Just Go!

Sometimes you just need to jump right in and try something new!  This summer I attended an Ed Camp designed for educators in similar positions as mine.  There is still so much to learn and share!  One of the sessions I attended discussed formative assessments.  There were several tools I was familiar with, but one stood out to me, Formative.  I have seen the greatness of this tool, but until I had the opportunity to share with other educators I did not realize how amazing it truly could be!  When I returned to campus in the fall an educator asked me to share Formative with her department after hearing about it through other educators.  I jumped at the opportunity!

The initial setup is pretty simple.  There are three options for an assignment: Build, Preview, and Live Results.  When creating an assignment you can design questions as Multiple Choice, True/false, Short Answer, and Show Your Work.  The Show Your Work option is amazing for math educators because you can monitor how learners are solving a problem as they are going through the process.  When I shared this example with educators there was a collective "ahh!"  The Language Arts department was also thrilled with this feature.  Let's face it, teaching parts of speech is not always very thrilling.  With the Show Your Work feature, educators have reported learners are more engaged with the process and it is a more efficient use of time when grading learners work.  Game changer for sure!

Did you know if you have a question in a PDF or Doc format you can select the entire document  and add questions right on the document using the Upload & Transform feature?  This is awesome!!  Maybe you would like to have a link to a website or video to further explain a topic,  Add Content is another feature.  How great is it to have resources supporting learners right there with their assignment!

Once an assignment is ready to go, have learners initially join the class.  Then, learners will have the assignment show up as soon as they log in.  There is the option for participants to use a Quick Code to find an assignment, but if you want to utilize the grading feature to the fullest potential definitely have learners join your class.  Viewing the Live Results can be done by viewing a single question at a time or a summary view for the entire class.  When viewing a single question you can select an individual to "Zoom" for a close up look at individual results.  You also have the capability to override a grade.  You can also provide written feedback if learners are logged into their account!

As educators, we appreciate when resources are shared!  Formative has created a Community to connect educators using this product.  Also, the Library is a growing resource!  Look to see what is available.  You can always tweak to your needs!  And, you are creating amazing resources for your learners so be sure to give back!

When I was learning more about Formative I found videos on YouTube that made it very easy to follow along.  Click here to see the playlist of videos I found helpful, all created by the wonderful people at Formative!

What is something new you have tried lately?

My Favorite "New" Tool

I know it's not "new" but it is "new" to some people.  I think in a parallel life I might be a graphic artist.  I love putting images together to express concepts.  I enjoy looking at how others put logos and words together to market their products.  I find inspiration for design in teaching everywhere!  When I started working with Google Drawings it was a little haphazard on my part.  I have had my fair share of using PhotoShop, but sometimes you don't need all the bells and whistles to create eye catching graphics.   After using Drawings for a while, I now LOVE to create with this tool!

Drawings is simple, yet powerful!  For educators and learners this is another application they can easily access with their Google Suite account.  The one thing I hope Google will work on is making this amazing resource available for creation on personal tablets.  Right now you can only create Drawings on a desktop.

To get yourself familiar with the basic setup and creation of Drawings watch this video.

Here is a short video that will help you learn to utilize the Arrange menu in Drawings.  This feature helps the type A part of my personality when trying to get something to look exactly right!

Did you know there were so many different options for editing videos within Drawings?  Amazing how easy it is to mask a photo!

Now that you have these awesome graphics, what can you do with them?  And, did you know you have access to creating Drawings within a  Google Doc?  What to find out how!

I hope you learned something new!  Try a "new" to you Drawing to create something spectacular for your learning environment!

Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

Continuing on our journey to look at the #InnovatorsMindset characteristics, we looked at grouping Risk Taking and Reflection together.  My personal thinking in taking this action, if you take a risk, you better take the time to reflect if this was a good or bad idea!  Hopefully, it turns out to be a good idea, right?

