To those of you who work as tech integration specialists... I have some questions.

I am an art teacher who also specializes in educational technology.

Currently I work part time as an art teacher. My principal found some funds to hire me as a technology integration specialist for one day a week. I feel as though this could be a full time job, but I only work one day a week. Also, during the school day the teachers don't have any planning time on the particular day I work, so mid day collaboration is difficult! I am in a K-6 elementary school. Each teacher has a tablet. There is one SMART Board per grade level. There is a computer lab which each teacher gets 2-3 30 min sessions per week but it is typically used for everyday math intervention or reading intervention. 4th-6th grade have 5 tablets in their classroom for student use.

Being completely new to this, I have a ton of questions!

When you started with tech integration in your district, what did you prioritize, and how did you do it?

How did you implement changes in your school?

Did you find specific lessons that you could help "tech up"?

I feel like there is almost so much to do that I can't wrap my head around where to get started!

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Permalink Reply by Teresa Garceau on January 29, 2013 at 7:02am

Do you have Lexia? I find that Lexia is a fill in the gap for teachers who don't have the time to teach simple phonix but need their students to be reading.

Also, because of the increased writing with CC, Typing skills are very helpful for the students to compose quicker rather than pecking and looking for keys and how to edit.

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Permalink Reply by Colin Gallagher on January 29, 2013 at 9:39pm

It's a tough position full time let alone trying to fit it all in to one day a week!

You gotta get a grasp on the curriculum in each grade or focus on one or two grades. Meet with them and find out what activities they are doing in different units of work. I work in an international baccalaureate school so there are set units of inquiry every 4-6 weeks. That makes it easier. I usually meet and talk about their summative assessments and brainstorm whether we can integrate technology in somewhere. If it doesn't fit we don't do it. If there are small activities that are done in a "traditional" way that could be transformed with technology then we go with that.

We don't teach tech, students learn as they go along. I align each activity in each unit of inquiry with NETS standards. That's the only documentation we have apart from the teacher's planner which also documents all the activities.

Every school is different so that may not be of any help!