What now?

As I come to the conclusion of the classes for my EdTech endorsement, I am left with the question of what now?

I decided that in order to apply what I've learned I needed to set some goals.  Even better if others know what they are.  I'm lazy and I don't beat myself up over missed goals.  I do respond a little better to peer pressure.

Goals:

1. Take on the role of Technology specialist at my school.  As timing would have it our technology gal is leaving to be a mom!  My principal approached me to take it on.  I agreed.  If only for the high paying stipend!  Just kidding, I think it's only like $400 for the entire year.

2. Keep up my tech knowledge by taking at least 1 professional development course focused on tech each summer.

3. Update at least one lesson in each unit using trudacot for next year.

Technology makes my job easier.  I hope that I can continue to share what I've learned with my faculty members and continue to learn more!

turdacot and a Friend

One of my assignments for my educational technology endorsement was to help a fellow teacher walk a lesson through the trudacot process.

trudacot is outlined beautifully here by one of it's creators:

http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2014/08/toward-better-technology-integration-introducing-trudacot.html

Using the trudacot work sheet I was able to sit down with a second grade teacher in my school to review her introductory lesson on geology.  Why this lesson?  Mainly because it was on her curriculum map for the following week and she would be able to use it right away.

My first thought was, geology should be hands on!  Bring in some rocks, dig in the dirt, play!  But as we reviewed her lesson we were able to find several places where we could integrate technology to improve and expand her lesson.  The trudacot model encourages you to change only a few things at a time.  We chose to focus on collaboration and authenticity/relevancy.

Here is a link to the model:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/147Pqvr32qwnPXUBmUM1r8p10unZ-pID_cgLjkGwwAus/edit

In order to improve in both collaboration and authenticity/relevancy we contacted a friend of mine who is a real live geologist!  He agreed to Skype with her class and show them his current projects and answer questions.  The cooler part?  He's on sabbatical in Russia somewhere.  The kids loved talking with him and asking him questions.  The kids were more fascinated that is was already the next day in Russia.  To culminate their experience we made a video of what we learned and sent it to him.  It was truly learning at it's best.

I love the trudacot model.  I love that the model is very specific in it's questioning and that you are encouraged to only change a few things at a time.  It's very doable process for someone who is just dipping their toes into the sea of technology.

VOTE!

This week I was able to participate in a discussion with Tami Pyfer, Education Advisor to Governor Herbert (Utah).

The discussion with Tami was refreshing!  I was happy to find out there is someone rooting for teachers on the hill. Tami shared many things with us that the Governor's office is working on to help education in the state of Utah.

My biggest take-away from this discussion was that I need to spend more time paying attention to what's happening with education on the hill.  My attitude towards bills, proposals, and politics is often lazy.  I always justify this by saying it won't ever really affect me anyways.  I'm wrong.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  What happens in the senate directly affects what happens in my classroom, especially with regards to funding.

What to do about it?  The first thing is make sure I'm aware of ANY bills or laws that need my vote.  Also, make sure I understand my representatives education platform and agree with it.  I also need to make sure I let my representatives know what I want as a teacher and parent.  Email is easy!  They may even look at it.

One more thing on the to-do list, but an imperative one.

UCET - My First Tech Conference

Whoa!  Have you been to a tech conference?  I was a bit overwhelmed by the information overload until I took the advice of my instructor Pam Turley (@pamTurley55).

She suggested using a "dance card" of sorts.  You get to pick your top three take aways to investigate further after you go home.  As the conference continues, if you find something bigger and better, you have to take one off your list to add it.  You can only have three!

So my top three were these:

flippity.net
songsmith (Get it free as an educator!)
ActivInspire for Promethean boards (Now to get a board!)

I loved the idea of choosing three! I am looking forward to learning all I can about the three I choose and introducing them to my fellow faculty members.

Leading the Digital Revolution

I love sharing.  In fact it's one of the biggest skills we learn in kindergarten:  How to share.  We learn to share our toys, our desk, our supplies, and our knowledge!

As I learn more and more about using technology in education, I want to share!  I am saddened by the waste of learning opportunities when I see black screens in classrooms and the bored faces of students listening to yet another lecture.  How do I change it?  This becomes the challenge of being a leader in the digital era.

So far what I've done is simple...I leave my door open and turn up the volume.  I love when people pop their head in to see what we are doing.  I love it even more when they find me later to get more details.  I've now helped several teachers in my building with various tasks from a simple power point to a more complicated virtual field trip.

