The Magic of Technology Integration…

As a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) school we are in our second year of working to further implement technology in the classroom from the student perspective. Meeting the students where they are allows us to empower them to use their devices when academically appropriate.  Today I visited several classrooms and among those classes I was able to visit two of our elective or non-core areas: vocal music and physical education. What I was able to witness was “the magic of technology integration”.

As I walked past the first choir room door I noticed the students sitting on the choir risers and as I entered the classroom our choir teacher was talking to the students. As I took my seat at a side table, our choir teacher didn’t miss a beat and led the students to the next facet of the choir lesson. Today they were analyzing their performances from last Monday’s Winter Choir Concert. With her AppleTV ready to go, and the Padlet website ready to roll, the students were ready to talk about their personal reflections. Multiple students accessed with Padlet website from their personal devices. It was so cool to see the students simply access their devices and open up the website                             (www.padlet.com ). Using the Padlet projection on the screen or their own devices the students were able to engage in shoulder partner discussions, small group, or whole class conversations! This educator has taken the next step in integrating technology in a student-friendly way that empowers student: learning, voice, and ownership.

Later in the morning I stopped by an  8^th Grade PE class. This time two PE teachers we in the middle of the Communicable / Non-Communicable Disease Project with their Health classes.  With the opportunity to use PowerPoint, Prezi, emaze, PowToon or any other presentation media, the students were given the freedom to create their educational journey presentation for the class.   During the health class each student presented their research. The students led out the presentations, the student audience led out the question and answer sessions and the two classroom teachers facilitated the learning experience. It was  exciting to see the students as lead learners in front of their peers. It was just as rejuvenating to see their peers engaging in the Q&A session with higher level critical learning questions.

The magic of technology integration opens the doors for all learners in all content areas. So when you are in doubt that technology integration is possible, simple reflect on these two examples where teachers pushed and challenged their students to take their learning to the next level. Simply believe in your students and your ability to use technology to enhance, supplement, and compliment the classroom learning environment. It is our responsibility to challenge our students to catapult their learning to the next level. I am looking forward to hearing of the messages and learning stories from your schools - as to how your school it using the "magic of technology integration" in the classroom setting!

Difference Maker...Change Agent...

Each of us has the opportunity to be a “difference maker” or a “change agent”.  This opportunity presents itself each and every day of the week. As parents, classroom teachers, administrators, and community members it is our responsibility to “seize the moment” and take full advantage of each and every teachable moment.

How can we do this?

Accentuate the positive: Look at the positive opportunities from each learning lesson. Remember that we all can learn from each “growth moment” in our day.  Failure is “ok”. We can learn from mistakes and turn those experiences into a new learning experience.

Access resources: Use proven, researched-based strategies to help move the learning process forward. We are surrounded by a multitude of strategies. Just select the one that works best for you (and your learners).

Networked Partnerships:  Rely on trusted colleagues for advice and support. Your Professional Learning Network (PLN) or your Professional Learning Community (PLC) are two reliable and dependable avenues to garner support and information.

Take Risks: It’s ok to try something new. As long as it is going to make a positive impact and meet the learners” where they are”, then it’s full steam ahead.

Whether you are working with Common Core State Standards, a new online teacher evaluation tool, a revised budget, your parent organization, you can take charge and lead your group, classroom, or school forward.  You simply need to be “that” educator who is ready to be the change agent for your school community.

Getting back to into the classroom…

As an educator I firmly believe in creating a learning environment and atmosphere that will empower both the classroom leader and the students.  Professional development opportunities provide time for our teachers to learn, study, and practice with proven strategies, methodologies, and technology. It is very important that we do not embrace change for change sake, but instead use advances in pedagogy and technology as ways to improve the delivery and application of our instructional work.

Two weeks ago I was approached by one of my teachers with a proposal that I could pass up. This teacher is part of the iPad initiative where our school district is working to introduce class sets of iPads for classroom use. She was beginning a unit on Standard of Living and spatial inequalities in her 6^th grade Geography class and wanted to create an assessment that would challenge her students, assess their knowledge, allow for student voice, and provide an opportunity for the students to integrate technology into the classroom.

As a social media and technology enthusiast, I was excited to learn of the proposal. I was going to be able to get back into the classroom and teach for a day. The students were going to learn how to use Prezi to create a multi-media presentation for the “Life is not fair…or is it?” project.

So I developed my lesson and focused on how I could teach the skills that each student would need to so that they could meet the lesson and unit objectives.

Here are a few things that I learned from my day in the classroom:

Model for your staff and students: Often we speak of “best practices”, technology, Social Media and Apps that can be used in the classroom. If you take on the role as classroom teacher (for an hour or a day), you can take the opportunity to put into practice the methodologies, technology, or social media facets that you promote and encourage the teachers to use and implement. For me I was able to teach the students how to use Prezi. The majority of the students were not familiar with this presentation tool.

