Integrating Technology to Enhance Advocacy for Science

Last night I had the opportunity to attend a GWAEA PD course on using SmartBoards.  I learned a great deal from the two very SMART facilitators, Christine and Margaret.  I highly recommend this course to those who are in need of learning more about integrating this technology into their curriculum. I set a personal goal to find out how to have this software added to my GWAEA laptop so I can design a presentation using SMARTBoard technology to use in an upcoming meeting or inservice.  I have the knowledge and the motivation and only need the software to fully utilize this technology.

While learning about the General Education Intervention Plan I became aware of a new technology tool called the GEI that will be very useful for gen ed teachers as a way to use the Problem Solving Model, presented in our agency-wide training last year, to make meaningful interventions for struggling learners.  I set a goal to seek the Science Team's permission to invite either Robyn or Austin to facilitate a common learning experience for us to create a 'model' GEI plan for science as a way to both learn the tool and develop a model of a GEI plan for a typical student struggling in science.

Finally, while working with the two 6th grade teachers from Vernon MS as they researched the FOSS Force and Motion unit; I guided them to the FOSSweb URL Force and Motion link to look at the electronic teacher's guide to get a clearer idea of the concepts and skills addressed in this unit.  They both thanked me for reminding them of the usefulness of the FOSSweb site and for helping them find what they needed quickly to be able to make an informed decision.... the end result of that 1/2 hour meeting was they both unanimously agreed to propose adoption of this unit pending kit availability.

The use of technology in this way makes my job so much more fun to do!!!!