Connect the Dots

Do you remember Connect the Dots; those fun little puzzles comprised of a series of numbered dots that when connected in order, revealed a picture? Connect the Dot books were a big thing in the era that I grew up in. In the days before handheld electronic games, car DVD players and Netflix, Connect the Dots and activities like them were all there was to do on long car rides and in doctor waiting rooms. I spent hours connecting dots to reveal everything from animals to buildings. With the help of the Connect the Dots folks, anyone could be an artist. 

I find myself playing Connect the Dots still today, each and every time I plan a PD session for my teachers. I share a concept or tech tool with them, then guide them to "connect the dots", to understand how what we've discussed impacts instruction and learning. Obviously teaching the tech is the easy part. It's making the connection to the learning process that can be more work to accomplish. Demonstrating how to make something work is very cut and dry, but leading participants to understand the impact of what is being demonstrated requires a variety of examples, as well as explanation, and evidence. It requires context, specifically context in terms of teaching and learning. That's where it gets difficult. You see, a classroom where the teacher really has embraced teaching the 21st Century learner and the integration of digital tools will look differently than one that has not. It has to! In these classrooms, both the teacher and the students are working differently than they have in the past. They are working interdependently to collaborate, produce, and share. There is no need for these types of activities when students are listening to sit and get lectures or completing low-level worksheets. The context for providing instruction to students is different, making it harder for some teachers to connect the dots. 

If there is one thing that I've learned by working in my integration specialist position for the past year and a half, it's that teachers tend to be a literal people. Most are very willing to take the tools that are presented to them during our PD sessions and put them to use in classroom, based on examples they were provided. However fewer teachers are able to generalize what they've learned and apply it to a variety of situations to have a greater impact on instruction. It comes back to context, and for those of us who provide professional development, it is our job to provide that context for our teachers. The lack of context is not the fault of the teachers. After all, many of the things that we are sharing had not been part of the educational world until now. We have to help teachers connect the dots. As a young child I could easily connect numbered dots to form an image of a dog. I had seen dogs before, and their simple form required no more than 20 points. It was more difficult however, to complete a Connect the Dots of an image like the Eiffel Tower. I had no context for its intricate design, and the amount of numbers it required to me to connect was a big job for a five year old. It is no different for teachers. They don't just need training on how to use tech tools, but they need shown how to integrate these tools into the context of instruction. In my opinion, the best way to accomplish this is to put the teachers in the role of a learner, using what I've shared. Doing this illustrates the effectiveness of the concept or tech tool they've been presented. It helps them "connect the dots". I've asked my teachers to participate in flipped PD, chats, self-paced online PD, and more, all in an effort to help them see the new possibilities for instruction.  By learning in the format that we want them to teach, they have context, and they seem to appreciate it! The trick is to make this process as simple as creating a dog, yet as impressive as creating the Eiffel Tower. 

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We're Down With HOC, Yeah You Know Me

December is a busy month, everyone thinks so. To ask teachers to try something new, something out of their comfort zone during this busy time is a border-line crazy thing for a person in my position to do. So, when I went into Pleasant View Elementary, my K-2 building, the first week of December, and asked them to entertain the idea of participating in the world-wide Hour of Code, I was a little worried about what their response would be.  I know teachers are busy covering all of the standards they have been required to cover prior to the semester break.  I know teachers are busy planning special holiday projects and events in celebration of this wonderful time of year. I know teachers are busy trying to get their own homes and families ready to celebrate the holiday. Yet, knowing all of these things, I asked them to learn to code and execute activities for the Hour of Code for which our district would participate.

As we all know, coding isn't exactly at the top of K-2 teachers' priority list. These are youngest students; still learning to walk in a line and recall sight words. So, when I began my Hour of Code PD session, I prefaced it with information about how the language of code is a literacy all children need to know. I shared that it may be the most important second language today's students can learn. I shared how as a nation, we are unable to fill jobs in the STEM areas with our own people, so we seek out employees from other countries to do so. In typical Pleasant View fashion, the teachers participated in exploring the coding apps. Some were genuinely excited to take on something like this, while others were a bit more hesitant.  I heard a couple of teachers say, "My mind doesn't work this way." but all agreed to participate in the scheduled Hour of Code for their building.

