The last few days I have been following some great conversations  on Twitter coming out of the several conferences happening all over the country. Many of these tweets have a hashtag associated with them so that people can easily follow tweets associated with that conference.  When I tried to dig a little deeper to find out more about a particular conference it was not always easy to get more information.

First, I searched for a hashtag in Tweetdeck which resulted in a new stack showing only tweets with that hashtag.  I tried looking for clues and links to the main conference website but was unsuccessful.

Second, I asked my PLN if there is a service that allows me to get more information on a particular hashtag and @tgwynn suggested that I try these services: Twubs,  Tagalus and What The Trend. These services are great and can be very useful but the problem is that someone needs to go in and define the hashtag for them to work.  @Krista_Scott also shared an excellent page on hashtags from Cybrary Man’s Educational Websites. Here there is a list of common educational hashtags and several links to services and articles on hashtags but there was still no quick and easy way to get a definition for a hashtag.

I’m still looking for a fast, quick and easy way to determine the definition for a hashtag.  In the meantime I started a Google Spreadsheet to collect some of the more prominent educational conferences happening right now and throughout the rest of the summer.  If you know of a hashtag for a current or upcoming  educational conference please add it to the spreadsheet.  Hopefully we can create an “at a glance” resource to help everyone out.

If you have any suggestions or resources for researching hashtags I’d love to hear them!  I keep wondering if I am the only one  just “not getting it”

This is a long overdue yet much needed post.  Attending ISTE in Denver this year has really opened my eyes to a lot of things.  I have been inspired and have experienced things that would not have been possible without the Newbie Project.

I don’t even think I could adequately express in words the gratitude I feel towards everyone that made this experience possible.  Turning my thoughts into words is something that I struggle with (which is another reason this post is long overdue).  I’m always trying to make sure I don’t “cheapen” how I feel with overused phrases that sound generic.

First and foremost I would like to thank Beth Still the founder of the Newbie Project.  She has been extremely patient with me throughout the entire year.  At times, my questions would not stop (especially about flying since I have never flown before attending ISTE) to the times when she needed my input and I was slow to respond because my classroom workload was overwhelming and demanded much of my attention.  Beth not only put an immense amount of her personal time into promoting and raising money for this project, but she put a lot of her energy into the planning process as well.  Beth is very dedicated and passionate about improving education.  The countless hours she put into the Newbie Project as well as reaching out and helping others in her PLN just amazes me.  Beth has been a great mentor – pushing me beyond my comfort level and challenging me throughout the year.  She has supported me in my feeble attempt at blogging to testing out new web tools and projects with my students.  I would not have grown professionally as much as I have this year if it were not for her.  Beth provided me with an opportunity that I will be forever grateful for.  Thank you Beth.

To everyone in my PLN, as well as my friends and family that provided financial and moral support I thank you!  My experience at ISTE was wonderfully chaotic and amazing.  I would also like to apologize if I met you at ISTE and did not thank you in person.  I think I was in a daze half the time and overwhelmed (with lots of new ideas) to the point where I was not always thinking clearly.  In retrospect I wish I had taken Beth’s advice and planned out more of the sessions I wanted to attend which would have helped alleviate that problem (Yes, Beth I know – you told me so).  I still can’t believe that a bunch of people I barely knew (at the time) made donations to send someone like me to ISTE – all I can say is WOW, I am one lucky guy!  Not only lucky to be able to go to ISTE but also lucky to be a part of a network of educators that truly care about teaching, learning, and most importantly, the kids.  I have learned so much from all of you!

In one sense I am sad the Newbie Project has come to an end for me and I wish I was still interacting with my PLN face to face in Denver but at the same time I see this as a new beginning.  I have already began dreaming up new projects for my students next year and I hope to keep my PLN updated on how they turn out in hopes that I can give back at least a little of what I have received.  This has been one awesome journey for me which would not have been possible without the help of Beth Still and my PLN – THANK YOU!

Licensed under CC - created by ARendle on Flickr

Today I gave a short presentation sharing my thoughts and ideas regarding online professional development (PD) with members of our district in-service committee. Overall I think it went well. Everyone seemed receptive of my ideas as there was some great conversations that resulted. I think the game plan is to do a trial run of these online pd programs. One concern that came up during our conversations was how to track and document all of the PD that comes in from online learning from a fairly large staff (I think we are around 400 in our district). This could be a very time intensive task.

Another service called PD360 was also showcased. This is a pay service but seems to have a lot of potential. It was more formalized than what I was presenting and much of the online learning would be asynchronous – watching small video clips and writing reflections. The content of the PD 360 seemed to be more focused on instructional strategies.