Get back into the classroom: Each year administrators become “one more year” removed from the classroom. By seeking out or accepting teacher invitations, we must make time to return to the classroom where we can teach the students. It is important that our teachers see us doing this and it is just as important for the students seeing us as engaged leaders in the classroom.

Iron sharpens iron: We learn best when in fellowship with our colleagues. By working alongside the classroom teachers we both can grow and learn. As I was teaching, the classroom teacher remained in the classroom. We became co-teachers. We both offered ideas and suggestions each class period. She learned about the Prezi and how to integrate it into the assessment process. I learned how to work alongside the different student learning styles, personalities, and needs from the academic and student-centered perspective. I followed up by returning the next day to visit with one of the classes. I offered additional information and insights from yesterday’s lesson. The students shared with me the “things” they learned about using Prezi during the last 24 hours since we were in class together. Collaboration and learning from one another is always a great “best practice”.

So, my challenge to you is to find that opportunity where you can return to the classroom to teach alongside or to teach independently. Either way it is a rich, rewarding opportunity for not only yourself, but for your teacher and your students. I am fortunate that I work alongside such incredible professionals and motivated students.

I was able to take a day and return to the classroom and spend time with 150 of my 6^th grade students and a teacher who had the vision to invite me “back into the classroom”!

Connected Educator Month and the 3 Rs: Renew, Relearn, Rejoice

The month of October brings about many changes, choices, and celebrations …the fall season is in full swing, many schools are wrapping up the 1^st quarter of school, Fall Break is here, and it is Connected Educator month. For me October offers a time to reflect on the first part of the school year. It provides a Fall Break (which I immensely cherish) where I can spend time with my family, tend to a few chores around the house, and spend some time learning from my PLN.

This month on Twitter several chats have focused on connecting as educators. #Moedchat has dedicated all four of its October chats to this theme. #PTchat has worked to connect us with and to the different stakeholder groups in within our school communities (e.g. dads, students, ELL families, and even home visits). Also, Edcamps from across the country are focusing on connecting educators to our contemporary issues in education.

Here are my thoughts on the 3Rs:

Renew: Take time to renew your connection with colleagues. Take time to connect with your PLN cohort. Go deeper with your conversations and commitments to education. Join in with a chat that you’ve been missing out on. This week I renewed my connection with #MSchat. It was great getting back into the learning cycle with these middle level educators. Student motivation was the chat focus. During the #StuVoice chat (with #PTchat) it was great to see a renewed understanding of the importance of empowering student voice. The chat and GHO allowed students (and adult learners) to share, provide insight, and offer feedback.

Relearn: It’s ok to say, “I didn’t know that”. It’s even ok to “revisit” and to “brush up” on something you’ve been familiar with for many years. For me I am relearning information about McREL’s Nine Essential Instructional Strategies. I know the impact they have on student achievement. I am finding that I can now go “deeper” with my learning and understanding. Ultimately this means that my students will also benefit from my re-learning opportunities. I am learning that each strategy can truly impact student and adult learning if you take the time to dig deeper into how you can apply each strategy in the classroom.

Rejoice: Celebrate with your educational colleagues. Share the exciting things that are taking place in your school and school community. We learn from each other and we can all grow by learning about our Best Practices! I am finding that with my Twitter and Voxer PLNs that I am able to rejoice more often. I learn from colleague celebrations. @posickj has taught me to make each day the best day of the week. @GenieneD has a unique way of sharing student stories so that we all learn from all types of scenarios. @JoyWright91 has shown me the many ways to celebrate the work of each person I come in contact with. This list could go on and on. So to my PLN --- Thank You for rejoicing in the great works of your students, colleagues, and friends.

I look forward to hearing your stories from this month where we focused on the “Connected Educator”.

It’s time to talk about “Hopes and Dreams”

Several of my recent Blog posts have referenced the six week book study that engulfed my summer professional development. Beyond the Book Sale was the centerpiece of the study, Voxer was the catalyst, and #PTcamp symbolized the leaders who joined my in this journey.

The Understanding

Along the way I learned of a celebration known at “Hopes and Dreams”. Fellow #PTcamp colleagues, Jim Detwiler (@JimDetwiler1) and Chad Caddell (@laughwithchad), introduced this concept to our book study PLN. Every student in your school has both hopes and dreams. Aristotle noted that, “Hope is a Walking Dream”. I learned that by tapping into the hopes and dreams of our students we can serve as the catalyst to set everything in motion for their hopes and dreams to become a reality. After multiple conversations with my #PTcamp PLN I learned that the key to unlocking the door know as communication is to simply ask the question, “What are your hopes and dreams for your son/daughter?”

