Top Trends in Ed Tech for 2015...Part 1 - Personalization

One of the top Ed Tech trends for 2015 is PERSONALIZATION. This is the combination of pedagogy, curriculum and learning environment to meet the demands of the learner. Not only is this relevant to our students but is also relevant to our teachers.

What is Personalization? According to EdTech Magazine it is the pacing, presentation & differentiation of content, along with the creation of a learning path while utilizing relevant material.

When thinking of personalization, how do we create learning pathways for our teachers? How do we provide those self guided, self paced opportunities for teachers to continue to grow as educators? How do we create a space where educators are intrinsically motivated towards continued learning? How do we foster an environment of personalization in professional development?

There are more questions than answers, but for me there are a few answers. First, offer PD in several formats to meet the learning styles of our teachers. This might be online, face to face or blended. Also, provide PD which is more than "sit and get." Our students learn best by doing and staff, probably, does as well. Provide PD at different levels, some of our staff is more advanced than others. Let's differentiate, just like we do in the classroom.

In closing, personalization is key because we were not all made from the same mold.Let's help each other succeed!

16 Days of Twitter

We began an online professional development for teachers on December 1st. It is called the 16 Days of Twitter. We used Sophia.org as our LMS. The 16 Days of Twitter involves 16 activities to aid teachers as they began their journey using Twitter to build a personal learning network. Teachers and educators are one of the largest groups using twitter. It provides an anytime, anyplace opportunity to continue building knowledge and gaining insight into the field of education.

At a conference this past week, they stated by 2019 50% of high school courses will be offered online. If this is the case for our students, why would we not want teachers to have the same experience in professional development.  There was also a tweet reporting the best PD is self directed PD for teachers. With the 16 Days of Twitter, teachers are afforded the opportunity to pick and choose which networks they wish to create in building their personal learning network.

ETLC - Fall 2014

Our department just launched the Ed Tech Learning Challenge - Fall 2014. This cohort consist of teachers with 15+ years of experience and who want to learn the basics of technology to use in their classroom. Teachers volunteered to participate for the 3 month challenge. The challenge consists of 3 smaller challenges revolving around Google Drive, SMART Boards & Twitter. Each challenge is delivered via Google Classroom and consist of a challenge, discussion questions and a reflection face to face meeting.

Thus far, the reviews are good. It is definitely a new experience for many, as they are use to "sit and get" professional development. This is a self paced, any time professional development.

Self - Regulation

I always get the "What type of classroom management do you use?" Then when I respond with Self-Regulation, they look at me puzzled. What is that? Really in a Kindergarten class? My response is YES! I come from the psychology world and my view on relationships and classroom management are 180 degrees different from what teacher prep programs teach.

I'm not going to give you a psychological definition of self-regulation. I define it as figuring out what will make you successful in whatever you are doing. Can you teach kids this? ABSOLUTELY! For example, if a student takes away the scissors from another student and that student gets upset. 

Life lesson #1, your actions effect others. 

Life Lesson #2, you chose your actions and responses to those actions.

Life Lesson #3, sometimes you have to say you're sorry.

Life Lesson #4, you do not always get your way. We all live in this world together and have to get along!

The list of life lessons goes on and on. Self-Regulation is also about coping skills, choosing how we respond to others and take care of ourselves. I always had a desk in the back of the classroom and students could go back there one at a time to chill, get away from others. They would use this as needed to help them make positive choices. It was NOT a punishment. As adults, we all need to get away sometimes and this was an "escape" for students. It was funny to watch them, because a student would go back there for 5-10 minutes and then rejoin the class when they were ready to go. I figure we all have those "bad" days and if 5 minutes away can help them focus for the other 7 hours of school....I'm all for that!

By allowing students to regulate their own behaviors, we need to move away from the "I'm the teacher and I'm in 100% control" mindset. First, control is an illusion. Second, how do you work collaboratively if one person is trying to control the entire group?

Self-Regulation is a 21st century life skill and ultimately, isn't that what we are trying to prepare our students for??? When students self regulate, we create a space for where students are empowered and can help facilitate their own learning process.

Change

In the psychology world, there are various ways to view change. Even though there are different ways to look at change, all agree to some extent that change is a process. In some cases it is a very distinct process. So if we generalize from a psychological perspective, here is what it might look like.

