PLN Journey

I have learned so much this semester! I was not aware of the power of Professional Learning Networks until I was assigned to creating one for class. At first I felt overwhelmed because we had to try out so many new tools that I thought I would not be able to manage them all. However it took a bit of time-management skills. What a challenge! In the end, I was glad to see that many of the tools actually made my life easier. Here's a snapshot of each tool I used:

Blogging- I did not know how much fun blogging would be until I created one and started posting weekly. I love to write but hate publishing anything. However, I felt free. Our professor gave us the freedom to choose our own topics. I have to admit that there were some weeks were I had no clue what to write about but in the end I always pulled through. This same power my professor gave me could be given to students. Teenagers have lots to say that is why girls usually get in trouble for talking excessively during class. Why not use that to their advantage? It may be a bit time consuming at first having to let students know what is appropriate to say online and how to say it, but with time they will become terrific writers and be able to respectively share their views on different topics. I believe every Literature class should require students to blog once a week and use that as a writing portfolio.

Feedly-This is a wonderful tool for those who loved reading the newspaper or enjoyed watching the news. I, personally do neither. This is one of the few tools I would not keep as part of my PLN because it required a lot of time to keep up with.

Podcasts- Podcasts are great because you can listen to them on the go. The only downside is that sometimes you may get stuck listening to a podcast that is boring or has no relevance to what you expected. I did learn much from podcasts and would keep them because I was able to hear different people and their awesome ideas while driving or folding laundry!

Twitter- Twitter is a great tool for learning and teaching if used correctly. I loved retweeting and following people who had innovative ideas. it's a whole world of learning! At first, I was worried about being part of Twitter because of how I see our teens using it. they are either bashing others or spill their lives to the world. Boy, was I wrong! There are so many forward-thinkers out there that have taught me so many things!!! Twitter is here to stay!

Delicious- Delicious and I did not click. It is a great tool for social bookmarking site but I was just not really interested in it.

Diigo- This is my favorite tool!!!! I am able to read, annotate, share, save, and highlight information!! How cool is that?! This is a paper-saver! I no longer have to print articles and write all over them. Diigo will stay with me forever!

PD Sessions- Online PD sessions are great because I get to attend while taking my lunch break and I do not have to go anywhere and be stuck in traffic. Some are wonderful others may not be as engaging but they all teach us something new.

Class Wiki-The class wiki was a wonderful tool because it allowed us all to collaborate and learn from each other while giving us the freedom to choose our topics. This would work well in the classroom! Wikis are great collaborative tools that are here to stay!

My favorite part about this journey was meeting new people online who shared my passion for education and learning new things! Thank you to all who helped me learn new things, see things in a different perspective, and helped me become a better leader!

Testing

Testing has become a major issue at all levels. I do not understand why our students need to take 3 and 4 standardized tests in a matter of a couple weeks. Although SLOs may not impact a student's grade many students take it seriously and stress over it. This also places even more pressure on teachers because they are not allowed to incentivize students to do well on it since it only counts towards a teacher's evaluation, not the student's performance.

I totally understand that NCLB was approved in order to hold teachers accountable; however it may be getting out of hand. Overemphasizing testing is only causing students to have panic attacks, for teachers to teach to the test, students to hate school if they score low, and undermining the quality of work teachers are doing on a daily basis. How about moving towards the use of multiple indicators that truly reflects student achievement rather than one test that overstresses everyone?

According to an article on NPR Ed, by Anya Kamenetz, "districts showed students taking an average of 113 standardized tests between pre-K and grade 12, with 11th grade the most tested". All these tests are taking valuable time away instructional time. The only glimmer of change I have seen thus far is the approval of House Bill 91, which eliminates the Georgia High School Graduation Tests. We need to do something about giving students duplicate tests.

"Testing: How Much Is It Too Much?"

How will I handle diversity?

The first step of growing an inclusive culture at our schools in regards to race, class, and gender is to lead by example. I will definitely involve the community to help me organize activities that represent different cultures.

To start off I would require an ongoing virtual training for all faculty and staff... not the usual boring one where a lady stands in front of the camera, delivers information, and is concluded by a five-question quiz to verify participation. No! I would partner up with other schools around the world and assign each department a pen pal. They would have to communicate weekly via Skype or Google hangouts and build a professional relationship, where both parties learn from each other.