 The Metamorphosis

From the first six weeks of the 2014-2015 school year I can identify three clear, vivid, and game changing parent conversations. I learned to open the conversation by asking them this “life changing” question.  One parent paused, reflected, then began explaining the desires he had for her son. She had hopes of him breaking past the barriers that were holding him back. It was evident that she was not anticipating this to be the first question that I posed to her.  Another parent began to tear up as she expressed the desire for her son to be able to tap into his full potential despite hurdles that are in his way. Finally, a guardian quietly explained that she wanted to remove all potential obstacles from the path of her son. All three sets of parents opened up and shared their hopes and dreams for their children. These three conversations were honest, from the heart, and eye opening.

The Future

These three conversations helped me understand the passion, drive, and commitment that parents have for their children. The conversations changed the way I begin my parent conversations. I’ll close with words from Henry David Thoreau explained, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you have imagined.”

Now my challenge for you… Will you begin each parent conversation with, “What are your hopes and dreams for your children?”

Do you need to clean out the garage?

This past June I was working on one of my summer projects – cleaning out the garage! I put my plan in to action and began the task of cleaning out, organizing, scrubbing, and making piles of items to either discard or donate.  This project was long overdue. To help cheer me on, members of my #PTcamp PLN encouraged and checked in on my from time to time.  The task took much longer to complete that expected as I took my fair share of “bird walks” and sometimes stepped away from “garage detail” to attend to other projects and summer professional development.

The garage is now ready for our vehicles, the trash cans, organized storage, and a few new items that can now “fit into” the garage. What a great sense of accomplishment. I can now breathe a sigh of relief as I check this project off of my list.

This summer project has many similarities to our professional careers as educators. Are there things that we need to clean out, re-organize, or get rid of? Is there something new that we need to add to our “garage”? Let’s take a look at these four facets of the Garage Cleaning Experience:

Clean out: Take the time to see what you need and what you do not need. Sometimes we need to clear out the “dinosaur” facets of our pedagogy. Do we need to hang on to the “old” just for comfort sake? It’s is important to authentically evaluate what you truly need for today’s school. You need to make room for new things that will help you as you move along this “journey”. So, what do you need to clean out of your educational space?

Re-Organize: Take the time or streamline your desk, classroom, office space. Making your work space more efficient will help you expedite each project, activity, or assignment. This act of restructuring your work world will give you a greater sense of clarity. Do you need to reorganize?

Get Rid of…: What things do you need to eliminate from your work space? What things are collecting dust? What needs to go to make room for the new? If you haven’t used it in the past six months…get rid of it! You need to remove things that are cluttering your “Plate”. So, what needs to go?

What to add? In looking at your professional development, what do you need to add to your repertoire? In looking at Social Media, I would put the Voxer app at the top of the list.  What PD do you need to add this year? What books need to be added to your list? Take the time to consider what you need to include this year?

So the next time you need to clean out the garage, stain the deck, or take on a home repair project, think of the parallel this project has with our world of education. I look forward to hearing how your garage cleaning projects fair this fall. Take care!

Where everybody knows your name…

It’s all in a name.  Think about it… How do you feel when some calls you by “name”? Be it a colleague, neighbor, or a salesperson. The fact that they know your name or can recall your name means something to you! Name recognition and name identity are both significantly important. Our name clearly defines who we are.

Dale Carnegie tells us that, “A person’s name is to him or her, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”  In addition, Howard and Kerin (2011) in their article the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology explain, “Using a person’s name acknowledged their identity, massages their Ego, and hence boosting their self-esteem”.

I often think of the famous theme song to the popular television show “Cheers”. The lyrics are so true. We want to be around those who know us, care about us, respect us, and who know our name.

Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.

Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,

and they're always glad you came.

You wanna be where you can see,

our troubles are all the same

You wanna be where everybody knows

Your name.

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/

In our schools we have the opportunity and “power” to positively impact not only our students, but colleagues, parents, and community members when we not only call them by their name (and when we “remember” their name). Personally, I make it my goal to learn the name of each student in my school.

As you begin the new school year, I challenge to learn the names of as many students and parents that you can. It will change your school!

Here’s my challenge:

Commit to learning eight to ten new student names a week

Commit to learning three to five new parent names a week

I would love to hear how this challenge impacts your school year!

Here’s a video clip to the Cheers intro Theme Song.  Enjoy!

I’m so glad we had this time together

Just six weeks ago I began a professional development journey that changed the trajectory of my educational career. I will forever look at my role as a lead learner in a different light.

In June Joe Mazza posted that he was inviting 100 educators, parents, and community members to join him in #PTcamp – a six week long book study focusing on parent engagement. Beyond the Bake Sale by Henderson and Mapp was the centerpiece of our study. We used several different Social Media tools as part of our book study.

This summer I learned that:

1.      “Bird Walks” are fine and dandy: Sometimes it is important to bring in a different perspective to a conversation. That you can talk “off topic” or introduce a new concept or strategy to discuss or analyze (and it is “ok”). Some of your best work will come from a diverted conversation, idea, or proposal. Allow the conversation to spin 180 degrees. Then check out this “new” perspective. You might just surprise yourself.