In contrast the information I presented emphasized synchronous learning opportunities and i get the impression that there is more of an emphasis on technology in the classroom.

The general consensus was that both of the venues would compliment each other nicely and meet the variety of needs of our staff.

I am really excited that I had the opportunity to collaborate, share and learn with other educators in my district and am hopeful we can move forward with this new model of online PD in our district.

My Crazy Idea for Online PD Presentation

I have an experiment that I’d like to conduct, and need the assistance of my PLN to help pull it off. I would like you to take a look at the questions below and tweet your replies to one of more of them. It is essential to use the hashtag #onlinepd so I can aggregate the tweets using a tool called Visual Tweets. I first saw this visualization tool used at Educon 2.2 when Michael Wacker used it during his session on how to implement direct instruction in online classes. I plan on sharing your tweets this Wednesday when I go before the district staff development committee to present my ideas for including informal online PD for teachers as part of our program for professional development. VisualTweets will run on a screen as the meeting is getting underway. This is something I have never done before and welcome any comments, ideas and suggestions you have.

Here are some guiding questions for you to ponder/think about:

1. What would a district program utilizing online PD look like?
2. How should teachers document their online PD experiences?
3. What experiences have you personally had with online PD?
4. What are the benefits of online PD for teachers?
5. What are some great resources for online PD?  Please include links to services/groups/blogs etc.
6. Where can teachers go for free online PD?
7. What have you learned about online PD?
8. What does the research say about online PD for teacher?
9. How would you define or describe online PD for teachers?
10. Do you know of any great quotes/comments about online PD?

Later in the week I will write a follow up post to share all of your ideas so that others who are exploring the option of online PD can benefit. I’m hopeful that my district will be able to create a model for other schools to follow.  Please share your thoughts as you think of them on Twitter.  I will tweet the call for help several times over the next few days and would appreciate the retweets as well as your thoughts.

The following post was written by Beth Still. Her district is beginning the search for a new administrator for next year. From what Beth has shared with me this sounds like an exciting position for the right person.

ESU13, a service unit in western Nebraska, is expected to make an announcement very soon that they are seeking to fill the position of high school principal for their alternative education program. This is a truly unique position that is ideal for a rising star who is looking to make their mark in education. As I said in the original post, I hope we end up with the next Chris Lehmann. We need someone energetic, creative, and brilliant to help maximize the potential of our three schools. The administrator of this program is responsible for three different and completely unrelated programs:

* an alternative high school that serves the needs of up to nearly 50 students
* a educational program that is housed in a juvenile detention center
* an brand new online school that is slowly gaining momentum

Many of you know me as bethstill on Twitter. I am using my blog, Nebraska Change Agent, as a tool to help promote this position at my school. If you are an innovative and visionary leader then you owe it to yourself to drop by my blog and read the full post. There is much more to this position than meets the eye. If you are full of great ideas, but cannot put them into practice because of strict filter issues or a reluctant staff, then this might be the fresh start you are looking for. Our philosophy is to open the filters up as much as possible and treat mistakes as learning experiences. ESU13 has a clear vision of the future of education in Nebraska, but they need the right people on board to make that happen. Could you be the one? There is only one way to find out.

Requirements to be certified as an administrator in the state of Nebraska.

Tonight I took my son – a kindergartner – to the second “PTO Family Science Night”  at Big Flats Elementary School. Armed with a flip camera I was going to capture my sons excitement as he got to see some of the live animals scheduled to be there.  Little did I know that I was going to be just as amazed at the event as well.

In addition to the live animals (the owl, American Alligator, hedgehog and variety of snakes and turtles) there were stations to learn about fossils, bugs, plants and the human body.  There were also physics exhibits covering all sorts of topics.  These stations were interactive and engaged the kids in many different ways.

The PTO, Elizabeth Scaptura (school principal),  Tanglewood Nature Center and the Science Discovery Center, along with several other organizations, put on an amazing event.  What really impressed me was that there were high school school students running many of the booths.  They were well informed and excited about what they were doing.  Several of them were former students of mine and that really struck me as they were now teaching my own child.   These high school kids were applying what they had learned in the classroom to a real world situation.  It added value and relevance to their education.  It gave the kids an opportunity to practice the skills they had learned in the classroom.  Not just science knowledge but the skills of  interacting with kids and adults, presentation skills and volunteering their time.  Even though the focus of the evening was science this was an interdisciplinary experience for those students.

