For Educators Archives - Knowing Technologies

Creating an Educational Continuity Plan

As schools are preparing for possible closures in response to growing concerns about the spread of COVID-19, a wide variety of resources have been created and shared within teaching communities. But despite the wealth of tool-based support in the educational community, not all schools have been able to create an instructional-based response, should the crisis force closure of the school. For this reason, Knowing Technologies recommends that schools take the [...]

Eman Haggag2021-01-25T12:58:18-08:00March 10, 2020|

Building a Culture of Professional Learning at Mercy Burlingame

Lauren Conklin is the Assistant Head of School for Academics at Mercy Burlingame, an all-girls Catholic school in Burlingame, CA founded in 1931 and sponsored by the Mercy Education System of the Americas. The school enrolls about 400 young women in grades 9-12 and aims to prepare its students to become compassionate and successful leaders driven by intellectual curiosity, critical thinking abilities, and self-confidence. Lauren’s role at Mercy involves supervising [...]

Moss Pike2021-03-31T12:01:51-08:00November 15, 2018|

Engaging Students with Maria Canteli

Maria Canteli has been teaching Spanish at the Santa Catalina School for the past 12 years and currently teaches grades 7-8. Santa Catalina, a PreK-12 independent school in Monterey, CA, has a robust device program that provides Chromebooks for students in grades 4-8 and MacBooks and iPads for faculty, while inviting students to bring their own laptops at the high school level. Accordingly, the school relies heavily on GSuite and [...]

Moss Pike2021-03-31T12:01:57-08:00September 19, 2018|

Instructional Technology Coaching

Knowing Technologies was founded in 2008 to provide network technology services and infrastructure support for independent schools in California, including wifi, firewalls, information security, and backup and disaster recovery plans. As we helped clients build more robust and reliable network systems, we discovered that many of our schools also had a need for more meaningful instructional support. Traditional professional development for educators typically consists of off-site workshops and conferences offering [...]

Moss Pike2021-03-31T12:02:08-08:00September 7, 2018|

3 Steps to Cultivate a Culture of Teacher Leaders

The successful implementation of any type of innovative program or initiative at a school relies largely on effective project planning, support from all invested stakeholders, and strong leadership. Though research shows that technology in education has endless benefits for students, teachers, and institutions alike, not all educators are convinced. Or rather, some educators have not yet experienced the added value technology can bring to the classroom. Since technology grows and [...]

KnowingTech2021-01-25T14:12:48-08:00September 1, 2017|

Using the SAMR Model to Assess Your School’s Technology Use

Bringing technology into a school exemplifies progress. However, such a move is only the first of many if the school wants to truly advance their academic programming with technology in the classroom. One way of evaluating the use of technology in the classroom is with the SAMR Model. Created by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, the SAMR Model is a tool that allows teachers to assess how deeply technology integration is taking [...]

KnowingTech2021-01-25T14:13:09-08:00August 16, 2017|

How Our Coaches Approach Working with Teachers

Instructional Technology Coaches can be seen as powerful change agents in schools. They can inspire educators to push beyond traditional pedagogical practices, redefine their instructional approaches, and ignite (or reignite) a passion for teaching. The instructional technology coaches at Knowing Technologies have created this list of “helpful tips” from their experiences at different K12 schools. Know Your Audience Coaches must have a strong understanding of the different abilities and comfort [...]

Jim Puccetti2021-01-25T14:30:44-08:00December 27, 2016|

How Knowing Technologies Transformed My Instructional Approach

Before the Technology Coaching Program, I knew little about using technology in the classroom. My general computer skills were minimal, my understanding of the breadth of educational technology was limited, and my repertoire of instructional strategies--linked to technology--was almost non-existent. I didn’t know how to use Google Calendar or, really, the Google suite of options at all. Organizing my drive was a vague and cool-sounding idea, but going about it? [...]

Sarah Paff2021-01-28T12:32:19-08:00December 27, 2016|

Our Instructional Technology Coaching Program in Action

Our Instructional Technology Coaching Program is composed of multiple phases that will extend through an entire academic year. This article is intended to explain the structure of the program once the school year has begun. If you haven’t had a chance to read the initial phase of the program. Please be sure to check it out![/vc_column_text][divider line_type="No Line" custom_height="30"][vc_column_text]Once the school year begins, the weekly one-to-one meetings will start immediately [...]

Jim Puccetti2021-01-28T12:33:35-08:00August 28, 2015|

Why Educators Need Conferences AND Individual Attention

Written by Jim Puccetti, Director of Teacher Development and Instructional Design As a high school teacher for over a decade, I have experienced some excellent conferences and workshops all around the country that focused on technology integration. One of my favorite faculty professional development experiences has been the national Cue Conference, held annually in Palm Springs, CA. It is the largest and oldest education technology conference in California, and amongst [...]

Jim Puccetti2021-01-28T12:35:29-08:00August 18, 2015|