Mr Bass Online

I work with teachers.  I work with A LOT of teachers. The work we do together encompasses many things, but mostly, I help them integrate technology into their classrooms, their lessons, and probably most importantly, I help them figure out how to help their students learn through technological tools. This morning I lost my mind for a little while due to some frustrations that I’m having around examples that are being set for teachers. Allow me to explain.

In my district we have a web-based, website authoring tool that we has been developed by our technology department for the purpose of providing teachers with a tool to make classroom websites that are hosted on district servers.  It’s not perfect, it’s still a work in progress. Sure, there are lots of tools out there that do the same thing, but the district provides this as a free place to keep parents and students updated on assignments and the daily classroom events. Teachers can even embed video from another in-house video hosting service as well as include all the embeddable tools that litter the internet these days. Basically, it’s a pretty good system.

I recognize that this is not really the norm. Many districts don’t have these resources for teachers and I’m glad that I can provide instruction on the best use of these sites so they are not simply document repositories, but that they also include instructional components.  What bothers me is that so many times, technology people (and this is not unique to my district), because they have more technical skills, create sites and structures using tools that are not available to the teachers that they are supporting. I’ve been guilty of this in the past and will probably do it again in the future, but I’m working on making sure that, as someone who supports teachers, the tools that I demo and the sites that I create can be used by them. It’s great that I know how to program Flash and HTML, but because I support teachers, I need to use tools to support them that they can actually use. Everything I make, demo or talk about is potentially something that a teacher in my district will want to use as a tool in their classroom and with their kids. Just because I have the technical ability, doesn’t mean that I should be free to create things that are unreachable for my teachers. By doing that I’m setting an an undoable example. Those of us who work with teachers need to be mindful of what our role is in our schools and districts.

It’s fun and easy to say “look what I can do” with a piece of software. Yes, it’s fun to make pretty pictures, but when teachers ask me to help them create the kinds of opportunities for their students and their classrooms using tools that they’ve seen me use, I need to be ready to help them make their goals into a reality. I don’t want to have to tell them that a higher end tool isn’t available to them because “they’re just a teacher” and it isn’t in the budget for you.

All of us who are involved in instructional technology and supporting teachers either at the building or district levels need to be cognizant of the tools that we use. We do set and example that is in fact doable.

There, rant over.

Education, Professional Development, Reflections, Technology equality, Tools

The last section of the book, Lincoln on Leadership, has to do with his communications with others.  While this section is specifically about communication, it strikes me that all three of the other sections also had to do with communication.  Ronald Reagan was called “the great communicator,” but that title may have better been left to Abraham Lincoln.  He understood the need for appropriate and concise communication with everyone in which he came into contact.

“The Art of Public Speaking” is the title of chapter 13.  Being well spoken is a very important part of getting people to follow any given leader.  I listen to podcasts on a daily basis.  Many of these podcasts contain interviews of various people.  While I don’t claim to be a public speaking expert, I do understand the need for eliminating verbal cues, such as “you know” and “um” from your speech.  Whenever I record myself, I do go back in and edit these verbal cues out of the recording.  However, whenever I speak in public, I always have this in the back of my mind.  I try to be succinct in my speech, and, rather than resorting to verbal “filler,” I try to simply pause.  I’ve heard that the sound of silence is the most difficult sound when speaking in front of others.  This is something that, early in my teaching career, I made a concerted effort to learn.  When an educator asks a question and no one answers, it’s hard to let the silence linger.  However, it’s necessary.  My 10th graders were waiting for me to answer for them, it became an game between us, who could wait the longest.

While Lincoln was probably aware of his verbal cues, he was even more concerned with the message that he was giving.  He knew that everything he said would be scrutinized and that everything he said, not only represented himself, but the United States as a whole.  This is true of educators as well.  As we talk to our students (and as those in my position talk to teachers) we are representing our districts and departments.  We are all a part of something bigger.  When we speak, whether we want to or not, we represent that larger group.  Sometimes that’s a department, other times it’s a school or district.  Regardless, we must choose our words wisely, because, regardless of the context, only in rare circumstances do we only represent ourselves.

