What a week! I just spent three, jam-packed days with teachers and students in Round Rock ISD, in Texas. I first met “my” group of nineteen teachers and ten instructional technology specialists in September at a whole-group “kick-off”. These teachers are in their first or second year of technology integration, and the ITSs support them. They all have Dell Chromebooks in their classrooms, and that is where I enter the picture. I get to provide them with support, encouragement, and training throughout this school year. This was my third visit to Round Rock. I observed 2 teachers, had conferences during prep time with 4, and co-taught with 11. Here is a snapshot of what we did:
- Explored Exit Ticket and Pear Deck
- Used WeVideo to record science investigations, and edit videos
- Used Google drawing to create mind maps for the American Revolution in one room, and the phases of the moon in another.
- Used Google Slides to create class “blogs”, collaborative research projects, science fair data displays, math review portfolios, and poetry anthologies
- Observed a teacher using Chromebooks to have students do bell ringers, and then later to record math discoveries
- Observed a group of middle schoolers using Chromebooks to study groundwater, and then collaborate on a shared doc to jigsaw their findings
- Taught a class how to use Kahoot as a way to review telling time to the minute
- Taught Google search ninja tips 🙂 to two different classes
- Helped each teacher discover and plan some next “action steps”
The teachers were fantastic. They were appreciative and eager to learn. The kids were even better! I was rewarded with multiple hugs and requests to come back from the kiddos (fortunately just at elementary schools – lol). So while one told me that I looked like Hilary Swank, and another asked me if I was a famous singer, I’m happy to be me.
I love that I get to do this kind of work on a regular basis. The prep leading up to this week was pretty intensive, I will admit. But, sitting in the airport, exhausted, I can say that it was worth it.
