Notes from Millie D

It was refreshing to listen to this vodcast from the Red Bank Elementary School as my final reflection session of the K12 Online Conference.  Refreshing because I listened to people in the trenches who not only had the vision of how technology could change their teaching but actually put it together.  One of the pieces that I thought that helped their project was the fact that the resources were well thought out and planned out.  Issues were not dealt with in a knee jerk reaction and their impact went beyond their classroom to include their school, district, and now on a global stage.
 

Staff development versus the equipment which one comes first, boy this sounds like the chicken and egg debate.  I agree with the folks from Red Bank Elementary that it has to happen simultaneously.  The two items are not in isolation of each other but work in conjunction with each other.  Strong staff development will always pay dividends for everyone involved.

I enjoyed hearing that their goal was not to do all of the old things in their teaching with new equipment but to change what they do as well as how they do it.  Putting a new paint job on a junk car doesn’t change the issues with the car that made it junk in the first place.  These teachers get the concept of 21^st Century teaching. Now if we could bottle up their experiences and spread it around the globe then we might have something that Dewey might be proud of within education.

Powered by ScribeFire.