This post is not so much about technology as it is about helping teachers move forward with their understanding of using technology as a tool.
In my first year as a Tech Integration Specialist, I don’t remember any specific dealings with Teacher J. That year was a lot of providing resources for teachers and supporting some new systems like a curriculum mapping software and the student system. There was still a Computer Teacher in each elementary.
My second year, though, one first grade teacher J. expressed interest in doing a project. And, she wanted to do it with technology. Once we talked through her ideas for an animal research project, I suggested doing a PowerPoint with her kids. I am pretty sure that the silence that came after that statement was quite momentous.
In another meeting, I had just been told that PowerPoint was too hard for fourth graders, and now I was proposing it to a first grade teacher. But, she was willing to try. Our school computers had MaxShow, a simpler program that sits on top of PowerPoint for kids. I spent computer time with J and her kids for a week. I modeled the process for saving a document to the student shared drive. She watched me stumble horribly as a template we had set up didn’t work, and I had to punt. (Technology doesn’t always work. It’s reality.) But, day by day, we worked through a simple PowerPoint. Soon, she was modeling the steps herself with me just there as a guide.
First grade students did digital research, created a title slide, a table of contents, 3+ informational slides and a basic bibliography. All of the slides were personalized with digital pictures drawn by the student. I think it was honestly the turning point for me also in understanding the capabilities of kids as young as first grade. Being a secondary teacher, I had wondered what kind of product that we could get from these kids. I was blown away. All because a teacher had the courage to ask me to work through it with her and her students. This type of partnership gives me professional energy that I can not express.
The next year, I came back just the first day of the project. I helped the kids get started and save for the first time. Then, the teacher took over. After working together, she had the comfort level to carry on the project. Though, I would have hung around as long as she needed to make it work. And then, her students became the teachers themselves as they guided another class through the process. First graders as technology instructional coaches! Awesome.
We are now in year four of my job, but my third year of working closely with J. While she had helped the students do their own projects in mini-PowerPoint, she hadn’t done her own presentation for a while. She called me over last week to help capture some of her lessons. We talked about creating slides in PowerPoint. We discussed different formats. Even though she was still a novice on the program, she was able to work through the basics and create a presentation with quality information.
Today we met again to add some elements like video clips. I was impressed with her confidence in the program compared to just a few years ago. I can’t wait to see the presentation unfold in real life.
My job is about helping to move people forward. Beginners up a step. And challenging the advanced users. We all have room to grow. We all have more to learn.
As I wrapped up with J today, another teacher popped into the room with two questions for me. One of them? To help her in the same project that I had J. Soon I’ll have to talk about the snowball effect that comes with success.
Amazing.
What is your favorite success/progress story?