On our designated Hour of Code day, I spent my time visiting classrooms to see activities that I had planned come to life. All of the teachers worked with their children on these activities, doing exactly what I asked them to do during pour PD session the week before. During my observations, I found they all put their own style in the lessons, and some even added wonderful extras. They owned it! When I asked for feedback about the Hour of Code, the teachers were excited! All shared that they felt students learning to code was a good thing. They shared that the problem solving skills that students practiced while participating in coding activities were invaluable. But greater than that, all shared that this experience was FUN. Coding, fun? Thats right, at a time in education when teachers often feel the fun has been taken out of school, BAM! There it is. THEY WERE DOWN WITH HOC!!! During a time of year when many K-2 students spend the last days before break making Christmas gifts for their parents, singing Christmas carols, and stuffing themselves with gingerbread cookies, our PVE students are spending time coding. What's more, their teachers were asking for this type of instruction to continue in our classrooms beyond the Hour of Code event. That request may be the best "professional" gift I receive this holiday season. I am exited to continue to help teachers keep coding going with the little ones (and with our bigger kids as well), not to mention learning to advance my own coding skills. Boy, do I need some work in this area! I am excited to assist Stefanie with continuing with coding in our media centers as well. Want to see how Yorktown Community School students are exploring the world of code? Check out the Twitter feeds that are linked to this blog, as well as #ycsEDU.

 

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It Sounds Like the Hunger Games, Mom

I learn things every day by being the mother of two middle school boys. The most recent thing they have introduced me to have been the Hunger Games movies. Up until a few weeks ago, I had not seen any of the three movies. But, when my husband and I agreed to a marathon catch-up session on the first two so that we could go to the theatre to see the third with our boys, we instantly became hooked.  These are not the types of movies that I am typically drawn to, as I'm more of a comedy kind of girl. Watching dysfunctional society such as Panem can be a bit unsettling, reminding us not to take for granted the country we live in.  Perhaps that is why I was so surprised when my son, after overhearing my husband and I discuss the events of the last week's Indiana State Board of Education meeting made the statement, "It sounds like the Hunger Games, Mom." At first consideration I thought that my son had lost his mind. We were discussing a meeting that took place in Indianapolis, Indiana, not some fictional movie set.  There was no killing or no battle to feed the people back home. How was our discussion of this meeting reminding a middle school boy of the Hunger Games? 

After hearing his explanation, it was obvious that he first made this connection based on the vocabulary I was using. He heard words like "district" and "capitol", words that were used throughout the Hunger Games movies. This triggered my son, a child that knows nothing about our educational system, to make this analogy.  He explained that Dr. McCormick and I were like the tributes in the movie. We traveled to the capitol to represent our district. From our discussion he inferred that we were at risk of losing our ability to provide the citizens of our district with something we feel they need: eLearning opportunities. As a result, the children of our district were not going to get fed information when they really need it. Deep stuff for a middle school kid, huh? He went on to say that he bets even the kids in the Hunger Games can participate in eLearning days, since the movies take place "not in the old days". Ouch! 

As a mom, I was impressed that a child would come up with this. As an educator, I was saddened. Even a middle school student can see that there is something wrong with a system that is fighting over proper learning environments for students, rather than letting them be made by the people who know the students best, namely their teachers and administrators. Even a middle school student recognizes that districts should be trusted to decide if they are capable of providing this type of learning for their students. District leaders know and acknowledge our limits. We have to, as we work within them every day, whether folks in the capitol are choosing to pay attention or not. After all, it is the districts that are ultimately accountable for making sure the students learn, and that learning is evident on the standardized tests that they are required to take on predetermined dates. An eLearning option is the best way for Yorktown schools to provide this to our students, if circumstances arise that do not allow us to be in school all of the days we are supposed to prior to these test dates. 

