Blending Passions

Beginning Cohort 21, I knew that I wanted to blend my passions: a passion for collaborative inquiry and a passion for improvement. As a school just beginning to introduce technology into teaching (through a one to one laptop program) we are in the initial stages of investigating and understanding the deeper connections between technology, pedagogy, and content. Thus, my action plan aims to focus on three essential questions: How have we been utilizing technology in the classroom? How does this use reinforce and contribute to the pedagogy underlying our educational goals and the content focus within our classrooms? How can we improve our practice to ensure there is interconnection between technology, pedagogy, and content?

Working with my principal, we discussed the possibility of using staff meeting time to focus on these issues. Initially, I was aiming to incorporate Diigo into this investigation. I was hoping to engage staff through the collection of reading materials and conversations about technology and pedagogy.

However, in speaking with my principal, he suggested that since our previous Cohort 21 participant (the lovely Elissa Gelleny) had done such a thorough job of supporting staff in the development of their Twitter skills, we could continue building on these skills through this investigation. My principal recognized the struggle that a number of our staff members were having moving toward the digital realm; therefore, his elegant suggestion will allow members who are both comfortable with digital technology, such as Twitter, and those uncomfortable with digital technology to be equal participants.

Thus, my action plan (still in the early stages!) is focused on the development of cycles of face-to-face professional development that would allow staff members to unpack the complexity of TPAK with digital conversations through twitter chats that would allow staff members to share their practical application of their thinking about TPAK. Thinking in terms of cycles of face-to-face and virtual sessions will allow us to reach the maximum number of staff members so that everyone can contribute and have the opportunity to develop their own thinking about the intersection between technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge.