Voxer is my Creative Council

I don't think I can say that I am still a part of the #yourEDUstory blog challenge since I have missed more than I have written.  But, I am jumping back in this week!  This week's prompt asks "Who would be in your creative council?"  This is an idea taken from Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison who surrounded themselves with people who would question their ideas and challenge them in positive ways.

For me - I think I have two creative councils:

I have a core group of #GTAMTV14 friends that are all in a Voxer group called #StrataProblems (the name is a #DTIMP thing).  These 6 people have supported me through anything I needed this school year - and I would like to believe I have helped them a little too.  If anyone has a question we can ask it openly and we expect truthful and honest answers in return.  This council gives me direction when I need it, a laugh at just the right time and an insight to other districts, schools, jobs and more!

My other council is our #CAedchat moderator team.  We don't tweet or chat each day, but if someone needs something this team is ready for action.  As co-moderators we lead a large group of educators through a series of questions each Sunday night at 8pm PST.  But as friends, we can lean on each other for words of wisdom or a helpful slap on the wrist if needed.  We also have a Voxer group so if we need more than 140 characters we are able to talk through an issue.

I had never really thought about it before - but having these people in my professional life has really be great over the past year.  We all need someone to talk to and to bounce ideas off of sometimes - so find yourself some #eduawesome friends who are willing to tell you the truth (even if it isn't easy) and start your own Voxer group!  You will be glad you did!

Let’s Stop Pretending and #makeschooldifferent

Fevereiro 2014

I have a wonder core Voxer PLN where I am able to share ideas, compare work stories and get the help I need to keep going each day.  These people give me a diverse perspective on things because we are all in different districts and have different titles.  I was challenged by Lisa DeLapo (@lisateachestech) - one of my core Voxer buddies to write a post on what educators need to stop pretending in order to #makeschooldifferent. I have seen many great posts from other wonderful educators...so here are my five:

Let’s stop pretending that talking about change but doing the same thing day after day is helping students. It is one thing to go to edcamps, conferences, Twitter chats or hear great ideas from other teacher and think about making a change - but it doesn't count until you make those changes in your classroom. Don't be afraid (see what is next) and make a change!

Let’s stop pretending that we allow our students to fail and learn from failure. I see many great graphics and retweets of "Fail Forward" or "F.A.I.L - First Attempt In Learning"...but when I talk to students they are still afraid to take a risk because they may not get an A on an assignment. We all fail, allow kids to feel safe doing it and you will get so much more out of them! Failure can be a good thing. (This is true for teachers too!)

While we are at it - let’s stop pretending that our grading procedures make sense. I have had many a conversation with teachers that refuse to give credit to a student for not turning in their HW. But this same student gets an A on every test. Was that HW necessary for the kid? Did it make a difference to anyone but you that he didn't do the work - he seemed to have learned the material. Rethink grades!

Let’s stop pretending that our students can't do it if we don't teach them how. I work in the edtech field and so many teachers won't allow students to do something on a computer because the teacher doesn't know how to do it. Let your students teach you and you will both benefit! Take a risk in front of your class! 

Let’s stop pretending that "we know what is best". We cannot possibly know everything about everything - so why act like we do? Get help from other teachers, share your learning with others, observe someone else, try a new technique in your classroom and open your doors for others to come in and observe you. Share what you are doing - via Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Pinterest or whatever platform you are comfortable with...you won't be sorry!

It took me longer to get to this challenge than I wanted to...so if you have already been challenged I apologize in advance. I challenge my friends Darren Massa (@darrenmass), Dan Bennett (@dabennett7), Dennis Grice (@dgrice), Moss Pike (@mosspike) and David Theriault (@davidedu) to give their opinion on how they would like to #makeschooldifferent

Essential Components of a 21st Century Classroom

What are the essential components of a 21st Century Classroom?  That is a presentation I was recently asked to put together for an interview - and I though I would share it for week 9 of the #youredustory blog challenge.

The slide deck is shown below - and my script was just a template...but I think you will understand my ideas.  I will put in a "DING" when you should change slides - like when we used to have books on record that would read to us as kids (now I guess I may be dating myself).

Here goes...

What do I believe a 21st century classroom or school looks like?  (DING!)

