Soooo.... I have been incorporating tech in every aspect of my teaching and life, not just by having fancy devices but rather as the a tool it is; to improve my learning and others (students, staff, administrators, community ... yeah our school had a site visit last year).
So Pinterest is a big theme for me as I find it relates to staff as a tool in their life outside school and can be branched very efficiently into a learning tool. Pins and boards feature educational information, sites, and ideas with even AEA 8 having a board for all to use. Think of it as TWITTER with pictures.
So I decide to find a pumpkin pie recipe on Pinterest and add it to my 'Got to Cook this' board (very original title need to rename it 'Somebody Cook This for me and Clean up the Mess'). Well I found a recipe that looked great (the picture was really good and I was hungry) . I tried to pin it but it would not load at that minute so I wrote down the ingredients and headed to the grocery store. Well the ingredients must come from a large metropolitan area grocery store because they are not available in small town Iowa. I asked women in the aisle to help, none knew what Biscoff spread was , then I asked a clerk (cute college girl with a cell phone in her pocket). She got her phone out and found the comparison using Google Search and it was Nutella (yeah they had that in the store).
So I went home to cook the pie. Happy story right ? NO! Got on Pinterest and the recipe was gone, searched every idea, spelling, etc. NOTHING. Soooo. time to be creative... Looked at the list and tried to put it together. Went like this...
Pumpkin Puree (means stick it in the blender?)
Almond Milk=canned milk (didn't know you could get milk from an almond)
Demerara Sugar (know idea am putting in brown sugar)
Ground cardamom (seriously ! = pumpkin pie spice)
Organic Eggs= what eggs I have in fridge
Pie Crust = why would I make it they come already done and in the pie tin.
Well I made the pie and believe it or not it was pretty good. The problem ...I will never be able to do it again since I really didn't have a recipe. Luck is not a recipe.
So how does this relate to education and technology. Technology is a tool that assists in learning. It is part of the recipe that helps teachers teach and students learn. It is not the pumpkin pie. Everyone has a different recipe for the different tastes that they enjoy, technology is the same, different devices and ways to use the tool to teach different types of individuals. It is the job of the educator to find the ingredients that are available and helpful to teach the students in the classroom. It is a great idea to try new recipes, to be creative, to take a risk but remembering the goal is learning. Evaluation of the tool is key to learning (how did the pumpkin pie taste?) and must be done with fidelity.