2.      That you can go “off grid”:  To step away from the daily work of being an educator. Then return refreshed, renewed, and ready to join in on the conversation, work, or initiative that is “at hand”. Take time to stop and smell the roses along this journey. There are times when you need to step away from your work. Allow yourself this time (and not feel guilty about it).

3.      Laughter is the best medicine: Learning to laugh with others, at yourself, and at life in general is good for the soul. Take time to step away from the hustle and bustle of your work and enjoy your family and friends. Don’t take life and your work so seriously. You can even create catchy jingle to entertain your friends.

4.      Bigger can mean better: Where two or more (or 100) are gathered you can quickly learn from this incredible talent pool. The PTcamp cohort provided me with a diverse array of individuals all focused on improving education, one person at a time. Working with a larger group allows for more ideas to be shared.  You can gather perspectives that offer insight from a different angle.

5.      There’s more to technology than just “technology”: We must look beyond the initial purpose of the 21^st century tools that we use each day. They can have an even greater impact on our lives that we first realized. Through Voxer, we were able to create professional bonds, friendships, and a cohort that will continue long after our camp ends today. This is just the beginning of our cohort’s mission.

6.      Parent Development is a must: It is our responsibility to meet parents “where they are” and help them along their journey as team members in the educational process. Think about it, education today is vastly different from 15, 10, or even 5 years ago. Parents need different types of PD. Find out the things they need, and begin the process of parent empowerment. You can also learn quite a bit as you get to know the parents of our students.

The Carol Burnett Show is famous for the “closing” or sign off song.  Here are the celebrated lyrics…

“I'm so glad we had this time together

Just to have a laugh or sing a song

Seems we just get started and before you know it

Comes the time we have to say, "So long."

The lyrics encapsulate my feelings for the depth of knowledge that I gained from my #PTcamp cohort. I want to dedicate this blog post and the multitude of things that I learned to this incredibly talented, knowledgeable, selfless group of dedicated ensemble of forward thinking educators.

I must thank the founders of ApprenNet.com and Voxer for proving these two tools/resources for our cohort to use during this six week voyage. Your two organizations allowed our PTcamp to grow exponentially.

Feel free to share your thoughts on what you've learned this summer!

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The Vital Importance of Empowering “Parent Voice”

In the school setting we strive to engage students and teachers in the collaborative learning process. Teacher voice is imperative as they play an integral role in the overall educational experience. Students, as the primary learners in our schools, need “voice” and “choice” as part of the comprehensive learning environment. So parents, who are just as important to the educational formula, are sometimes out of the equation. Sitting on the sidelines, parents can, at times feel isolated and ostracized from the very experience that should serve as an all-inclusive organizational structure. You can guarantee parent engagement and build capacity by sharing the decision making process with your parents. Engage, encourage, and entrust your parents and the rest will become history.

In Beyond the Bake Sale, Henderson and Mapp explain the importance of “Sharing Power” in Chapter 8. They identified three practices that will help schools further engage and involve parents in the educational process:

1.      Provide workable mechanisms for teachers, parents, and students to voice their ideas and concerns, and to take part in decision making.

2.       Build a broad base of involvement by increasing families’ political knowledge and skills, and their connections to other parents and people in the community.

3.       Strengthen families’ links with community organizations and resources.

In reflecting on the practices in my own school, I can share some of the things we are doing to include parents in the voice, sharing, decision making process.

All-School Leadership Team: Working to include parents on this team will offer greater “voice” to your parent community. This team or committee is the group that makes the “BIG” decisions for the building. We call this our BIG Committee (Building Improvement Group).  We meet monthly. Parents share their insight, perspectives, and knowledge on the multiple topics that we discuss. Building-wide decisions are affirmed with this BIG Committee. We set building policy, so it is vital that we have parent voice. In preparing for the upcoming school year this committee set building policy for dress code, BYOD, and back packs. This committee is also responsible for finalizing our School Improvement Plan.

School Improvement Plan: Engage parents as part of this team. Allow parents to help you shape your school’s improvement plan. Their voice is important and they can share another necessary perspective as you discuss and develop the school’s plan.

Celebrations: Parents want to be included in this facet of the school day too. Enlist parent leaders to plan, organize, and facilitate school-wide student celebrations in academics, achievement, and behavior.

Parent Panels: This forum is an excellent way for your parents to share their perspective, roles, and involvement with school visitors. When you have visiting groups, work to host a Parent Panel. This way your parents can provide the parent perspective. We use this format when schools come to visit and during our Summer Survival Series.

PTO/PTA: Use this important parent committee to offer and empower parent voice in a variety of decision making opportunities. Our PTO is responsible for all fund raising and teacher grants. They also focus on technology support. They play a major role in improving, implementing, and meeting the technology needs of both students and staff. Do not take this facet of parent leadership lightly. This is an instrumental need within each school setting.

