Techie Shop Class

create- not consume

The family business growing up (and still is), was building custom homes. I grew up helping build houses in the summer and I partially paid for college by framing houses, plumbing, roofing and building stuff. I was one of the first in my family to graduate from college. My father, grandfather, uncles, cousins, brothers are general contractors who built homes for people. Everyone of them had and still have, a shop/garage filled with machines for cutting, machining, building and constructing. They smell of wood chips, mechanics, oil and going into their shops is always fun. Some of my best memories are of making bird houses, model boats, modifying my bicycle handlebars with welding torch, fixing my lawnmower engine with my grandfather and dad.  In high school, I took AP classes in all subject areas, but my favorite class was...shop and woodworking class. Although at the time I thought it was lots of hard sweaty work, I realize now that I was lucky growing up having these experiences and learning how to build stuff. So many of my peers (and students) are helpless when it comes to knowing about tools and how to fix things so I get asked how to fix stuff at their houses occasionally.

I guess my construction background is what has naturally attracted me to teaching technology to teachers and students. Using and integrating technology naturally allows students to CREATE instead of CONSUME and is very CONSTRUCTIONIST and PROJECT-BASED in nature. If you have read my early blog posts, you would know how exciting this is to me as a vehicle for teaching kids. In the last couple of years the Maker Movement has taken off, and one of the bibles of this movement is Invent to Learn. I am currently attending the ASB Unplugged conference in India,  which has a strand dealing with the Maker Movement and I am really excited to share what I learn on this blog and through my twitter. I am lucky enough to be launching the first class at my high school (calling it Design Technology), which is our techie-shop class. In its first year, it has proved to be a hit, with all the spots filled up, and talk of expanding it to another course. It is really exciting to see what my students are coming up with. Because of the interest, the goal is to outfit it with 3D printing, a 3-Axis CNC router, laser etching,  Arduino's, 3D designing software and differentiated, project-based learning. All of this equipment can be used cross-departmentally and cross-divisionally. I work at an american international school, with a 1:1 program in MS and HS. Lots of great classes and a wonderful faculty geared to get kids into the college of their dreams...but no shop class :-) ... I have taught similar pre-engineering and design-type classes in the past, but I hate to say it- the British curriculum and IB curriculum are way ahead in this area of creative innovation than american international schools have been with Design Tech-type courses where kids design and manufacture stuff. President Obama has recently called for more entrepreneurial skills to be taught to students. Should the dream be to work for someone else after they get out from college, or for students to be allowed to generate their own ideas and create companies and jobs for others?...More coming on the development of the Maker Movement at my school. Stay tuned!

Creating vs Consuming

In my previous blog post I talked about my schools recent revamp of it's tech plan and tech vision. We came to the realization that we want to find ways for students to be creators and not so much consumers. More entrepreneurial and innovative. So to create these opportunities, we are looking at how to incorporate more STEAM opportunities for students in the form of MakerSpaces, an AV studioYour school and Googles 9 Principles for Innovation describes what we are trying to accomplish.  Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Communication are key components. I will keep you posted!
and video broadcasting, robots and programming and even revamping our scheduling of classes. It is an exciting time to be at my school and I am excited to be a part of the planning and implementation of the vision for our students. I feel that this is the right way to prepare our students for the future in order to help them to pursue their dreams and be innovative. This recent blog post:

The Best PD ever

If you want a professional growth experience that really makes you do some self evaluation, sit on a Technology Planning committee and go through a school tech plan visioning. The outcome could be

professionally life changing and refreshing.

My school recently went through its tri-annual self-assessment in this area and I being one of the technology coaches and teachers in the school, was part of this process. This was a three-day process and was facilitated by a professional facilitator. She took us through finding out what our philosophies were, what research was out there, examined other plans, what trends were occurring now in education and technology and in 10-20 years, what we could see students doing when they came to school, and aligned everything to our schools mission statement. Our schools mission statement I am pleased to say, is very progressive and it has guided all of our schools efforts towards improving all its programs. The schools mission statement lent itself to creating an exciting, forward-thinking student-focused tech vision, with the focus being on preparing students to be creative, collaborate, and be effective communicators. 

Although it was tiring and it took my weekend, I found this process to be professionally rewarding and invaluable for guiding my teaching and integration focus in the future. For those that were a bit pessimistic about the process, they to walked away with a sense of accomplishment and knowing they contributed to the schools future. So if you get a chance, do it. Our technology vision is awaiting official approval from our board, but once it receives the final go-ahead, I will publish it here. 

Using vs Integrating Technology

Ever wondered about the difference between just using tech in your classroom or actually integrating it? Teachbytes came up with the great table below. It details 12 ways to properly integrate technology into the classroom. It is a simple way to evaluate your teaching practices and how digital learning methodologies are being applied in your classroom. I plan on using this as a guide. Hope you like it!

I am presenting this week with some colleagues from the American School of Dubai at the Learning Technologies MENA conference in Dubai, UAE. The presentation is about how our school uses Google Apps and tools in our daily lives as students, teachers and administrators.
Click here to view the presentation. Working with Google tools has certainly helped our school communication, efficiency and our students to learn.

A Taxonomy for Tech Integration

From: http://etitaxonomy.wikispaces.com/  

From: http://www.schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps.html

Awesome Resource!!!

iPad Workflow

When using iPads or iDevices, a teacher will be looking for apps that can replace what is done on a computer. The workflow is significantly different when trying to find the right app for the job at hand.

This list of apps that match what a teacher wants to accomplish is very handy. The list is from:
edtechteacher.org

iPad Learning Objectives

1. I want my students to record and edit video on their iPad. 
2. I want my students to record and / or edit audio on their iPad. 
3. I want my students to read class content on their iPad. 
4. I want my students to annotate course readings on their iPad 
5. I want my students to be able to read audio books on their iPad. 
6. I want my students to use iPads as a digitial notebooks / note-taking devices. 
7. I want my students to use iPads to share and demonstrate their understanding through screencastsscr.
8. I want my students to create presentations on their iPads. 
9. I want my students to create digital stories on iPad. 
10. I want my students to be able to study with iPad. 
11. I want to use the iPad as a student response system. 
12. I want my students to create written content on their iPad. 
13. I want my students to blog on their iPad.
14. I want my students to create ePubs / iBooks to read on their iPad.
15. I want my students to create and edit images on the iPad.
16. I want to use the iPad in order to create a language lab environment for my students.
17. I want my students to use the iPad to stay organized.
18. I want to use the iPad to conduct video / virtual conferences in the classroom
19. I want to control my computer or Interactive White Board from my iPad.