The Importance of Supporting Special Area Teachers in your School Buildings

Welcome to "Ask the Tech Coach," a podcast for Instructional Coaches and Technology Integration Specialists. In this episode of “Ask the Tech Coach,” Jeff welcomes Instructional Coach Carmella Berthia to discuss the importance of helping both the classroom AND the special area teachers in your building. If you would like to be a part of future podcasts and share your thoughts, please contact the podcast.  We would love to have you join the show. Join the TeacherCast Tech Coaches Network! Are you a Tech Coach or looking to become one this year? Are you searching for support in your position? The TeacherCast Tech Coaches Network, is a dynamic Professional Learning Network designed specifically for Tech Coaches and designed to provide weekly support for all Instructional Coaches. Click Here to Join! Question of the Week Our favorite part of recording a live podcast each week is participating in the great conversations that happen on our live chat, on social media, and in our comments section. This week’s question is: How much time should Instructional Coaches be spending with special area teachers? Weekly Topic What should the goal be for they enter the new school year? Always think of using Technology as a tool to support your curricular goals Don’t get over whelmed … start the year slowly and work your way up Get to know your students … find out what they need and support them How to get into classrooms to make connections with new and returning teachers? Walk the hallways and say hello … get to know everyone as much as possible Don’t forget to create meaningful relationships with everyone in the school The importance of not only working with classroom teachers, but also with special area subject teachers such as art, music, special education, physical education. The arts are integrated into all curriculum in one form or another and digital learning skills are important to incorporate into every aspect of the school building. Arts Digital Art – Graphic Design Music Creating beats and building new instruments Music First – App ToneSavvy - App Should special area teachers have digital learning skills in mind when working with students? Why do you think special subject teachers are often overlooked when it comes to purchasing educational apps for the school? How to support special subject area teachers in making choices for classroom projects and application usage? Why might some special area teachers be averse to using technology in their classrooms? Time constraints on their class...