EdTechTeam Student Summit

I had the opportunity to join the team of the Nokomis Tech Sherpas and Kern Kelly for a Student Summit in Dallastown, PA. The learners that attended were in Grade 6. They had 4 sessions and rotated through them. The sessions were on Creating with Code, Coding with Drones, Create your own Virtual World and All About You - Coding in Google Spreadsheets.

I also had a tutorial on CoSpaces and TinkerCad from the Sherpas and learned about drones that can show you where they are going through a virtual reality headset. Amazing!

Thanks to our hosts for sharing their beautiful school with us and for arranging an amazing learning experience for their students.

Tadpoles Not Sharks

Today was the first day of our Summer teacher technology class. Cathy Wolinsky, Mike Arsenault, and I teach this class every June as soon as the year ends (the course runs for 3 days and then we finish up in the fall). Our syllabus includes ideas about teaching practice using technology, some tools, and then the teachers have time to work on projects, lessons, or units for the fall. We build in lots of time with support. Often we have 25 - 30 teachers, and the three of us can't get to everybody. That's where our students come in. We have 8 students that range from 7th - 11th grade come in and help. They have great ideas and are willing to be sounding boards as well as give feedback about the various projects. The last day of the course is always a share out of each person's project. Everyone walks out of that last day with tons more ideas they can use in their classroom. 

This year modeled a couple of things, which you can see in the description of day 1. We practiced doing a pre-assignment in Google Drive, introduced SAMR, and demoed an EdCafe based on the reading and writing each participant did to prepare for class. New this year, we added Tadpole Tank. This activity is modeled on the TV show Shark Tank (however Sharks are a bit intimidating, hence the name Tadpole Tank). After the EdCafe, we gave teachers an hour to put together a Pitch for what their final project will be. They created their own Google doc from this template. Because we had so many participants, we broke into two groups. Each group had a panel made up of 2 teachers and 2 students. Jim Moulton from Apple Maine joined us as a panelist, as well as some of our Lead Learners. Students took turns being on the panel. Everyone else was the audience. All audience members had access to the presenter's Google Doc. Each teacher made their project pitch to the panel. Audience members could type their feedback into the doc. After the pitch, the panel of 4 gave specific feedback and ideas. Audience members could also speak after the panel if they wanted. I might change this in the future. 

I have to say, this was one of the best activities we have done with teachers in awhile. The student feedback was particularly helpful and appropriate. It was fast paced and fun. I definitely changed the focus of the final project in a really positive way, and it helped set the work up for tomorrow. Students are in high demand because they gave specific feedback on a topic. Many teachers commented that their project has changed and that they are excited about the suggestions they got. Part of their assignment tonight is to rewrite their project proposal. 

I am excited about tomorrow... It's Edcamp (with student and teacher presenters) and then work time!

Student Unconference

On Thursday, April 17, the Student Senate at Yarmouth High School sponsored an UnConference.


The idea came from thinking about wanting to do TED Talks, but not wanting to limit audience size. They wanted the entire high school to be able to participate. And it had to be completely student run.

Guidelines:

• Students would sign up for sessions (since this was the first time they tried it, they thought it might be helpful to get an idea of what students were interested in)
• Each advisory group had to have a minimum of one pitch for a session. 
• The person or persons who pitched the session are the facilitators.
• The facilitator comes up with 2 guiding questions and one other source for the discussion and submits them ahead of time.
• A teacher should be present in the room that the session was taking place.
• Teachers can participate in the discussion if they want to.
• Every student has to participate, even if they have open campus.
• At the beginning of the UnConference period, all students go to advisor period. Advisors hand out the schedules (students do not know what session they are in until they get there). 

Here are the sessions that were proposed. Because there were so many good ones, the Senate decided to run 2 sessions. It was probably a lot more work, but they were happy they did it.

Reading for January 27, 2014: Brennan by Design

You can hear Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” blaring inside Askwith Lecture Hall even before you get to the beige double doors. It’s the third meeting of the fall semester for T-550, and inside, the room is buzzing.

via @andycinek http://ift.tt/1n93cVv

Elmwood Franklin T4 Conference

Keynote

Today's Meet

Conference Website

Links from my sessions

You Just Never Know!

Although we interview many people on the SEEDLings shows, we have a special place in our hearts for teachers who are trying new and exciting things with technology. A few years ago, we met Cherrie McInnes through Vicki Davis, Vicki lives in Georgia and Cherrie lives in our own backyard, right here in Maine. Vicki had learned about Cherrie's Grade 3 project Skyping Across the USA and suggested we interview her. Cherrie's third graders were talking to classrooms all over the United States. She researched and found other teachers willing to try using Skype in their classrooms, many of them for the first time. CHerrie's enthusiasm and passion for her work came shining through!

Fast forward to today. Cherrie has visited some of the classrooms she Skyped with, been the finalist for the ACTEM teacher of the year, and Skyped with Michelle Obama. Last week she invited the first lady form Maine, Anne LePage and Barbara Bush, a Maine summer resident, to join her 3rd grades via Skype to kick off the opening of school and their project. There was a big surprise for both Cherrie and the students....

