When Liberty Public Schools Tech Instructional Coach Tracey Kracht asked for volunteers to contribute to our district blog, I admit I was excited and nervous at the same time. I’m not new to blogging in education. I maintained a leadership and operational blog for some time now called Ancora Imparo. My audience was primarily my own high school staff, but it does provide an interesting archive of the journey our high school was taking.
When I began my digital learning journey, I will never forget my dear friend, mentor and building instructional coach Sean Nash (Nashworld) sharing insight on so many different tools that teachers could use to integrate technology into a classroom. The term he initially used was “23 things on a stick” which is a great Google search to learn the history. It boils down to 23 foundational activities, tools, or processes that one should absolutely know in this century as a digital learner. I can tell you honestly that I never hit 23.
On July 9th, Ian Jukes (Fluency 21/Committed Sardine) authored a post of “9 Learning Tools Every 21st Century Teacher Should Be Able to Use” that provided a more focused and attainable goal for me as a learner. It’s a great checklist for anyone building a first digital toolbox, and a great reminder for those who have been working on one for several years. Check it out. You will be glad you did.