Follow the Technology bricked road to Common Core.

When educators first learn of the new standards for common core they may feel like they have been catapulted somewhere over the rainbow to land that is completely foreign to their current existence. Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My! Some may feel overwhelmed by the daunting drive to integrate technology into their daily lessons.
I have found a couple of tools that attempt to help teachers adjust to the land of CC.

The first resource I found that is pretty neat is a livebinder that covers many areas of common core and gives resources to help address that common core standards. This live binder has story resources, writing resources. It then provides you with technology resources to address those standards through technology. Under the writing resources tab is Blabberize which is a website that allows to add a voice over to any picture and make the mouth move(similar to the etrade babies but with a still photo). This would be an amazing classroom project allowing students to write a story and find a picture that goes with that story and record a voice over that "makes the picture talk." The biggest criticism that I would have for the livebinder would be to include examples of student work on the livebinder or be a little more in depth. It seems to be a bit shallow, but still a good find for ways to integrate technology that hits at the common core standards.
Technology Common Core Livebinder
The second is a widget that can help you navigate through the common core by standard. I think this is a great guide for quick look up of the common core standards similar to the Pocket PASS, I don't really know how this would be directly used with student except for teacher planning and sometimes with middle school students it is beneficial to show them the standards so they understand why you, as the teacher, are teaching the material you are teaching. When I would help with math and reading I always showed students the PASS standards that correlated with the content we covered. This is a very useful widget. It gets a thumbs up from me!

Who Benefits from technology in the classroom?

The article from the LA Times Who really benefits from putting high-tech gadgets in classrooms? echoed most of my concerns about technology companies capitalizing on education.

Technology in the classroom comes with a hefty price tag, and although there are ways around the expense of technology in the classroom, it seems that the most affluent schools integrate technology the fastest and the most. For example students who attend a school located in an upscale neighborhood will often have access to more technology than student across town whose school is located next to a trailer park. Many times the PTA in the affluent school will purchase the technology that teachers want and need, while the PTA in the low income school simply does not have the means and or resources to do so. 

I think technology is an important tool that can enhance learning and student engagement it really is all about the teaching. Yes students can learn with out technology in the classroom, but when technology is added to the mix it heightens the students educational experience. It is not meant to be about the technology it is supposed to be about the teaching. Technology is meant to enrich the teaching. For example looking at The International Society for Technology in Education's National Education Technology Standards for students you would hope most of the standards addressed are things that educators are hitting on in their classroom anyway. Creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making. These are all things teachers should do on a regular basis, but when you do these through technology it deepens the learning experience. Now that I've exhausted my idea of it's about the teaching not only technology let me move to my next soap box....Apple. 

Let me start by saying that I am a fan of Apple. I own many Apple products including the Apple TV (which is a money making machine btw) Apple like most technology companies are a business. What is big idea behind businesses? To make money and Apple has done that. They made you want something you don't need. It's brilliant. I can survive without my iPhone and iPad but Apple has made me believe that I can't. Further more they have me and many others convinced the iPad is revolutionary to education. It has the capability to enhance many educational situations and deepen understanding but I feel that it is lacking in one major area that is vital to many web educational sites. THEY DON'T RUN FLASH!!! Ugh I know it's not going to change and it frustrates me to no end. There are so many awesome web based activities that would be great for a teacher to use in the classroom with a set of iPads accept it wont work because the website you love like glogster runs on flash so it won't work with your handy dandy iPad.  So what do you do, you have to find an app that will do the job but the one that you want will cost you. I want to mention that great apps like iMovie is $9.99 so are all of the productivity apps. I realize that Apple is a business and they have to make money but when does it stop? I'm disgusted that they want 30% of any book that sells through the app store made by the new iBooks. 

It makes me sad to think that technology may be the thing that widens the educational gap further between the "haves" and the "have nots."

Needs Improvement

My situation is slightly different from a classroom teacher incorporating technology into their daily lessons. It is my job to help teachers integrate and use the technology.
I feel that I am proficient with my technology skills especially the intelligent classroom equipment. Where I feel that I could do the most improving would be in my communication with my audience, especially the veteran teachers who are not technology savvy.
I think my self evaluation is vital and every "young" technology professional development facilitator should heed the advice and commentary I am writing.
In a professional development session this past month something I said stuck out to me. I was demonstrating a task for the teachers in my session. I think it was creating a link on the interwrite page or another task that a digital native would classify as simple. When I finished talking the teacher through the task I said in my usually bubbly tone, "And it's that easy" After the words left my mouth and saw the look on the teacher's face I felt like a heel. For her it was not easy, and I imagine I made her feel pretty low in that moment or she was thinking you arrogant little technology snob.
This teacher is a veteran teacher who probably has more years of experience in the classroom that I have of existence on this planet. Though technology has a vital place in the classroom it is not the only form of effective instruction. I then realized, though I may have more experience with technology I haven't been around the block as long as this teacher and needed to respect her knowledge and years experience while at the same time showing her a new form of instruction.
I then stopped and asked the teacher non technology teaching strategy she did with her students. Some how we began to discuss students working on sentence structure. She mentioned that a way she addresses this learning need is to write a sentence with a different work on several note cards and have her students stand at the front of the class holding the note cards out of order. She then has the class put the words into order to work on sentence structure. I then showed her a way that she could preform this exact same task with her interactive white board and the software. Where the students could use the pens to rearrange the words on the board to address the same learning need but also incorporate technology.
Sometimes a teacher who has taught for years and years who may not be great with technology but is still a great teacher can get frustrated with technology integration. It seems to me that they feel like they are being told to fix something they don't feel is broken. It can be scary for them to implement change. This is why as a teacher of teachers it is important to keep in mind how you say things.  I never want to come across like a young arrogant know it all. It is important as an instructor to be humble and kind.
 So I guess what I am working on is

1. Respect your veteran teachers. 
2. Don't be arrogant
3. Watch your tone when instructing