Day 2: Write about one piece of technology that you would like to try this year and why. You might also write about what you're hoping to see out of this edtech integration.
In the past several years, I have used a lot of technology in my teaching. I love to be an early adopter and try new things. I've had great success with student blogs, iPads, Chromebooks and, towards the end of last year, students experimenting with MaKey MaKey and Sphero (one of my grade 6 students created both of those videos to present at a conference for teachers last year!).
Feedback from parents last year was that they wondered about how much time should be spent using educational technology. It is something I certainly consider long and hard. With a class set of Chromebooks last year, the Rainbow Eggheads had access to devices at anytime. We were able to collaborate and create every single day. Easily. It was transformative to my teaching and to the learning of my students.
This year, I have a much younger group, many of whom I will be introducing to the Google Drive for the first time. I look forward to having them work with the Drive and Chromebooks, but know that I'll have to start slowly. I will experiment with text to speech software and screencasting with this group in order to allow them to communicate and share their learning orally and visually as well as in writing.
A huge theme for my class this year is Imagineering. We took apart the word today and they recognized that it was made up of Imagination + Engineering. They each started an Imaginnering notebook today. We'll use these books to plan, dream and develop ideas. I look forward to working with the students on multi-disciplinary projects where we can use elements of the Maker Movement. My students independently figured out MaKey MaKey and Sphero last year. They know a lot more about each of them than I do. This year, I am going to make a point to play with the tools alongside the students and learn together.
My amazing co-teacher (she'll be in the class 2 afternoons a week this term) and I are planning challenges for our students to Imagineer their learning through projects inspired by Hitchbot and theme parks, just to get started! I can't even wait to see what we create in Room 209!
Tuesday, 2 September 2014
Monday, 1 September 2014
30-Day Blogging Challenge: Day 1: My Goals
A principal who I really admire and who had a huge impact on my summer through his #SummerLS challenge and EduAllStars podcast (but I've yet to meet in person), Todd Nesloney, tweeted out a link to a 30-day blogging challenge. Despite the fact that I have an alphabetical list of at least 30 posts I'd like to write, I feel like this would be a good way to keep me on track. Plus, once I write one post, I'm always inspired to write another.
Reflective Teaching: A 30-Day Blogging Challenge for Teachers
Day 1:
Write your goals for the school year. Be as specific or abstract as you'd like to be.
I'm going to have to be specific. I have a LOT of goals and have spent a lot of time this summer reflecting on what they are. For ease of organizing my thoughts, I've split them into sections: Values in my Grade 3/4 Classroom (goals for my students and I); Professional Goals (things I'm going to work on as a teacher)
Values in my Grade 3/4 Classroom - EPCOT
Be Brave
Overall, my goal for the school year (for myself and my students) is "Be Brave". Day 1 in the classroom (tomorrow!), that will be our only expectation. As we form as a team, my students and I will work together to co-create roles, responsibilities and expectations.
I ADD EGGS
Last year, my grade 5/6 Rainbow Eggheads and I lived by the recipe for success: ADD EGGS. Initially, I created this recipe, but my students completely bought into it and owned it. They could reflect effectively on their choices, the choices of others and how to improve by using the language in ADD EGGS.
Last summer, I wrote a list of qualities I want to help develop in my students, qualities I'd like them to leave my classroom understanding and practicing every day. I came up with ADD EGGS - accountability, dynamism, drive, engagement, grateful, generous and supportive.
The Rainbow Eggheads lived these values last year. They could rhyme of the acronym easily and came up with "The Rainbow Rule" ("Be an ADD EGG, not a BAD EGG" - they even decided what BAD stood for)! In their end of year Ignite presentations, most of them referred to ADD EGGS and what a difference it made to their learning.
After lots of reflection (and discussion with my trusted colleague, Tiiu), I've decided to KISS (Keep It Simple, Silly) and share ADD EGGS with my incoming class. However, there is one quality that is missing from ADD EGGS, so this year, the acronym is changed to "I ADD EGGS" (I've added innovation to fit with another big class goal this year).
Imagineering and Blue Sky Thinking
Throughout my life, I've been inspired by Walt Disney, and lately, I've been reading a lot about his life, his innovations and his legacy. I can't help but think about how well his philosophies and his message tie into my dream classroom and teaching methods.
This year, my students and I will use Walt Disney (the person, not the brand) as a model. The way he, among other things: listened to all ideas while seeking the best way to do things; looked towards the future; learned from and embraced the past; told stories; thought about creating memorable and educational experiences; questioned everything and was open to change, will be essential to the way I think about teaching this year.
I will encourage my students to embrace Blue Sky Thinking by thinking big, following their dreams and believing in themselves.
We will think of ourselves as Imagineers as we use imagination to engineer our learning.
EPCOT
Because of my interest in all things Disney, I am inspired by Walt's vision for EPCOT (an experimental city, that, after his death, was repurposed as a theme park - my favourite as a child!). It breaks my heart that his vision never saw the light of day, but, learning from his passion and purpose, I thought about what I think a classroom should be.
I think a classroom should be a place where everyone can try new things, share successes with others and embrace change. Teachers should be futurists as we are preparing our students for a future we can't possibly predict. With that in mind, I've called my new class blog and twitter account EPCOTclass. In this case, EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype CLASSROOM of Tomorrow. The name and vision will help to keep me on track with all of the ideas, values and dreams listed above.
Goals for my BEd Students
Bringing Language to Life for Life
I'm thrilled (and nervous!) to be teaching my first BEd class (Language Instruction in the Primary and Junior Years) this term. I have outlined goals for my students and I as "Big Ideas" in our week 1 slideshow. What I am really aiming to do is ignite (or kindle!) a passion for teaching (Language in particular) in the pre-service teachers who I will have the pleasure of working with.
I've subtitled my course "Bringing Language to Life for Life" and look forward to working with the students in class, on Twitter and through blogs to do exactly that, bring Language to life.
I want my students to leave my class better prepared for and more confident to teach Language to students of all ages. Because of that goal, I have worked very hard to create a comprehensive course and ensure that all assignments are authentic and applicable to the classroom.
Professional Goals
Balance and Wellness
This year, our admin is committed to helping staff find balance in our lives and ensure our wellness. I'm excited to see what this looks like.
