I'd already sent the group the link to Dropbox yesterday so that they could set up an account. They all immediately saw the uses of this for themselves and for organising, sharing and backing up their own files, music, photos and so on. At the end of the session our Kindergarten teacher, Emily, immediately invited the rest of her team to Dropbox.
Everyone said they had discovered a lot of new tools that they didn't know about before. They asked for help in using these with the students in their classes. A common issue raised was the lack of time to really play with these tools and to see how they could be used for teaching and learning. I mentioned the 15 minute rule I had read about over the past week - giving yourself just 15 minutes a day for 3 days to play with a new tool to see if it was something that could be useful. On the other hand I also read a blog post that said the lack of time is a poor excuse - after all we don't accept that excuse from students who don't do their work!
Next year, we decided, it would be good to start the Techie Breakies again with a new group of teachers - the aim would be then have 2 teachers in each grade level using these tools and suggesting them to others at their planning meetings. One of our group, Rebecca, also set herself a goal for next year:
My goal for next year is to start blogging, personally and for the new grade I'll be teaching.All in all I think our Techie Breakies were successful and I would definitely like to continue with them next school year.
i'd like to do stuff like this next year, either as a library thing or as an add-on for the t'itter group.
ReplyDeletei do hear the 'i haven't got time' thing often, but do think it a poor excuse as you say, many times the tools are time saving, i don't think there's much that takes more time than non-digital equivalent.
thanks, as ever, for sharing maggie
I think it probably made a world of difference to have teachers set up dropbox accounts before your final Techie Breakie. I don't often think to do that but not only does it save time, it also encourages teachers to explore on their own before the meeting. Great job Maggie!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVE your blog and am learning sooooo much from it! Keep up your fabulous work that has served as an inspiration to many other teachers!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as though your Techie Breakies have been a real success. I've only just discovered Dropbox and and think it has such potential. I've started using it and invited some colleagues but I can't get it to connect at work without going to the actual website. Until I can get it to work properly I'm reluctant to introduce it to other teachers.
ReplyDeleteTried posting before but my openid credentials wouldn't be accepted for some reason. Trying again.
ReplyDeleteI've been inspired by your techie breakie sessions posts and would like to thank you for sharing.