Loads of ideas are furiously competing for attention on the center stage (which isn't very large) in my very overwhelmed mind at this point as I reflect on my first full day at Educon (the end of day 2). I've engaged with so many new ideas and people that have :
1. Stretched my thinking
2. Challenge my norms.
3. Forced me to look at my own personal strengths and weaknesses.
4. Inspired a personal/sincere passion to make kids into confident risk-takers who knows how to learn and will find success.
A Few Things I have Learned from Educon thus far:
1. I will sleep when I die. That is it.
2. I need to be more reflective. Period. Okay, so maybe not Period. I need to be more reflective, make those reflections concrete AND transparert through this blog while constantly reevaluating my role as teacher/learner.
3. PLN's are great virtually but PLNs are AMAZING when face2face connections are made! For me, those face2face connections act as an affirmation to this frequently indescribable notion that I have surrounded myself with brilliant learners who share similar passions and dreams for a successful, SUSTAINABLE educational system that addresses the needs of EVERY LEARNER every day in every classroom.
3.2 Avatars are often misleading. Just because you expect someone to sound a certain way or be a certain height, don't count on it.
4. Presentations are great but conversations are way better. I could listen to Joyce Valenza talk about citation issues or Kristen Hokanson share on how her role as a parent shapes her view of education. Would I learn something? Maybe. But would I learn more by talking to to others who are wresting with the challenges and ideas they shared? Absolutely! The conversations I have engaged in with my fellow Educonners and PLN have been meaningful and transformative on many different levels.
5. If I don't reflect AND ACT with some sense of immediacy on the feelings, ideas and challenges that have been imparted to me through this learning experience then I am failing myself, my colleagues and those kids who have a right to become more passionate, equipped learners.
6. People here are approachable, social and want to connect just like I do. Waiting to be introduced doesn't get you anywhere. Go for it! Introduce yourself and prepare to be overwhelmed by the kindness, sincerity and willingness to share from like-minded folks.
7. Make sure you understand the precise location of your hotel in relation to those places you visit and don't allow yourself to get too far from where you will rest your bones at the end of the day even if you think it's not all that far.
Reflections and thoughts on some of the sessions I attended and conversations I had will soon follow.
A follow up to the previous post- Everyone here is amazing and all my fears and anxiety were a waste of time. Thanks @djakes (David Jakes) for your comment and leveling the playing field. All my expectations as to how awesome this conference, as well as the people, would be have been blown away. This experience as a whole has engaged me in such a way that resistance is futile and growth is inevitable. Educon is way more bigger than the sum of its parts.
This will be my first time to attend Educon and as I sit here in the Orlando airport with some time to really ponder what's about to go down, I am excited and nervous all at the same time. It's like...well, going to my first Educon! I'm excited about all that I am going to learn as well as the potential for some transformative, engaging conversations that I hope to involve myself in. But then again, I am nervous about those conversations as well. You see, for me, lots of the folks attending Educon are those that I have put up on a pedestal and in my geeky world of education stuff, lots of these folks are almost like celebrities to me. No, they don't make money like Brad Pitt and aren't household names (at least not to 99.9% of the other people I know), but they are the people leading the conversations within education that matter to me. I see them as brave people blazing new trails daily with a sense of purpose and confidence that is very admirable. They talk about the things I am passionate about and challenge those notions that I sometimes don't fully understand or want to change within myself. They are the people that help me grow as a professional educator, the people I look to when I need to find direction and keep moving forward. So to be sharing the same room with them or even the same building is a bit intimidating and to think that I could actually find myself tossing around ideas and challenges with them, well that's just plain nerve-racking. I know it's just me and I know (or at least hope) that they don't see themselves that way. And from what others who have been to educon say about the awesome conversations, I am sure all are very approachable. But I still have that hurdle to get over, that self-induced feeling of intimidation. I guess we will see how it goes. I am sure it will be an awesome experience and regardless of my feelings, I am ready to jump in with both feet... shaky as they may be! And if my one encounter with a REAL celebrity (Lance Armstrong...I am a competitive cyclist, so he's a pretty big deal to me) proves to be true, I will quickly realize that we are all pretty much the same. As Frederick Buechner said in a round-about way, we are people seeking to find and make a difference in that place where our passion meets the world's great needs.