Over the summer, I've tried to work on balance, something that has always been a challenge for me. In order to really understand what it looks like, I've created a list of my roles and set goals for the amount of time to spend on each during a day. Since late July, I've been tracking those. It's been enlightening for me to see how my goals align with what I actually do. Also, I see that I only have 24 hours in a day and have to set priorities, one of which is myself as a worthwhile human being. I'm going to work hard to remember that during the year. I will make it a priority to do happy-making things. I'll even work hard to make sure that some of those have nothing to do with my job!
Ongoing Feedback Communicated to Students and Families
In the survey I shared with Room 209 families last year, parents told me to learn to say no (they recognized that I tried to do too much!) and that they'd like to get more ongoing feedback about their children.
Tiiu and I created an Annual Learning Plan for students, which will be a working document that is shared with students and families (an individual one for each student) and developed throughout the year. The link I shared is absolutely a work in progress and I am planning to meet with each family early in the year to set goals and make plans.
Developing my PLN
People call it different things, but I think of my PLN as my Professional Learning Network and I am lucky to include lots of people I know in real life and online in it. I love to collaborate with other educators to bring interesting experiences into my classroom. I will continue to do this through twitter chats, planning and collaborating via Skype and the Google Drive.
An element I am adding this year is to work with inspirational, passionate educators in formal and informal settings. I have started an Educational Think Tank (with Amy Bowker) and the Comment Consortium. Because of getting to work regularly with amazing people, I know will continue to be challenged and pushed me.
Sharing My Learning
I'll be presenting at some upcoming conferences this fall and love to share what I have learned and what I am passionate about with other educators.
By committing to the Comment Consortium and this 30-day blogging challenge, I will regularly share my process with others. More importantly though, I will actually be creating instead of just consuming and I will really take the time to reflect on my practice.
Alternative Education
I teach at an alternative public school and we operate based on a series of tenets that make us different from other sites. A group of us met regularly last year and discussed our school philosophy to celebrate our successes and build upon them for the future.
The idea for Tree Families was born from this collaboration. Each staff member and student in the school will be placed in a "Family" represented by an Ontario tree for their entire time at our school. Families will meet regularly to work together on character education, anti-bullying initiatives and develop skills. We are starting Tree Families next week and I look forward to seeing how they help to build a real sense of ownership and community in our school.
Overall Goal
You Matter
After listening to and reading Angela Maiers this summer, i am thinking in terms of her movement, "You Matter". All of my other goals can be boiled down into this one. Each of us is a genius and it is our duty to share that genius with the world.
By reframing my thinking and remembering that I am significant, I can meet my professional (and personal goals) and let go of issues in a non-judgemental way, using them to move forward and make life better for myself and others. To remind all my students that they matter and help them find their passions and "follow their heartbreaks", I can help them achieve their goals.
It's a good thing this prompt encouraged me to be as specific as I like! As always, I had a lot to say!
Thanks to those of you who got all the way to the end of the post.
What are your goals for this school year? How are you committed to meeting them? What small and large actions are you taking to achieve them?
Reflective Teaching: A 30-Day Blogging Challenge for Teachers
Day 1:
Write your goals for the school year. Be as specific or abstract as you'd like to be.
I'm going to have to be specific. I have a LOT of goals and have spent a lot of time this summer reflecting on what they are. For ease of organizing my thoughts, I've split them into sections: Values in my Grade 3/4 Classroom (goals for my students and I); Professional Goals (things I'm going to work on as a teacher)
Values in my Grade 3/4 Classroom - EPCOT
Be Brave
Overall, my goal for the school year (for myself and my students) is "Be Brave". Day 1 in the classroom (tomorrow!), that will be our only expectation. As we form as a team, my students and I will work together to co-create roles, responsibilities and expectations.
I ADD EGGS
Last year, my grade 5/6 Rainbow Eggheads and I lived by the recipe for success: ADD EGGS. Initially, I created this recipe, but my students completely bought into it and owned it. They could reflect effectively on their choices, the choices of others and how to improve by using the language in ADD EGGS.
Last summer, I wrote a list of qualities I want to help develop in my students, qualities I'd like them to leave my classroom understanding and practicing every day. I came up with ADD EGGS - accountability, dynamism, drive, engagement, grateful, generous and supportive.
The Rainbow Eggheads lived these values last year. They could rhyme of the acronym easily and came up with "The Rainbow Rule" ("Be an ADD EGG, not a BAD EGG" - they even decided what BAD stood for)! In their end of year Ignite presentations, most of them referred to ADD EGGS and what a difference it made to their learning.
After lots of reflection (and discussion with my trusted colleague, Tiiu), I've decided to KISS (Keep It Simple, Silly) and share ADD EGGS with my incoming class. However, there is one quality that is missing from ADD EGGS, so this year, the acronym is changed to "I ADD EGGS" (I've added innovation to fit with another big class goal this year).
Imagineering and Blue Sky Thinking
Throughout my life, I've been inspired by Walt Disney, and lately, I've been reading a lot about his life, his innovations and his legacy. I can't help but think about how well his philosophies and his message tie into my dream classroom and teaching methods.
This year, my students and I will use Walt Disney (the person, not the brand) as a model. The way he, among other things: listened to all ideas while seeking the best way to do things; looked towards the future; learned from and embraced the past; told stories; thought about creating memorable and educational experiences; questioned everything and was open to change, will be essential to the way I think about teaching this year.
I will encourage my students to embrace Blue Sky Thinking by thinking big, following their dreams and believing in themselves.
We will think of ourselves as Imagineers as we use imagination to engineer our learning.
EPCOT
Because of my interest in all things Disney, I am inspired by Walt's vision for EPCOT (an experimental city, that, after his death, was repurposed as a theme park - my favourite as a child!). It breaks my heart that his vision never saw the light of day, but, learning from his passion and purpose, I thought about what I think a classroom should be.
I think a classroom should be a place where everyone can try new things, share successes with others and embrace change. Teachers should be futurists as we are preparing our students for a future we can't possibly predict. With that in mind, I've called my new class blog and twitter account EPCOTclass. In this case, EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype CLASSROOM of Tomorrow. The name and vision will help to keep me on track with all of the ideas, values and dreams listed above.
Goals for my BEd Students
Bringing Language to Life for Life
I'm thrilled (and nervous!) to be teaching my first BEd class (Language Instruction in the Primary and Junior Years) this term. I have outlined goals for my students and I as "Big Ideas" in our week 1 slideshow. What I am really aiming to do is ignite (or kindle!) a passion for teaching (Language in particular) in the pre-service teachers who I will have the pleasure of working with.
I've subtitled my course "Bringing Language to Life for Life" and look forward to working with the students in class, on Twitter and through blogs to do exactly that, bring Language to life.
