#KidsDeserveIt

A year and a half ago, I decided to leave the classroom and start a new professional adventure as a Science Curriculum Coach and Technology Integrator. It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make in my professional life. I was the person that knew from the moment that I stepped foot in pre-school that I wanted to spend the rest of my life in the classroom. I never said I wanted to be an astronaut, or a movie star, or a ballerina...I always wanted to be a teacher. Somehow, from a young age, I knew that being in the classroom gave me the opportunity to change and impact kids' lives. Having the ability to impact kids' lives gave me the chance to impact the next generation. Impacting the next generation gave me the opportunity to impact the world. I wanted to impact the world.

A year and a half ago, I was offered the opportunity to leave the position that I knew could change the world. That was an incredibly difficult offer to comprehend. What would I be doing? Who would I be working with? What would my impact actually be? I had to do a lot of reflecting, crying, talking, pondering, walking, reading, and crying a bit more before I decided I had to take this new job. The thing is that I went into education because #KidsDeserveIt and I knew being in the classroom could help ensure that they were getting "it" when they were in my care. Upon reflection, I realized that this new position simply expanded my opportunity to make sure that kids were getting "It" across our whole district.

The chapter that impacted me the most was "Everyone Needs a Cheerleader." (Chapter 10). When I was in the classroom, I was that cheerleader for my students. I smiled, I laughed, I listened, and I pushed. In my new role, I need to remind myself that the teachers are now the ones that I need to cheer lead for. So many lines in this chapter apply not only to the work that we do with our students, but also the work that we do with each other as adults. I substituted "teachers" in for students in these quotes to demonstrate what I mean.

• Teachers will push you emotionally, fight against you, and test you. Why? Because they've been let down so many times in their lives that they think if they push you hard enough, you'll walk away and give up on them, too.
• We have to figure out ways to build up and champion our teachers - to let them know we love them - no matter what. 
• We have the power to tear down or build up the teachers who walk into our lives every day. 

I have a different role now than I had a year and a half ago, but I need to have the same mission. This week I want to cheerlead. I want to start my day with a positive interaction with a staff member to support the work that they are already doing. I want to lay a deeper foundation of positive support, in hopes that it supports the more challenging conversations that are bound to pop up throughout the year. At the end of the day, teachers are my students, and #TeachersDeserveIt.

Innovator's Mindset & Celebrate DeSTEMber

Dave Burgess taught our staff the 6 most insulting words a person can say, "It's easy for you, you're creative!" If you have ever seen Dave speak he doesn't just tell you these words, he asks them out in an over the top, pirate. theatrical production that he pulls off incredibly well. Dave's point is that there is nothing easy about planning these incredible lessons that last with our students, even for  people who seem to have these ideas drop out of the sky into their minds.

As I read The Innovator's Mindset, I connected it to what Dave Burgess had said. Just like creative lesson planning is a mindset, so to is innovation. I approached Hour of Code with the idea that I could do what had been done before, or I could use this as an opportunity to be creative and innovate the experience that we are offering Merton students. From that spark of an idea grew the month of DeSTEMber. An opportunity that goes well beyond the coding work that students will do December 5-9, but also includes outside experiences brought into our schools.

Today I kicked off our Celebrate DeSTEMber month with the STEAM Museum visiting Merton school. I will admit, I was nervous. I had sold this program as being great! I had convinced teachers and administrators to take time out of their day to come. The truth is...I had never seen the program in action. I took a risk, because innovation is a risk. Sometimes it is going to work and sometimes it isn't. I am glad to say today is one of the days that it worked. I watched as 400 kids grades 4K-4th walked through the doors and were awe inspired by their ability to access robots, generators, gears, 3-D printers, and technology in a hands on museum quality exhibit. More importantly, I watched as the light bulbs clicked for our students and they became creators and innovators.

Isn't that our goal? Not that we create an innovator's mindset for ourselves, but that we model an innovator's mindset for our students so that they grow to have one as well. I am so excited about the Celebrate DeSTEMber events that are going to be happening throughout the month. I would never say that it was an easy thing to pull off (and we are only one day into it), but after what I saw today I know that it is going to be every bit worth it.

Curious what else is going on during DeSTEMber? Check out my web page to learn more about it!

Celebrate DeSTEMber Information

Every Day is not a 10! (But today was)

When I took this job, I was very nervous about how it would compare to my days in the classroom. Being a classroom teacher is stressful, slightly chaotic, very busy, and so worth all of it. I loved the victories I had with my students on the personal and academic level. I loved the growth that I could see throughout the course of the year. I loved the people that I collaborated with to plan the most meaningful and long lasting lessons. I loved being a teacher! Therefore, the idea of leaving that all behind and finding that love doing something else was a bit overwhelming. However, just as I expected my students to take risks in order to grow, I had to be willing to step far outside my comfort zone to push myself professionally.

