Posts

Talking to your child about Artificial Intelligence

By Thomas Hammerlund -
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Since November 2022 when ChatGPT was released to the world, it’s seemed that AI has been everywhere in the news. Since then, AI has become a force in technology and has taken the world by storm. We have already seen examples of its uses in different fields from  history ,  archaeology , and  law enforcement . More urgently,  universities are starting to partner with AI companies , which will further their adoption.   image created with FreePik.com As AI continues to grow, it is important to have conversations with young people about their relationship with AI.  The MIT Technology Review offers some guidance for parents  with 6 points to talk about: AI is not your friend, AI is not a replacement for search engines, You might be accused of using AI even though you have not used it, Systems are designed to get you hooked and might show you bad stuff, Use AI safely and responsibly, Don’t miss out on what AI’s actually good at.   AI is not your friend AI technologies have been programmed to
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Activities with Second Language Learners and Working Memory

By Thomas Hammerlund -
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I was back at tennis this past weekend. I go every weekend, so it is not surprising. Photo by Lucas Davies on Unsplash Tennis lessons always start with a warm-up. If this were a part of my own lessons, I might call it retrieval practice. We usually practice backhands and forehands for a few minutes at a fast pace.  After warming up, we usually take a drink of water and then gather as a whole group to see what we will be doing. This part of the lesson is a station rotation model where we break up into four groups and practice different skills on different parts of the court.  Then we play a match or a match-like game. But, I want to focus on direction-giving here and how it can affect students. The coach usually gathers us as a group and often numbers us off. Then we get the directions for the activities. Remember, this is up to four different stations that are explained to us. It can take a lot of effort to try to remember what is happening and how many balls we play until we change p
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My Second Attempt at Presenting - an Improvement

By Thomas Hammerlund -
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Yay! Improvement is good, right?  NOT ME! - Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash BEFORE What I would change 1. Slow down Wait for the audience to catch up 2. Focus the presentation I think my presentation was too broad. I threw ideas into the slideshow as they entered my brain.  3. Practice with my co-presenter 4. Ask for less time.  One hour was too long. I was tired and could feel myself starting to  What might a revised presentation look like? Divide the ideas into three sections - what we do for students, what we do for teachers (to use), and what we aspire to do. Slow down - explain more.  Give more concrete examples.
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The Venn Diagram of an Inclusion Coach

By Thomas Hammerlund -
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I wonder what it would be like if inclusion teachers meet with the coordinators.  Hear me out - I think inclusion teachers are really coaches.  As an inclusion teacher and coach (inclusion coach?) I see things in the classroom that can help teachers. I see tweaks that teachers can make such as: shorter lectures, improved slide design, more scaffolding, etc.  But where does the inclusion support end and the curriculum support begin? What does the Venn Diagram look like for this?
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Scaffolding in Inquiry

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I was able to catch a few minutes of the Toddle webinar, "Designing authentic inquiry with Tonya Gilchrist" today and I came away with a nugget I want to share with the teachers at my school.  Teachers often overestimate how much prior knowledge or skills the students bring to a lesson. One teaching technique I am trying to emphasize is for teachers to go slowly, break down tasks, and give scaffolds to students. In the webinar, Tanya shared how this might look in an inquiry-based writing program.  The flow of her lesson (for a school she was not working at) was: Find out what is being taught. This class was learning about self-management skills. Connect the learning to a big idea. Here the class was already learning about self-managing. Give them a sentence stem and have them complete it. Give more scaffolds.
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How to talk to your child about technology usage

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Integrating technology into teaching and learning makes up a large part of our program at OYIS. Students are required to use their devices in class and it is expected that they make good decisions when using the device. Getting your child their own device is a big step for both your family and for your child. For children, it is a powerful tool they can use to interact with friends, play games, and connect to the world in general. For parents, it can be stressful and, at times, challenging to navigate. But negotiating an agreement with your child doesn't have to be as complicated as you may think.  Already your child's homeroom teacher talks with students about how to responsibly use technology at school. At home, talking with your child about technology usage will alleviate many problems that will arise.  Ideally, we should allow children to have some agency in how they use their devices and help them to make good choices.  A good place to start is with the 5 W’s - Where, when
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Why Should Teachers Use the ISTE Standards

By Thomas Hammerlund -
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Part of the Technology Coach action plan for our school is to introduce the ISTE standards to teachers. Since I will be leading this PD, I will need to be able to answer the questions of "why do we need this?" Every journey begins with a single step. Maya Angelou by thammerlund Why? ... the age-old school question. Students ask it, teachers ask it, you know administrators ask it, but aside from giving an overview of the standards,  When I introduce this, I need to explain why we are doing this in my workshop.  The three reasons I am considering now is: Standards give a goal that allows teachers to work backward, Standards help make connections to other subjects more visible which can inspire interdisciplinary learning; that idea of transfer, The ISTE Standards connect to our school-wide action plan and will help us come more inline with the accreditation bodies' recommendations as well as our own mission and vision. Students collaborating using technology that e
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