"Teachers integrate elements of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection into ALL unit plans, building from Understanding by Design. Rather than starting with discussion about technology, SLA teachers collaborate by talking about teaching first"
Reading this quote in the afterword resonated with me. When I began the journey teaching at a 1:1 laptop school 8 years ago the conversation always started with TOOLS. Try incorporating this software-Inspiration, try this hardware-flip camera, try using this web 2.0 tool called a wiki they are so the thing of the future, try setting up a class blog on google, now wordpress, now edublogs........ I am so proud of the progression of the school in which I currently teach. The upper school head, and administrators are still as committed as ever to valuing technology in the educational environment however, the conversations have altered greatly since 2005.
The message the last few years is the same as the one in the above quote. First and foremost consider goals and objectives. What are the essential questions? What are the understandings students should gain? Only once answers to these questions are established can the questions about how what tool to use be appropriately answered. A few years ago we were encouraged as a faculty to read Wiggins text. Several teachers recognized that if the goal and objective of reading this text was to foster discussion regarding the UBD philosophy a Literature Circle would be an excellent strategy to approaching this professional development. These same teachers then recognized that a technology tool (ning) would make these discussions even easier. That summer I participated in an online digital literature circle reading Understanding by Design. Posting my reflections online and reading the critiques of my colleagues greatly enhanced the experience over simply reading alone over the summer and then discussing the book face to face upon return in August. This example demonstrates the priority placed on instruction and learning at FA and how technology is creatively used to augment the learning experience....... for students and teachers alike.
Below is a link of a video from a student back in 2009 talking about how technology is used at FA to enhance learning objectives especially the reading and writing experience. This video is over five years old and I can honestly say not only is this still the case at FA but it has only continued to improve over time.
http://www.fredericksburgacademy.org/cf_news/view.cfm?newsid=112
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