Building a Community of Learners

The first of many Tech 20 workshops took place today, and though the turnout was modest, attendees amounted to 10% of the staff at my school.

In 20 minutes, we managed to have teachers register with Animoto, and create short video presentations. Most satisfying, was the fact that so many of the attendees were novices in making use of technology. The example below was created by one such novice, the chaplain at our school:



I'm confident that word about this experience will spread. Guidance, math, language, social studies and chaplaincy were all represented, with teachers from special education and the humanities requesting rain checks.

I owe a big thank you to my PLN whose affirming comments and suggestions have helped to shape this initiative. Next up, I'll be whetting the appetite of my colleagues at a full staff meeting, by demonstrating Wordle as a literacy resource.

Tech 20 Tuesdays

In order to provide support to teachers who wish to engage tech tools, I'm about to launch Tech 20 Tuesdays. In no more than 20 minutes, teacher-attendees will have a chance to learn about one tool or strategy that should make it easy to incorporate ICT into their classroom practice.

My aim is to create a low stress; questions welcome; just come and explore environment that will promote greater use of a wide range of tools. Today's podcast, tells the story in more detail:



Are there any one-hit-wonders you'd recommend sharing with teachers in such a format?

Photo Credit: Tray