Every year we offer a technology course for teachers that runs from June through October. The purpose is to give teachers time to come up with new and innovative ideas for their classroom. We love the format because it's 3 days in June, a half day in September, and a full day in October when we share out the projects. Teachers can take the class for recertification hours, or if they attend the entire class with an online portion, they can receive 3 credits towards the salary scale.
Every year we are blown away by what teachers accomplish. Because of the gaps in the dates, teachers have time to try various activities in their classrooms with students. During the three days in June, teachers pitch their final project to a small group (similar to shark tank) which includes a student and receive feedback. They then have the summer to tweak it. In September, they have help from student assistants as well as the three tech integrators. This year we had the added bonus of having A.J. Juliani visit. The impact of his message on final projects was clear. It is amazing to see the changes that have happened from June to October.
The projects are listed here and the descriptions can be found at #ysdchat
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Weekly Links (weekly)
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ISTE | Merge Cube offers instructional AR power in the palm of your hand
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Let the Student's Talk - Google Slides
Holly Clark Presentation ACTEM '18
Sunday, October 14, 2018
This needs to be updated but the high light of this year's ACTEM conference was Joe Sanfelippo and Holly Clark's keynotes.
Here are the Actem 2018 Shared notes
Here are the Actem 2018 Shared notes
Saturday, October 13, 2018
Sunday, October 07, 2018
Project Based Learning
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| A.J. Juliani |
A few quotes that stood out for me
- "It's not about the digital divide, it's about the creative chasm"
- "Be the guide on the ride, not the guide on the side."
- "Learning is about unlearning and relearning"
- "Creativity is not an event"
- Make the teaching model for the year we live in"
Next, we participated in a project. In groups of three, we had to pick one topic from the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We had 3 minutes to pick the topic, 7 minutes to research it, and 10 minutes to make a PSA and share it. Everyone was chattering, busy, and all over the building while working. It looked like everyone finished on time. It was so much fun! You can see some of them at #ysdchat.
Finally, Mr. Juliani left us with a question: "What are you going to do that is innovative in your teaching?" And with that, he took the elementary teachers for the rest of the day. The high school teachers broke into pre-arranged groups of four. We were asked to debrief the keynote and project, so the final question was the perfect set up. We were also given the following discussion questions:
- What “aha” moments did you experience during this morning’s activities?
- What are your takeaways from the sessions?
- What questions do you have about Juliani’s approach?
- What have you tried this year that feels successful?
- What are you going to try or what have you tried but still needs some attention and work?
What are three of your current "big ideas" for this year's professional goal? We will use the resulting spreadsheet to help you identify possible collaborative partners for our next session. NOTE: these do not need to be listed in order of priority -- use the form as a brainstorm space that will lead to collegial connections!We got back together as a group and looked at the survey results. Teachers then broke into groups of like-minded people to brainstorm, mingle, and inspire each other. They were encouraged to continue to focus on “asking the right questions.” and come up with a list could be explored over the next month/school year.
I fell pretty strongly that this was a relevant day of work for staff. I was excited when I was helping to plan this day, and I can't wait to see what people will try with their classes. This has also helped me to see that we need to update our digital citizenship final project with the 9th graders. Stay tuned!
Saturday, October 06, 2018
Friday, October 05, 2018
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Thank you ACTEM
Thank you to Ricky and Meghan for listing my blog in the Must read K-12 IT blogs. I am honored and perhaps this will be a good kick to post more here after a summer hiatus. Looking forward to seeing everyone at ACTEM!Friday, September 21, 2018
What School Could Be
What School Could Be: A Conversation About the Intersection of Innovation & Education #BHSWhatSchoolCouldBe
Ted Dintersmith, author of What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers Across America, leads a conversation moderated by Meghna Chakrabarti on how teachers can change the education system in creative, compelling and practical ways to positively impact students and better prepare them for the innovation economy. This conversation was sponsored by the Brookline High School InnovationFund.
We had the good fortune to have about a 20 minute conversation with Ted and came away with some ideas about our school and leadership in the community. One of the big takeaways for me was the question of how to we help students fit with the curriculum rather than making the curriculum fit the students. With our initiative around exploring where Project Based Learning fits, this question will help guide some of our work.
Saturday, September 15, 2018
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