New technologies can help me bridge the generational gap by again, including others. Students have the ability to take an app or game and become experts from one day to another. Why not use that to our advantage? Students can be the ones leading technology trainings and teach us the ins and outs. Our passion for education and their passion for technology can then merge and help us close that gap. We need to be humble though and show students that educators are life-long learners and have no pride in letting them teach us.

What do you think? Do you have any ideas?

Screencast

This week I worked on a PowerPoint for one of my classes and although I thought I was an expert in that program I was glad to realize I had much to learn. Our professor provided us different articles and websites that gave us a clear description of what PowerPoint presentations should and should not look like. I used to include transitions and animations for the sake of aesthetics; however I learn those are not always needed if they become a distraction. I also learned about "Kanso", which is the concept of beauty, visual elegance, and grace are acquired through simplicity. many times less is more! It is impossible to cram every bit of information into a slide otherwise it will become so clogged that one's audience may get confused and lose interest in what one has to say.

The second part of the project was to create and record presentation on a tool, skill or tip we learned about during class we believe will most help others to be a digital-age leader. Through our presentation we had to teach the main points of that specific tool to our classmates and professor and sell them on its importance and usefulness. I believe the most difficult part of the project was putting it all together. I had to record myself over and over again because on the first try I barely made three minutes, yet one of the requirements was to have between four and five minutes. The second time around I was good on time but kept mispronouncing words so I decided to start all over and really practice before submitting a final recording. Although screencast was fairly simple to use, I personally prefer screencast-o-matic because it was more user friendly. I did like the way one could simply upload the presentation into Jing and be able to share with anyone.

If I were to have to use it in the future, I would use it to teach teachers about Web2.0 tools since I know many teachers do not have the time or energy to attend professional development sessions after school. A simple 5-minute video can be viewed at home before a meeting and be discussed later on at a PLC. I would also use it to help students who have trouble following written instructions... if a visual would help, then this would be the best tool.

I can honestly say that this has been one of my favorite semesters, although definitely not the easiest. I have had to really learn about time management because I have had to turn in assignments using tools and skills I had never learned about!

Unit Recovery

Many educators are for unit recovery because they believe that students should be given several opportunities to learn the material; however there other educators who believe students need to learn to be responsible and if they do not obtain a passing grade on the first try then that should serve as a learning experience. What do you think about schools that offer mid-semester opportunities for students to save their semester by coming in on weekends to revisit material so that they can have a second opportunity of passing their classes?

I personally believe not all students learn at the same pace and that many times educators are not aware of what a child may be going through at home. They may be worried about his/her family getting evicted, not having food on their plate, not being able to afford a coat in the winter, having a sick family member, having to take care of siblings, or even going through depression. Everyone deserves a second chance.

At the 12 week marking period I am planning to offer an opportunity to students in the 50-74% range to revisit material and prove mastery of those standards using Edgenuity. At first, I received a lot of push back from teachers because they felt that power was being taken away from them and others simply did not believe that an online program could be rigorous enough to re-teach the material. In the end I received the needed support and I am very grateful to our department chairs who helped me get teacher buy-in and even met during their PLCs to create recovery units on Edgenuity.

Virtual Teams

I first heard of virtual teams this semester when our professor met with us via Blackboard and assigned us to different teams. I did not know what to think about it at first because I had never been part of one. Well, eight weeks into the semester I can truly say that I am blessed to work with educators who are dedicated, knowledge-hungry, and cooperative. Kerrick Mapson and Vanessa Gonzalez are amazing people to work with because they are always enthusiastic and willing to share their knowledge with me. I have learned a lot from these two awesome colleagues.

In all of my course evaluations I have suggested that we work in at least one project in groups so that we could learn from others with our same aspirations. I guess my prayers have been answered. At first it may be scary working with others not knowing if they are procrastinators or if they are open-minded, but I believe working in teams is something we must all learn to do because they are becoming a "fact of business life", as Michael Watkins put it in "Making Virtual Teams Work: Ten Basic Principles".

I think this would be a great way to create PLCs with teachers and leaders from around the world and see what works for them.

