Teaching With Technology in APS

There is no doubt that technology has its own language.  Talk to anyone that works around computers and websites all day (like me on some days) and you may quickly feel lost and confused.  Examples of words that come up might include, but definitely aren’t limited to: web 2.0, blog, wiki, RSS, browser, podcast, etc.  You might have heard these words, and knew they had to do with technology, but that’s where your knowledge ended.  If you’re nodding your head right now I have the resource for you…It’s called Plain English.

I’ve run across their videos on YouTube a fair amount of times and have used it in many trainings as well.  All the authors have done is use a video camera, some really simple production work, and some paper and markers to help explain all these new words in “Plain English.”  All of the videos are housed on their site, which is called Commoncraft. They say it best when they describe what they do, “We make complex ideas easy to understand using short and simple videos.”

Here’s an example of what really helped set the stage at a podcast training I facilitated at the beginning of this school year:

So check these videos out.  Then next time your friends start throwing around those newfangled techie words and ideas you can actually join in the conversation instead of trying to quickly change the subject.  And please don’t try to tell me you haven’t ever done that!

I ran across this on one of my new favorite blogs the other day and knew it needed to be shared.  The blog is called “Dangerously Irrelevant” and I’m really loving the posts and the comments.  I know you’ll love it too, so definitely check it out.

The post that sparked my interest had to do with our students delivering professional development to our teachers.  This builds on a previous thought that we’ve heard from Alan November before…always include students in training and conferences.  There is absolutely no reason why this idea shouldn’t be a way larger part of what we do.  As the posts says, when it quotes Tapscott & Williams’ Wikinomics (2006), “this is the first time in human history when children are authorities on something really important (p. 47).”  I don’t care who you are, what you do or teach in your school district, how long you’ve been teaching, or whatever other issue you have with this point…it’s true…period.  The post I’m talking about is here.

As the post says as well, getting over the fear/anxiety/denial/etc. that your students may know more about a certain subject (in this case technology) is a tough step as a professional, but it’s a crucial one.  As the post says, “All we have to do is walk away from our egos and our fear and embrace our mission statements, the ones that say that we all should be learners and say nothing about from whom we must learn.”

Do the right thing and let the real experts teach.  You might just be surprised at what you learn and how that affects your learning environment.  Just see where things go from there…

I’ll post more particulars about this conference when I get a little more time, there is so much more to talk about.  These audio clips should hold you over for a while.

The first MP3 is Bob Sprankle’s presentation that I attended during the conference.   He has some great ideas on how to purposefully  infuse podcasting into your classroom instruction.  The link to all of these MP3s are to a page on his blog.

The second is Ewan McIntosh’s keynote address on the first day.  Plenty more to come on him later.  Make sure you listen to it though.

The third was Dr. Pedro Noguera’s keynote on the last day.  All I can say is wow.  More details to come on that as well.  He preached his word for over an hour about what is working and not working in today’s educational world and got a standing ovation at the end of it.  He was amazing.  Rumor is that we’re trying to get him here to talk to our teachers.  That would be really cool.

There are a few more podcasts on the page here.  Check them all out.  It was such a great conference.  I’m sure you’re be able to tell by these audio clips.  Enjoy!

Either me or my wife walk our dog every morning. He needs the exercise so he doesn’t become a freak during the day. Don’t we all need exercise so we can keep from becoming freaks too?

Anyways, there is an APS elementary school near our house and it was time for the first year teachers to report to this particular building for the first time in their careers. I remember that feeling pretty well, it wasn’t that long ago. Every APS school is locked from the outside as well and these teachers were there before the office staff had reported to work, therefore there was no one to “buzz them in.” My wife walked by them, noticed their worry and confusion, and knew this was no way to begin a teaching career. My wife then suggested they try the side door where she had seen teachers enter and exit this building for many years. “There’s a side door?” they exclaimed as they appreciatively said thanks and went in to begin their process of changing the world one student at a time.

Just thought I’d share that story for a few reasons. First, it’s cute. Second, it’s hard to do your job if you can’t get into the building. That’s sort of the first step. And third, and most importantly, don’t be afraid to look for, and use the side door as you go through life. There’s nothing wrong with that and it might just save you some time and effort in the process.

Have a great school year everyone…

Just got this link from a colleague of mine and had to pass it on. This video displays the hows and the why’s of technology infusion in the classroom. If you watch really closely you can see him become a teacher right in front of your eyes. And I can’t agree more with his observation that it’s about a carefully selected image with a well planned out thought provoking question. If you still think it’s all about the technology you haven’t read enough of my or my hero’s and friend’s blogs! Get to work!

Click here and then press play on the video window, embedding/downloading this video has proven to be kind of a challenge. Just a few more clicks and you’ll be there!

Here is a video that I know you’ll enjoy. Ran across this on the TED site. The link to the site is here. I always enjoy listening to experts, like Sir Ken Robinson, who know what they’re talking about when it comes to education and how we can reform it to more effectively serve every single one of our students. I hope you appreciate his words and reflections as much as I do…

I’m at one of the largest forward-thinking conferences on the planet. There are so many great leaders here describing and inspiring teachers, administrators, etc. to change the world of the classroom as we know it today. It’s awesome and inspiring. People are using Twitter, Ning, Google Earth, blogging, taking virtual notes all over the place, and anything and everything inbetween. Our department has also spent an pretty big chunk of change to buy everyone in Instructional Technology a Microsoft product called One Note. It would be so perfect for a conference that gives out so much relevant information like this one.

