MES App Challenge

As an eight-year veteran of instructional technology, I've seen many changes over the years. Technological advances have swept the educational realm with warp speed; the traditional tools of the trade have rusted in their metal toolboxes. VCR tapes flattened into DVDs, now we stream from YouTube. Chalkboards became whiteboards then SMART Boards. Overhead projectors were cast aside for handheld document cameras. Floppy disks became USBs and now we store our files in the Cloud. Seven years ago the iPad didn't exist.

All these changes in the tools we use, the manner in which we conduct business, and yet... some things haven't changed. We still work a 10-month contract, still spend countless hours (and money!) outfitting our classrooms, and still do PD the same way as decades before. 

I wanted this year to be different.

I started in September with an interest survey, asking teachers what they wanted to learn about. There was an overwhelming interest in learning more about iPad apps, which was great, but an area I didn't have much expertise. Sure, I knew how to use my favorite apps like Edmodo and PicCollage, but how could I meet the needs of all the different grades? Where would I start? Which apps were the best of the best? How could I transition my teachers from handing students an iPad to "play" and instead make that instructional time meaningful and productive?

I spent a few weeks connecting with my PLN on Twitter, asking for ideas and suggestions. I started making Twitter lists, sorting my followers by grade level and subject area. I read app reviews on Common Sense Media and asked teachers "What do you want to do?" instead of "What do you want to use?"

This was the year to change me.

I wanted PD to be fun. Engaging. Inspiring. What could I do differently to share what I had learned with my teachers?

What evolved from my quandary was the MES App Challenge. I planned 10 PD sessions for 30 minutes each, highlighting a specific app and its use. The goal was a quick "in and out" intro with time for independent exploration. I also implemented a badging system where teachers could add app icons to a laminated iPad, earning perks in the process.

All sessions were optional, held during the last 30 minutes of the day after students had left the building. I created a Remind account to keep teachers connected with upcoming PD sessions and to send out shout-outs for awesome achievements. I also posted monthly visual reminders around my building about sessions: on lab doors, in the teacher's lounge, and at the sign-in desk.

Best of all, I provided personalized PD on topics of interest. This provided the opportunity to really get to know my teachers and the types of goals they had for their students' learning. I was able to follow-up and provide support throughout the year for classroom implementation and several teachers invited me in their classrooms to showcase what their students could do!

As I reflect on this year, and my first attempt at providing personalized PD, I'm excited! I want to continue to support my teachers' use of iPads in the classroom, but I also want to extend this PD format to other topics as well. My brain is already swirling with ideas to make PD more relevant and engaging next year.

How are you providing personalized PD? Are you using badges as incentives for teacher PD? Do you have any "must have" free apps for the elementary classroom? Comment below and share your expertise! I would love to learn and grow with you!

PD by the Numbers

Much of my job as an ITRT revolves around professional development. Our role in the school is to provide "on-demand professional development support for students, teachers, and administrators." No small task indeed!

Traditionally, PD has been a laborious duty of "sit and get." Three-hour sessions. Don't fall asleep. (I'm reminded of the theme from Gilligan's Island - "A three-hour tour.") Teachers vocally share their frustration about mandatory PD, begging for choice and flexibility. Why is there such a divide between what teachers want to learn and what they have to learn? And why must the sessions always be so long?

I have struggled with this disconnect for quite some time and decided that THIS would be the year I changed how I provided PD to my teachers. If they could pick any topic to learn about, what would they choose? What tech tools were new to them? Did they have any grand ideas of projects or themes where I could provide support?

I didn't know the answers because I hadn't asked the questions.

Sure, I had participated in grade level meetings and offered suggestions or support. I asked what they needed and was met with cordial smiles with a few teachers on the side approaching me for additional help. But this was different. I wanted to know their personal thoughts about technology PD. Not with their team. Not with me. I wanted the barriers of peer pressure and assumed expectation stripped away for raw, honest responses.

I wanted answers that required reflection.

