Coaching with Kinders

This school year, I had the pleasure of working with three kindergarten classes and their teachers. I was amazed by the talents of these five-year-olds!

Attention Teachers of Students Grades 5-12!

Here is an opportunity to share with your students- from the Michigan Council of Women in Technology!

Leaving Dearborn: A Tribute to Heroes, Visionaries, Friends, and Students

It is with bittersweet emotion that I announce my departure from the Dearborn Schools. On May 2, 2023, I will be joining the team at Wayne RESA as the Learning, Innovation, and Technology Consultant. Dearborn has been my home for 23 years as a teacher and technology...

GPT-Proof Writing Prompts

Here are some examples of ELA (English Language Arts) prompts that are designed to be GPT-proof: Write an original short story about a character who experiences a major life change, such as moving to a new city, starting a new job, or going through a personal crisis....

What do the Technology Coaches do?

Like most other districts across the country, the Dearborn Schools employs Technology Coaches to support teachers, students, and administrators. But what exactly do they do?

Giving Audio Feedback on Student Work + Tips

“Hundreds of studies of feedback have been published and reviews of these studies routinely conclude that feedback is the most important or nearly the most important variable affecting the amount and quality of student learning.”

Among my favorite things about educational technology is that it can help teachers give more effective feedback. One way to do that is using audio feedback.

Resources to Start the New Semester

As we get started with a new semester, here are a few resources and reminders to help you get started on the right foot.

Encountering AI in Student Writing

There’s a lot of buzz lately about AI in writing. How do we counter this phenomenon? What should we definitely not do? And can we actually work with it?

Before You Hit Send

Some additional thoughts on email if you’re an educator…

Email for Teachers

One of our most useful tools and, sometimes, one of our greatest sources of torment is email. When things go well, it can be our greatest ally in communicating effectively with students, parents, and colleagues. However, it can also be a source of tremendous stress if...

Stayin’ Alive Center

Check out the Tech Coaches’ Podcast
ArchiTECHs of Learning

Our latest blog posts…

Tech Tip Tuesday:  The Onscreen Keyboard

Tech Tip Tuesday: The Onscreen Keyboard

Chromebooks have many accessibility options, but the one most frequently seen is the onscreen keyboard.  The onscreen keyboard may take the place of the physical keyboard, if necessary.  To turn the onscreen keyboard on or off, click on the settings in the bottom...

My Best Failure Yet

My Best Failure Yet

I've heard it time and time again in the Tech Coach role, "It's perfectly acceptable to fail."  I don't take failing lightly, so this is hard advice to take.  But I did it.  I failed.  And it was wonderful. I am working in a fourth grade classroom with an extremely...

Tech Tip Tuesday- New Google Classroom Interface

Tech Tip Tuesday- New Google Classroom Interface

For those of you who use Google Classroom, you may have noticed that it looks a little bit different than it did last school year.  Google is seemingly always changing it's products for more of a user-friendly experience.  Here's a quick lowdown of some of those most...

Glue, Glitter, and Gold – Part 1 (2017)

Glue, Glitter, and Gold – Part 1 (2017)

Sometimes technology’s the glitter. The glued-on afterthought of desperation designed to captivate “kids nowadays”. All the while–running just as fast as we can to stay in the same place–we’ve searched and sought, learned and prepared, thinking it necessary to become the expert in everything that happens within our realms in order to maintain relevance.

Doing What Doug Digs

Doing What Doug Digs

At the beginning of the school year, teachers had the wonderful opportunity to engage in conversation with Dr. Douglas Reeves at Stout Middle School. During this time, Stout teachers Marla Wiacek and Julie Wooton shared with Dr. Reeves the activity they have done...

Tech Tip Tuesday- Screencasting

Tech Tip Tuesday- Screencasting

For this week's Tech Tip Tuesday, we are going to talk about some nifty uses for screencasting, specifically with Screencastify. What is screencasting? Screencasting is when you record what is happening on your whole computer screen, one tab, or just your webcam, and...

Tech Tip Tuesday- StudentSites

Tech Tip Tuesday- StudentSites

Did you know that we have our own blog site for students?  It's called StudentSites and you can find it at https://studentsites.dearbornschools.org/. What is StudentSites? StudentSites is a blogging site for our students.  It can be used as a publishing tool for...

Tech Tip Tuesday: Don’t tell mom your password

Tech Tip Tuesday: Don’t tell mom your password

As any teacher knows, there’s often a direct correlation between the things we emphasize and the things students find significant. And we often show emphasis by the way we model behaviors. For instance, we speak in complete sentences, use proper punctuation and spelling when we write on the board, say please and thank you, and the like. These are some of the areas in which students like to take short cuts, and in the long run it will pay off.

When it comes to technology, however, there are shortcuts we like to take–and even encourage students to take that will eventually and inevitably be harmful to students.

Technology Integration Partnerships

Technology Integration Partnerships

This year, as in years past, Amy and I will be available in buildings on a regular basis to support teachers and students in their needs with regard to technology use. We will also begin to develop our Technology Integration Partnerships with teachers and students, in which we will be working alongside teachers and students on a curriculum unit basis to help develop, plan, and co-facilitate instruction that integrates technology for increased student opportunity and learning.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Hotkeys for Teachers

Tech Tip Tuesday: Hotkeys for Teachers

Inspired by the sweltering heat of the past few days of school, I thought I’d share a few shortcut keystrokes. You may (and should) be familiar with some, but others may not be as familiar. Here are a few hotkey combinations that every cool teacher should know…

girl logs into Chromebook with student number written on card

Technology for Lifelong Learning

As technology increases exponentially, learners in the 21st century have the opportunity to go far beyond the boundaries of the traditional classroom.  The available technology provided by the Dearborn Schools allows students to interact in the digital community, collaborate with peers, and engage with the world from their seats in our classrooms.  The possibilities for learning know no boundaries online.  Learn how to help students become lifelong learners in the digital community.

Our Goal

The goal of instructional technology coaches is to help teachers become effective at using technology to provide the most technology-rich, positive learning environments possible.  To this end, we believe effective teachers…

  1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.
  2. Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments.
  3. Model digital age work and learning.
  4. Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility.
  5. Engage in professional growth and leadership.

from Standards for Teachers.

collage of students working on Moodle

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