If you get a chance, please watch the 3-minute video on a program that deals with helping companies manage global virtual teams.

Ever thought about Flipping Leadership?

I know you are probably tired of reading articles about flipped classrooms, but have you heard about flipped leadership? Well, get ready... flipped leadership is about doing more with the little time we have. This new technique allows leaders to send out information ahead of time so that teachers not only access it on their own time, but have time to digest information and show up to faculty meetings ready to discuss topics and collaborate with their colleagues or even ask questions. This rarely happens at faculty meetings due to time constraints. Flipped leadership also allows parents and the community to feel part of the school by becoming aware of student gains, events, and even special guest appearances. It's all about engaging all stakeholders. Many times we complain about collective responsibility; however how many times do we inadvertently shun parents, politicians, community leaders, and business owners away?

How many times have we walked into a faculty meeting and watched a five-minute video when we could have done that at home? Well... why not watch it at home and use that time during the faculty meeting to discuss the video?! The same goes for articles. We could use that time to bring up issues in our schools and together come up with solutions. If we want our students to do higher level thinking and use technology as a learning tool then we should start doing it as well.

How many times have you felt the need to skip professional development sessions during pre-planning and just want to sit and collaborate with other educators about lesson plans, classroom management, and strategies that TRULY work? I know I have...plenty of times. Twitter offers us the opportunity to share best practices, obtain wisdom, and get advice from educators who we may never meet, yet share our same passions and struggles. The best part about Twitter is that it allows us to seek professional development opportunities that truly interest us and are relevant to our content area. Through Twitter we will discover blogs, articles, and videos which could have taken us weeks to find! It's like working on the same project with millions of people!Let's be innovative and step out off our comfort zone...flip it!

"5 Reasons You Should Flip Your Leadership"

"Flipped Leadership"

Education vs. Poverty

This week I came across several articles that talked about the impact poverty has on our students. These articles caught my attention because I taught at a school where many of our English Language Learners enrolled at our high school only having a third grade education. I loved teaching this population because I was able to see major gains at the end of the school year. Easier said than done though. Many of our students not only had to worry about how to survive in a new country and how to learn a new language to fit in, but how to catch up with the rest of their peers, especially in math class.

The fourth article in the links below delineates differences between middle-class and low income students and gives suggestions on what we as educators can do. Some of the differences that stood out for me were: Effort, Health and Nutrition, and Relationships. In my experience, these three factors were the most important because many times teachers think students are just being lazy or rude, not knowing that a child may not have had breakfast that day, may be worried about being evicted, or scared to go back home because dad is an alcoholic. This is why I strongly believe in building positive rapport with our students. Once students realize you want them to succeed in life and at school, they will put forth maximum effort... at least in your class.

At first, I was a bit worried about how our students from low-income families would react to technology in the classroom, since they have little to no access at home. Surprisingly, they seem to perform better than expected. Why? From what I have seen, many students feel they can go at their own pace and not feel judged. In a report written by Linda Darling-Hammond, Molly B. Zielezinski, and Shelley Goldman, they stated that, "One of the benefits of well-designed interactive programs is that they can allow students to see and explore concepts from different angles using a variety of representations", which allows for the achievement gap to narrow and increases our graduation rate.

Please take a moment to look over the articles below and share your feedback. How do you use technology at your school to engage students from low-income families?

"The Consequences of Poverty for Children and the Nation"
"An Inside Look At The Mental Health Epidemic Plaguing Homeless Youth"
"Kentucky Education Report | A Kentucky Teacher Talks Poverty and Testing"
"How Poverty Affects Classroom Engagement"
"Using Technology to Support At-Risk Students’ Learning"

If you have a couple minutes, watch this video. It gives us tips on how to deal with at-risk students.

Podcast on Useful Tools and Apps

Hello World!

I uploaded a podcast on useful tools and apps for both teachers and students. Enjoy!

Podcasts are awesome!!!!