The two tributes from Yorktown had to leave last week's ISBOE meeting and head back to our district before I was able to speak about the system we have for providing eLearning opportunities for students kindergarten through 12th grade, and how our teachers and students create and access digital content CONSISTENTLY both in class and at home. The two tributes from Yorktown had to leave last week's ISBOE meeting and head back to our district before Dr. McCormick could share the greater impact eLearning has on our district other than on snow make-up days, and how there is much at stake if we lose the ability to provide these services in a digital format. Rather, the two tributes from Yorktown listened to the proceedings on the ride home. Sickened by the fact that so many teachers, administrators and parents weren't even aware of the dysfunction of the system they entrust to make decisions on behalf of what is best for Indiana students. Instead, those involved seemed to be dealing one another Nightlock berries, as President Snow did to Seneca Cane. You Hunger Games fans understand what that means.  

So now we wait on those who are making decisions from the capitol, just like the members of the districts in the movie. We wait to see if we will be allowed to run our district educational system based on what is the best for our learners and our community. We wait to see if those of us who have be recognized at the national level for being Future Ready districts, are allowed to develop and execute innovative practice. We hope that our students do not continue to equate the educational system that is responsible for preparing them for the future to a movie about a dysfunctional society.  

While we wait, we sing...

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"PDG" PD

Thanksgiving is over, and it's back to the daily grind. It's the busiest time of year, when all educators try to cram as much as we can into the three weeks leading up to Christmas. For me, it is attempting to fit all of the PD sessions in that I need to in a short month. The part of my job that I enjoy the most is providing professional development for our YCS teachers. I guess I enjoy it because I get to put aside the paper work assignments that try to monopolize my time, and be a teacher again. Sure, the players in the game have changed. Instead of planning activities for folks in the kindergarten crowd, I now tailor my lessons to those who are a little more advanced in years. The most interesting thing about the shift in my instruction is, it really isn't different at all.  As a primary teacher, I had the privilege of exposing my young students to the ways of school. The content was NEW to them, the procedures were NEW to them, and the possibilities for learning were NEW to them. The professional development that I provide for my teachers is no different. I am introducing them to the NEW ways of school; NEW tools, NEW techniques, NEW expectations. Things have changed, and we are no longer teaching in the same format we did just a few years ago. I do my best to keep in mind that all of this "NEW" can be overwhelming to my audience. Teachers have experienced so much change and uncertainly in recent years. It is my hope that when my teachers come into a session with me, they forget the stress of all the "NEW" that is being introduced, and focus more on the fun of broadening their understanding and skill set.

As a teacher you often wonder if your students learn from and enjoy your lessons, as much as you had hoped. You anxiously await feedback that will reassure you that you are doing a good job, or even help you to do a better job with the next session. Every great once in a while a teacher gives you a little something that you hold onto for those times you need reassurance the most. My all time favorite feedback on a session came from one of our teachers who is less than enthusiastic about having to attend regular sessions with me. "Hey, Holly", he said. "That was pretty damn good." Those words were music to my ears, and ones that I remember with a smile each time I think about it. These words, all be them a bit gruff, let me know that this teacher, a teacher that doesn't typically buy in, appreciated what I was sharing. In these words I heard, that this teacher's time with me was well spent; he benefitted. As teachers, that is what we all want to know. Are our learners satisfied with their learning experience? Are our learners walking away from us with the ability to apply what they have learned? And perhaps most important of all, are our learners walking away from us with the desire to take what they have learned to the next level? This is the true test that our instruction and method for sharing has been effective.

So as I am planning my PD sessions for December,  I'm referring back to my time in the classroom, and remembering how those kindergarten learners were in the same situation as my teachers. Both crowds like to be engaged (especially this time of year). Both crowds like to walk away from our time together eager to have the tools and skills to apply what they have learned. And something they never let me forget. Both crowds like a little candy sprinkled on the table to nibble on when they are learning. That, my friends makes for "pretty damn good" PD. I'll let you know how December sessions go!

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It's Politics, Or Is It?