It was expected that we would support two PD initiatives focusing on Google Implementation (our first year as a GAFE district) and Interactive Achievement. I could have easily offered sessions on these two topics alone and filled my calendar for the year.

But I wanted to know more and I was convinced my teachers did, too.

I started the school year with an in-depth teacher survey where they could share their thoughts on what they wanted to learn about and how interested they were in various topics. The survey was subdivided into three sections: Google products, Tech Integration, and Digital Tools. There was also a free response section where teachers could type additional information they wanted to share. I provided the teachers two weeks to complete the survey and the results were fascinating!

A Sample of Google results

A Sample of Tech Integration results

A Sample of  Digital Tool results

After analyzing my data, I discovered a strong interest in "Good, Better, Best for iPad Use in the Classroom." I created an MES App Challenge where various apps would be spotlighted for a quick, 30 minute max PD session various times a month. (More on that in my next post!) I also discovered through the free response section of my survey that an entire grade level was interested in learning more about how I used instructional videos with EdPuzzle for center rotations. Even though that question didn't score very high in the school-wide survey results, I made EdPuzzle training and support a priority for this specific grade level.

I created a Remind account and asked teachers to join. Several times a month I sent reminders of upcoming PD sessions or shout-outs teachers who reached learning milestones. My goal was to make learning easy and fun while strengthening relationships in the process.

I also realized I needed to learn more about Personalized PD and the nuances of managing such an overwhelming style of PD. I connected with other like-minded educators on Twitter and followed the hashtag #personalizedPD. I joined a #personalizedPD Voxer group and sought out Personalized PD sessions at local and virtual conferences.

The one thing I discovered that ALL Personalized PD has in common?

A growth mindset.

Yes, I know that's a trending topic and I also know the buzzword has been used so often it's starting to lose a bit of its luster. But the sentiment holds true: in order to grow, you have to be willing to learn new things.

In April, I asked several teachers to reflect on their progress, with whatever topic or tool they chose to learn about this year. The results were astounding!

A progress chart based on ski slope symbols

Results of teacher growth through ongoing PD

This is worthy of CELEBRATION! We now have experts in our building, many of whom feel confident enough to teach others what they have learned. WOW! So empowering!

I sent out this infographic to our staff, to showcase a few of the milestones met this year through our revamped PD structure:

The best part is that our district is changing, too. For the first time ever we are offering teachers choice and flexibility in their required PD trainings. They now have the option to earn their PD points in sessions offered throughout the summer instead of the typical all day "sit and get" structure of years past. They can take an eLearning course, or choose sessions on various days. 

Choice. Flexibility. Interest.

There are some exciting things happening in Hanover County Public Schools and I consider myself blessed to be part of the process! It has been a phenomenal year!

First Writing EdCamp

Last week I was invited by a fellow ITRT to attend the first ever EdCamp hosted by our district. It was organized by ELA curriculum coordinator, Tami Slater (@tami_slater) in collaboration with ITRTs Casey Nugent (@edtechdonuts) and Heather Causey (@hcausey). Even though the event was geared specifically for high school English teachers, I joined in the fun because I am always looking for ways to improve my own writing as well as strategies to support my beginning writers at the elementary level.

The morning was spent grading essays with the afternoons set up for an open sharing time of various topics. Each "room" was labeled after a famous writer, set up as tables across the cafeteria to allow for convenient movement between sessions.

Each session included a hyperlinked Google Doc for convenient sharing and note-taking. Teachers chose which session they wanted to attend, carrying laptops with them for each rotation. I definitely was the "odd man out" being an elementary-focused educator, but I enjoyed listening to the teachers share their struggles and successes.

Some great sites that were shared included Moving Writers and Storybird for motivating struggling writers. Other sites such as Canva and Piktochart were discussed for students to use in creating infographics. Grammarly was another hot topic for editing and grammar reteaching. We loved how it not only told us what to correct and how, but it also described in detail why we needed to correct our errors. Talk about empowering! Our only wish is that is synced with Google Docs! (Yes, we know we can copy/paste into the Grammarly website, but an automatic analysis would be such a gift!)

