Learning at School – PLC part I

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Good afternoon PLN!

This year we’ve had an amazing opportunity to learn with staff members that I may not work with on a daily basis.  I was paired up with Science teachers, Social Studies teachers and Language Arts teachers in my building.  Our task was to dive into the world of Project Based Learning (PBL), learn and then teach what we’ve learned. Together, we’ve written this blog post to share are learning journey.

What is Project Based Learning? (Shanen)

Project based learning is a student-centered approach to learning. Students discover information through research and creation of an end product.  The project becomes the vehicle in which students learn the content knowledge. This knowledge is supported by the research and technology skills necessary to create their culminating project.

According to the High Quality Project Based Learning (HQPBL) framework, there are six areas of focus when creating a PBL for your students.

  1. Intellectual challenge and accomplishment
  2. Authenticity
  3. Public Product
  4. Collaboration
  5. Project management
  6. Reflection

This approach requires the use of multiple skills including both soft/content skills and is aligned with TEKS within curriculum or multi-disciplinary.

PBLworks.org gives you a breakdown of each part of PBL planning, it is a great resource for foundational planning resources, i.e. rubrics.

Where do I start? (Kandace)

Over the summer, I was able to dive into Hacking Project Based Learning by Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy   Starting PBL requires purposeful planning and content knowledge.  Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy do a great job highlighting important PBL understandings and problems you may run into.  Ross and Erin created a 10 ten of PBL (Dave Letterman anyone?).  Each one lays out a foundational thought for teachers, when thinking about PBL processes.  It is a super easy and beneficial read for those planning on starting PBL.

Ultimately, it is the teacher’s responsibility to create a classroom where PBL would work and risk-taking is encouraged/taught.

PBL is controlled chaos and messy.  It is also very difficult to get started if you don’t have that understanding.

This school year, we have implemented a Creativity curriculum for students who have lost an elective due to placement in a Tier III intervention class, very similar to PBL.  In this curriculum, students are expanding their ideas of creating something.  Walking through the process of what is means to stretch their minds to solve a problem.  Our students are amazing! They have come up with some super creative ideas.  In the next post, we will highlight some of the learning going on in those rooms.

If you are looking to start PBL in your classroom, here are five keys to help you think about starting.

In our next blog, we will discuss how to get started and share several resources we’ve found along the way.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Love,

#SMSPBLPLC

Shanen, Ashley, Kandace, Teri, Kendra, Lisa and Courtney

TCEA Takeaways Part II

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Good Saturday morning PLN,

It’s been two weeks since TCEA and to say they haven’t been entertaining is an understatement.  This week’s word was definitely FLEXIBLE. As any good secondary teacher knows, February is a month of change, emotion and FLEXibility.  I mean it’s love month after all.

My highlight this week was celebrating National Kindness Week.  Our school participated in dress up days and Kindness challenges all week.  It was so much fun hanging out with my @salyardsms PLN #SwashBengal.  (The last two years we have participated in challenges throughout our school that encourage us to get to know members of different curriculums and contents.) Being the competitive person I am, I may have been a little too excited to join in the twitter fun.

I am still fully charged from TCEA.  I’ve saved some good stuff for today.  @friedtechnology continues to be one of my favorite go to trainings.  No matter what they are teaching, I can get some amazing Googly Information/tips and tricks.

I went to @B_OutoftheBox and @friEdTechAmy‘s session but there were so many.  If you were not able to attend TCEA, join their newsletter (they shared all other sessions), youtube, twitter, etc.  One of my favorites (there were many), was Escape PD by Amy Mayer.  OMG! Mind-blowing. One of the things I took aways was if you can’t make teachers show their work, they aren’t going to participate in the PD. This is so true.  Think about recent PD, what did you not like about it.  I hate when people talk at me. 

So what do you do:

MAKE IT RELEVANT.  Teachers don’t want to be sitting in boring PD where nothing is accomplished. Ask your teachers what they want to learn and then put it into practice. Google offers so many ways to learn and we need to help our teachers keep up with the changes in technology.

  • Challenge based learning – use technology to have teachers complete a challenge.  Have them create a Google Keep/Blog to share over their learning.
  • Hyperdocs – Have teachers complete a process and then share.  Use the hyperdoc to instruct their learning.  Hyperdocs in slides are sooo cool. Did you know that you can use the grey space in Google Slides? Put your instructions there and create a template for information to be filled in.
  • Infographics – walk teachers through professional development skills using infographics.  One of my teachers and I talked about how to get teachers hooked in to PD.  What if each infographic contained a skill and once teachers completed/posted that skill they earned a badge.  That would be so much fun and so competitive.  Who doesn’t want a badge?!?

These are just a few of our notes from Escape boring PD.  What are some things that you enjoy for PD? What PD did you learn the most out of?

Have a great weekend!

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TCEA19 Takeaways

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Hey Hey PLN!

It’s been a LOOONG while since I blogged and to be honest it feels good to be back at it, challenging myself to get my act together and share my voice.

