I woke up this morning to find a Twitter chat, #digitaledchat, and they were discussing G-Suite vs Office 365. I hear this debate all the time......I hear it in Twitter Chats, at conferences, from other districts.......but for every debate for Google, you could make another debate for Microsoft. I think @MrMattHeinrich summed it up best. I probably could talk about it for hours too. But in the end, it really doesn't matter what you pick, it is how you use it. So if it isn't the platform, what is the difference? In my opinion, it is the network and the people. Let me explain. My ExperienceWhen I first learned I was going to be in a Microsoft District, I started digging. I wanted to find examples and people who used OneNote, forms, etc daily in their classrooms. IT WAS SO HARD TO FIND! They just aren't out there on the forefront, not in the sheer #s that Google Educators are. If teachers or districts are going to move to a new product, they need to know that teachers can go out and learn best practices. They need to see examples. They don't need to spend hours trying to find it. I want an Alice Keeler, Kasey Bell, or Amy Mayer of Microsoft EDU. I want a Lisa Highfill, one of the creators of Hyperdocs, who designs specifically using G-Suite. I want a network that is going to offer real lessons and ideas using Microsoft products. I am not saying it isn't out there, but it isn't out there in the size or strength that Google is. For example, just check out the Twitter follows for Google Education vs Microsoft Education. Google has 323K followers and Microsoft Education has 233K. By purely #s alone, Google is going to have more educators on board. This isn't a Microsoft bashing, they are later to the party than Google. It is going to take time to catch up. This is my reflection, because I am sure other's feel the same way. This is a call for change and action. What do we do?We have to be willing to share our ideas. Blog about what is happening in our classrooms and schools. Provide and share examples to teachers who in our same boat. Tweet our hearts out, so others can follow. As far as I know, I am not moving to a Google District anytime soon. My district needs to be a part of a network. We need to share our ideas and connect with others. We need your help to do that.
I am looking for people to join me! I am looking for teachers, admin, instructional technologist, whoever! Help me create those examples, share our stories, blog, and tweet! Find me on Twitter @Mer_Townsend and help me, help each other!
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I am pretty sure we have all heard this phrase, "Teachers are the worst students." It usually comes after a long day of professional development and teachers have been packed into a room after a long summer away, and they are asked to listen to some person as they talk about education and how it should look in their class. What's the result of these days?
But I think the saying should be, "Teachers are students."
1. Move away from the PowerPoint. For everyone's sake, don't lecture from a PowerPoint (or Prezi or Google Slides). Death by PowerPoint is a real thing, you have to change it up! You can't preach moving away from sit-and-get, and then have your teachers sit and listen to you talk. I KNOW THIS IS HARD! So, how do you think teacher's feel when they are trying to plan a lesson that doesn't involve lecture and PowerPoint? Be a model. A simple way to get started is to use something like Padlet. Padlet allows them to make comments as you move through the information and ask questions, like a back channel. It is simple, but effective in getting teachers more involved in the discussion. Here is an example of using padlet for a presentation: https://padlet.com/mtownsend11/8mfzudlpn6k2 2. Give teachers time to play. If you are introducing a new piece of technology, give the teachers time to get logged in and play around a bit. You are going to have teacher's at different levels of technology prowess, and so some will need more time than others. Also, if you want them to listen to you, then they need to have gotten their exploring out of their system. 3. Let them DO. I am hoping to do some PD with my teachers at the beginning of the year on moving away from the worksheet mentality. (That will be another blog post). But I don't want to just tell them how to do it, I need to get them engaged in creating their own reasons. I won't make a PowerPoint that has all the reasons, I will have them come to those conclusions themselves. They will complete the worksheet, questioning techniques will guide them to find the reasons why it doesn't work, and then they will create the alternatives. After all, if it is their idea, they are more likely to get on board. 4. Know your audience. To make it relevant for teachers, you need to know your audience. Certain groups of teachers have tendencies that others don't. I have found that secondary teachers are more competitive then at elementary level. Maybe because there are more coaches? Who knows, but adding a level of competition tends to get them more engaged. Another example; once a 6 weeks, I meet with our CTE teachers and discuss the use of technology in their classrooms. These teachers are a different audience than our core teachers. I have to tailor my teaching to them. I need to show them tools and instructional practices that reach a wide-range of groups. Some of these teachers have 4 preps. They don't want to learn something that has too narrow of a scope. 5. Be funny, up-beat, and wear your failures. When you stand in front of a group of teachers and tell them all the ways they can change their classroom, it is off-putting. You will have lost them before you ever started. Win them over, let them know you have been in their place, talk about the failures you made and still make, be relevant to them. I say this because when I first started my job as a Digital Learning Specialist, people didn't know me, and I wasn't relevant to them. Most thought I was a 22 year old girl, straight out of college, and had a major in some sort of technology. They didn't know I was a 30 year old, ex-biology teacher and softball coach with 9 years of teaching experience under my belt, and had some of the same failures that they had. They didn't know my first year of teaching was a complete an utter disaster. I was 21 years old, pregnant, and teaching juniors in high school sex education. Can you imagine?! I know now, when talking to new teachers, that is my in. 1st years don't get much worse than that. I don't have all the answers, not even close. But in 1 year as a Digital Learning Specialist, I have learned the things mentioned above. My sessions with teachers I think have only improved since day 1 and it is because I made some changes. Teachers are human. They have the same wants and needs as our students. They don't want to be bored or told what to do. They want to learn from someone who is relevant, who guides them to create their own ideas, and keeps engagement at the forefront. I don't have all the answers, not even close. But in 1 year as a Digital Learning Specialist, I have learned the things mentioned above. My sessions with teachers I think have only improved since day 1 and it is because I made some changes. Teachers are human. They have the same wants and needs as our students. They don't want to be bored or told what to do. They want to learn from someone who is relevant, who guides them to create their own ideas, and keeps engagement at the forefront.
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April 2018
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