March Madness-Team JXN Style

I use to complain about how long and drawn out the month of March was. No holidays or vacations to look forward to, and spring break teasing us at the end of the month. You may get lucky with one last snow day (which we did this year) and if I was fortunate my birthday would fall on a weekend at the end of the month.

As we roll through this final week of March and into spring break I caught myself saying "Holy crap, it's almost April!". I have felt blessed for this "easy week” with not many appointments so I can get caught up on all the things I have let slide over the past month.

However, March 2016 was pretty amazing for Team JXN!  Kellie DeLosSantos joined our team in late February and jumped right in.

We spent 3 days in Grand Rapids at MACUL presenting, volunteering, making, networking and enjoying time with educators we only get to see a few times a year.

On St. Patrick's Day we had some fun with the New Teacher Academy and held Shamrocks and Scavengers a massive scavenger hunt through Jackson County. Teachers were divided into teams of 4. Given a list of coordinates and hints. Then given 30 minutes to plan their routes. Once they were on the road their task was to get to one of the points, take a team picture at the location, and use a QR code to post the picture to a Padlet to let us know they had made it to the location. If they were one of the first 2 team to the location they were given some pretty great St. Patty swag by one of the JCISD employees that was hanging out there. Teams were given points at each location (they did not know the point values) and extra bonus points were given to teams that could find Alaina or I at specific locations we tweeted out. At the end of the afternoon they all met back at the ISD for cool prizes! Check out pictures from the event HERE.

#teamjxn

The following week we hosted a PD for local teachers called “I STEAM, You SCREAM”. This PD was developed to give teachers time to play and plan for STEAM and Maker activities in their classrooms. Time is something that many teachers don’t have and as great as STEAM and Maker are, planning can be very time consuming.

Teachers playing with Spheros 

We topped off March with Keicher 3rd Grade Tech Day. This was a conference inspired by some awesome Mattawan teachers that have paved the way for technology exploration in a fun and engaging way. Stacy Arnold was the brainchild for this specific event and we were fortunate enough to help her in the planning process. Students selected sessions they wanted to attend throughout the day. Volunteer teachers and Michigan Center High School students helped run each session. It was an amazing and inspirational day for everyone. I think the VIDEO will say it all.

Students playing with MakeyMakey

I am proud of ALL our TeamJxn members! Alaina and Kellie are two amazing gals to work with and Shannon who lets us follow our crazy ideas. Along with some pretty amazing admin and staff in Jackson County with innovative minds along with passion and pride to do what is best for their kids! 

I can't wait to see what the rest of 2016 holds.

I Lost Something at MACUL 2016

Yes, I came home with all the iPads and robots. What I lost at MACUL 2016 was my voice! If you know me well, you know I can talk...a lot. It's a trait of being an only child. However, it has been a long time since I lost my voice. I think I was in the 8th grade when I had full-on laryngitis. I guess it's a good thing I don't plan on spending the evening on my party line. 

This bout of laryngitis is due to the great conversations I had with amazing educators at the MACUL conference. Conversations with good friends, co-workers, old co-workers, Twitter friends I finally got to meet, new acquaintances, and attendees at my sessions. 
We spoke about Making, MakerSpaces, technology, technology clubs, networking, communicating, learning spaces, and coaching. We shared stories, experiences, and goals.

I may not have made it to many session. Ok, I did not make it to any. But, spending that time listening to adults who were inspired to make a change in their classroom because of something they learned in a session or played with in the MakerSpace and hearing from those sweet kiddos in the student showcase share their learning was well worth it!
I will continue to learn from these conversations because I will continue to learn from these people I met and connected with at MACUL. Once my voice comes back:) 

Open Education and the iiE

Open Education

Over the past seven weeks, I have been learning more about open education through cases of connected learning in the UofM-Flint course "Investigations in Open Education". We looked at open education through three lenses: tools, communities, and interest-driven practices. The term "open" is not new to education; educators and students have always openly shared, communicated, and learned with others. However, technology in the 21st century has given "open" an entirely new meaning. Open education now means freedom. Freedom to learn when and where we choose, and who we chose to learn with. So, how do we implement this new idea of open learning? 

http://connectedlearning.tv/infographic 

Connected Learning

Connected learning gives us the framework for open education in the 21st century. In the connected learning framework teachers are no longer the “gatekeeper” of information and shift their schools and classrooms to a more student-centered approach where students become “connected” to social networks and learn to become responsible for their own learning.