According to Phillips, storytelling was one of the techniques that Lincoln used regularly.  In chapter 14, “Influence People Through Storytelling and Conversation,” Phillips outlines Lincolns prolific storytelling ability and his ability to connect with those who could be considered “the common man.”  I’ve always known that telling story can make a point even better than if it were brought up outright.  As a teacher, telling story would often draw the interest of my students.  (Funny though, they liked to hear stories, but reading stories was not of great interest to them.)

One lesson that this chapter illustrates is that of using humor to create loyalty in “followers.” Lincoln is said to have used humor to create levity in situations that were especially grave.  He found that humor was a major component in persuading others.

The final chapter of the book, “Preach A Vision and Continually Reaffirm It,” restates the importance of setting goals from Chapter 10.  Lincoln continually went back to the goals and vision that he had when he took office.  Districts and buildings who have developed a mission and continually put it before the teachers will continually come out ahead when they look at whether their goals have been achieved.

Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times gave me a look into the world of Abraham Lincoln and his struggles as President during the Civil War.  When I was a college student, I read a poem by Walt Whitman dedicated to Lincoln that has always stayed with me.

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up–for you the flag is flung–for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths–for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck
You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will.
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Walt Whitman – Leaves of Grass

Education, Professional Development, Reflections, leadership

I’ve already written about how Abraham Lincoln approached people and character when it came to his leadership style.  In the next section of Donald Phillips book, he takes a look at Lincoln’s endeavors.  The first chapter in this section is entitled “Exercise a Strong Hand – Be Decisive”.  One thing that I really liked about this chapter is Lincoln’s focus on the overall picture.  As a classroom teacher I had a very narrow view of my professional world.  Yes, I was connected in a number of ways to a number of people, but basically, I was in my room, with my students, teaching my curriculum and observing the inner workings of the district as an outsider.  Because of this, I didn’t have a view of the bigger picture.  I thought I did.  I thought that I knew the goals of the district.  I thought that I had an understanding of how the entire organization worked.  I was wrong.  In my current role I have a completely different view of education as a whole.  I’m not attached to a particular school.  I’m attached to a district.  I have a different perspective and lens through which I view my work.  Lincoln’s view was that “an organization is never wisely sacrificed to avoid losing one or two small parts”.  Schools are part of a system of education and classrooms play an integral role in that system but what happens in the classroom is influenced by the greater system.  The system will break down at times but sacrificing a program or a specific unit in a course of study (I’m learning) is not (usually) a reaction but rather part of the system.  If I go back to the classroom, I hope that this lesson is not lost as I get caught up in the mound of papers and narrow focus of my classroom.

Phillip’s next chapter, “Lead by Being Led”, describes Lincoln’s attitude towards his subordinates.  His was focused on goals and let his people make decision to that end.  When all was said and done, he wanted then to say, “We did this ourselves.”  I remember a number of years ago a Modern Media class that I had just taken over from another teacher.  I had equipment and a very outdated curriculum (the text book was published in 1992 and the year was 2000). So we ditched the textbook and I attempted a more authentic learning environment.  As the projects went on, students wanted to do more and more complex projects that pushed the boundaries of my knowledge and the abilities of our equipment.  I learned a lot, but more importantly, I gave them the ability to try different things and worked with them to find solutions rather than giving them solutions that may or may not have worked.  In many cases, the solutions that they came up with were beyond what I would have come up with.  They were innovative and driven.  The project very quickly became their’s.  I was simply along for the ride.  Every now and then there were ideas that were outside the realm of reality and had to be altered to fit our needs.  What it comes down to is that my student’s led me through this project.  They were the creators of their own knowledge.  It was all very exciting and when they were done, they could absolutely say… “We did this ourselves.”

