Put the Experts in Charge

The evening of June 7th 2010 was wonderful! The Cove Kids and I had decided to put on our 1st Annual Technology Showcase in the school's media center. Weeks earlier we sent out invitations to parents, school board members, central office staff, community business leaders, the newspaper, and other people with a stake in our 1:1 pilot project.

Technology Showcase Invitation

The kids were so excited! They had each chosen a web 2.0 tool they had used throughout the year to enhance their learning. We decided to set up the showcase so visitors could sit down a few minutes with each of the Cove Kids and watch a quick demo of their favorite app. The kids practiced what they would say while we were in the classroom that week, including making sure the visitors knew how "other teachers" could use this in their classrooms. My kids are all about spreading the project to other classrooms and have really become great advocates!

We had a practice run through the morning of the 7th. Another 4th grade class took time out of their day to visit our "dress rehearsal" in the media center. Everything went great and we had many requests for a listing of the sites we were sharing. That group, coincidentally, had computer lab time that afternoon and spent it trying out some of our shared sites!

The evening came, and the kids looked great! They all wore their nicest clothes and sat down at their laptops to proudly present their work. Wow, it was energizing! We had many guests including parents, grandparents, friends, teachers from various grade levels around the district, our Superintendent and Director of Technology, and the local paper sent a reporter and photographer (the next day we made the front page!).

The kids were fantastic! They shared, demonstrated, answered questions, provided opportunities for the guests to "give it a try", and impressed the heck out of all of us! I was so proud. I think the thing that caught my attention the most was the fact that my kids were so confident in themselves. Many guests mentioned this as well. They knew that they knew what they knew!

Definitely have to take them on the road next year and turn them loose at a conference or two! Check out this video which documents the joy of sharing that occurred that night!

1st Annual Cove Technology Showcase