In addition to hosting camps for students, we invite our teachers to join in the fun. This year, we changed it up a bit from the traditional professional development. We had our teachers become students and engage in all of the activities side by side with the children. The interactions were profound. In many instances, the students were in a position to teach the teacher. Not only will the students remember this for a long time, the teacher gained some insight into integrating new ideas into their instruction to engage students.
Summer break - the time of year that many students find themselves with nothing to do. As a result, the first few weeks of school are often spent reviewing previous learned concepts. For the last two years, my department has tried to combat this issue by providing technology camps for students. We strive to provide learning activities that are highly engaging and allow students to use the 4 Cs - collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication. Our topics have included makerspace activities, coding with spheros, green screen video making, altered reality, and STEAM activities. In each camp, students usually complete activities as a team. The conversations are priceless. Not only do you hear the typical social conversations but woven in all of that are discussions that utilize their critical thinking skills to solve problems as well as designing final products. The excitement in their voices at the end of the day/camp is evidence that we achieved our goals. In addition to hosting camps for students, we invite our teachers to join in the fun. This year, we changed it up a bit from the traditional professional development. We had our teachers become students and engage in all of the activities side by side with the children. The interactions were profound. In many instances, the students were in a position to teach the teacher. Not only will the students remember this for a long time, the teacher gained some insight into integrating new ideas into their instruction to engage students.
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Several years ago, I created a Twitter account as part of a graduate course assignment. It was described as a way to enhance professional growth. It promoted this new concept (well, it was new to me) called a PLN - Personalized Learning Network. I did as she instructed. I created my account and followed the other people in the course. Then, I began to search for other people in the field of education to follow. And, for several weeks, I checked in on a regular basis. I did a few retweets and even replied to a couple of posts. Like I said, I did as instructed. However, once that course was finished, my commitment to Twitter faded as other responsibilities came along.
Transitioning to the role of an Instructional Technology Facilitator has renewed that commitment. In returning to reap the benefits of Twitter, I stumbled upon Twitter chats. Maybe stumbled isn’t the right word. I mean, I had heard of Twitter chats but just didn’t “get” the significance. Now, my PLN has grown significantly as a result of my involvement in these chats! If you haven’t tried one, I suggest you do. It is a place where educators from around the world can share ideas/resources/motivation/innovation...you name it and it can happen. I consider it my on-time, my time professional development. Here are a few resources that can help you get started!
I challenge each of you reading this post to find a Twitter chat and give it a try! I promise you won’t be sorry! Imagine you are doing walk-through observations in your building - quick glances into a classroom with only moments to assess what is taking place. You step into one room. Students are in straight rows, listening to a lecture, and taking what appears to be notes. You close the door and step into the next room where you see students sitting in groups of 3 and talking to each other. Which class would you say had a high level of student engagement - the quiet one or the one with conversation? A better question might be - what constitutes engagement?
In my humble opinion, engagement can come in many forms. It can be the quiet class where students are working independently. It can also be the loud class where many different conversations are taking place. However, one way to ensure your students are engaged is to develop lessons that incorporate the 4 Cs - Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking. These 21st Century super-skills are a sure fire way to increase the level of engagement in your classroom. “Blog”, they say. “It’s a great way to establish your digital footprint,” they say. “You don’t have to be a writer,” they say. It’s all meant to give you confidence, to encourage you to attempt a task promotes professional growth. And, yes, they were all said to me. However, the mere thought of blogging still terrified me. I couldn’t imagine how I could possibly write a blog entry on a regular basis without being a writer. It took me several weeks to garner enough courage to enter the world of blogging and on March 11th, I publlished my first blog post.
My goal was to post weekly. However, by my 5th post, my eagerness began to wane. I knew I should post something, anything, just to keep the momentum. I even had ideas about what topics to cover yet I just couldn’t find the time. The vicious cycle of knowing I should post something yet putting it on the back burner would have continued if not for an email I received from ISTE: Ed Tech Coaches Network.
My response to this invitation was a resounding YES!! Won’t you join me? We can expand our PLN together. Click on the image below to start today!
August 1, 2013. My first day as an Instructional Technology Facilitator. The end of twenty years as a classroom teacher. One was met with excitement, the other with a bit of sadness. It was such a strange mix of emotions. As the classroom teacher, I was comfortable and confident in my abilities. I had been through the new teacher stage and arrived on the other side becoming a leader in my school.
But, this new position was just that new and somewhat scary. Feelings of doubt and uncertainty began to overshadow my excitement. it was like being a first year teacher all over again. Over the course of that year, many mistakes were made and lessons were learned. As a result, I used those summer months to revamp many things from my professional development plan for the staff to device rollout procedures. Again, many mistakes were made and lessons were learned. However, the feelings of doubt and uncertainty were beginning to recede. Well, let's fast forward. I'm just a few months shy of wrapping up my third year as an ITF. I must admit my comfort level has increased drastically. I've started to make the transition from follower to leader yet again in my career. With newfound confidence, comes an abundance of ideas. Next step.....implementation! I can't wait! Another exciting week!