As my followers may have gleaned from my Twitter posts last week, I had the opportunity to spend a few days in our nation's capital, discussing and collaborating about the changes in our country's education system. This experience was career changing for me, as I was afforded the opportunity to interact in circles that I had never been a part of before. Did I feel out of my league? Yes.  I mean how often do you attend meetings with law makers and political heavy hitters, all sharing their view on our education system? This experience is one that I will appreciate and remember for the rest of my career, and one that I already find myself reflecting back on as changes in our Indiana educational system are begin discussed.

Last week I traveled to Washington DC with my superintendent who was selected to be part of a group of one hundred superintendents from across the nation being recognized for promoting "Future Ready" instruction. In short, this means that they lead their districts in the charge of providing all students with the opportunity to be connected and participate in digital learning experiences. Along with seven other Indiana district superintendents, Dr. McCormick spent the day at the White House, meeting with the US Secretary of Education and President Obama.  As you know, these fellas are democrats. They promoted the need for equal availability of technology resources to all children, regardless of where they live, or how much money their families make. They shared ways districts from around the nation are making the most of their resources to ensure that this happens. They recognized these superintendents that represented districts with a Future Ready commitment, and reminded them of their responsibility to continue to work toward this goal. The next two days Dr. McCormick and I attended the Foundation for Excellence Summit for Educational Reform. There, we heard from Governor Jeb Bush and Joel Klein, the Chancellor of New York City Schools to name just a couple. These fellas are republican. They promoted the need for choice in our education system.  They shared stories of how model educational systems in the United States have ensured that all students have the opportunity to learn in a quality environment, and how it is the right of families to see that their children have this opportunity.  In addition, they reminded us how our educational system compares globally. Boy, do we have a ways to go. Obviously both sides of the political isle have their own ideas of how our education system should be structured.  Both manage to execute their approaches in our nation simultaneously. As I took in all of the ideas being shared last week, I kept thinking back to my own experiences in education. I've had the luxury of teaching in both an at-risk school, as well as a high performing district.  I have worked tirelessly to see that my students have received the attention they need both at home and at school to ensue success in the classroom. I have learned that it truly doesn't matter which side of the political isle that our families reside on, there are some absolute truths. All students deserve a high quality education that includes rigorous standards. All students deserve to the right to be instructed by highly qualified teachers. And most importantly, the way we make sure these things can happen, is to understand that the format of quality instruction is evolving. Learning is no longer a sit and get, but rather a constant that can happen at any time, anywhere. "Learning is the constant, and time is the variable."-Jeb Bush

With the whirlwind of information that I was provided during my trip, the message that impacted me the most came from Chris Anderson, the creator of TED Talks. (Leave it to the Tech Girl to say that!) You see Chris made no mention of politics in his speech. Rather, he used his time to remind us what students should be learning in America's classrooms. He even provided us with this: The Syllabus of the Future.

For the record, I agree with every word of this. As a mother, these are things that I want my own children to learn before they grow up and go out to face the world. I feel the same about the students that I serve. Given, these are not necessarily skills we can assess on a standardized test. Acquiring this knowledge will however require them to think critically, problem solve, and collaborate.  This knowledge will serve our children well, regardless of where they go for a higher education, what professional fields they go into, or what political affiliation they have.

So now that I have returned from my time rubbing elbows with policy makers, I take what I have learned to heart. I now have a much better understanding of the role that politics plays in education.  I know that while education should be bipartisan, the truth is that it is not. I know that the needs of today's students have changed, and he need to reform our traditional educational system is now! This is the future that we have been hearing about for so long. How will we adjust learning in our schools to accommodate?

