District Administration - February 2012 - (Page 61)

ogy, we’re really missing the boat,” she says. “To keep these kids engaged, you have to change how you teach.” Schaa says that professional development for teachers is key for a meaningful experience with mobile devices in the classroom, but most teachers will likely need more time before they feel comfortable using the technology as a classroom staple. “I think the reason people are not just jumping on board is they feel like they need to have a canned curriculum to go with these mobile devices,” she says. “But I don’t think canned curriculum works anymore. It’s all about teaching outside the box.” Chris Dede, the Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, says that mobile devices can help schools move past a dated “industrial era” model of education and into a digital A Stratford (Iowa) Community School District student uses the camera on her smartphone to document plants, a unit her class was studying, in the district’s butterﬂy garden. E ective and E cient Solution for RTI! grade, is in its fourth year of using donated Verizon smartphones coupled with GoKnow, a mobile learning platform that runs educational software on handheld computers. e school district now has more than 500 students in grades 3-6 with their own mobile devices and boasts one of the longest-running mobile learning pilot projects in the country. Newcomb says that teachers have worked together to develop lesson plans that combine the state’s curriculum with mobile learning. “ e biggest misconception is that you have to create this huge new curriculum to go along with mobile learning,” he says. “We’re still using the same curriculum, but we’re teaching it in new ways.” Teaching Outside the Box With the help of mobile learning, teachers are changing the way they teach in the small, rural town of Stratford, Iowa. Stratford Community School District’s technology director, Lisa Schaa, says that more than 100 students at Stratford Elementary School are now in their second year of a mobile pilot program using GoKnow. Schaa says that curriculum can include everything from drawing animated cartoons of the water cycle on smartphones to blogging on the bus ride home after a ﬁeld trip. “We’re including technology that the kids use every day at home, and if we don’t engage them with their own technolwww.DistrictAdministration.com Ace it! Reading and Math intervention programs are ideally suited for Tier II School-based, small group instruction built on the proven Sylvan model of over 30 years of research and results. PROVEN EFFECTIVE Ace it! has a proven track record of improving academic achievement for more than 60,000 students across 4 out of 5 of Ace it! students demonstrated meaningful all grade levels since 2005. academic growth after completing an Ace it! program. Visit www.AceItTutoring.com for more information February 2012 61 http://www.AceItTutoring.com http://www.AceItTutoring.com http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - February 2012

District Administration - February 2012
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Conversations
Product Focus
What Can U.S. Schools Learn From Foreign Counterparts?
A New Prescription for Fighting Drug Abuse
The Game Changer
The Legal Implications of Surveillance Cameras
CIO News
Mobile Devices Drive Creative Instruction
Products
Crisis Response
Professional Opinion
Problem/Solution
New Directions

District Administration - February 2012