Thoughtful Thursdays: Empowering Our Learners & Leaders

A big trend here in the land of Wisconsin goes with our state university at Football or Basketball Season: Teach Me How to Bucky. If you haven't heard of this before, watch the YouTube Video Below.

This video got me thinking so much about what we do to teach our students and allow for personalized learning and universal design - we flip the learning. Kids learn from watching how other people have worked through a learner progression, and rewind/rewatch as needed. 

With this notion of learning comes another thought - empowering our learners and leaders through videos. As my school is preparing for a 5-8 device rollout, we brought up the idea of having learning modules to teach the tech tools and ways to use them. These app flashes are not only universal and grounding for our students, but also for teachers to have an opportunity for those conversations alongside our students and embody the mantra of lifelong learning together with and for our students. What a better way to start our journey!

Have you done the groundwork with a student tech team around learning modules? How would you envision this? Share your ideas - let's collaborate together!

#OnWisconsin

Tracy's Tuesday Tech Tip: Being a Play-Caller

When you live in Wisconsin, Packer Nation is everywhere. You hear LALALALAMBEAU about every-other-commercial break on various TV Stations, people bring out the cheeseheads on Sundays, and the bumper stickers are posted proudly on Ford Pickups and other vehicles in Packer Country.

Regardless of your fan support of the green and gold or another team, one cannot deny the importance of the quarterback, the play-caller of the game. He's the one who makes the decisions, sees the intangibles, and is responsible for key communication to all members on the field.

In many ways, teachers are play-callers - they are the ones who have their eyes scanning all corners of the room (for more than checking in on behavior). But they also scan assessments to regroup students, the expressions of learners' of confusion or understanding during a mini-lesson, and also the first to cheer on a new touchdown of a student "getting it" after a lot of hard work.

Quarterbacks collaborate with their teammates - they get other perspectives of coaches, wide receivers, running backs and more to truly enhance their craft of route reading and learning the intangibles. Those intangibles to us are the teachable moments - where something went on a path we didn't expect, but allow us to build connections with our team of learners.

Ever-important in this process is building our community of learners - our learning team - together. Creating a PLN as was discussed in SDW Tech Integration Now can bring new learnings and perspectives to the classroom just as an offensive coordinator does with the quarterback. Viewing teaching and learning in a different light allows us to reflectively tweak and modify for the benefit of our learners.

One way that has worked in bridging key learning concepts and strategies with technology is with a student tech team. Each of our tech team members completed both an application and training modules to get the job as an iTechU Team Member. This practice allows for these students to become the play-callers and lead small groups through infusing technology practices. 

Students have their own way of teaching. Often, when they've demonstrated true mastery of the skills, there is so much rich fulfillment in watching them take the lead. As much as I love web-browsing, chatting online or exploring new ideas, they are just as much of a valid part of my PLN as anyone, as they have taught me many new ideas and strategies for teaching when they've had the opportunity as play-caller.

Try out a student tech team today! Who knows, they just might throw a touchdown...

Tracy's Tuesday Tech Tip: Couldn't Say It Better Myself!

Students teaching other students - just love seeing that in my classroom.

Today, while teaching recorder, a student who is somewhat shy and laid back, took the lead and demonstrated and taught his peers how to play the difficult line of "Yellow Submarine." This normally quiet and shy kid, jumped up and said "listen, listen, listen, I got it" - what an amazing moment for this young man to show his leadership and be PROUD of what he has come to understand and know. Not only did he play the passage, but he taught other students as well, enough that a couple of them were still singing it by class time, 15 minutes later. Gotta love those moments!

As our Student Tech Team is beginning the year, I asked them to create a short easy to follow video for their younger peers within our school to teach them our core apps. One student took on Book Creator as follows: 

Taking the time to go back and review basic skills, formats that you want for your students is a key to success - and part of teaching them the life skills of organization and planning. My hope is to show this to my kindergarten and first grade as a brief introduction to each core app, and to build out our first projects together. 

About Book Creator

A great intuitive CORE App for your students - use it for sharing summaries of reading, new understandings in math w/ actions/TPR videos, vocabulary and spelling word journals as well as writing journals, art portfolios and more!

Allows: Drawing, Text, Pictures/Video Support from within the App and Camera Roll, Sound Files, and true personalized design.

Export as ePub, PDF & Video.

Power of Sharing

The power of sharing, the power of giving students' ownership of the tech specs to SHOW their work and understanding can help to foster self-efficacy, pride, and leadership, as well as build community with mentor classes - allow this power of student voice to take reign in your classroom - whether just between students in class, mentor classes throughout your building, or maybe a Skype activity with another class. The excitement will amaze you and truly enhance your learning community!

