August 14, 2014 is Leadership Day in Technology and Education. What better day to celebrate Leadership day then just before many educators embark on a new school year. Many of you have either just begun school or will be starting in the last few weeks.
I am taking on the challenge to blog about Technology and Leadership in the P-12 school system and want to talk specifically about some of the changes we have faced in our community of Pleasant Hill.
Roughly about 2 1/2 years ago, on a cold snow day, I received an email informing me that my district would be partaking in a Connect ME Grant opportunity, in which several teachers across the district would be given 15 iPads for their classroom. In addition to the iPad grant, we would partake in professional development related to the iPads, and then transfer our learning not only to our classroom, but to our building teachers as well. My prayers were answered that following May and I was able to take on the challenge of iPads in education. As I continued through my journey last year, I definitely got frustrated, excited, nervous, and scared and various points on my journey, but definitely feel that all of those experiences allowed me to become a more innovative teacher and leader within my building.
I owe this opportunity to the leadership in my district. I am fortunate to be a part of a district that allows teachers a voice and an opportunity to grow professionally. More specifically, it was our Assistant Superintendent and our Technology Director who made these changes across the district happen. They have put technology in the hands of their teachers, which in turn put technology into our learners hands.
Unfortunately, I feel that our administration faces challenges on this journey. Those challenges are our teachers. While I don't mean to call anyone out or put anyone down, I feel that in Pleasant Hill, our administrators are supportive and eager to allow technology into our students hands, but many of our teachers feel nervous, scared, or unable to find ways to incorporate these devices into classroom instruction.
I hope as we continue on this journey with the rest of the country, that I can help my district administrators inspire other teachers throughout our district. More specifically, in my building, I hope to be a reference and a leader for teachers to use technology within their classroom instruction.
Again, I am lucky to be a part of a wonderful community and supportive administration that allows teachers to do whats best for students.
Every year teachers spend their summers lounging by the pool, reading a book (that isn't required by their school district) and researching (or should I say pinteresting) new and exciting ideas to begin a new year. Let's be honest, even though we have the summers off, our brains are always searching for the cute bulletin board idea or developing new lesson ideas to start the next year off perfectly.
I must admit that once August 1st hits (sometimes even before) I am pulling long hours in my classroom crafting, organizing and preparing for a new school year. I always get so excited to get a new group of third graders to spend nine months with. Every year, typically right around this time I also like to send out a friendly letter to my students. I send a post card welcoming them to third grade, telling them how much fun we are going to have, and expressing my excitement to meet them at Meet the Teacher night in a few days. But this year, my letter was crafted a little differently.
This past July, I had the opportunity to attend Podstock (read more about that here) and was honored to listen to the keynote speaker (Todd Nesloney). In his powerful and inspiring speech he talked specifically about his students and the letter that he sent out prior to meeting his class. He, like many teachers, also sent out a letter to his students before Meet the Teacher, but his was different. Instead of welcoming them to 5th grade, he wrote about what he knew they could do, dream, and accomplish that year together. "I know I haven't met you yet, but I know you can accomplish anything." Wow. How powerful. To think, some of those students probably have never heard that, had the encouragement to do anything they want to do, and this teacher, never to have met them, believed in them. Todd continued on with his story, ending with one specific student coming back to him at the end of the year with this same note in his hand saying, Thank you. He told Mr. Nesloney, you believed in me, and you didn't even know me. That meant something to me.
As I sat there (of course bawling) I thought about the impact that short note had on that one student in Mr. Nesloney's class and knew immediately that I wanted to have that same impact on my students this coming year. So three days ago, I wrote. I wrote 23 notes that went something like this....
"I know I haven't met you yet, but I already know how amazing you are. I know you can accomplish anything, learn anything and be anything. I can't wait to help you on your educational journey. You are awesome! We are going to have a great year of learning and growing together! See you soon. - Mrs. Pickett"
I hope that this note will help inspire that student who needs a little extra love and encourage my struggling students to keep going this year. I hope to make the same impact that Todd made on that one student, that one year.
My challenge to you and other teachers is to do the same thing. If every teacher across the country was able to write a letter like this. Think about the impact we would have on kids. The inspiration and culture that we could create allowing children to accomplish ANYTHING they want to... Amazing!
I know this time of year is hectic, stressful, and overwhelming, but instead of organizing that cabinet, or crafting that project, write a letter to your students. Even if you have already met them, it will still mean the world to them.
Thank you Todd Nesloney, for helping me inspire others.
Almost 2 weeks ago, I was enable to embark on a journey, or shall I say experience that has changed my view of education completely! My school district allowed me the opportunity to attend a National Conference held in Witchita, KS called Podstock. Podstock was a great way for me to not only hear and learn from brilliant educators, but also allowed me to connect with realteachers, experimenting and trying new things!
I have taken the last few weeks to really reflect ( heal a sprained elbow..) and evaluate my experiences at Podstock14. I have walked away with several ideas, strategies, and thoughts that I hope to incorporate into my classroom as I begin year 9.