I want my students to leave my class better prepared for and more confident to teach Language to students of all ages. Because of that goal, I have worked very hard to create a comprehensive course and ensure that all assignments are authentic and applicable to the classroom.
Professional Goals
Balance and Wellness
This year, our admin is committed to helping staff find balance in our lives and ensure our wellness. I'm excited to see what this looks like.
Over the summer, I've tried to work on balance, something that has always been a challenge for me. In order to really understand what it looks like, I've created a list of my roles and set goals for the amount of time to spend on each during a day. Since late July, I've been tracking those. It's been enlightening for me to see how my goals align with what I actually do. Also, I see that I only have 24 hours in a day and have to set priorities, one of which is myself as a worthwhile human being. I'm going to work hard to remember that during the year. I will make it a priority to do happy-making things. I'll even work hard to make sure that some of those have nothing to do with my job!
Ongoing Feedback Communicated to Students and Families
In the survey I shared with Room 209 families last year, parents told me to learn to say no (they recognized that I tried to do too much!) and that they'd like to get more ongoing feedback about their children.
Tiiu and I created an Annual Learning Plan for students, which will be a working document that is shared with students and families (an individual one for each student) and developed throughout the year. The link I shared is absolutely a work in progress and I am planning to meet with each family early in the year to set goals and make plans.
Developing my PLN
People call it different things, but I think of my PLN as my Professional Learning Network and I am lucky to include lots of people I know in real life and online in it. I love to collaborate with other educators to bring interesting experiences into my classroom. I will continue to do this through twitter chats, planning and collaborating via Skype and the Google Drive.
An element I am adding this year is to work with inspirational, passionate educators in formal and informal settings. I have started an Educational Think Tank (with Amy Bowker) and the Comment Consortium. Because of getting to work regularly with amazing people, I know will continue to be challenged and pushed me.
Sharing My Learning
I'll be presenting at some upcoming conferences this fall and love to share what I have learned and what I am passionate about with other educators.
By committing to the Comment Consortium and this 30-day blogging challenge, I will regularly share my process with others. More importantly though, I will actually be creating instead of just consuming and I will really take the time to reflect on my practice.
Alternative Education
I teach at an alternative public school and we operate based on a series of tenets that make us different from other sites. A group of us met regularly last year and discussed our school philosophy to celebrate our successes and build upon them for the future.
The idea for Tree Families was born from this collaboration. Each staff member and student in the school will be placed in a "Family" represented by an Ontario tree for their entire time at our school. Families will meet regularly to work together on character education, anti-bullying initiatives and develop skills. We are starting Tree Families next week and I look forward to seeing how they help to build a real sense of ownership and community in our school.
Overall Goal
You Matter
After listening to and reading Angela Maiers this summer, i am thinking in terms of her movement, "You Matter". All of my other goals can be boiled down into this one. Each of us is a genius and it is our duty to share that genius with the world.
By reframing my thinking and remembering that I am significant, I can meet my professional (and personal goals) and let go of issues in a non-judgemental way, using them to move forward and make life better for myself and others. To remind all my students that they matter and help them find their passions and "follow their heartbreaks", I can help them achieve their goals.
It's a good thing this prompt encouraged me to be as specific as I like! As always, I had a lot to say!
Thanks to those of you who got all the way to the end of the post.
What are your goals for this school year? How are you committed to meeting them? What small and large actions are you taking to achieve them?
Wednesday, 27 August 2014
Legally Prohibited from Being Spontaneous in University
Next week at this time, I will have had two first days of school. I will, of course, be returning to my classroom with my brand new grade 3/4s. I will also be starting a brand brand new adventure - teaching in the Bachelor of Education program at the University of Ottawa.
I got some great tips and feedback, which I, of course, made into a slideshow (I'm kind of into slideshows right now, in case you didn't know).
Now, I'm down to the wire. Monday was spent in a faculty meeting with the new Director and Assistant Director of the program and my new colleagues. Because of the big change over, there were lots of details to be worked out.
I returned to campus on Tuesday after spending some time getting my grade 3/4 classroom ready. I got to explore a lot of buildings on campus to get my employee ID, find my university classroom (which is beyond amazing, by the way) and arranging for a key card. ALMOST all details are now taken care of. I'm still trying to access my class lists in InfoWeb and hope I'll be able to do that before meeting my students on Wednesday.
Before I explain the title of this post, I'll let you in on a few details. I feel like I'd love to teach BEd students, but when the opportunity for a partial secondment was posted in our school email conference, I hesitated. Luckily, I have fantastic, supportive, cheerleading colleagues. Two of them forwarded the information to me and told me to go for it. Caving to positive peer pressure, I did. At the very end of June, on one of my final days with the Rainbow Eggheads, I was shocked to get an email saying that I got a position. As a partially seconded professor, the school board releases me for 14 days in a term (September-December) to teach a single course to a single class of pre-service teachers. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to determine whether or not I really do love to teach BEd students, while still keeping my foot in an elementary classroom.
By Friday, all BEd professors have to submit a course outline, or syllabus, to the faculty. Each prof is then responsible for distributing a paper copy of this syllabus to all students in his or her class in their first lesson. I am a planning addict (and generally overplan by a factor of four, each year could be four times as long, I have enough planned!) and had a lot of fun writing lists of all the ideas I wanted to impart upon my BEd students. The tricky part came in narrowing down my ideas to 12 three and a half hour classes. The trickier part is, we were told in our faculty meeting that course syllabi are legally binding. They cannot be changed once the course has started (without a LOT of difficulty) and students could charge us if we do! Whoa. Just planning so specifically so far in advance (my class runs until December) feels like a bit of pressure. Knowing I'm married to those plans feels like a heck of a lot more.
I've tried my best to tie together my plans and look at the course as a narrative, moving from big ideas to more specific details in a logical way. You know when you've been working on something for a really long time and you can't even accurately judge it any longer? That's how I feel about my course outline.
Interested in being part of a BEd course? I'd love your help. Check out the course outline and let me know what you think. There is some detail in the document, but I have a lot more on supplementary documents (as well as the 12-14 slideshows I'll be sharing in the "listen" portions of the course). Please feel free to leave a comment here, tweet at me or comment on the doc itself. Also, consider filling out the survey at the top of this post to share your ideas.
On Wednesday, when I hand this document out, I'm married to it. If you have any suggestions or objections, speak now or forever hold your peace.
Peace out.
