Our Starting Point

I LOVE this quote!  Madeleine L'Engle is one of my most favorite authors of children's books. Her quote is simple, but quite profound.  Love is powerful and it is a word that we use for many things. 

I love my wife.  I love my children.  I absolutely love shrimp tacos!  And...Have you ever had Häagen-Dazs mint chocolate chip ice cream??  I LOOOVE that stuff!!!  

At WoodCreek Elementary (WCE), we talk a lot about how we are a family. As we grow together, we choose to love each other and deepen our relationships.  However, we also believe this is not limited to just our staff.  This extends to our parents, our community and, of course, our students.  Although nobody is perfect, we strive to love each other.  This is at the core of what we do each day.  As I began to talk to my staff and community about love, I found that everyone seemed to have a different view on love's definition.  It makes sense!  Our culture and our language is full of references to love that all mean different things.  So if the quote above is true, what actions are love?  So, in an effort to put us all on the same page, we decided to define it for our school using this excerpt we have entitled, "Love is..."

Love is…

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.

Why do I even put this much thought and effort into something like love?  Well...it is the foundation to everything else we do.  It's our starting point and it is what drives us.  Who else would work such a challenging job in a public school if they did not love the people they serve? You see, when you love someone, you change their world.  It's not about you.  Many times, loving someone is taking the hard path that no one prefers to take.  But, when those you love do succeed, you find deep joy in their success.  So, my aim is to truly love my spouse, my children, my students, my staff and my community.  I challenge you to do the same.  When you do, just remember...love is not a feeling, it's what you do. 

Using Technology for Learning

A couple of years ago, there was agreement at my campus that we needed to be smarter by infusing technology into the classroom. We dove into Web 2.0 tools and found great ways to use them in the classroom.  In addition, we found that kids would even use them on their own over the weekend and during the summer!  But, technology use still felt like a chore for most teachers.  I felt that it should not be that way.  While we were learning to use Web 2.0 in the classroom, I began to notice that our laptops would take a long time to boot up, the battery would die quickly, the class sets were very heavy and hard to roll to the class, it was a chore to log kids in, and teachers would be worn out after using technology with kids.

It was not easy.

It was not invisible.

It was cumbersome and slow.

The next thing I noticed is that we needed more access to Web 2.0 tools.  In other words, kids would only be able to access their work a few at a time while at school.  We had no way for them to all access it at the same time in class.  Web 2.0 allowed us to enhance good teaching and this was great, but we needed more kids to access it at one time in a way that seemed more natural. After some thought and many conversations, we decided to buy iPads and blend it with "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD). Why iPads?  Well...they seemed to be the complete opposite of our current hardware and this was good. In other words, they boot up fast, the battery lasts 10 hours, they are light, there is no log in, and people love to use them.

In short, they are easy.

Thus began our next step to venture out into the unknown in the name of kids.  What an exciting time!

1:1...Where to start?!?

I've never seen a kid sit at home with their phone and say to themselves "I need to spend some time with technology".  In fact, the thought of this happening is simply funny!  Why?  That is because you know that the kid is thinking about the work, not the technology.  The technology is “invisible” as it makes the work easier, faster, more engaging.  However, I have seen many teachers say that they need to spend time with technology in their classrooms.  They say this with a sigh as they know that they don’t have time to do “another thing.”  

Have you ever heard a teacher say that they don’t have time to include technology in their classroom?  I believe this comment is a symptom of an ineffective mindset towards technology.  If the teacher has this mindset, it does not matter how much money or effort you spend on 1:1.  Under this mindset, your effort will never be as good as it could have been.  There is no app for good teaching. I believe that technology can only enhance what is already there.  In other words, you can use an iPad as a worksheet and not get very good results.  Therefore, the teacher must already have good practice in order to use technology in a meaningful way in the classroom.  Assuming that meaningful work already exists in the classroom, the first step towards effective 1:1 is teaching the teachers that using technology is not "another thing".  In fact, it should be the same thing that they are already doing.  Technology on it's own is not very effective.  However, when technology becomes "invisible" and the student work is meaningful, student achievement skyrockets!  You see, the focus is never the device or technology.  The focus is the work.  Technology makes things faster, smarter, more efficient.  Once the teachers understand that using technology in the classroom is similar to how they use technology in their private lives, you are poised for incredible things.