After about 6 weeks in this job my district administrator asked me to rate how I thought it was going. He asked that I use a scale of 1-10 where 1 is I absolutely hate it and 10 is it's amazing. I gave that day an 8. Nothing had gone horribly wrong, I hadn't been offended by anyone's attitude towards me, and I felt fairly caught up on my work (meaning my to do list was on one page not two). He asked what I gave teaching, and I admitted quickly that teaching hadn't been a 10 everyday either. I loved being a teacher, but there were days that I felt things could have gone better, e-mails that hit me the wrong way, or student behaviors that I wasn't please with. I am okay with the fact that not every day is going to be a 10.

I strive for excellence (let's be as close to 10 every day as we can), but I don't strive for perfection. If every day HAS to be a 10, then I fear I will become unwilling to take risks that might lead to failure. I fear that if I hold this expectation of a 10 over my head then I will stop celebrating the successes. Ten days make me feel amazing right now, days that are 8 are fine but remind me that there is something to be striving for.

All of that being said...TODAY WAS A 10!!! What makes something a 10 day? (I know that's what you're thinking) Let me tell/show you!

1. Amazing progress in the math class that I am co-teaching in. The amount of time that the teacher can spend on small group instruction in our new model is going to help the students immensely. I am already seeing the students more independent in utilizing the technology (tablets and netbooks) and the teacher has learned so much more about each student because of the way we have organized instruction. 3 days in and no turning back!
2. Awesome planning for science! Our teachers rotate who is teaching science which means a new group of teacher is getting started on a new unit right now, and I had the opportunity to sit down and plan with one of those teachers. Her smile and statement of "This was fun!" was a great way to leave the meeting. The idea that we had 5 days of lessons prepped for next week made me feel accomplished as well. 
3. I stopped by our middle school science class today to ask a quick question. Instead, I found myself pulled into an engaging conversation about atomic structure and then taken on a field trip inside an atom. Yes, today our young scientists were taken to the back parking lot of the school to understand that if they are holding the nucleus the electrons are on the far ends of the parking lot. It was fun to watch the light bulb above students' heads light up as they could visualize how much empty space exists in an atom, and watching what an engaging lesson our teacher had created was inspiring as well.
4. Today wrapped up my first quarter of STEM Elective classes. My students in both classes were remarkably dedicated to these classes, but the project created by my Pallet to project students really blew me away. Today they turned in their reflective videos on the process and I was really touched by how much they have grown. 

     

  

 

 

    

 

                                 
On top of those 4 things it is Friday, and next week starts new student electives for 2nd quarter. I have a couple of planning meetings and co-teaching opportunities already filled into my schedule for next week and hope the number of chances for me to dive into classrooms continues to grow!Today was a 10, and if Monday is a 10 that will be great! However, if it happens to be a 7 I will just see that as an opportunity to work towards Tuesday being an 8.

Have a great weekend anyone who happens upon my Friday thoughts!

Innovator's Mindset - Part 2: Laying the Groundwork

I am in a book study about the book The Innovator's Mindset. Our second assignment was to choose something from the second part of the book and write about it, get involved with it, react to it, etc. No less than 10 times in this section did I think to myself "There is the quote I am going to write my blog about." But then I read on and had the same reaction 2 pages later. The ideas brought forth in this section are not only thought provoking, but also action provoking. After letting the ideas meld in my mind for a day or two, I have decided upon which portion to focus.

Pages 82-84 talk about Disrupting Your Routine. It includes a blog post in which an educator discusses being a student in the school for two days. The author did everything the students did, took the notes, listened to the lessons, did the school work. The author had the following three take aways...

1. Students sit all day, and sitting is exhausting. 
2. High School students are sitting passively and listening during approximately ninety percent of their classes. 
3. You feel a little bit like a nuisance all day long. 

I found myself reflecting on what our students do all day. I am in the classroom teaching my own students far less now then I have been in previous years, but that means I spend much more time walking around the hallways traveling between places. I think Merton has phenomenal teachers, but I do find that I see a lot of students sitting in their desks. I found myself wondering how our students are actually spending their time. I think it is difficult for teachers to always put together the bigger picture of their students' days when their main focus is on the curricular goals they have for their content area. I found myself wondering what the results of my day(s) as a student would be. 

So I have decided to take action. Instead of wondering what a day in the life of a Merton student would be like, I am going to live a day, or two, in the shoes of our middle schoolers. I am not going in to evaluate the teachers, but instead to be able to come back with an overall look at what a day in our student's shoes would be like. I want to be able to come back with technology integration ideas, engagement ideas, and feedback that will help start conversations.

The book poses the question "Would you want to be a student in your classroom?" I want to experience life as a student in each of our classrooms, so that I can go back and help create environments that will make me want to live as a student in our classrooms each and every day. 

Items 2, 3, 9 & 12 Checked off the 16 Things List

In my effort to continue pushing my zone of comfort, and therefore helping the staff I work with push their zone of comfort, In continued this week to check things off the 16 things to try in 2016 list posted by Shake Up Learning. While this list doesn't dictate my day, my goals for tech integration, or my conversations with teachers, it is a good reminder on my desk of where I should be aiming to go with my personal understanding and utilization of technology. Therefore, this week I bring you 1/4 of the list checked off and ready to share. 

