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#ISTE17 – Flipping PD to Create More Powerful Face-to-Face PD Opportunities
This is my last session for today, possibly overall. I’m probably most excited about this, as throughout these last few months, knowing the role I’m working my way into, have been toying with the idea of changing the PD models. After the last couple days, I’m obsessed with changing everything and flipping PD. Kerry Abbott…
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#ISTE17 – EdTech Insights: Teacher Hacks
This session takes place in the middle of the Expo Hall, which is really odd. It’s loud and distracting. They are organizing the session into three parts, Hacks for 12 Years & Under, Hacks for 13 Years & Up and Hacks for Any Age. Vicki Davis starts it out with hacks for 12 and under.…
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#ISTE17 – Tuesday Keynote Jennie Magiera
The keynote opened with things I didn’t see. There was a delicious breakfast involved and I regret nothing (Panchito’s for breakfast tacos…get the Lyft over, you won’t regret it). By the time I got in and seated, someone was talking about cilantro. Seems random, but it was about growing against all odds. The cilantro is…
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#ISTE17 – 5 Key Trends Transforming Teaching Today
If I’m being honest, I’m mostly in this session because Vicki Davis is hosting. She is a full time teacher who has a DAILY podcast called the 10-Minute Teacher podcast. It’s a hosted panel discussion, hosted by PowerSchool, and Vicki is moderating. On the panel are: Marlo Gaddis, @mrhgaddis Dr. Scott McLeod, @mcleod Dr. Richard…
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#ISTE17 – 60in60 Edtech Game Show!
I caught the end of the 60in60 session last year, so I was excited to see it on the listing this year. The session is presented by Brandon Lutz and Scott Snyder. The basic premise of this session is that it is a March Madness-style bracket of EdTech tools. For example, the first round has Kahoot! pitted…
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#ISTE17 – Snapshot: Podcasting, Vodcasting & Vlogging
I came to this for obvious reasons, but also because I want to encourage my students to start creating podcasts next year. When I mentioned this, they were excited, so I thought my time here could be well used for that purpose. I’m also toying with the idea of creating a school-based podcast to replace…
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#ISTE17 – Ignite Round 2
Despite my disappointment with the lack of actionable tools or ideas in the first round, I’m back for round 2 of Ignite at ISTE. In my defense, I looked over the list of presentations for this round and they look like they will fulfill my desires. We opened with Sylvia Duckworth talking about the sketchnoting…
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#ISTE17 – How to Expand Learning into the Social Media Sphere
My first impression on this session was walking into “What Does the Clock Say?” an Ylvis spoof of the viral sensation. So yeah, that happened. Mister C (Kevin Cornell) seems like a really cool guy. I know, that sounds cheesy, but it’s kinda true. He is engaging and fun, he got the audience laughing (despite…
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#ISTE17 Opening Keynote – Jad Abumrad
After some interesting musical choices and a rousing speech from the new ISTE CEO, Richard Culatta about the vision of ISTE and upcoming surprises (maybe other events besides just the annual conference?!?!), we got an introduction of Jad Abumrad. Jad is the creator and host of Radiolab on Public Radio. He starts his talk by…
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#ISTE17 Ignite Round 1
The stage is set, I just enjoyed a delightful pineapple popsicle, and I’m ready for my favorite session: Ignite! For anyone that doesn’t know what Ignite is: I love these events at ISTE because you get a quick introduction to a bunch of ideas all in one session. Often when I sit in long-form sessions,…
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#ISTE17 Thoughts So Far
I landed in San Antonio on Saturday morning, and got to spend some time exploring the city. In short, not a fan. There just doesn’t seem to be much going on. Lots of chain restaurants (YUCK!) and touristy stops. Had some great tortillas at one place though, so not all is lost. I’m not alone…
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Gretchen Bridgers – Episode 6
In this episode of the Planning Period Podcast, I interview Gretchen Bridgers of the Always a Lesson Podcast. Gretchen has been a great help to me during my podcast journey, but is also an informed and intelligent educator. Her podcast is all about giving an uplifting message to teachers, and she does not disappoint in…
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David Knuffke – Episode 5
