Summer 2022 Reading: Notes and Quotes
- Sarah Hodgson
- Jul 27, 2022
- 4 min read
Last summer (2021) I didn’t want to touch anything work-related. This summer, I couldn’t stop! Here are some of my notes, and also some quotes, from the eight books I’ve read this summer holiday so far:
The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Supporting Digital Learning by Adam Juarez and Katherine Goyette
“As an ed tech coach, your end goal should be to positively impact students, to result in classroom environments that empower learners to utilize technology to access, curate, and create content.”
Start with ‘who’ (the teachers you work with), then the ‘what’ (students’ goals), then ‘how’ (how students will engage with content).
Lead with the learning goal.
Focus on the 4Cs, not the tools. Collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.
Tech INFUSION (love the vibranium in Wakanda analogy!).
“It is our job to find ways to reach each adult learner”.
Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play by Mitchel Resnick
“… the best way to cultivate creativity is to support people working on projects based on their passions, in collaboration with peers, and in a playful spirit.”
Maximize creative time.
Learning to code is valuable for everyone – develops thinking, voice, and identity.
Scratch was explicitly designed to encourage collaboration and has a plethora of different ways it can be used.
‘Play’ with technology = design, create, experiment, and explore with technology.
Tinkering (rapid prototyping and iteration) may not be efficient, but it is more creative and agile than planning.
A deep respect for the abilities of the child (Reggio) – all ages.
Talk with children about your own thinking process.
“The children who grow up making, creating, and inventing are the ones who will be better prepared for life in tomorrow’s society.”
“Storytelling is fundamental to both creativity and communication, which is why innovative educators constantly seek new ways to inject storytelling into their classrooms.”
Lots of practical ideas for using Spark Page, Spark Video, and Spark Post in the classroom.
“Teaching students about systems and strategies for organizing online information is an important part of helping them learn how to navigate online spaces effectively.”
Teaching points should be curriculum content, not tech skills – incorporate the skills into the content.
4 key items in online content: links, embedded items, images, video
When students are consuming or curating, ensure they are analysing how credible, legitimate, and trustworthy the source is.
Students should have lots of opportunities for creativity with a variety of media – voice, text, images etc.
Importance of student choice.
Helpful vs. nice comments when students provide feedback for peers.
“Student feedback is an important component of collaboration in digital spaces“.
“The true goal of educational technology professional development should be on structures, strategies, and active learning processes that can change the learning experience from teacher-centered to student-centered.”
Growth plans should be personalized.
Gain feedback whenever possible.
‘Just-in-time’ professional learning rather than ‘just-in-case’.
Co-planning, co-teaching, researching, assistance with data analysis.
Active PL sessions that provide teachers with “immediately useful strategies”.
“Time and space to research is an important component of the educational technology coach’s role.”
Developing Digital Detectives: Essential Lessons for Discerning Fact from Fiction in the ‘Fake News’ Era by Jennifer LaGarde and Darren Hudgins
“… people spend only about eight seconds evaluating a headline, image, or other snippets of information before making an initial judgment about its credibility.”
The Four Lenses: Triggers, Access, Forensics, Motives
AIDA (phases a consumer goes through): Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
Information Literacy + SEL = Vital Combination
Even our youngest learners can establish a habit of considering how information makes them feel.
“There may be two sides to every story, but not every side has earned the right of critical debate.”
Learning First, Technology Second in Practice: New Strategies, Research and Tools for Student Success by Liz Kolb
“Research is clear that the type of tool selected is not nearly as significant as the instructional strategies a teacher creates when using the tools.”
Triple E Framework: Engage, Enhance, Extend including research
“…just because a student is hands-on with technology does not mean they are engaging in high-level thinking skills around the learning goal.”
Key question: How does the tech tool add value to the learning goal?
Plan to have shorter lessons (10-minute increments)
“There is little independent research to support using adaptive software to replace traditional teaching methods”.
“Research has found that leveling up in educational software can be beneficial to learning”.
The use of tech should ensure that students are thinking about the learning content, not the tech.
Learning goals drive technology choices.
We need to bridge school and everyday life.
The use of tech can be teacher-centered or student-centered.
“Instead of tossing out effective teaching strategies when using technology tools, teachers who use technology effectively are able to integrate instructional moves to leverage better learning with the digital tools.”
“Transformative professional development is a process in which learners are actively engaged. The aim is to explore and expand behaviors, beliefs, and ways of being.”
PARTY = Purpose, Audience, Routines, Technique, You
Tweet thread of my three biggest takeaways (25th July 2022):
“When you intend to deliver transformative PD, you need to decrease the production of cortisol (the stress hormone) in learners and increase dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins (which make us feel good and connected to each other).”
Looking forward to more professional reads in the new school year. I’m currently reading ‘The Essential Guide for Student-Centred Coaching‘ by Diane Sweeney and Leanna Harris.
If you have any recommendations for books that focus on educational technology, tech coaching, or instructional coaching, please comment or let me know on Twitter (@SarahHROM).
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