Have I mentioned how thankful I am to work in a district that invests in resources to support teaching and learning? Our district level purchases are one thing, but after this month I truly believe that this mindset at central services has had a ripple effect.
I work closely with four of our district's schools. One of them - a high school - made the decision to purchase Pear Deck Premium for the staff. Spearheaded by the English department, this purchase will benefit all! I do love what this platform can do - especially to enhance remote learning - and was thrilled to partner with the English department chair to offer professional development to the entire staff. In recent weeks, I have had 1:1 sessions with teachers of all content areas at the school to share the love of the Pear. In this more formal session, we took teachers through a lesson taking care to utilize the powerful tools Pear Deck offers during the session. We demonstrated how to go back and forth between teacher and student paced mode. We showed participants the different features of the teacher dashboards - showing responses during delivery with no names (even overlapping the draggable/drawing answers to show all responses at once) and them and using the teacher dashboard in a separate window with names and the ability to send comments! Their minds were blown! The ultimate end to this session had them creating items they could use the next day - everyone left with a lesson ready for class! Pear Deck is hands-down one of the best investments a school can make if they truly value the work of learning. Money well spent. Can't wait to see the return on this investment!
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Wow.
This new district has made a commitment and significant investment into technology. ♥ They have a plan to replace the interactive panels every 10 years and are moving forward with this even during the pandemic. One of my first tasks was to figure out the three different brands of Interactive Panels in use. When requests come in for assistance, they all say SMARTboard. Kind of like how back in the day, when the projector bulb quit or the projector cables changed the color of the image projected, workorders almost always came in for a SMARTboard repair. (facepalm) That said, this endeavor to figure out the devices in the district led me to this conclusion: all Interactive Panels are NOT the same. Not even the three different brands we have. Heck, not even the ones by the same company (SMART) My opinion: those are THE worst. I'll get to why soon..... The newest - Newline. A lot of potential, but the native software needs improvement - which I'm sure will come. In the meantime, I focus on using the board as an extension of the computer. These do have the ability to connect wirelessly and retain the interactivity, but I ALWAYS make sure that teachers know how to connect those cables. For starters, the on board controls are locked at the top. An average height teacher will NOT be able to access them. Most importantly, the wired connection is more stable. As most teachers are transitioning from the old SMARTboards, their computer stations are still close enough to use the wired connection. I still show them how to install the software for the wireless connection and show this option, but as with any change, some folks need more time to try it. In regards to the built in annotation tools - they are not an option for use when teachers are teaching in a hybrid manner as those annotations live on the board and not the screen being shared during Zoom or Meet sessions. Teachers rely on the built in Zoom annotation tools or using SMARTnotebook to add a transparent layer - then they can quickly save those annotations as a pdf and add them to their Google Classroom for students to review later. Then there are the Boxlight panels, by Mimio - a true dream. Everything just works.. The wireless connection is very intuitive, still need software installed to make it happen, but this has been the easiest board to work with out of all three (four) in use. These were the number one choice for replacing the old boards in the renewal cycle, but from what I have been told, the company could not meet the production needs so the Newline became the board of choice. SMART - I used to love ya. But I don't think you've kept up. I can forgive the older boards, the OGs. However, your newer ones are not as easy to use wirelessly as the two newer board types we have. In fact, they don't work wirelessly at all. Our techs have looked into this and as it stands, they can only be used wired - and that is perfectly fine. They still elevate the teaching that can happen! And your software is bulky, but reliable! Our district pays for that and we have the SMART Learning Suite Online - which is evolving. Still a little quirky, but it provides a great option for teachers during remote instruction! I'll post on that later. While all boards may not be created equal, they do provide a valuable means of sharing information for teachers teaching hybrid classes with students joining in the classroom and at home. In the midst of a Pandemic transforming education, I made the decision to transform as well.
