The Time is Now.

With three full months of school left, there is plenty to be accomplished in this academic year. Teachers are providing lessons full of passion, students are gaining knowledge by the moment and the school community is thriving to the fullest. There is much yet to be done.

The reality is though that for many of us the current school year is winding down faster than the calendar suggests. As difficult as this sounds, many of us in administration are already in the planning stage of the school year that awaits. Staffing, budgeting, scheduling and more has become our focus. The 2015/2016 school year will be upon us before we know it.

The time is now.

To start next year, after an in-depth technology task force completed hours of work and reported their findings to the school district and community, our middle grade students (6th through 8th) will all start the year with Ipad mini's in their possession.  We will roll out 3600 devices in a district of 16,000 students. This is no small feat. And, for those that have already participated in something like this before, you know there is work to be done.

The time is now.

As we close in on Digital Learning Day on March 13th, there is a level of anticipation like never before. Our teachers and our students are preparing for what lies ahead. Our district is blessed that we have embraced technology integration over the years in our buildings. Each school and each teacher is incorporating the Blended Learning mindset and creating a culture that supports an online component. We have been planning, we will be ready.

The time is now.

While many of our teacher have been using Ipads over the past few years, some staff are less familiar with the opportunities that await them. Therefore, to ensure a level of readiness, my staff is doing the following as we close out this school year to prepare for next:

- Familiarizing themselves with the Ipad and it's potential with instruction.
- Discovering apps and programs to implement into learning.
- Exploring the device and it's various forms to interact with students and parents.
- Connecting globally with educators to hear of successes and failures.
- Collaborating with colleagues within the building and district to discover its layers.
- Risk taking and allowing themselves to fall forward with trial and error in the infancy stages.
- Supporting one another on this journey of teaching and learning.

As educators, we realize that in order to be ready for what lies ahead, we must plan ahead. The time is now. Each day is a celebration of our successes. Let's be ready for tomorrow and be ready to support this next layer on our professional academic journey.

Pieces to the Puzzle

Being a building leader, it is essential that I work with my staff and understand their instructional path. One of my focuses this year has been to work with my teachers to discover, define and implement what their passions are in their teaching. The conversations that we are having are imperative to our success. They hold the pieces to this puzzle.

Working with students at the middle level, I also find a it a priority to discuss with them what they strive for in their academic experience. Even though they are in the early stages of their journey, they hold many pieces to the larger puzzle of the teaching and learning experience. Their input is necessary to our growth as an academic institution.

Puzzles, as we know, are challenging. Arranging, turning and guessing where each piece is placed can be a daunting task. The shear number of pieces and their appearance alone can be overwhelming. My task is to take these various pieces and lay them out in front of each other and show how the interlocking sides can become that completed puzzle we seek in eduction.

It is these very pieces - the perspectives, beliefs, passions and experiences of the student and the teacher, that cultivates an environment that pushes the boundaries of education and redefines what best practices truly are. We must bring our ideas together and collectively determine what it is we want from our experiences.

As these conversations take place, each learns that many of their ideas are more similar than they may have first thought. The pieces to this puzzle will fit together nicely.

Teachers and their students share the following beliefs in their teaching and their learning:

Collaborative spaces. A classroom where students can work together to share their ideas and discuss the topics. A space where teachers can move freely about to support the learning process is essential.

Share the teaching. Their is no longer one teacher within the room. Each wants to be responsible for sharing out the content. If we allow for a sharing of instruction, the return is evident in the achievement students are having.

Feedback is essential. Guide us, share with us and push us with critical questions to the learning we are doing as the student. Whether the child or the adult, both seek feedback to the work. Offer it.

Technology supports the learning. Teachers and students agree that technology is essential in todays classroom. Both agree that technology is intended to enhance the teaching, not replace it. It is a shared belief that both students and teachers rely on each other in the learning on how to use technology in instruction.

Accountability. Students want to be held to the highest standard possible. Teachers agree. Not always the easiest of tasks, still a critical one at that. Don't allow "lost homework" and poor attendance to be an excuse for failing grades. Instead, pool resources and find solutions.