Parent Development: Engage your parent leaders in providing parent professional development throughout the school year. Every parent has potential to serve the school in one facet or another. Seek out parents to serve in this capacity. Our Parent Involvement Team coordinates our Parenting 101, Summer Survival Series, Round-Table Discussions, Book Discussions, and parent volunteerism.

Within the above identified structures, parents can serve as leaders, learners, and liaisons.  This is important as this allows for greater parent participation and involvement in our schools. The examples I noted are merely the tip of the proverbial “iceberg”. There are so many more ways in which parents can become part of the shared leadership in our schools today. I look forward to learning how you are increasing parent engagement in your school.

As I continue this journey, I want to thank Joe Mazza and my Beyond the Bake Sale Voxer book study cohort for their support, encouragement, and teaching me new ways to engage my parents at Francis Howell Middle!

If you are interested in empowering your parents or looking for ways to improve school to home relationships, I strongly urge you to read Henderson and Mapp’s Beyond the Bake Sale then you can empower your school to move “beyond” where you are today!

Building Relationships: The Non-Negotiable

Before anything else you must build relationships. We often here these words spoken during a key-note speech, conference breakout sessions, and even during: our own presentations with staff, parents, and the community. I am a firm believer in “relationships first” as a belief system. We presently focus on this

Practice with our students and staff. It is now time to take this practice one step further and “completely” include our parents in this business we call Relationship Building.

In their book Beyond the Bake Sale, Anne Henderson and Karen Mapp have identified four Core Beliefs that serve as the “foundations” to build strong relationships in engaging parents within your school community.

1.     All parents have dreams for their children and want the best for them.

2.     All parents have the capacity to support their children’s learning.

3.     Parents and school staff should be equal partners.

4.     The responsibility for building partnerships between school and home rest primarily with school staff, especially school leaders.

In reflecting on these core beliefs:

Core Belief #1: As a school community it is imperative that we honor the “dream” that parents have for their children. We need to nurture this process and help the parents help their children. We must also remember that our parents also want what is best for third children – and they rely upon the school for this support. Our support can help parents expand fine tune and enhance those dreams!

Core Value #2: We must be cognizant of this capacity within the parents. More importantly, we must support the parents who have the desire, but cannot fully support their child’s learning. This is when we provide additional resources for the student and parent. This includes after school support, off-site tutoring, and off-site parent education meetings.

Core Belief #3: At all times we must be aware of the equal partnership our parents play in the school setting. We must utilize those resources that our parents bring to the school.  Once our parents realize and understand that we want to be equal partners in this role and journey, the possibilities will become limitless as to the resources, ideas, support, and understanding of our joint roles in education.

Core Belief #4: As the primary source for our students and parents, the school needs to take this responsibility seriously. The school must first reach out to the parents. Not just once, but on a continual basis. Always available our school leaders (teachers, support staff, and administration) must demonstrate, through communication, our desire to have a positive relationship with the parents.  When parents see the Administrators and teachers acting on this Core Belief, they will truly see the relationships beginning to form. Get to know your parents by name. Once I know the parents - I am a firm believer in calling them by their first names (if they are comfortable with this).  I truly enjoy all of our school functions because I get to visit with my “old’ friends and get to meet my ‘new” friends.

Henderson and Mapp, further explain via the Element of Trust table that there are four key elements: Respect, Competence, Integrity, and Personal Regard. They also note that there is a three-part joining process.

This is my vision for this process for Francis Howell Middle School:

1.     Welcome Parents into the School:

Overtly invite parents to join is in all facets of the school community. This will include membership in and leadership roles in our PTO, Parent Involvement Team (PIT), and Building Improvement Group (BIG). Our PIT team will work to revise our Parent Talent Pool inventory and then we can use this to generate a volunteer lists for school projects, activities, and class events. Use all available resources to communicate with parents (traditional, electronic, and Social Media). Invite parent groups to “tour the school”. We presently do this for outside groups and other schools. We need to provide this opportunity for our parents – letting them see the school “in action”. We cannot assume that the “Flyer, eNews, Newsletter or Tweet will guarantee parent involvement or participation. We must take the appropriate steps to make sure they know they are invited and welcome.

2.     Honor their participation

This means taking time to recognize the work of our parents (Going beyond the end of the year “Volunteer Reception”). Instead I will include the names of our volunteers in our monthly newsletter, make personal calls to give “thanks”, and personally thank them when I see them at school events and functions. Even a written thank you note will show how much we appreciate their involvement.

3.     Connect with parents through a focus on the children and their learning:

In using this as our primary focus, parents will be included in our committee structure and process. We presently have parents on our BIG Committee (which is the building leadership team, but we need to have parents on our: School Improvement Plan (SIP) writing team, curriculum team. This also includes educating our parents on the curriculum process, the core curriculum sequencing, and the inclusion of high school credits at the middle school. From the onset parents need to know what to expect at the middle level and what they need to do to prepare for high school and beyond.