To me the goal of education in our century is to embrace technology beyond the simple use of tools, and work toward personalizing education for our students.  Never before have we had the tools at our disposal to make personalized learning a possibility for our students, so we must work toward that goal.  When I first saw this task I knew exactly what I needed to do in order to put this presentation together - and I got to work right away.  (DING!)

I didn't turn to Google for the answer like I may have done 3 years ago.  (DING!)

Instead, I turned to my PLC - my peers and colleges on Twitter, Google+ and Voxer.  Of course I have an idea of what I think a 21st century classroom looks like - but I am no longer in the classroom - so who am I to decide for our classroom teachers what their classroom should look and work like day to day?  (DING!)

My first step was to put together a Google Doc and share it publicly (with editing rights) to ~100 or so of my PLC via Google+ and Twitter.  I only left the doc open for 4 hours - and in that time I had 24 people offer their opinion and help with my question.  (DING!)

These were real educators from real schools -  they gave me information than I could not have found on Google with days of research.  I had principals, teachers, tech tosas, a director of technology, innovation leaders and even one of our own librarians sending me input on the 21st century classroom.  So I want you all to know that everything I say here today is not just me - because I do not come alone - I have many people willing to help with the push of some buttons!  (DING!)

You see, to me, the first and most important quality of a 21st century classroom is collaboration.  My first response to this task was to collaborate with people I know, people who have been in this longer than me, have seen things work or fail, people who are willing to share their knowledge and experience - just as I would have if someone emailed, tweeted or called me.  So when I need help to move our district forward I will always gain as much information as possible...and social media allows me to do that in a better and more efficient way.  (DING!)

I want to introduce you to Logan LaPlante - a 14 year old from Lake Tahoe who has started a new type of schooling - hackschooling.  (DING!)

(DING!)

I think we have many Logans in our district that are looking for ways to be creative and change their education.  I don’t want technology to be something that gets in the way of the enthusiasm of these students.  So what do we need in our district to create a classroom for Logan...  (DING!)

The 21st century classroom needs a teacher who is comfortable using technology - but also will allow their students to use the tools and devices they are familiar with, but the teacher may not know.  A 21st century classroom needs a teacher that is a lead learner - not a lead explainer.  (DING!)

Like the slide says - using technology successfully in the classroom is a Mindset, not a skill set.  Technology is constantly changing and teachers need to guide and teach their students but also be willing to learn alongside or even from them.  (DING!)

Of course any 21st century classroom will need to have the 4 c’s.  Even if you take the Common Core out of it, I believe the 4 C’s will play a critical role in the future of our students.  I have already talked about how important I feel collaboration is - so lets talk about critical thinking.  As we change our classrooms from 20th to 21st century classrooms, students will learn in new ways - through inquiry, projects, building, making and play.  Learning in this way does not allow a student to “Google” the answer or look in the back of the book.  They have to understand the problem and find a solution.  Students will be forced to think critically each day in a 21st century classroom!  (DING!)

Communication is a key for the classroom of tomorrow - students will need to be able to explain their thinking and describe how they came up with their solution to a problem. This is not to impress the teacher or to get a passing grade - they need to communicate to others within their classroom and across the world in order to share their knowledge with other students. This may come in a 140 character tweet or a 1400 word blog post - either way, our 21st century student will need to communicate.  (DING!)

And finally comes the creativity.  I tend to look at creativity as innovation.  Can a student take an issue and find a new way to solve the problem?  We no longer want to create a student that can find the right answer and bubble an answer sheet - we want students who can find multiple ways to answer a problem and give you the pros and cons of each.  (DING!)

So you may be saying to yourself that I have described a lot about a 21st century classroom - but I have not mentioned what devices or equipment I expect to see in one.  That is on purpose.  I strongly believe the device does not matter.  (DING!)

We can put an iPad or a Chromebook in the hands of a student - and most of them would rather have their cell phone.  (DING!)

We can take a class to a state of the art computer lab to research and write about Martin Luther King - but many would just assume we increase the bandwidth so they can use their tablet.  The device doesn’t matter - we need to build a robust network and allow teachers and students to find their best way to learn, create and explore.  (DING!)

The first iPad was released in April 2010.  (DING!)

The first chromebook shipped in June 2011 but didn’t make it to our district until 1 year ago...and now we have almost 4500!  (DING!)

I can’t predict the next iPad or Chromebook - but I can guess that when our kindergarten students walk across the stage at graduation they will think that the phone in our pocket looks and feels like a brick and they won’t know how we used to use those things!  Technology changes way too fast - all we can do is plan for what we think we need 5 years from now and adjust that target when needed!  (DING!)