So far my favorite visitor this year was my principal and his pal the superintendent.  I had my back to the door as my class and I engaged in a rousing brain break from gonoodle.com.  As we danced and sang I heard a hearty barritone giggle behind me and whipped my head around to see the two gentleman standing just inside my doorway observing our antics.  At that point I was all in and knew their visit would be short so just smiled big and kept on dancing.  They left at some point before we were done and I spent the rest of the day worrying about what my principal would say later.

Later that day I heard the dreaded call on the intercom to come and visit in the office.  I put on my best smile and marched in to my doom.  I was wrong!!  Both my principal and superintendent where all smiles and encouraging of my integration of technology, music, and dance in my class.  In fact they heartily encouraged me to share what I knew.

I learned that day that even if my technology was simple, it was a start.  I am a leader by my example.

It's All About the $Dough$

I am currently working on my Educational Technology endorsement.  The past couple weeks we have spent time reviewing our district and state technology plans for education.

As we have done this we have been challenged with coming up with how to use what money we have effectively, but also how to use the technology effectively.

A general take-away I have had from these discussions is this:  Educators who have stayed current with technology are loving it, using it, and begging for more.  Educators who have ignored technology are letting it gather dust in their cupboard and hindering their students.  The problem becomes how to get those educators on board and make better use of the technology we already have in our schools.

The idea I most liked was technology coaches.  Similar to literacy coaches or GAINS educators, technology coaches could be assigned to multiple schools with the job of providing professional development to the faculty regarding technology.  As always the problem comes down to who will pay for it?  The idea is fantastic!  It's a proven model!  But it's expensive and to fund technology coaches long term is even more expensive.

It seems to me that the great stumbling block of education is always the money.  Who is going to pay for it?  I get it.  It doesn't make me happy, in fact, it infuriates me, but I get it.

Maybe what I should really do is figure out how I can teach kindergarten in a sports arena and convince hundreds of thousands of people to pay ridiculous amounts of money to watch me shape the future of our nation by teaching the basic skills of reading, writing, arithmetic, and to always wash your hands after using the toilet.  Who wouldn't pay to watch that?  After all they pay to watch grown men throw balls at nets.  I think I'm onto something...

Twitter Chat

Who knew?  You can chat in real time on Twitter!  And people do it ALL THE TIME.  They even have regular dates and times set up every week, like a date.  A virtual date with a whole lot of people.

So this week I did just that!  I participated in my first Twitter Chat this week.  This is the hashtag every week #Utedchat.  The chat is weekly on Wednesdays at 9pm MST.

It was fun!  I really enjoyed the questions posed and the opportunity to contribute my two cents when I felt like it.  I learned a few new things and hope that something I shared was valuable to someone else.

I'd recommend looking for a chat that applies to you.

Here is a transcript of the chat I participated in. Enjoy!

https://storify.com/covili/utedchat-56b4ec1ffa6215c8703c0800?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=email&utm_medium=email

Copied Post From Edublogs

To Tweet or Not to Tweet

Ahhh Twitter!  How I have avoided you.

I decided to do an endorsement in Educational technology and part of that is building a PLN (Professional Learning Network).  Much to my dismay, that includes participating in the world of Twitter.  Time to get with the tweets…

Twitter has always struck me as a hot mess of unimportant information.  However, as I have been learning to be very selective in who I follow, I am finding some useful information. I do enjoy the quick and dirty summaries of articles.

If I’m honest I find Twitter overwhelming.  I have started using tweet deck and that has greatly enhanced my experience. I have found that I enjoy the scheduled chats.  I don’t have to check in every week, but if it’s a topic I’m interested in I can jump in and follow.

As I learn to navigate Twitter, I will remember these things:

I can unfollow.

I can log in when I have time.

I can use tweetdeck to sort and categorize.

With these tips, maybe I will come to at least like Twitter.  I’m still undecided.  But until I decide to fly away, you can find me here:

@jessbmeteach

Why I Left Edublogs

I set up my first blog in Edublogs for a class assignment.  It seemed great, and then I started using it.

I entered the blog world many moons ago using Blogger.  I wrote a personal blog to keep out of town family updated on the antics of my four young children.  Then they got older...and I got busier...and the things they did weren't as cute...and so on.  I stopped blogging.  I kept reading them, but just didn't write them.  I liked Blogger, I was familiar with it.

After I set up my Edublog and wrote a couple posts, I started looking for the things I remembered from Blogger.  Formatting things like fonts, layouts, picture options, etc.  They just weren't there.  I was spending, in my opinion, too much of my valuable time trying to get Edublogger to do what I knew Blogger did.  So I'm switching my professional blog to Blogger.

I have found that many "new" apps and such do the same things as the old ones.  Some better, some not so good, but it's worth trying them out.

Jess Can Teach - All about the antics of the cute kindergarten students I teach and what I'm learning as an educator along the way.