I loved listening to the teachers share their ideas of how to run writing stations in their classrooms- so inspiring! From having students rotate from one station to the next crafting a single story or individual stations to reinforce vocabulary and digital writing, it was clear that our teachers are looking for creative ways to engage our students with writing.

I left this EdCamp excited to share this PD concept with teachers in my building as well as the resources described. My hope is that this EdCamp structure grows to the point where we can have multiple EdCamps across the district focused on meaningful conversations as teachers continue to learn and grow!

Comfort Zone - Reflections from 2015

Like many people this time of year, I brainstorm New Year resolutions with the best of intentions. Write more. Organize more. Be more. Surely writing my resolutions makes them materialize from wishes to wins, right?

As I dove feet-first into 2015 and settled into the familiar rhythm of work, family, and life, I quickly forgot what I had written on my post-it note above (then lost track of the note altogether, sorry Tony Borash!) It faded to the backdrop like a setting sun across the sea. The brightness gleamed, glistened, then simply disappeared below the horizon, lost in the darkness of night. I got caught up in the mundane tasks of going and doing and went about my way, week after week, month after month.

From January 1 to December 31, I worked, I played, I cooked, and I slept, but none of those tasks were written on my list. Another year had passed and I was right back where I started.

Or was I?

My friend, Justin Birckbichler, challenged me to reflect on 2015 as he shared his insights earlier in the week; I was also challenged by my #compelledtribe bloggers Craig Vroom and Jennifer Hogan to do the same. It got me thinking... what exactly did I accomplish in 2015? Was the year as static as my memory recalled?

I decided to make a list of the things I did that pushed me out of my comfort zone. Whoa - how quickly my pen filled up the page! Even as I jotted down the memories, I could feel my heart race, the excitement of learning something new fresh in my mind once again. Looking back now, I'm in awe that only one year has passed - it's been one for the books!

Screencasting

At the start of 2015, I was relatively new to the world of screencasting, or making videos using your voice and computer screen. I was contacted by Atomic Learning to create a video series about blogging random acts of kindness which included 32 screencasts. It was the first time I worked with project managers, producers, and audio technicians, and the learning curve was steep. I became an expert at connecting a pop filter to my microphone, adjusting settings in Camtasia, and remembering to say "STOP" and pause four seconds every time I messed up my recording so I could easily find the sections to splice in the final edit. When they say "failure is an opportunity to learn," let's just say I learned a LOT!

How did this experience change me? I took what I learned and started making instructional videos for the teachers in my school and shared them on a wiki, on YouTube, on EdPuzzle, and on Edmodo Spotlight. I created more than 40 videos that students watched in center rotations, at home, and part of flipped classrooms. By uploading my screencasts to several websites and posting links globally through Twitter, I was able to share my resources with the world!

I also recorded teachers reading chapters from our school-wide book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and posted the links to a Weebly website I created so families could listen to the recordings together. It was a noteworthy way to engage students in reading and listening as well as build connections with school and home.

I even collaborated on a Genius Hour project with a first grade teacher and helped her students transform their "I wonder..." questions into multi-media Pixie projects, complete with audio recordings.

Presenting

In 2014, I thought I had stepped as far as possible outside my comfort zone by presenting an Ignite Talk at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference in Atlanta, GA. It was, without exception, the most challenging presentation I had ever given: Engage and inspire an audience of hundreds in only five minutes with twenty slides advancing every fifteen seconds. Doesn't get much crazier than that!

Then in 2015, I was asked to be a Keynote Speaker for an Early Childhood Education conference. I knew right then that my experience at ISTE was merely practice for this unique opportunity. I shared a 45 minute presentation emphasizing Connections That Count, then provided a breakout session focused on technology for young learners. While this conference was much smaller than ISTE, every single participant there had their eyes and ears on me, to learn and be inspired by my thoughts, my passions, my experience. I can now check "Keynote Speaker" off my bucket list!