"Connected Learning is an educational approach designed for our ever-changing world. It makes learning relevant to all populations, to real life and real work, and to the realities of the digital age, where the demand for learning never stops." (connectedlearning.tv)

iiE

This all came together during my three days on the UofM campus at the Institute for Innovation in Education (iiE). Day one was interest and academic driven with workshops offed for participants to attend. I had a great time learning more about gamification from Tim Saunders, Amanda Pratt, and Winona Tinholt's workshop, Playtesting: Remixing Off-the-Shelf Games for Your Classroom (gameful-learning.org). Classroom gamification is something that has really interested me over the past year. In the afternoon, I lead a session on instructional coaching. The session focused on best practices in instructional/technology coaching, from knowledge and skills to supporting innovation, to building relationships and trust. We discuss the role of both the coach and the coached, problem-solved, and network with other coaches. The session was open to current coaches or aspiring coaches, administrators, or anyone who wants to learn more about the role of coaching. (session notes)

Day two focused around educators and business leaders having a shared purpose for innovation in education and networking with one another to make that innovation happen.
Hearing from Richard Sheridan CEO of MENLO Innovations and author of Joy Inc. speak about how a positive work culture and space can help "reintroduce learning, so you can stop teaching" was very powerful and inspiring. The afternoon gave time for some with special projects to share their ideas, needs and wants to help strengthen their projects. I was proud to share the Lincoln Technology Club at the afternoon poster session. During that time, I networked with people in the education, STEM, and technology field to help further my ideas for the club. The un-conference sessions allowed P-12 educators, higher education, non-profit and private sector participants to collaborate, share, and inspire one another around topics fabricated by iiE attendees.

Day three and four was production centered with collaborative project work days. Day three simply allowed participants to produce, create, experiment, and design along with collaborate, share, network and receive feedback from peers. I spent the day working on designing the Lincoln Maker and Technology Club for the fall of 2015. During the breakout jigsaw sessions, I was able to review my work and discuss roadblocks I was having and help I needed to further the project. I left day three feeling that I got a lot accomplished!

Having such great experiences like the iiE and having it help me understand what open and connected learning sounds like, looks like, feels like was very powerful. What if more teachers could have this same experience? The experience to learn more about what interest them. To share, collaborate, and network with others of the same interest. To produce meaningful and innovate work and receive feedback and help from peers.

What would our schools, classrooms, and students look like then?
I imagine much differently.

So Excited To Be A Moderator For #michED

I will say it again, I LOVE this group of educators. Every Wed at 8pm I am uplifted and inspired by teachers who want to make teaching a more positive profession. We share ideas, make connections, talk about what is best for kids, and have a few laughs. 
Tonight Tara Maynard and myself will be moderators for the chat, so excited!! 

2014-15 Off To A Great Start!

WOW! What a great week! I learned and shared so much with educators from across the state and county.

Monday: I spent the day shopping with my mom (and 4 year old son). My mom has been an educator for 40+ years and our conversations always include stories, ideas, and insight into education.

Tuesday: EdTech Kickoff with #TeamJXN. I spent the day learning from some great Jackson area teachers. People always wonder why I love to go to conferences/workshops, “Don’t you already know enough about ___?” My answer is always, “No, I don't know everything. There is always something to learn.” I learned three new things on Tuesday that I can’t wait to share and start using back in Adrian.