During the past twelve years, I was fortunate to be part of some amazing and powerful learning experiences for both teachers and students. I will miss the Instructional Technology Facilitators and Media Specialists that I worked with, but the role had greatly shifted from what I was initially hired to do. Before school buildings closed for the Pandemic, my favorite days were spent in the schools working with teachers and their students. I continued to do that once we shifted to remote instruction, but this time made me realize that MY priorities as an educator when it came to digital teaching and learning didn't seem to mesh with the priorities of the current technology office that employed me. I applied for a similar role in a neighboring district about half the size of the one I was in. This position had been added because additional schools had opened and there was a need for instructional technology support. Added a position. You spend money on what you value. This district's commitment to preparing teachers and supporting them impressed me. I began there August 21 and my first week was amazing and busy . But at the end of each day, I knew I had made the right decision. I felt invigorated once again and passionate about what I was accomplishing each day. I am looking forward to this new Digital Teaching and Learning journey and the adventures it will bring! It is almost that time again! Summer is winding down and preparations are being made for the 2020-2021 school year. CAUTION: Plans subject to change without notice. With new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the rise, districts are faced with tough decisions about reopening schools. When schools DO reopen, they certainly won't look the same as they did before March 2020. Everything that was social about learning in schools has to be redesigned. School Classrooms aren't big enough to maintain adequate social distancing protocols. Teachers are often not equipped to transition to online content delivery. Students are sometimes unable to connect to online content delivery from their homes. My district with over 26, 000 students will be operating on a rotation schedule. Three groups. One week of face to face instruction followed by 2 weeks of remote learning. Factor in the time for multiple bus runs (bus capacity is limited) and the time for mandatory health screenings for all that enter the buildings, instructional time will be reduced. But that face to face time is invaluable. It will be the time to begin relationships and establish norms and protocols for online class time. Hopefully, we will make it through the first three week cycle before anyone has to quarantine or self-isolate due to COVID-19. While legislators and parents are advocating for schools to reopen, no one is providing the financial support so that it can be done. Extra bus runs mean more money on fuel. TO be prepared for devices for in school and at home use, devices need to be purchased. Programs to help support online learning need to be upgraded and/or purchased. Many teachers have sought out the necessary professional learning opportunities to build their online teacher skills. Luckily many are free. The schools with dedicated digital learning coaches have not missed a beat! They have been building capacity in their teachers since BEFORE the school closure began. Sadly, many schools do not have that role. Some districts prioritize it, others do not. Those that don't have struggled the most. UPDATE: After this was posted, our district switched to ALL REMOTE LEARNING for the first nine weeks. Back to planning!
Imagine your favorite shoes. What make them your favorite? Is it that they fit perfectly? Do they go with all of your outfits? Have you broken them in just so? Are they just easy - to put on, to pair with outfits, etc.?
If someone were to say that starting Tuesday, you could no longer wear them. Ever. How would you feel? Would you demand to know why your faves were no longer allowed? Recently, the district where I work mandated which learning management systems (LMS) would be used at each grade level. High Schools were told that they were now going to use Canvas. Since some had struggled to get on board with Google Classroom - and had become comfortable with it - they felt as if their favorite, newly broken in shoes were being ripped off of their feet. They were given a semester "grace" to transition into Canvas, which has a steeper learning curve. Enter, me. I once again offered a Moving to Canvas course designed for teachers that housed much of their content on their websites (think Powerpoint and YouTube videos) as a transition to Canvas. A BIG part of this course is lesson design. Designing for and online class is NOT the same as what you might see in a face-to-face environment. Let me say that again.... Designing for and online class is NOT the same as what you might see in a face-to-face environment. A little history: this course has been offered a few times in recent years, updated after each one to improve, adjust, and keep up with the platform changes. The largest number of folks that completed the course in those previous courses was six. Eleven was was the largest enrollment. This time: 75 teachers enrolled! Over 20 are actively working - it runs through mid July. But this group, despite being somewhat unwilling at the beginning, has gone above and beyond with their transition to Canvas. In the first weeks of this course, I heard, "This is NOT user friendly!" and "In Google Classroom, I could....can I do that in Canvas?" quite a bit. So, I started by validating their feelings - Canvas isn't the most user friendly platform for teachers that are reluctant technology users. I still struggle at times. Just because I am their teacher it doesn't mean I have all the answers - but I know how to find them! I shared my strategies with them. and started to help them remove barriers to using Canvas That second question I heard often: "In Google Classroom, I could....can I do that in Canvas?" was the game changer! They asked in submission comments or in the "Ask Anything" discussion I created - some even emailed me directly. I was able to share how to connect Flipgrid, Google Drive, and EdPuzzle - things they were used to using in Google Classroom. I didn't stop there - I knew that many others might be wondering the same thing. At the end of each week, I emailed the group with those things I had shared privately with a few and started urging them to check the announcements. I also added items to that section to model how they might use this with their students. I've posed questions about "checking in" so students don't "check out" - we saw that happen quite a bit in the spring for a number of reasons. We have to do better in the fall. As June ends, we are halfway through the course. But I have already received many POSITIVE emails about how this course has helped them get ready for fall. The ones that make it all worthwhile are the ones from reluctant adopters who are now excited about the possibilities Canvas provides them - and their learners. With so much uncertainty still looming over what school will look like in August, I am thankful that I could support these teachers as they sacrifice some of their summer to prepare - as best they can - for what is coming. This month, I took back Mondays. I decided that Mondays were MINE.