A few weeks ago, I was approached by one of our history teachers to discuss ideas for her unit on the Renaissance period. In the past, she has had students dress up and deliver a speech. This year, she wanted something different. While we explored several possibilities, the final decision was to create memes. Research was still a large component of this unit. However, instead of students reciting the facts they learned, they were tasked with processing the information and identifying the essence of their assigned person in order to create their meme. The class got off to a slow start. Meme sayings were literal and lacked the humor found in most memes. And then, it happened. The proverbial light bulb went off for one student and the creativity spread like a wildfire. Students went from saying “My person is boring” to “Oh, I have a great idea”. The air was full of excitement and not one student was off task. Furthermore, this independent activity quickly became a collaborative effort with students sharing their ideas and receiving feedback from their neighbors. This activity was a huge success! This week also marked my third Twitter chat in two weeks. I’m increasing my comfort level and expanding my PLN. In addition, my district’s technology department has decided it is time for us to join our neighboring districts and host our own Twitter chat. Several of us met this week to begin ironing out the details for #WCSTechChat. So, keep your eyes open for more details. We hope to host our first chat on May 2nd at 7:30pm EST. The week ended with our annual Battle of the Books (BOB) for our elementary schools. My role this year was moderator. I read many questions and repeated the rules many times. We had 16 rounds of questions and 6 different rooms. Some schools had more participants than the 6 person BOB team design while others had to make due with only 5 team members. Through it all, I witnessed teamwork at its best from these 4th/5th grade students. However, there was one team that was truly inspirational. This team was comprised of 6 students all of which were first time BOB participants. Their coach went out early in the year due to a medical condition so essentially these 6 students prepared for this competition on their own. They made their own practice questions, held each other accountable for reading the books and met after school to practice. I was fortunate enough to have this team assigned to my room for multiple rounds of competition. Not only did they demonstrate a team effort, they encouraged each other through prayer before and after every round. As their confidence grew, so did the volume of their prayers to the point that all of us in the room bowed our heads. So, even before I saw the scoreboard, I considered these students winners but what a sweet surprise it was when they announced them as first place winners! This amazing group of students will now represent our district at the regional competition. And in my humble opinion, we couldn’t ask for anyone better! Best of luck Elm City Elementary!!! Several months ago, I submitted an application to be a part of the North Carolina Digital Leaders Coaching Network (NCDLCN). Little did I know that the application process would be so detailed. I pondered the questions they asked for well over a week and spent hours crafting my responses. The wait was agonizing but the joy of being acceptance made it all worthwhile. With my acceptance, I became part of a larger group of educators with the desire to grow professionally! I have collected data to guide my path and been pushed to question, analyze, and reflect on my decisions over and over. I have left each session feeling more energized about my role as a coach than I did when I arrived. While our official time together will end in June, the connections I have made will transcend distances. To ensure everyone who may be a part of NCDLCN is reading this.....#EASTisBeast.
The past two weeks have been full of “firsts” for me.
It all started with two colleagues and myself presenting a session for student technology camps at our state’s technology conference, NCTies 17. The room was packed and I was nervous. The forty-five minutes passed by quickly in the flurry of activity. Our presentation was short giving participants time to play in our makeshift camps. So many questions mixed with so much excitement. The end of our session coincided with a wave a relief that is was over. We did it. Our presentation was a success. Our impact wasn’t fully realized until later that day when I ran into one of the participants. He expressed how glad he was to have chosen our session and that we inspired him to go back to his school and begin planning a camp for his students. What a feeling and this was only the first day of the conference!! On the second day, I attended several sessions. While I enjoyed hearing about how other educators integrate technology into the classroom, the session that had the most impact was Digital Footprint with George Couros, @gcouros. Not only did he change my perspective on the kind of conversations we should be having with students, he made me analyze why my digital footprint is important as well. As an educator who started a career before digital footprint was even a concept, it is hard for me to see how my digital presence is important. I mean, I already have a job right? Wrong! There are so many reasons and ways I can enhance what is already out there. As a result, I returned from the conference and immediately redesigned my website to include a blog page and this is my first blog post! Thanks George! During graduate school, we were encouraged to create a Twitter account to begin developing our Professional Learning Network (PLN). Well, it was an assignment and I completed it. However, I never really took full advantage of it until now that is. In addition to the digital footprint session, I attended a session on Twitter chats. While I know what a Twitter chat is, I’ve never participated in one. This session, along with my desire to increase my digital presence, was all it took for me to return from conference and participate in not just one chat this week but two! Many of my answers received multiple likes and a few were even retweeted! What a week! Conference presenter, Twitter chats, Blog post….I wonder what next week will bring? Stay tuned! |
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