5 Instructional Shifts to Promote Deep Learning

This article makes a lot of sense to me. As technology becomes more and more a part of our daily lives, it imperative that we (as educators) find ways to help our students make the best use of technology to support their learning. We need to focus on the instructional goals of our curriculum and choose the technology tools that support those goals. Too often technology-use is viewed as a goal in and of itself rather than a tool to support learning the curriculum. One line from the article really struck a cord with me: "While it's safe to say that many schools are wired, it's time to combine digital tools with innovative instructional practices to get our students plugged in."

If I had to choose just one of the five instructional shifts as a focus area for improvement in my own instruction, I would choose the Informal Assessment shift.  Although I do assess my students informally on a daily basis, I definitely need to do a better job of managing separate groups for remediation and enrichment. I would also like to work on designing lessons that allow my students to access content and demonstrate learning in a variety of engaging ways. I know that there are technology tools available that can assist me in accomplishing these goals but I need time to explore and choose the best tools and then to learn the best ways to implement them in my classroom.