Selfish? Maybe. But I can't adequately professionally develop others unless I professionally develop myself so I set three goals to accomplish during my dedicated "me time" each Monday morning. Spoiler alert - I did not meet all three goals....the way I intended to at least. GOAL 1: Become better acquainted with how to support our district media specialists. We do not have a dedicated lead media coordinator. That role went away many years ago during an earlier Reduction In Force move. Supporting them has been one of my "hats" since then in some form or fashion. I was mourning the loss of our summer library program this year due to the pandemic and eager to explore ways our media program could evolve to better support limited access and remote learning. I signed up for a course designed for media specialists through NCCAT and signed up for webinars about school libraries post-COVID. Well, I got booted out of the NCCAT class. I never logged in. The boss put another project on my plate causing other things to fall off of it. Even though I was trying to carve out time on Mondays only, I couldn't fit it all in. I DID manage to attend most of the webinars and share what I learned with the boss so we can better support our media specialists. That summer library mourning turned into joy when two of my middle school librarians and I had an idea...the first EVER Virtual Summer Book Club was born! I love their enduring willingness to step outside the traditional library box! So I think I sort of met the goal, even though I didn't meet the mini-goals I established for myself. GOAL 2: Become more knowledgeable in Seesaw. Realizing that most of our elementary schools were relying heavily on this platform to deliver instruction, especially in the lower grades, I realized I needed to stop dabbling with it and dive in! I had to rely heavily on some of our district's amazing teachers when creating the Seesaw LMS resource page of our Digital Tools for Distance Learning website. I felt like I had failed at my job as their digital learning support, so I signed up for courses through Seesaw. Not gonna lie - I FAILED here. As the month went on and I got the email from Seesaw saying i only had nine days left to complete the course, I had to think long and hard about what completing this course really meant in the long run. Our district has numerous Seessaw Ambassadors. I have always said that the best teachers of how to use a tool are teachers using that tool - it was time to listen to myself. I took a deep breath and unenrolled. I can put my faith in these leaders to do an amazing job with training their peers. GOAL 3: Learn more about Google Tools. I am a Google Certified Educator and have supported many teachers as they earned their certification. I know that Google is always changing as it develops to meet the needs of its users. I also know that there are always multiple ways to do things with this suite of tools. So, I signed up for another NCCAT course and set another long-range goal to work on earning my Google Certified Trainer credentials before July rolls around. I decided to focus on this last one. As I progressed through the NCCAT course, I realized this one helped me also accomplish some of the tasks on my to do list - did you click on the Virtual Summer Book Club link in Goal 1? I created that during the course! I also was able to create a resource for others in the district on how to access a new CLASS Project resource. It's linked on the book club flyer. As for progress towards the trainer certification...I'm only a video away from getting that application in! This May Monday mantra worked for me. It made me not dread Mondays, too - I woke up ready to learn! I started my week inspired and felt grounded as I dug into the learning plans, digital tool evaluations, certificate approvals, badge reviews, hours long phone calls and Zoom meetings. Will it be the same once I have to return to the real office in a couple of weeks? I hope so - I do know that working on my front porch or with the windows open in my home office had a huge POSITIVE impact on my productivity. My other office has no windows or natural light. I often joke it is where plants go to die....some days there, I feel like a plant. Here's to Mondays! It seems like another side effect of COVID-19 is a time warp of sorts. As educators, we often experience this foggy "what day is it?" feeling during winter break and summer, but this - this has been something entirely different. Especially for those of us working remotely. Things I've learned:
That last one....y'all, think about the students. For some of them, THAT is why they look forward to school. I was that kid. This weighs heavily on my teacher heart right now. I see some teachers facing that same struggle as they wrestle to balance leadership expectations (which vary greatly from school to school) and what they know their students are facing at home when creating lessons for students and providing feedback and encouragement. I see some that are more focused on teaching their content than student well-being....even though their words/emails indicate otherwise. They are grade, assignments, and attendance driven, even though the capability to complete online work varies greatly. From working more (caring for siblings, working extra shifts at their jobs to help their family eat and pay bills), lack of access to suitable technology and Internet to meet the teacher expectations, or even special educational needs - not every student CAN work at the same level or pace. If we are grading now, we are grading privilege. In secondary environments, sometimes those two types of teachers teach the same kids. Ugh. I also believe that this longest month ever has given us much to reflect on as we create the new vision for what school means moving forward. What matters most in your idea of what "new school" needs to have? Out of an abundance of caution took on new meaning. No longer referring to impending weather related issues like hurricanes, COVID-19 was what this month's alert calls and emails included. I would have preferred inclement weather. At least that threat often passes quickly. Luckily, my role allowed me to continue from home. Planning meetings? Still happening! Resource and tutorial creation? Still happening! Look, I was Zooming and Meet-ing before we had no other way to come together. Many of my early "calls" were helping others explore the features