In August, I found my stride as I presented two Teach Like a Pirate sessions for district leaders, sharing Dave Burgess' passion and purpose for effective teaching. The sessions were so well-received, administrators were literally begging for books before they walked out the door! Several principals chose #tlap as their school-wide theme for the 2015-16 school year. Such fun!

In the fall, I presented on behalf of the Virginia Department of Education at two separate SOL Institutes across the state, sharing my experiences with formative assessment and digital writing. With only four presenters for elementary teachers (and four leading secondary), it was an intimate setting with 50-100 attendees each session. For those seeking resources, they will hopefully be posted soon!

To round out 2015, I was asked to serve as a Digital Content Committee Co-chair for the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) Conference in December. That opportunity showed me first-hand the behind-the-scenes view of volunteer prep-work, room setup, and a thousand other things that go into making a successful conference. Over the course of five days, I emceed morning announcements with green screen recordings (another first!) with the talented Stephen Orr, created scrolling presentations, pushed out Twitter tweets, and helped my fellow committee members, making connections and building relationships every step of the way. It was truly a life-changing experience!

Blogging

Starting the 2015-16 school year, our district joined with thousands around the world to use Google Apps for Education (GAFE). This was probably THE most exciting change to our district we've had in years! My ITRT team spent April-June self-training on Google products, each focusing on something different so that as a team we could cover the basics for professional development sessions for teachers in the summer and fall.

I decided to create a professional blog (which you are currently reading!) and set a goal of two posts per month. My main purpose was to share stories of what I do in my job as an instructional technologist as well as delve into other topics of interest related to teaching and learning. From August to December, I've published 13 blog posts with more than 1500 views. Not too shabby for a brand new blog!

I chose Blogger as my platform so that I could develop training materials for other educators and district leaders interested in sharing stories of their own. I also learned the nuances of Google Docs and the basics of Google Classroom so I could support student bloggers as well. Currently at my elementary school, we have 10 classrooms exploring digital writing with hopefully more to come!

I still continue blogging about random acts of kindness on my Wordpress site with 34 new stories for 2015 (Not counting the 12 stories I still have in draft!) I had more than 5,500 views from the U.S. and another 718 views from 73 other countries. Talk about having a global impact! Wow! If you are searching for inspiration about kindness for others, you may want to read a few of my favorite posts from 2015: Secret Sisters, RAK Mob at Rosa's, and Yellow Brick Road.

For those interested in cooking, I also added 25 new digital recipe guides to Snapguide, bringing my grand total to 209 guides in all. That's a lot of culinary joy right there!

Webmaster

Another area I delved into for 2015 was creating and managing websites. This was a completely new area for me that I knew NOTHING about at the start of 2015! In May, I started dabbling with Google Sites and by August I had two sites up and running. I volunteered to create and manage the Chorus Booster's website for my daughter's school and took the lead for creating our ITRT team's website (which is definitely a work in progress!) Both projects had bumps in the road, lots of trial and error, but now that the framework is in place, I can learn and grow even more to improve both sites in the coming year.

Trainings/PD

A large aspect of my role as an instructional technologist is to provide on-demand professional development opportunities for teachers and administrators in my district. I'm always a bit humbled when people say, "You know everything about..." Oh goodness, if you only realized the fallacy of that statement! In this job, you never know everything! Not even close! Technology is adapting at such a rapid rate; at the point you feel you have mastered a concept or tool, something new is already coming down the pike.

I am not an expert, merely a novice willing to discover.
.

Over the course of 2015, I have engaged thousands of teachers in professional development opportunities through one-to-one training, small group sessions, district-wide PD, local and state-wide conferences and even self-paced online courses. I completed requirements to retain my Graphite Certified Educator status and served as an Edmodo Spotlight Moderator this past fall. I am a lifelong learner, gleaning most of my personal and professional understanding through social media connections - reading blogs and engaging with my Personal Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter. After all, everyone I meet knows something I don't!