In this episode of the Planning Period Podcast, I interview David Knuffke, the Curriculum Associate for Science and Technology for the Secondary Level in Deerpark, NY (what a mouthful!). David and I have some really interesting discussions about the pressures put on teachers, things like union pressures, district and legal pressures, as well as external…
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What We Can Learn as Teachers from Challenging Administrators
We all have said the words that relationships with students, especially relationships based on mutual respect, are critical to getting the best performance out of our students. Still, a great student will excel no matter what, right? Let me tell you a story of two school years, and the parts of the Venn Diagram of…
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Nicole Mutters – Episode 4
In this episode of the Planning Period Podcast, I interview Assistant Principal, former dean and history teacher, Nicole Mutters. Nicole is a great friend of mine, and we have some equally great discussions about instructional practice. We cover topics such as individualized learning, differentiation, measuring on standard mastery, and more. I do have to apologize…
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Michael Coleman – Episode 3
Episode 3 already. Not sure why, but this feels like a milestone to me. Sure, it’s only 3 episodes, but still. Anyways, on this week’s episode I interview a good friend of mine, Michael Coleman. We teach Alternative Certification classes to adults together, and he’s an excellent Social Sciences teacher. He is also a tech-centric…
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Kristen Iannuzzi – Episode 2
In this second episode of the show, I sit down with Kristen Iannuzzi. She is one of the most powerfully passionate educators I have ever met. She is a former district teacher of the year, chair on the ECET2 committee for our district, and just all around a ball of awesome. Kristen and I cover…
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Future of EdTech Coaches
Last night I participated in the #EdTechChat on Twitter, in which the topic was Ed Tech Coaches. As a full-time Digital Instructional Coach, the topic obviously intrigued me. Given the content of the chats, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about it a little on here. Huge thanks to Susan Bearden…
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Jay Cvetko – Episode 1
In my first episode of the Planning Period Podcast, I interview Jay Cvetko, a veteran teacher now teaching Economics at my school. In this interview we talk about education currently lacking a clearly defined goal, monitoring students, and how we can, or can we, effectively measure teacher performance. Big questions: What is the biggest problem…
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Planning Period Podcast is Coming!
Followers of my blog, twitter, or just life in general, will know that I haven’t shut up for the last couple months about starting my own education podcast. This is a result of thoroughly enjoying the discussions I have with teachers, administrators, students, and parents, and thinking time and time again that other people would…
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What I’m Learning From Listening to Education Podcasts Part 2
My podcast listening is now officially bordering on obsession. In addition to #EdChat Radio and Cult of Pedagogy, I have now started listening to (and I’ve listened to at least 4 episodes of each of these), Always a Lesson’s Empowering Educators, Angela Watson’s Truth for Teachers, Dads In Ed, House of #EdTech, Pushing the Edge…
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What I’m Learning from Listening to Education Podcasts
I’m planning on starting my own podcast soon talking about education. I’ve been wanting to do this for a little over a year now, and my short time on the #EdChat podcast only made me more determined. In order to prepare for this, I’ve been listening to a bunch of other education podcasts to determine…
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Creating an Open Source Curriculum Instead of Textbooks #EdChat
A few weeks ago, I participated in #EdChat to discuss Open Source Curriculum (more specifically, the question posed was “Is it possible to create a modern, relevant curriculum using open sources from the Internet instead of textbooks?” I enjoyed the discussion, as I regularly encourage my teachers and students to look for outside sources to supplement…
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ISTE2016 Summary – Closing Keynote with Michelle Cordy
Michelle opened with the title slide: “Show Up and Refuse to Leave.” She explained the story of how she started a 1:1 pilot program, and being that she was the only teacher at her school doing so, she reached to books for support and ideas. She wrote a blog post about one of the books…
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ISTE2016 Summary – Genius Bar: Promoting Student Leadership
As a teacher of what is loosely based off the Genius Bar model (more tech assistants truthfully) I am excited to get to see how to potentially take that class a little further. So I sit, early and waiting eagerly, to see this session, presented by Alicia Johal and Mari Venturino. They run their Genius…
