Last school year our district began transitioning to a Google School. Students and staff were provided Google accounts and several grade levels received Chromebooks as we began the first phase of the district's 1:1 initiative. Many of the high school and middle school teachers I work with began incorporating Google Classroom and Google Apps, most of them having little or no formal training. I know the same is true at the elementary level. Educators would learn apps on their own, learn about tools from their own professional learning networks and incorporate them in to their curriculum to enhance student learning.
In December 2016, our school district sent about a dozen teachers to the EdTechTeam summit in Boston. (Note: if you EVER have an opportunity to attend an EdTechTeam event I absolutely recommend!!) Those of us who attended the event, excitedly returned to school with so many ideas. We incorporated aspects of our new learning with our students and informally shared ideas with colleagues. We also discussed our learning with our assistant superintendent, Jennifer P. Byars, EdD. The idea for our own district day of technology arose from those conversations.
In the fall 2017, a committee of teachers was formed to begin planning the LEDtech Event. We brainstormed a list of technology tools and apps we would each be willing to teach and surveyed the teachers via Google Forms to find out what they would want to learn. We also created levels of sessions ranging from beginner to expert.
Dr. Byars took the lead on creating the survey, analyzing the results, organizing the registration process and creating the schedule for the day. A LEDtech webpage with the catalog of offerings was created and teachers were required to sign up for 3 sessions prior to the event on November 7th. In the meantime teacher presenters are working on the resources they will present.
Stay tuned - next week I will be posting reflections for the LEDtech event!!
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