Group+1

Group 1 : Amy, Christa, Carrie

**Technology Part 2 Task:**
==**You are a group of parents interested in the enlightened use of technology in your school district. Create a document to present to them outlining recommendations you would like them to consider as they plan for technology integration for the future. Give the rationale for everything you suggest. Make it clear to them what educational beliefs you are working from. Be as specific as possible. Reference any of your readings to support your recommendations.**==
 * To go back to the list of sites from last week, Technology Part 1**
 * Here is the link from Mark: Discovery Education**

Amy Eichstaedt Christa Leonardi Carrie Peters

2011 National-Louis Ave. New Berlin, WI 12345 (012) 345-6789

Emmy Thiesen NLU University 2011 National-Louis Ave. New Berlin, WI 12345 (012) 345-6789

Dear Emmy Thiesen,

Our names are Amy Eichstaedt, Christa Leonardi, and Carrie Peters, and we are the parents of KristeenEichstaedt, Isabella Leonardi, and Ally Peters within Miss Nelson'sclassroom. First, we would like to let you know how very pleased we are with the education that our children are receiving at NLU Elementary. Ally, Isabella, and Kristeen have had great success with reading due to the Balanced Literacy Program. Our children are really enjoying their current teacher and classmates, and we have had good experiences regarding the education at your school.

Secondly, our main purpose for our letter today is in regards to the use of technology in learning at this school. We believe that collaboration, teamwork, cooperative learning, and problem solving are very important skills for children of all ages to acquire. We feel that, as technology advances, it would be in the best interest of our students to utilize these tools as one form of medium, used to assist in teaching the curriculum and other important life-long learning skills. For instance, through the use of technology, we no longer have to collaborate with those just within our walls, an instant collaboration can be made with people from all over the world. Along with the benefits that technology can bring, there also comes negatives. We must always keep safety in mind and always use caution when allowing the students to participate in activities that may require including personal information. We must also ensure that proper supervision, of the students and their work is always taking place. Another concern is in regards to the amount of time in which the students are using the available technology. We believe that the amount of time in which students access these tools, should be carefully considered and determined according to the appropriateness for the individual students using the technology (age, ability levels, learning style, etc.) We are very interested in, and excited about, the advancements and use of technology within this school district. When planning for the use and integration of these technologies, we have some recommendations and requests in which we would like you to consider.

1. We feel that it is very important to provide equal and adequate technology access to all students. Using technology to support curriculum, and to be used as a resource/ tool for quality, project-based activities, requires all students to have immediate technology access, and for substantial periods of time. Therefore, we believe that all students, K-12 should have a laptop in their desk top by the 2012-2013 school year. This would require the purchase of new latops as well as desks designed to have laptops built into the top that are hidden when a full work surface is needed. In addition, all middle school and high school students should have their own iphones by the 2013-2014 academic year.

2. All classroom﻿sshould have SMART boards or promethean boards. As this technology provides a great tool for teachers to utilize in teaching the curriculum. It also provides an interactive experience, that lends well to student learning. There are endless possibilities and uses for a promethean or SMART board in classrooms. It can be integrated into any content area and can make learning more developmentally appropriate and engaging compared to paper and pencil and workbook activities.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3. A district subscription to Web 2.0 and other collaborative classroom technology tools needs to be purchased immediately. Tools such as Edmodo, Wikis, Wordle, Glogster, Dabbleboard, Animoto, and Prezi will enhance classroom presentations as well as make homework another opportunity for collaboration and discussion. Some of these new technology tools requre a subscription, but would be well worth the cost.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4. A Technology Task Force which includes teachers, administrators, parents, and technology personnel is required immediately. Their goals would be to coordinate the implementation of these recommendations, design a new district curriculum, in which technology is imbedded in all subject areas K-12, and to continually evaluate the need for technology updates. It is extremely important that the curriculum not only educate the students on the latest technologies, but teach them how to choose the appropriate tools for a specific task. It will also be very important to have immediate access to the technology personnel, when failures/ problems with equipment or software arise. So an on-site technical support person will be needed full-time at each school.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5. Using technology, when unfamiliar with it, can be very scary or intimidating, in turn causing it to not be used to its fullest potential. Familiarizing yourself with and using technology appropriately, can be an incredibly useful tool. Simply putting the technology into the classroom is not enough. Including the latest technology within the classroom isn't complete without extensive and lengthy teacher training. Teachers will be expected to facilitate technology activities, field differing questions or problems, and involve students working at all speeds, experience, and ability levels. Therefore, a substantial amount of time needs to be allocated to first expose teachers to the latest educational technology available, then allow them the time to learn and use these technologies. Furthermore, teachers need to be brought together to share ideas, ask questions and continue exploring opporunities, for months or years after the initial training. And since the nature of technology is ever-changing, teachers need to be inserviced on the latest technology as it is introduced. Starting next school year, once per month, an inservice day should be devoted to technology and how to effectively use it in the classroom. Half of that day would be mini-seminars for teachers to share what is working for them. The other half of the day would be alloted to designing wikis, Prezi slideshows, glogster projects, and other Web 2.0 technologies that need time and collaboration to create. If a teacher is given a Promethean board or a SMART board, the same amount of training should also be allocated. These boards can be complicated and intimidating. If the proper amount of training is not given, they may not be used to their full potential. As with the other technological tools, teachers should be trained constantly (once a month in-service days would be ideal) on the boards themselves and then be given time to explore such enrichment tools as Promethean Planet. It would also be grealty beneficial to collaborate with fellow teachers about the boards for ideas or questions. We cannot meet the needs of digital learners until we create digital educators!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">If you would like to contact us in response to this letter, or to further discuss our proposals, you may contact us by either phone or email at the following:

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Amy Eichstaedt (262) 695-1754 eichs4@yahoo.com <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Christa Leonardi (608) 931-1178 leonardicd16@gmail.com <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Carrie Peters ﻿(262)366-4256 petersc@kmsd.edu <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">We look forward to hearing from you on this subject, as well as the continued progress of our students through the use of technology. Thank you for your attention to this matter and for all your efforts, and those of your staff.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Sincerely, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Christa Leonardi <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Amy Eichstaedt <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Carrie Peters

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">cc: (Miss Nelson)

==Compile a list of issues, questions and challenges facing K-12 education today and in the decade(s) ahead - related to technology change. (include a brief explanation of why you think this will be important):==

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">﻿Carrie: -In Did You Know? the most profound statement was that we have to prepare children for technologies that we don't even know exist. How are we to accompish this? We have to prepare children to be globally competitive. It's a scary thought and intimidating thinking of eveything that we need to accomplish to ensure we get them ready for the unknown. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-In The Rise of the Image and the Fall of the Word, it really brought to the surface for me how reading is changing. Will there come a time when most people read from IPads rather than an actual book? Will newspapers become obsolete? <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-Teach Story made me realize how very little I know about technology and wonder if other teachers feel the same way. I wonder how districts, colleges and schools are going to prepare teachers and students for the world of technology. Technology can be intimidating, but I've learned that once you dive in and begin learning it is not as scary. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-How will Twitter change the world? Reminded me of Facebook and the positives and negatives that come with a community of people knowing your every move or as the Twitter article stated-what you had for breakfast. It is very convenient that the technological avenues allow you to keep in touch with close and distant relatives and friends, but there are privacy issues and as with anything, you need to be cautious. These forms of technology have allowed people to connect with others in ways that they never would have before. There are classrooms that are Skyping with other classrooms across the country and world. It is amazing! When I was in elementary school, we had pen pals with a school in a nearby city. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-What is 21st Education? This reminded me of a recent conversation some colleagues and I had about how unprepared we felt after given Promethean boards in our classrooms. We want to be part of the 21st century and teach our students with the newest and best technology, but many of us felt that we were just given these amazing tools with little to no training on how to use them. Some teachers found that they were using them as a glorified overhead. Using and learning about these boards takes time which is what we are hoping to get so that we can best expose our students to the newest and best technology. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-Digital footprints made again realize the changes that have occured in my lifetime. When I had my daughter and now my son, I was scared about the normal things that most new parents have fears about i.e. kidnapping or someone otherwise harming them, but digital footprinting reminded me how although technology can be great and amazing, it can also be very dangerous and complicated for children and a family.