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ISTE2016 Summary – Ruha Benjamin Keynote
I wasn’t sure I was going to make the Tuesday keynote, mainly because I went to Denver Biscuit Company and ate myself into an unbelievably delicious and completely worth it food coma. However, as I arrived at ISTE this morning, I saw screens showing none other than THE LaVar Burton in the keynote hall. So,…
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IST2016 Summary – EdTekTalks
This is another multi-presenter session. In an hour and 45 minutes, you see 5 mini keynotes from distinguished EdTech leaders. First presenter is Amelia Rose Earhart. As you might guess, she’s an aviator. In 2014 she did a solo, single-engine, flight around the world. Amelia told us the story of her life, and how she…
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ISTE2016 Summary – Ed Tech Start Up Pitch Fest
My second session of the day is the Ed Tech Start-Up Pitch Fest. In this session, 6 startup companies will present on their new education technology products. There is a panel of judges, and at the end, the audience votes on their favorites. It is a structured pitch setting, with 5 minute presentation and 2…
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ISTE2016 Summary – Problem-Based Learning Extravaganza!
ISTE2016 is finally here, and I couldn’t be more excited! In the beautiful city of Denver, some of the worlds greatest teachers have come together to talk pedagogy and technology. It doesn’t get any more mind blowing than this. Ok, geek out session over (for now). The following are my impressions and some paraphrased quotes…
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Teachers – How You Turned Out is Irrelevant!
I have conversations regularly with people about the state of education. Some people want to understand the problems educators face, others want to hear my opinions about what we can do to fix things, others (and these are the most interesting) just want to have enlightened discussions about pedagogy. In my experience, one idea almost…
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Censorship: The Real Problem With Education
It has been a while since I have posted to my blog, and there is a reason for that. I hope, that as I write this post, I will be able to explain why that is. My most recent post, dealing with how to use OneNote Staff Notebook at the administrative level, was originally written…
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Organizing Administration Using OneNote Staff Notebook*
At my school, we have launched into OneNote as a school platform with both feet. At this point, just 9 weeks into our one-to-one program, we have roughly 80% of our teachers using Classroom Notebooks for their day-to-day activities, and 97% of our staff using the devices every period of every day. We believe that…
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My Life as an Instructional Technology Coach – 6 Weeks In
Week 7 of the school year starts tomorrow, so I thought now would be a good time to give a quick update on my job, and what it actually means to be an Instructional Technology Coach (or, Digital Instructional Coach as we call it at my school). Student Tech Support For the first 3 or…
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Observations at a High School Football Game
As part of my job description as an Instructional Technology Coordinator, falls the ever-dreaded “Other duties as assigned.” As part of my other duties for last night, I had to help with crowd control at the football game. I don’t really mind, especially since this was a high-profile game with attendance over 5,900 fans, and…
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ISTE2015 Wrap-Up
I’m home, and mostly recovered, from ISTE. Feels like a good time to take a minute and write about my thoughts on the conference. The simple summary is that I really enjoyed the conference and think it was totally worth while. That isn’t to say that the conference was perfect by any stretch, or even what…
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ISTE2015 Sessions – 1-in-3 Round 2
My last session of ISTE2015 (no! I don’t want it to be over!) is 1-in-3 Round 2. 1-in-3 is much like an Ignite talk, but only 3 minutes and not as restrictive on what can be on the slides (can have video and sound and don’t have to autoforward). I unfortunately showed up a couple…
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ISTE2015 Session – Managing a 1:1 Campus
My next (and final) session for today is Managing a 1:1 Campus for Principals and Technology Specialists. I’m not 100% sure this training is really meant for me, per se, but whatever. My focus next year will primarily be the coaching and instructional support stuff, but like anything else, I feel like the more I…
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ISTE2015 – Ignite Talks Round 3
