We Have come Full Circle

We Have Come Full Circle

I have enjoyed my week learning from so many wonderful educators.  There insight was inspirational.  I am amazed at the tasks that are ahead of them.  With our new knowledge, we can transform the world.

I enjoyed putting my thoughts together for the final presentations. In itself it was a transformational experience that I even had with my husband.  My learning and "story" have evolved and I feel better about my path in education.  I have a lot of opportunities that await me and I look forward to the journey.

I believe in the POWER of a story.  We all have stories that have shaped us.  We don't spend time sharing our stories.  I truly believe that we can shape and change our world and community by understanding each of other's stories.



Final Presentation Thoughts and Inspiration:

1.
Right-Brainers will RULE the world---

• they are creators
• they are empathizers
• pattern recognizers
• meaning makers  YES!

6 Essential Abilities

• Design
• story
• play
• empathy
• Symphony
• Meaning

2.  On Noelle's Blog

The Road to Motivation---

taken from Drive by Daniel Pink

Students need:

• Self Direction
• Mastery---students want to feel like they have mastered something (video game, art, dance, baseball, etc)
• Purpose

Ask yourself when preparing a lesson

Am I offering students any autonomy?

Does this assignment promote mastery in an engaging way?

Do my students understand the purpose of the assignment?

3.

On the Road to a Personal Device Plan-Rob

The issue-Cell phones in the classroom


4.
 Using Notability-Cherie Anne

5.
Becky Armistead's Adventure into the World of Technology
Goals:

• SMART Notebook
• Google Docs
• Classroom Blog

***All of these will make teaching and LIFE more efficient  Lofty goals but doable!

6.

Transformation in Action

Center Court-What is your local vision?
I feel that when it comes to technology I have exhausted my attempts within my district to move forward.  I believe they KNOW what needs to be done but they do not have a plan.  They continuously talk the talk of how important technology is in education but they do not walk the walk.  They want it to drop from the sky.  There is a lot of wondering and imagining but no action on "why" we need it and "How" we will get there.  Each school is site based and when it comes to technology some administrators see the need and others focus in other areas.

My local vision is K.I.S.S (keep it simple silly).  I will implement the flipping PD on a very basic level. Start with me and then move onto a few of my colleagues.  We have a lot of untapped tech talent.

Check It Out!
Massive Open Online Course MOOC
http://www.mooc-list.com/

Utah Education Network  UEN-Valuable resource of teacher lessons
http://www.uen.org/k12educator/corelessonplans.shtml


Sir Ken's video of visual mapping of impressive and mind blowing.  Not only the imagery but the wisdom is thought provoking.

______________________________________________________
I have had a little experience of visual mapping.  Lacking the artistic part, I still am excited to see this process in a classroom.

Apps mentioned in video I have tried:

IDEAS
AirSketch
Sketchbook Pro
Brushes

***I prefer Sketchbook Pro with kids. I got the free version.  It's fine.



Public Relations: Helping parents and Community Understand 21st Century Learning
How to create effective presentations?

Effective websites you should:

• Clear Vision and & purpose
• User focused Navigation
• User Engagement
• Clear and Concise Messaging

Don't make me think when I navigate through a webpage!

REMEMBER---
When creating a presentation one technique is "timing out".  Create presentation in iMovie or prezi (auto play)  Have each slide have a time set and then as it plays

Garr Reynolds-Guru of GREAT presentations.  A former Apple Exec
http://www.garrreynolds.com/introduction/

Jim Knight-Instructional Coaching Guru.  Radical Learner
http://www.radicallearners.com/

Reflection:
Today's learning was practical and worthy.  I enjoyed the ideas.  Some were brand new to me and others I welcomed the revisiting.  My mind wanders to the Sir Ken Visual Mapping video and the multi-layered ideas that are flowing through my mind.  I can see it used in every content area and adding the audio of a book or teacher lesson so the student could "map" out his learning.  I can see the video being used at the staff level and allowing the message to come through without having an agenda.  I think that would be powerful!

My learning curve on online  learning is huge.  There are so many levels of discussion, it hurt my brain!  At this time I am in the role of listener and I appreciate the comments that were made in class.  So complex!

