What Should PD Look Like?

Teachers working together on a SAMR educreation

A few #edchats ago the discussion revolved around what good professional development or PD should look like.  An hour later, a lot of awesome conversation, a lot of lightbulbs, and a lot of ways PD can be more productive.  Teachers' time is SUPER valuable.  They have so many things that they are responsible for that it is important that when they do choose to spend an hour or 3 or a full day of their time in a session that we make the most of it.  There have been many ideas rolled around as to how to make the most of this valuable time, everything from flipping PD, tiering PD, and embedding it in their jobs.  Today I think I was able to create professional development that teachers found valuable and got a lot of.  I'll share what I did that I think made it valuable, I took a step back and let the teachers do the talking!
Today I led a training on the SAMR model.  This was a model that many teachers didn't have very much experience with, so this was really their first exposure.  I stepped them through the four levels, but as often as I could I had the teachers think/pair/share.  They were able to reflect and talk out what they thought each level was and apply it to experiences that they have provided to their students or things that they could do.  I was incredibly lucky to have groups of teachers who were so willing to speak and share!  That being said it is super important that the presenter have the tools to draw out conversation.  After they were able to talk it out they were able to share out how they understood the here, here, here, and here.  They were able to reflect on what they learned but also feel what the different levels of SAMR felt like.

Result of teacher collaboration

SAMR in their own way.  You can see examples
In addition to the teachers learning from themselves, when you let the teachers talk you can learn too!  I have a few new resources that I excited to play with and learn about (goanimate) , and a few new whys to reach out to teachers in my distrtict(app clubs).
I challenge all of you PD providers to incorporate as much teacher discussion into your professional development.  A great way to engage teachers, and use their time to the full extent.

Aurasma vs. Onvert

I have been spending a lot of my summer reading blogs, following Twitter, attending conferences and trainings, and leading a few of my own trainings.  Little did I know when I accepted this position that it meant that summer vacation was a thing of the past.  It has been super exciting, draining, and has allowed for me to learn a lot more.  In all of this summer learning, I learned about two iPad programs, Aurasma and Onvert.  I have played with both a little and decided that the next blog of mine should be devoted to comparing the two apps.
I first learned about Aurasma from another blog I follow from Matt B Gomez.  Aurasma is basically a QR scanner with a twist.  Instead of a QR code leading to another web based resources, you scan an 'Aura'.  An Aura is a picture which will trigger  media.  When you scan a 'Aura' another resource appears directly on top of the Aura.   The website has a set of media that you can utilize, or you can upload your own pictures and videos to the  Aura.  To be able to utilize this program you download the free Aurasma app which is available through Google Play and Apple's App Store.

Image I used for my Aura

Strength of trigger photo

I tried out this program and created my very first Aura. All Auras are created on your device.  For the media that will be displayed I created a Keynote video on my MacBook and exported it to iTunes.  This caused me a bit of a headache as Aurasma wants to load videos from your camera, photo album or something called blinkx which I haven't explored yet.  After playing for a while I ended up recording the Keynote while it played using my camera on my iPad. Once you have selected your media that will be shown over the trigger picture, you select the picture that will be scanned, the trigger.  Through trial and error I discovered that the picture must be relatively complex.  I originally wanted the trigger to be a sign with a few numbers and letters, like an element on the periodic table of elements.   Aura will show you how strong your image is with a bar ont the bottom of the selection window.
 You also have to actually take a picture of your trigger image so be sure to have that ready to go.  Once you have your trigger and overlay set up you save and you are done!
I could see a lot of excellent uses for Aurasma, the most exciting being student created Auras.  They are very easy to create especially when you use the camera tool to record your overlay.  Students could create anything from book reviews when you scan the cover of a book, to All About Me's a the beginning of the year when you scan their photos.

QR code you scan on the first step

Onvert is a program I learned about from a session that I attended at ISTE this summer, Crackin' the QR Code by Kurt Kohls.  He shared a lot of different ways to use QR codes.  My big take away was Onvert.  Onvert is a web based program that allows your iPad to scan QR codes, and then creates 3D media that is displayed when you scan a picture with the same QR code. Onvert works with both Apple and Android devices as well.  You create an Onvert QR code on the computer.   Go to the website and follow the steps.  Upload information about yourself the first time, load the trigger image and what will be layered over the tigger when scanned.  You can also load audio recordings as well.

