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PROFESSIONAL Staff Development: INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY Incentives Question & Recommendations

Bonnie Bracey Sutton: Essays and opinions on teaching administrators and teachers about Integrating Technology into the classroom and the digital / gender divide..

How to Integrate Technology into the Classroom

Technology Integration and Staff Development Methods
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1999 03:39:04 EST

Question:

I would like to develop a plan whereby teachers can select from a menu of workshop options based on their needs and wants. What kinds of incentives, apart from financial, can I offer teachers for attending 'so many' workshops per year? Do any of you have plans along the lines of what I am describing? Opinions? Ideas?

2004 It is still the SAME Answer:

Teachers are simply ordinary people like anyone else. People will only do something if it is of interest.

I like going places. Cars get me there. I like driving but like computers i'm not really interested in what's under the hood. I just use technology to get me where I want to go. I like my house to be clean. I don't want to know how the vacume cleaner engine works I only want to use it to get my job done.

So it's personal. It's about what I need to do, what I want to know, where I want to go. End of Story.
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Reasons_to_play_here.html

All it takes for someone to want to learn is motivation. That's all.

I want to have fun when i'm learning, I don't want it to be hard, I want to enjoy myself, so if you can do this with a little humor with play involved you'll be successful.

People love story tellers, tell them a story about how the net got here.

Show them who some of the pioneers of the net are.

Show them the first women computers (see: computer wonder women above)

Changing Girls' Attitudes About Computers

Special Edition

Computer Wonder Women

National Women's History Month

What you can do to help GRRLS get into technology!
Here are all kinds of resources, mentoring programs, projects, and links for helping girls using science, math, technology, to cross that digital divide.

Best Online Resources For Women and Minorities in Science and Technology

Educating Girls in the New Computer Age (2000)

HERSTORIES Classroom Project

I am a person with a lot of interests. I'm sure the folks you are asking to the meetings have personal interests. IF they listen to music then they will find the story about The Funk Brothers amazing.

If the folks you are teaching have every heard music in their life then they probably don't realize that The Funk Brothers played all the Motown Hits they know. Even if they don't like motown they should know something about this subject.
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Culdesac/Stars/FunkBrothers.html

The arts can bring people together. You can integrate technology using the arts. They can learn what a webquest is using the arts. First go to your video store and rent the movie called " Standing in the Shadows of Motown" you'll love it. Then show it to the staff and Inspire people.

Allow them to take the Empty Nest Web Quest for FUN

Experiment with them making and uploading their own Funk Brothers Web Quest
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Culdesac/Stars/funkbrothers2.html

The point is to make this personal! Find something EACH one wants to know about. Teach them where to find out about interesting sites. THEYcan use in the classroom
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Culdesac/Home_culdesac.html

for kids to make webquests about
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Culdesac/artists.html

National Children's Folksong Repository NCFR
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Culdesac/Repository/NCFR.html
The Historic Electronic Online Archive of Children's Folksongs Public Folklore Project built by the children of the United States. Watch the Video
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Culdesac/Repository/ecprm.html

Empower the women teachers who will in turn be the role models who then empower the girls with the use of this technology. Record their voices!

Make it Personal! Everyone is thrilled to hear themselves coming down from the net.

Having fun is the serious work of learning no matter how old you are.

Integrate Literacy, Music, and Technology into the classroom.