Within the next few weeks I will be highlighting our CORE apps with some student perspectives, as well as discussing integral ways to utilize in both literacy and math. Share your ideas with us!

Tracy's Tuesday Tech Tip: In My Life

I've always been a Beatles fan. Didn't grow up listening to them exclusively, but whenever we were riding in the car, my dad would be singing along to "oldies" on his tapes - that still work to this day. It wasn't uncommon to hear The Four Seasons pretty often, or other times The Beach Boys or The Mamas and the Papas. He never went wrong playing my favorites Rock Around the Clock or Bridge Over Troubled Water. Needless to say, with a plethora of music throughout our house (including my teeny-bopper pop of choice, Backstreet Boys or Jewel), it's no surprise I grew up to be a music teacher in the end, and how the lyrics of a song allow me to examine who I am and how I am living in and for the moment.

I wanted to take a moment, before the end of the year comes, and you start pressing "delete" on really long emails, for a moment of reflection, making this my last blog of the school year. Look at how far we've come, now a year later from the first wave of Waukesha One, which was the start of our journey. We buckled our seat-belts, and rode the roller coaster of a ride throughout our year - sometimes, filled with a bit of terror in dangling off the edge of a drop, yet more frequently, times filled with excitement as we head into the loop-de-loop, a bit upside-down, but taking on whatever twist and turns are around the next curve.

Are we better for it? Was Waukesha One worth it? In talking with one of our instructional strategies coordinators today and processing through everything that has occurred, I could not be feeling more pumped for what we have done. Creating opportunities for deepened and heightened thinking and skills among our students, more access to technology in general to open new doors otherwise not available, and simply, engagement in and for learning. What a year of riding the wave!

Even more, I asked my student tech team last week at our final meeting of the year, what their favorite part of the year was in being a part of Waukesha One. Among all five exiting fifth graders, their answer was simple: helping others. Whether it was integrating into classroom literacy instruction to make a book trailer, to talking and collaborating with our attendees at Images of Excellence in January, they lived for our team and to have the chance to help others. Additionally, the confidence in which I've seen them grow has really been amazing to watch. They've grown to be some of the best leaders to teach technology skills to demonstrate learning to others. I can't wait to see what they will become, and what they will do - I'm just grateful I was a small part of the start of who they are growing up to be.

So ultimately, what do I take away from Waukesha One's first year? Perhaps the same lessons from the song In My Life by the Beatles, "There are places I remember, all my life, though some have changed. Some forever, not for better. Some have gone, and some remain. Though I know I'll never lose affection, for people and things that went before. I know I'll often stop and think about them. In my life, I love you more."

There will always be things we remember about Waukesha One. Perhaps the first cracked screen is one thing that would be "not for better," nor the 30+ game apps found with no room for our core apps. It happens, and that's life. But...then there are those first projects, those first iMovies using new literacy concepts with metaphors or similes, or the first eBook from Book Creator describing a science project and field trip. These are the memories that "will always remain."

Finally, it comes down to the planning with our colleagues who might have become friends, or the care each of us as educators has in that shared mission together and shared purpose - our love for our students. When I stop to think about this, it's those around me - both teachers and learners that have driven me. Those are the places and people, I will remember all my life.

That's what I think about in my life of Waukesha One, Year One. Can't wait to see what's next.

Best wishes and blessings to you all this summer!

Thoughtful Thursdays: The Little Things

It's the victory dance in the Badgers Win (Yay, Elite 8)!!!! Or perhaps it's just the smile of a student at the end of the day, or even a hug. As the Zac Brown Band Chicken Fried goes, "It's crazy how the little things in life that mean the most." 

As I asked my student tech team to share their thoughts out about being a part of a Waukesha One School, one student decided to write very her five sentence response as follows:

1. Technology has changed my school year by making homework fun.
2. It also has changed my school year by doing homework at home with apps that make more sense.
3. Even if you don't have internet you can still get to cool stuff on it thats helping us learn.
4. It is way better than doing homework on paper.
5. We can put timers on are iPads so we wake up on time for school.

Admittedly, I may have chuckled a bit about sentences four and five. But I find too often we forget the little things as we take on Waukesha One - learning how to search on the Spotlight feature of our iPads, app organization that "makes sense" for our students, as well as just giving access to our learners to these digital tools!!!!

With our upcoming March Madness Mania Event on Tuesday, where we are making college connections and tying in the use of SDW Core Apps such as QR Code Reader, Google Drive & Explain Everything, we not only differentiates learning with audible cues for directions, but also works to engage our learners with our technology tools and to describe their learning connections and analysis by creating a presentation.