***Bonus points for anyone who recognized the blog title as a reference to Conan's 2010 comedy tour.***
I have been "partially seconded" (a term that many on campus at the U of O have told me is only used by BEd profs) to the University of Ottawa for a single Bachelor of Education course this fall. I will be teaching a class of 35-40 pre-service teachers in their Language Instruction course.
Many summer moments were spent collecting resources, reflecting on my own experiences in teachers' college and (attempting) to crowd source information! I love connecting with local and international educators on Twitter, and sent the survey below to people that I know in real and digital life. (If you're reading this post and want to fill it out, please feel free!)
I got some great tips and feedback, which I, of course, made into a slideshow (I'm kind of into slideshows right now, in case you didn't know).
Now, I'm down to the wire. Monday was spent in a faculty meeting with the new Director and Assistant Director of the program and my new colleagues. Because of the big change over, there were lots of details to be worked out.
I returned to campus on Tuesday after spending some time getting my grade 3/4 classroom ready. I got to explore a lot of buildings on campus to get my employee ID, find my university classroom (which is beyond amazing, by the way) and arranging for a key card. ALMOST all details are now taken care of. I'm still trying to access my class lists in InfoWeb and hope I'll be able to do that before meeting my students on Wednesday.
Before I explain the title of this post, I'll let you in on a few details. I feel like I'd love to teach BEd students, but when the opportunity for a partial secondment was posted in our school email conference, I hesitated. Luckily, I have fantastic, supportive, cheerleading colleagues. Two of them forwarded the information to me and told me to go for it. Caving to positive peer pressure, I did. At the very end of June, on one of my final days with the Rainbow Eggheads, I was shocked to get an email saying that I got a position. As a partially seconded professor, the school board releases me for 14 days in a term (September-December) to teach a single course to a single class of pre-service teachers. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to determine whether or not I really do love to teach BEd students, while still keeping my foot in an elementary classroom.
By Friday, all BEd professors have to submit a course outline, or syllabus, to the faculty. Each prof is then responsible for distributing a paper copy of this syllabus to all students in his or her class in their first lesson. I am a planning addict (and generally overplan by a factor of four, each year could be four times as long, I have enough planned!) and had a lot of fun writing lists of all the ideas I wanted to impart upon my BEd students. The tricky part came in narrowing down my ideas to 12 three and a half hour classes. The trickier part is, we were told in our faculty meeting that course syllabi are legally binding. They cannot be changed once the course has started (without a LOT of difficulty) and students could charge us if we do! Whoa. Just planning so specifically so far in advance (my class runs until December) feels like a bit of pressure. Knowing I'm married to those plans feels like a heck of a lot more.
I've tried my best to tie together my plans and look at the course as a narrative, moving from big ideas to more specific details in a logical way. You know when you've been working on something for a really long time and you can't even accurately judge it any longer? That's how I feel about my course outline.
Interested in being part of a BEd course? I'd love your help. Check out the course outline and let me know what you think. There is some detail in the document, but I have a lot more on supplementary documents (as well as the 12-14 slideshows I'll be sharing in the "listen" portions of the course). Please feel free to leave a comment here, tweet at me or comment on the doc itself. Also, consider filling out the survey at the top of this post to share your ideas.
On Wednesday, when I hand this document out, I'm married to it. If you have any suggestions or objections, speak now or forever hold your peace.
Peace out.
***Bonus points for anyone who recognized the blog title as a reference to Conan's 2010 comedy tour.***
Tuesday, 26 August 2014
Being Brave: Straddling Divisions
I am entering my tenth year of teaching next week. I spent six years at a grade 4-8 school, teaching in the intermediate division (grades 7 and 8). This coming year, I had expected to be teaching grade 4/5. I've taught grade 4/5 twice (well, really only once and a bit because of being on medical leave three years ago), but taught 5/6 last year. Because of student enrolment, some of our classes had to be changed and I will now be moving to a grade 3/4 class.
I teach at an alternative school and one of our core tenets is multi-aged learning, so we purposefully plan for combined grade classes. There are so many advantages to teaching two grades in the same room. All students have built-in leadership opportunities and can model appropriate behaviour within the classroom; having a carry-over of students from year to year allows for consistency in routines; learning with people of different ages helps students understand that we aren't all on the same developmental schedule and people learn in different ways on different days.
As the first week of school approaches, I am planning ways to share routines and expectations with my new students. I read a post by Matt Gomez, a kindergarten teacher in Dallas, Texas, about his only class rule: "Be Brave". The idea of bravery ties beautifully to my own philosophies and the "recipe for success" my students and I worked from last year, "ADD EGGS" (accountability, dynamism, drive, engagement, gratitude, generousity and support) as well as some new ideas I have for this year about storytelling, experimenting and thinking big. I look forward to sharing the expectation of "Be Brave" with my new team next week. I am excited to learn what they think bravery is and then to reflect back on that later in the year and see how our ideas have changed and developed.
I try my best to embrace change bravely. When the chance to try something new came up, I reminded myself to "Be Brave" and take the opportunity to teach something entirely new to me. A grade 3/4 class was formed at my school and I'll be the lead learner with this group, starting next week!
In the past, the combined grade classes I've worked with have been within a single division (in Ontario, where I live and work, elementary grades are split into three divisions 1-3 are Primary, 4-6 are Junior and 7-8 are Intermediate). In the nine years I've been teaching, I've supply taught in all grades, but I've only had classrooms of students from grade 4 upwards. My students and I have always been in one division and worked with one set of colleagues in divisional activities. With half of my class in the Primary division and half in the Junior division, I will get a more clear picture of what is going on in the whole school. I'll also have a hard cap on my class numbers, a wonderful advantage and guarantee for a smaller class than I've ever had before! I talk a lot about how small class numbers make all the difference in education and now I'll get to test that out myself!
I know that children coming out of grade 2 into my room next week will be at a very different stage from the amazing Rainbow Eggheads who I said goodbye to last June at the end of their grade 5 and 6 years. I will be entering what I'm sure will feel like a completely different world from what I'm used to, but that will put me on even footing with my new students. We'll all be starting something brand new together. Bravely.
I teach at an alternative school and one of our core tenets is multi-aged learning, so we purposefully plan for combined grade classes. There are so many advantages to teaching two grades in the same room. All students have built-in leadership opportunities and can model appropriate behaviour within the classroom; having a carry-over of students from year to year allows for consistency in routines; learning with people of different ages helps students understand that we aren't all on the same developmental schedule and people learn in different ways on different days.