The last thing a successful 21st century classroom needs is for the district to offer quality professional development to all of our staff.  That includes teachers, classified, admin and district office personnel.  We can no longer buy something and put it in the classroom and walk away.  There is study after study about how that does not work - and we don’t need to read any research...we can look at our own district.  Without proper training, any money spent on technology is wasted.  The edtech side of our technology team is a great start to what we need for our staff - but we need to allow them to create and train our users with best practices that have proven to be effective.  Anything we plan for and buy will not be effective without proper PD.  (DING!)

I want to leave you with this short video clip of a 4th grade girl…  (DING!)

(DING!)

Lets not be the district that is stuck at the top and is scared to go down the jump.  Like she said at the end - It’s just the suspense at the top for the first time that freaks you out.  Lets not be freaked out by technology - lets make the jump and move this district forward!  (DING!)

Here is the Slide Deck that goes with the narrative above:

How do you connect?

Week 6 of the #youredustory challenge brings a topic I have worked on personally over the past 3-4 years.  The prompt is "What is connected learning and WIIFM?"  Now honestly, I saw this and my first thought was - what in the world is WIIFM?  I thought maybe it was a game of some sort, you know, because of WII.  But upon further investigation I found that is stands for "What's In It For Me?"

If you would have asked me 5 years ago if I was a connected educator I would have told you yes!  I met with colleges, went to district PD (even days I didn't have to attend) and I was part of a science grant that gave me a larger group for my "connected-ness".   So yes, I thought I was connected and doing a great job.  Or was I?

In 2011 I started using Twitter (it took me a year or so to realize the power of  Twitter) and I realized I was able to connect with people around the country from my computer.  I started following other science teachers and sharing ideas, getting new lessons and discovering what others were doing in their classrooms.  Now I was connected for sure!  Or was I?

Someone introduced me to Google+ and truthfully it was not my favorite to start.  It took some time for me to find the power of G+, but once I found the communities I fell in love.  I was able to reach out to more educators who had my exact same interests, questions and passion.  We could share links, pics and ideas.  Finally - I was a connected educator!  Or was I?

Conferences - now that's the ticket!  To be connected I had to meet these people face to face and really get to know them.  I attended my local CUE event and went to annual CUE.  I became an #edcamp junkie.  I had FOMO (fear of missing out) and started signing up for webinars left and right.  I felt like I had to learn everything and be able to share what I learned with everyone.  I became a #GCT and went to Google this past summer!  So now I felt like I was connected - part of the secret family after all these years.  Or was I?

Voxer, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram - new ways to connect!  I'll spare you the details, but they are not the silver bullet either.

None of those things singularly are what makes me a connected educator.  A connected educator is someone who can find what they need when they need it.  They share what they have learned so others can learn with them.  Being connected isn't done through a website, an app or in a conference room - it is all of those things put together.  I don't like to think of WIIFM when being connected, I like to believe in the #bettertogether concept so we can all do awesome things.

So yes, get on Twitter, Google+, Voxer, attend conferences and watch webinars - but don't do it to "be connected", do it to be a better educator for the students in your room, at your school or in your district.  Being connected is no longer something we can put off...it is a necessity for all educators (teachers, admin, counselors, coordinators, directors, superintendents) if we want to make our schools the best place for our students.

10 minutes?

I am a teacher - I have been for the past 16  years.  I've been at the middle school level for 10 years and in a high school for 6 years.  During that time I have tried what is new, given old strategies a new try and I have learned what works and does not work in my classroom along the way! I started my career as a high school chemistry teacher - long before "Breaking Bad" gave chem teachers some 'street cred'...and during all this time I was never a proponent of giving students homework just to give them work to do at home.

When I started teaching I wasn't very good - I'll be honest.  I lectured 2-3 times a week and we did a lab on the block day.  I would give HW nearly every night because that is what the teachers I had in high school did and that is what the teachers around me were doing.  As time went on I started to think more about what I was doing and I started to become a better and more effective teacher.  I had students working fairly hard in my classroom and I started to see that they didn't really need to do any HW as long as they were working in class.  I also realized students in my classroom had more going on after school than I did 'back in the day'.  They were on travel club teams, took music lessons, had to babysit their siblings or just about anything else you can think of - kids today are busy!  Over time my philosophy about HW has changed.  I was able to watch Waiting for Superman and I made some changes in my classroom.  I gave little to no HW, but I expected students to work hard in class.