Take risks together. We have gone through our lives, young and old, learning from our mistakes. Mistakes happen due to a risk we have taken. In teaching and learning we should be offered the opportunity to take risks and learn along the way. Imagine the possibilities.

The pieces to the puzzle are laid out on the table and we are working together to create a year of success. Student achievement, regardless of how you measure it, will increase. Passions will be evident, impact will occur and best practices will continue to evolve.

Work with and listen to your students and your teachers to determine what their needs and wants are of your environment. Cultivate the great things that are happening and watch the growth continue.

Characteristics of Connected Educators

(courtesy connectivist.com)

con·nected

kəˈnekt/ed

adjective

1

:  joined or linked together

2

:  having the parts or elements logically linked together<presented a thoroughly connected view of the problem>

3

:  related by blood or marriage

4

:  having social, professional, or commercial relationships <a well-connected lawyer>

5

of a set :  having the property that any two of its points can be joined by a line completely contained in the set; also :  incapable of being separated into two or more closed disjoint subsets

— con·nect·ed·ly adverb

— con·nect·ed·ness noun

There are always opportunities to learn and to grow. It is my choice as to the depth I go in understanding the tools at my disposal.  In the most simplest of forms, I am learning. We, are learning.

In a relatively short period of time I have come to understand what it means to be connected and value its importance. My success is dependent on it. The future of my work relies on it. My existence as a leader is held to it. Connecting with others is essential.

I am a Connected Educator, therefore I am: 

a problem solver

a dreamer

a believer

a risk-taker

a collaborator

Being connected is at the root of who I am. I must learn, share and reflect. With that I will grow as a leader and a learner. I will model what it means and how it impacts others. My passion for being connected will be my drive.  

Are you connected?

What's Your Tech Tool of Choice?

chenected.aiche.org

If put to the challenge of narrowing down your list of favorite tech tools to have at your disposal, could you pick just one? And, to add to the difficulty of the questions, let's keep everything "Google" in the mix. 

So what will it be? What is your "go to" tool? It may be Voxer, Remind, or an App that makes your teaching and your students learning that much more powerful. We live in an age where tools via technology are being created faster then we can learn how to use them. Personally, I still trying to get my arms around a few of them.

www.expeditionpr.com

With that, here is a compilation of most used tech tools by educators in the world in which I work. And, most likely, in the world you work, too. These are in no particular order:

1. Google Apps - A must have for organizing your thoughts, sharing out ideas and compiling information in one spot. An added bonus, with understanding Google Hangout (GHO) you can add collaboration and communication and take that to an entire new level. Most of us, all of us, myself included, would be lost without it.

2. Twitter - A close second to the Google world. For educators that have not found the benefits of this resource, that is a pretty big rock you are under. Go ahead and peak out from beneath it. There are endless resources, amazing people and countless tools within the tool. Connecting through Twitter is one of the greatest forms of professional development possible.

3. Socrative - Like their website states, "signing up thousands of new users each day, we believe big changes in education are possible through small improvements. We are making teachers lives simpler." This app embraces the personalized side of instruction and assessments, gives authentic feedback for immediate instruction and can grow the community. It is worth the look.

4. Blogger and WordPress - More classrooms and their teachers are blogging more than ever before. Students are sharing independent of the request from their teachers and teachers are finding the process invaluable to the growth of their writers. Find a classroom that is blogging, and you will find students that are growing leaps and bounds beyond their peers.

5. Voxer - New to the list, Voxer is taking the world by storm. For educators, yet another way to connect. Sending and receiving messages, sharing of content and adding photos allows teachers to take the globe in which we live and shrink it. You better do your homework, if you don't get up to speed on this one, you will be left behind.

Listed above are some amazing resources for all sorts of professionals, not just educators. Moat likely you are using most of them. Growing the list out further, here are some other "must have's" for educators:

- You Tube
- Edmodo
- Remind
- Evernote
- Class Dojo
- Dropbox

www.indiawaterportal.org

So again I pose a simple question. In the end, which of these tools is your "go to"? Which ones do you not have as part of your daily arsenal of tools already?

