Notes from “Integrating New Literacies into Classroom Practice and the Resulting Impact on Site Leadership”

NWP 2009 Annual Meeting

This session invited four teacher consultants/tech liaisons to discuss their personal experiences with technology and the ways in which these
experiences led to changes in their site’s work. Knowing two of these teachers through my work with NWP’s 2007 Tech Matters Institute, and
one as my wife and tech liaison for our site, I found the stories shared here very powerful. Each one of them talked about a key
technology and professional development experience that launched them into new work, both in their classroom and at their site.

Shasta Looper, Upstate Writing Project
- Used Voice Thread in her summer institute in 2008, then incorporated it into her classroom through the use of a persuasive writing assignment
Paige Cole, Red Clay Writing Project
- Experience at Tech Matters in 2007 which led to creation of tech team, the “Army of Dorkness”
- Advanced institutes came from Tech Matters mini-grant
- Learned iMovie and other technologies in support of classroom and site work
Joe Conroy, NWP at Rutgers
- Looking at the history of the writing project’s website over time; Joe’s history as webmaster
- Use of Yahoo groups; began there many years ago and it has worked for us
- But, the website didn’t filter into the site’s work — then attended Tech Matters in 2007
- How can I use Web 2.0 in the classroom without having access to Web 2.0?
  - Podcasts were still accessible, use of NPR’s This I Believe and Audacity via Portable Apps
- Shared work at site’s mid-winter writing conference through a technology strand and “Tech Thursday” workshop series
  - Topics for future Tech Thursdays
    - Bulletin boards for Socratic Seminars
    - Podcasting
    - Ignite
    - Voice Thread
    - Wikis
    - Blogging
- The site has integrated technology into the core of “what we do.”
Sara Beauchamp-Hicks, Upper Peninsula Writing Project and Chippewa River Writing Project
- 14-year veteran special education teacher, TL for UPWP
- Story about involvement in summer institute by organizing pictures in 2005 SI
  - Growth is not linear; there are all sorts of influences that impact your growth in technology use over time (created concept
    map/timeline with VUE and shared in Skim)
- Site development at local level and through participation in the national network
  - Summer institute to annual meeting to advanced institutes next summer
  - Also incorporated outside funding from state professional organization grants to fund tech team, many of them TCs, in one school
- Key Themes
  - Accessibility — trying new technologies and being willing to change; the issues are difficult for all of us in our own classrooms
  - Continuity — meeting regularly and sharing ideas and questions about tech use
  - Site Development — developing technology work at your site is a messy process
    - We are in a time where there is more questions than there are answers
    - You have to have patience and flexibility when you are in the tech world and with site development

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