Seeing Progress in Reluctant Classrooms
Presenters: Sarah Sutter and Alice Barr
Wiscasset High School and Yarmouth High School, Maine
Google certified teachers
Conversational Focus/Audience: High School
Conversation Description: Our two schools have been 1:1 for several years, but as is the case anywhere, there has been recurring reluctance by some teachers to employ the practices that are central to students collaborating or publishing their work to a global audience. Although there are always a few early adopters, one of the repeated complaints is the difficulty with multiple accounts and the classtime it takes for students to get up and running on any given tool. Where are we seeing progress? What is working to change practice in the classroom on a school-wide basis? One of the recent additions to our schools’ toolbox for students and teachers is Google Apps for Ed. The inclusion of this set of tools addresses many administration concerns, makes it seamless for all teachers and students to use from day 1, and has helped change the culture across our schools when it comes to sharing and publishing student work. We’ll share our experiences in implementing Google Apps for Ed, with a focus on the changes in formerly reluctant teachers and administrators who have rapidly seen the potential and climbed aboard. We’ll share administrative uses that set the stage, emerging teacher practices, resulting student work, and speak to the bigger picture of changing pedagogy. The conversation will continue as participants share what’s working in their schools, and how we are collectively moving forward toward more constructivist, collaborative, and open educational practices.
Conversational Practice:
1. Introductions, poll the group, show online resources, etc
2. Present what’s working in our schools, some background information
3. Small groups discuss what’s working for them, input successes to Google form and we’ll use results to spark continuing conversation
4. How are we sustaining the results/efforts?
5. Groups share how they are creating sustainable models.
6. Share out, finish with Q&A