1. Identify the problem
2. Identify strengths and resources
3. Develop an intervention
4. Sell the intervention idea
5. Reflect and follow up

Okay, that's great and all but let's take it in another direction and apply those steps to education. In schools we are EXCELLENT at identifying a problem. We are getting much better at identifying strengths and resources to help our students. We use RTI to develop some sort of intervention and we spend months and sometimes years working these interventions We then sell the intervention... nope what do we do with those interventions. We follow the prescription but do we ever get buy in? Buy in from the student? Buy in from the parents? Buy in from other teachers? How do we reframe that intervention to meet the worldview of the student, parent and community? Okay, we know we need work on that, but let's move on! We reflect and follow up. Well, not so much. Do we actually spent time collaborating about the intervention and reflecting upon those ideas? Do we modify the interventions? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Who's idea do we base our modifications off of? Student's? Teacher's? Parent's? Marzano's? Ahh, too many parties involves, right?

So, the main difference between the psychology world and education world is in the final steps of the change process. Selling the intervention to multiple perspectives and following up after a reflection period. 

How do we develop a culture which sells or {markets} the interventions and then respects the process enough to follow through with reflection?

Teachers are Awesome

Many times, you only hear the negative stuff about teachers, but today, I saw the awesome side of teachers! This school was working on their data presentations during planning time...yes, that's right folks, during planning time! They were working on this during their only "free" time during the school day, choosing to not make copies or prep for other lesson during this time. The teachers had so much pride in their students and their work. They added pictures, videos and music to give this data a more humanistic feel. There was no complaining or whining, just hard work today and excitement once it was completed! Thanks for a great day "un-named" campus! There are so many good things happening in OKCPS which we need to highlight! #okcps #awesomeness #teachersrock #ilovemyjob

Back to School Essentials

So, this past week I have been quizzing some of my teacher friends about back to school websites and accounts to create. After compiling their ideas, here is a top 3 list.

Top 3 Online Resources for Back to School

1. Remind - This is a great resource to contact students as well as parents to help them stay up to date on important information. It's a great way to send text without sharing your personal number. 

2. GoNoodle - 2 words...BRAIN BREAKS!!! This is an awesome site for all types of brain breaks. I cannot begin to describe it, so just go check it out! 

3. ClassDojo - This is great for behavior management and some classroom management. It provides student as well as parent access. My class always enjoyed choosing the tasks/behaviors to earn positive points as well as the monster like avatars.


These are 3 great resources. I cannot begin to tell you how cool they are and how helpful they can be, so just go check them out for yourself!

New Teacher Orientation

The first three days of this week have been spent at OKCPS New Teacher Orientation. During this time we have observed new teachers excited to start their teaching career as well as new to OKCPS teachers share their knowledge with others. In general, the new OKCPS teachers seem to be eager to start the new school year, excited to try new technologies as well as collaborate with others.  Let's get this year started with innovations and great expectations.

Branding in Education

I have completed 2 weeks in my new role and observed many cool things. The biggest observation I have made is that we have AWESOME teachers in our district. Now, our district is considered to be a large, urban district and has a high poverty level. This is a tough environment to teach in but we have AWESOME teachers. Why do we not hear about them? We hear the negative stuff and the stuff that makes the news but we never hear the positive things these teachers are doing for our students. How are we branding ourselves? How do we want to be known or remembered?

When reading about branding, one thing always mentioned is to become an expert. Are we experts in education? How do we show others we are experts? Are we experts on the process of learning/teaching or in specific content areas? So many questions...

Another area in branding seems to be networking. How do we network in education? Twitter has played a huge impact on educators creating a PLN and connecting with others. Conferences bring educators together and provide an area for collaboration and creativity to occur but is that enough?

When I think about branding in education, I always feel like I'm left with more questions than answers. It seems more complex than in business and industry, but is it?

Changes

Well...today is my last day as a classroom teacher. It's so very bittersweet. I LOVE being in the classroom. I love the energy and collaboration that can occur in a classroom. When I transitioned from working at a curriculum company to the classroom, I told myself I would only leave if it was to work in curriculum or IT. Well, I'm working for the IT side of things. As of next week I will be working with the Ed Tech Department. I could not be more excited. It is a cool opportunity to work with others using collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. I love the fact that I will get to work with more than 24 students everyday...I get to work with thousands! Let's get this party started!!!

Ed Tech #5...Flipped Workstations

I have been experimenting the last few weeks with flipping workstations. This is an internal flipping of lessons where students watch videos on www.sophia.org in the areas of phonics and vocabulary. I love the idea of flipping a classroom or lesson but have struggled with it at the elementary level.

