More About Me:
My name is Cynthia Guerard and I am the Middle School Educational Technologist at Dana Hall in Wellesley, MA. Dana Hall is a private, independent school for girls in grades 6-12. I teach a 6th grade Computer6 class and support the middle school faculty in their quest to integrate technology into their curriculum. I am also the upper school Computer Science Department Head, teaching the Introduction to Computer Science course and overseeing the AP Computer Science course which is currently taught Online by the Online School for Girls. I began at Dana Hall in the fall of 2012. Before Dana Hall I worked as part of the technology team at three other independent schools in Massachusetts, The Park School (PreK-9 co-ed) in Brookline, The Roxbury Latin School (7-12 boys) in West Roxbury and Cushing Academy (9-12 co-ed) in Ashburnham.Why am I Blogging?
It seems that the role technology is playing in education is growing at such a rapid pace that it's hard to imagine how we will all keep up. It is truly an exciting time to support academic technology and am anxious to share my experiences and learn from others. This blog will help me document my own journey and it may sound more like a journal at times. When my students tell me "I'm not good at computers", I am quick to reply "No, it's not that you're not good at computers, you just don't feel as confident at computers as you do in other things." With that in mind I will not say that I'm not a good writer, but I will say my writing is not as strong as some other skills I have. There's no getting around the fact that my spelling is just atrocious. (Although I seemed to get the spelling of atrocious down without the help of spell check. Hurray!) I apologize in advance and will strive to do my best to produce work worthy of the likely small number people who may check in on my blog from time to time.The Launch of an iPad 1:1 Initiative
On August 21, 2013, faculty were torn away from their summer vacations and converged on the Dana Hall campus to begin preparing for the new school year. The start of a new school year is often stressful, but there were a lot of technology changes to add to the mix. On the last day before summer break, faculty turned their old MacBook laptops in for new MacBook Pros with updated operating systems. Over the summer, the school changed from using First Class for email and document sharing to Gmail and Google Drive. There was also a decision made at the end of the school year to move away from Moodle toward Schoology which would now be the only LMS supported by the school. A new school website was launched in August, and of course 465 girls in grades 6 - 12 would arrive ready for a new school year with their own iPads for the first time. Yes, there was a lot of work to be done and even veteran teachers were feeling the pressure of a new school year. In those first few weeks, we ran multiple training sessions for faculty, staff and students and experienced a lot of bumps and bruises but much success as well. Students from 6th to 12th grade are all connected to the network with their iPads, using Schoology, Google Drive, Notability and more. Students and faculty alike are starting to adapt to using Google Calendars and blending the mobility of the iPad into their daily life. Classes are being taught with a mix of paper and digital text books as each teacher and student decides what learning style works best for them in each situation. Students are learning when and how to use their iPad in appropriate ways, and teachers are learning how best to guide them. Student leaders in technology (our Upper School Ed Techies) are learning what it feels like to be the teacher. Everyone is learning how to role with the punches, ask for help when it's needed and move on to plan B when despite your best efforts, things are just not working as expected and it's out of your hands.We are well on our way, and it is shaping up to be quite a journey!
