Summertime Learning

      Summertime may offer a break from formal schooling, but learning can take place in all sorts of formal and informal ways throughout the summer.  Many school districts offer summer programs that are part academic and part recreational.  Boy Scout and Girl Scout summer camps offer lots of learning opportunities that involve working with groups of people as well as individual projects.  Of course many libraries offer summer reading programs for children of all ages.


       Family trips during the summer offer children the opportunity to learn about different places and different people and (perhaps) different foods and different climates.  There are also many online programs that help students to sharpen their math skills such as TenMarks and Discovery Education.

       Learning takes place in all sorts of settings and in all times of the year.  Summertime can provide time for families and for children to explore interests and build on abilities.

       What will you learn this summer?

Getting Technology, Learning Technology, Using Technology

     I am so excited about the upcoming school year!

     For the first time ever, all of our school buildings will be wireless enabled.  This is the first step in our efforts to build a 1-to-1 learning environment for all of our students.  This is such an exciting time to be in education.  We have had a couple of schools pilot a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) system and we have learned from their experiences.

     In less than a month, I will meet with 250 teachers in a wireless-enable high school auditorium.  I can't wait.  During this meeting we will use Google Hangout to hear from four different companies that offer four great products for use in the classroom.  Some parts of these products are free to all teachers for use in the classroom and some have a fee.  All of these products have embraced the 21st century learning model of encouraging students to discover information and to ask more questions about what they see and learn.

   
     None of the four presenters will be physically present in the auditorium.  This is how we learn in the 21st century.  One presenter will be 3000 miles and three time zones away from us.  The four companies presenting on this day will be: Desmos, Ten Marks, Discovery Education, and Learn Zillion.  The teachers in the auditorium will bring their own devices and will be able to access the website of each company as the presenter is talking.

     It will be a great learning experience for our teachers and an excellent example of the possibilities that (now) exist in our classrooms as the 1-to-1 learning environment begins.

     At 50 years old, I am constantly learning about different websites and various learning products that provide resources to students and teachers.  The P-12 education landscape is (indeed) changing to mirror the lives of our students.  We must change to keep up with the changes that are happening all around us.

     So get ready to bring your device to school.  It is lighter than a textbook and infinitely more valuable as a learning tool.