In November I will be attending and presenting at the ICEC Thailand 2012 sponsored by ACSI. I submitted my proposal last spring for a workshop on Integrating Technology in Elementary school. In preparation I would like to share some of the path our school took here on my blog. I would also like to use this as an opportunity to get input from other educators at other schools as to how you are integrating technology into your curriculum.

Our principal and I started talking about integration of technology into our elementary curriculum because of staffing changes the spring of 2011. We were no longer going to have a computer teacher and the elementary students would not be going to computer class once a week. This caused a variety of reactions and changes in scheduling that were worked out last year, our first year for these changes. Knowing that we were going to make these changes we visited Kim Cofino at YIS in the spring of 2011. She showed us around YIS and spent time talking with us and sharing some of her ideas with us. We went back to CAJ excited about the new possibilities. Yes, there were some blips but the school was willing to allow Grace Yamato, the Middle school and High school computer teacher to change some of her responsibilities and and become the Elementary technology facilitator. At the time each classroom had 1 or 2 Mac computers, there was a cart of 30 Netbooks, 5th grade had a mounted projector, the Japanese department had acquired 5 iPads, there were 2 computer labs and a laptop cart that were being shared by the entire school k-12. Each teacher had their own laptop. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade classrooms all had projectors with an Apple TV mounted before we began the 2012 school year.

The Netbooks were often a source of frustration as they operated on different system and therefore could not be connected to the school servers. Also typing a document and saving it in a readable form was a frustration. They were and are great for internet usage but even then, they will sometimes try to connect to a server that is not available and will cause frustration among students and teachers. I do like the smaller keyboards for the younger students when they are typing.

Grace, Ruth Ingulsrud and I all signed up for the Coetail course that began last September at YIS. Before we began the course, I thought that we were doing a lot at CAJ using technology in the elementary classroom. Consumer Technology was a pdf I made in 2010 to let our headmaster and board see all we were doing with technology at the time. (I had not labeled it Consumer Technology at the time.) I thought we were doing a great job of integrating technology. In the last year I have read and seen what true integration looks like. Students using technology to create, communicate and to use higher level thinking skills not just consume what others have created is true integration. But it is a process.

Last year as we began our journey into technology integration I was learning with everyone else. We started simple with asking the teachers to choose 3 units where they could integrate technology and how and when that would happen. Grace was willing to work with the teachers and the students. She was our “go to” person and our “come in the classroom” and help. We used Kim Cofino’s Cycle of Collaboration.

This was a great resource for the teachers and Grace to use as we discussed what and how we wanted to do things. Grace continues this year to come into the classrooms on a regular basis to assist and instruct when necessary. Although we don’t have planning time together, usually I will let her know what I am planning the day she is coming in. Fortunately she has been flexible in her role. This past week I hadn’t set up the computer to the projector because of a before school meeting. As I began telling the students what we would be doing, she set up my computer and just followed along showing the students where I wanted them to go and what I wanted them to do.

Back to last year, we started a Google Doc to record what the teachers were doing each month. As I look back on that document, I realize that in the fall most of the teachers were still at the point of the students consuming or the teachers creating with the technology. But, I have also realized that for many adults to feel comfortable allowing students to create on a computer in class the teacher needs to first feel at least a bit at ease about creating on the computer, not just using it for email, social-networking, word processing and researching. In fact, before purchasing a set of iPads or a cart load, I would strongly recommend purchasing one for each classroom and give the teacher a budget for apps along with time and instruction on how to use the apps. Apps that reinforce content are fine, but apps that allow the user to create something are even better. It takes time and some confidence to use those apps with a classroom full of students. Last year I purchased my own iPad. I have purchased various apps, but have not spent time exploring them and have been slow to implement them in the classroom. Just recently I tried Storyrobe with several of my students. This is the book that one student created.

It is exciting to see the other classroom teachers allowing the students to create with technology even at the beginning of the new school year. The 3rd graders were sent out with a partner to video interview people around the school. Our principal has commented on how “professional” the students were who came to interview her. Not all of the interviews went as well but the work we did in 2nd grade on using cameras and interviewing is paying off.

Some of the challenges of integrating technology have been with standards. Do you need technology standards? With ever changing technologies how specific do you make your standards? As I integrate technology, sometimes I forgotten to look at the standards first, create a rubric and then introduce it to the students. (More on that in my next post.)

I know that I have come a long way in my understanding of technology integration but it is a continuing learning cycle. I also need to remember that while last year I was learning with my students, I would learn something and then introduce the technology and by the end of the year the students were applying much of what we learned my students this year need all the lessons along the way.

I would love to hear from anyone else on some of the joys and struggles you and your school have faced with integrating technology into the curriculum. Thank you to the many schools and educators who are paving the way and sharing their successes in blogs and on Twitter.