What Happened This Week! 10/26/2015

This week started with our PD department tackling Twitter. They created a department Twitter account as well as professional accounts for each instructional coach.

I also visited Rancho Village where we learned all about Socrative. This school has been focused on tools for formative assessments this fall.

On Tuesday, I started at Coolidge. We were able to get all of the 6th graders logged in to their Google Drives on desktops as well as chromebooks! Success!!! Sadly, I don't have 1 picture from the morning event:(

Tuesday afternoon I met with teachers from Fillmore and we were able to  learn 10 ways to use Google Docs. This event was awesome.

Wednesday was our regularly scheduled department meeting and then Part 4 of the Hour of Code series.

Thursday we were able to attend SMART Amp training. SMART Amp is COOL!

On Friday, I visited Wheeler to meet with a 4th grade teacher who is exploring gamification and has had wildly awesome improvements in test scores!

9.28.15 - What I'm Seeing this Week in Classrooms!

This post is about all of the random cool things I am seeing in classrooms around the district. 

On Tuesday, I started my day at Pierce. I saw GoNoodle and quite a few brain breaks. Brain breaks are a great opportunity to get students moving and are a nice way to transition from one activity to another.

Also this week, my blog post about Part 2 of 5: Hour of Code Series was posted. This week consisted of learning to code with Code.org and then setting up your class in Code.org to have students start coding.

As I visited another school, 5th & 6th grade students were practicing their Google Search skills as they researched and learned about Jamestown. 

Then I stopped by school to follow up with a few teachers and found more students using technology. My favorite room was the nonverbal special education class where students were using the SMART board and switches to take assessments. 

Anything is possible! What a great week! I love my job!!!

What are your Hot Topics?

As I've been planning for the 2015-2016 school year with administrators, I've noticed a few trends. Here is a list of trends and resources to go along with those trends.

1. Google Apps for Education - GAFE
Our district has been a GAFE district for a few years but there was never an official launch. As more people have been made aware of GAFE, they want to learn more. Then once they learn more, that want their staff to use the Google productivity suite of tools.

2. Chromebooks
Many principals have discovered Chromebooks are cheaper than iPads. Then once they realize Chromebooks and GAFE go together like peanut butter and jelly, they are sold! I also like the fact Chromebooks can have a personalized login for each student.

3. Web 2.0 Tools
The popular web 2.0 tools seem to be Socrative, Kahoot and Today's Meet. You can read more about these in the blog post listed above.

4. Online Learning
Faculty and staff want more online learning for that anytime, any place access.

These are a few trends, I have noticed in 2 weeks of working with administrators and teachers as they prepare for school to start. What other trends have you noticed?

Summer Ed Tech Learning Challenge

I had the idea of an ed tech learning challenge after participating in Todd Nesloney's Summer Learning Series in  2014. Our district has low participation in professional development because it is not required and there are no or low expectations for it. I wanted to create a personal learning opportunity which would not be too time consuming, would be engaging and provide resources to use today! Selfishly, I love Twitter and get SO many resources and ideas from my PLN. Naturally, I wanted to involve Twitter in this learning challenge as well.

I decided to create 4 challenges for participants to complete over 4 weeks. We presented 1 challenge per week. We started with Twitter so we could utilize it in each of the following challenges. We also created a hashtag #etlc2015 to track participation and encourage communication and collaboration. Since we are a GAFE district we used Google Classroom to relay each challenge, encourage comments and post announcements.

I was pleasantly surprised to have 100 participants sign up in May. We had 65 active participants and will have 40 participants complete all challenges by July 31st. For a district with no professional development expectations, I consider this a success!

#OTAEM14

So, I spent the last two days at OTA. Personally, I enjoyed this conference more than any other in Oklahoma thus far. Below are some observations!

1. OTA appeared more professional than other conferences.
OTA had a feel more like a Texas style conference and not so informal. I cannot put my finger on it, but it felt more professional, or maybe, more like what I'm use to coming from Texas.

2. We have amazing and innovative teachers in OK.
It was nice to see so many teachers presenting and facilitating sessions. As educators we get stuck "within our classroom" but sharing helps then entire profession and all students, not just your 24 students. Sharing and collaborating not only helps those actively involved, but also aids in the progress of the field.

3. We need to share resources more.
Okay, so maybe I talked about this in #2!

4. I have a great team.
I learn from my teammates every single day. They are a passionate, well read group of master educators. The conversations within the group grow not only our department but the district and field of ed tech as well.

5. If you're not on social media, you're illiterate.
Social Media, Twitter in particular, is a form of literacy. If you are not participating, you are illiterate in this 21st century skill. Jump on it! We are adding this as a challenge in the ETLC Fall 2014, but need to look at adding more coaching about social media and building PLNs.

6. GAFE trends
There were tons of sessions regarding GAFE, most dealing with apps, add-ons and extensions. There are many schools in our area going GAFE. It was nice to hear how other schools are using Google in various grade levels. I think principals and teachers were also presently surprised as to the many ways they could use Google in their respective roles.

7. iPads & App Smashing trends
iPads have been a trend and there were several sessions discussing the combining of apps to complete projects. It was also SO nice to hear more about using ipads for creation of new ideas and projects and not just for games.

As with any conference, talking with others in the field is always insightful and exciting.

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.