At the campus where I work, we have discussed a lot about the importance of creating a safe environment for our learners to grow.  We are not only educating our learners about academics, but life skills.  My previous experience working with elementary made me think once children went off to middle school they somehow were so much older and wiser.  After spending only a few days at a middle school my perspective quickly changed!  Yes, laugh at me!  Have a chuckle.  It did not take long to learn how young middle school students are and how much they have to learn to be prepared for high school.  Wow!

I recall multiple conversations with educators across our campus regarding frustration when dealing with the behavioral aspects of technology.  We turned the focus of frustration to a productive conversation about providing our young learners an environment to fail, and grow.  We should keep in mind, most of us did not grow up with devices readily access information and connect.  As adults, we frequently need reminding how to handle our own personal devices, so why would our children be any different?  There is a reason why the doctor's office has a notice posted asking patients to turn off their devices.  For my own family, we do not answer a phone or text message during meals; and, we wait until we are not driving to check devices for messages.  Is it always easy?  No!  Is it the right example to set for my children?  Yes.  Do I want my children to make their mistakes now when they are young and the consequences are not as significant?  Yes.  Building a safe environment for our learners to take risks is an important part of their school experience.

Risking-taking is not limited to how we ask learners to act. At the same time, as educators we need to step outside our comfort zone and provide risky learning experience for our learners.  How are we designing learning experiences to help our learners stretch their learning?  I felt like I took a big risk when it came time actually discussing educators taking risks in their curriculum delivery.  Vicki Davis, AKA @coolcatteacher,  had recently published a podcast of an interview with George Couros, An Educator's Guide to Acceptable Risk Taking.  The interview is fantastic!  What is a risk for your classroom?  Nothing replaces good teaching, but we can make small changes to make us, as educators, feel outside our comfort zone to benefit learners.  Why are we doing this?  We do this for the learners!

I felt like I was taking a risk, asking educators to sit in a room and listen to a podcast for this PLC session.  For me, it was an uncomfortable situation to not have a video to watch.  However, I received positive feedback.  The podcast conversation was engaging, holding everyone in the room's attention and opening our groups up to more conversations.  This risk paid off!

After listening and having some process time the educators were asked to reflect on their own risk taking through these three questions: 1. Are you a risk taker? 2. Where could I take risks? 3. How am I disrupting my day?  I suggested they use Popplet because it was one of the apps highlighted during our previous app smashing session.  I wanted educators to feel comfortable using the app in a different manner than I had presented the last time we met.  Not everyone wanted to share and that's okay.  Several educators did share.  When they shared their personal thoughts, it helped everyone in the room to reflect on their own approach in planning and implementation with learners.

I realize my brain never turns off.  And, I have come to realize this thinking is actually more reflective of what I am doing and what I want to do to make learning better for learners of all ages.  Taking risks and growing in my reflective process, I'm still learning too!

Creativity

Creativity.  How do you help someone else be creative?  I love creating!  It really doesn't matter my end product because I enjoy the process of creating.  I enjoy cooking, which is creating with food.  I enjoy sewing, which is creating with fabric and thread.  I enjoy putting my own spin on ideas to create birthday parties for my family.  I enjoy designing learning experiences with educators for learners.  Collaborating with other educators is one of my favorite aspects of education.  I think the best experiences come together for our learners when we all collaborate to create!

When it came time to plan the next steps for sharing the characteristics of an #InnovatorsMindset, we could have chosen to follow the sequential list of characteristics, but I felt we needed to change things up a bit.  In our previous sessions we had focused on discussion of the mindset while modeling technology tools for collaboration and educator focused.  I wanted to shift the conversation to changing the mindset of how learners could express their learning more creatively.  It's not just about using a Google Doc or Slideshow to share knowledge or ideas.  There is a time and place for these products, but what were other options for learners.

What seems to be the most obvious is sometimes the hardest things to do!  I spent a lot of time looking at options for app smashing.  I found it very overwhelming trying to narrow down exactly what I wanted to share with educators in a model for app smashing.  Keeping it simple and clean, both in my presentation and in the app usage, was a priority.  I selected apps both "familiar" and "new to you."  I also have found a new love relationship with Google Drawings!  I simply had to Google Drawings as my canvas!  After much deliberation, the app smashing menu choices were ready.