Amy: These are some of the issues I came accross as I read: -I watched the "Did You Know?" video about how we have to prepare students for jobs that do not exist yet! If that is not problem enough, it occurs to me that schools still place a heavier emphasis on reading and analyzing fiction texts instead of non-fiction. I do not understand this, since as adults we have a much greater need in our jobs, on the news, magazines, etc. to read non-fiction pieces and make connections. -Then I read the article "Reading Accross a Dozen Literacies" by Jamie McKenzie and realized that schools need to be teaching kids how to question data as well as analyze and interpret it. There are so many numbers thrown at us to support opinions and theories that we need to question research practices, people sampled, and other factors before deciding the relevance of data. Who is going to teach them that and how? -When I read "The Rise of Image and the Fall of the Word" by Mitchell Stephens, I was reminded how much the introduction of television affected American culture. Now the internet, ipods, cell phones are changing the need for the written word. It is almost as if we have to have images attached to everything we are teaching the kids so that we can get their attention! -In Will Richardson's video "Read/Write Web" he mentioned a kind of writing called "connective" writing. It is what we are doing on this wiki. Writing things down for the purpose of others to respond to them and to promote conversations about a topic...to connect with others. This kind of writing is different. Who is teaching this? Should every student have the opportunity to participate in this kind of learning? How do we balance the need for face-to-face conversations that get immediate reactions/answers/questions? -Finally, I have attached a Utube video that I found when I was watching the one by Will Richardson. It begs the question: if most teachers have never used the latest digital technology (blog, wiki, facebook, digital storytelling), then who is going to teach the digital learner?

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">media type="youtube" key="_A-ZVCjfWf8" height="390" width="480" <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">

Christa: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> --In //How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live//, written by Steven Johnson of Time Magazine speaks of the advances made in, and the uses of twittering. I not having ever "twitted" or really not even understanding the full extent of what Twitter is or entails, initially viewed this activity in a negative light. I thought, what a waste of time?!... this is another technology for kids to play on, and could serve no real meaningful purpose, especially in the educational setting! But after reading this article which described a situation where Twitter was used at a educational conference, as a form of conversation, amongst present participants, allong with allowing outside participants to "attend," learn, and also state their questions, positions, or opinions. Also, the tweeting served as an immediate public record of the conversation, which was also able to continue long after the conference ended. "Injecting Twitter into that conversation fundamentally changed the rules of engagement. It added a second layer of discussion and brought a wider audience into what would have been a private exchange. And it gave the event an afterlife on the Web. Yes, it was built entirely out of 140-character messages, but the sum total of those tweets added up to something truly substantive, like a suspension bridge made of pebbles." I thought about how this technology might be used in a classroom setting. Along with any other technology, there come positives and negatives. In similiar style to Facebook, one must use with caution while posting such personal information. I think this technology would not be appropriate at my kindergarten class' level, however, I do believe that twittering may be fun way to communicate with and learn about people of differing cultures, similar to a pen-pal activity. It could almost replace letter writing (the good and bad of that) and serve as an instant form of conversation. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">

--At this site, Computer Logic Group researched and reported five of the largest challenges facing private school education. Technology was one of these greatest challenges.

The 5 greatest challenges facing private school administrators :
The 5 greatest challenges facing private school administrators A look at private and diocesan schools� unique challenges and how administrators can overcome them Technology is also a major cost : "Technology is also a major cost Schools spend anywhere from $120 to $240 per student on technology This means if a private school has 400 students it will cost the school nearly $100,000 to keep it technologically current Source: School district outlines plan to fix failing technology infrastructure, The Northwestern, 9/16/10 13 � Computer Logic Group - 2010"

--In //World Without Walls: Learning Well with Others// by Will Richardson, I found it incredible that an 11 year-old referenced her "readers," being the mass of followers from all over the world that read her work, shared ideas, and discussed their own learning projects. I believe that technology, when unfamiliar with, can be a scary thing. But once familiarizing yourself with and using appropriately, technology can be an incredibly useful tool. In the education sense, the internet use, or blogging, was used as a "network of connections." Through this advancement in technology, the child was given the opportunity to share, learn, and collaborate "in ways that were unheard of just a few years ago. Welcome to the Collaboration Age, where even the youngest among us are on the Web, tapping into what are without question some of the most transformative connecting technologies the world has ever seen." I believe that collaboration, teamwork, cooperative learning, and problem solving are such important skills for children of all ages to acquire. But through the use of technology, we no longer have to collaborate with those just within our walls, an instant collaboration can be made with people from all over the world.

-In this article, // Challenges and Strategies in Using Technology to Promote Education Reform //, technology is discussed as providing students the tools and opportunities to learn, by working on "long-term, multidisciplinary projects involving challenging content that is interesting and important to them with the support of technology tools for collecting, analyzing, displaying, and communicating information." Although this idea sounds great, the piece recognizes some challenges that schools face in attempt to achieve this, the top four being:
 * __ [|Providing Adequate Technology Access] __
 * __ [|Equalizing Technology Access] __
 * __ [|Involving a Majority of Teachers] __
 * __ [|Providing Technical Support for Technology Use and Maintenance]﻿﻿ __

[|http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/approaches.htm] <span style="color: #0066cc; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">﻿ [|l] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">