MLTI Teacher Leader Professional Development

When I searched for the MLTI Student Conference information, I found a related page which describes an effort to provide capacity-building professional development for teacher leaders. Mt. Ararat Middle School and Mt. Ararat High School are both on the drop-down list of participating schools. Who are the Teacher Leaders in MSAD 75 who will participate in this program? What can we do to support their participation and transfer of the ideas back into the District?

MLTI Teacher Leader 2008-09
Online Workshop Information

As presented at the Fall Leadership meetings, the MLTI Team is committed to support the integration of educational technology in MLTI schools through two models: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) and Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR).

We believe that these are useful and powerful models for guiding effective teaching and learning in the 21st Century. As an MLTI Teacher Leader, you have an opportunity to examine the role of these models in your own school’s goals, initiatives, and professional development priorities.

As outlined in this year’s Teacher Leader Agreement Form, your participation in an online workshop is a requirement for qualifying for the MLTI Teacher Leader stipend. MLTI Staff have developed a four-week capacity-building professional development program. ...

When I searched on "SAMR" to verify that I understood that model, I found a Gary Ackerman's post at the NELMS blog about his synopsis and application of the concept to his situation. I enjoyed seeing who played an important role in disseminating this idea to teacher leaders in other districts:

At the Emerging Tech Summit back in January, our keynote speaker (Sally Loughlin, an assistant superintendent from Maine) mentioned the SAMR model of technology integration that was developed a little over 5 years ago by Dr. Ruben Puentedura.

MLTI Conference: May 29, 2009 at UMaine Orono

iTeams: Let's start planning and preparing to present some of our work at the annual Maine Learning Technology Initiative Conference. For more information, read '09 Student Tech Team Conference. They invite a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering or Math but let's try to find a way to integrate across more areas.

MLTI Student Tech Team Conference
Friday May 29, 2009
'09 Focus: M-STEM
(Maine Learners, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

• Engaging University of Maine Faculty and Students, ACTEM Members, MLTI Students, and MLTI Educators in a Partnership for Learning
• Following the success last year, the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UMaine will be donating more $1000 Scholarships for Middle School Students!

Opportunities for iTeam contributions

Image via Wikipedia

In Born Digital, Palfrey and Gasser identify several constituencies and suggest some steps that they can take to address the issues raised in their work. In our iTeams work, students can contribute as they describe here:

In terms of the opportunities that we pointed to - for innovation, learning, and activism - Digital Natives just need to do the things we've seen a few of them doing, to spread the word virally among their peers as to what's possible. We've pointed to examples of a few extraordinary young people doing very cool things. The real promise lies in whether these few will become many. (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008 p. 278-279)

Related articles via Zemanta

• Understanding MSAD 75's Digital Natives (scspaeth.blogspot.com)
• Facebook for teaching and learning (thewavingcat.com)

Understanding MSAD 75's Digital Natives

On Friday, February 13, 2009 MSAD 75 teachers and administrators will participate in professional development. The district leaders have asked that some time be devoted to developing understanding of our digitally oriented students.

District leaders, principals and the District Technology committee are facilitating discussion of Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser. In the chapter on safety, they describe constructive efforts to improve safety. They specifically identify an exemplary use of student's video that addresses some of the issues:

get it right: Tap into - and celebrate - the creativity of Digital Natives (p. 105)

How can can we tap into the creativity and engagement of iTeam members to help teachers and administrators understand their digitally oriented students? Would discussions of digital identity, social networking, and other issues change if students also participated?

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Note: The StaySafe site has changed since Palfrey and Gasser wrote their description. It seems as if the video has been removed from the StaySafe site and other venues. This is a more complete description of the contribution:

"A Junior High Student from Utah Makes a Film and a Difference.

staysafe.org salutes Trevor, a 14-year old student from Utah. He is proof that one person, no matter his or her age, can make a difference. He not only stars in his short film Predator, but he also wrote and directed it! In the film, Trevor depicts the dangers of online predators - typically adults posing as younger school aged kids - who lie and trick you into believing they are someone else. Whether you are a student, educator, parent, law enforcement, or community leader, we all need to be aware of the risks of online predators.Trevor worked with his school, and even cast his real life principal as his movie kidnapper. In addition, he made arrangements with the American Fork Police Department to provide vehicles and officers for the shooting of this film." Source

Half an Hour: Should All Learning Professionals be Blogging?

Colorado Communities for Justice and Peace via Wikipedia

Stephen Downes makes the case for one of the roles I model in the district:

Half an Hour: Should All Learning Professionals be Blogging?: "the difference represented in the shift from traditional classroom based learning and network learning. The idea of the latter is that learning occurs when the learner immerses him or herself in a community of pratice, learning by performing authentic tasks, learning by interacting with and becoming a member of the community.

But this only works if the members of the community share. It only works if they are prepared to make talking about what they are doing a part of doing what they are doing. As Arruda points out, there are good reasons why they should do this. But I would add, it's the only real way to effectively incorporate large numbers of new members into the practice. By doing and showing, practitioners can as effectively teach as teachers teach by telling (indeed, I would argue more effectively). And they can do it without having to establish a special infrastructure and institution."

How can we expand the practice? Downes identifies one of the barriers is people's perception of lack of time for an add-on. He identifies a solution- substitute more effective practice:

What needs to happen is that the normal note-taking that happens in the meeting - whether by an official recorder or by attendees (or, ideally, both) becomes the blog. The process of having the meeting is the process of creating the post. The result is that the creation of the blog post takes no extra time, and so both the group leader and other staff save a lot of time.

How will we change our practices? Terry Hanna and I experimented with this approach using the District's learning network in Elgg at the last Service-Learning Leadership Team meeting.