Image to scan after you've scanned the QR code

I found this program to be a bit tricker than Aurasma.  The images had to be certain requirements and it required more work to set this up.  Students could use Onvert to create any type of presentation in the classroom.  They would need to be sure to have images and audio already recorded.
When thinking about which would be easier for a student to create I think Aurasma was the winner, although Onvert does has value as well.  I had some difficulty getting pictures which were the correct dimensions and it was difficult to change the layout of the layers.  I encourage you to try these programs out.  Both allow for students and teachers to create more interactive activities.

Summer Learning: Pinterest

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I promised that this summer my blog would look into taking summer learning into your own hands.  This post will focus on everyone's favorite quickie PD Pinterest!
Many of us have come to know and love Pinterest, but for those of us who have not discovered Pinterest, it is a free website and app that allows you to collect ideas, inspiration, dreams, things that make you laugh, and anything you may be interested in.  You are able to collect and categorize websites, blogs, images better known as 'pins' onto different boards.  You can categorize these pins in whichever manner  you would like to make all of you favorite mus saves in a manner that makes it easy for you to find.  People use Pinterest to store recipes  home decor ideas, funny pictures and of course ideas for education.  Not only can you store things that you find interesting  but you can see the items that others have pinned.  This makes Pinterest a great place to connect with other educators and share ideas.  You can choose to follow other peoples' entire collections or specific boards.
This past week I had the exciting experience of attending ISTE 2013.  ISTE is a conference for educational technology, International Society for Technology in Education.  This conference had amazing sessions and I learned a lot, but one of the biggest takeaways is the connections made with fellow educators.  One person who who I connected with was a kindergarden teacher from Texas, Matt Gomez.  Matt has an incredibly extensive collection of educational pins on Pinterest.  If you are looking for a good place to spot and inspiration for what your Pinterest page could look like, start here.   Happy Pinning!

Apple Academy Reflections

So I just returned home from Apple Academy and I have a thousand thoughts swirling around my head.  I learned a lot of new skills, applications, and met some truly amazing people.   I feel as though I could write a million blog posts on the experience.   For now I will start with my biggest takeaway, I do we do you do.  

I am familiar with this model of instruction.   For those who are not familiar with "I do, you do, we do" it's a way to organize your instruction.  The teacher, or coach,or PD facilitator, will demonstrate a topic. Then you allow the participants to work on or discuss the skill in a small group or with a partner. Finally, the learners will engage in the task or concept on their own.  

Learning together at Apple Academy

I have tried to incorporate this into my teaching practices when I was in the classroom, and now as a coach I try to always use this model in the professional development I provide.  When I was at apple academy we experienced this method all week long.  Sometimes the we do was in discussion, sometimes it was in a small group.  Sometimes the I do was homework at night, sometimes in front of the whole group.  Whichever way we were asked to do it, the I do we do you do model really helped me to understand the skills and concepts in a deeper way.  

Looking forward to the variety of trainings I will be providing for my district this summer--shameless plug!   DPS employees check www.mylearningplan.com to find trainings and register!--I will be sure to not only consider what I will be including but how I will be presenting the content.  So, if you plan on attending a training of mine, be ready to work!  But also know, you will leave with a deep knowledge or what you have learned and hopefully also a deeper passion for educational technology.  See you this summer!

My PD with #edchat

After my post of professional development I decided to it my money where my mouth was.  I participated in a chat on twitter.  I knew of the twitter chat labeled #edchat.  When I saw it pop up on my twitter feed I went for it!  I went to the search tab and typed in "#edchat". Edchat are various conversations set up around different questions. Today's conversation was about the role of Direct Instruction and lecture in the classroom. 

It was awesome.  I read others' perspectives, comments when I had a thought or opinion on a tweet and people responded to me.  It really got the wheels turning, validation on some of my opinions, and I even found some people to follow.   I strongly recommend you to try out an edchat too. They are at noon and 7pm daily.  See you on the next edchat!

