Overcoming the Ed-Tech "Techie" Stigma

I am NOT a techie! You do not want me to fix or network anything! However, this is the perception in my district of my department. We have worked hard over the last few years to change perceptions, but as the saying goes, "Perception is reality."

Our title has the words education and technology in it. This does not mean we are the IT department, who services computers, iPads, etc. We are just awesome teachers who love to innovate the learning space or classroom.

Innovate learning, what does that mean? It means we do not like to stay in our comfort zones. It means we embrace failure. We fail often and we fail fast. 

So be brave, innovate your instruction and embrace failure! Why not?

@IMMOOC - Innnovation

I have always viewed innovation as trying something new and different. I grew up with parents who encouraged trying new things and finding new ways to accomplish a task. When I compare my career as a psychotherapist to an educator, I struggle with innovation in education. The field of psychology is constantly reading, researching and trying interventions to fit the perspective of clients. Juxtapose, education where it seems we teach to 1985. In my current state, the view is, if it fails, never try anything ever again. Failure is a change to regroup, rebuild and try again!

I like the definition of innovation being something new and better. Innovation in education is not just technology tools, but changing our we teach and how we learn. Moving towards innovation requires having relationships, being connected and listening to the needs of others. Innovation cannot happen in a vacuum, it happens in community.

My Favorite Things for July 2016

This month I am loving Google Classroom. Not only does it provide a path to a paperless classroom but it also integrates well with several other applications and websites. 

I am a big user of Discovery Education as well as a DEN Star Educator. I can create assignments in Google Classroom directly from Discovery Education! 

I created a short screen cast to walk you through the simple process!

This is currently one of my favorite things to use in the classroom. I hope you found it helpful!

~Happy Learning~

Summer Reading List

What is on your Summer Reading List? Every year I set a goal to read a specific number of books each year. This goal is comprised of fun as well as professional books. During the summer I try to focus on professional books.

Here are a few books on my list to read.

1. Creative Confidence by Tom Kelly
2. Launch by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani

3. Innovator's Mindset by George Couros

4. Drive by Daniel Pink

5. Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner

What is on your Summer Reading List?

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?

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?

Lunch & Learn Series

For the 2015-2016 school year, I will be offering a Lunch & Learn Series one time per week to offer 10 minute tech tidbits to teachers and staff members. Hopefully, this will encourage more participation in technology professional development and also help the teacher and most importantly, the students!

A few topics requested have been purifying videos to use in the classroom, Symbaloo bookmarking and Google Docs.I want the topics to be what the teachers are most interested in and motivated to use.

More updates to follow!

Happy Summer!

iPads...

Our team worked with the Special Services department to roll out ipads. First we met with the coordinators for deployment. Next, we facilitated a blended training with face to face as well as online course work to help familiarize the coordinators with ipads general features. We are now entering the phase of offering trainings every quarter.

Last month, I watched a webinar with TCEA, Accessibility Features of the iPad. This week I am offering a similar training. We are watching the TCEA webinar and then spending time exploring those features and discussing how they work with our students.

Hopefully, they will find this experience useful and meaningful.

Transforming Education

There are so many thoughts and ideas about transforming education. Here are a few videos as food for thought....




 What will the future of learning look like?

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

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?