As the first week of school approaches, I am planning ways to share routines and expectations with my new students. I read a post by Matt Gomez, a kindergarten teacher in Dallas, Texas, about his only class rule: "Be Brave". The idea of bravery ties beautifully to my own philosophies and the "recipe for success" my students and I worked from last year, "ADD EGGS" (accountability, dynamism, drive, engagement, gratitude, generousity and support) as well as some new ideas I have for this year about storytelling, experimenting and thinking big. I look forward to sharing the expectation of "Be Brave" with my new team next week. I am excited to learn what they think bravery is and then to reflect back on that later in the year and see how our ideas have changed and developed.
I try my best to embrace change bravely. When the chance to try something new came up, I reminded myself to "Be Brave" and take the opportunity to teach something entirely new to me. A grade 3/4 class was formed at my school and I'll be the lead learner with this group, starting next week!
In the past, the combined grade classes I've worked with have been within a single division (in Ontario, where I live and work, elementary grades are split into three divisions 1-3 are Primary, 4-6 are Junior and 7-8 are Intermediate). In the nine years I've been teaching, I've supply taught in all grades, but I've only had classrooms of students from grade 4 upwards. My students and I have always been in one division and worked with one set of colleagues in divisional activities. With half of my class in the Primary division and half in the Junior division, I will get a more clear picture of what is going on in the whole school. I'll also have a hard cap on my class numbers, a wonderful advantage and guarantee for a smaller class than I've ever had before! I talk a lot about how small class numbers make all the difference in education and now I'll get to test that out myself!
I know that children coming out of grade 2 into my room next week will be at a very different stage from the amazing Rainbow Eggheads who I said goodbye to last June at the end of their grade 5 and 6 years. I will be entering what I'm sure will feel like a completely different world from what I'm used to, but that will put me on even footing with my new students. We'll all be starting something brand new together. Bravely.
Saturday, 16 August 2014
Mini Maker Faire Inspiration
I had a great time exploring the Mini Maker Faire at the Museum of Science and Tech. I didn't get enough time to poke around, as I messed up and went to the wrong museum first. As a chronically late person, I was happy that I was actually early today and I had time to zip over to the Science Museum after confusedly showing up at the Aviation Museum.
Not only did I get to participate in a panel, I got to see, first hand, how generous and exciting Ottawa's Maker community is. It had the same sort of frenetic feel of Comic Con, but I was even more excited to talk to exhibitors because of the educational implications.
There is an incredible amount of cool stuff happening here in Ottawa. Some of it, like the OPL's Imagine Space and Maker Junior, I already knew about. So much more was new to me today, I got to try on the masks of an incredible artist named Ian Langohr; see Maker Creative's Skittlebot in action as it analyzed colours of Skittles to learn to create art; have custom hockey pucks created; speak to members of ecotonos, who incorporate nature, design and manufacturing; and see a chocolate 3D printer in action. I only wish that Hitchbot had been a guest today. I'm totally into that guy right now.
Not only did I get to participate in a panel, I got to see, first hand, how generous and exciting Ottawa's Maker community is. It had the same sort of frenetic feel of Comic Con, but I was even more excited to talk to exhibitors because of the educational implications.
There is an incredible amount of cool stuff happening here in Ottawa. Some of it, like the OPL's Imagine Space and Maker Junior, I already knew about. So much more was new to me today, I got to try on the masks of an incredible artist named Ian Langohr; see Maker Creative's Skittlebot in action as it analyzed colours of Skittles to learn to create art; have custom hockey pucks created; speak to members of ecotonos, who incorporate nature, design and manufacturing; and see a chocolate 3D printer in action. I only wish that Hitchbot had been a guest today. I'm totally into that guy right now.
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| I wish I'd learned what this was made with, but this beautiful sign, and many others around the museum were made out of styrofoam. |
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| The parking lot was jammed, yet I was still surprised by the huge crowds. |
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| I was so excited about this for Tiiu! |
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| 3D printers have gone multi-coloured! |
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| I almost couldn't leave the main exhibit room because of this R2-D2 in my way. |
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| It was awesome to have these little faces in the crowd during the panel. Even better to hear Skye's perspective on how tech helps to engage students and Gavin's perspective on how to get parents to buy in! |
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| I can't believe I didn't spot Pat in the crowd, but was thrilled to see him. What a team. These are my FOREVER (and EVER) students, even though they've graduated from my school! |
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| #skittlebot was very cool. By posting this selfie, we have a chance at winning some Skittle art! How much do Fiona, Julianna and Skye look like triplets here? |
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| The girls were particularly excited to show me this 3D printed robotic hand that can be customized for people with different needs. This one is set up for a child missing their middle two fingers and is controlled by movements in your wrist. |
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| The most ridiculously awesome character masks I've ever seen. |
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| And they're not that heavy! Inside that one is me! I like the confused girl in the background. |
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| The cuties got some free custom pucks for a sick classmate and her sister, both awesome hockey players! |
In each of the makers I spoke with, I noticed pride and a sense of accomplishment. The novel ideas that they brought to life represented countless hours of questioning, building, testing and refining (and often, fundraising or crowdsourcing). I love that making is about mixing craft with technology in innovative ways. Makers are the blue sky, out of the box thinkers that I love to talk to. A former student who was taking me around after my panel told me that I'd have 1000 questions for all the makers and limited me to 3 per maker, as we were quickly running out of time. Bringing students to an event like this would surely excite and inspire far more than just telling them about it. I feel very fortunate that there is such a generous making community in Ottawa and look forward to bringing Luc and Alison back to my room and inviting new creators into my Experimental Prototype Classroom of Tomorrow (stay tuned for a blog post explaining the new name!).
Ottawa's Mini Maker Faire - Maker Education Panel
This weekend is Ottawa's forth annual Mini Maker Faire. If you haven't been yet, I highly recommend popping by tomorrow. It's held at the Museum of Science and Technology (not the Aviation Museum, where I first turned up this afternoon).
My friend, Luc Lalande is one of the most interesting humans I've met in a long time. He is a founding partner of True Innovators here in Ottawa, owns a Community 3D Printer, is on the board for Artengine and is the incoming Executive Director of the University of Ottawa's Entrepreneurship Hub. He decided to offer a panel discussion at this year's Mini Maker Faire, including people with different points of view and ideas about making in education. I'm honoured that he asked me to be on the Maker Education Panel. He is so wonderfully organized that he made a blog post, sent us all the structure and questions and made sure we were all prepared. I like his style!
