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Although the first paragraph can be a little grating for ITs/Tech. Coordinators to read, I think it is a perception we must address. Here is my response to one IT whose view of teachers was low. Joe, I can hear the frustration in your reply. I can appreciate some of it. However, I think that the first paragraph,  I think, reflects a perception that we as IT's/Tech. Directors/Coordinators need to address honestly, but respectfully. So when I read the first paragraphs, I asked myself, "How is this true for me?" I think we need to honestly assess that in our practice.  Next, the points that follow were written to be more general in scope to give each reader a chance to explore how they might fit for them in their unique situations. Patronizing? I think they are points of practice we can all reflect on. That's the purpose I see in the blog post. In regards to filtering, we all live with it. It's coming to terms with how much filtering is necessary and how to manage the filter. I get frustrated not having the ability to filter content the way I would like. I didn't hear the author say things like "Get over it," but instead "Consider....". I think a helpful approach for IT's, teachers, and admin. is to form a partnership/relationship that allows each to better understand the needs/challenges each faces to provide the best for students. That's the goal. As a tech. coordinator, I proactively work at that. I taught for eight years, but also was instrumental in helping press into tech. integration and perhaps that has helped me to be more balanced than some in my approach to IT and embrace change. I think also we have to expect failures along the way as we feel our way through new approaches, methods, and devices. Right now, I think most IT's are a bit intimated by the level of change and diversity of needs we have to address. I know I am! Let's become more a part of the dialogue and abstain from labeling and finger-pointing. We're in this together. 

Krista Moroder, Director of Learning & Instructional Tech. (former teacher) provides some insight into these two tech. integration frameworks and their strengths & difficulties. "I'm going to preface this post by saying that I think both TPACK and SAMR are incredibly useful frameworks- and I use them a lot in my work with education technology. While I don't want to completely discount either framework in this post, I do want to start a discussion- and explain why I am currently not finding them completely effective in my work with teachers. Worth the read....

Katie Ritter, Tech. Coordinator developed a helpful tech. integration flow chart that will help with the CCSS - "I hope it helps you think backwards (or rather the "right" way) to think about selecting a technology tool to use in your class."

This short video demonstrates different levels of tech. integration using the SAMR model. For more information on SAMR & Bloom's taxonomy, check out this blog post: The Padagogy Wheel … it's a Bloomin' Better Way to Teach @ http://goo.gl/8RTdA

Nick Provenzano aka The Nerdy Teacher, shares his ideas on how to embrace and implement Ed. Tech. in 2015

Read about the Leyden High School's Chromebook Initiative from the perspective of 4 students. Before reading them, you might want to check out the links to four other guest posts about the initiative: *Why 1:1?  Why Chromebooks? *The Logistics of Chromebooks at Leyden *What Can You Expect When You Move Learning to the Web? *Tech Support Internship:  Student-Led Support for Leyden's Chromebook Initiative

Technology integration isn't always as easy as presenters make it out to be. Here is a model to explore to assess/implement tech. integration. TPACK stands for Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge. This framework looks at each of these domains of knowledge, and how they overlap with each other within a given context. It can be an important tool when addressing the problem of technology integration.

Blog post that lists with a description four outstanding resources for educators interested in strengthening their grip on educational technology. 

Planet Nutshell produces short animated videos to explain products, services, and concepts. One of their series of videos is all about the Internet and Internet safety for K-12 students. The series is called NetSafe and it has 17 episodes that were produced for the Utah Education Network. The videos are labeled with grade levels so that students in high school don't watch videos designed for K-3 students. (Via Free Tech for Teachers)

An award-winning English teacher and tech. coach/trainer, Alice shows how the CCSS recognizes the importance of technology in the classroom and gives specific ideas for meeting a number of standards. Definitely worth checking out!

So you have been ordered to integrate technology in you classroom. Only problem is, you only have one computer or have limited access to computers. Here are 10 ways you can use. In addition, these are just great teaching/learning strategies for any classroom and could be used for PBL.  Created by Kimberly Scott - see her blog: www.ingeniousteaching.blogspot.com

"This is a quick introduction to the SAMR Model, developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura. It is not meant to be an in-depth view of the model, but is an introduction to a model for tech. integration in the classroom. For more information, visit http://hippasus.com/"

Several more resources on the SAMR model of tech. integration.

Discussion on how technology is being used and why we're still struggling to give more control of learning to students. A good read!

Kyle Pace, Google Certified Teacher and Instructional Tech. Specialist shares his insights into creating workflows in Google Drive with students. The most common methods used are #2 and #3 (Doctopus is another popular script that I like). However, another teacher shared another on you can view here ( http://goo.gl/Kuy3b9 ) that utilizes the idea of a digital portfolio. Using one of these methods is KEY to helping you and your students more effectively leverage Google Drive...and keep your Inbox a bit leaner from all of those file sharing notifications.

Among the findings: New teachers aren't more likely than veteran teachers to use technology. This raises some important questions how well teacher preparation programs are training pre-teachers how to integrate technology or if they're simply entering school environments where they're not encouraged to do so.

Anne Hinchcliff shared this great article that I think will help clarify for school admin., tech coordinators, teachers, students, etc. what our responsibilities and roles are in digital citizenship with regard to appropriate content. BalancedFiltering.org is a grassroots campaign to promote balanced content filtering in schools which complies with the law, promotes accountability, and encourages responsible digital citizenship.

On the Teaching Professor blog, the author starts with: "In May I finished a second edition of my Learner-Centered Teaching book. Revising it gave me the chance to revisit my thinking about the topic and look at work done since publication of the first edition ten years ago. It is a subject about which there is still considerable interest." And that it is. Check out the five characteristics of Learner-Centered Teaching helped me to think about my own thoughts of Learner-Centered engagement as a Tech. Coordinator who loves teachers and teaching.

Blog that encourages the use of multimedia to engage students. I like the "Free Resources" section on "Student News" and "Digital Storytelling". Some good ideas for students to do news shows. 

Although this is written with younger students in mind, there are some good ideas of the skills all beginning bloggers need to learn, how to organize posts in a spreadsheet and track posts using Feedly, an RSS reader. Some good ideas for the classroom teacher. If 4th graders can blog, why not older students?