A DAY OF DISCOVERY

Today's class was started off right.  It was a day of discoveries on many levels.  My brain is in overload.  I am loving it!  I feel very comfortable with technology and somewhere in the bak of my mind I try to tell myself that I don't care about it but having conversations about poor practices integrating technology and hearing the same old stories makes me come alive about my vision. 

I am inspired by the idea of "Flipped" Professional Development.  It is a concept that needs to happen.  Teachers need to feel success and value with their time and the model allows for success.  We actually did this model in a small way last year by piloting Teachscape, a teacher evaluation system of videos and classroom scenarios that teachers could access on their own time.  It was a huge success!  I sat at Starbucks and watched my videos and felt relaxed and inspired to be a better teacher after being involved with this new PD.

GOOGLE ROCKS!!!  Do I need to say more?

G Doug Bundy Google Certified Teacher

Site

Google Drive has so many possibilities.  Who needs to go to the internet?  It's all accessible in Google Drive.

My new favorite saying, "I'M ON GOOGLE TIME!"

StudentSource Site.  

A site for students BY students.

What a great repository of common core connections with modules made by students in Beaverton.  It's a place for kids to go where self learning is encouraged. Talk about Flipping the classroom!

TED Talks

Jane McGonigal

Gaming Can Make a Better World

Sugata Mitra

Build a School in the Cloud

The idea of storytelling is a passion for me.  I believe in the power of a story.  Everyone has one and knowing their story makes them human which entails helps others see them in a different way.  The power of digital storytelling inspires, creates and documents our history.  We are social.  Students need a voice in their education. It's imperative they create and collaborate.

In the article by Zucker, Educational Technology, he says "In everyday life, email is perceived by people as adding to the "social glue" that binds us together as a community and stay in touch."  I would like to add that it creates relationships.

Article Educational Technology-Zucker

• Education is transforming because of technology
• Walls of schools need to be broken down-technology allows those barriers to go away.  Proficiency based-will there need to be age appropriate grade levels?
• Technology brings opportunities along with problems
• "Social Glue" Technology can be the glue to connect communities which schools desperately need.
• Accountability/integrity/moral values need to be present. EVERYONE is responsibility--parents need to be part of the process
• Online curriculum needs to improve.  the right tool in front of the right kids will foster success
• Don't want Junk!  :)
• Utilizing Instructional Technology needs to enhance to curriculum.  "How are we using the billion different programs/apps.  That is the art!"  Brian
• It's not want programs you use but HOW you use it!

Here's my "quick" video we did in class today.  You can see where my mind was.

I recommend the following book:

The Storytelling Animals. How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall

Check out my repository of Podcast ideas, scripts, hardware, etc

http://bit.ly/18B2eNk

Check it out!

Doodle

Dragon Speak

Schoology

edmodo

Noteability

Evernote

Diigo

PD360

SimpleK12-great webinars

Tech Reflection of the Day

How can Sir Ken Robinson say what he says?  Don't we wish we could say what he clearly points out about the pitfalls of education to the right people?  I wish I could.  I believe that education is not about REFORM but about transforming.  It's not a revolution but an evolution.  

I believe that education should be "organic."  I love the word itself!  It brings the idea that we can organize without organizing and that we can start from within. It allows room for experiment and allows for richer experiences without recourse. It becomes personal. We have a lot of work to do within the walls of education.  

Sir Ken says that passion is what excites our spirit and it takes us on a different course. Passion needs to feed our spirit!  I am passionate about teaching and I am passionate about learning.  I believe that we have to recognize that humans flourish when things are organic!

I BELIEVE! 

We are in this together.  So how do we share our concerns and ideas without being "squashed" by the education nay-sayers?  

Thoughts?

Oregon Council of Teachers of English presents the NW Regional NCTE Conference MARCH 1 and 2nd, 2014 at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Portland.  On March 3 there will be a post conference workshop focusing on technology and literacy and of course the common core.
Yong Zhao will be a Keynote speaker.  I am most excited about Jack Berckemeyer.  I saw him at the AMLE conference in Portland last November.  He was so funny and engaging with the audience.  He made everyone in the audience (mostly educators) feel appreciated through his humor and realistic view of every position that is involved in the daily life in education.

Oregon Council of Teachers of English-NW Regional Conference 2014 PORTLAND