There is a community service requirement at the high school which is wonderful.  Students that volunteered at this event were able to fulfill part of this requirement.  Community service creates a climate of opportunity for teachers and students to come together and host many more events like the one my five year old absolutely enjoyed this evening.

I just want to thank everyone that came together to make this event happen.  This is the kind of learning that we need to promote in our schools.  We need to create real world events and activities that not only deepen academic knowledge but also helps students to develop character and give them a sense of purpose.

This is how I envision education and it has got me thinking:

How can we structure our schools so that students, teachers and the community can come together on a regular basis to create authentic and meaningful learning experiences?

This was the first year I have attended Educon and needless to say I had a blast and learned much from this truly unique event.  I have attended several conferences over my twelve years of teaching and have never experienced anything like this.

One thing that I noticed was the sense of community even with complete strangers.  I got in on Thursday night and immediately went to dinner with about 10 people in what is called a “tweetup”.  People from all areas of the US and in many different fields of education gathered for good food and conversation.  We had open, enjoyable conversations about teaching and learning.  I felt welcomed and comfortable enough to ask questions and share experiences with these wonderful and amazing educators!  I also felt humbled to be around so many smart and enthusiastic people at one time.  Similar experiences happened throughout the conference – before the keynotes, at all meals, during the sessions and so on.  It was difficult for me to keep up with all the new people I had met but I would say that the sense of community was a common thread throughout the conference.  I have been to several conferences where I have not met one single new educator.  My guess is that social networking played a big role in this sense of community.

Being at Educon also validated everything that I do on Twitter.  I was able to meet people in real life that I have collaborated with virtually for months.  Going to this conference helped me realize that spending time on Twitter is productive and essential to my growth as a professional.  It is an avenue for new ideas to help keep the content fresh and to keep me passionate about teaching the same content from year to year.

Educon was like remixing a video on YouTube – taking ideas from educators from all areas of education and remixing them, modifying them to fit my needs as a teacher in upstate New York.

I also enjoyed having positive conversations.  Generally people did not gripe about administration, standards or school filters.  People tended to focus on what they were doing with their students in their schools.  This is very uplifting and more productive.

I just see Educon 2.2 and conferences like it as a renaissance in teaching and learning; a celebration of what we as educators do – something that renivents how we as learn as teachers and breaks down barriers.  Educon is a shining example of how learning can be fun, exciting and fluid.  I had a great time learning and making new connections which has reignited my passion for teaching and learning.

The following is a guest post by someone in my PLN who wishes to remain anonymous:

I work for a service unit in a rural area of the country that offers online courses in the four core areas. We currently have about eight classes with more in the planning stages.  Schools pay an $8500 fee each year which funds the salaries to create and teach the classes. We figured schools would be tripping over themselves to get students signed up, but that has not been the case. We limit each class to twenty students, but so far our enrollment has been far below that.  Some classes are never taught at all.

Before I ask you for input on what we are doing wrong I want to explain how our program works and who our target audience actually is.

We have four teachers who have built the majority of the course we offer from scratch. Based on input from the schools where these classes would be offered we created the following classes: Biology, Physical Science, Algebra I, English 9 and 10, American History, World History, and Physics. Students who take a class from us must enroll through their school and they work on the class during the regular school day. They typically work in the library under the supervision of a trained sight coordinator.

We envisioned our typical student to be one who takes an online class to open up more elective options for them. All but two of the schools in our service unit are small enough that they offer very few electives. If a required core course was offered opposite an elective a student wanted to take then a student would be forced to take the core course. Taking the same course online would allow the student to create a schedule that was more tailored to their needs and interests.

However, there is a huge issue. Schools are not informing students that our classes are an option. For the most schools (counselors) seem to be cherry picking the students that they think should take online classes. Unfortunately, the majority of the students are placed in our classes because they have failed in the brick and mortar school. Many times they are the students that the teachers just simply want out of their classroom. They threaten the students and tell them that our classes are their “last option.” We have made it clear that students must be self-motivated and willing to seek out information and solutions on their own, but schools still keep sending students who have no business in an online classes that require a high level of dedication and focus.

Students remain enrolled in their school so the school never loses any money. In fact, the more students they “send” to us the more they help alleviate overcrowding in the traditional classrooms. We have tried to promote our program with a brochure designed specifically for students, but schools refused to allow them to be circulated.

We are at a loss and I need your help to figure out what we are doing wrong. Why are schools paying so much money to sustain a program that they are not utilizing? Why do they seem threatened by us? We are supposed to be working together to give students in our region opportunities that they would not otherwise have. Why are we facing so many roadblocks? I guess it is possible that we are doing nothing wrong at all and that it is just taking schools a while to catch on.