1. Making an email address for a Blogger account. This allows you to send a blog post

   to your blog by simply typing an email and sending it to the blog address. Last year
   I tried to get a blog started for our district. Took the time to show admin how to
   use the blog but the only one posting was me. I am going to try out this method
   to see if this will be an easier way for them to post. Thank you Ramsey Musallam.

2. If This Than That. I had looked at IFTT before but never really used it. I learned on
    Tuesday that you can set up an IFTT for Instagram pictures to post to a blog as a new
    post. Thank you IFTT! Thank you Ramsey.

3. Voxer. Again, I had an account but did not really understand the value. Until I sat in on  Ben Gilpins session and learned that it can actually be a pretty powerful tool for giving instant walkthrough feedback to teachers. Thank you Ben.

Wednesday: It was my turn to present at the Lenawee ISD on CRAFTeTechnology. I spent the day showing groups of educators apps and sites that will help aid them in getting students to show understanding, respond to text. I loved the impromptu sessions they wanted at lunch to learn how to setup Google sites and one at the end of the day on Google Forms. It is great to work with others who are appreciative of your help and work. We all learn a lot from each other.

Thursday: I turned around and presented (with Kellie DeLosSantos) back in Jackson at the first ever Digital Leadership for Learning conference. What an amazing opportunity for us to share with others the hard work we have been doing at APS. Many times we do not feel like what we do is that special. The response we got was AMAZING and so uplifting. I was also inspired by others with the sharing and networking that took place. I took a risk and lead an Idea Buffet group on Google, I asked questions that in the past I would have been afraid to ask, and I was happy to know that our team is on the right track to making APS a great place for our students.

2014-15 is off to a great start!  

Tomorrow I rest...

Daily 5 Revamped

I had the pleasure of working with elementary teachers from all over the county at the LISD's Daily 5 Revamped. I was asked to share apps and websites that engage, support independence and stamina. I was lucky enough to "present" in the new CMat center. I loved the comfy, collaborative space to talk and discuss with others.  

I titled my session 5 for 5,  the purpose of the session was to focus on 5 engaging apps to use during Daily 5: Explain Everything/Educreations, Aurasma, Nearpod, Write About This, and Zooburst.

Aurasma was fun to show the teachers. I used the book Grace for President and with the help of my 7 year old daughter we made the book interactive using Aurasma and Explain Everything (check out the video, sorry not the best quality). We made AR flashcards using vocab terms from the book also. 

Video your students reading a piece of writing and make the piece a AR trigger for parent teacher night. 

I become more and more impressed with Nearpod. Publishers like Time for Kids and ReadWorks.org have started producing Nearpod lessons to go along with the magazines and articles. I shared with the teachers that Nearpod is a great way to formatively assess students during and after a lesson.  

In two weeks I will be back to the CMat to present at CRAFTing on A-Z Science, Evernote, and Google collaboration.

I can't wait for our classrooms to start looking more like this! 

  

I'm Back

Whenever I am feeling a bit overwhelmed
this picture comes to mind.  

Summer is coming to an end and school work is starting to pick back up. Even though I have had a little down time over the past month and a half, I have been working on preparing for a few PD events and designing a course for a class I am taking for my Ed Tech endorsement. I love when people ask me if I enjoy having my summers off, I like to reply with "I am on a different shift". It is not easy being a stay at home mom and full time teacher in the summers.

Over the next few weeks I have the privilege of presenting at the Lenawee County Intermediate School District. First is July 30th 5 for 5, The session will focus on 5 engaging apps to use during Daily 5. On August 4th I will be assisting at the LISD's writing camp. August 13th I am back for CRAFTing showing teachers how to use Blogs, Google collaboration tools, and Science A-Z. I am super excited to have been invited to present at Jackson ISD's Digital Leadership for Learning on August 14th. Kellie and I will be presenting on Which comes first? Instruction or Technology?

So, yes I am enjoying my summer. I enjoy working with teachers who are passionate to learn (during their summer) and make their classroom more engaging for their students. 
Back to work. Lots to do!