Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1480924
plan together, it's fine to demo just a portion of it for the team to examine together, MacDonald explains. • Identify how to gather data: "Guided by your purpose, decide what data your team will collect to help your team debrief afterward," MacDonald writes. You might agree to record audio of student group discussions or take photos of completed student work. • Mix it up: Plan to observe both live and pre-re- corded lessons as well as "dry demos," where a teacher presents a lesson to colleagues without students in the room. This exercise reduces stress for the presenting teacher — they can start over or stop at any point in the process — while pro- viding an opportunity to practice strategies before bringing them into the classroom. 3. Examine Student Work If you can't routinely visit other teachers' classrooms, regularly evaluating student work as a team is a valu- able exercise. On a rotating basis, each member can bring in student work samples that are: • Authentic: Sample work should reflect a genuine issue or challenge for the presenting teacher(s). • Relevant: Submitting samples that are relevant to team inquiry and study goals ensures that the team benefits from the analysis. • Current: Use recent samples — from for- mative assessments, for instance — so that teachers can "re-teach, intervene or enrich when students need it," MacDonald advises. While it may be tempting to "go big or go home" with team meetings, the realities of crammed teacher schedules can interrupt even the best intentions. Starting small — consider picking just one strategy to start — is worth the effort, MacDonald concludes. Strong teacher teams can sustain teachers, helping them connect to colleagues and feel supported, ulti- mately keeping educators engaged in the work and learning from each other. *The Four A's and The Final Word: Discussion formats for groups to explore texts and help clarify thinking to gain a deeper understanding of an issue. This article originally appeared in Edutopia. "'Dry demos,' where a teacher presents a lesson to colleagues without students in the room, reduces stress for the teacher while providing an opportunity to practice strategies before bringing them into the classroom." 1 Content A common temptation with edtech is to focus on the technology first. We may want to use a tool simply because it's new or exciting without first considering how it will help us meet our learning goals. One help- ful technology integration framework is the TPACK model by Matthew J. Koehler and Punya Mishra. This framework identifies three bodies of knowledge that are critical for educators: technological, pedagogical and content. Although it's tempting to start with technology, the content we are teaching should be our guide, followed by the pedagogical strategies we will use to teach the content. Finally, we should consider which technology (if any) will be used. Thinking about tech- nology in this order will help you ensure that the tools you choose are in the service of student learning. 2 Context Each educator has a specific and unique context that should be taken into consideration when determin- ing which edtech to use. It's important to reflect on who your students are, the tools that are provided or Use the six Cs to make better decisions about classroom technology By Tolulope Noah A S E D U C A T O R S , we are inundated with options when it comes to educational technology, and new tools are appearing on the scene all the time. Here are a few important considerations. A Handy Framework for Choosing Edtech 48 cta.org Teaching & Learning