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.