Week of January 8

Thursday Thoughts January 8

 

 

 

I truly needed the time off and relished every moment of it. I enjoyed spending time with extended family and was able to spend quality time with my husband and children.   However, I must say that it felt good to come back this week and connect with my Medlock Family.  By now, you should know me well enough to know that I believe in putting family first.  I enjoy hearing about your family and I thank you for listening to the stories about mine.   But when I refer to the Medlock Family, I am alluding to a genuine bond that has been formed among the staff.  We are more than a group of people who come to work everyday and work with kids.  We are more than just a team.  We are a family.  We celebrate when others are successful.  We hurt when our colleagues hurt.  We share in the ups and downs of this job. We do what we can to lighten each other's load.  The cartoon Lilo and Stitch gives one of the best definitions of family that I can find.  In our Medlock Family, nobody gets left behind or forgotten. 

 

 Staff Spotlight

This week I would like to shine the spotlight on Lindsay Padgett and Jaya Kottamasu.  Lindsay had the great fortune (or misfortune depending on how you look at it) of being my first 30 minute observation.  I want to applaud them for the creativity and instructional best practices that are being implemented in the classroom.  Not only was there alot of music and visual aides during the lesson, but there was also the use of technology and an overall focus on student engagement.  If you don't know, their students can start in the classroom at age three and are eligible to attend due to their special needs.  Our Pre K students don't attend specials and Lindsay's class does not even eat lunch in the cafeteria.  Therefore, Lindsay and Jaya are in the classroom with their students ALL day.   Each afternoon at dismissal, I see Lindsay walk some of her students to the front office to meet the parents where she engages in conversation about their day.  I know that parents can be a bit uneasy about sending their babies to "big kid" school but Lindsay puts their minds at ease.  Many thanks to Lindsay and Jaya for all they do for our youngest Mustangs.

 

4C's: Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking Skills

 

The Right & Wrong Way To Use Technology For Learning

07/09/2013, TeachThought Staff,

So much in learning is subjective, which makes sense because so much in life itself is also subjective, and we learn in order to live. So it’s natural.
Grey areas abound–the usefulness and quality of the Common Core Standards. The importance of curiosity in learning. The evaluation of technology in learning. The utility of letter grades. (And alternatives to letter grades.)
For every educator dead-set on personalizing learning through technology in an outcomes-based K-12 classroom, there is another educator working to develop new learning models that extract the potential of self-directed learning, the role of play in learning, and better understanding the different levels of integration of technology in the learning process itself.
And it’s all good work.
What exactly technology does in learning is also subjective. We’ve offered a clumsy analogy in the past, but sometimes a simple T-chart clarifying “good and bad” is helpful, which is what Bill Ferriter of the wonderful Tempered Radical blog has done with the following image.
The Right & Wrong Way To Use Technology For Learning
Ferriter’s image begins simply enough, with a statement so many of your already believe (based on comments we’ve seen across social media and here on TeachThought as well).
Technology is a tool, not a learning outcome. (Learning is not about technology, mind you.)
But for those that need examples, it goes further, saying no to “developing apps” and “publishing animotos,” and yes to more general functions like “Raising Awareness” and “Starting Conversations.” (Our favorite is helping students find answers to their questions.)
Certainly it’s not true–in our grey area of our own we’re creating here–that creating animoto videos is “wrong” or producing videos is “bad,” but rather that technology should ideally function in pursuit of that awareness and that conversation, not the app or “the animoto.”

Of course you probably already know that, but here’s to clarifying.

 Technology Tidbits

http://www.funenglishgames.com/grammargames.html- good site for additional grammer practice. 

News & Notes

Congratulations Medlock Bridge!  We have been approved to participate in Cohort 1 in the FCS Personalized Learning Process (classroom tablets).  I wish I could say that the tablets will be in our classrooms before the end of the school year, but that does not appear to be the case.  We are starting the process which means that we will be one of the first schools to receive tablets, however there is much work to be done before we get them.  I will keep you posted.