Last week while reading my Twitter feed I came across a tweet from @jcorippo - which was actually a retweet of @TDOttowa who had 'scooped' a blog from @pernilleripp (just another example of the power of Twitter).  If you don't understand the "@" or "retweet" or "scooped" that is all fine...that is just how I ended up reading this great blog "Why the Grade x 10 Minutes for Homework is a Fail".

While reading the blog I started thinking about my 6 year old daughter who is in 1st grade.  She is a great kid and seems to love school and learning.  When she was in preschool she would tell me the things she had learned that day and she was excited to share what she had heard in a book or from her teacher.  In Kindergarten her teacher was able to keep her enthusiasm to learn at a high level and she learned to read - giving her the ability to learn more things on her own.  Over the summer between Kinder and 1st she started saying things like "I'm going to have a lot of homework in 1st grade" and "I think 1st grade is going to be hard".

I knew that she was right and I said things like "you don't want everything to be easy, if it's always easy you aren't learning anything" and "that's ok, you are a hard worker and with hard work you'll be able to figure it out".  She is now 11 weeks in to 1st grade and I asked her what she thought about 1st grade so far.  Her answer surprised me. 

She said she liked school and she was having fun...but she also said she didn't like going to school any more and she wished it was summer already.  (From an 8th grader I would understand this...but not from a 1st grader)  I asked why she wished school was over and she said something like "I used to like to go to school because it was fun, but now there is too much homework".  Of course I tried to remind her that she was working hard and doing well and I told her that I thought she actually likes the HW.  She quickly told me "I used to like HW, but it is always the same thing over and over".  She followed that up by telling me "my HW is just doing what they did in class at home".  She is only 6 years old and she understands that HW is just a repeat of what she has done in the classroom.

She goes to a great school (971 API for those of you who understand that) and I know that her teacher is awesome and doing all she can to prepare her for 2nd grade and the impending Common Core State Standards that are just around the corner.  I have felt like she has a lot of HW so I sat down and took a look at what she was doing each week.  Here is what I found...

My daughter receives a homework packet every Monday that is due the next Monday.  It is fairly simple and I always think it won't take too long.  The packet includes the following:

• Small amount of ELA for each day (3 mins per day)
• Book report - one page that does not have too much writing (20 mins per week)
• Oral report - reading something and then practicing (20 mins per week)
• CCSS Math workbook pages (5 mins per day)
• Spelling list - 10 words that are all super easy right now (2 mins per day)
• Optional math work in the packet (3 mins per day)
• Reading log (at least 10 mins per day - for 7 days)

I have seen many articles and blogs stating the typical amount of HW for students should be 10 mins per day per grade level - so 10 mins per day for a 1st grader (120 mins a day for a 12th grader).  My daughter's HW adds up to 155 mins per week or 22 mins per day - double what I expected.  I hadn't really thought about it too much...but when I add it up and see 155 min per week that seems like a lot.  And realize this does not include soccer practice, AWANA (church group for K-3), soccer games on Saturdays, church on Sundays and any other family time!  My wife and I have talked about getting her back in to swim lessons, maybe signing up for gymnastics and/or piano lessons - but I'm not sure the poor kid has any time left in her week (although we just decided she is going to play softball starting in January).

So what's my take away from all of this?  Like I said, I know that she is in a great school and I truly believe that her teacher is awesome and is doing what she needs to do in order to prepare her for what is next in a 1st grader's life.  So for this year I'll continue helping my daughter with her homework and encouraging her to do her best.  I want her to love learning - and I'll try to keep that as our focus.  Hopefully as she goes through the rest of her school years she will find a balance between learning and homework.  Hopefully more teachers will realize how busy kids are and keep them working hard in the classroom so that their time at home can be a time for family and extra curricular activities rather than worksheets and busy work.

Decision Made!

As some of you already know (from this blog post) - I had some decisions to be made as the school year started.  I have a wonderful schedule at my current school...I would almost call it my dream schedule!  I am teaching 4 periods of chemistry and 1 period of video production.  I have a passion for both and I like the science team, the school, the administration and just about everything having to do with this school year.  But...(and isn't there always a but) a week before school started I applied for a technology TOSA (teacher on special assignment) position that recently opened in the district and I also applied for an assistant principal opening within my district (at a school where I taught for 8 years).  