 

 This was first broadcast on local TV, but was picked up by CNN. It is such fun to see Cherrie's continued energy and growth with this project! Way to go Cherrie! Your students are so lucky!

More links:
Bangor Daily News
Fox News
WABI
Bangor Daily News

Tech Forum 2012

Here is my presentation and the links from the 2012 Tech Forum in Boston on April 27

Ben and Ben the last show?

There's a rumor that Ben and Ben were going to have their last show... Listen to the podcast to find out what happened. Ben and Ben catch the audience up with their latest news as they prepare for graduation on June 5th.

Career Exploration for Juniors and Sophomores

All of our juniors and sophomores go to a 3 day job shadow we call Career Exploration. The purpose of the program is to help students begin to see what kinds of job possibilities might be available to them in the future. They go through the process of writing a resume, contacting a person in the community, and then sending their resume, cover letter, and contract to the potential supervisor. Once the paper work is done we work on logistics and what to wear.

The students then go to their respective "jobs". We (the faculty) get to visit them at their sites and see them in action. This year my advisees (a group I have every morning for homeroom for 4 years) are:

• at the NOAA (wonderful - as we had a Nor'Easter this morning)
• two are at bakeries (including a gluten free bakery)
• a physical therapist
• the DEA
• a vet 
• daycare center
• with an art teacher
• with a Director at the theater ( a very interesting schedule)
• at Maine Handicapped skiing
• at a printmaking/silkscreen business
• at marine biology aquarium

This diverse range of occupations represents the students' varied interests. Here's one example of what students are doing in the field. Students often are often asked to bring their laptops with them as they have to use them. One young man is at LLBean in the design department and was told that he would be creating a design for them. Last year we had some students put together a pitch for an advertisement.  The community is incredibly supportive of this program. We so appreciate them opening their business to our learners. 

Each students keeps a journal of what they did and interviews their supervisor. When they are done, we mail thank you notes. Later in the week, they will present to their parents and our advisor group. I can't wait to see their presentations! It's a great experience for everyone.

For information, here is the CEP website

Students present Laptops and Learning

On Friday, March 25th 5 sophomores from Yarmouth High School were invited to present to Bonny Eagle High School faculty for their Staff Development Day. The day was primarily technology focused, so they asked our students to talk about how they learn with laptops. The 5 students did their presentation in Google Docs so they could work on it outside of school. I checked in on the work the last day with 1 student helping me edit and tweak. This was a great process because the students are so busy and it's hard to get them together.

They presented on a podium in front of about 250 people. It was quite an experience! After presenting they took questions from the audience. They then were available to work with teachers in Google Apps sessions led by Cathy Wolinsky and Mike Arsenault, tech integrators from our district. We ask students to help us as much as possible when working with teachers. Students can give valuable feedback and suggestions on classroom projects. The students also learn what goes in to planning a project for students.

Here is the video of the entire presentation:

Here is just the questions and answer section. If you watch any of this one, go from 9:16 to the end. 

Thanks to Alex, Mackenzie, Jake, Jackson and Drew!
For more of our student work you can go to Yarmouth's You Tube Channel

When Visitors come to our School

Cathy Wolinsky, Wes Fryer, and Alice Barr at Yarmouth High School 12/3/2010

We often have visitors come to our school, and Friday was no exception. Apple brought a group of administrators from a district in Sweden that had recently gone 1:1. And because they were in the area, I also invited Wes and Sarah Fryer to join us. Wes and I had done back to back presentations on Wednesday at The Christa McAuliffe Technology conference and I really wanted to share what I had been talking about in my presentation on Digital Citizenship. These visits are organized and run by Student Senate members. They lead the visits to classrooms and facilitate a session on their own about why having technology available 24/7 makes a difference in their learning.

Wes also interviewed Cathy Wolinsky and I about the importance of having tech integrators to work with teachers.

Wes is so great at documenting. Here's his blog post about the visit. He is really inspiring me to try to do a better job of keeping track of our work. When you're in it, it's hard to remember all the little things that make this project work. By sharing with others, it's given me a chance to step back and reflect on how wonderful this has been for our students and school. Thanks Wes!

GLEE for all - Please help our students!

Our Students are in the top 5 of Glee for All Contest. The top five local high school Glee Clubs performed LIVE to compete for $5,000 on Good Day Maine. Now, you get to help us choose the winner! Online voting begins on Friday, November 12th and continues through the 19th. You may also text vote with your cell phone. This contest is brought to you by Q97.9 and NextGen; plan for tomorrow by investing today in the NextGen College Investing Plan.

Here's Yarmouth's video. This was totally student produced. The proceeds will go to a new piano for our music department. Thank you!


Two ways to vote:

1. go to http://myfoxmaine.com/contests and click on "Glee for All" to register to vote online. You can vote once a day online until Friday, Nov 19. Our video is GLEE1 - Yarmouth High School
 
2. TEXT! "glee1" to 84444. You can text vote multiple times *standard text messaging rates apply*