Beyond Integration

I struggle every time it’s my turn to write a blog post because I guess I feel like everything I have to say has already been said.  So in my struggle to write this week’s blog, which is already a week late, I decided to look for something from the conference I just attended. I just got back from FETC 2020, in Miami, Florida.  The conference was good and often I find some quality piece of information to bring back and share.  Well, at this conference I attended a session presented by Rushton Hurley. Rushton Hurley is the founder and executive director of Next Vista for Learning, which houses a free library of videos by and for teachers and students at NextVista.org.  He is the author of a few books and believes anyone has the power to change the world.   Rushton’s session started out rocky, he unintentionally interrupted the speaker before him and had to apologize for the mistake. The session was titled “Much Better Staff and Team Meetings”. I thought, hmm, this could have

Teaching in a 1:1 environment is truly a great opportunity for both you and your students. It allows for immediate access to the most recent information, endless opportunities for students to create and demonstrate their understanding of the concepts, as well as personalizing the learning for your students. However, I am often hearing that the devices are becoming a distraction. Students become off task and are on websites or apps that are either inappropriate or unwanted at the time. The first instinct for the teacher is to take the device away. However, it is a learning tool, just as a paper, pencil, and book are learning tools. We certainly do not take those away from our students. We deal with the behavior, redirect students to get back on task and reinforce to use the device appropriately. So, over the break, I took an opportunity to read a book called Classroom Management in the Digital Age: Effective Practices for Technology-Rich Learning Spaces by Heather Dowd and Pat Green. I