I would like to
thank Superintendent Jon Bernard and Assistant Superintendent Patrick Daly for
their warm welcome to the North Reading Public Schools. It has been exciting to
see the great work the faculty and staff have done related to Digital Learning
and see the opportunities available for staff and students in North Reading.
During the past week, I had the opportunity to tour all the schools and meet
teachers, administration and review the tremendous technology resources and
application of the digital tools across the district. It sure is an exciting
time with the new buildings open and the tremendous positive morale surrounding
teaching and learning.
I have had a
chance to meet in a variety of capacities (one to one, group) the Digital
Learning team, which includes the Digital Learning Specialists, Library/Media
Specialists, Digital Learning Para’s, Data Specialist and Network Admin across
the district and begin to develop a shared vision for Digital Learning in the
NRPS. This team will take advantage of the huge opportunity to provide to
model technology fluency, provide collaborative approaches to integrating
technology with teachers and provide new opportunities for all students to
learn critical technology skills.
On October 17th, the members of the digital learning team were able to attend an all day Saturday training on the Google Apps for Education Console. This training supports our Specialists to manage the Google Apps for Education accounts and Chromebook devices. This training helps provides a level of flexibility across our specialist so they manage the organization of the Google Apps domain and student accounts. These experiences support a more streamlined efficiency for the teacher in the classroom.
It is exciting to see a district that is not only invested in new
resources and structures to support student learning with technology but also
witness how the talented teachers and staff make it work. I have begun to get a
feel for what makes North Reading such a great place for learning and I am
honored to provide the leadership to the Digital Learning team.
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From Left to Right-Daniel
Downs,Christine Lindsay,Joanne Coughlin, Kathy Dasho & Helen
Kelly (Not in Picture) attended the Google Apps Console Training At SEEM
Collaborative in Woburn, MA on October 17th.
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Current Areas
Of Focus:
Professional Development & Outreach Opportunities Related To
Digital Learning
- In the past two weeks
I have been able to outline a series of tech drop in sessions for all
teachers called "Tech Buzz Sessions" and will be provided
in the High School/Middle School Media Center. These sessions will occur
bi-monthly on Tuesdays and provide a variety of different Tech tutorials
related to such topics as Google Apps for Education and IPad Classroom
Integration.
- Also, as part of my
role I would like to be able to communicate to parents the importance of
our Digital Citizenship curriculum and strategies to support these topics
at home as well as in the classroom. There is also a need to communicate
with parents about the use of Google Apps for Education and how they can
support their children with these tools.
Vision For The Digital Learning Specialists
- The North Reading
Digital Learning team is comprised of extremely talented, technologically
skilled educators who can be seamlessly included any part of a teacher’s
plan for integrating technology into their classroom. To shift the
level of technology integration across classrooms
we must support the relationships that the Digital Learning Specialists
have with classroom teachers.
- We are currently in
the process of adopting a co-teaching model that will reflect the goals
and ideals of how the digital learning specialist role with teachers can
support and enhance the integration of their technology into their current
curriculum. It is important that teachers can take on a level of
independence using the technology tools and the
digital learning specialist are there to support their growth as they
integrate these tools.
Digital Learning Curriculum Development
- It is critical that
the K-8 Digital Learning curriculum be continually adapted and enhanced as
the technology needs of students change. The digital learning specialists
provide students with a robust digital learning curriculum which includes
digital citizenship, robotics, digital research and programming skills.
- During the course of
this year we will be reviewing and adapting the K-8 Digital Learning
curriculum and identify the major benchmark for students by grade level
and review the potential growth areas that can be integrated moving
forward.
Review Current Protocols for Troubleshooting Technology
- The ability to
troubleshoot/solve issues with hardware and software helps to maintain the
integrity of the working conditions for teachers and all staff. This
week I had the chance to initiate an in-house test of a new ticket support
system. We are currently testing out the system and hope to roll it out to
all teachers within the next two weeks.