Because of Luc's great organizational skills and attention to detail, I was way less nervous than I could have been (which brought my nervousness down to a 9/10!). I always worry in events like this that everyone will suddenly realize that I don't know anything and they'll think: "Her?" and question why I'm included in such a great group of people. Anyway, my chronic overthinking wasn't worth it. Everything went really smoothly and only one person recognized my pen spinning on stage as nervousness.
My role on the panel was to answer the questions: What kind of learning occurs when students are encouraged to use educational technology and digital tools? Why is this kind of learning important? Each of the other guests had their own questions to address and we were all encouraged by Luc to "hack" the panel and add to one another's responses. Other members of the panel were Alison Evans Adnani, who I've gotten to work with through her Maker Junior company; Alison's son Nanik, who is a middle school maker; Paul McGuire, the former principal at St. Gregory's and incoming to St. Anthony's; and Rick Alexanderson, a tech teacher from St. Peter High School.
When sitting on a stage and talking, I realize how ineffective the "sage on the stage" method of teaching can feel. It's hard to figure out if your audience is engaged or not as they sit back, relaxed in comfy seats. I much prefer involving the audience in presentations so I can make sure I'm meeting their needs and addressing their interests appropriately. Luckily, I had some great supporters in the audience who were familiar faces to look out at and assured me that we were informative and interesting.
Of course, I made notes to keep me on track, but I was happy to have some paper with me as I took a lot of notes during the session. I've just finished transcribing my chicken scratch.
What kind of learning occurs when students have access to educational technology and digital tools?
Teachers who successfully embrace educational technology are comfortable with:
- admitting we don't have all the answers
- asking for resources
- being opportunistic and taking advantage of ideas and opportunities
- communicating our goals effectively to students, parents and administration
- failing
- flexibility
- improvisation (things will inevitably go wrong when trying new technologies or old technologies in new ways)
- learning new things (and the frustrations that go along with learning new things!)
- taking risks
- putting some time into professional development and learning
- student leadership
- uncertainty
Really great classrooms are led by futurists who recognize that the skills and tools we give our students today will help them in very real ways in their lives. Leaders recognize that they're preparing students for the next steps in their lives.
What are the benefits for students?
- transformative: students have ownership over their learning and realize their own powers and abilities
- collaborative problem solving
- depth of understanding is evident
- demonstrate that they know how to think
- differentiated learning: opportunities for all to thrive and share
- engagement
- empowerment
- leadership: students help peers, other students, staff to solve problems
- perseverance: through frustrations and failures, they explore creative solutions and iterate
- sense of accomplishment
In a very quick hour, we got through a lot of ideas and stories. I was happy to have students and parents in the crowd who were able to offer their persepctives during the Q and A. Stay tuned for a post about how "tech is the new sex ed", inspired by the hilarious father of a former student.
Some of my key learnings from the other panelists include:
- Rick's advice: If you want to try something new and you don't have qualified or interested staff, start by offering a club for eager students.
- Rick's high school students have partnered with Carleton to make 3D-printed robot kits. They'll visit classes and teach them how to use them.
- Alison and Nanik talked about how the curriculum comes alive through making. Nanik is engaged when he works with his hands and becomes motivated to learn.
- Maker Junior operates on the principle that we should not just receive, but be active creators.
- Paul describes his role as a principal as the main helper in a school and he is there to enhance the experiences of teachers and kids.
I was happy to speak with many enthusiastic educators at the end of the panel, and had my first ever tiny taste of celebrity. One gentleman came up to me and said his wife was really hoping to meet me, but wasn't able to stick around. I have a fan! My former students who were hanging around thought this was hilarious.
Did you make it to the Mini Maker Faire? How do you think we can bring more Making into our classrooms?
Friday, 11 July 2014
From Toning Out Lectures to Slurping Up MOOCs: My Modern Learning Journey
For the most part, I hated being a university student. I had trouble finding relevance in what I was learning, and as an English major (with a minor in Religious Studies), I found myself laden down with dense texts that I never actually absorbed or appreciated. I felt constantly overwhelmed and, if I couldn't do something perfectly, I stopped trying. (Now, however, I'm trying to let go of some of that lifelong perfectionism and live by a new motto: "Don't worry, be crappy". Basically, I'm trying not to worry about being perfect. Instead, I'm willing to put things out there and risk being "crappy". Hence, my return to blogging, which, as a reflective practice, is a work in progress!)
As an adult learner, I've approached my learning very differently. I particularly enjoy online learning and reading and watching course material at my own pace (and as many times as I want!). I have taken five online Additional Qualifications or Additional Basic Qualification courses in order to increase my status in the Ontario College of Teachers. I carefully selected courses that I thought would be relevant and interesting to me. Most of them were. I particularly enjoyed my Integrating Information Communication Technology specialist (I found the third course to be the most challenging and interesting, as many of my classmates were quite experienced and inspired me) and my Language Additional Basic Qualification.
I regularly read books that are relevant to my profession, and take part online and in-person professional development opportunities that appeal to me. Lately, I've found that I've so totally immersed myself in technology in education that I have become very comfortable with what is out there right now. I need to challenge myself to look at new things or look at things from a new perspective. However, taking time to read not-quite-education-but-still-related-to-my-teaching books (stay tuned for a Disney post, as well as posts about brains and motivation) has been the most inspiring of all. I get really excited when I learn about or make connections between different fields and ideas. I love talking, listening and reading work by passionate people who don't necessarily share my profession, but share some ideals or passions. I also love hearing about things from a totally new point of view and having my thinking challenged.
Last summer, I participated in a MOOC (massive open online course) through Stanford University (la-dee-dah!). "How to Learn Math" with Jo Boaler was great, but things got busy and I didn't devote as much time as I would have liked to completing all modules. Once my classmates had moved on, it was difficult to find the motivation to read old (sometimes abandoned) message boards and participate after the fact.
This summer, I've committed to another Stanford Online course, "International Women's Health and Human Rights"with Anne Firth Murray. It started today. I remembered that it started today at about 10 p.m. It's now 3:14 a.m. (Pi Time!) and I'm only going to head to bed because I'm playing with some kids in the morning and want to be able to give them some good energy! It's awesome so far. I'm totally "in my element" (thank you, Sir Ken) and "flowing". Time has flown and I'm so excited.
As an adult learner, I've approached my learning very differently. I particularly enjoy online learning and reading and watching course material at my own pace (and as many times as I want!). I have taken five online Additional Qualifications or Additional Basic Qualification courses in order to increase my status in the Ontario College of Teachers. I carefully selected courses that I thought would be relevant and interesting to me. Most of them were. I particularly enjoyed my Integrating Information Communication Technology specialist (I found the third course to be the most challenging and interesting, as many of my classmates were quite experienced and inspired me) and my Language Additional Basic Qualification.
