Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Saturday, July 27, 2013
I'm No Rock Star, But I Sure Love to Play!
Notes from CUE Rock Star Summer Camp in Solana Beach:
My world has been rocked by the options for changing the way I teach this summer. For those of you who know me personally, you know it usually doesn't take much to rock my world, but this Professional Development was beyond the scope of most. I was joined by Shea Star and Samantha Greenstein at Skyline School for three days of sessions on tools for 21st Century learners. The connections we made were invaluable, and the programs presented were inspiring.
My first session was on digital portfolios. I learned the importance of teaching students to be a global contributor and the need to teach students about digital citizenship and building a personal brand online. A great question to ask the students in the fall: Why should teens be managing their digital footprint? The most exciting program I learned in this session (and probably from the whole workshop) was TouchCast. On it one creates a screencast that links viewers visually to many forms of supplemental digital information on the topic you are teaching. By touching it, the screen opens to that digital source. If you try out nothing else this year, try this one! Kids are going to LOVE it!
In another session with Will Kimberly I saw the power of using Apple TV and my iPad to create a portable document camera. The implications for teaching writing with this option made me want to keep teaching for another ten years just to see what was coming next. (Kevin and Joel are working on making this possible for us without using Apple TV...they have their reasons.)
Sessions on blogging, Google Maps, and collaboration were equally inspiring. Below I will list some great apps and programs you may want to try. In addition, I made some great Twitter connections and resources I will list, too. I am so excited and inspired to be still teaching, learning, and growing after 25 years in the classroom. My mind is wide-open to where we are headed in education. You can bet I am going to be playing with some of these new tools next year. I hope you will play, too!
Tools:
TouchCast
Explain Everything
Weebly
Camtasia
ThinkLink
iPevo Whiteboard
Animoto
Sundry Notes
Ask 3 (love it!)
vimeo
Subtext
Socrative
Skype
Tweet Deck
Blogger
Tumbler
Quadblogg
People to follow on Twitter for more inspiration:
@HollyEdTechDiva
@JenRoberts1
@edtechschools
@mrhooker
@kylepace
@alicekeeler
@Ahangazadeh
@lindayollis
@gregkulowiec
@gmiller66
My world has been rocked by the options for changing the way I teach this summer. For those of you who know me personally, you know it usually doesn't take much to rock my world, but this Professional Development was beyond the scope of most. I was joined by Shea Star and Samantha Greenstein at Skyline School for three days of sessions on tools for 21st Century learners. The connections we made were invaluable, and the programs presented were inspiring.
My first session was on digital portfolios. I learned the importance of teaching students to be a global contributor and the need to teach students about digital citizenship and building a personal brand online. A great question to ask the students in the fall: Why should teens be managing their digital footprint? The most exciting program I learned in this session (and probably from the whole workshop) was TouchCast. On it one creates a screencast that links viewers visually to many forms of supplemental digital information on the topic you are teaching. By touching it, the screen opens to that digital source. If you try out nothing else this year, try this one! Kids are going to LOVE it!
In another session with Will Kimberly I saw the power of using Apple TV and my iPad to create a portable document camera. The implications for teaching writing with this option made me want to keep teaching for another ten years just to see what was coming next. (Kevin and Joel are working on making this possible for us without using Apple TV...they have their reasons.)
Sessions on blogging, Google Maps, and collaboration were equally inspiring. Below I will list some great apps and programs you may want to try. In addition, I made some great Twitter connections and resources I will list, too. I am so excited and inspired to be still teaching, learning, and growing after 25 years in the classroom. My mind is wide-open to where we are headed in education. You can bet I am going to be playing with some of these new tools next year. I hope you will play, too!
Tools:
TouchCast
Explain Everything
Weebly
Camtasia
ThinkLink
iPevo Whiteboard
Animoto
Sundry Notes
Ask 3 (love it!)
vimeo
Subtext
Socrative
Skype
Tweet Deck
Blogger
Tumbler
Quadblogg
People to follow on Twitter for more inspiration:
@HollyEdTechDiva
@JenRoberts1
@edtechschools
@mrhooker
@kylepace
@alicekeeler
@Ahangazadeh
@lindayollis
@gregkulowiec
@gmiller66
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Links from Tuesday at ISTE 13
Fifth in a series from San Antonio Convention Center...
Here are some links that I gathered today:
Here are some links that I gathered today:
Tuesday ruminations from ISTE
Fourth in a series from the San Antonio Convention Center...
I left yesterday more than a little frustrated, feeling like the sessions I attended were long on inspiration and short on implementation. Today is a different story. I think I picked well, as the first two sessions I attended (other than the keynote) were highly practical and left me with some great ideas for next year.
