Teaching and Learning in HSE: One Bite at a Time

Don Koewers teaches third grade at Cumberland Road Elementary. This week, he shares the approach their Technology Team took to prepare for all students having access to iPads. Their work helped focus efforts at CRES--and can be a model for implementation of any kind of change at any level

What happens when you focus your efforts and get really good at a few things before moving on to something new? Don helps answer this question.

From Don: When Less is More

As we began our 1:1 journey, two wise people asked us, "How do you eat an elephant?" Of course the answer is one bite at a time.

After a year of having iPads in the classroom, the pilot team had to decide the best way to help our staff tackle this new endeavor. We did our homework. First, we were fortunate to have Nadine Gilkison visit our school and talk to our staff about technology in the classroom. One of the most important points that Nadine shared was that curriculum comes first, and then we choose a tool that enhances what we have to teach.

Spoiler Alert: Katie Muhtaris is going to join u
on November 8. Sign up for one of her sessions
if you want to Amplify your instruction!

Second we read Amplify. In this book, the authors, who are teachers themselves, share their views on how to use technology to "amplify" instruction. Again, we came across that idea of not recreating our teaching practice, but taking the great teaching already going on in our classes and making it more impactful on students by blending in technology.

What do you do when you have so many resources to choose from?

Kristin Ziemke, co-author of Amplify, shared that she had eight basic, yet flexible tools that she uses with her students. Our design team set out to identify what those tools might be for our teachers and students. We wanted tools that had the greatest effect on student learning.

Our work and experience led to the list of resources seen in the infographic below. Our list includes more than eight, but we know that each tool allows for teacher-choice and leads to creation rather than consumption.

These tools give us a common place to start, but they are not the end of our journey!