As you consider your next moves in furthering the development of parent and family engagement in your schools, let me know the progress with your. I would love to celebrate with you as you continue this journey to greater parent involvement in your school.

 

"Reflecting" in order to move forward with Parent Engagement

In order to move any initiative, program, or practice forward you must always begin with the “reflection” piece. As a reflective practitioner I am using part of the summer to learn more about and reflect upon the parent engagement piece of the total school community here at Francis Howell Middle School. To help me with this reflection, I’ve joined 99 other educators from around the world. We are participating in a six week intensified book study. We are gleaning our understanding from Anne Henderson and Karen Mapp, authors of Beyond the Bake Sale.

Joe Mazza is leading out and facilitating our study via #PTcamp, Voxer, GoogleDocs, and ApprenNet.  We’ve learned that there are four types of schools: Partnership School, Open-Door School, Come If-We-Call School, and the Fortress School. The chart below, from Beyond the Bake Sale, provides a clear explanation of each type of school.

In moving our school forward to become a full-fledged Partnership School, we must do the following:

·         Review the current role of our parents within the school setting in the areas of: Volunteering, Student-Led Conferences, Parent Development, Building-wide leadership (Building Improvement Group), Celebrations, Fund Raising, and Community Service.

·         Assess, review, and evaluate PTO and its role within the school

o   How can we take PTO to the next level?

·         Assess, review, and evaluate the Parent Involvement Team (PIT). Our PIT team is part of the National Network of Partnership Schools with Johns Hopkins University.

o   How can we take PIT to the next level?

·         Develop and implement a long-range plan

o   Set it into motion utilizing the skills, talents, and knowledge of each school community group.

This reflection, a growing and changing process, will  take time. In looking at the next three to five years, we can begin now by reflecting on our current practices so that we can move towards becoming a Partnership School.  I am looking forward in engaging as many parents, staff, students, and community members in this process. After all, shouldn’t we include our parents in the “complete” educational experience of their children?

"To Vox or Not to Vox?" that is the Question

Lately I’ve been reading quite a bit on the flutter of tweets, blog posts and chats that are focused on the prospects of “Voxer”. As always we are all over the place in regards to our thoughts, ideas, and opinions. I just want to put it “out there” that when I first heard of Voxer (last fall) I was very apprehensive and skeptical. Now after using it for my professional PLN collaboration, I now see its value and worth through a completely different lens.

Voxer is an application that uses the traditional “Walkie Talkie” format of communication. Voxer has transformed this communication style to blend in with today’s communication needs. Both audio and text features are readily available. So you can send an audio message, a text message, or send a little of both. All audio and text messages are archived within your individual or group list. You can access your Vox reports (as I like to call it) at any time. You can also set up push notification so that you are notified when you receive a Vox.

Here are a few ways to incorporate Voxer into your communication plan:

Book Study: Right Now #PTcamp (under the leadership of @Joe_Mazza) is studying “Beyond the Bake Sale”. We have 100 adult learners participating. This is just one of many tools that we will be utilizing for the book study.

Chat Moderator Team: This is an effective and efficient way to share information with your moderator team. Thanks to @LauraGilchrist4, our #MOedchat team is now using Voxer. It allows us the time to Vox with each other, reflect, and continue our work.

Leadership Team: create a group (for your Admin team, Department Chairs, Grade Level Chairs) so that you can share out information.

Personal Use: Your family can all communicate together. It’s also great to simple “hear” the other person’s voice! This increases the personal contact.

I am just asking that you try it out. You may enjoy using Voxer and again you may not. I think it’s important to at least investigate the possibilities of Voxing. You never know who you may be able to reach or connect with by using Voxer as another 21^st century communication tool. Take time to answer William Shakespeare’s timeless question (modified for us today): To Vox or Not to Vox?

I Love being an educator because...

I get the opportunity each day to open windows of opportunities …listen to students tell their story …to learn something “new” in the classroom from my teachers …to lead out change …and to see the proverbial light bulb turn on!

I also owe my educational career to the exemplary teachers in my life: Mrs. Steinhoff (3^rd), Mrs. Sanz-Agero (5^th) Mr. Davis (6^th Science) Mr. Oliver (6-12 band), and Mr. Mauer (History). They all set the bar high, they were beyond reproach. Their expectations, love, and passion for teaching were real, sincere, and genuine. They were my “champions”. They instilled in me the belief that I could set challenging goals, overcome obstacles, and become the Leader that was within Me!

 

Today, and every day I learn something new from my students, staff, and administrative team. This is great because I love learning. I am an administrator because I was “called to teach”. I firmly believe being an educator is my true purpose in life. I get to cheer on the learners in my school. I get go celebrate the successes and I get to implement innovation and change.

 

Each August I get to begin the journey again! It is fresh, new, innovative, and exciting. Where else would I get the chance to positively impact so many of tomorrow’s leaders? I get to share in “dream building”, character development, and the cultivation of the “Leader in Me” within all of my students.

