To Learn Twice

Beyond the many specific lessons educators took back with them from  #ISTE2015 , I observed the following big-picture trends that indicated some major shifts in thinking in K-12 edtech: •  Sessions on tools are lame and should be avoided.  The days of telling people where to click in sessions are no longer valuable. There are YouTube videos for that now. Show me what you are doing with it and how it impacts instruction. Even better, show me what your students are doing with it. Have your students come tell me about it--in person, virtually, or on video. • We are entering the age of the instructional coach.  Schools are finally figuring out that tools are only good if your teachers are using them effectively. Coaching will be an area where we invest a lot of time and energy over the next 5 years. Tools to help with coaching are starting to heat up too. • Stories are gathering importance.  Yes, testing is here to stay, but leaders and communities want to hear ho...

Welcome to the end of the school year--the last final weeks until your students go out to whatever comes next: the next grade, college, or work-life. I believe there are two things you should invest your time in during these final weeks: reflecting and challenging. Although this time of the year is insanely busy, take some time to reflect on what you accomplished this year and take some satisfaction in your success. Sketch out some notes on how to keep improving into the next year. Challenge yourself to head into the next few months laying groundwork for taking your craft to the next level. Then challenge those around you to do the same. Provide opportunities for your students, or those you supervise, to reflect, provide feedback, and set goals. Then open up your digital calendar or task list and pick a day in the fall when you are going to follow up. Then next fall, reach out to those you influenced this year to double your impact. Those 4th graders are going to be amazed when their 3...

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...