A day before teachers were to report back to school (we come back 3 days before the students), I had my interview for the TOSA position.  I felt I did well in the interview and I was excited at the opportunity to work with other teachers with the integration of technology in their classrooms.  Later that same day the executive director our technology department gave me a call offering me the position!  I was excited - but knew that I would be interviewing for the AP spot in a few days...so I accepted the TOSA job with the understanding that if I was offered the AP position I would have to take the administrative role instead.  He was very understanding and wished me well in my interview and let me know that he would hold the position for me.

Two days (and a lot of prep work) later, I went in for the AP interview.  Again, I felt I did well and was hopeful to get a call back for a second interview.  The call came later that day - and I was schedule for a follow up interview on Monday - after our first day of school with students.  I met with the superintendent and the assistant superintendents of human resources and instructional services (doesn't get much higher than these people in our district!).  Once again, I felt it went well...I answered their questions as best I could and let them know why I felt I was the best person for the job.  They let me know that I would know in the next day or so - and I was anxiously awaiting the call for the next 24 hours!  The next day I had a message on my phone from the assistant superintendent of HR!  We exchanged phone messages and we ended up speaking the next day.  When I spoke with him he let me know that they were selecting someone else.  I wasn't devastated - I knew this was a possibility - I was, however, a little disappointed.   The good news was that I had students that were going to walk through my classroom door in about 30 minutes...so there was no time to think about it - I had to move forward quickly!




I realized while I was teaching my first class of the day that I was no longer in decision limbo. The decision had been made - I am going to be a district technology TOSA this year!  No more wondering what if...I now had some clarity in my school year.  Now I can focus on things like My Big Campus, Google Docs, Cloud computing and so much more.  I am very excited about my new position and having a different role in the district.  I know it will allow me to learn so much more as an educator and it will afford me the opportunity to work with many other teachers in our district.  So I am jumping in with both feet!  I am going to need a new name for my blog and a new Twitter handle (any suggestions for either?).  I do have to wait about 3 weeks before I can fully invest the time to be a tech TOSA - until the district hires someone for my current position.  Anyone want a great chemistry job?

Proving Twitter helps us to be #bettertogether

Have you ever had an idea about something but you were not sure how you could make it work?  Maybe you wanted to plan a family vacation and you have an idea in your head about how you want it to work but you are not quite sure how.  Do you stay in a hotel or a test?  Do you go to an amusement park or a  national park?  Do you drive or fly?  Take a cruise or stay at in a motorhome?  You have many ideas and many ways to make them work - so how to you know you are doing the right thing?

Well this happened to me this week.  I decided I wanted to create a Twitter account for my chemistry classes.  My idea was to tweet out assignments, questions, ideas, links to cool things and follow some scientists and hopefully tweet them!  But I was not sure how to make it work - just like the trip you were planning.

So what did I do?  Well, I started by creating a Twitter account for my class - @Chem4Grizzlies.  I searched for a few chemists to follow and added some chemistry teachers - but then I was stuck.  My next move was to tweet out that I set up the account for my class and asked for some people to follow it...and they did!  Now I had an account, was following some teachers and scientists - but didn't know what to do next.  So you have a destination, but you don't know what to do while you are there!

It didn't take long before a few chemistry teachers that I follow tweeted me back and said they had similar ideas.  Before long there were two other science teachers (@dragan39 and @VirtualGardner) interested in doing the same thing and two more (@2footgiraffe and @MR_ABUD) that were already doing it!  Before long we had planned a Google Hangout (GHO) to discuss our ideas.  Now you are getting together with friends that have been to where you are planning to go!

We had a successful GHO where we were able to share ideas about a classroom Twitter account.  +Adam Taylor told us how he used a classroom account and had set up a monthly chat with scientists and his students (#scistuchat).  He also gave us a list of scientists to follow and several ideas on how to use Twitter in the classroom.  There were other ideas shared - here is a list of our notes.  At this point in your trip planning you have a destination, a place to stay and an itinerary. 

This is just another example of how having a Twitter PLN is helpful.  I had an idea, tweeted it out and within a week I was collaborating with three other teachers who were taking time out of their summer to make their classroom a better place for their students.  There is a hashtag out there that explains this collaboration - #bettertogether.