So what DIDN'T I do in 2015?

I didn't write as much as I wanted to; I found it difficult to carve out time for me. My story still swells in my soul, like an ocean wave building in a distance, but I have yet to take that first step towards publication. The dream is still a dream for 2016.

I didn't get to the gym on a regular basis and my muscles now scream when I do burpees and squats. Despite the positive encouragement from Toni, Kate, and Vicki, I just couldn't find a way to be at two places at the same time. I hope with a Fitbit on my arm and few changes to my schedule I can be more consistent in the new year.

I didn't keep my house clean each week; many days my living room floor was a landmine of toys and Legos scattered from east to west. While I have dreams of living in luxury, this Momma realizes play is the highest form of research and making memories trumps cleaning every time.

I didn't make a vacation scrapbook; my photos are "dumped" but nowhere close to being organized or printed. In fact, I don't even know what the folder names mean, but at least with my new phone they are in numerical order (thanks, Apple!)

What else didn't I do?

I didn't regret.

I went to work each day with a smile on my face and a happy heart. I did my best to help teachers in my building, to ease frustrations with learning "one more thing" and to support student learning in the best ways that I could.

I listened to students talk about their weekends, their favorite books, their hobbies. I made a point to thank the door holder and compliment the quiet child who was sometimes overlooked. I smiled. I hugged. I got hugged back.

I played games with my children at home. I read books. I took time to appreciate the small things in life that made me happy. I went back and visited my colleges and shared coffee and dinner with friends. (I even made some new friends in the process!)

I spent precious time with family and discovered "bonus time" is a glorious thing.

I lived. I loved. I dreamed and I explored. I made hopeful wishes for a brighter future, then went out in the world to make it happen. I actually did more than my three resolutions listed on that post-it note, none of which could have even been imagined on January 1, 2015.

And thanks to Dean Shareski, I even discovered my New Years Resolution for 2016, summarized in one three-letter word:

Dream big and follow your heart. Know that you are making a difference in the life of someone else, even when you think you are doing nothing more than going through the motions. Take a moment to stop and reflect, looking back on all you've accomplished. You might be surprised to see the impact you've had on others.

Now go out and make 2016 the best year yet!

Twitter for PD

In this age of digital learning, I find my greatest ideas through the conversations and interactions with other educators across the globe. Today, students and teachers have the day off in our district for the UCI Road World Championships, an international bike race that is literally rolling down one of the main streets in our community. So exciting!

As my children enjoy their morning of sleeping in, I am connecting and learning in my own space, on my own time. Below are four things I discovered that inspire me to dig deeper and reach higher!

1.  Twitter Party PD

My #1 resource for finding inspiration is Twitter, without exception. Yes, I know, Pinterest is fun to pin ideas, but my Twitter PLN (Personal Learning Network) shows me how those ideas are put into practice, with reflections of success and failures. Two years ago, I had a Twitter account but couldn't remember my password. Today I can't imagine being a life-long learner without it.

Last year I connected with Margaret Sisler (@techy_margaret) when I saw her tweet out a photo of a Twitter bird cookie cutter her students made with a 3D printer in school. (I immediately made a monetary donation to the school so I could have one, too!) 

Since then I've followed her and others as they've contributed to #novaedchat and grown their passion for Twitter into a #TwitterPartyPD. Such fun! The ideas shared by Margaret and her teammates Sam Wightman (@thatswightman) and Kendra Murphy (@techinteaching) keep me motivated throughout the week. I love how educators are using Twitter to enhance their professional knowledge and expertise - it's inspiring to see teachers and district leaders connecting and sharing in real time. I would love to get a Twitter Party going in HCPS! Who's with me?

