After experiencing ISTE 2013, I’ve decided to take a
leap of faith and completely change the way I teach. (Hello – that’s a scary statement!) I am headed into my second year of teaching technology
and coaching teachers at St. James Academy in Lenexa, Kansas. SJA is a seven-year-old Catholic high school
within the Archdiocese of Kansas City Kansas, and we are a one-to-one MacBook
school. We receive students from a
variety of feeder schools, both Catholic and public, so students come to us
with a wide variety of technology skills and experiences.
Tech I is a required class, so the majority of my
students will be freshmen; however, I am certain to have a few sophomores,
juniors, and even seniors sprinkled in.
Just like I put off that Speech 101 class in college, Tech I is
something that gets pushed to the backburner by a few. What that means is that not only do I have a
huge variety of ages, maturity levels, and goals, but I also have an incredible
range of technological experiences and abilities. What direction do I take to best serve each
of my students?
The first semester I taught this class, I was teaching
opposite a colleague who had created the curriculum. We wanted to keep the classes together, so I
pretty much taught from her lesson plans.
The second semester, I had each of the Tech I classes, so I changed up
my curriculum to focus on college and career readiness while integrating
technology. Each semester, though, we taught basic Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
iMovie, and Garage Band with a few trendy sites and apps added in. Second semester, I added blogging with Classpress. At year-end, I received excellent feedback
from students and parents, but I think I can take this course in a completely
different direction.
One of the many meaningful points @AdamBellow made in
his keynote address at ISTE 2013 really struck home with me: Each student
should have an IEP. Wow! How would that look in my classroom, and how
awesome would it be to model that for my colleagues? Well, to be honest, I don’t have it all
worked out in my mind, but I have some ideas.
First, I have created a pretty detailed survey in Google Docs. Click here to view the survey. This will be my students’ first assignment,
and I will have them complete it the first day of class. Once I receive the results, I will be able to
see what each student brings to the table.
I want to group them based on ability, interests, and experience. Within their groups, they will collaborate to
create group goals for the semester, as well as work individually to set their
own goals.
It’s going to be an interesting year! August will
begin a semester where I am going to have to let go of my need for control and
very detailed planning. August is going
to be the beginning of an experiment where I react to what my students need
when they need it. I am nervous and uncertain, but I’m also excited. I’m going to be learning right along with
them. And it’s okay if I fail, because I’ll
know what not to do in the very next class.
I plan to blog weekly about my classroom experiment –
the good and the not-so-good. I need you
– my PLN. I need your suggestions, prayers, ideas, and encouragement, and –
more than anything – I want to make a difference in each of my students’ lives.