#1 The Flipped Classroom and PBL
The keynote speaker at Podstock was Todd Nesloney (@TechninjaTodd) who I was also fortunate enough to listen to in a break out session regarding flipped classrooms. He spoke a lot about NO EXCUSES. When adopting this way of teaching, we must except no excuses from students. For me, strangely enough, this was very eye opening. I have always been that teacher that is "understanding" or "accepts it late". With a flipped classroom, this cannot be the case. All students no matter the situation, economic status or family dynamic are responsible for watching the video before class. If this does not happen, there is No Excuse.. and the student will need to be held accountable. While this concept feels a bit scary for me... (what will the parents say, do?.) I am eager to begin my classroom with these high expectations for learning.
Todd also said, "When you let kids follow your passion, they fall in love with learning." This quote is something that also stuck out to me. Todd spoke about a Math Fair that he had his fifth graders complete. The object: take something you love and tie it to math, you need three visuals. At home the students worked on these projects. The result, a math fair in which students presented what they learned to both parents and peers. Just listening to his story and hearing his passion I felt connected to these kids and their learning. It is experiences just like Todd's Math Fair that will keep kids wanting and needing to learn. Another great PBL that Todd shared with us was taking his classroom and turning into a hospital. Students came into a transformed classroom and learned the ins and outs of fractions, while also becoming 'certified doctors'.
Listening to Todd and his experiences helped me see the benefits of PBL and the impact that it can have on students. Todd also helped me understand the management and logistics of beginning my journey into the flipped classroom and PBL. My main goal as I begin my new year is to tackle this head on. I only expect to become frustrated, confused, upset, excited and energized as I begin and continue on this journey throughout the year, but am so excited to see my students light up and get excited about learning.
I was so fortunate to have met and connected with Educational Guru Ginger Lewman (@GingerLewman). In the brief amount of time I was able to spend with Ginger, I learned that she has a gift of pushing educators to thinking outside of the box. (I also learned how to take a dueling selfie..picture should be inlcuded).
In PodStock14 Pre-conference, Ginger held a break out session in which teachers were pushed to think outside of the box, outside of the norm, and discuss with peers. What would school be like without bells? What if we didn't have snow days? Questions that make you ponder think and then ultimately change. I loved everything about this session, it not only allowed me to stretch my thinking, but I was able to talk and connect with new teachers, which in turn allowed me to walk away with new ideas.
When I began teaching 9 years ago I knew the importance of collaboration and connections with colleagues. I was always told the more heads the better. It was not until Podstock that I realized that my connections and my collaboration does not have to be limited to my building or school district. Thanks to twitter, teachers across the world are at my finger tips to learn from, talk to, and collaborate with. Prior to podstock, I was an ameature tweeter. I would randomly get on twitter, scroll through a few posts and move on.
I am hoping as I begin connecting with more teachers I will expand my professional knowledge to help my students achieve success.
Goal #2: Connect, expand and grow with my networking.
#3 FUN
My final goal and reflection of Podstock is to remember to have fun while teaching. "Teachers need to show students that adults can have fun so they want to grow up." If I am not enjoying and loving my profession then how can I expect my students to enjoy and love the learning?
Goal #3: Have FUN!
Podstock was SO.MUCH.FUN. Connecting with teachers, late night converstations, selfies, and superheros will be in my memories of #Podstock14. I can only hope to attend next year and continue on my new education journey.
Podstock isn't just a conference... its a GAME CHANGER.
Thank you to everyone who allowed this newbie to feel apart of the family. I look forward to the reunion next year... Podstock15
Eek! November 19th was my last blog post! I guess that is what summer is for, getting married, sleeping, working on that tan.. and blogging!
I will say that I haven't been totally blog-less over the past year, as I have been working hard on my student blogs, posting and sharing all of our great project over the school year. I hope to try to get on the ball and attempt to post more often. I don't know that I can commit to once a week, or even once a month... but I do hope to try to share more ideas and thoughts as I continue my journey in education!
So now... down to business...
10 Shifts I plan to make as I begin thinking about next year.
It's amazing to think that another school year has ended. I don't know about my fellow educators, but this year felt like it came and went, with a blink of an eye. If you are anything like me, summer means many things for us a teachers. It allows for the opportunity to rest, relax, and rejuvenate from the long nights and busy days of work! It allows the opportunity to spend more quality time with your family, hopefully going on a few vacations to a beach! But, for most educators, it also means, time to step away from your curriculum and classroom responsibilities to really dig deep and make changes for the upcoming school year.
Recently, I stumbled upon a tweet from @bradmcurrie linking to an article about the shifts educators need to make for the upcoming school year by @justintarte. This article really spoke to me about some important things that I need to think about as I begin a new year in August. While I believe I have already begun to change my teaching philosophy based on this list, there are many educators who have not. In my building there are many classrooms and teachers that do not see these changes in the next year, or perhaps, in the near future. It is our job as educators, and constant learners to help those teachers within our community who do not seek out new ideas and professional development grow.
Number 10 really spoke to me, Stop waiting for someone else to make a difference or make the change. You are the difference....you are the change.
I invite you to take a moment a read through these 10 ideas and comment about how you plan to make these shifts in your classroom next year!
