I struggled with the technology assignment in the Digital Tools course I took last semester. I am a preschool teacher and have mainly pre-literate children in my class. I really wanted to create something interesting and dynamic for my students but wikis and blogs are just no good for this group.
I think I will refocus my attention on creating better staff (through professional development) as well as creating a positive home-school connection in order to foster learning. Parents could also use some professional development (teachers need certifications to teach but parents are not required to learn anything to raise a child.) I would like to create a dynamic interactive experience for parents and staff to use in order to better their skills as well as foster communication. Many times both parents and staff allow situations to arise and bubble over before opening a line of communication. This causes frustration for all parties, mistrust of staff by parents, and resentment of parents by staff for not doing what they feel should be done. An interative experience can be engaging to all while allowing a seamless method foe enhancing skills and communications.
Teach With Me is a group dedicated to providing PD on developmentally appropriate practices. This resources can help teachers design their lessons and can help parents better understand the level their child is at, and how to prorperly challenge them to create an optimal learning environment.
The group Priceless has a great description: "K-1 teachers who are interested in
collaborating to create a monthly News letter to publish resources and
interactive games for parents to practice with their children at home." This group, however, does not seem to have any participation. I think that I will post some things and try to watch to see if this can become something productive.
Using Multimedia
for Communication & Education is a group that opens itself to all people interested in digital communication and the use of multimedia. A diverse group like this (bringing people from in & outside of the realm of education) may provide unique solutions to educational problems that teachers (in their teacher mindset) would be hard pressed to arrive at.
In addition to providing professional development, I would like to create a place for teachers to share information, stories, resources and resumes and create a community concerned with the improvment of education.
Walker, Jameson, and Ryan discuss participatory culture. Teachers have been preaching that students must learn by doing, yet have not created opportunities to learn that way themselves. Educators must move past the acceptance of technology but learn to harness the force that it has become.