I regularly read books that are relevant to my profession, and take part online and in-person professional development opportunities that appeal to me. Lately, I've found that I've so totally immersed myself in technology in education that I have become very comfortable with what is out there right now. I need to challenge myself to look at new things or look at things from a new perspective. However, taking time to read not-quite-education-but-still-related-to-my-teaching books (stay tuned for a Disney post, as well as posts about brains and motivation) has been the most inspiring of all. I get really excited when I learn about or make connections between different fields and ideas. I love talking, listening and reading work by passionate people who don't necessarily share my profession, but share some ideals or passions. I also love hearing about things from a totally new point of view and having my thinking challenged.
Last summer, I participated in a MOOC (massive open online course) through Stanford University (la-dee-dah!). "How to Learn Math" with Jo Boaler was great, but things got busy and I didn't devote as much time as I would have liked to completing all modules. Once my classmates had moved on, it was difficult to find the motivation to read old (sometimes abandoned) message boards and participate after the fact.
This summer, I've committed to another Stanford Online course, "International Women's Health and Human Rights"with Anne Firth Murray. It started today. I remembered that it started today at about 10 p.m. It's now 3:14 a.m. (Pi Time!) and I'm only going to head to bed because I'm playing with some kids in the morning and want to be able to give them some good energy! It's awesome so far. I'm totally "in my element" (thank you, Sir Ken) and "flowing". Time has flown and I'm so excited.
Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Think Tank
For the past year or so, an idea has been percolating in my mind and I've been sharing bits and pieces of it with friends as it forms in my head.
I want to start an education Think Tank here in Ottawa. There are a lot of incredible educators in the area and I never get enough time to really sit down and talk with them, share ideas and collaborate. I think that the Think Tank can solve that. Imagine, once a month (because I am hopelessly in love with alliteration, on the third Thursday of each month), passionate educators sitting down outside of an educational setting (somewhere like a restaurant) and making their own professional development by sharing about the things that are most important to them.
Since becoming connected to other educators online (through Twitter, Skype in the Classroom and blogs), I've noticed an empowering trend - educators picking their own personalized professional development. We seek out the people, thoughts and ideas that inspire us and can easily communicate with them.
Online learning has been extremely powerful for me the past five or six years, and even more so in the past two years as I have begun to connect with more amazing people. I feel way to safe behind my computer, though. I want more face to face time with people who challenge and excite me. I need more.
I have tremendously enjoyed my time at conferences and non-traditional PD (EdCamp and Playdate), but want something that is more a part of my routine throughout the year. So, when I saw my friend Amy Bowker tweeting about wanting to start Coffee Cues in Ottawa, I got excited and told her that I'd been thinking of starting something similar. Today, we had a bit of a Coffee Cue, meeting at Starbucks in Chapters, and talking for hours about what is making us excited this summer in our own PD. Coffee Cues are all about sharing successes and I want that to be a part of this, but I want to go a few giant leaps further...
I shared with her my ideas and we ironed out some plans.
Here's the plan for Think Tank: #thta
Is this right for you?
I want to start an education Think Tank here in Ottawa. There are a lot of incredible educators in the area and I never get enough time to really sit down and talk with them, share ideas and collaborate. I think that the Think Tank can solve that. Imagine, once a month (because I am hopelessly in love with alliteration, on the third Thursday of each month), passionate educators sitting down outside of an educational setting (somewhere like a restaurant) and making their own professional development by sharing about the things that are most important to them.
Since becoming connected to other educators online (through Twitter, Skype in the Classroom and blogs), I've noticed an empowering trend - educators picking their own personalized professional development. We seek out the people, thoughts and ideas that inspire us and can easily communicate with them.
I have tremendously enjoyed my time at conferences and non-traditional PD (EdCamp and Playdate), but want something that is more a part of my routine throughout the year. So, when I saw my friend Amy Bowker tweeting about wanting to start Coffee Cues in Ottawa, I got excited and told her that I'd been thinking of starting something similar. Today, we had a bit of a Coffee Cue, meeting at Starbucks in Chapters, and talking for hours about what is making us excited this summer in our own PD. Coffee Cues are all about sharing successes and I want that to be a part of this, but I want to go a few giant leaps further...
I shared with her my ideas and we ironed out some plans.
Here's the plan for Think Tank: #thta
- No one is as smart as all of us: Educators of all shape, form and role (staff in public, Catholic or private schools; consultants; university and college profs; pre-service teachers...) get together at a pre-determined location in Ottawa on the third Thursday of each month for dinner, drinks, support, inspiration and/or planning.
- The Best of What Is, Imagine What Could Be: We will use an Appreciative Inquiry model (more about that later!) to informally discuss the things that participants are passionate about and want to change.
- ECO: Evolving, Collaborative and Organic Process: Think Tank will be a really organic process, giving participants freedom to direct conversations in the way that is helpful to them, sharing and talking with other participants, connecting them to amazing ideas and people along the way.
- Blue Sky Thinking: Ultimately and eventually, I'd love to find people who are interested in helping me follow some of my BIG blue sky dreams - which include: exploring the BEd model; applying for grants to increase technology (and tech training for teachers) in classrooms and schools; starting an experimental school within the public board; starting a tutoring centre a la 826 Valencia; rewrite curriculum documents with a focus on competencies rather than content (plus lots of emotional intelligence and responsible citizenship); lobby for system-wide change (small class sizes, elimination of standardized testing, to name a few goals!) - and have people share their own and find support for them!
Is this right for you?
- Are you a passionate educator of some shape, form or role?
- Do you live in the Ottawa area? Are you visiting the Ottawa area on a Think Tank Third Thursday?
- Are you willing to use some of your personal evening time to meet with other passionate educators?
- Do you have questions, dreams, ideas and plans you'd like to share?
Upcoming dates:
- Thursday, September 18th, 2014 6 p.m.-whenever, 1000 Sushi Islands, 1696 Carling Ave., Ottawa
- Thursday, October 16th, 2014 - location TBA
- Thursday, November 20th, 2014 - location TBA
I am ridiculously excited to spend some time in the Think Tank and see where our imaginations take us.
If this sounds like it could be for you, leave a comment, tweet at me (@misspollock), email me (shauna.pollock@ocdsb.ca), tweet with the hashtag #thta, or just show up!
