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!
I have finally gotten to the point in my busy schedule to take a moment and reflect on the past quarter and a half. First, I must say, it is hard for me to believe that we are almost halfway through the first semester. Time is really flying by.
As I reflect on this year, one thing keeps coming to the forefront of my mind, common core. Now, it is possible that Common Core is the first thing I think of because at my school we are living and breathing the shifts of common core. Our journey began last year when we analyzed and reorganized our math series to fit the needs of common core and has continued into this year with our ELA instruction. We have focused our communication arts instruction on nonfiction, annotation and our seven keys to comprehension.
I am in awe at the effects I have already seen in my own professional development, thinking and lesson implimentation. I feel as though I am digging deeper into content and asking students to solve real world problems, research topics and become an important piece of the classroom community.
Currently, my third grade students and I are deep into our second research project of the year. Students were given a topic to investigate such as: Sun, Jupiter, Rockets, Moon, etc. Students learned how to use the Big6 information problem-solving model to integrate information, search and
use skills along with technology tools in a systematic process. They then are able to find,
use, apply, and evaluate information for specific needs and tasks.
With the help of Mrs. Halfmann our librarian, students used their researching skills to find appropriate articles on various internet databases such as searchasarus and ebscohost. They then used their reading comprehension skills to attack and summarize their articles.
As students continue through this research project, they are learning how to cite sources, develop bibliographies and synthsize information. Later this week we will begin focusing on our presentations and how we will analyze the information that has been collected. (stay tuned!)
While many people might argue that common core is unrealistic, or perhaps unattainable. I would challenge that this year I have seen low learners excited about investigative research, willing to make mistakes not even knowing that they were learning. I could not have imagined that a third grade student on a first grade reading level would be able to cite her sources or create an imovie on Uranus. But it is happening. These learning experiences are happening without struggle.
I am embracing the common core, although, it might not be perfect, I am already seeing positive benefits in both my students and in my instructional abilities. Thank you to my school district administration, for providing me the knowledge and support to move forward with my learning. I would also like to thank my colleagues for also diving in and doing what is BEST for students.
I know that I will continue seeing the positiveimpact of common core in my students this year.
If you would have asked me 8 years ago if I would ever have imagined taking a class of third graders and ipads to the biggest football game a rural community has ever seen... I would have asked you if you were insane! Maybe I am insane, or maybe like my father says (I am fearless). I did it.
Two weeks ago a colleague of mine, (another crazy teacher), called me on a Sunday evening. "Ok, I have this idea, it is either insane, or awesome".... and of course I agreed that it was probably both insane and awesome... Lets do it! Brian and I got together a devised a plan of attack in which students and their parents would met us at the homecoming parade and the game to video tape, interview, and document the events of Homecoming in a rural community.
What followed this planning, coordinating of high school students, parents, administration, was something that I will remember forever. Students were engaged, excited...literally skipping across the football field in attempts to video tape or interview a band member or homecoming candidate. (I won't mention that they were also holding an ipad while skipping). Watching 20 + students with iPads in hand video taping, engaged, and excited to interview patrons of the game was amazing.
Somewhere between, a student of mine weaseling his way through 75 high school students to video tape the homecoming court, or our students turning into the paparazzi with the homecoming queen, I thought we were going to get kicked off the field. Thankfully, Mr. McDavitt and I were able to round up our ducklings and get them off the field before one of the boys asked to take a candidate home with them! :)
It's moments like this, I love my profession. It's moments like this, I remember why I chose to do what I do. It's moments like this I will remember forever.
I cannot wait to continue on this learning journey with my students this year in hopes that we continue thinking 'outside of the box' and make learning come to life for students.
Check out Mr. McDavitt's blog for his view and fabulous post on this experience... (here)
I'm BACK!! I always knew the beginning of the year was stressful, but I feel that this year my stress level has hit a new point! Co -teaching, ipads, new ELA curriclum, Common Core and Math, and a new bunch of kiddos has rendered me insane!! No not really, lets just say, there are millions of reasons I have been a way for a few weeks but I am glad to be back.
I am happy to report that although I am very stressed out with school, I am very excited for this new year. The ipad activities are going great and my kids are getting into the swing of third grade. I can't wait to continue through the school year and watch these kiddos grow into amazing learners!
Ok, now that I have explained why I have been away for so long, I am excited to post on a new project.
In my 8 years of teaching, I typically have the moment where I am calling, calling, calling for a student, only to find out that the students is... in the bathroom, at the nurse... etc. Having 25,26, or now 27 third graders, it is hard to keep track of all of those bodies. This board below allows you to quickly assess who is in the room and if students are gone, and where they are.
My inspiration came from pinterest and another great teacher blogger: Second Grade Style.
HOW TO:
The Materials:
1. Grab a cookie sheet, something cheap... I would suggest a large size. Be sure it is magnetic.
2. You will also need heavy duty magnets. Something similar to below:
You will need enough for the number of students in your class.
3. Modgepodge
4. Ribbon
5. Scrapbooking paper, your choice!
The Steps:
Once you get all your materials, modge podge a piece of scrapbooking paper to your board. You will notice my board is not a cookie sheet, I was fortunate that my boyfriend is a welder and was able to cut out a 12 x 12 sheet of metal for me... but like I said this will also work with cookie sheets. You just may need to use more than one sheet of scrapbooking paper to cover the entire cookie sheet.
If preferred, you can also spray paint your board if you choose, however I troubleshot this and the paint quickly peeled off as the students used it.
You will want to drill two small holes at the top of your board to string your ribbon through to hang.
After the paper has been stuck on, take your ribbon and section out your board. Use modgepodge or hot clue to adhere the ribbon. Stick on your signs in the appropriate spots.
Next, take your magnets and place numbers on each magnet. Place the magnets on your board. I would suggest using hot glue on your magnets.
The board will need a few minutes to dry and then it should be ready to go for your classroom!
I would be happy to share my file with the pieces ready to print as needed. Just comment below.
