Mick Jagger Lied. Time is NOT on My Side!

     Perhaps it is providence that this week’s chapter in Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use by Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer (2009) focuses on using technology in assessments.  As my school year comes to a close most content areas are required to administer a post test that will be scored electronically and uploaded to a secure data information site called Pearson Inform.  Early next week I will administer this county-created post test. It’s the same as the pre-test that was given at the beginning of the school year and our county wants to collect measurable data on student academic growth.  I am hoping that by accessing this data over the summer—yes even though there will be no students, many educators simply do not or cannot make a clean break from all this glamor—I can see areas where my students got it and where my students didn’t.  I think that this will help me to adjust my curriculum for next semester so that I can begin with the end in mind.  Pearson Inform is available year round and we have been encouraged to develop data driven instruction. I’m not sure what that will look like but perhaps after seeing post test results in a few weeks will help in directing my next steps. Another use of data revolves around the state HSA results.  Pearson Inform is also used to access those test scores and I can look at specific areas of the biology assessment to see which units students excelled in and which areas they did not perform as well.  I can discuss and share results with the other Biology teachers in the building over the summer or at our first few professional days when we return to see if it is isolated or across the board for all students.  This will draw attention to those areas of the curriculum that I need to be more deliberate with planning a variety of learning opportunities and assessments.

     I feel as if there are plenty of resources available both online and through my school system to learn about technology and even practice the skills. Our district is gearing up to encourage the development of online learning and we have even had some BlackBoard  discussions with teachers form other schools. It was rather time consuming and although, probably the wave of the future, we had other things that needed our time and attention, like grades and parent contact, and breathing.  Earlier in the year, I attempted to keep up with the Smarty Pants Club in my school, a group put together by knowing teachers to help some of the less initiated negotiate the perils of their insidious interactive white boards…but I didn’t have the time to attend after school sessions.  Another colleague has graciously shared every power point, video clip, interactive web site and electronic worksheet version he has so that I could beef up my own curriculum in a course that I was teaching for the first time….but I didn’t have the time to access them effectively.  Another hall mate has often come to my rescue to pull me from the gaping jaws of digital vertigo only to have to repeat the feat multiple times because I didn’t commit it to my technological toolbox for lack of…you guessed it…time. The greatest limit I am finding in developing my technology skills is a lack of time or more so an overabundance of tasks and have tos and not enough hours to budget to committing it all to my psyche and laptop computer.  

     I really do want to smoothly integrate technology into my curriculum so that it supports it and extends it through diverse activities, assessments and real life connections.  I am starting to realize that I probably need to go back to squares, so to speak and look at not only the material that must be covered for the next semester but the timeline for doing so.  Over the years I have accumulated bits and pieces from various sources and I found that this year in particular due to having to float between two class rooms and teaching five classes a day instead of four, lack of organization was a huge stumbling block.  My goal is to combine better paper planning with better digital planning. Questions that will arise are what should I keep and what should I change?  In order to make some units more complete I will need to search for resources such as video clips and hands on activities that I can build into my curriculum and I need to streamline all of the digital files I have.  They do me no good if I cannot find them or I forget to integrate them intot he lesson at the appropriate time. 

     I envision a class room where my students are actively engaged and interacting with content in authentic ways.  I can get that sometimes only to feel rubber banded back to direct instruction or worse yet, content without substance or connectedness.  I’m looking to include some sound technologies that support my science content not technology that merely puts a bubble or a caption on an image or flashes cutesy graphics.  I see technology as a tool for the class room not a toy and I am going to try and find other educators who can discuss how they are specifically using a particular technology like a wiki discussion page or a voice thread in their classes.  I would like to find lesson plans already started that I can adjust to specifically fit my teaching style and available resources.  I often think of how I would modify an assignment or activity after the fact and by then the moment has passed.  I wonder if we will ever get the luxury of truly collaborating with our peers for the benefit of our individual classrooms?  All it takes is a little time right?