Over the course of the last few months, we have begun our initiative to create better digital citizens in our schools and community. This has led me to giving lots of talks to students as well as parents and one of the illustrations I find myself using over and over again is that of driving and comparing student participation in the digital space to that of someone underage driving a car. So needless to say when this video by billgx came down the pipe (via Twitter I believe) I was all over it! It's simple, short and worth 1000's of words. I am going to add this to our growing list of videos on the topic of digital citizenship and let it do the talking! Another fine example of content creation and sharing at its best. What do you think about it?
I work in a school district that realizes teaching digital citizenship is of the utmost importance and wants to do more to create a community of wise, educated digital citizens. So what we have decided to do is launch a campaign aimed at educating our faculty, students and our community in this area of digital citizenship. This effort is still in its infancy but we are planning on kicking off the community involvement component this fall by offering "town hall" style meetings where we will be bringing in various experts to share their thoughts on topics such as internet and cell phone safety, legal consequences of inappropriate digital behaviors, as well as cyberbullying and social networking. We have even gotten sponsors to offer door prizes (3 netbooks and an Xbox 360) as a way to encourage attendance. Our hope is that we can share ideas and information that will encourage parents and others in our community to take a serious look at their own digital behavior while empowering them with the resources they need to play an active role in teaching their children how to lay down positive digital footprints and become good digital citizens. We find that many parents want to be leaders for their children in the digital space but feel unprepared, so we are aiming to change that. We believe by giving them some practical tips and info, as well as sharing with them a common vocabulary that their children will be hearing on a frequent basis in their classrooms, parents will feel empowered to get involved in digital lives of their kids and hopefully make a positive impact on their future. We created a "teaser" video seen here that will be shown at all the school registration/open house events as well as school websites in hopes of raising an interest and encouraging parents to attend one of the meetings. What do you think? Have you tried implemented something similar in your district? If so, share a link or your thoughts in the comments.
Here's an example-this is a wall from one of my 3rd grade teachers. She created it for her students to post to as they begin their study of famous African-Americans. With her permission, I tweeted out the link and asked for others to post. Now her students are sharing outside the walls of their classroom!
-So here are some steps-
1. Go to this wall I created and check it out! Try posting something-simply doube-click on the page, type in your name and that's it! Click my sticky to see how Vocaroo actually works when used in a post.
2. Go set up an account at WallWisher-use your Google ID to sign in if you have one.3. Make a Wall to use with your class
4. Go to Vocaroo and record instructions for students on how to use the wall.
5. Paste the URL for the recording into a Sticky on your wall.
6. Share your wall via email, embed it on your wiki/blog/website, or tweet it and see if others will post!
If you do create a wall, share the link to it in the comments so others can see what you are doing, get ideas and even leave a note!
Here's what a Vocaroo Recording looks like when you embed it:
(This post was written 5/1/09 but is just now being published)
As a result of decisions made by the leaders in my district, today has been a day of great change in my life and I now find my professional career taking a turn in a direction that was unforeseen just few months ago, but welcomed. Let me preface this whole reflection by stating that this change isn’t a bad thing. It’s simply a change due to uncontrollable circumstances in our struggling economy and I am grappling with what this means for me as an educator.
So I found out today that I will no longer be a technology coach for 2 of the 3 middle schools in our district. This is a job I have been lucky enough to do for the past 2 years, something I have grown to love and developed a sincere passion for! Part of me is sad, part of me is bitter and part of me is excited about the change on the horizon. I am full of mixed emotions to say the least. I know, you are thinking ‘enough already…suck it up…these are tough times and you are one of thousands losing their jobs so stop being so selfish.’ Yes, I am losing my job but thankfully I am able to slide right into another position (7th grade social studies-civics/geography) in the same district without missing a beat. Also, I am sensitive enough to realize that unfortunately this isn’t the case for many people suffering lay-offs in our “jacked-up” economy. So please know that I am not writing to complain or blame. I am grateful!
