Sunday, August 23, 2015

The best articles & resources I've found this week (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

CUE Rock Star Black Label - TOSA: Sunday afternoon (Shareology- Exploring the Art of Effective Communication)

Shareology- Exploring the Art of Effective Communication
Lisa Highfill
@lhighfill
Lisa's Website


  • Idea with padlet: students just write their names on the padlet post and then drag it to one part of the "graphic organizer" you have put as the background (yes/no columns, 4 corners, etc).
  • How do you communicate? Padlet Idea Wall
    • Ideas I use already that I love:
      • Trello
      • Doodle
      • Slack
      • Voxer
      • Remind
    • Ideas shared on this Linoit wall and this Sharefest Doc. Some that I want to look at or try:
      • Droptask
      • "Sometimes I send emails and it is too hard to explain what you want in great detail. I use Movenote- an extension that will add a video message to your email!"
      • "Hashtag in your google calendar. It's easier to search. For example, monthly dept meetings #CIA, all your meeting with show."
      • Tech Minute YouTube playlist

CUE Rock Star Black Label - TOSA: Sunday morning (Pretzels and Peanuts: How to make sure everyone at the bar is thirsty: lessons from a seasoned drink mixer)

Pretzels and Peanuts: How to make sure everyone at the bar is thirsty: lessons from a seasoned drink mixer


David Theriault
@davidtedu
David's Blog

  • Always take your pictures landscape.  Why? Because you're going to put them in a presentation or a keynote, and you want to use them later :)
PD IDEAS
  • For PD with teachers:
    • DON'T talk about the APP first, talk about the PROBLEM first!
    • "Do you struggle with _____________"  "I have an app for that"
    • Rather than "Come learn about [this app]"
  • Use short videos at the beginning of PD that will help set the mood and get teachers ready for the day.
    • Find them on YouTube, Vimeo
  • Speed Dating / Speed Geeking
    • Traditional Speed Dating Setup
    • 10 rooms, 10 topics to choose from, 10 minutes only.  1 minute rotations.  4 sessions (less than an hour).  Students can do things!!  Don't all have to do with tech.
  • Twitter Chats on campus
    • All in the same room (cafeteria) - thread projected on screen.  For those that aren't on Twitter, write their answer on paper and have someone on Twitter take a picture of their writing to include them in the chat.
    • Run a "Slow Chat" (weeklong twitter chat)
  • Takeaways from PD sessions:
    • Write down what they want to implement on the block.
    • Write down the "stumbling block" that will hinder them from implementing it
    • Discuss and decide how to change the "stumbling block" to a "building block"
  • Thinklink:
    • Use for sharing resources 
    • Interesting idea about a way to present information to teachers... hmm...
David's Thinglink

Our Thinglink


See David's Thinglink above for links about these.
  • Getting Teachers on Twitter 
    • David used a Bacon Doughnut Twitter Hunt... tweeted that there were doughnuts hiding in teacher's classroom who did use twitter.  They could go get a doughnut if they learned about Twitter.  Got a few more teachers on Twitter ;)  Find the "bait" to pull them in.
  •  High Five Challenge: Give high fives or handshakes to every single student every day for a month.  
    • Empathy is huge - they have to know you care about them and not just your job.
    • Even if it seems like it's not "productive" (going out to lunch, informal conversation) - this is huge because it shows you care about them and not just getting them to do things.
  • Involuntary Curiosity Sparks - read this article later
  • Javier Perez on Instagram - draws pictures out of ordinary objects.  We all had to do it... here is my attempt at drawing...

Saturday, August 15, 2015

CUE Rock Star Black Label - TOSA: Saturday afternoon (Re-tool and re-engage your math instruction with 3-act lessons)

Re-tool and re-engage your math instruction with 3-act lessons
Jed Butler
@mathbutler
Jed's Blog
Perris Union High School District

Act 1
Engage, inspire, get students thinking and asking questions

Act 2
Students asking questions
Teacher gives information that students ask for
Students solve / answer the question

Act 3
The reveal

The Sequel...
Flip the Question

i.e.
"Here's a file cabinet, how many post-its?"
TO
"Here's a pile of post-it's, what size of file cabinet could it cover?"

