A Week of Google Goodness

Last week I had the opportunity to be a teaching assistant for a week long Google workshop for a small group of educators. The workshop was an excellent chance to share Google tools while learning about tools that I hadn't used myself. The biggest thing I took away from this week is that as an educator, you don't have to have all the answers. Discussions and sharing resources led to the teachers learning new and innovative ways to implement Google tools in their classroom. My hope is that as all of these teachers prepare for the upcoming school year that they implement these tools, tricks and tips to increase student engagement and love of learning.

Here are the two presentations I did on Google+ and Google Mobile:

Scoop.it - A Great Tool for Curating

After attending an amazing presentation at ISTE, I have been really fascinated by digital curation. What is digital curation? According to Wikipedia, it is "the process of establishing and developing long term repositories of digital assets for current and future reference by researchers, scientists, historians, and scholars." Of all the tools I learned about for curating, my favorite is scoop.it. 


What is it? Scoop.it is a platform that allows users to collect media centered around a specific topic. Once a topic is created Scoop.it searches for and suggests content that matches that topic. This content can also be shared on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. My favorite feature of scoop.it is the "scoop it" button that can be added to your web browser allowing you to quickly add the websites you're viewing to your page. Students can even create their own pages and begin building their own curation skills.


Scoop.it in the Classroom: Scoop.it is a great way for teachers to accumulate resources on a particular topic. First, they create the topic.  Then, they search scoop.it's suggested content, the Internet or their social bookmarking site to find all the websites that pertain to that topic and add it to their collection. Now, they have one place for all of their resources that students can go to. Teachers can even follow other topics and find content to add to their own page.


Here is a sample of one I've built on the future of storytelling:

Apples in the Desert: The ADE Summer Institute

Image by Chris Penny

This week was the summer institute for the new class of Apple Distinguished Educators in Phoeniz, AZ. I followed along on Twitter and it seemed as though just as many powerful things were happening with a small group of 200 educators as the 18,000 people that attended the annual ISTE conference.


What impresses me so much about this group? These educators don't just sit around and talk; they plan, they promote, they collaborate. I have seen the fruit of their work and, one by one, they are changing the landscape of education in their classes, in their schools and in their communities. Their goal? Improving learning by learning themselves. Their learning didn't stay inside a conference room all week but spread throughout learning communities inspiring educators who weren't able to be there. 


Here are some powerful things that came out of this week:
We need to allow students to use the digital tools they use outside of the classroom. Presenter Kevin Honeycutt captured it best when he said "If we amputate students' digital limbs when they walk in the door, how can we expect them to learn?"


Tips for Storytelling:
    -Be unique
    -Know your audience
    -Engage
    -Be concise
    -Start strong. End strong.
    -Think about perspective
    -Show. Don't tell


"It's not about teaching. It's about facilitating learning." - Chris Tully

"Not sure what kids are doing on their computers in the classroom? GET UP! If you love your chair so much, retire." -Kevin Honeycutt

"Technology is nothing without a real relationship with our students." -Kevin Honeycutt


"Passion knows no hours." -Bill Frakes


Thanks to all of the ADEs for tweeting what they were learning throughout the week so I could learn along with you :-)

Thoughts from An Idealist

When I was at ISTE two weeks ago, I was able to attend tons of sessions and I noticed a startling pattern: At just about every session when a new idea or strategy was suggested, someone would raise their hand and talk about all the reasons why something wouldn't work or their limitations. After a few days of this, I began to feel really discouraged. 


I would love to see more teachers be unbelievably creative and bold. I would love to hear how more educators are remixing ideas to fit their classrooms. I believe that our students need to see us try, fail and try again because that's the only way they will feel comfortable doing the same. The job market as we previously knew it is rapidly changing. Fortune is on the side of those that are capable of creating opportunity where it didn't previously exist; our students will need to be creative, flexible and innovative. We cannot ask students to use their imaginations and tap into their creativity when we will not do the same. I know that budget cuts, layoffs and internet filters are a realty but shouldn't we try first? 