2.  Global Math Task Twitter Challenge

Looking for a fun way to bring global collaboration into the classroom? This engaging activity has one class a day, per grade, tweet out a math word problem while other classes around the world respond through tweets and pics to show how they solved the problem. It's a quick, fun way to practice math skills while also realizing how "big" this world can be, connecting students in a unique collaborative sharing experience!

Created by Beverly Ladd (@BevLadd) and Heidi Samuelson (@swampfrogkids), this project has potential to go viral! Who knew critical thinking could be so enjoyable for students? If you are interested in jumping in and not sure how to start, send me an email at tletter@hcps.us and I'll help you get connected. If you don't have a Twitter account, no problem! We can get you up and running with your own account or you can post tweets through mine!

(As a side note, meeting Beverly at the ISTE Conference this summer was one of the highlights from my trip!)

3.  Implementing Innovation

This morning I saw a tweet posted by VSTE World Headquarters (@vste) referencing an Edutopia article about implementing innovation. As a tech integrator, my job is to constantly look for ways to bring the outside world into the classroom, to prepare students and teachers for the tasks and skills necessary to function in a changing digital world. This article was great because it addressed the challenges people face when change is imminent and how to ease the growing pains often associated with new ideas and concepts.

I often hear from teachers that districts keep "adding to the plate" without taking anything away. What if, however, the new initiatives being introduced actually made a teacher's job so efficient they wouldn't need to use the tools of decades past? In the art of empowering teachers to have choice, we often forget to remind them that choice includes letting go of whatever doesn't work or fails to meet the goals and purpose of a lesson or unit.

My hope as a tech integrator is to inspire teachers to try new things, to embrace failure as an opportunity to learn, and to take a tiny step in a positive direction to make teaching and learning more powerful, more relevant, and more engaging for students and teachers alike.

4.  #FlyHighFri

Looking for weekly inspiration? Check in to Twitter on Fridays with the hashtag #FlyHighFri to read about the positive moments in teachers' classrooms throughout the week. This global sharing opportunity was created by fellow educator and friend, Justin Birckbichler (@Mr_B_Teacher) who recognized the power of positivity for keeping the educational boat afloat through calm and tumultuous seas. (Yes, that was a bit of Dave Burgess' #tlap mindset slipping through with that last sentence, but it fits!)  I encourage you to post the highlights of your week with the hashtag #FlyHighFri or consider starting a FHF club at your own school to promote kindness and positive actions all year long.

We're all in this together! Connect with me through Twitter (@HCPSTinyTech) or email (tletter@hcps.us) and let's get this party started with PD and new ideas for the classrom! 

BYOD for Family Life

Photo courtesy of http://blogs.egusd.net/digitalcitizenship/about/

Today's BYOD training session with our four Family Life teachers was such fun! We began our learning with an overview of digital citizenship expectations and how to explain them to students of various ages. I used the image above from the Elk Grove Unified School District blog page to simplify the conversation into four categories: Cyberbullying, Digital Footprint, Protecting Privacy and Intellectual Property. This led to a sidebar conversation of how to use the advanced search features of Google to locate images that are free to use or modify (Intellectual Property). There were several "ah-ha!" moments before we even began our platform training!

The training theme was BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and my focus as a trainer was to provide resources that traveling teachers could use in any classroom, with any students, on any device. So many times I find teachers equating "BYOD" with iPad apps, but most students are bringing their cell phones to school, not iPads! I find it challenging sometimes to find an app that is "device agnostic" (thanks, Heather, for the catch-phrase!). With that in mind, I focused the training on web-based applications that could be engaging, yet relative to the content being taught.

Our first tool was Kahoot, which we explored as students and teachers. If you haven't explored this tool, it's a "must-have" for student engagement, allowing the class to individually respond to questions in a timed, game-based format. All the Family Life teachers created their own Kahoots and learned how to share with one another - it was exciting to see how many Kahoots were publicly available (we pushed it over to 3000.2K in our training today!)

