This is the last chapter in our Teaching in the Digital Age book study. Chapter 9 reminds us of how to go about infusing technology in the classroom. If you just discovered the book study, the details can be found HERE as well as all the previous chapter discussions.
Some of the highlights from this chapter include:
- Making the First Steps Towards Acquiring Technology
- How to Secure Funding
- Involving Families
Making the First Steps Towards Acquiring Technology
Brian talks about investing in technology tools that offer the most potential for long-term academic success instead of those that will increase test scores tomorrow. I agree that this is a very slippery slope because sometimes principals and administrators want to see an immediate ROI (Return on Investment) and not enough emphasis is placed on the long-term benefits. For example, the many benefits that iPads can have for development across all domains, not just one specific task such as letter identification. iPads can support skills such as oral language development, critical thinking, re-telling, receptive language and much more. I have collected some useful apps on Pinterest.
How to Secure Funding
More proof that Brian and I are on the same page, he shares two of my favorite resources Digital Wish and Donors Choose. These are both great places to secure funding for technology in your classroom.
Brian also shares a very inspiring and encouraging story from one teacher who didn’t think it would work. And did you know that on your birthday Donors Choose will match your donation? My birthday was last weekend and I received an e-mail from Donors Choose informing me of this policy. I immediately donated since my donation would have double the impact.
Involving Families
Including parents in your technology journey is an important part of implementing technology. Brian encourages us to use our technology resources to connect with families and make communication a seamless and natural part of the educational journey. You might think that your parents won’t be interested in visiting your class website, blog, or wiki page but when they have access to photos, videos, and audio of their own child they will be highly motivated to start visiting. Show parents how to access the resources you have made available at orientation sessions and they will begin to embrace this technology.
I really hope you enjoyed our book study this summer. Whether you’re a technology junkie or a novice I hope you were able to take something away from this experience that you can implement in your classroom this year. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to use your QR reader to scan the QR codes and watch the videos that are embedded throughout the book; they really take the book study experience to a whole new level.
It’s going to be tough to pick a book next summer now that embedded videos are on my “must have” list! If you discover any new books this year that you would like to recommend for our next book study please send us an e-mail and let us know.