And what am I doing? I’m taking notes with a stinking pen on some scratch paper. Very 21st Century. My laptop will hold a charge for about 20 minutes and trying to take notes on my phone just isn’t efficient anymore. My pen and paper method still works just fine, but I’m feeling a little out of place. I guess you need to be confident enough to struggle at times, at least that’s what I always tried to teach my kids when I was in the classroom.

It’s still fun, but typing it over again later isn’t so great. At least I’ll be able to go over my notes again.  I’ll need to because there are plenty of them. More to come soon!

Well, I’ve finally found some time to talk about our favorite conference of the year, Promethean’s User Group Conference. This year the company decided to have three separate conferences rather than one central conference like last year’s held in Houston, Texas. It was decided that we would attend the year’s first User Conference in Sarasota, Florida with many other APS colleagues. I believe there were 24 coaches, trainers, and teachers from our district that were able to attend. What a great feeling to look around and see people you recognized everywhere. I know for a fact we had the largest attending group from our region, and one of the larger groups overall, besides the teachers from Sarasota itself. Just FYI…the other User Groups will be held in Tuscon and somewhere in the Northeast with Boston being the rumor that’s going around.

Enough about all that, now on to the good stuff. For whatever reason, this conference is the best. I don’t know if it’s the product or just being able to give your full attention to Promethean for a few days, but everyone that goes loves it. The problem with the huge national conferences (I can only comment on NECC because that’s where I’ve been twice) is that it has that “mile wide and inch deep” effect. You get so much thrown at you, and it’s all useful in one way or another, but there’s just not enough time and energy to get some depth that will lead to impact down the road. Conferences like Promethean’s User Group allows for depth and immediate impact when you return to your classroom (or job.)

I was able to attend some great sessions while I was there.  The first wasn’t as valuable as the title implied, but that’s where the Promethean factor kicks in.  If the instructional content doesn’t quite meet you needs, you can always learn something about using ACTIVstudio by watching someone use it.  I learned a simple way of how to make moveable sticky notes on a flipchart, so my time was well spent either way!

The second session was with Promethean’s resident ACTIVstudio rock star Peter Lambert.  I love watching him do what he does.  There’s nothing like watching one of the key developers of the software show you a few things.  He had all kinds of tips and tricks that he shared with the audience in his “Getting the Best Out of Actions and Properties” presentation.  Plenty of great information to pass along to the teachers I support in APS.

Session 3 was my turn to share my “ACTIVknowledge” emedded into some pedagogical beliefs that I have been able to develop in my new job.  “Inspiring Effective and Engaging Instruction Through Technology” was what I chose to title my session.  This was my chance to “spread the word” using Promethean’s platform.  I think the audience enjoyed it and I hope they left inspired to go out and use technology to make a huge difference on many levels in their classrooms.

The next session I signed up for was the “Promethean Playroom.”  This was our chance to see what the new ACTIVexpressions could do.  These things are amazing.  I can’t wait to see them in action in our district sometime soon.  During this session I also had a chance to connect with Pat Henry, Promethean’s VP of Marketing and Business Development.  His name has come up in the past when it came to dealing with some of the quality control issues we were having with the Sanyo projectors that come with the +2 systems.  It was nice to touch base with him and share some of the information I had recently learned from Sanyo about how the altitude was affecting our projectors.  Promethean definitely has some great people working for them.  Yet another reason why we enjoy working with their company so much.

The last official session I attended was a small distrcit in Pennsylvania describing how they trained and supported their teachers.  And when I say small, I mean small…five schools.  One licensed tech support person for each school.  Now that’s nice.  They shared some great information that helped us to know that we are definitely on the right track, considering how limited we are as far as human resources go.

The last “group” session was a simple discussion with tech coaches and tech administrators that attending the conference.  It was cool to have an hour just to chat about the differences and similarities among all of our districts.  It’s always valuable to hear where people are coming from.

Obviously, I’m looking forward to future User Groups.  They are the highlight of our PD for the year.  Promethean puts on a good show, on many levels, for sure!

I’ve known this for a while, but with my new job I realize it on a whole new level. We need more time.

Time for training,

professional development,

exposure to curriculum,

planning,

organizing data,

and plenty of other stuff that just plain needs to be taken care of before we can move on to the smaller things that are just as important as the large ones.

Last school year our district-wide in service days were cut from four to two. Not quite sure where this idea started, who thought it was a good idea, and exactly why we would do this, but we did. Now our schools and teachers are pretty much drowning because of that choice. The best way I’ve heard it explained in the past is that our professional development is best compared to a river that’s a mile wide and an inch deep. By the time things really get going and people feel comfortable with what they’re doing, it is decided that particular resource isn’t as valuable as it was once thought and now it’s time to learn a new one. That’s simply how it’s always been in education.  And to add to this, educators and the system are really, really good at adding things, and they practically never take anything away.
There will come a day when the planning time that everyone needs in order to be effective will be there, and I hope that day comes soon. Until then,  we’ll just do the best with what we’re given. I guess that’s all we can do.

Great article from The Denver Post that caught my eye a few weekends ago.  You can find it here.  I think it’s about time we change how the kids learn in our schools, especially our high schools.  What we’re doing obviously isn’t working as well as it should.

I always enjoy reading the responses and perspectives that get posted after a news story like this becomes available online.  You can always count on that old, “Well, I graduated in 1962 and I turned out fine, why are we changing things?”  You can also hear from people that “get it” as well.

Check it out…I like where this is going.  No need to change the content, but it’s definitely time to remix how it’s presented and experienced by our students.