In chapter 10, “Set Goals and Be Results-Oriented”, Phillips writes of Lincoln’s drive for success.  His goal was to always keep a fire lit under his people.  Being a results-oriented person myself, I understand his desire.  However, what I find amazing for many of the great leaders out there is the stamina it takes to keep that up.  Maybe my focus is in too many places.  Maybe I’m not as driven.  Bottom line, I get tired.  Now, I feel as though I come through on my commitments, but I also have to think about (and get better about) recognizing where my attention goes.  Whenever my attention gets pulled away from a task, I need to ask myself, “Is this the best use of my time?”

Another point from this chapter has to do with a “corporate mission” for a group.  At the beginning of last year the team to which I belong created a mission statement and business plan.  We’re trying to develop a brand of which we can be proud.  I think we’re on the way.  So many organizations (schools) have a mission statement that may or may not have buy-in by all of its members.  I think that many times that’s because the mission is not revisited on a regular basis.  Lincoln continually reminded his people of the overall goal and what it took to get there.  I wonder if a simple regular reminder would increase buy-in of school mission statements.

Chapter 11 is a little more specific to industries outside of education.  Entitled, “Keep Searching Until You Find Your “Grant”,” the chapter outlines the long line of generals that Lincoln gave charge of the Army before finally getting to Grant who eventually won the war for him.  Lincoln didn’t have any predisposition to removing someone who he felt was not working out and not realizing results.  It seems that his decisions were based on results rather than emotion.  In my experience, keeping emotion out of decisions is tremendously difficult to do.  There are always biases and experiences that can cloud judgment.  Lincoln was no different, but he had the courage to take action when he felt he needed to.  This is not to say that he didn’t provide ample opportunities for improvement and support, but time needs to be given to make improvements.  Unfortunately, in the world of education and testing, time is not something that we often have.  Teachers who are new to the profession are put in classrooms and expected to perform immediately because their students must be able to have the same opportunities that students in other classes do.  I haven’t completely focused my thoughts on this (as is probably very evident) so this is a little rambling, but I think there’s a tie in there with the support that teachers in classrooms need to teach their students.

The final chapter in this section is “Encourage Innovation.”  Innovation is abundant in education.  Every day I see classes that are working on new things and solving problems with a completely different outlook.  It’s an exciting time for education with all the possibilities that are out there.  At his METC keynote, Will Richardson said that “We are doing a great job preparing our children for their current reality.”  His point was that we’re not doing a great job preparing them for their future.  He asked whether we teach our kids to write using hypertext and linking to sources around the web.  The answer from the audience was basically, “no, we are not.” But, for the most part, everyone agreed that they will probably write using hypertext at some point in their future.   How will they know how to use hypertext in their writing?  If we’re not teaching them these skills, do they just figure them out for themselves?  Lincoln looked for leaders he could learn from and who would find innovative solutions to problems.  Can we teach innovation to our students?  Maybe, can we give them opportunities to be innovative and to solve problems? Absolutely, but only if we allow them to move beyond the five-paragraph essay and give them some control over the criteria of assignments.

Education, PLN, Professional Development, Reflections, leadership

Today was the first day of the Midwest Education Technology Conference in St. Louis, MO.  I’m actually on the board for this conference and really enjoy being a part of the planning process.  The day started with Will Richardson’s keynote.  I’ve always enjoyed Will’s writings and presentations.  Imagine my surprise when he referenced NCTE’s Framework for 21st Century Literacies, a document that I helped to author as a part of NCTE’s Executive Board. After the session I went and introduced myself and had a nice chat before another session.  One thing that he said that I really liked was that his kids were his lens to his involvement in education.  Since my kids will be attending the school district in which I work, I have a similar feeling and a vested interest in the district as a whole. I also presented two sessions today.  The first, “Cool Tool Duel,” was a collaborative effort of 6 technology integrators in which we all presented 2 tools to the audience.  Unfortunately, Animoto chose the time I was presenting and showing their site off to do a little server maintenance.  After I logged in, the site actually said, “Went to get a beer, brb.”  This got lots of laughs and completely lightened up the mood.

