We're All In This Together

The title of my post may be misleading. Let me explain:

Over the past year, I have worked with fantastic educators, locally and across the USA (and the world!). This month, though, is a time for change in education.A time when we see colleagues and friends move on  to other district, jobs, or to Florida for those who are hanging it up for good. It is one of the hardest months for me because each and every year, I see co-workers move own to greener (and sometimes not so greener) pastures. some in education and some out of it entirely. Just this past month, my district lost its Superintendent and a few great teachers to other districts. 

It has been an up and down month. One where you want to write about it but don't know how to get those feelings out.

Being on vacation this week has allowed me to unwind a bit and of course, that is when the ideas start coming in. Today was one of those days that just grabs you. You know, a day when all of the ideas you have been trying to work on for the past few months come rushing at you like a title wave of energy and excitement. A day when you weren't expecting productivity but found it in the strangest of places. 

My strange place happened to be on the couch, watching the Disney channel.

I was flipping through the channels and for some reason, the movie "High School Musical" was on. For some other reason, I stopped clicking and decided to watch it right as their big dance number was up, entitled "We're All in This Together." If you haven't heard the song, check it out online. It's catchy and a good summer time jam. 

That song, that title, their energy reminded me of what we in education did this year. It reminded me about how I truly felt about the educators we lost this year to attrition, movement, or retirement. 

I wasn't sad, angry, or upset. It just clicked. It just all made sense. This isn't a month of mourning, its a month of endless possibilities. 

We are all fighting the same fight, we are all in this together- FOR THE KIDS. 

While it's bittersweet that I am losing some great co-workers, I am happy by the prospect that I now have friends and colleagues in other districts. These are new connections that were not there last year. My mind is already spinning with the possibility of cross-district planning, projects, and events! 

I am also excited to see the new crop of educators who will come through those doors with that "students-first" mentality and energy that knows no bounds. 


Even though the halls may be empty now, my mind is FULL is ideas. Thanks, Disney Channel.

PS - for your viewing pleasure...

Just to be nominated...

Through ups and downs, highs and lows, I have always found solace and comfort in knowing that I was not alone in my journey in education. Whether it be my great colleagues at Green Brook Township Public Schools, my family, friends, or my ever growing PLN (personal learning network), I knew I could count on them for an ear, a hand, or a heart. 

After watching Frozen with my daughter for the first time on Sunday night (yes, I know, we are a little behind in our movie watching, jeez, just LET IT GO), I got an e-mail that I was nominated for a 2014 Bammy Award for School Technologist! My great friend and colleague, Jay Eitner, Superintendent of Lower Alloways Creek, had nominated me for this prestigious award. Even though the winning would be great, I am honored and appreciative just to be nominated!

Nuggling watching Frozen!

If you don't know what a Bammy Award is or what they are all about, take a look:

What the Bammy Award is, what it is not

"The Bammy Award is based on the notion that collaboration, making a contribution and making a difference is more significant than personal achievements. Consequently, a Bammy Award is not a statement or measure of the honoree’s superior professional performance, abilities, credentials, qualifications, certifications, professional accomplishments or personal achievements (though all of these may be relevant).  Ultimately, all individuals are being honored for their contributions. Consequently, making the short list or ultimately receiving a Bammy Award is a community-wide honor for being an exceptional contributor, not a statement of superiority or a badge of victory. The word "winner" is simply out of step with the spirit of the Bammy Awards.

Congruent with the spirit and intent of the program, all participants and honorees acknowledge that a Bammy Award  cannot be “won.” That the term “won” should not be used in referring to the Bammy Award, and that the use of the word “win”or "winner" when referencing the award or the recipient  is a breach of the spirit of the awards."

 
I urge YOU to nominate others who have contributed to education in a way that has helped change the game! 
You can certainty vote for me here, but take a look at all the other great nominees as well! Thank you so very much for your kind support! :)

http://www.bammyawards.com/

iPad Summit Recap

"I don't know how to do this, I never received Professional Development on it" - said No Student, Ever. (Thanks +Tom Murray for the great quote)

iPad SUMMIT 2013

I recently held two summits in our district. These summits were designed to focus on learning and best practices with iPads, iOS, apps, and technology in general.

Many a twitter chat, blog post, and podcast as of late has been about a call to arms to actively take back PD (professional development) from the one hour, one day, one time slate of PD that has been given and change it into something more authentic and useful for teachers. This call to arms has also put its cross hairs on technology PD and the problems there within.