I just finished listening to Episode #17- "Going paperless in the classroom and tools that help stakeholders open the lines of communication with each other. They also talked about adapting to new technology"by Jeff Herb. This was a great podcast because Jeff gave great suggestions that can be implemented in our classrooms. Although I like the fact that podcasts can be listened to while driving, I prefer listening to them on my computer because I can take notes.Below you will see notes I took while listening to this podcast:

Why go paperless? It counter budgets and helps streamline the classroom.
Although Jeff believes that it is a great idea to Cut the number of reams of paper we use daily, he doesn't believe we will soon be 100% paperless. However, this does not mean we can’t start digitizing.

Suggestions and tools for going paperless:
• Create PDF versions of self-created documents for distributing assignments with students and colleagues.
• He suggested using Genius scan because it scans documents to PDF.
• Organize digital files on Evernote because it has optical recognition which allows you to search for words.
• Create video-based notes using Camtasia, Jing, or Screener.com which gives you the option to record lessons (This can be shared with students who were absent)

Communication tools to open channels of communication:
• Remind101 allows for privacy once the teachers create a class. It also lets the teachers set reminders and send it out to students and parents.
• WDWDT (What Did We Do Today) allows teachers to create surveys and forms as well as create appointments. It’s a great option for creating interaction.
• Celly sets up a mini-network. People join by using the app or linking their phone number. It has been used to create study groups and as a response system.

Being ready for new technology as it becomes available is not easy but one can plan for them by:
• Designing lessons that are adaptable
• Staying current with instructional technology
• Joining twitter and follow forward thinking educators
• Attending educational technology conferences to build PLN
• Understanding that not every tool will be of benefit to you

I truly enjoyed this podcast and look forward to listening to more of Instructional Ted Talk. If you get a chance, listen to Jeff on iTunes and comment below.

Click here to Check out Jeff Herb's Website!

Do your students know how to build Apps?

Today I participated in a live professional development session titled "Let Students Build Their Own Apps- It's Easier than you Think". This session was led by Michael Braun on February 19th at 2PM. I found this PD session on this website. At first I was a little confused because Mr. Braun was going a bit too fast for my level of expertise. When I caught up I was able to understand the platform better. TouchDevelop is a collaborative tool that provides a rich experience regardless of device or platform. It allows its users to store, share, and showcase apps. It is user-friendly and integrates easily with social media. This is a great tool to use in CTE classes for upper grades; however since it requires every user to have an email address, it may be a bit difficult for elementary-aged students to use. I guess this is why Mr. Braun suggested this tool for grades 4-12. Once I got to really play with TouchDevelop I was able to complete an entire coding session! I felt accomplished because I am not familiar with coding. This is a tool that would definitely keep students engaged and allow them to create apps on their smartphone, tablet, or computer for FREE. The best part is that it does not require any type of downloads which can be a problem given the amount of sites that are blocked by the county.

A plus is that CTE teachers can easily track student progress because it shows how many tutorials a student has done and classes can be organized into groups.

I would definitely love to take a coding course...if I only had the time :) Check it out and let me know your thoughts!



Video Tutorial

The World of Excel

Wow! I had never had an assignment as short yet rigorous as an Excel spreadsheet assigned in one of my courses. I can honestly say that I had never been so frustrated doing a homework assignment...yet in the end felt so accomplished for having not only completed it but learned so much! What I liked most about this assignment is that although it took me a couple weeks to complete, I felt I gained skills which would save me hours worth of work in my current position. I am a Graduation Coach and use data every single day.

Once I completed this assignment I was able to import, sort, use IF statements, use the mean function, use COUNT IF, use conditional formatting, and create a PIVOT table!!!

If anyone has videos or tutorials they would like to share, please feel free to add links in the "Comments" section.



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Technology as a Tool or Distraction?

Do you happen to have students who are constantly on the phone during class? Do they assure you that they are still paying attention because they can multitask?

Well... in one of my technology classes we were asked to read three articles related to technology as a distraction and I was torn when it came to phones. I believe that students should be allowed to have their phones; however without a school-wide policy of its usage phones will become a daily distraction. I consider myself a multi-tasker; but when I put my skills to the test I failed. If you have a couple minutes, please watch it and comment on how you did.

Test yourself

Some schools have made laminated signs for each classroom that say, "Go Technology" on one side and "No Technology" on the other and this seems to work for them in regards to minimizing distractions and maximizing instruction. This also gives teachers the liberty to say when devices are allowed to be out or not. How does your school handle this issue?

