To Learn Twice

On May 8th  Tech Learning Live Chicago   comes to the Lincolnshire Marriott. Among the many other topics being presented at this one-day conference, I will be co-moderating a session that will look at “Leading for Transformative Change.” I will join a group of district leaders who will discuss the ideas, people, and resources needed to spark movements that result in new directions for schools. It is interesting to see how similar and different these mixtures can be. Over the past five years, under the leadership of Dr. Ken Wallace, our schools have helped lead the way in becoming a successful 1:1 Chromebook school district. As we have progressed, we have been active in sharing our successes and challenges through hosting site visits, sharing our resources, and presenting at conferences. In all of these interactions, I’ve learned that no school has the same formula to create a successful 1:1 program. Each has its own set of transformative ingredients to find success. However, t...

February and March have been busy months for Technology and Education Conferences and several staff members in Maine Township 207 have been actively presenting. Listed below are the conferences and our presenters. Those staff members marked with an asterisk are Google Certified Educators. If you are looking for a presenter on one of the topics search for anyone below. Illinois Computing Educators Conference - February 24-27 Aida Awad *: Workshop - Google Apps in the Collaborative Classroom Michael Biondo *: ICE Teacher of the Year, Workshop - Five Fantastic Features of Formative Assessment and Supporting Tech Tools, Breakout - Engage! Using Google Apps to Enhance Learning Neil Charlet *: Workshop - Chrome-ology: Getting the most out of your Chromebook David Fermanich : Workshop - Google Forms and Autocrat, Breakout - Peardeck, a tech tool for formative assessments Allison Gest *: Breakout - Engage! Using Google Apps to Enhance Learning Jim Gubbins : Breakout: Make Your ...

This post is in response to: Grant Wiggins' post " 5 unfortunate misunderstandings that almost all educators have about Bloom’s Taxonomy " (also left as a comment on the blog). This post strongly mirrors a presentation (http://goo.gl/jr72Fz - start at slide 29 for information related to this post) I recently gave that focused on the Affective Domain - the Second Domain that the group that Bloom chaired published (see image above). I love this quote from Bloom about Book 1:  "One of the most widely cited yet least read books in American education"  I believe that by focusing solely on the Cognitive Domain with limited understanding of its purpose, and not taking the time to understand the true scope of what the three domains were trying to uncover about measuring learning, that we have done a great disservice to students and teachers in regards to the arts of learning and teaching. At the same time we have over simplified what it takes to measure maste...

Over the past few months, I have been sitting in on some focus groups comprised of teachers who have worked in a 1:1 setting for more than a year. A constant theme has been rising out of these conversations: differentiation works in a 1:1 environment. This goes against the reasoning of a recent  EdWeek article  that claims that a “mixture of students with varying abilities in one classroom causes even the most experienced and conscientious teachers to flinch, as they know the task of reaching each child is an impossible one.” I hate to think that we would give up on kids so easily. I believe today’s tools make understanding and providing support for each student possible. Our teachers use tools like Google Forms,  PearDeck ,  Socrative , and  EduCanon   for quick formative assessments that show where their students' skills are so they can adjust lessons as needed. The combination of the device and assessment tools provides the pathway to differentiation tha...

An insightful post  by Dominic Manola on a disturbing meeting of individuals that were discussing "the impact of social media during a school crisis". It isn't just disturbing that we have to have meetings about school crisis, it is the fact that it turned into another one of those "the problem with kids today is technology so ban it and the problems will go away" meetings. Here is what history has taught us: 1. Once a modern invention/idea/convenience has taken hold in common culture (indoor plumbing, books, electricity, radio, TV, credit cards, Internet) and as displaces, enhances, or fills a void that was there before schools must eventually respond to its arrival. 2. Schools, which were built to resist change, will resist the change - driven by paranoid adults and experts (and those invested in the old) - usually by discrediting, banning, and citing that the innovation is doomed to fail (see inkwells vs. ballpoint pens 1815-1950 ). 3. Society will quic...

Recently, my 8-year-old and I had a conversation about his recent trip to the school library where he was shocked to learn that there was a special section of books that he could not check out and take home. The conversation went something like this: Son: “What is an encyclopedia and why is it so special that we can’t borrow one?” Me: “They are books that contain information and facts about things you might be interested in. You go there to get started learning about something” Son: “Like Wikipedia” Me: “Exactly!” Son: “Who would be crazy enough to print out all of Wikipedia?” After I recovered from my dumbfounded look, I was reminded how perspective and experience define our understanding of the world. From the view of a child today, a printed encyclopedia is crazy. When I was a kid, the encyclopedia was an amazing book where you could learn about “anything.” Same book, two interpretations of value based on experience. When was the last time you took a look at the world form someone e...

I have been working on the next presentation in my  Technology Learning for Leaders Series and this session focuses on Google Forms and Sheets to Power Up Data In my preparation for this session I made five documents that I am quite please with how they turned out. My goal was everything someone would need to know to really work with spreadsheets and data in schools, from basic to advanced, to make sense of data (short of Google Scripts). Here are the initial documents Basic Spreadsheet Terminology Basic Google Spreadsheet Formulas Everyone Will Want Know Text Google Spreadsheet Formulas Everyone Will Want Know Intermediate Google Spreadsheet Formulas Everyone Should Want Know Advanced Google Spreadsheet Formulas Someone Might Want to Know I am sure these will grow over time. Let me know if you think I should add anything in the comments. Hank