Technology has been one of the biggest criminals when it came to the one hour, one time sort of PD. I, myself, have been the victim and a suspect with receiving and giving this sort of tech PD. I'm not proud of it and of course, hindsight is 20/20; but now our foresight should encompass this as well. We shouldn't give PD about a what a tech is. Rather, we should be giving them all the time on WHY the tech is essential to unlocking learning and engagement in students and HOW it is transforming our culture, schools, and the way we teach/learn. My good friends at #edtechchat and #edchat have spoken about this at length with  +Tom Whitby and +Nancy Blair speaking about this specific change in their podcast.

If educators stop learning and trying new things, what message does that send to our students? Thankfully, I have some great educators in my district that are always willing to learn.

How can we make school look more like life? Summits like these help us mix the paints together. 

I wanted to take that model and truly help out my teachers. I wanted to make the technology less about the technology and more about the learning, engagement, and excitement that can come from it. I wanted to make this iPad summit about not just apps, but about the collaboration, creation, and communication that can happen with them and the transformation of student learning that can come from using them.

Using my trusty brain, my resources, and my PLN, here is the presentation:

We focused on three areas - function, purpose, and apps. This tiered strategy helped those who needed some basics with the iPad and gave those with experience some purpose: they helped out their colleagues who needed it, just like I would have my students do. 

To show off how to get to certain parts, I used AirServer via AirPlay. If you don't know what that is, take a look at my prior post about it - http://tinyurl.com/m64ptnj

We shared tips and tricks, looked at how to import and export and even talked about how the iPad can be used to help learners with disabilities by going through the accessibility functions within the device. We used the iPad as a document camera and shared what we were working on (we were all connected at once!) with the rest of the groups and some fantastic education ideas came out of just that. Imagine you students working on a document and then sharing it with the class. Have multiple students to this would truly bring communication and innovation to the forefront. Finally, we stopped at guided access, which really was a fantastic area for some teachers when it came to locking the iOS in a certain app to use during centers or the like. 

Finally, we looked at just a few apps that were really high on the SAMR scale. These included:

• Explain Everything
• E-Backpack
• Class Dojo
• Google Drive
• PuppetPals HD
• BrainPOP
• Google Maps
• and more... 

But it wasn't about the apps. It wasn't even about iPads. It was still about learning and the students. Shedding the light on why technology has failed in the past and where we need to go as a population of educators to prevent those pitfalls from happening in the future. I had teachers and educators of all content levels, backgrounds, and grades. Experience with tech, teaching, or iPads was not necessary and I had teachers that were vets and those who were new share ideas with each other. And that is the true purpose of PD. It's not about learning something once and never talking about it again, its about learning something, talking about it with your peers, and taking it and making it your own so that your students benefit from it. 

Truth be told, I didn't know how it was going to go. I thought the summits may have bomb.

After three minutes in each one, the educators in them let me know - they want more, they want to learn, and they are eager. 

App-O-Da-Week #7

It's that time of the week again!

It's APP-O-DA-WEEK time! 

Thanks for coming back! We are going for nearly two months now. We have brought you both paid and free apps but this app is a bit different... it's both. 

The app that we will be highlighting this week is called "Puppet Pals."

Now, this app is free but to access all the content, you do have to pay for an upgraded version. These apps are generally refered to as "freemium apps" because they rope you in the the FREE word but then make you purchase more to access everything you want to. 

You might be saying to yourself that this is a waste of a FREE app - and most times, you would be correct. But, I would also argue that the paid version of Puppet Pals, which is $2.99, is well worth the investment. The full version is called "Puppet Pals Directors Pass" and you get a lot with it. 

This app allows you to create free puppet shows with user created or app created content. You can do voice overs  move characters around, and create some seriously wicked presentations! The app is easy to use and is one of those creation and collaboration apps that can be scaled for any age group from grades K-12.

Here is how the app makers describe their own app via http://tinyurl.com/a9deaat:

STAR IN YOUR OWN CARTOON in this creative, award-winning app!

Kids and adults alike love the simplicity of puppeteering and voicing characters while creating movies to share.

Simply pick out your actors and backdrops, drag them on to the stage, and tap record. Your movements and audio will be recorded in real time for playback later. 

This app is as fun as your own creativity. Act out a story of Pirates on the high seas, fight as scary monsters, or play the part of a Wild West bandit on the loose. You can even combine any characters however you want! 

Your creations are only limited by your imagination!

FEATURES 

- Create an actor from a photo

- Use a photo as a backdrop for your storytelling

- zoom and rotate your characters using two fingers

- flip them around with a double tap

- a wide variety of creative characters to download (including famous talk show hosts and politicians)

- limitless possibilities of story creations

All in all, its a pretty great app. Students can get engaged and tell stories using premade characters or they can take pictures and put themselves in the story! Other in app-purchases may set you back some but the basics should keep people coming back!