Item #2: Sketchnoting: I had tried this last week and posted my attempt. However, I was convinced I could do it better before checking it off the list. This week I left a piece of paper and my package of colored sharpies on my desk and worked to add something to my paper each day as I accomplished it (or at the end of the day reflecting on what I had accomplished) I did far less doodling in between, and like the vibrant colors sharpies provided as opposed to colored pencils the week before. Maybe next week I will attempt a digital version, but for now here is a Sketchnote of my week. 

Item #3: Blogging: I have never been good at journal. The idea of writing things in a little book that no one was ever going to read gave me no comfort. I can't tell you how many pretty journals I begged my mother to buy me, only to use the first 3 pages and never write in them again. To start this school year I decided that I would try blogging (again...I had a failed attempt in college). I don't have a huge following, and I am not sure I ever will, but blogging makes me feel like I am writing for a potential audience and a potential purpose. So if you have read this far in my blog, thank you for being my purpose in continuing to write!

Item #9: Google+ Community: A few years ago I joined Google+ and was told it was going to be the next facebook where I wanted to check things and post things constantly. Needless to say Google+ has not caught on in my social circle as swiftly as facebook, but in my professional circle it is picking up steam. A book chat professional development series that I am participating in is now through a Google+ Community, and our school improvement committee created and joined a community as well. I see it serving a different connecting purpose for me as compared to facebook, but I think that's a good thing to have separation of personal and professional in that aspect of my technology life. 

Item #12: A Voxer Chat: I will be honest, Voxer freaks me out a little bit. I don't know if it was my principals story of leaving the app on while using the bathroom and providing his group a special soundtrack to their chat, or just the idea of having another thing to keep track of using, but I wasn't one to jump on the Voxer bandwagon. However, I am part of a book discussion right now on the George Couros book The Innovator's Mindset and being asked to use Voxer as one of the communication tools. I don't hate it, but I have not yet fallen in love with it' to the point that I am walking around appearing to talk to myself while actually voxing people. I have played with it enough to cross it off my 16 before 2016 list, but not enough to make a final determination on how long it will remain among my other apps. 

Item 1 & 2 in 16 Things Teachers should try in 2016

I recently read a blog post by ShakeUpLearning about the 16 things that educators should be trying this year. It is always interesting to me to see what people think is the next great thing in education and to try to predict where I need to be ready to help teachers go in their teaching. I decided to take some time to see how many of these things I am already doing, and what I needed to give a chance. 

Item 1: Google Cardboard. 

    Google Cardboard is something that I am familiar with. We had the opportunity last year to be a pilot site for Google Expeditions and had 500 students use cardboard in the same day! It was awesome. Now that Google expeditions kits are coming to the market place it is my goal to purchase one for our district as a resource that teachers can access to give their students as close to an authentic experience in places that we would never have had the opportunity to access. 

Item 2: Sketchnoting

    Oh great! I was on item two of the list and don't even know what the words mean. Ok...to Google I go. I discovered that Sketchnoting is this idea that you can draw/doodle/graphic organizer your notes along the way. This infographic from seeyourwords.com explains the basics of what you are attempting to do, and Leigh Cassell's share of Sylvia Reosenthal's sktechnote about sketchnoting helped as well. 

    With my new found understanding of sketchnoting in mind, I set off to sketchnote my blog this week. Here is the result:

Reflection on the experience:

• I spent too much time doodling the in between designs
• This took me far longer than if I just would have typed about my week
• It doesn't look the way I wanted it to
• Maybe I should keep a piece of paper on my desk throughout the week and Sketchnote as I go
• I bet I could sketchnote better in a Google Drawing. 

My goal is to make it through the 16 things to try in 2016 by the end of 2016 (even though she may have meant this school year) Sketchnoting is one that I will have to keep working on before I am ready to really check it off the list. 

Busy in the Best Kind of Way

    One of my biggest fears in taking this job was that I wouldn't have anything to do. As shown by my blog post "But what do I do on the first day?" I have an ongoing uneasiness that people will not ask to work with me, or find value in sharing their precious prep time working on my ideas. This week, however, I was BUSY! The kind of busy where you are watching the clock to make sure that you aren't late to your next classroom, where you are wishing you would have scheduled a couple extra minutes to get from place to place, the type of busy that leads to apologies for being late to your next meeting. It is a different kind of busy then the busy you face as a classroom teacher. This kind of busy is not just for the students you teach, but accountability to adults and their students. It is the kind of busy that I look back on and think, "who would help if I didn't take this job?" It is the kind of busy that makes me feel appreciated, and needed, and excited about being busy again next week. 

I thought I would take this opportunity to brag about the amazing people I work with and the things that have kept me busy all week. Here are a couple of highlights. 

 

 

I would never have guessed that I was the type of person to like meetings. However, my meetings this week included planning amazing Project Lead the Way curriculum, getting teacher buy in to google classroom use, initiating digital assessment with google forms in mathematics, setting up our Global read aloud partnerships, becoming a pilot site for some pretty awesome 3D models, and leading JEDI training on Interactive documents. It was a busy week, but that's the way I like them. I enjoy being busy when it is busy in the best sort of way. Busy teaching, busy learning, busy helping other people impact the lives in even more ways. have a great weekend everyone! I hope it is busy in the best sort of way!