Jessica Fraser
ISTE Article
In the spring of 2014, I collaborated on a project with two professors from my Masters program and a teacher from another school district. The primary goal of this project was to determine the effectiveness of Flipboard, an online magazine, to curate student research. We also used Skype and Google Docs to allow my fifth graders to communicate and collaborate with fifth graders from the other school. I am working with one of my professors to write an article for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). This article explains the process of using Flipboard and Skype as student collaboration tools. It also includes tips for implementing a similar learning experience with students.
Click on the above image to read the draft of the ISTE article I am writing with my professor, Dr. Tim Green.
This artifact shows that I have met ISTE Standard 6.a: Engage in continual learning to deepen content and pedagogical knowledge in technology integration and current and emerging technologies necessary to effectively implement the Standards-S and Standards-T. I used current technologies, which were Flipboard.com, Skype, and Google Docs, with students to create a 21st century learning experience. While facilitating this experience, I learned a lot that I want to share with other educators so they can have a smooth and meaningful experience. By co-writing this aritcle for ISTE, I am staying current in pedagogical knowledge and technology integration. I am using the ISTE Standards for teachers and students to reflect on the learning experience and think about how I am improve similar projects I facilitate in the future. I am passing along what I have learned so that other teachers can benefit from my experience.
The Art of Coaching
I am fortunate to work in a school district where professional growth is encouraged and supported. I attended a full day workshop titled "The Art of Coaching," led by coaching expert Elena Aguilar. The day was focused on how I can most effectively act as an agent of change in my schools. We discussed scenarios we face with teachers and how to interact with teachers to help them improve their professional practice. The eleven other DLCs and I took collaborative notes during the day to capture the information so we could refer back to it. We used a Google Doc to take interactive notes, with photos and links to important resources. Throughout the day, we used the comments within the Google Doc to perfect our notes so they would be as useful as possible in the future. We then saved these notes in a shared Google Drive folder for DLC coaching documents. We DLCs made this day even more meaningful by taking collaborative notes and conversing with each other about the content via comments.
Click on the image above to view the collaborative notes I took with other DLCs during the training.
The artifact shows how I am meeting the performance indicators for ISTE Standard 6.b: Engage in continuous learning to deepen professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions in organizational change and leadership, project management, and adult learning to improve professional practice. I engaged in learning about my new position as a Digital Learning Coach and deepened my knowledge of being a better coach to adults. In order to be an effective change agent at my schools, I need to continuously work on my coaching skills, as teaching adults is something new for me. "The Art of Coaching" was a great day to start the 2014/2015 school year because it helped me to focus on my strengths and weaknesses as an adult coach and to plan next steps to improve my professional practice.
DLC Cadre Collaboration
As a Digital Learning Coach (DLC), ongoing professional development and reflection are necessary to make sure I am developing into the best coach I can be. Although I have a lot of knowledge, I still have so much to learn in how to most effectively coach teachers in educational technology. It is vital that I stay current in educational technology trends and resources. In addition to daily online communication between DLCs, we meet bimonthly in person during DLC cadre meetings. There are four cadres, with three DLCs in each cadre. Before each meeting, the two other DLCs in my cadre and I discuss what we want to focus on during our meeting. Our focus may be on creating lessons or exploring resources to become more of experts in them. Then we write a meeting objective to make sure we stay focused during our meeting.
Above is a screenshot of the table that my cadre uses to record our bimonthly meeting objectives.
This artifact demonstrates my competency in meeting ISTE Standard 6.c: Regularly evaluate and reflect on their professional practice and dispositions to improve and strengthen their ability to effectively model and facilitate technology-enhanced learning experiences. During the DLC cadre meetings, I reflect on how I am currently meeting teachers' needs. I talk with my cadre members about how I want to improve my professional practice. During our discussion, we look for ways we can become better agents of change at our schools. This involves talking about how we are implementing our technology-enhanced learning experiences and discussing changes we can make to be better models and facilitators of those experiences. The bimonthly DLC cadre collaboration meetings allow me to stop and focus on my coaching practice and deepen my knowledge of educational technology.
Content Knowledge and Professional Growth
Technology Coaches demonstrate professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions in content, pedagogical, and technological areas as well as adult learning and leadership and are continuously deepening their knowledge and expertise.