The good news, we don't have to chose. We get to use all of these, and more. Continue to expand your knowledge of the tech tools that are out. There are more coming right around the corner.

Understanding Blended Learning

(courtesy thriftyfun.com)

For the past few years educators have worked tirelessly to ensure that students in today’s classrooms, the same students that are preparing for jobs that don’t even exit yet, are receiving instruction that incorporates devices, or computers, as part of their learning experience. As educators know, incorporating technology is simply, integration. 

As academic leaders we have been spending time and energy, and most significantly dollars, so that technology is a part of each classroom and so that teachers are being supported in their work. With these efforts we have seen results. The investment has been worth it.

For the most part, technology integration was the path that we knew best. We have given teachers support with devices, students or the schools, and we asked them to enhance the learning experience within the classroom walls. We have overcome the barriers.  And in the end we have had some great success.

With all of that said, we are now learning more and more about Blended Learning. For many, the shift is on and we have been hearing more and more about the differences from simply adding technology to how we use this technology within the learning. How are they different? Do we have to toss that all away and head in another direction?

(educationrethink.com)

Then answer is “No”. In fact, if you work in an environment in which teachers and the school community has embraced technology integration over time, you are that much closer to being successful at sharing with your stakeholders the Blended Learning model.

Our technology integration simply needs “tweaked”. 

Blended Learning by any definition is taking the classroom instruction (in all its forms including the use of devices) and adding an online component that supports what is being taught within the classroom setting.  Here are 7 Characteristics of the Hilliard City School Districts Learning Environment of Blended Learning. As you read them, see how they translate into your teaching and how they would apply in your classroom, school or district. And, see how which side of the equation you fall on. Integrated or Blended?

(courtesy Hilliard City Schools)

As you read the language of each, there is a resounding message of connectivity between the traditional classroom setting and the digital elements of the learning environment. Assuming you can uphold the intentions of what Blended Learning is intended to be, then the environments in which are created, and the experience both the teacher and student will partake in, the results will be astounding. 

Now that we are shifting away from integrated and into Blended, make sure to take the time to work with your colleagues. Welcome everyone to the table, have the conversations, share experiences, perspectives and areas of expertise. Know that there can be more than one path to the intended outcome. There has been so much positive accomplished already that we need to build upon on our success. Teachers and their embracing of technology in instruction is constantly on the rise and we should continue to build upon that momentum.

And, of course, ask questions. There is plenty to learn along the way.

Digital Literacy - Why Wait?

(courtesy retailsolutions.com)

Can you imagine a time when you had to wait for a book, a conference or a conversation in order to learn the best practices in your field? Think back a few years and how you would gather knowledge from colleagues that worked down the street, across town or in a different part of the world.

If we had the time, or made the time, we would pick up the phone, make a road-trip or schedule a conference in order to gain the greatest information in an attempt to improve our teaching and our learning.

(courtesy edudemic.com)

Educators are learning, at a lightening pace, that being connected is a must. The catch is that where we are today is still years behind where we need to be. Just when we think we have mastered one form of digital communication and interaction, another appears. Instagram and texting are almost a thing of the past when it comes to sharing of information. Unimaginable.

Franki Sibberson shared her experiences this morning on the final day of the Ohio Innovative Learning Conference of how she embeds technology, digital literacy, into her classroom instruction. She is quick to emphasize that her addition of blogging, using twitter chats and bringing in devices is not about replacing her instruction, it is about enhancing the learning experience and continuing to meet the needs of her students. And, it has taken time and failure. The take-away though is simple, we don't have time to wait to bring these tools to our students and their learning. 

Here are some reflections via Twitter during her presentation:

The reality is though that Franki is experienced. For years she has been teaching herself, through working with others, these best practices for the benefit of and for her students. It is impressive. However for many in the audience, it can be daunting. 

As you consider what you can introduce to your students, try not to overwhelm yourself. Rather, take one tool, one path, one piece at at time and spend time each day (a few moments) and teah yourself. In time you can arm yourself with an arsenal of tools that will support your students learning interests digitally.

It will be worth your efforts. So, ask yourself, "Why Wait?"

For more information and to learn more from Frankie, go to: http://clickherenext.com/