I wanted to demonstrate the options of exporting a simple project to Photos in order to import to add multiple layers and functionality to a project.  Some of the different apps our group looked at have similar actions; and, we discussed being open to letting learners select the app they are most comfortable using.  We also discussed giving our learners the power to take ownership of knowing more about an app than the educator in the room.  We can all learn together!

From my awesome Coppell Digital Coaching Team, I had a wonderful resource to aid those who found an app that they wanted to know more about that included QR codes to video directions on how an app works and sample projects using the app.  Also, I was able to contribute to the resource a few more apps.  I am very appreciative to my team of the valuable resources already in place and want to contribute as much as I can to these existing gold mines!

One app the educators were very interested in learning more about is PhotoCard by Bill Atkinson.

It works exactly like a post card!  One feature I particularly like is that you can import your own picture.  Depending on the font size a lot of content can be covered in what turns out to be not so small of an area!  Between the imported image and the content, this app lends itself to any content area.  In the weeks since this PLC, this app has some up in conversation a number of times.  It is great to see educators embracing tools that fit their curriculum!

Our district is very fortunate to have Explain Everything purchased for every educator and all secondary learners.  This was the perfect opportunity to explore some of the underutilized features of this fabulous app and see how other apps could be layered into Explain Everything.

When we allow our learning to speak creatively we share a little bit of ourselves beyond the run of the mill classroom expectations.  Taking the time to examine the design of instruction by adding elements of creativity personalizes the experience for meaningful learning.  Isn't that what we want? 

Making a Connection to Understand Our Learners

As an educator, I know I have had several moments throughout my career when my eyes were opened to what was really going on with a learner outside of class.  It's the moment when all the little signs of missed assignments and changed behavior come together to reveal a situation beyond my belief or understanding.  It is in these moments my patiences truly kicks in and I can do my best to try to understand.

I remember standing in the hallway monitoring students as they entered the building eager to get to class.  It was the first cold day of winter.  Everyone was bundled up in coats, hats, mittens.  Then, one child in 3rd grade came walking down the hallway with his hands crossed and folded up wearing shorts and a T-shirt.  Every morning we would always exchange a "Hello!"  But, today I asked why he wasn't wearing a coat.  "It's literally freezing outside!"  With a big smile he responded, "It's not too cold for me!"  Later I would find out there was no money for a coat, food, or an extra bed.  The family barely had money for the apartment where they were living.  The fact the child made it to school most days was a miracle in itself.  That day my heart broke when I finally understood why school was not the most important thing for this child, but survival came first.

When designing the Leading Innovative Change Series for educators, the first characteristic introduced in the book Innovator's Mindset by George Couros, is empathy.  We have to be able to understand and connect with our learners no matter their circumstances in order to move their learning forward.  When I start to focus on a topic, it's interesting how so many examples begin to stick out everywhere I look.  I found a great video by Brene Brown of what empathy really means while going through tweets one afternoon.  I felt it was important to share the video in order for all of our educators to have the same understanding of the term.

When designing the learning experience for our educators it was also important to me to connect the larger concept of empathy to our district's Learning Framework, specifically in the area of building appropriate and positive relationships that foster a mutual respect.  To make this connection, educators were then challenged to tweet messages that supported, modeled, and promoted empathy at our campus.  The objective was to share our campus story beyond our walls.  Twitter is a tool the educators have been introduced to at various times; and, this opportunity gave educators a very specific purpose for their tweets.  The educators were encouraged to use hashtags popular within our district to help spread our story at Coppell Middle School West.

Here is the presentation used to share the concept of innovation regarding empathy:

First Steps

So our journey to Leading Innovative Change was well received during our initial conversation.  Sunny and I then began to think how we would make connections to all of the educators to do what is best for learners.  We wanted to gather data regarding how educators felt about giving their learners voice and choice.

