3 Ways I Want to Improve What I Do, Digitally

This summer I have accepted the challenge to blog for four weeks with friends about the book Don't Ditch That Tech by Matt Miller. This is the first of my four posts. 

I always feel like there are a hundred things that I could do differently in my classroom and improvements to what I do digitally would be about seventy of them! After reading the first two segments in this book, I am committed to making these changes next year:

1. From the very first assignment, I want to give my students at least two options for EVERY project or assessment that we do. I plan to increase that throughout the year until students can pick from a wide variety of digital tools with which to demonstrate their understanding. So often I get stuck on the everyone does a slide presentation, everyone does a drawing, everyone does...... When I have given students choice about the output, I get better quality and engagement.

2. Another digital component of my classroom that I would like to get better at is allowing students to verbally engage with me and each other through the use of digital tools. I am interested in exploring and integrating Flipgrid and Google Voice as options for students to demonstrate learning or share ideas and feedback with me and each other. 

3. And finally....You Tube....I have known about this awesome tool for a long time, but I am still stuck in using it as a teacher only tool. I show videos, I create a playlist for JUST me, etc.  Next year I want to be very student centered in my approach to using You Tube by incorporating playlists into our content and extension activities. 

To accomplish all of these goals, I will need to learn and EXPLICITLY teach a number of different tech tools to students, as well as provide them opportunities to become comfortable with them. There are many great apps and tools mentioned that will help me help my students. I have only been out of school for two weeks and I am already excited to go back and make my classroom more digitally useful and exciting for my students.   

Student-led EdCamp.....Part 2

So my friend, Knela, is the master of student-led EdCamp.  She inspired me to try it out with my 6th graders. I was so nervous, and I will admit, reluctant to turn them loose on this.

Our first EdCamp was held on the Friday before Thanksgiving Break. Students had about 15-20 minutes per day for about 7 days to prepare. Students were to pick a topic of interest to them and be prepared to share it with a group of peers. I wanted the presentation to be about 15 minutes long. I was not expecting much. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised!  Although we had lots of room for improvement, students were on task and interested in what their peers presented. A major win for my group!

As I often do, I presented students with a self-reflection to do after presentations. They were honest about how prepared they were and how they felt about other presentations. I decided to give it another go. 

We are in the process of preparing for EdCamp December Edition and the kids are so excited. It is the highlight of their day and I already see much better presentations being prepared. Topics are more interesting and interactive and students are really thinking about what would make an engaging presentation. I am really pleased and can't wait to see what they have ready for next week.

You know it is a winning activity when students are already planning their topics for EdCamp January Edition.....Thank you Knela for your guidance and untiring support and question answering!

Grateful for my 6th graders....

     Being back in the classroom has been both terrifying and joyful. After four years, I have forgotten so many tricks and my abilities to teach the "standards" need a little refresher course. Curriculum has changed, student need has changed, some of the "rules" have changed, but one thing that has not changed is how much I love being with students everyday. On the first day, the easy days, the short days, and yes, even on the hard days. I love going to school and greeting each one of them at the door. 
     Sixth graders are a unique breed, an exhausting and refreshing mix of independence and need, of sass and sweet, of love you and "omg, you are so not cool Ms. K.". Everyday I am amazed by them and I go to sleep and wake up thinking of ways that I can challenge, inspire, motivate and sometimes just control them! 
     They make me smile and laugh. They make me worry and drive me crazy. They tell me bad jokes and endless stories about their favorite football teams. They complain when they have to work with girls and blush when they have to work with boys. They enjoy reading and recess, but not picking up after themselves. 
     They make me grateful everyday that I have such a diverse and unique group of young people to spend time with! I am so happy to be back in the classroom and spending my days with 6th graders. 

Reflections on Fall CUE from a Pirate Wannabe....

We have just returned from Fall CUE in Napa and I am in that fuzzy state of being glad to be home, being overwhelmed by what my week holds, and being euphoric about learning new things to try in my job as an Instructional Coach. 