My second presentation, “Instructional Strategies for a Digital World,” was one that I’ve presented in the past about my time in the classroom and my efforts to create a “paperless classroom.”  I changed the presentation considerably this time because I wanted to tell a story about my experience rather than just explain the concept and how “I” did it.  I wanted my audience to understand “why” I did it that way.  I think it went well and I enjoyed the session. I ended my day in another of Will Richardson’s sessions and then a brief sharing session with Meg Ormiston.  After dinner and drinks with DEN and some new Twitter friends, I finally braved the snowy roads and made my way home.  School is canceled for tomorrow so after dropping off the kids at childcare, it’s back to another day of METC with one final presentation.

21st Century Education, NCTE, Online Apps, PLN, Professional Development, metc09, presentations

As I continue working through my PGP and reading Lincoln on Leadership, I continue to reflect on ways that I can use some of his techniques in my work.

Part 2 – Character

In my first post I wrote about Phillips description of Lincoln’s dealings with people. The second part of the book addresses Lincoln’s character. Since I first heard about Lincoln in elementary school his nickname, “Honest Abe”, has been one of the first things that I think about when I hear his name. This part of the book is broken up into three chapters:

• Honesty and Integrity Are the Best Policies
• Never Act Out of Vengeance or Spite
• Have the Courage to Handle Unjust Criticism
• Be a Master of Paradox

The first section, Honesty and Integrity Are the Best Policies, was an interesting and one that could be used to help students as they struggle to find themselves and determine what they actually believe. One of the principles that I continue to struggle with has to do with who you stand by and when you stand by them. According to Phillips, Lincoln believed that you should “stand with anybody who stands right. Stand with him with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.” For so many of the kids that I have taught in the past, loyalty is everything. It’s not a matter of whether one’s actions are right, it’s a matter of standing up for someone rather than for a cause. Truly, I find this one to be tough. Loyalty is important, but shouldn’t what’s right still come first as we leave the realm of adolescence.

The other principle from this section that I really liked was, “When you make it to the top, turn and reach down for the person behind you.” In education the top is different for everyone, but the principle remains the same. When a “level” is reached, it’s your responsibility to help the person behind you to reach that same level. As teachers, we strive to help our students. However, could we teach this principle to our students? What if, when they reached a level, they helped those around them until everyone came up to that level? What a community you would have. My Personal Learning Network (PLN) works that way for me. When someone learns something, typically they will share their learning. If it’s something that I need or want to know or be familiar with, there has not been a single time that I’ve asked that I wasn’t pleasantly rewarded with assistance. Usually, they go above and beyond. I, in turn, try to do the same thing. If students took on this attitude, education might look completely different.

The next chapter of the book, “Never Act Out of Vengeance or Spite” is one that should really hit home with educators. I remember a day in my classroom in which there all students were taking a quiz when suddenly a fight broke out between two boys without, to my knowledge, any provocation from either one. I was shocked, amazed and in awe that this was actually happening in my room. With the help of some other students we broke up the fight (which ended up being over a girl) and I marched them down to the principal’s office. I didn’t ask what caused it. I didn’t care at that point. I was angry, disappointed and embarrassed.

How many times have I graded a paper and been tempted to grade that essay just a little bit harder based on the behavior of a student. Yes, it’s wrong. Yes, it’s vengeful. Yes, I’m a professional and am pleased to say that I worked very hard to not let those feelings affect the grades my students earned. The key here is that students are earning these grades and I have no right to impose my will on those grades based on their behaviors. Educators are human and it’s hard to leave that frustration behind, but if we don’t, there are two problems – our actions are wrong and we’re modeling behaviors the same behaviors that we’re trying to keep our student’s from displaying.

“Have the Courage to Handle Unjust Criticism” is the title of chapter three. Not surprisingly, this should ring true for the entire education community. It seems that as teachers we are being criticized from nearly all sides these days. Obviously this is an extreme generalization, but we all have days that we feel that way. When Lincoln felt that he was unjustly criticized and he felt that he must respond, he would write a letter to the person or persons being critical and express his side of the story. However, rarely, if ever, were these letters sent. It was therapeutic for him. In his mind, his actions and reputation spoke for themselves and by responding to criticism that was unjust he was just perpetuating the misunderstanding. He had faith in his values and allowed them to guide his actions. Hopefully I’ll be able to remember that the next time I feel as though educators are being criticized by those who aren’t part of our world. I’m sure I’ll have that opportunity very soon.

