As we (Pickerington Schools) venture into the world of Going One2One, I plan on posting a weekly update to the items, activities and leadership pieces that we have created and taken part of during the week.
If you haven’t read about our Going One2One program, I would encourage you to check out our website at:
This week we took the 90 minute trip over to Kettering Schools for a Google Leadership Event. Kettering Schools was awarded a $8.2 million Ohio Straight A Grant in which they were able to take the entire district to One2One. (Must be nice to see that huge influx of funds!) We were able to see an elementary school and their high school. The biggest take-a-way from the elementary school was all of the teachers at the beginning had worries and concerns about the little ones on devices. But after a year and a half those worries were gone and the teachers realized that students actually can handle the devices and do more then even the teachers imagined. One of the biggest worries of my teachers are having the students log into the devices. A first grade teacher has the same initial concerns, but quickly realized that after a little bit of practice yes they can log in in a reasonable amount of time.
The best story came from a technology coach that was in a 4th grade classroom working with a group of students, he was showing them how to use a new app and then make it better with an extension. A boy raised his hand and said you know this other app I found does that exact same thing without the extension. The technology coach looked at the app and completely changed the lesson and went with the boy’s app. That is what this whole process is all about, learning from each other. Even the people in the building teaching technology can learn new things. And that is totally the way that I would want it, I want to create an environment where everyone shares, everyone contributes and everyone learns from each other.
Then next we were taken to the Fairmont High School in which we got to see an amazing math teacher talk about flipping her classroom and gaining that extra instructional time back into the day, because the students were watching the videos at home and she now had the entire period to work with her students. The best moment was seeing an AP Government teacher lead his class by asking nothing but questions. This teacher had students working through high-level court cases that affected current school rules and policies. The conversations in this classroom were amazing and students were defending their arguments with data and resources. As the students were discussing and debating the teacher was walking around asking probing questions and making the students think harder and go deeper with their analysis and learning. And to wrap up the assignment students had to create a hashtag that simplified the court case.
The biggest take-aways for me were:
- Yes technology can work for all students, even the little ones.
- Teachers can be creative and use technology in powerful ways.
- Look into the idea of Mediascapes, can we create something like these in our media centers or classrooms?
- What can we do with our current media centers to help support the digital learning and the One2One program?
- How do we encourage teachers to be creative with technology while staying with the curriculum?
Secondly this week, I have had the ability to get into two of our middle schools and introduce the Digital Learning & One2One Program. At both of the schools we went over the basics of the program, showed off of the chosen device and talked about the teacher role in this type of blended learning or TRADIGITAL classroom.
TRADIGITAL CLASSROOM – The combination of the best teaching practices of a traditional classroom with those of a digital classroom.
In addition to the overall introduction of the program, I wanted to get the teachers to start thinking about how their classroom can and will change now that every student has a device with them 24/7. So we started with small group discussions around the following questions:
- How does teaching and learning look if every student has a device for the entire day, everyday?
- What routines do we need to develop so the students are successful in using the devices properly?
- What does blended learning (traditional meets digital = tradigital) look like in my classroom?
- What changes can I make in the required organization that I require for my students? (ie. does every student need a 3-ring notebook or can it be digital)
- How can I use technology in more powerful ways (utilizing SAMR)?
- How will this addition of anytime, anywhere technology help to engage my students?
- How will the technology help me to enhance my lessons and increase opportunities for interaction and learning?
- Blended learning is also about the process and the mechanics of teaching and learning. How do you feel a blended learning environment will increase your students and your efficiency?
As teachers discussed these questions, I asked everyone to response to a Google Classroom post with the question and their answer. The interesting thing will be that we have three buildings merged together in this Google Classroom. So answers will shared publicly and hopefully we can get the building learning from each other.
Additionally, we shared articles:
Lastly a number of blended learning videos:
- Blended Learning: Making it Work in Your Classroom
- An Introduction to Technology Integration
- What Blended Learning Looks Like in the Classroom
- Michael Horn “Using Disruptive Innovation like Blended Learning”
- EDU on AIR: Flipped and Blended Learning for Your Chromebooks
- Blended Learning: Redefine your Classroom
Tomorrow we will be visiting Hilliard Tharp Middle School and seeing their second year into the world of One2One. To me Hilliard Schools is the model in Central Ohio and I am excited to bring 15 of my principals and academic leaders to see the amazing things they are doing and what we can learn from them!
Teaching & Learning with Technology 
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