My students watch a video at the workstation and then complete the assignment. I like how engaged my students are during the flipped workstations. I also like the collaboration I see and hear as they help each other after the video. It promotes a 21st century skill of working together. I'm still experimenting to get it ready for next year. 

I've enjoyed using www.sophia.org & educreation to set up flipped workstations. 

May 12 - 16, 2014...Chocolate Fever

I always forget how hectic the end of school is and this year I am SOO happy I decided to end it with a novel study. Thank you Step into Second Grade for your awesome unit!!!

We have been busy reading Chocolate Fever, watching our butterflies and reviewing math to prepare for 3rd grade! We have also experimented a little more with flipped workstations. I have decided Phonics and Vocabulary are the best to introduce flipped internal learning. This week we also worked with Storybird to encourage writing and retelling of stories.

Until next week...

Ed Tech Update #4...Videos as Exit Tickets

I love to use videos as exit tickets. I'm sad to say that a few of my students do not have permission to be photographed or in videos, so I will not be posting any videos.

After a unit lesson, I like to ask my students what they learned or a question about the content covered. I feel their open responses are much more meaningful and powerful than a bubble the answer test. At first the students were shy and timid, but over the course of the semester they have become so confident and intentional in regards to their answers. I like to use iMovie, Vimeo and Animoto to create videos. 

I also like to use video when I've been absent to see what the day was like when I get back. The students are always so honest and insightful. 

May 5 - 9, 2014 - Cinco de Mayo & More

This week started off with a Cinco de Mayo celebration presented by the ELL Department. We learned about the holiday and wrote facts inside of tacos. The class helped decorate the door...and we won. YES!!!

We also had a field trip to the YMCA for pool safety and swimming lessons. It was a blast!!!

We reviewed story structure and time this week.  We also watched our butterflies as they entered their chrysalis stage.

We continued our ABC Countdown with the following.

F is for finger paint day

G is for game day

H is for happiness day

I is for ice cream day

J is for jump rope day

Only 16 days of school left...holy cow!!!

Ed Tech Update #3...SMART tools

I really like using my SMART board and I like my SMART response clickers even more. I have used the clickers to take vocabulary quizzes most of this year. I even convinced one of my team members to start using them! Once you model appropriate use of the clickers and the procedures to go along with them, it's a breeze. I create quizzes every week about the definitions or synonyms/antonyms of our vocab words and then we take the quiz and it grades it automatically for you. I feel like the students stay on task and are smarter about their time management when taking a quiz using the clickers.

Ed Tech Update #2...Google & Guided Reading

I'm sort of an old school teacher when it comes to reading, specifically Guided Reading. I think Guided Reading is AWESOME but tracking each student's progress and each group's progress can be daunting. So I created google forms to help me. I have one to track guided reading level throughout the year. I have another to track what we work on during small group time as well as one more to track CAFE strategies practiced. 

I love Google forms because it drops all of you information into a nice, neat spreadsheet. 

I'm sure I saw something similar to this on a blog or on twitter, just can't remember where. Sorry!

I know there are many other ways to use Google Docs but this works for me and my students.

Have a great day!

Ed Tech Update #1

So, I'm not a big blogger or writer but a friend convinced me to blog about how I use tech in the classroom. Here goes nothing!

First, I love coding and second graders love coding. Since we do not have a BYOD policy and are not 1:1, this is how we roll! We use Daisy the Dino & I give them tasks such as "Make Daisy moonwalk." The students then figure it out using their critical thinking caps... or trial & error. Once it's figured out they record it in their journals. They also love to assign tasks to each other.We do this as whole group or in small groups depending on the time we have available.

We have experimented with Hopscotch and a few of my kids are successful at Hopscotch, but Daisy the Dino works the best.

Below is a picture of us working on coding as whole group as well as a picture of a journal in progress.

April 28 - May 2, 2014...Ladybugs & Butterflies

This week we started our butterfly unit by ordering caterpillars from Insect Lore to watch them become butterflies. We started by learning about the life cycle as well as some key terms...aka vocabulary words! We then made our first observation of them as caterpillars.

We started the week by reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We also used popplet to create a visual organizer of the items eaten during the week. We also read many other butterfly books.

In math we have been rocking fractions. We sorted fractions, then made a flip flap chart and the kids are excelling at fractions. YES!!!

