I am almost halfway through my first year as the Technology Instruction Coordinator at my school, and developing a technology proposal for EDU777 has been one of the most exciting parts of my year. Step one, which was brainstorming ideas for a new proposal, really forced me to focus my energy towards fixing an issue that exists in my school. For my proposal I wanted to address something that has bothered me as a math teacher in previous years, which is that many students are not making the most of their time in study halls. My school is very data driven, and being a competitive person myself, I want our students to maximize their potential so that they not only show growth, but they have as many opportunities as any student in any other district. An idea that I have heard at several conferences this school year has been introducing ideas by first explaining, "What is your why?" After going through step two of this project, I felt like I had done enough research to know exactly how to express my "why", which was well received by almost everyone I talked to. The administrators in my building were excited about this idea, especially since I was going to be doing almost all of the work that went with it. When I laid out the details of how this would help us meet our school goals of getting 80% of our students to meet their growth goal, and 25% of our students to "exceed" on the PARCC exam, the math teachers were on board as well since their students would be practicing math outside of their class time with no extra effort on their end.
Not everyone was excited about this proposal, though. One of the math teachers was concerned that students would not be completing their homework and use Khan Academy as an excuse. My response was that they could start assigning Khan Academy as homework instead of paper homework, which is what I used to do as a teacher, since it is automatically graded and provides instant feedback for the students. Some teachers are just uncomfortable with relying on technology so much, but I will continue to push for this as the Technology Coordinator. Despite most of the study hall supervisors being excited at having more structure in the study halls, some were concerned that this would put pressure on them to get their students in line. I told them that I would support them any way that I can. When I have brought this up to students, they were certainly the least excited. It seems the eighth graders were the most disappointed, probably because they've had the previous two years with free reign during their study halls. I know that it is what is best for them, so I will continue to push them on this.
I am still very excited about this project and know that it will lead to great learning for many of our students. I was one of the only teachers in our school that utilized Khan Academy, and despite pushing it on everyone this year as the Tech Coordinator, there are still some teachers that have no interest in using it. By asking students to work on it two days a week during their study halls, I am theoretically guaranteeing that one-third of our students are spending an extra hour practicing math that might have otherwise been spent playing games or talking with friends. The most negative aspect is trying to figure out how to motivate those students that will resist and refuse to use this time wisely. I do not want this to be a punishment for students, so I will have to find ways for them to have intrinsic motivation to get better at math. I have already developed presentations that talk about the value of a growth mindset, the opportunities that they could create for themselves by being great at math, and data that proves Khan Academy works. As the Technology Instruction Coordinator, I am trying to make myself as valuable to my school as possible. If I am only suggesting what tech tools teachers can use in their classrooms, I have no way of guaranteeing this is done with fidelity. I will use my expertise as an Instructional Designer for middle school math by sharing the spreadsheets I have developed with Khan Academy links for each concept taught in middle school, which includes prerequisite skills and extension skills for every standard. Since I have positive experiences with Khan Academy and consider myself a Learning Specialist in the middle school math world, this proposal is something that I truly believe will help me make an impact on my students.
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