR Model)  for paper. My goal is to get these teachers to use these tools to "modify" and "redefine" their classrooms through on-line discussions and collaborative-friendly lessons where the teacher acts more as a moderator of learning, rather than the focus of the classroom.

Now, as a technology facilitator, I have had to find different ways to communicate with others in my position, as well as my building. I have really changed and transformed my Twitter @Vlkthetechguy from a place where I posted funny pictures and goofy phrases, into an educational resource. I went from following Brian Urlacher (to be quite honest...I still do.....) to following educational Tweets like, @jimpknight and @USNewsEducation. I guess I can say that my philosophy has not changed, but rather. just the lens in which I look through has changed.