On Friday, we hosted a ‘District Site Visit’ for over 20 educators from across various districts and organizations in Delaware and Texas (thanks for visiting Amanda aka @TheEdsaneT...she reflected on it in her blog). It was an amazing day as we took the time to visit several classrooms in three different schools (Gunning Bedford, William Penn, and Carrie Downie). We are very proud of the work of our Ts and showcasing their hard work and efforts is a terrific opportunity for us.
As we toured, what was really interesting was how much student interaction was occurring. On 'tech visits' to classrooms, people envision a lot of Ss w/headphones on and working independently…that was not the case on this visit in most classrooms. Ts were facilitating learning…Ss were face to face (F2F) collaborating to create questions for other Ss in other states…Ss were digitally collaborating…Ts were working with small groups. So much differentiation by ability and interest at the Ss own pace and in their own time. It wasn't the case in every classroom as we expected and observed. We had some classes with less differentiation and others with more. But, that's part of the journey...tours like this allow us to see all ends of the spectrum and to help us identify where we need to learn and grow. It helps us, take our Ts from where they are to where we are going...personalized learning.
Here’s what the students said…
At each school, but particularly at William Penn, the students were super reflective and honest about learning using technology. They shared which classes it has helped them to learn better and when they really need that F2F interaction. It was interesting to hear that it really depended on the students preference…not that we didn’t suspect that to be the case, but to actually hear it from them was awesome! Their maturity really showed through their comments and insights. I wish we had a video of the entire Q & A session.
Here’s what the teachers said…
In each Q & A session, our Ts were super reflective. They discussed their use of @Schoology and GAFE in the classrooms and how it has helped them to submit and revise assignments…how it has helped them provide differentiated support to students…how it has helped them to plan better. And what was super interesting was that it is not nearly as complicated as or time-consuming as they thought it would be before they started using it. They reflected on how tech has changed their planning and how they are integrating multiple digital tools on a daily basis. They talked about how they are flipping lessons and getting students to be creators of content not just consumers of content.
But, when it was all said and done, I took a minute, took a breath, and reflected. Often times in a journey you get so fixated on the destination that you don’t take the time to celebrate how far you’ve come and what you’ve achieved. For us, it’s time to stop and smell the roses for we have much to celebrate!
(You'll have to tune in later to read about the tech conference. Here's a link to Lori Minka's Top 10 from the Tech Conference...it will definitely give you a great re-cap of what it was all about)