What are your thoughts? I really want our program to succeed, but I am not sure what we can do to get the word out if schools are unwilling to promote our classes. I need some help with this one.

Today I participated in day one of a workshop titled Writing to Think & Learn: Writing in the Social Studies 7-12.  I very much enjoyed today and many people have asked me to share what I have learned.  So here is a list of some of the things that we discussed and did:

After introductions we watched the popular “Did You Know” video created by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod.  I don’t know which version it was, but we were asked to do a double entry journal entry.  Basically, you have a notebook and on the left hand side we were asked to take notes as we watched the video.  On the right hand side we were to write down our thoughts and reflections on the video.  Time was given for us to summarize our thoughts after the video was over.  The discussion that ensued afterward was really interesting for me.  Many of the participants have never seen the video before and they interpreted the message of the video that technology will solve all our problems and they disagreed with that message citing examples of students using the internet to plagiarize work and students not being able to communicate face to face because they are texting all the time.  These were younger teachers making these statements.

Carousel DBQ
Another strategy that we experienced was a Carousel DBQ (Document Based Question) . We were put into teams of three and assigned a document to analyze that was hanging on the wall.  Each team had a different color marker and wrote statements on the poster paper based on the document.  We then rotated to the next document and either commented on the statements of other teams or added our own thoughts.  This process was repeated until we made it around the room visiting all documents until we were back at our own.  At this point each group summarized to the whole class the main ideas and thoughts on the document.  I liked the fact that each team had a different color marker because this promotes accountability.  I also noticed that groups had small discussions about the document before writing down thoughts and ideas on paper.  I think this will be an awesome activity form my students because it engages their thinking in a deep and focused way.

Drum Roll:
In  this activity you watch a movie clip twice.  The first time the movie is played without sound while students record their observations.  The second time you watch the movie you add to your previous notes or make corrections.   We watched one movie clip from Teachertube and just took notes on our own paper any way we wanted.  With another video clip from PBS.org we took notes on post it notes.  Every time we recorded a new fact we put it on a different post it note.  We then worked as a class to organize our sticky notes into topics.  This was an awesome activity to teach students essay organization in a real hands on kinda way.  I wonder what Web 2.0 tools could also be utilized to accomplish the same goal?  Wallwisher maybe?

We also went through the five step writing process:
1.  Prewriting:  This is anything that is done to generate ideas.  examples include brainstorming, talking, interviewing, reading etc.

2.  Drafting:  This is the initial rough draft

3.  Revising:  Adding, deleting or reorganizing content

4.  Editing:  The focus is on fixing the mechanics of the piece

5.  Publishing:  Sharing what you have created with an audience

Write Around:
In this activity we were asked to put an X on every other line.  Next to the x’s we were to write down our thoughts and knowledge gained from the workshop.  After some time we traded papers with others in the group.  We underlined comments that we agreed with and commented on what other group members had written.  I liked this activity because all students would be working and thinking simultaneously – there would be very little down time and it would not just be 1 student doing all the work.  It seems to me that this would be an awesome activity to do at the end of a unit where students reflect on the question “what did you learn from our study of the Progressive Era?”  It would even be useful to use this activity to recall information from a previous lesson

Personal Time-line:
In this exercise students create a time-line of important events in their life, listing them under the line.  Then above the line they record important historical events as well.  The purpose is to get kids to understand why turning points are important and create relevance and understanding by comparing world turing points to personal milestones.

Role Play a Photograph:
A historical photograph of an immigrant family sitting around the dinner table sewing was projected up on the board.  Four volunteers were then asked to role play what they thought was happening in the photograph. It was also suggested that some students could also stand behind the people doing the role playing and be “the voice inside the head”  These students would verbalize what the people in the photo might be thinking but not say out loud.  I thought this was a great activity and could be done in small groups with different photos of the same time period.  Each group could develop a short skit and record it with flip video cameras to be shared with their classmates.

Idea:  Give students 10-15 different facts on a particular topic/subject in random order.  Have the students try to guess the main idea from studying the topics or organize the details into topical groups that make sense to them.  A great way to get kids engaged with the content and think critically.

There was also some discussion about why kids don’t write anything when they are asked to do so.  I experience this quite often with my 8th graders.  It was suggested that you put the students through an experience (like any of the activities we did today) first to give those students something to write about.

I picked up on the phrase “writing is a conversation” and it seemed to me that oscillating between activities that require talking/discussion and activities that require writing  go hand in hand.

At the end of the day we were all given the book, Content-Area Writing by Daniels, Zemelman and Steineke.  I only glanced through it but I can’t wait to spend time reading it.

