A Bright Spot

I am having trouble picking just one bright spot as I have been given some great opportunities over the last few years to observe numerous bright spots in technology.  A few years ago, we had an assistant principal who knew that I was pursuing an EdTech endorsement and also knew that our school was a bit behind the times with technology. He formed a committee to bring a MakerSpace to our school. After securing the funding and bringing some great technology to our school, we were still struggling to get people to use the new technology since we have no tech integrationist at our school and, as we know,"change is hard". 

After offering a bunch of after school workshops on how to use the new technology with little to no attendance, he came up with a new plan. This plan was to make me the "bright spot" in our school. He knew that I was open to using new technology but definitely not confident with my skills in technology. He also knew that I see every class in the school as the librarian and had already made some small attempts to integrate technology in my classes. So, he set up internships for me to build my skills and confidence. For the first year, he arranged my schedule so that I was able to spend one day a week shadowing the tech integrationist in Fairfax. This was eye-opening for me. I followed her into different classes and watched her lead lessons using technology, with the classroom teacher and I assisting. She taught lessons using the Cricut, using 3D printers, creating paper circuits. using Spheros, helping kindergarteners create SeeSaw posts and use osmos. After actually assisting with each lesson, I would feel much more confident that I could teach a lesson like that, as I am sure that the classroom teachers felt as well. I was able to come back to my school where we had some of the same tools and teach similar lessons in my library classes. My internship was cut short when I had to go on medical leave just before covid hit, but not before I received some incredible inspiration.

The year 2 plan was to bring in the tech integrationist from our high school to co-teach my 5th and 6th grade classes for a year. This plan was delayed a year due to covid and the wacky hybrid schedule that we were on at the start of the year. Obviously, I continued to learn a lot about technology that year. Our school was also blessed with a new principal that year who came from a background as a tech integrationist. So, we all learned to create virtual classrooms for our open house that year, and share lessons using screencastify.

The following year, we officially started our library/technology class. The high school tech integrationist and I taught all of our 5th and 6th graders to use WeVideo, design 3D prints using TinkerCad, build paper circuits, work with lego WeDo robotics, etc. The students were really engaged and started integrating some of these skills into their classroom assignments. If the teacher didn't feel confident enough to help them with TinkerCad or WeVideo, I would schedule a time to be in their class to help with trouble-shooting. Though we still could use a full-time tech integrationist, I feel like we have made some huge strides in recent years.