I had the privilege of attending TCEA 2019 in San Antonio, TX.  Due to school commitments, I was only able to make it Thursday and Friday this year.  But, whoa! Only staying for a day and a half was still AMAZING and energizing.  I attended with some super colleagues @hajdik, @jana_echols, and @bpierron1 (if you don’t follow them, you should).

With such a short time to visit, I only received a few takeaways but they were mindblowing.

TCEA Takeaways:

  1. We are moving in the right direction! My campus has seen an explosion of blended learning.  We are have pushed boundaries and allowed our teachers to be risk takers and have seen some amazing things. With that, student engagement has increased.  But we aren’t done yet, we have to keep going and keep learning.  That is why I like TCEA, because I learn something new every year.
  2. Google is still amazing! Did you know that you can fancify your Googly stuff with Color Palettes!  I know… I was shocked too.  Pretty sure I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.  (P.S. there are gradient options too).  I became OBSESSED with the ColorPick eyedropper extension last year, but I struggled to use it creatively.  This year, I found PALETTES! Thanks to @B_OutoftheBox and @lexilynnlaw. 

    There are so many websites you can use!  Here are a few:

  3. PBL doesn’t have to be a big ordeal! My last day, I spent an 1.5 hour with @mguhlin.  He’s amazing.  He had us group together and practice working with PBL in short segments, in Texas History (seriously, this is a game changer).  I loved how we could focus on something specific and broad at the same time.  It was functional and super entertaining.  My group and I created an infographic discussing the competition between Historic Texas Cattle Ranches.  Texas History with a Twist

He’s got so many great things on his website: https://ly.tcea.org/ccp  Check it out! I used a free Twitter generator to create the tweets.

In short, it was a great 48 hours(ish).  I’m so glad that our leadership team allows teachers and curriculum teams to grow and continue learning.  Can’t wait to learn more.  I hopefully will make more time to blog in the near future.

I love my PLN!

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Book Review: Culturize

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Culturize Book Cover

“Every Student. Every Day. Whatever It Takes.”

One of the most important lessons I have learned this year has been to take control of my own personal professional development. As education, continues to shift towards individualized instruction and an idea of Future Ready schools, it is more important today to take control of our PD.  We are charged with the greatest task, preparing our students for a future they deserve.

I recently finished Culturize by Jimmy Casas.  It was one of the best reads that I have ever gone through and a book for every professional to read. In his book, Jimmy Casas, forces the question – Is your school average? Are you average? It is an inspiring and thoughtful read.  There are four distinct thoughts Jimmy walks us through in his book: 1) Champion for Students, 2) Expect Excellence, 3) Carry the Banner, and 4) Be a Merchant of Hope.

Here are my thoughts and take aways from Jimmy’s book, Culturize.

My Post

  1. It’s all about relationships – we have to strive to be our very best for every student and staff member in the building.  We have to dig deep, not settle and be right along side each person we encounter.  Every stakeholder (Students, staff, support staff, and parents) are apart of our school culture. We have to personally invest.
  2. Titles do not make the leader.  Leadership is not an island, even though it can feel like it at times. Take risks, be a change agent, show joy and passion, be clear and concise, and believe.  We have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going.  Don’t be afraid to fail forward and share! Be reflective and MODEL, MODEL, MODEL.  If no-one showed you, you have to show others.
  3. Your school is what matters most. Whatever you tolerate will define your school and your culture. Every interaction is a moment to inspire positivity.
  4. We are the only positive some might see.  “The most effective educators didn’t become a teacher or principal to help others be successful. They did it to change the environment and the conditions so they could have the best chance to be successful.” – Jimmy Casas

Culturize does a great job reminding us that change is up to us.  Days and moments are hard, but we are in this job for reason.  Keep going! Keep pushing forward and make the most of the moments you have.  No matter your role in the school, you make it what you want.  What do you want your role to be?

I’ll leave you with my favorite TED Talk from Dr. Rita Pierson –

TCEA 2018

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TCEA 2018 with my @salyardsms T’s

Hey, hey, readers!  I apologize for the hiatus, but it has been a crazy few weeks re-adjusting to life post TCEA.  I have taken some time to really try and digest what I’ve learned.  Let’s just say wow!

I had the distinct honor to learn from some of the best in Texas and from around the world at TCEA 2018.  It was well worth it.  My biggest take-away from TCEA was that we have to adapt to the changing world around us for our students.  We will leave them behind if we do not take the time to truly embrace their world and infuse it into what they do at school.

What does that mean?  Generation Z is unlike any before them.  They have been born into a world where they have not known technology or what technology looks like.  Having been exposed to a fast pace, immediate information world from birth.  This fast paced generation and information world has caused me to rethink how we teach.

I left the classroom 5 years ago.  In that 5 years, teaching has changed dramatically and I’ve watched teacher after teacher embrace the change.  At TCEA, I was exposed to educator after educator taking the best of what Generation Z has to offer and infusing it into their classroom.  Teachers have to become facilitators in their students learning.  We have to be the driving force to change them from complaint learners to students who take ownership of their learning, solving problems yet to occur.