Click here to see a YouTube video of the authors discussing the book.  All in all it was a great day.  Tomorrow we will work on planning out a unit that implements some of these writing strategies.  My partner and I have already agreed to work on the Progressive Era.

I would love to hear from people who have tried any of the above activities.  Also,  if anyone has any great strategies and activities for teaching the Progressive Era – I’m all ears!

It has been great to get back into the routine of school this week.  All through August I have been thinking about how to best start off the school year.  I wanted t do something amazing – something that would give my new students that “wow” factor.

I am not sure if my students got the “wow” effect but overall I think that I was able to develop a positive rapport with my students this week.  I tried to mix in icebreakers each day to help students get to know each other and break up the monotony of going over the traditional beginning of the year administrative information.  Here is a breakdown of each day:

Tuesday (Day 1):

This was the first day of school and for the first time in my teaching career students had full 40 minute classes.  I chose not to cover very many rules and procedures on this day because I did not want to overwhelm my students. I had my students create “tabels labels” to help me to quickly learn their names.  In addition I used 2 strategies from Rick Wormelli’s book  Day One and Beyond : Practical Matters for New Middle-Level Teachers (Thanks to my PLN for the book suggestion!).  First I had students give me advice on how to best teach them.  They really came up with some reasonable suggestions.  I did notice that many of them like learning through hands on projects.  The second idea that I used from Rick Wormelli’s book was the phrase “Respect Above All” which on my Promethean Interactive Whiteboard looks like this:

RESPECT

_______

ALL

Students seemed to connect with and relate to this phrase.  I think it is better than giving them a laundry list of what they can and cannot do in my class.  Overall it was not an earth shattering lesson for my students but I was happy to have success with two new strategies.

Wednesday (Day 2):

After taking care of some more administrative items I had my students play a game that I learned in a workshop hosted by two awesome teachers in my district.  The game which is called “Group Juggle”  goes like this:

1.  The class makes a circle in the middle of the room

2.  The teacher gives a ball to one of the students

3.  Students are to toss the ball to the person on their right after making eye contact and saying their name.

4.  The goal is to get the ball around the circle and back to the first student as quickly as possible.

5.  Record the time it takes for each try.

6. After a few tries give the group a few minutes to discuss how to move the ball around the circle faster.  I gave my students 1-2 minutes to discuss.

7.  Let the students try a few more times and then debrief.

This was an awesome activity on many levels.  First it got my students up and out of their chairs – they were excited and energized.  Second it provided me with an opportunity to observe and learn how my students interact in a group setting and third it got them thinking about practice, effort, not giving up and what it means to be part of a team.  We talked about what we can learn from some of their failed attempts.  These kind of activities I think are very powerful for students.  Even though there was not any content covered they were energized and having a positive experience in my classroom.  Hopefully this will lead to greater buy in when we start to cover content.

Thursday (Day 3)

Today was a day heavy on direct instruction from me.  My original intent was to spend half the period discussing classroom procedures and then the second half would be spent playing 1-2 more rounds of yesterdays “Group Juggle” activity and debriefing some more.  I ended up taking pictures of students holding their “table labels” to help me learn their names faster (learning students names is something I have to work hard at).  This was actually a lot of fun as we were joking around trying to get the kids to relax and smile for the camera.  I am going to use these pictures for seating charts for substitutes as well.  Many of the ideas about procedures I got from the book:   The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher.  All in all it was a good day – I did my best to try to crack jokes and mix in humor while going over the basics.

Friday (Day 4)

I began classes today by having my students write three things about themselves on a 3×5 card.   They then paired up and shared their information with each other.  After sharing they traded cards and paired up with a different student. From that point on they introduce themselves and share what they learned about the person on the card they are holding.  This process is repeated until all or nearly all students have met.  I let my students go a little longer with this activity because they seemed to really want to know more about each other.

All in all it was a really good week.  I could feel myself fighting the urge to dive right into content.  I am somewhat torn between spending time building community and jumping right into the curriculum.  I know that building community with my students helps to promote positive attitudes in my class and create “buy in” for the content.  I also know that the sooner I get started on content the more depth I can have for each unit withhout having to superficially “cover” the unit.

I still feel like I could have done things better or differently and maybe someday I will reach my goal of “wowing” the kids and getting them psyched right from day one.  I wonder if anyone else experiences that internal struggle of content vs. building community in the classroom.  Maybe they should not be thought of as separate but two vital and important pieces of education that are woven together and taught simultaneously.

I would love to hear what other teachers do for the first few days of school.