The last chapter of the “Character” section is entitled “Be a Master of Paradox”. There are lessons in this chapter for the educator too but I think they are a little more cryptic. So many times I feel as though I’m walking a tightrope in which I can see the big picture in my district while at the same time I can see how that big picture gets interpreted by individuals. There’s always a little disconnect between administration and teachers, but, the biggest thing I’ve learned since I’ve been out of the classroom is that the principal is truly the educational leader in each building. They set the tone and interpret that big picture. I guess I always kind of knew that, but until I traveled between schools and saw the way different administrators ran their schools, I didn’t really understand how true that was.

Thus far, my experience with Lincoln On Leadership has been a good one. I’ve learned a little about Lincoln a little about leadership and have gotten a lot to think about.

Education, PLN, Professional Development, Reflections, leadership

Every year in many school districts around the country teachers are asked to create a goals for themselves. They vary in titles, sequence, and scope but when all is said and done, goals are made for the upcoming year. In my district, these are called Professional Growth Plans or PGP (we love our acronyms). Last year I chose to look at mentoring and try to expand my ability to help teachers and their ability to use technology. I did my PGP and as the year passed I thought about it, but to be honest, it was kind of lost on me. Basically, life got in the way and pushed my little plan to the back burner. I completed it and learned a lot about mentoring, but it wasn’t part of my regular thought process. My focus became working with teachers and students… you know… my job.

This year, I’m making a more concerted effort to think about my chosen topic and try to put it into practice. I know it’s early in the year, but if I continue to remind myself about the purpose of creating a plan and the benefit that both my teachers (and in turn their students) and I can get from it, I have found many opportunities to use what I’ve learned.

I have chosen to look at leadership skills and strategies this year as my PGP. My plan is to share my thoughts and readings here as I reflect on this personal professional development. My first step in this process is the reading of the book Diamond Quality Leadership by Mark Hinderliter. Mark is a consultant from St. Louis and is known by an administrator in my district so brining this book into my PGP seemed to be a natural fit.

Diamond Quality Leadership, like many leadership books, is organized with an initial story outlining and illustrating the leadership concepts and skills that the character “learns” through the course of the book. At the end of the book the author discusses the implications and theoretical context presented through the story. In my limited experience with these kinds of books, this seems to be a fairly common approach. The story is fictional, but brings the concepts up in a fairly transparent way.

In the Diamond Leadership Model, Hinderliter outlines six different points:

· Create clarity

· Build trust

· Work with passion

· Serve others

· Fully engage people

· Act with courage

Each point can be expanded upon and they all have a place in both leadership and education. Many of the aspects of the book were not really new to me, but it has reminded me of some of these techniques.

There are many lessons that can be taken away from this book. Hinderliter’s discussion of his fourth point, “serve others” struck me because it changes the focus from the “leader” to the “follower”. Leaders are those who insist on giving those who follow them the responsibility and support to (in this case) do their jobs. I couldn’t help but put this into the perspective of the classroom. In today’s classrooms, teachers must hand the learning over to their students. We are there to support our students and give them what they need to be successful. In doing this, we must trust them to take responsibility of their own education. Rather than being the purveyors of knowledge and holding the responsibility for “educating” our students, we must guide and coach them in their endeavors. This means that we must relinquish some of our control and let them explore and work through posing problems and solutions for each other. I think that too often we want our students to “serve” us by completing assignments that we give them, write papers on topics that we determine and assess grades from our perspective. By making a conscious effort to “serve” our students and giving them responsibility for their own learning, we are not only educating our students but modeling leadership skills that will serve them in the future.