We started by sharing Three Trends that Will Influence Learning and Teaching in 2016 by Debbie Morrison.  We felt this article provided the perspective of how learning is driving so many of the decisions being made by the learner, the owner of the learning.  Our learners no longer need to wait for a class period to access information when a device and connections are readily available to them at most any time.  A common question we keep asking ourselves is how are we writing tests that are not "google"able?

After reading the article we asked the educators to reflect using two different statements on a Padlet.  First, they needed to share an "I like" from the article where they agreed with or affirmed what they are already doing in their learning environment.  Second, we asked the educators to to share an, "I wonder" take away from the article in order to collect varying points of view, questions, or concerns regarding change.  Well thought out comments were shared by the educators demonstrating a desire for innovative change offset with slight hesitation of taking risks.

We then shared with educators one option of meeting diverse needs of learners through the use of menu boards.  Giving learners voice and choice can come in a variety of forms, but one form we have used in our district many times are menu boards.  When it comes time to creating a menu board, ask for help and suggestions!  Collaborating with similar content educators can also provide the resources when creating menus for learners.  Looking at Pinterest can be a great starting point when trying to create a menu board.  Menu options can vary from online tools and apps familiar to a classroom and those that are completely new and have not been used in a particular classroom before.  Learners will jump at the opportunity to support another learner, or educator, when tech support is needed.  And, YouTube is a must have, for me anyway, when I'm trying to learn a new tool.  I feel pretty confident moving around new tools, but when I get stuck the first place I go to find resolutions is YouTube!  I know I'm not the only one who has ever had a problem!!

At the end of the day, educators had been introduced to the possibilities of the learner-centered learning environment; and, being reminded how previously used tools such as a menu can promote student-centered learning while also providing a platform of differentiation.

Starting From the Beginning

A former boss once gave everyone in my department a framed quote that was individually picked for each of us upon her retirement.  The quote chosen for me was "Everything you do, you do with the child in mind."  From the time I started teaching I always considered how it would play out for the learners.  They were the reason I was there in the classroom.  Years later, when conversations with my colleagues began to center on what is best for learners, it just made sense to me.  This is what educators should focus on in the classroom.

Fast forward to this past winter, a colleague, Sunny,  was excited to share with me a book she had recently read that we both firmly believed in the message, The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros.  The message of empowering educators to lead change in their learning environments in order to push learners to think and be creative!  I get excited just thinking about it again!  We discussed how we wanted to spread this message to our circle of influence, our campus.

Around this same time we also heard about Teacher2Teacher #WhyITeach.  We thought there was a strong connection of having educators share their story as to why they began teaching with how transforming their classroom environment would best meet the needs of their learners.

From these resources and conversations a series of Leading Innovative Change began!  The series would focus on the 8 characteristics of an Innovator's Mindset, directly from the book.  Each week we would present a characteristic with some type of discussion while modeling a technology tool educators could then use with learners in their learning environments.   And so our journey began.

Our first session focused on introducing the series to our audience.  We shared the concept of #WhyITeach, had all the participants create their own story bubbles, and tweet their stories.  It was a very successful session.  There were a few individuals who were unable to participate on the particular day and made their way to the room later in the week to share their story!

It is important to me to also encourage educators to share the story of what is happening on our campus and connect with other educators to build their own PLN.  We encouraged the educators to share tweets using #cmswconnects.  We also encouraged educators to follow #tcea16.  TCEA is the Texas Computer Education Association conference highly attended!  It is a great place to learn!  It is a great way to connect, either virtually or in person!

The particular tool we wanted to focus on for this conversation was TweetDeck.  I showed educators how using a tool such as TweetDeck allows you the flexibility to follow individuals or hashtags on twitter.  We spent time setting up accounts and searching different hashtags for different areas of interest.  

Leading change had begun.  We were off and running.  Where would this path go?  We didn't know.  Who would jump at the opportunities to make changes in their learning environments?  We didn't know.  We had hope!  Hope is a great place to start.