For anyone who doesn’t know, an Ignite talk is a 5 minute, fast paced talk. Behind the presenter is a series of 20 slides with a 15 second timer. The slide auto-forwards every 15 seconds, meaning you must be on your game in terms of preparation and speed. My students did Ignite talks as the…
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ISTE2015 Session – Create a Technology Start-Up in Your School
I decided to attend this session because it just sounded really interesting. The idea of starting a company while in school is just fascinating to me. When I was in school, I made a couple bucks selling TI-86 programs (in BASIC), and I just think the idea of not only allowing, but encouraging, our students…
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ISTE2015 – Flipped PD Session
My first session at ISTE2015 is called Flipped PD: Creating Teacher Buy-In and Modeling Technology-Rich Professional Development. What a mouthful. Still, very interested in this topic, especially as I step into the Instructional Technology Coach roll. One of my primary responsibilities is Professional Development (PD), and getting that buy-in from the staff is going to be…
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Humor – A Double-Edged Sword in a Classroom
This is the first week of the summer. I’m spending it at a week-long training on Digital Curriculum and what we, as the school technology teacher leaders, are going to present to the rest of our staff one week this summer. There is a group of 7 of us from my school, many of whom…
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#TEDxWOHS Reflections
Well, the school year is over, and so is the TEDxWOHS project (or maybe it was more of an experiment?). Whatever I title it, I will call it a huge success. My students really crushed this project. Their presentations were so cool, and powerful. If you’ll remember, I started this presentation with my students when…
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5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Do the TEDx Project
Since I started the TEDx project, I have been amazed at the things my students are doing. They are learning about fascinating topics, writing truly awesome reflections, building a positive online presence, and just all around being great. I’ve posted lots on this blog and on my twitter about how much fun this project is…
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Technology is Not a Learning Outcome
Found this on twitter and felt it was worth sharing. Good for all of us to remember as we merge technology and pedagogy. Source: https://twitter.com/CushGills/status/601399974820061185
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Bragging Time – Round 3
Running a little behind posting this, but better late than never. Students submitted their second round of reflections last week, and as before, I’ve pulled out some of the best to share with everyone. Please, be so kind as to share your appreciation of their work by commenting on their blogs. Thanks! Katie B –…
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Overheard at a Continental Breakfast
It never ceases to amaze me what you can learn from listening to people. I have this thing where I listen to all the conversations going on around me, whether I’m at a restaurant, in class, or at a continental breakfast. I like to believe that it is a “teacher thing;” something that we all…
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Teacher Appreciation Week – Just Say Thanks
As most of you should be aware, this week has been Teacher Appreciation Week. While I appreciate the nice little gifts that our administration gets us (we got new laptop sleeves this year) and the determination of PTSO and administration to make us all fat (doughnuts, bagels, and Honey Buns, oh my), these are not…
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Bragging Time – Again
With the first video reflection due this past Monday, I want to share with everyone some of the hard work my kids are doing. These kids are really crushing this project. It is an unbelievably powerful experience to see the excitement from them while they work on this. The following students did a great job…
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Standardized Testing – By Me and Others
It’s testing season, and so I’m thinking about testing a lot. Thankfully, in my state, we are done with English tests. However, I am missing student almost every day for End of Course exams in their various classes. This is very inconvenient for me as a teacher, but way more inconvenient for the students. Not…
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Working on #TEDxWOHS Outside
When I got back to my room from lunch today, a couple of my students point out how lovely the weather is, and say “We should work outside.” I thought about it, and there wasn’t any reason not to. The laptops are charged, and the WiFi extends outside of my classroom. And they’re right, the…
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Sheets for School Leaders
Learn how to make all your data dynamic so that you never have to do the same thing twice with your spreadsheets.