 

I love being an educator because each day, week, month, and year I get to experience the “magic" known as education! I love being an educator because I have the best professional mentors in the world – my students and teachers!

Blaze a new trail...

Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of my favorite authors. His writing is truly timeless. He tells us, “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” I firmly believe what he is telling us. It is our duty and responsibility as educators to blaze a new trail for our students and adult learners.

Captain Kirk, of the Starship Enterprise told us, “…to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Albert Einstein notes, “The only source of knowledge is experience.”

Alan Key explains, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

So as you plan your summer for rest, relaxation and renewal (learning from your PLN) take the time to figure out what you can to take your “game” to the next level this fall.  Here are a few ideas…

Book Discussion: Join a book study/discussion. Learn alongside your colleagues this summer. I am fortunate enough to be working alongside @DJrschug, @JoyWright91, and @AnthonyDeblasio as we plan a July Book Study for Danah Boyd’s It’s Complicated. The summer is the perfect time to sit back and enjoy a good book, and take some time to discuss it with your PLN.

Coordinate/Participate: in a combo chat. Join up with another chat this summer. Several states, groups, and organizations have already started this trend in PLN collaboration. Check it out. Several chats are being set up as you are reading this blog post. One example: #Moedchat and #Txed are working to host a July combo chat!

Learn a new social media skill: Take a look at Augmented Reality. Try your hand at LiveBinders or Evernote. Or simply see what you can do with flipagram and Tellagami. They are all powerful tools that can enhance the work you do with students and colleagues.

Write a Blog Post: This is the best way to share out what you are doing, learning, and accomplishing. We learn from each other and a blog post is the best way for us to learn from each other. I know I enjoy seeing what my PLN is doing in the way of blogging!

Become the Lewis and Clark of the 21^st century as you blaze a new trail this summer. I look forward to “reading” all about your journey!

Communication: Keeping Parents in the Loop

One important stakeholder group includes our parents. They are vital to the success of our schools. We send out multiple types and kinds of communication each school day / school week. However, they may be missing out on important information because they are unaware of the different communication channels in our schools. How can this be? Three pieces of the puzzle include: 1) keeping information in front of our parents, 2) Using multiple channels of communication, and 3) Educating parents on the different ways we communicate.

During our recent 5^th Grade Parent Preview Night (where we welcome 5^th grade parents and their 5^th grade children) I began the process of informing parents using these three key tools. I received an email from one parent who offered additional ways to keep parents “in the loop”. This parent helped me realize that we can get caught up on communicating to a degree that we forget the number of ways to reach out to our parents.

Here are a few helpful hints when communication with parents:

Use your electronic news media: We call it eNews. Here daily emails are sent out to parents (who’ve signed up for this service). So now it’s important to let all parents know how to sign up for our school’s eNews service.

Blog Posts: This is a relatively new format that parents may want to learn about. I will now begin to let parents know each time I post to my blog (www.TheodoreHuff@blogspot.com ). They want to know what’s going on in the blog world.

Traditional Newsletter: We all have a newsletter and our parents enjoy reading it to learn what it taking place in the school. Now the question is, “Do they know how to access your newsletter? Especially if you only send it out electronically? We post our monthly newsletter via our school website.

Twitter: This, as you know, is a relatively new communication tool to use in conjunction with sharing information with our parents. Make sure you share out your school’s Twitter Account (regularly) with your parents. If they don’t know that it exists, then cannot access this information. School Twitter Account: @News4FHMS and Dr. Huff's Twitter Account: @TedHiff

Twitter Chats:  Moving your Round Table Discussions, Book Talks, and other venues for sharing information to a Twitter Chat is just one more way to reach out to parents via Social Media. We host a Parent (and teacher) Chat twice a month. You can find us @ #FHMchat at 7pm CDT on the first and third Monday of each month.

School Marquee: This is another important communication tool. My advice is to make sure it is regularly updated.

I look forward to learning about the different ways you communicate with your parent community!

Waiting to Hear from my Pen Pal...

Remember when we had pen pals? You would write the letter, send it off with the mail man (via snail mail)…then wait…and wait…and wait for a reply. This reply would eventually arrive from your friend who lived on the other side of the country (or world). Fast forward to today… So what does your Pen Pal program look like today? How does that communication differ? What are you learning and sharing?

In a recent conversation with Dennis Schug (@DJrShcug), Principal of Hampton Bays Middle School (Long Island), he made the succinct analogy of “waiting” for a direct message, tweet, or blog post today is just like the anticipation we had as children when we anxiously waited for a letter from our Pen Pal. I told Dennis, “That’s it. You need to write about that!”  Dennis politely declined and suggested that I take up the topic. So… here goes!