I also attended a professional development about coding in the classroom. I feel like everyone does what I do in the classroom, but I was proven wrong again this week. My students love Daisy the Dino. I give them task such as, " Make Daisy walk backwards to the sun. Then touch the sun and walk back forwards." We then record our program code in our journals, since you cannot save them. I love coding, even in 2nd grade. All of my students have shown success in coding.

We started our ABC Countdown to the end of school. This week we celebrated A Day with a butterfly art project. Then B Day was bubbles. C Day was Career Exploration using The Career Zoo website. D Day was donuts and E Day was a Science experiment with mentos and diet coke. I cannot wait until next week!

April 21-25, 2014 - Earth Day & Arbor Day

This week we are studying drawing conclusions, measurement as well as Earth Day and Arbor Day.
 We read Ira Sleeps Over to discuss drawing conclusion. We also made a popplet to review the story structure of this book.

There was a huge push on vocabulary this week, so we worked with partners and by our selves to practice ways to remember the meaning of our vocab words. We also worked hard on identifying synonyms and antonyms.

In Math we are still working on measurement. We made Gallon Man which was a huge hit.

We learned about the 3 Rs of Earth Day, which are reduce, reuse and recycle. We also made a cute craft to help us remember the 3 Rs.

Next week we are studying making judgements, fractions and butterflies and ladybugs. We also start our ABC Countdown. I cannot believe we are in the last 26 days of school!!!

April 14 - 18, 2014 - Easter & Field Trip Fun

This week we learned about problem and solution, measurement and bunnies. We read some great books this week including, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick, The Cow That Laid an Egg, The Easter Egg and many more.

We made problem & solution kites in reading. 

 In math we made these super easy perimeter flip books as well as area robots. Thanks Step Into Second Grade for some awesome ideas. My teaching team follows your blog and we all adore it! 

 We also wrote about bunnies and our field trip.

 Speaking of field trip...we took a field trip to the Oklahoma Heritage Gaylord-Pickens Museum and loved it. The kids were amazing and we enjoyed lunch outside. It was a beautiful day!

 Next week we will be studying drawing conclusions, more measurement and chickens!

April 7-11, 2014 - It's Cloudy!

This week we studied main idea, number patterns and weather!

We started off reading Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We were looking at identifying main idea and details but... we also looked at characters & the setting.

While reading our story of the week, we also discussed new vocabulary words with our group. 

We used GoNoodle's BodySpell to review spelling words. We also played Sparkle to make sure we aced our spelling test this week!

In math we learned about number patterns as well as number rules. We even made our own patterns & rules(& I did not take any pictures!)

In Science, we looked at clouds, the sun & rain. We wrote about what we like to do in sunny weather as well as what we like to do in rainy weather.

Friday, of course, brought out our EdCamp234. We participated in activities & had a blast! 

Next week we will be studying problem  & solution in reading, measurements in math & Easter! See y'all next week!!!

EdCamp234

Everyone who knows me, knows I'm obsessed with  the EdCamp movement. Basically it's teachers teaching teachers. So, I decided to bring it to 2nd grade. My students  brainstormed ideas for centers & identified locations for these activities. Students then chose where they wanted to learn & created a schedule.

My class is AWESOME. Some of the activities included Puzzlemania, All About Biscuit books, Dr. Seuss Read Alouds, technology as well as Math Whiteboard Test Each Other. 

Needless to say it was a hit. Afterwards we debriefed about what went well & what we could make better. The students are full of great ideas. After voting, this will take place again... They LOVED it!

March 31 - April 4, 2014 - Plantspalooza

This week we studied main idea, shapes and plants.

In reading we read Gus Grows a Plant. This was an easy read to introduce main idea and supporting details. We then worked with partners to complete a graphic organizer. We also used popplet to create a graphic organizer using an ipad and SMART board.

We also read Rosie Sprout's Time to Shine to review main idea. It also was a great book to go along with our Great Expectations which we discuss every morning! 

In math we studied 2D & 3D shapes as well as shape patterns. We started out the week identifying the attributes of 2D & 3D shapes. Then we had to create our own shapes using the attributes. For 2D shapes, we created shape monsters and then wrote about our shape monsters. The students loved this assignment, espcially naming their shape monsters!

We started out the week learning about the parts of plants and then we moved into the plant life cycle. We concluded the week by planting lima beans in baggies so we could observe the life cycle of the lima bean. Follow our blog for our lima bean updates!

We also experimented with an EdCamp type learning day on Friday. It was a blast & deserves a blog of its own. Look for that blog early next week!!!

Next week we continue our main idea study with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We will also study weather and number patterns. Have a great week!