Teacher notes and considerations for facilitating a problem-based lesson (3-act task) from our district's recent summer institute - led by Robert Kaplinsky.

Jed's Resources - too many awesome links!  Check it out.
Jed's Slides

CUE Rock Star Black Label - TOSA: Saturday morning (Beyond Closed Doors & Echo Chambers: Creating a Culture of Collaboration and Sharing)

Beyond Closed Doors & Echo Chambers: Creating a Culture of Collaboration and Sharing
Adina Sullivan
@adinasullivan
adinaeducation.net
San Marcos Unified School District

All Resources

1. What are the barriers / biggest hurdle preventing teachers from collaborating and sharing?
  • Time
  • Fear
  • Competition
Time may be the excuse that people make, but I think of the quote I had posted in my classroom: "If it's important to you, you will find a way; if not, you'll find an excuse."  I think it goes back to "collaboration and sharing are not valued by colleagues".  If they saw the value that comes from it, they would make the time.

2. How do we move from a culture of "Me" to a culture of "We"
  • It is "OUR" work, they are "OUR" kids
  • FOUR ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS (summary sheet):
    • They need a reason.  Why should I change?
    • There must be value. What is the value to me? How is this valued by others? Why is this even good for me?  Is what I do even valued by anyone else?  If not, why bother?
    • Opportunity. When would I do this?  We are all busy and have too many things on our plate? How can I fit it in?  It will feel like something "extra" you are asking the to do.
    • Models.  What does it look like? What could it look like?
3. Examples shared
  • Diigo - to share articles
  • Staff Wikispace - to share lessons and curriculum
  • ScoopIt! Boards - added link to certain boards on email signature.  Can make group ScoopIt page for all to add to
  • Teacher lesson Share (use AwesomeTable to make it easily navigate-able)
  • EdTech News website (EdTech Newsletter is just a blog)
    • everything links back to the same place.  Lesson share, newsletter, demo slam, teacher spotlight, etc.  You get them there for one reason and they have everything else at their fingertips.
  • Demo Slam with Technology Leader Teachers
    • A lot of times they just share what they are doing.  What about what others on your site - what are they doing?
    • Two minute share-out.  It's timed :)
    • Post about all of the slams publicly to share with those who weren't there!
  • Teacher Spotlight every month
    • Don't pick the teachers everyone already knows are "stars"
  • Google Plus - create communities for teachers to participate in
Other Takeaways:
  • Pull new teachers in early.  Show and teach them things and they will think "oh, everybody does it here".  As they start talking and sharing about it, the other teachers will start feeling like they are "behind" and (hopefully) will want to learn about the new things.
Our Ideas:
See our slide and all the others here
  • Demo Slam
    • During late starts, have 2-3 teachers volunteer to be a part of a "traveling slam" and visit each department to share a tech tool or strategy they are using.  
    • Other setup could be like "Speed Geeking" in that the first 15-20 minutes of a late start (before department time) is in a central location and teachers rotate through 3-4 stations with other designated teachers sharing their tool/strategy.
      • If size of staff is concerning, split it up so half the departments come for one Wednesday and the other half the next Wednesday.
    • Last option could be TeachMeet style where one teacher is sharing with the whole staff at one time (whole group) at the beginning of a late start.
  • Look at Jon Corippo's Iron Chef Slides for how he does this with students

Sunday, August 9, 2015

The best articles & resources I've found this week (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

The best articles & resources I've found this week (weekly)

Wow, so many great articles and links this week!  I actually had time to look at a lot, and there's just a lot of great stuff coming in!  Enjoy!

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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