Our next tool was Answer Garden, a quick and easy way for students to respond to a teacher-generated question with all the answers creating a word cloud. We brainstormed some common first week of school questions like "What worries you most about middle school?" and "If you were being bullied, who would you tell?" We also talked about how to use the url shortener Bitly to create a concise URL for students to type into their phone's web browser.

We finished our session by exploring Padlet where the teachers shared their thoughts about today's training.

It was a very productive morning of training! As follow-up with the Family Life teachers, we are offering an afternoon of independent exploration (with me as facilitator and coach, if needed) as well as training in Google Forms and Google Calendar since this is our first year as a GAFE district. These trainings will be spread throughout the year to give the Family Life teachers opportunity to try out the tools and find the best fit for their curricular needs.

If you would like resources from this training, please click here to access my presentation. Feel free to RT this blog post to your other teacher friends, too - we can learn and grow together!

PD for a Purpose

Last week our teachers returned to work with two full days of professional development. As an ITRT, this is one of our busiest times of the year as professional development is the foundation of our mission statement:

I was delighted to assist Jamie Mullenaux in her Google Classroom sessions on Thursday as we showed teachers how easy it is to use Google products for class communication and collaboration. As an Edmodo Ambassador, I'm interested in comparing the two platforms to guide teachers in their decision-making as to which tool is a best fit for their needs.

Friday was a fun day for me as I began by sharing a session on blogging - my passion! Sadly, Kidblog is no longer a free platform this school year so my training had to shift focus a bit, spending more time exploring a multitude of platforms, emphasizing Kidblog and Blogger. (I'm still trying to figure out how to make Blogger work for students since they can't receive the gmail notification to be added as an author to a teacher blog.)

The afternoon continued the fun as a new group arrived to learn how social media can be used in a positive way to enhance professional development. We explored various platforms, including my favorite - Twitter, and soaked up more learning than our brains could contain thanks to the collaborative efforts of my own virtual PLN who generously shared their resources! We even tweeted out a selfie to capture our joy of learning!

To round out a fabulous day of learning and sharing, I finally got to eat a Carytown Cupcake I had been saving all week, purchased by my favorite teenager who knows my weakness for anything chocolate mint! What a wonderful way to start off a new school year!

Leadership Conference

Welcome to my very first blog post in our district domain! I'm excited that my school district is moving forward with GAFE (Google Apps For Education) as this will allow the teachers, students, and district leaders the ability to collaborate on more projects and activities.

Understandably, much of my summer has been spent preparing professional development sessions for teachers and administrators. At the beginning of August, my ITRT team provided training for district leaders during their annual Leadership Conference. On Day 1, our team of 10 provided 2 hour training sessions on Google Drive, Docs, Slides, Calendar, Sheets and Forms. Administrators were given the opportunity to choose the content and level that best fit their needs and we split up into pairs to provide information and support.  Leaders could choose two sessions: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. When leaders were not in our sessions, they were receiving additional information about district policies and initiatives.

Day 2 expanded the learning with additional options of content integration, some of which used Google products and some that did not. I was thrilled to present my version of "Teach Like a Pirate" based on the best-selling book by Dave Burgess. As a hook to my presentation, I dressed like a pirate and offered participants colored beads that later became a sorting process for small group selection.

The session was a blast! Administrators left with smiles on their faces, many chatting about the things they learned in this session. It was only a 45 minute overview of Dave Burgess' book for elementary leaders, but WOW - it was inspiring in so many ways! Principals were engaged in conversation with one another and asking our district Library Media Specialist where they could purchase the book. (Even more exciting, several principals decided to use this as their school-wide theme next year!)

My afternoon sessions focused on blogging across content areas and was focused on secondary leaders. Those of you who follow my Random Act of Kindness blog know how much I enjoy sharing my stories for a global audience; you can only imagine how passionate I am about teachers and students doing the same!

I have two more PD days at the end of August, where I will support my ITRT team with more Google training and present on blogging as well as harnessing social media for professional development, then we dive right in to a brand new school year! I'm looking forward to blogging about all the adventures!