Do these thoughts make me an idealist? Maybe so and I'm okay with it :-)

Trial and Error and Lots O' Fun

As ISTE 2011 comes to a close, I learned a lot about being at a conference like this for the first time. Here's what I've learned:

1. Follow advice that you're given. My previous post mentioned all the great advice that I had given to prepare. Some I followed and some I didn't... and there were consequences. One blogger suggested getting plenty of rest and staying hydrated. I was running all over the place and found myself feeling dizzy halfway through the conference. I was also told to leave any session that wasn't serving me and I didn't and that session quickly became wasted time. Bad idea. Someone suggested wearing a backpack. I thought "That's not very stylish" so I brought a laptop bag. Now I'll probably be at the chiropractor for the rest of the summer from carrying around my 10,000 pound laptop. These suggestions are given for a reason so follow them!
2. Meet people. I had the chance to meet and chat with the new ISTE president Holly Jobe and she told me one of the great things about ISTE is that there are so many people to meet and she was right. Chatting with people in hallways and other random places, I met people from all over the world with some fascinating stories. I even met another preservice teacher, which hardly ever happens. It's the amazing the kind of relationships that can begin with saying "Hi."
3. Have fun! At the Newbie Lounge, someone asked me if I was feeling overwhelmed and I said I wasn't because I was having so much fun! I had my palm read, played phone games, watched dancing robots, learned words in new languages and laughed until my stomach hurt. How can you feel overwhelmed when you're having so much fun?

More thoughts and reflections from ISTE are coming but hopefully my trials and errors will serve others.

Newbie Gearing Up For ISTE

This weekend I registered for ISTE 2011, the annual conference held by the International Society for Technology in Education. (Better late than never, right?) Having attended a conference or two before I mistakenly believed that ISTE would be a breeze. I was wrong! There are so many workshops, sessions, exhibits and showcases to choose from my head is spinning! This conference is unlike any other one I have ever attended.

The thing I'm most looking forward to is meeting members of my learning network in person. EdCamp Philly gave me an appreciation for the ability to shake hands or sit down and chat with people that I've been connecting with virtually. I'm really looking forward to conversations longer than 140 characters.

I was feeling a little nervous about my first conference but there are tons of resources for newbies. The conference website features Tips for Newcomers including a Newbie Lounge. I'm there! The ISTE Ning is full of advice and forum topics for first-time attendees. Beth Still also offers Tips for Newbies on her blog. My favorite tip? "Comfort is really the most important thing" when choosing clothes. That tip makes choosing my wardrobe a lot easier.

I'm so excited for ISTE 2011and I can't wait to learn, connect and grow :-)

Anyone else have advice for an ISTE newbie?

A Year of Improvement

I was inspired by Mary Beth Hertz's blog post  reflecting on the five things she improved on this year so I decided to do the same:

1. Putting myself out there. I got the idea to start blogging over a year and a half ago but I was too scared to do it. Once I started blogging for my class I realized I could use it as a starting point or let yet another year pass by wishing I could. I decided to take a chance and in the process I'm finding my voice.
2. Reflecting on my classroom management. I always thought I knew how to handle kids but working with kids this year proved to be a bit of a challenge and some of the techniques I used to rely on weren't working. So I started asking myself "What could I have done better in this situation?"Answering this question made me take an honest look at what I was doing well and what needed improvement. Once I started doing that, it was easier working with kids and I experienced less frustration. 
3. Saying thank you. The last year I've been lucky to have so many people invest in my learning and development. In response to the flood of support and encouragement I started thanking everyone for the little (and big) things they do for me that will make me a better educator. 
4. Finding creative ways to learn. For the longest time my only source of learning was through reading books. While I'm still an avid reader I've learned that there are a ton more ways to learn new things. I've found resources through other people's blogs, Twitter posts and other's lists on Diigo. And because of creative learning I've learned more than I ever have.
5. Sharing what I've learned. Someone once said not to die with your ideas inside of you. To that end, I started telling friends, coworkers and members of my personal learning community about tools I've started using, why I value Facebook and Twitter and what I'm reading. The response has been that I've given people ideas they didn't think of and a fresh perspective.

This year has been such an amazing time of learning and growing and I can't wait to see what the next year holds.