The second point that Hinderliter brings up in his book is one that I’ve been thinking about for a number of years. I haven’t acted upon it yet, but the more I come across the concept on the web or in books, the more I think that it’s a good idea. In the book, the main character asks 4 of his professional friends to meet once a month to discuss various aspects of their careers and personal lives. The idea is to bounce ideas off each other and spend some time helping each other. To do this, there must be a great deal of trust between members of the group as well as a strong desire to help each other. They meet for 1 hour in an informal setting and simply talk. If there are specific topics that a member would like to discuss, an email is sent out in advance so that all members have time to reflect and are prepared to help. I have thought of bringing this idea to some of my friends but I have yet to do so. I do have a network which I trust and will talk to, but the idea of getting together in a planned way and with an implicit reason intrigues me. I haven’t decided if this is something I want to pursue, but the more I read about it, the more I think it’s a good idea. In the world of IM and video, the geographical limitations of this are less important. However, I think this is one activity that I’d like to do face to face.

While there are many points from Diamond Quality Leadership that are valid for education and the classroom, these are the two that stick out for me. I write this as a reflection but also to help me think about and remained focused on my plan. Now to determine what action to take.

Education, Professional Development, Reflections

This post is a forum posting for the K12 Online Conference.  In our first session we watched Stephen Heppel’s keynote and I asked participants to briefly reflect on it.  As I respond to others posts and reflect on these sessions, I will post my entries here.

Stephen Heppell – Pre-Conference Keynote: “It Simply Isn’t the 20th Century Anymore Is It?: So Why Would We Teach As Though It Was?”

1. One thing that I’ve been dealing with a lot lately has to do with student’s prior knowledge regarding the use of technology. As adults, we see that students use technology in a variety of different ways and they seem to move through and use it seamlessly. This was the basis of Marc Prensky’s work in defining “digital immigrants” and “digital natives”. Through my work with students, I see that there is a comfort level with technology, however, there is also a very surface level understanding of how it works and what it can be used for.
2. Stephen Heppel brought up the point, “Content is NOT King”, essentially stating that in the past so many websites were set up as content portals and expected users to come simply because of the content they were linking to. I think this has changed significantly with the dawn of social networking sites. Heppel’s point is to focus on the community aspects of the web. His presentation reminded me of my early graduate work when my class joined a Yahoo! Group. My instructor encouraged us to see the value of collaboration, group interaction and the social side of the web. It makes me think about the students that I observe in my travels around the district. So many of these sites are simply for them to get information and be comsumers of the web rather than creators. The experience is much different when they have the ability to interact with a site in a social setting.
3. Heppel ends his presentation with the phrase that he sees this as the “Death of education, but the dawn of learning.” This struck me as very familiar but I put it out of my mind. Then, as I was looking at by RSS reader, I came across a blog post by the same title posted by my friend Dawn Hogue.

Education, K12 Online Conference, Professional Development, Technology

This is an email that I sent out to my teachers for a PD opportunity I’m offering in my district.  Last year I offered something similar and it went well.  Not great participation, but great discussion.  If you’re interested, we’ll be posting our responses/own presentations at Notk12onlineconference.org

Starting next week I will be offering a salary credit class (1 full credit will be earned through this class) based on the K12 Online Conference, a virtual conference with presenters from across the world.  The class will meet 3 times from 4-6.  The other sessions will be on your own with participation in a Moodle discussion forum.  Finally, participants will create their own virtual “presentation” in response to or inspired by one of the sessions that they watched.  These presentations will then be posted to NotK12OnlineConference.org to be viewed by others.  I will be available to help with the technical side of the presentations as well as working on generating ideas for them.  The idea behind the class is to engage in the greater conversation about education and look outside Parkway for teaching strategies and instructional practices.  Many of the sessions will focus on using technology in the classroom but they are not limited to that

Each participant will write reflection and keep a log of the sessions attended. The final face-to-face session will be a facilitated discussion about what was learned, the benefits of the conference, and the next steps for those involved in terms of taking their learning back into their classrooms. Additionally, participants will create their own digital presentation in response to or sparked from one they saw on the K12 Online Conference. These presentations will be submitted to the NotK12OnlineConference (http://notk12onlineconference.org) for use by others.

I’m looking forward to the conversations around this.  I’ll keep you posted.