Let me start by saying that I have never lost a job. And I have had my share of jobs…from digging holes and laying sod, surveying houses, loading/blasting thousands of pounds of high-explosives in holes in a quarry, delivering pizzas for Domino’s to bagging groceries at the local supermarket. During all my years of employment, I have never been asked to leave a job…until today. No, it wasn’t a total surprise. Rumors have been floating around for a few months and I had somewhat prepared for the possibility of being cut. In fact, I already my eye on a classroom position just in case I got this news. But it still doesn’t make the pill any easier to swallow now that the news is “official.” Am I sad because I won’t be doing what I love anymore? Yes, for many selfish reasons. But I am really sad because we as a school district have made a huge investment in providing the tools, infrastructure AND SUPPORT to our teachers so they can effectively grow as professionals and successfully meet the needs of their students in our changing world and stay true to our vision. We have made it our goal as a district to be a leader among leaders and truly create life-long learners. Our teachers across the district, K-12, ALL have an amazing set of tech tools in their classrooms (projectors, doc cameras, student-response systems, audio systems, tablet pc’s, digital slates, etc.). But we haven’t just dumped the tools on them and left them to figure it out. Everyone knows that doesn’t lead to success. We wisely beefed up our technology coaching staff and have, for the past 2 years, provided intensive support to help ensure that our teachers could effectively use the tools to change what they do and provide their students with the experiences, skills and opportunities they need and demand to find success in this “flattening world,” as Friedman says. Well, our plan has been overwhelmingly successful (at least in my opinion)! We have lots of teachers who are flying high and the ball is definitely rolling, but there is still so much work to be done.
However, in this struggling economy budgets are cut and tough calls have to be made, like the one that prompted this whole post. I, along with 3 other tech coaches, have been reassigned, making our district’s tech coaching staff go from 10 to 6 serving 17 schools. But please don’t misunderstand me…I realize some districts have no tech coaches and that we are extremely lucky to be able to retain 6 of the 10 positions. And as I said above, I am grateful to have a job during these uncertain times and work in system that isn’t letting these tough times change the vision. But even with 10 coaches, providing adequate support for all the teachers was always a challenge, so with 6 it’s going to be even tougher and I am afraid we will suffer in certain areas where we were starting to see growth. Hopefully this is only temporary but there will be negative consequences. One of my administrators used this analogy and I like it.
“We have been driving a race car wide-open for the past 2 years, but now with these changes, we need to simply see if we can keep gas in the car a keep it on the road.”
After being in that car for some time and maybe even pressing the gas to the floor a time or two, I know that in order for growth to occur…for this change to happen within our schools, which I believe we all see as an imperative step towards the future success of our nation, support has to be there! There are numerous blog posts, journal articles, books as well as countless students and teachers to back this up this claim. So that’s why I am sad. For 2 years I got to be a supporting part of this change, of something much bigger than me and one classroom. I witnessed professionals developing, I watched students engage that had never engaged before, I saw minds opened to new ideas…I saw change with my very own eyes. And to be a small part of that, experiencing it daily and knowing that it can and does happen is what has driven me…it’s my passion and it’s what I have grown to love! I would be lying if I didn’t say that it’s going to be very tough to change gears as I begin to shift my focus back to the classroom. But as I do begin to look towards next year as classroom teacher again, I must look back and recognize that I got 2 years of the best professional development possible and enter into this new phase with an amazing network of professionals surrounding me that won’t allow me do anything but succeed! That’s the power of the PLN and I love it! Now the challenge becomes translating it all into creating a 7th social studies classroom where kids will come to be challenged, feel valued and learn how to contribute to something much larger than themselves! One door closes and another is opened…but regardless, I am a teacher and opening lids is my job! And do you really think the teachers will stop emailing me when they want to try something new or need to know how to set up a VoiceThread account? Yeah right…
I struggle with how and when is best to teach someone new stuff. I can teach someone the same thing 2 or 3 times and if I offered to do it a 4th time, they may take me up on it. When does it become enough? I am not saying there's anything wrong with the person OR with what's being taught. I think it all revolves around the willingness to change and the openness to new things on an individual basis. I have worked with my 8 year old on blogging...I set him up a blog, showed him how it works, how to get pics off of his digital camera and helped him post a few things AND STILL he could really care less about blogging. It just isn't important to him at this point in his life. Yes, I see the benefits of starting him young and teaching him the power of writing for an audiance, creating a positive digital footprint, etc. But he just doesn't get it because HE doesn't want to get it or he doesn't see the importance of it. So should I bother? Should I teach him something that he doesn't see as important for his life? OR, should I work hard to teach him the "why" in hopes that he will begin to the see the importance and then take on the challenge of learning something new for himself, making a personal connection to whatever that may be so that it has meaning to him and not just me? I am pretty sure the latter is the better choice. Well, I KNOW the latter is the better method but I often find that I teach something and try planting seeds in soil that isn't ready. All that to say I think there is something to be learned from nature, which is lots of cultivation paired with critical timing is a necessity for proper growth to occur. Trying to facilitate growth when the conditions are not right can lead to discouragement. But being there when all things are aligned is a pretty amazing thing to witness and knowing you are an active part of that is truly indescribable. It's why I teach.
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