Mr Hammerlund

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...

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...

Photo by Product School on Unsplash It's the first week of the new school year. This year feels different - it feels uplifting. It is amazing how much influence an administrator has on the environment. During the orientation last week, many of the presentations were sit and get and the information felt forced. I get it. I do that too. But there was one that I saw and I was thinking, I'll bet that I can improve upon that presentation. Here are a few of my ideas. A Sample Presentation The first ideas is to simply make the font bigger. I wasn't wearing my glasses, so I sat in the front row and I still couldn't read the font.  The second idea is to use the larger font and highlight the information you want to emphasize.  You could make this appear while you say the points and with different colors. Another take on this idea is to just pull out the main points from the text and make them big while making the paragraph text smaller. Another idea is to take out the points com...