Judy's Big Ideas from TTF

The primary ideas that I have taken away are that technology is indispensable for capturing attention in today’s classroom.  Students are so used to being able to find information for themselves that the teacher as a source of information has lost most of his/her value.  The teacher need to become a coach for the students self -motivated discovery. Also students’ attention span for screens is greater than their attention span for in-person presentations.  I believe that there is a real place here for collaboration between younger and more experienced teachers.  The younger teachers have  technological experience that is invaluable and the experienced teachers have the longer perspective and  more realistic approach  which is also invaluable.  Putting them together can make some wonderful things happen.

I am both a teacher and a director of education so the change in my approach to teaching applies to the whole school , rather than just my classroom.  I believe that the teacher’s role is changing from conveyer of information to coach in students’   learning to direct their own learning.  This is best utilized in project based learning which I plan to bring into the school in a more systematic way next year. I am also moving to a model where every class communicates on a Wiki, although I plan to initiate it only in two classes next year.

My goal is to move quickly but not too quickly in this direction.  I am cautious about too much change in a school where the students are actually happy and relatively engaged.  On the other hand, I am cognizant of being behind the curve compared to what is happening in public school and eager to try new things. The movie making retreat was a big success with the staff so I think I have a team that is excited about making this change happen. Tonight we had a teachers' meeting to discuss Project Based Learning  for next year.  Things are moving forward!