Get ready for tip off on Monday, March 31st - If you're interested in more info, please let us know! Sharing the excitement on Tuesday with you!!

In the meantime, Go Badgers!!!!

One For All & All for One: Collaborating Together

We all musketeers of teaching. Goals of coming together as a school team to ensure high instructional practices for all students in a positive climate that is uplifting for both them and other teachers as we journey together through education. Our focus is for their continual learning, growth, and heightened academic - at any age, in any circle.

As I was thinking about this week's tech tip, I couldn't help but think of Universal Design for Learning and a conversation I had with a friend about truly working to make instruction accessible for all students. As we utilize technology to enhance our instruction, meeting our learners' needs is the direct result of planning with new and innovative ways at their levels. 

Think of the possibilities with many of our core apps: describing and analyzing learning with an Explain Everything presentation (at any grade level!), various modules in Blackboard for our flexible groups (more on this in the Thoughtful Thursday Spotlight,) or, how about creating text/voice directions for learners who need some additional reinforcement through QR Codes? The possibilities are endless!!!

Need help brainstorming or some inspiration? Check out our Highlights for the Week!!!

Highlighting our App Symbaloo: iTunes U As we are looking for resources and collaborative planning, something that is very helpful is iTunes U with tons of educational content throughout for varying subjects and abilities. Some really neat resources for teachers for their students to gain ideas as well as for teachers to learn more - do a quick Google Search and find elementary and secondary schools that have built out courses and resources for you. If that's not your thing, build one yourself for your students! Checkout How to Get Started with iTunes U from Edudemic.

Innovative Practices: Talking Tech: In a recent meeting with our iTechU Student Tech Team, our students discussed the impact of technology into their lives today. Their comments just demonstrate how innovation with core instructional design can influence our students now and in the future. I'll be sharing out these comments weekly and other student perspectives as well.

"Well technology has changed my life because now every single student in the school, is holding a piece of technology (iPad) in their hands. Think of how cool that is. Now you could finish assignments much faster. Technology has also changed my life by the way that you could go on stuff now not only on the computer, but also on the iPad. The iPad is a great learning tool, by the way that it makes learning more fun. The iPad made the learning more fun not just because its right in your hands, but because you could go on apps that let you make your own projects and more." ~Sam

We are changing lives...we are impacting our students. Start something small - just a collaborative project, or even a blog. Tryout a core app today or talk with a colleague to get a conversation started. We are in this together as educators: One for All and All for One!!!

What are your ideas? Reflect, Share & Comment!!! We welcome your questions, reflections, ideas and shared collaboration as we work to make a difference in the lives of our youth of the next generation!!!

Tracy's Tuesday Tech Tip: Through the Eyes of Our Youth

Recently, there was a major technology event at our school...

For a professional development day, teachers were in charge of presenting the innovative instructional practices they use with colleagues in attendance throughout the district. All presentations were spectacular - teachers were teaming with their grade level partners, the information presented was so valid, and attendees were so inspired and motivated to try out new ideas and instructional practices utilizing technology.

It was a great morning of PD where both presenters and attendees felt empowered.

As I was driving home three students who are on our student tech team that came to help us out, we got to talking about the differences between last year (without as many technology supports) and this year (in a school where we have 1:1 iPads). I was amazed by their answers, simple, yet completely impactful for me as a teacher and tech coach:

Student 1: "I just think it's easier. We don't have to wait anymore to get onto a computer. The iPad is ours, it's our work. I know where it will be. I'm actually organized!"

Student 2: "Learning is more fun for me because things are more entertaining. It's challenging because I want to do better and get farther and I don't feel rushed anymore."

Student 3: "I like that we can take our iPads and go sit somewhere and lay on the floor or something. I'm totally comfortable learning and it's fun to share with my friends what I'm doing. It's a lot easier too."

I emailed the fourth student of our tech team the same question, and her response was, "I think we can do more with them. Create books about anything, create songs even, or a movie. And if we research and stuff it should help us."

I smiled as I read her response, just as I smiled as I was talking with the other tech team members. Kids get it. They see what the influence of technology is, and they're engaged because of it. They enjoy creating something new, and look forward to exploring the world and sharing the views they have through their eyes. They're learning, as we all are, about life, living, and it's impact on them.

I encourage school teams to develop their own student tech team - there is nothing better than kids teaching kids something new and sharing their thoughts. Please contact us if you are interested in the application, resources, and process to starting one yourself! 

They understand each other, the premise of mentoring others to learn something new. They comprehend the purpose for why we innovate, and it's even more powerful coming through their eyes, our citizens of the future, and the generation of tomorrow.