Summer Learning: Twitter

If you're like me, you have just begun your summer vacation.  To my friends still with a month to go, have no fear your time will come!  This means time to relax, refresh, and spend time on things you do not have time for during the school year.  Why not make a goal to develop yourself professionally a little bit each week. There are many easy, user friendly, accessible, FREE resources to develop yourself as an educator.  My next few blog posts will give you a variety of resources for professional development, and the best way to use them. 

Twitter

Twitter is an excellent place to connect with educators from around the world.   "Tweets" can be anything from a thought, to a website, a photo, really anything under 140 characters.  One of the best ways to connect is to follow people.  When you follow someone, you can see what they post, who follows them, and who they follow.  You can choose to follow their people and so on.  "Following" someone allows you to see what they tweet.  

If you follow people who are interested in education, like me (WARNING here's the shameless plug, follow me @chrissie62573), you have access to anything they have learned or found to be interesting.  I find my time on twitter reading blogs and websites, just skimming through things other people have found to be interesting.  The great thing about Twitter is that each tweet can only be 140 characters so its easy to get the gist of an article quickly.  You don't spend a lot of time reading through half an article to find out that its not what you were looking for.  

Another way to find interesting information onTwitter is to search by hashtag. A "hashtag" (this symbol #) followed by a word, phrase or acronym that groups together similar themed tweets.  For example, #edchat is a hashtag devoted to a conversation surrounding a selected topic for the week.  If you wanted to find the conversation, and participate you would search for #edchat and follow the conversation.  

When you are ready to share you can link blogs that you find, or mark your tweets with hashtags. 

I hope that you find that twitter is an engaging, exciting, influential tool that kick starts your summer PD.  Check back soon to find the next tool to continue your summers's professional development. 

Twitter Tuesday

Twitter is a social networking tool which can connect learners of all ages.  I use Twitter to connect with educators around the world, and share ideas.  Twitter allows you to quickly sort through ideas and learn more about ideas that interest you.  I tweet about what is happening at a conference I may be at, an amazing thing I see happening in classroom, and of course I always tweet about this blog!  Teachers can use Twitter in a similar way with their students as well!
I work with a fourth grade class at one of my buildings pretty regularly.  This teacher approached me about utilizing Twitter in her classroom.  Twitter Tuesday is what we came up with.  'Twitter Tuesday' is an activity which incorporates Twitter into the classroom.  Students use Twitter to communicate ideas, thoughts, and themes which have been discussed in the classroom.  We definitely wanted to make sure that we follow guidelines in CIPA and as our students were in the 4th grade we didn't want to sign up all of her class with Twitter accounts.  So, we decided to have students write paper tweets instead.  This teacher found a wealth of pins on Pinterest on exactly this idea.  She found a plethora of ideas on different ways to create paper tweets when she search 'class twitter'.  Students all receive these paper tweets and tweet when they have a lightbulb thought, or learn something new, or want to share an idea.  You could also use something like Edmodo, Today's Meet, Padlet, or Schoology to have students tweet.   At the end of the day the teacher selects the best few tweets to tweet on Twitter using their class twitter account.
When I started to work with classrooms on this idea i anticipated the excitement and engagement.  I knew that it would be a great tool for summarizing big ideas, and getting kids to take a more involved role in their education.  What I didn't expect was how this lesson became a teaching tool in itself for summarizing a lesson, and with hashtags identifying the main idea.  It also pushed students to become creative writers and develop their ability to write with an audience in mind.   Yes Twitter Tuesday is a great way to incorporate technology in the classroom, but it is also a way to develop summarizing skills, main idea, and author's purpose.  To see Twitter Tuesday in action, follow @firstgradehawks, or @mrsdanyus.

When you would like to incorporate technology into the classroom it is important to put our desired learning outcomes first, and then find the technology to support the desired skill.  Looking forward to the common core, students need to be able to synthesize information in texts, and clearly write.  

In fourth grade students need to be able to write clearly and express opinions with support from the text.    Let's look at one standard for the common core in 4th grade.   CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.1a Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.  This standard demands that students be able to communicate a thought which also is supported by evidence.  Twitter Tuesday can help to develop many of these standards, including the above standard.   

A classroom 'Twitter Wall' in a first grade classroom.