Teachers be inspired to think outside of the box.  To move past the coloring lines that have boxed in education from the past.  Push your students to learn, not memorize.  We have the extraordinary chance to influence passionate learners by the way we teach them.  What was my biggest take away from TCEA? Be passionate and don’t be afraid to change the way you teach.

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Passion fueling Passion

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On Monday night, I went to a girls only bible study.  Our topic: PASSION.  I was asked these 2 questions: What is one thing I am really good at? What do people affirm me for?  I definitely stuttered through my answers and threw out the first thing that popped in my mind.
I can’t believe I couldn’t articulate any answers.  If I can’t think of answers to these two questions, can students? (Insert mind blown emoji here!)
If you know these answers you must have a handle on your passions.
Passion is defined as an intense desire or enthusiasm for something. We were all born with a passion.  To chase after something.  It’s something rooted deep down in our soul, put there by the Creator, only to be projected out when we seek after it.
Passion when ignited can be powerful and exciting. That fire will light up any dark room and kindle flames around you.
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Christine Caine says, “when passion fades, your focus has shifted one degree.”  She discussed that when a pilot charts a course for the airplane to go i.e. Europe, he has to stay on course. If that pilot drifts one degree off, he/she will land in Asia.
In today’s classroom, it is so easy to drift one degree.  We have curriculum to follow, initiatives to put in place, paperwork to process, something new, etc., etc. etc.  Educators are being asked more and more to shift their degrees. And we do, we have to get stuff done however, we can lose sight of our why and our passion extinguishes.
I recently watched a video by @PrinceEA, titled A Brand New Ending and its powerful.  I’ve posted the video below.
 
What was/is your dream? What dream has you? What dream chose you?  10 year old me, may or may not have wanted to be a vet. However, in high school, I was truly inspired by my World History history teacher, Ms. Hahn.  Her infectious joy of teaching captured my heart and I started down a path that I will never turn back from.  #ThankYouMsHahn.
I am excited about the going on in education. Despite the everyday pull to shift our focus, we are starting to really dive into blended learning and individualized learning. I can’t wait to share all of my TCEA knowledge. I want to push students to take ownership in their learning.  I want to make learning fun and purposeful.  I want students to consume knowledge and create.  Those are the dreams of all passionate educators.  We want to push our students into the future, ready to take on any challenge that comes their way. We have an advantage to fuel our students’ passions.  It’s time to be passionate about our students’ passions.
What are some things you are doing to actively engage your students passion?  Feel free to share! I need ideas.  Genius hour anyone?

Risk Takers

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The 2017-2018 school year has had a theme for me.  I entered my fourth year as an At-Risk Specialist, at a middle school in Texas.  The last school year, presented many challenges, but was defined by loss.   I wanted a change at the end of last year.  Do things differently.  Find my purpose, reclaim my why.
Professional Development has always been my niche.  However, as a baby administrator, professional development seemed to wane.  Was it time? Constraints of my job? Who new… But at the beginning of the 17-18 school year, I was ready for a change. I wasn’t considerably unhappy with my current position, but there was a funk.  I needed to do things differently.  The monotony of my role was wearing me thin and I was tired of going through the motions.

Where does one look when they are in need of change? JOB POSTINGS… there were none.  People I had grown close to were moving on professionally, so naturally I thought it was my turn too.  I was patient, waiting for my turn to see what door would be open next, but no doors were opened.

In the meantime, change was inevitable.  I needed my spark again, I needed my why.  You have two choices when you feel stuck: embrace the change or remain stuck. For me it was no choice, put one foot in front of the other and begin walking.

I began to embrace new technology (Google Apps for Education) and began participating in a book study: Innovator’s Mindset by George Couros.  All the while, a flame was lit and the seed of risk-taking was taking root. Inspiration leads to change and I was seeing that everywhere.

 

With a combination of being surrounded by inspired educators (@Joe_Sanfelippo, @BethHouf, @O_L_Mayers, @meredithakers, and many more…) and reading Innovator’s Mindset, I began taking in idea, after idea.Based on conversations with one of my best friends, I changed my Twitter privacy settings (@MrsBTeachs). I began to embrace Google Apps and went through the Level 1 certification training. Enamored with the idea of doing things differently, throwing myself into ideas surrounding Blended Learning and individualized instruction.

George Couros is clear, in order for teachers to do things differently, administrators have to risk first.  We have to model risk taking and that was clear.  Sign me up.  I’m in.  This year, especially, has had a theme.  It’s time to take a risk, join the group of inspired teachers and administrators everywhere to put the innovator inside on display.  I’ve been turned down from two different positions in this year of change and one thing is clear rejection, in any form is not fun, but I’ve learned a whole lot by taking those risks.  We have to put ourselves out there and have to fail forward to make real change happen.
Thank you to George Couros for inspiring me to be better where I’m at.  Thank you to those educators around the world that put their students first. Thank you to my core group for pushing my comfort zone and picking me up when I fail forward.  I’m putting one foot in front of the other during this incredible journey.  Let the risk taking begin…