I also read another article where a school that was big on technology would ban its usage for a couple days as to bring balance and encourage students to write to each other and meet up instead of text. Do you think this would work at your school?

We have to realize that whether we like it or not, technology is here to stay, so how are we going to educate our students on the appropriate uses of it?





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What's a backchannel?

Have you ever had that shy student who you knew was bright but lacked confidence to participate in class discussions? I am reading a book right now called "Empowered Schools, Empowered Students" and it opened my eyes to this very topic. I always gave students a voice in my classroom because I know it is a way to keep students engaged but never really thought about a backchannel. A backchannel is a way for students to engage in a digital conversation that runs concurrently with face-to-face instruction.

A great way to backchannel is by using TodaysMeet because it allows the entire class to participate on any given topic given by a teacher. I use to use this as a ticket out the door and asked students to post questions, comments, or to give me feedback about the day's lesson. I taught 9th, 11th, and 12th grade literature and this simple tool allowed me to see how well students had understood a topic, novel, or theme and helped me make lessons more interesting and engaging by listening to their feedback/project ideas. I like how in "The Backchannel: Giving Every Student a Voice in the Blended Mobile Classroom" Beth Holland says that, "Backchannels don't replace class discussions -- they extend them."

In my case, backchanneling also minimized interruptions and negative behavior because each student was engaged. At the beginning of the school year I asked students to confidentially give me a nickname they would use. This helped shy students participate without feeling judged if they gave the wrong answer.

Have you tried anything similar? If so, please share other tools and websites that serve the same purpose.

How do you give students a voice in the classroom?

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Post #2 Becoming an iLeader

Don't you despise having to read a textbook and not being able to apply what you've learned because it's just not relevant or realistic? Well that's not the case this semester! After reading Teaching the iStudent I decided to start off by emailing the whole school a list of tools and/or Apps they can use in the classroom along with a brief description of what that app is used for. I then went through my RTI/SST caseload and provided students who lack organizational skills some tools that may be useful to them in order to succeed. If used appropriately and consistently, these tools can be used as interventions. Both teachers and students were grateful for providing these. I also encouraged other teachers in the school to share tools they learned about at training with others. I like how we are starting to see a collaborative culture!

It is sad to see that many APs go into leadership thinking they will be instructional leaders; however all the paperwork and demands cast upon them prevent them from helping teachers as much as they wish. This topic was brought up at our ILT meeting and I am glad that everyone was able to openly discuss their concerns transparently. We are trying to implement a program that tracks student learning every six weeks and allows us to ensure standard-mastery using an online program. Many teachers were on board, but others believed this would only take power away from teachers and water-down instruction. I understand technology is scary; however we need to take a leap of faith and "integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought, or an event" (Heidi-Hayes Jacobs). How will our students learn to responsibly use this tool (technology) if we see it as a threat?

Post #1 Journey toward becoming a tech-savvy leader

Although I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to technology, I can honestly say that I am truly excited about the two courses I am taking this semester. I just finished reading Teaching the iStudent for my other course and I enjoyed it. It is one of the few textbooks I would consider keeping and sharing with others. It gave me a better perspective of who students are and how they think. I am passionate about learning and teaching so one of the things I plan on doing is sharing the wonderful apps and tools I learned about through the author, Mark Barnes (@markbarnes19), with my school. I was also assigned to set up an RSS News Aggregator, set up a Twitter account, and use this blog to share my perspective.

My school is in the process of adopting the 1:1 model and I am hungry for knowledge that will help my leadership team excel in the personalization of instruction given that not many schools have implemented this model in an effective manner. I came across an article titled “Why Schools Should Move beyond One-to-One Computing” and a quote by Alan November got me thinking about Fulton County’s vision for this big step. November states that, “At a time of declining resources within many schools, it’s essential to craft a vision that giving every student a digital device must lead to achievements beyond what we can accomplish with paper.”

I wish I could have a magic ball and see the model’s turnout. I am on a journey toward becoming a tech-savvy leader and need your help, comments, suggestions, and advice because I believe collaboration, humility, and risk-taking are key elements to success.

ARTICLE

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