My 45 minute PD opportunity with Dennis today was like that Pen Pal letter of yesterday – only on steroids. We were able to share ideas, ask questions, laugh, and learn from each other. It was instantaneous PD. I was able to “connect” with Dennis who is one of my 21^st Century PLN Pen Pals. Now, after several months of corresponding via our tweets, Twitter chat discussions, and retweets we were able to “connect” the old fashioned way… using the telephone.

Next up… a potential GHO as we map out a plan to use Skype to make connections between our two middle schools. One in the Midwest, that’s my school, and the other on the East Coast -Dennis’ school.  The potential is limitless. Our teachers will share strategies, best practices, and learn from one another. Our students will share their understanding and knowledge with their new peers – affirming one another and building relationships with peers from across the country. I’m going to call this “A Tale of Two Middle Schools”.

For those of you who have yet made the “plunge” into the Twitterverse… please take this invitation as an opportunity to connect with a new Pen Pal via Social Media in this new era of Pen Pal letters. I refer to my Twitter PLN as my “PLN Pals”. It’s a phrase I started using a little over a year ago and it just stuck.

You never know who could be around the corner or the world… waiting to connect, learn, and grow with you.

We've Always Done it This Way!

Those immortal words were spoken by Rear Admiral Grace Hopper. This led me to reflect on the practices that are presently in place in the school setting. I know we work hard to advance our thinking and best practices. However, I needed to put on proverbial “reflective practitioner hat” to truly assess my school’s work (as well as that of other schools). What I learned is that “IF this is true in an educational setting, then we must work to reverse that philosophy, practice, and pedagogy.

In our schools we indeed have teachers, administrators, and support staff personnel who are pioneers in their schools. They are forging ahead with the implementation of BYOD/BYOT, Social Media, and APPs in the classroom. They are meeting the learners on a common playing field – and it is exciting to witness.

So what can we do? Simply stated, we should remain focused on the learner. We should continue our implementing the best practices of 21c. In order to counter the “We’ve always done it this way” syndrome you can support:

·         Flipped Classroom

·         Genius Hour (20% time)

·         Google Docs (and now Google Calendar

·         Remind101

·         Twitter use in the classroom

·         Skype

·         Infographics

·         Augmented Reality (e.g. Arasma, Layar, ColAR, Flashcards)

·         Backchannel (e.g. TodaysMeet)

·         Blog writing

·         Building a PLN

·         Student Voice

·         Teacher Voice

This only scratches the surface of ideas that can counter this “non-productive” philosophical practice. Keep posting additional ideas!

Parents and their Digital Citizenship

Our school is in its first year as a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) School. We are learning along the way. In addition to providing supports for both students and teachers, we are also responsible for helping our parents cross this “great divide”.  I thought my school was adequately meeting parent needs; however, the epiphany surfaced during this morning’s #Satchatwc when I realized that I could be doing more to help parents “connect”.  I learned that there are more supports that we can provide parents, that we need to promote digital awareness on a higher and deeper level for all parents. Thanks to moderator (Shelley Burgess) @burgess_shelley and Guest Educator (Jenny Grabiec) @techgirljenny they facilitated an excellent chat where we learned of many resources and tools to share with parents.

Below are several avenues to pursue when considering ways to help your parents move into the digital age…

·         Social Media Training: We cannot assume that our parents are ready for the transition into Social Media and its application to the school setting. Providing frequent and timely (perhaps quarterly) training will help parents become connected to the digital school and community.

·         Communicating with “feeder school” parents: High schools and middle schools need to make sure to help their 8^th grade and 5^th grade parents, respectively, can make the digital transition to the new learning environment. Unique Parent PD will help ease the anxiety for these parent groups.

·         Parent Chat: Start by introducing a monthly Twitter Parent Chat. Then as you feel comfortable move to 2x a month and to weekly (if your stakeholders see the need for weekly support). Presently I hold a parent chat (#FHMchat) twice a month.

·         Cyber Awareness & Education: Host and sponsor an evening event for your parents to hear from a local cyber expert. Your state’s Cyber Task Force will provide a guest speaker (free of charge).

·         EdCamp for Parents; Take the educator edcamp philosophy and practice then apply it to our Parent PD. This way you can design the parent PD to meet their individual needs. WE know how successful and powerful the edcamp experience is for, so just imagine how it could educate and empower our parents!

·         21c teaching strategies: It’s vital to keep your parents connected with the current best practices. We have teachers moving in the direction of the Flipped Classroom, Blended Learning, Genius Hour (20% Time), Augmented Reality Apps, and more. Knowing this we need to help our parents understand and know the purpose of implementing these strategies in the new learning environment.

·         Archive information: All of your parents may be able to attend or access the information at the time of the PD; therefore, you need to make sure you archive the information and communicate how they can access the training or educational information.

You can use your current Parent Events to embed this professional development (Open House, Conferences, Registration, and other evening events). As you continue your journey in supporting the “digital parent” of today, please share with me your events, initiatives PD, and programs.