Monday, October 20, 2014

Moonshot Thinking...


Before you begin reading this blog entry get inspired and learn about moon shot thinking.  Moon shot thinking is moving beyond what we already know to a place where we don’t know.  What does look like in education?  We are driving our teachers to think about how technology can be integrated in the classroom to enhance the learning experience.  If we can get teachers to think about the possible whether it is defined or undefined then we will have a culture where innovation can prosper. 
I wanted to connect moon shot thinking to the introduction of TPACK.  Teachers are proficient with their content knowledge and pedagogy.  Adding a technology into their everyday thinking and actions around the instructional cycle is going to be the new norm.  We need to invest time into making this transition.  Teachers were given a chart, which I modified, from Judi Harris and Mark Hofer’s research.  They had to reflect on a learning goal (content), identify the teacher/ student actions (pedagogy), and then moon shoot the possibilities of how technology can enhance the learning cycle (technologies).  They were driven to think about what they know and don’t know about technology.  What technologies exist that could be integrated in, what technologies do we know about but do not it available for use?  What would we want the technology to do if we could create it to enhance the learning?  This reflection process was a safe beginning for teachers to begin thinking about how their planning will change when students have devices in their hands all the time.
One outcome of this work was that it is okay to think of the undefined because that idea could be actually become a reality.  We need to share ideas because someone may know of a technology that could meet that need.  Ultimately, if we as adults can be moon shot thinkers then just imagine how they would impact our students. 
On a separate not we ended our professional development with Ten-Minute Tech Take Aways.  This model is our first step towards entering the world of unconferences.  Teachers could choose from about ten learning opportunities from using airdrop to getting a brief overview of iMovie.  Teachers were excited about this and wanted more so we will now offer an opportunity for teachers to attend multiple sessions in November prior to our first unconference in late winter.
Check out some of the learning on twitter by going to #cmscharged