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Mind Your Manners: A Reminder to Thank Those Who Have Helped Us Along the Way

If you have a mother, or are one yourself, you are certainly familiar with the phrase "Mind Your Manners". My own mother would say these words to me every time I neglected to say "please" or "thank you" when I was growing up.  I have said these words to my own children as well, in an effort to not only correct their behavior, but to also save face when someone gave me the impression that they thought perhaps my children are not as well-mannered as I believed them to be. Imagine my surprise when through a conversation with an old friend and colleague, I found out I was guilty of not showing the gratitude that I felt, leaving this person feeling unappreciated.  Believe me, that is never something a self proclaimed, well-mannered woman wants to hear. As mothers we all work tirelessly to see that our children show gratitude for things people give them, whether it be material things, or even encouragement, support, and opportunities. So why is it as adults we so often neglect to follow this same protocol? Is it because we are so wrapped up in ourselves that we forget about those who have helped us to get where we are, or is it that we are so grateful that we assume those deserving know how much we appreciate them?

During my 16 year career in education, I have had the pleasure of working with some amazing educators. I have learned most of what I know and use in my job each day, not through formal education, but through interacting with these innovative, motivating, and caring people. I have taken what I have learned from them, and the opportunities that they have afforded to me, and used it to better myself professionally. That is what I was supposed to do, right? Those of us in the field of education accept this as part of the deal. We mentor by example, and by placing those who are learning from us in situations that will allow them to develop new skills and show growth in their knowledge. Do those who learn from us owe us thanks? Of course they do not. However, is it nice to let someone know how grateful we are for what they have done for us. I'm sure that it is.  So much so, that I had to take this opportunity to make it right to my friend, as well as the many others I may have neglected to pay my gratitude over the years.  So, to those people that I have had the pleasure of working with over the years who have helped mentored me, prepared me, and even put me in situations to allow me to move my career to the next level, I say THANK YOU.  I hope that you feel my gratitude each time you see or read about a success in my career, because you know deep down that YOU were instrumental in helping me be where I am now. And to those who are currently affording me opportunities to grow and advance,  THANK YOU for inspiring me each and every day.

There you go, momma...Your little girl is minding her manners.

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Human Bandwidth Manager

Over the weekend I was excited to find an email from Netflix announcing that Season 4 of Portlandia was now available for streaming. I never have time to actually watch television shows when they are on in real time and most often resort to binge watching them during long weekends and holidays. Portlandia is a nerdy sketch comedy series on IFC that features one of my favorites, Carrie Brownstein. One of the best sketches from the first few episodes was called Human Bandwidth Manager. In it, Carrie went to her local HBM to disconnect from all forms of social media. The HBM warned her that this was a grave mistake and it went on to show her losing her best friend when she was no longer on Facebook and he was unable to google her. This was a timely episode as we had just completed a month long Twitter challenge in our district organized and led by my blogging colleague, Holly, so I had been thinking a lot about how connected I am, how many different forms of social networking I've signed up for and how this affects my life. I have accounts set up for instagram, tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and probably others that I don't even remember. I love using Pinterest to curate ideas for school and home, but hate that popping on it for a few minutes can often lead to a lost hour of my life...and for what, really? I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook and really stay connected there to communicate with my book club group. 

And then there's Twitter...Twitter is where my disdain or frustration or whatever other feelings I have about social media ends. I LOVE Twitter! I love that every time I click on the Tweetdeck icon on my laptop I will find seven great ideas to use in the classroom, three interesting articles to read, something that fires me up (usually about education reform) and a sweet baby animal picture (I follow those so that I can calm down after reading articles on education reform). I love that I can meet someone in another district in our state, she can give me the Twitter handle for a library related person she works with, I reach out on Twitter, and two weeks later I'm sitting in an awesome tamale restaurant in downtown Indy networking with other teacher librarians and learning how they are making the move to a different kind of library experience for their students...and getting advanced Destiny training before and after lunch. For those who say they don't have time or that Twitter is just people sharing useless tidbits about their day or random information, I say look again. Find a teacher whose tweets you like and follow who she follows. Take a look at an archived twitter chat for #1stchat or #edtechchat or whatever your interest and follow the people who participate. I promise you it will make you better at what you do.  So, thanks, Holly for helping our teachers in our district learn the power of Twitter and for those who've had their Human Bandwidth Manager check them out of social media, I highly recommend you check back in to Twitter. 

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