Sign up here for more info:
Sign up here for more info:
Sunday, 6 July 2014
#NBTchat in Oz
I love Twitter chats. With no school right now, I actually have time to really focus on them. For the uninitiated, there are literally dozens of chats hosted by teachers and provide you with personalized professional development each and every week. I've been looking over the list of edchats and joining ones that I think sound interesting.
Tonight, I joined #NBTchat (No Box Thinking Chat) and it was the BEST Twitter chat I've been a part of to date. Amazing creativity, enthusiastic sharing and every moment was interesting. As usual, it was hard to keep up with the stream of tweets, but I loved it so much that I popped over to Storify and made a record of my favourite tweets.
I loved that the moderator, Dr. Sharon Young approached the chat in a novel way. Each question asked the participants to relate No Box Thinking (as in, you're not only outside the box, you've gotten rid of the box entirely) to characters from The Wizard of Oz. There was a 30 minute pre-chat that teased at the theme as well.
If you don't participate in Twitter chats yet, I cannot recommend them highly enough. Find one that appeals to you and give it a go! They're the best way to build your PLN.
Tonight, I joined #NBTchat (No Box Thinking Chat) and it was the BEST Twitter chat I've been a part of to date. Amazing creativity, enthusiastic sharing and every moment was interesting. As usual, it was hard to keep up with the stream of tweets, but I loved it so much that I popped over to Storify and made a record of my favourite tweets.
I loved that the moderator, Dr. Sharon Young approached the chat in a novel way. Each question asked the participants to relate No Box Thinking (as in, you're not only outside the box, you've gotten rid of the box entirely) to characters from The Wizard of Oz. There was a 30 minute pre-chat that teased at the theme as well.
If you don't participate in Twitter chats yet, I cannot recommend them highly enough. Find one that appeals to you and give it a go! They're the best way to build your PLN.
#summerLS
Instead of focusing on how I had such good intentions for my blog and haven't even come close to posting regularly, I'm just going to get started on this post and make a goal to post more often. That shouldn't be hard, as I have written exactly four posts in a year and a half.
In the middle of June, Todd Nesloney (@techninjatodd), the principal of Navasota Elementary in Texas, tweeted out an invitation to join his staff in a Summer Learning Series (#summerLS). Although I am totally wiped from a crazily busy year, I thought I should give it a try. As it turns out, I'm really glad I did. It explains my return to this blog!
For those of you who don't know me in person, I am a BLOG LOVER. It started out with a little Will Arnett research project (for those of you who know me, keep the details to yourself!). After several months of blogging on my own, I realized the awesome educational potential of blogging, and blogged with my grade 7/8 classes at Fielding Drive Public in Ottawa. Access to the school's one computer lab was always an issue, but the blog work students did was incredible and in 2009, I moved four History classes totally online. You can check out my History Blog and the amazing student blogs. The year after that, I changed the name of my blog to a Digital Classroom and have integrated a class blog that I host ever since. Despite, or perhaps because of, the success of using a blog to help direct my students and celebrate our learning, I have let a personal/professional blog go by the wayside. However, I get so many wonderful resources, ideas and inspiration from blogs I read, I figure that I really need to commit to writing one.
One of the challenges from Todd was to reflect on our teaching practices. I do this all the time, in Twitter chats, with amazing friends and colleagues and, most importantly, with my students. I have very little record of my reflections and am unable to share them with others except in quick 140 character bursts! Maintaining this blog will let me do that.
The past week, I was at my in-laws' cottage on Lake Champlain in upstate New York. Being in a cabin in the woods gave me a lot of quiet, reflective time. Even though I had my laptop, phone and Kindle with me, they spent a lot of time tucked away, unlike at home, where my devices and I are joined at the hip (or lap). I slept well, swam, boated, read (for fun and PD), watched 4 fireworks shows over the lake (one of which had more than 10 people firing off fireworks at the same time - awesome!), participated in only a few Twitter chats, and, with the help of my husband (Captain Handsome) and mother-in-law, completed a 1000 piece puzzle. Going out on the boat gave me reflective time, as it's too loud to have a chat and difficult to multi-task. Like when I am in the shower or the car, I had time to just think.
There are a lot of things I am doing in my classroom that I am loving. In fact, there are very few things I don't love. That's the problem I'm having. A huge topic of discussion in my life right now is Work-Life Balance and because I am passionate about my work, it's often hard to do anything else. Almost everything I see, read, do or hear gives me an idea for the classroom. A goal for next year, which is reflected in my family and friends' feedback, as well as the feedback I received from my students and their parents, is to scale back. Pick a few things and really focus on those. That will be really hard for me, especially when I hear about the incredible things that are going on in classrooms around the world. I hope that regularly reflecting here will help me. By sharing more of what I'm doing and really taking the time to explain the reasons I'm doing it, I hope that I'll slow down my thinking a little bit.
I am very grateful to Todd for his innovative and inclusive #summerLS and look forward to sharing more about what I learn while completing them.
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| This is what relaxation looks like! I rewatched the entire first season of Orange is the New Black with my mother-in-law. She loved it. |
For those of you who don't know me in person, I am a BLOG LOVER. It started out with a little Will Arnett research project (for those of you who know me, keep the details to yourself!). After several months of blogging on my own, I realized the awesome educational potential of blogging, and blogged with my grade 7/8 classes at Fielding Drive Public in Ottawa. Access to the school's one computer lab was always an issue, but the blog work students did was incredible and in 2009, I moved four History classes totally online. You can check out my History Blog and the amazing student blogs. The year after that, I changed the name of my blog to a Digital Classroom and have integrated a class blog that I host ever since. Despite, or perhaps because of, the success of using a blog to help direct my students and celebrate our learning, I have let a personal/professional blog go by the wayside. However, I get so many wonderful resources, ideas and inspiration from blogs I read, I figure that I really need to commit to writing one.
One of the challenges from Todd was to reflect on our teaching practices. I do this all the time, in Twitter chats, with amazing friends and colleagues and, most importantly, with my students. I have very little record of my reflections and am unable to share them with others except in quick 140 character bursts! Maintaining this blog will let me do that.
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| I could add some profound idea about how my life is like a puzzle - fitting all the pieces together. But, instead, I'll brag - we completed this puzzle, all 1000 pieces in mostly bad lighting - even the super tricky part that is open and blank in this shot. |
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| Not a bad place for sitting and thinking. |
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| This has very little to do with this post. It's just my favourite pic from the week at the cottage. |
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