Great Session of Technology Professional Development with our History Department

One of the many things I enjoy doing as a School Library Media Specialist (SLMS) is teaching teachers and students about great educational tech tools. This summer I was asked to present two hours of technology to our history department at Lakeside High School.

Whenever I am asked to present technology I usually always try to find out if there are any specific needs that the group wants me to address. Teachers have precious time, and I want to make sure to make the best of the time they invest with me! I also try not to show too many concepts or apps. (We have all been to sessions where the presenter will show 60 apps in 50 minutes- that's too much!  I've found that few people can remember useful information presented in this format.) It's usually best to focus on just a few concepts. If the few things I present make an impression, the teachers will usually seek additional help, or they will investigate on their own. For this session they specifically requested SMART Board basics. I decided to also share some video project ideas since this is beginning to be a big trend with technology learning projects (especially with so many students having smartphones- every phone is a camera/ video camera)!

I had a great time presenting to our history department in the two hour session. I showed them SMART Board basics, iMovie app, Tellegami app, Morfo app, blogs, and Twitter basics. The SMART Board session was great! Some of the teachers were comfortable with the SMART Board and shared their experiences. They had some creative ways that they used these tools in class. The discussion that came from this was great! One teacher even got up and demonstrated a few techniques while everyone watched and asked questions. Isn't this what departmental meetings and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) should be?

This is the outline I shared with them:

History/ Civics Department Meeting

8:30-10:30  August 7, 2014

Library Media and Technology Ideas

I.               SMART Board Boot Camp

a.    Basics

b.    SMART Notebook

c.     Ladybug

d.    SMART Exchange

e.    Experiment on your own- you can’t hurt the technology!

II.             Video Projects

a.    iMovie

b.    Forgot to Study Video Channel

c.     Tellagami- free app for iPads and iPhones

d.    Morfo- free app for iPads and iPhones

e.    Blogging

I had a lot more material to cover but time ran out (of course!). I hope all of you have great opportunities to share your knowledge with your school faculty in 2014-2015!

Please Subscribe if you are enjoying this blog. Please, put your email address in the box on the right side of the page. You will receive notifications when I post new blog entries!

Are you on Twitter?

Follow me : @stony12270

Follow our library (LHS_Library): @LHS_Library1