Education, Notk12onlineconference, Professional Development, Technology

Today was a good day for me.  Students in my district were not in school and the entire day was committed to professional development.  While this is not a new thing in the world of education, one thing I liked about the structure of today was that this afternoon, all Communication Arts teachers came together in one of our buildings for a mini-conference of sorts.  There were two one-hour sessions, each with about 6 different choices for teachers to attend.  I led one of the sessions and focused my hour on the idea of student feedback and peer-review.  English teachers often find themselves with a mountain of papers in which they need to wade through.  We know that timely feedback is important, but when you’re staring at a pile of papers, it’s sometimes hard to imagine that you will actually be able to make meaningful comments on each and that students will take these comments to heart and that the feedback will ultimately improve writing over time.

In this post, I don’t want to write about the presentation itself, I really want to share a direction that I’m trying to take in all the classes I lead with teachers.  So many times in technology, I think we tell people what to click on and tell them how to use a specific tool.  This is sometimes appropriate, but I also think that we are missing an opportunity to show how these tools can be used for instructional purposes.  Today I wanted to show them Google Sites and Docs, however, I didn’t want this to be the focus of my presentation. Rather, I wanted them to see how these tools could be used for instructional purposes while at the same time keeping my focus on feedback.  By using the tools and telling them why I chose that tool as I was focusing on the content, I was able to capture and hold participants attention at 2:30 on a Friday afternoon.  They were exposed to the tools and shown where to find them and my focus stayed on the content I wanted to cover.

Not that this is a groundbreaking strategy, but it’s something that I’m working on so I can better help the teachers I work with. I know there are times that I will need to show what to click on, but in situations like today, my goal is to focus on the content and use the tools to help me.

English, Google Tools, Professional Development, Reflections

This morning I arrived back in St. Louis after spending about 48 hours in Chicago for the Google Teacher Academy.  On Wednesday September 24th, 53 educators from 17 states converged on the Google Offices invited by Dr. Mark Wagner, CUE and Google for the purpose of networking and looking at the educational applications of the suite of tools offered by Google.  The process began with an application in which we were required to make a one minute video and post it on YouTube.  About one week later, those who were accepted received an email with an invitation to become a Google Certified Teacher.

The day after I found out that I was accepted I created a Google Site and started inviting others that I knew would be attending to contribute their own information to the site hoping that before we all got together, we would at least be able to put a name to a face.  I began searching Twitter posts and blogs for anyone who had posted that they too had been accepted.  (The site was down for a short while, but that’s another story.)  Over the next three weeks I found a total of 18 future GCT’s and invited them to contribute.  Interestingly enough, it paid off.  Stephanie Madlinger and I traveled together and met Paul Hieronymus (a GCT from Ohio) at the Rock Bottom Brewry for dinner on Tuesday evening.  We had a great time sharing ideas and experiences and speculating about what the following day would hold.

On Wednesday morning, Stephanie and I walked the eight blocks from our hotel to the Google offices.  As we passed the front of the building I recognized Fred Koch standing on Kinzie Street and knew that the site had paid off.  We all introduced ourselves, checked in with Allison Merrick and began our amazing day of sharing and learning.

Over the course of the day we collaborated with fellow teachers, were introduced to tools and applications and became inspired by speakers.  The day flew by and before we knew it we were done.  I’m still reeling a little from the sheer volume of information and learning that took place that day but one of the most important things had to do with the people that I met.  My personal learning network has expanded yet again and I’m excited about the possibilities.

I have had many professional development opportunities during my educational career and many of them have been very transformative.  GTA is now at the top of my list of these experiences.  As I reflect on the day, the most valuable parts of were the connections and conversations in which I participated.  The opportunity to be a part of such a diverse and forward thinking group was well worth the trip and I look forward to future opportunities stemming from the event.  I encourage anyone with any inclination to apply and have the same experience.  To all my new friends, thank you for your expertise, sharing and vision.  Let us all continue to share our knowledge and learn from each other as often as possible.

Google Certified Teacher, PLN, Professional Development