Dana Bayer, eighth grade teacher at St. Joachim School in Hayward,
looks on as Alexis Martinez and Minhquan Nguyen use new Apple iBooks
they received as part of the One-to-One laptop program. Bayer now
holds on-line homework help each weekday evening from 8 p.m. to 9
p.m.
GREG TARCZYNSKI PHOTO |
By Carrie McClish
Staff writer
Catholic school teachers who want to keep up with the
latest in technology use in the classroom are just days away from getting
an educational upgrade. A diocesan technology faire will be held Jan.
23 at Holy Rosary School in Antioch.
Educators will attend hands-on workshops on a variety of topics including
podcasting in middle school classrooms, incorporating technology into
classroom instruction, and using the Internet in social studies lessons.
All the workshops will be taught by teachers in the Oakland Diocese.
The technology faire is one way diocesan educators are sharing their knowledge
and resources to further the use of technology education in schools across
the two-county region. The faire is being coordinated by the diocesan
school department’s technology committee, formed in 2006 to develop
technology standards for diocesan schools.
These standards allow each school to access a shared group of resources
from which to build and maintain their technology program, said Susanne
Taylor, a co-chair of the committee who also serves as technology coordinator/network
administrator at St. Patrick School in Rodeo.
Committee members include teachers, technology coordinators, network administrators,
webmasters and principals from elementary and high schools as well as
Holy Names Sister Barbara Bray, the diocesan assistant superintendent
of curriculum.
The committee’s primary goal is to help educators use the latest
technology as a tool to support the learning and achievement of each student,
she said. This means incorporating various technologies, not just computers.
“The end focus is on the students,” she said.
National educational technology standards were revised recently and are
“very detailed,” going far beyond teaching students how to
manipulate a mouse or log on to the Internet, said Sister Bray. They focus
on “higher order thinking skills” or processes involving critical
thinking, analysis and “information literacy.”
Sister Bray has a “technology” binder in her office that can
help schools meet their technology goals. The binder includes a host of
related topics from guidelines for computer and software programs to job
descriptions for technology coordinators. The purpose, she said, is “to
help each of our schools develop their own plan to give students 21st
century skills.”
Because today’s students live in a culture where technology is “part
and parcel” of their daily lives, the diocesan technology plan encourages
teachers to remind their students that their use of technology should
reflect Gospel values and Catholic social teachings, she said.
This involves, for example, teaching children that respectful communication
must take place not only in a classroom but also on an Internet social
network site.
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