of these tools and how to set up a productive space to work at home. Encouraging and supporting the technical side of things. I created a website to help our educators navigate Distance Learning. - best practices, tools, and how to provide feedback when you can't be face-to-face. I worked with our professional development department (of one - we only have one person with that official title) to craft a plan for independent study to allow teachers to create a custom pathway of learning and earn continuing education credit while navigating it - and these uncharted waters - for most educators in our district - of remote learning. In the midst of all of this, I also parented my own high schooler as lacrosse season was canceled and her school day and social life were turned upside down as well as a college freshman who had spring break turn into moving back home. All of us made adjustments....and shared one office space. So while March usually is "in like a lion and out like a lamb", this year's events proved that you have to bring your own sunshine, ind joy in what you do....and share that with others. Wait...let me clarify. I love our Secondary Collaborative meetings. Even though this one started with a wake-up call that hearkened back to the hot topic at our last meeting about how others perceive their roles, it was possibly one of my favorite meetings yet! Every other month, our Collaborative meets face-to-face. The meetings are three hours long, but they fly by! This month, I shared iorad and genially (which I wrote about last month) and dipped into the survey data from the beginning of the year. The data about each of the member of the group. I asked each person to tell me their top two all-time favorite movies. One of the social learning tasks was for them to analyze their choices - connecting themes and other similarities. I brought it tools that analyzed their choices to see what their "personality profile" might be based on their movies. Then I had them flip over the card they had where there were two MORE movies. I had them repeat the analysis - and then try to guess who in the room chose those movies. It was fun and got them talking to folks that they may not communicate with regularly. In true Jeannie fashion, it was also a way to create groups for the next activity. They examined resources, they played a gif game to talk to share ideas and strategies for "appsmashing" Google tools, and - based on the meeting evaluation data - they left feeling supported and with a renewed sense of unity in their purpose.
I try new things.
I've always been what I would call a Trailblazing Pioneer. So, yeah..I combined two terms because I didn't fall neatly into one category or the other. For those of you that may not know what those terms refer to, I think the late Michael Armstrong explains these roles we assume in school transformation, and the "trail" to success, the best. Thankfully, someone captured this for posterity. (this explanation starts around 8:37 and ends around 13:30 - the video below should start at that spot..) As a result of being a trailblazing pioneer, I create directions for others. A LOT of directions. ...pardon me: tutorials. Back when I first began in an instructional technology role at the school level, I would often find the teachers who were not the early adopters, settlers if you watched that video above) to test my steps for clarity. Those early tutorials took the form of a document with arrows and pictures. So 2007. I've also made tutorial videos using various screencasting tools. I mean, they do the job, but they sometimes seem....flat. So recently, I helped a friend with some rubrics she created. She envisioned providing personalized feedback for students in her courses at Rutgers University. She also knew how much I loved the Google Add-on, Autocrat. So we teamed up to create a way to generate meaningful feedback for her students. When the semester was over, I was asked to make a tutorial for setting up Autocrat with this purpose: providing personalized feedback for students in order to share this process with other educators. As there are many layers to making this magic happen, I knew a simple screencast would not do this justice. I began to explore two other creation tools that would be useful for this type of task and found two: genial.ly and Iorad. Each of these creates a very different product, but I thought they complemented each other well. The first I used was genial.ly. I feel as though I have just sipped the genial.ly Kool-Aid as this tool can do waaaaay more than the Thinglink-esque image I created below to explain the importance of the tags needed for part of the feedback generation process. Hover over the green circled objects in the image below to see what I'm talking about. The other tool, iorad, makes more detailed step-by-step directions. The ones below are part of the feedback setup. Click on the start button and follow the prompts - be sure to read the text as well. As the viewer, you also have the option to view it as a step by step document. I created ONE tutorial that can be viewed in TWO different ways. And I must add that it can also READ THE TUTORIAL ALOUD!!!! Y'all, I am enamored with this tool. 6 STEPS 1 You've made your Rubric, Now let's make the spreadsheet where you will add your feedback for each student. 2 Double click in the title area to highlight the default text and Rename your spreadsheet. The name should match the rubric. 3 The first row will become your header row. Click in the first cell of the first row and begin adding the column headings that match the feedback items on your template. 4 Continue adding to your header row. 5 This NEXT header will NOT be an area on your rubric, but add it anyway... 6 That's it. You're done....almost. Here's an interactive tutorial for the visual learnersI am still working on the Autocrat set up directions for this specific task. But I can already say that iorad is a fast favorite - I've made other tutorials for scheduling tweets and looking up CEUs in our district staff portal...it is just super user friendly! Another beautiful thing is that these creations embed perfectly into Google Sites (and blogs). This means all of the tutorials can live together, in order, online. I'll share that website once it is done. There are still some pieces to assemble. |
AuthorJeannie Timken Archives
March 2023
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