The arrival of term 3 has brought with it an anticipation of excitement, wonder and surprisingly dread. All of this has been the result of the imminent arrival of new technology at our school. Excitement because I am keen to get moving on showing off the technology in the classrooms and seeing the interactivity amongst our student. Wonder due to the nature of how these new technologies will change the way in which ICT is used in the classroom (how many of you are still only seeing ICT used as publishing of final written pieces). Finally, dread because it is dawning on me that I am responsible for the implementation of thousands of dollars worth of technology into our school and classrooms. I guess I’m scared of failing my colleagues and students.
Sure we’ve had the professional learning to enhance our skills in this new tech, but 4 days of immersive and intense PL can leave a person a little drained and confused by the amount of information they have just taken in. During our PL, we looked at a range of new technologies, the pedagogy behind it, strategic planning of the Digital Technologies Curriculum, Coding, and finally Project Based Learning and its use in integration across the curriculum. Whew!!! I slept well after the last day.
Finally the time is almost here where we get to unbox our new ‘toys’ (in between teaching) and hopefully they don’t sit dormant in the storeroom until someone remembers they are there once a year. The challenge is always…..HOW CAN I GET STAFF TO WANT TO BE INVOLVED?
Like most schools, getting staff to change the way they do things is often the biggest challenge. My focus has been to look at ways to make it easy to fit into their current teaching and learning program and provide as much support as they need (or want). I have begun developing lesson plans and have continually run out of hours PL sessions for my staff if they wished to attend.
Hopefully the arrival of our new tech provides a stimulus to the staff and also students to embrace the Digital Technologies Curriculum and allow some more of our students to experience 21st Century learning practices.
I’ll let you know how I go.