The first was on modeling effective Professional Learning (PL). (Professional Learning is teacher-initiated, individually selected; Professional Development is something that is done to teachers in a group.) They made the point that if we want teachers to shift their instructional methods, then we must model that instruction in their PL sessions. We cannot stand and lecture from a PowerPoint to a room full of inert, inactive bodies and then expect them to go back to their classrooms and teach in an active, engaging way. Just as a teacher has to model desired behaviors for students, PL leaders have to model desired behaviors for teachers. This has some pretty profound and obvious implications for the way our district and sites deliver inservices.
The second session was about a relatively new initiative from ISTE to support instructional coaches. In the last six months, this group has developed National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for coaches, as well as established a Special Interest Group for Educational Technology Coaches (SIGETC). The presenters at this session cited research indicating that in order for PL to produce lasting beneficial change in classroom instruction, it must be
This is a promising model that I think I can begin to implement next year. In addition to myself and our other established ToSA, our district has one new full-time ToSA and six new part-time ToSAs. I want to explore ways to make this the norm in our schools next year.
I left yesterday more than a little frustrated, feeling like the sessions I attended were long on inspiration and short on implementation. Today is a different story. I think I picked well, as the first two sessions I attended (other than the keynote) were highly practical and left me with some great ideas for next year.
The first was on modeling effective Professional Learning (PL). (Professional Learning is teacher-initiated, individually selected; Professional Development is something that is done to teachers in a group.) They made the point that if we want teachers to shift their instructional methods, then we must model that instruction in their PL sessions. We cannot stand and lecture from a PowerPoint to a room full of inert, inactive bodies and then expect them to go back to their classrooms and teach in an active, engaging way. Just as a teacher has to model desired behaviors for students, PL leaders have to model desired behaviors for teachers. This has some pretty profound and obvious implications for the way our district and sites deliver inservices.
The second session was about a relatively new initiative from ISTE to support instructional coaches. In the last six months, this group has developed National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for coaches, as well as established a Special Interest Group for Educational Technology Coaches (SIGETC). The presenters at this session cited research indicating that in order for PL to produce lasting beneficial change in classroom instruction, it must be
- Job-embedded;
- Intensive and ongoing;
- Connected to practice;
- Collaborative among teachers; and
- Connected to school initiatives.
This is a promising model that I think I can begin to implement next year. In addition to myself and our other established ToSA, our district has one new full-time ToSA and six new part-time ToSAs. I want to explore ways to make this the norm in our schools next year.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Links from Monday at ISTE 13
Third in a series from the San Antonio Convention Center...
Here are links that I gathered today, mostly by QR code, a few by phone or by hand:
Here are links that I gathered today, mostly by QR code, a few by phone or by hand:
- Creating ePortfolios using Google Sites
- Chrome Apps You Can Use Now
- Creating Assessments that can't be Googled
- Digital Citizenship Resources
- Piloting a Flipped PD Model
- Teacher Dashboard using Hapara
- Graphite - Lessons from Common Sense Media
- Alternatives to Homework
- Resources from George Couros' Presentation: Leading Innovative Change
- Ink Survey - Formative Assessment Tool
- CDW-G Common Core Tech Report
More thoughts from ISTE
Second in a series from San Antonio...
I went to a couple of sessions today that were inspiring and that I agreed with completely, but I was frustrated that they weren't more practical.
I went to a couple of sessions today that were inspiring and that I agreed with completely, but I was frustrated that they weren't more practical.
- A CDW-sponsored session on technology needs for Common Core adoption included three great educational technology leaders who had exactly the right focus: instruction first, then technology. Common Core (and 21st-century education) will not work if we just drop technology into classrooms (via purchases or BYOD) and hope it gets used well. So the conclusion is that we need to transform instruction before anything else.
- George Couros' session on Leading Innovative Change was very entertaining and inspiring, but I'm already inspired. I don't think he said anything that I disagreed with, but I was still left with the conundrum of how we can foster this transformation within our district.
I suppose it is asking too much to get practical answers that are specific to our district's situation, or perhaps the speakers were giving practical answers and I just wasn't recognizing them. But what I'm struggling with now is implementation, not inspiration. I feel like I have a good idea of the direction in which I want to lead, but I'm still working out how to get there.
Big Data in the Workplace Means Big Changes
http://www.businessinsider.com/big-data-in-the-workplace-2013-5
This fascinating article is important for educators.
First paragraph:
Hiring decisions have always been limited to a few imperfect factors, including what appears on a resume and what impression a candidate gives off in an informal interview.
This fascinating article is important for educators.
First paragraph:
Hiring decisions have always been limited to a few imperfect factors, including what appears on a resume and what impression a candidate gives off in an informal interview.
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