Back to School Excitement

We start school in 11 days...yes 11 days! Yikes! As I head back to school, I am sharing a few ed tech resources to make life easier for teachers to prepare for the year. Below are a few of my favorite tools!

1. Flipgrid - This is my new "it" tool for 2017. The reason I love Flipgrid is that it allows for equity of student voice. If you are on Twitter follow the hashtag #flipgridfever for more ideas of how to use it in your classroom.

2. Adobe Spark - I have been presenting on this tool A LOT over the last year. Spark allows you to create meaningful and visually appealing web stories and videos.  

3. Twitter - If you are still not on Twitter, you are missing out. This is where I learn about new resources, see what's going on around the world in education as well as connect with other educators. 

This year I am looking forward to sharing more great resources with teachers and campus leaders, encouraging risk-taking and personalizing professional learning!

Twitter is More Than Just an App!

Twitter is more than just a social media app. Twitter is a great way to build a PLN or personal learning network. This allows you to collaborate with educators from all around the globe. Twitter is also a micro-blogging platform, which means you can share information in 140 characters or less. You can retweet ideas you wish to share and follow professionals who you are interested in their work.

Below are resources to help you get started with Twitter. Jump in and join us in learning with others!

Here are some other links to help!

• Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Twitter

• Beginner Guide to Twitter for Teachers
• Twitter 101 Guide
• Twitter 101 webinar with Matt Gomez
• 50 Way to Use Twitter in the Classroom

Building Your PLN Through Twitter

This week is the official start of the OKCPS ETS Summer Ed Tech Learning Challenge. This is a four week, 100% online PD during the month of June. Each week a new ed tech challenge is presented to participants via the OKCPS ETS blog. Then participants have the entire week to complete the challenge and post an accountability post on Twitter. 

The first week's challenge was to create a professional Twitter account. We want to increase the number of district staff members engaged on Twitter. We also want them to experience the benefits of Twitter, especially related to sharing resources and ideas.

As an extension activity this week, we asked participants already active on Twitter to share 3-5 of their favorite people to follow. I chose to share @gcouros because I am reading the Innovator's Mindset (you should read it if you have not!) I also enjoy following @LeadUpNow and it's thoughts about educational leadership. Finally, I mentioned @ShakeUpLearning since her Google stuff is too cool!

Don't forget to follow the hashtag #OKCPSetlc to see all of the cool things our staff members are learning in June. Also be on the look out for the Back to School ETLC and School Webmaster ETLC, both in July!

Summer Ed Tech Learning Challenge 2016

This summer my department is organizing an ed tech learning challenge for teachers. The professional development course is 100% online. Each week teachers will be provided a challenge with resources to complete the challenge. Once they complete the challenge, they will tweet a comment about the challenge on their Twitter account for accountability as well as to share successes! 

To learn more about this challenge, visit our OKCPS ETS blog.

~Happy Learning~

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!

Popular Web 2.0 Tools

Favorite web 2.0 tools...

1. Socrative
Socrative is one way to not only engage students but also assess them with educational activities on multiple devices. Some of the key highlights include real-time questioning and instant data.

2. Kahoot
Are you competitive? Then Kahoot is for you! You can create a Kahoot in minutes or choose from ones already made. You can also connect and play with other students from over almost 200 countries in real time.

3. Today's Meet
TodaysMeet is a perfect chat or back channel platform for classroom teachers and learners. The conversations through Today's Meet can transform your classroom. Set it up for a specified time period, then all can join without signing up.  

4. Edmodo
Edmodo is another platform to create a blended online learning classroom.  Edmodo simplifies the process of creating, distributing, collaborating, and grading.  

5. Twitter
Twitter is a great place to find ideas and inspiration.  Follow other educators, build your PLN and engage your students!

This is a VERY short list. What are some of your favorite web 2.0 tools?

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.

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.