I love going to learning conferences. I love traveling with my colleagues and laughing. But what I love most is the almost frenetic idea sharing and planning that happens during our breaks and during travel time. The group of educators that I travel with are dedicated, hard-working, and diverse. We can take a small nugget and turn it into something awesome to share in our district. We can brainstorm a difficult situation and find a solution. We can gain inspiration from speakers and then use that inspiration to bolster each other and the teachers we work with.  All of this was true of our time at Fall CUE.

The conference started with a rousing keynote by Dave Burgess. That man is exhausting!  But in such a good way.  I came away with this....engage kids, build relationships, tap into your fun side, take it to school with you.  I think my colleagues did too and we can use that to inspire ourselves, each other and those we work with daily. 

Every session I attended helped push me. Whether it was Meghan Ellis giving me ideas about getting kids reading, Ryan O'Donnell (my new hero) sharing his ideas to get kids creating with Chromebooks, or Acacia Warren giving us templates, advice, and work time to create PBL units, I am coming home with many new ideas to try in the classroom and in my work. 

But the biggest aha I came away from CUE with is this. I need to give myself more time to learn and create. I need to dedicate some of my time to searching out new knowledge and building lessons or presentations. I need to be present in that learning time and not worry about the other things that may be looming. For it is during this learning and creation time that I become a better, more energetic teacher and leader. 

We (and when I say "we" I mean "I") always challenge my co-conference goers to have a goal to bring back from a training. Something that we push ourselves to do to benefit our classrooms or district. I have two goals from my time at CUE: First, to offer some sort of short training at least once / twice a month to teachers in my district - on Chromebook creation, a new reading strategy, or Google basics. Second, to carve out 1 hour a week to really focus on my learning - some ideas include new assessment apps/software, creative activities / assignments with Chromebooks, a PBL unit for 6th grade, and creating a reading challenge for students. And, as I always strive to do, be supportive and helpful of my fellow coaches, the dedicated teachers that I work with, and the administrators who work hard to make positive changes in our district.

Looking forward to another CUE conference, or any learning conference! 

New Year, New Learning - #RaesBlogChallenge   Post #4

Wow!  How do you just pick ONE new thing to learn? Do you make it school related or personal? Does it benefit others or just yourself? 

And then the light bulb goes off.....

This is usually me.....I have the best of intentions, but then I can't focus or I don't prioritize or I don't use ALL the time I have in a day to complete tasks and learn new things. 

I think what I really want to focus on is not learning just one new thing, but learning how to get more done with my time. I can plan more carefully, block time out during my day for task completion, say no to some new projects, be more present with the learning that matters, know that I love my work and it is an extension of who I am. I don't have to stop at 4 or 5. If it makes me happy I can do it until 8 or 9!

 I think Ryan G. is going to be inspirational in my quest!

#RaesBlogChallenge  #goals #2016

How I Make School Different  - #RaesBlogChallenge  Post #3

I hope that I am making a difference for teachers and that in turn helps them make things different for their students. In my position as the Instructional Coach Coordinator, I try and take care of some of the "paperwork" or "research" that can suck up a teacher's time. I also try and share useful PL opportunities. Hopefully that is freeing up their time to plan engaging lessons and/or learn something new and exciting that they can pass on. 

My big goal for making school different is to help make teachers more comfortable with the idea of failing. So many times in my own classroom I would not try a lesson if there was ANY chance that something would go wrong. What was THAT teaching my students? Nothing!  
Some of my favorite classrooms now are those where I walk in and the teacher is letting kids figure out a new program. Saying "I don't know" or "You show me". Those students are learning a whole bunch and so are their teacher and I!

So I guess that I #MakeSchoolDifferent by helping teachers and freeing up some of their time and encouraging them to take risks and show their students that failure is okay. We learn from it. 

#RaesBlogChallenge  #MakeSchoolDifferent 

Making Memes - #RaesBlogChallenge - Post #2

So, I struggle with this. I love memes and I get the humor behind them. I can even see how they can be used in an educational setting. I just really struggle to make them. I guess I am not "witty" enough....or good enough at those plays on words that memes seem to require. Nonetheless, I do love the challenge that Rae provides to me and my professional growth. She is always encouraging all of us to do more and be more! Soooo even though my meme pokes fun at her a little....I do have fun every time she asks me to learn with or from her. 

#makeameme  #raesblogchallenge

@raefearing thanks for the challenge!