#mnedchat live via Twitter and HOA

Last night, we tried something new as a part of our normal, Twitter-based #mnedchat.  We wanted to draw on the idea that everyone is an expert and has expertise to share, and at the same time, add a new dimension to our chat.  So, we decided to host a Hangout on Air with a panel of local educators who were interested in / passionate about this week's topic: creative learning spaces.  The Twitter side of #mnedchat continued to serve as a space for conversation, sharing, and questioning, and in addition, also had the added layer of acting as a backchannel for the HOA.

A group of us worked together to come up with the chat's questions, put together a doc for inspiring resources on creative learning spaces, and collaborated on a vision for how the HOA and Twitter conversations would come together to make sure as many #mnedchat participants' voices as possible could be heard.

It was such an energizing event to be a part of!  Here are a few of my reflections after the fact...

• It was so fun to see, hear, and be a part of the interaction between the Twitter chat and the HOA. Shout outs/mentions, retweets, questions, answers, and conversations happened across both mediums, and made for an in-depth discussion of ideas around creative learning spaces.   
• I was glad the HOA panel was comprised of local educators who were passionate about the topic. I think it would have changed the tone if we would have featured a world-renowned expert instead.  I liked that it felt casual and that the panelists were regular #mnedchat participants with ideas to share.  I hope that this feeling 
• Next time, I would like to strike more of a balance between the HOA and the Twitter chat.  I was moderator of the HOA this time, and so found myself focusing a lot on the discussion there.  Next time, I would like to be better about tweeting out the ideas that really resonated with me during the chat so that I could have a quick reference of those ideas later.
• Another aspect I would do differently next time would be to pay better attention to the Q&A feature through HOA.  After the chat ended, I realized that there were three questions in our Q&A that I never brought up during the hangout.  The Q&A is such a cool feature, and it was exciting that people were using it to ask questions!  Next time, I will have that feature up within my hangout screen so I can more closely monitor it.

I'd like to give shout out to the group of amazing people who helped plan and facilitate #mnedchat last night: +Nicholas Christensen,  +Caleb Lee , +Kimberly Hurd Horst , +Brian Boothe , +Shaelynn Farnsworth .  A huge thank you, also, to all who participated in #mnedchat last night - thanks for all of the great ideas and conversation!  I feel so fortunate to have such an awesome PLN.

If you missed the event, feel free to check it out whenever you'd like:

Check out a summary of Tweets from #mnedchat via +Kimberly Hurd Horst 

Also, please feel free to add to our collaborative resource list on creative learning spaces:

We also created a Padlet for people to post ideas on how to transform a 'traditional' classroom space into a creative and innovative learning environment.  Check it out (and add your own ideas) here:

http://padlet.com/wall/mnedchat12814

Thanks again for tuning in, everyone!

Taking Coding and Programming to the Next Level

The way I see it, it all starts with curiosity and a challenge.  How do I move this from one spot to another?  How many steps will it take me to move it?





That's all it takes for many of us to get hooked - on a game, an activity, or a real-life task -- our brains go to work trying to plan out the most efficient course of action.  And when that doesn't work, we reflect, redesign, and re-try.

Many students, classes, and grade levels in my school participated in the Hour of Code in December, 2013....and an hour was only the beginning for most!  Students and staff alike had a blast helping out Angry Bird on Code.org, designing a holiday card with Scratch, and solving all kinds of coding puzzles on Tynker.

Some students had already tried out Scratch, others had done block-based programming in our 6th grade Robotics unit using LEGO Mindstorms NXT Video Trainer, but most of the 1st through 6th graders who tried programming through the Hour of Code had never done it before.  And, they definitely didn't want to stop after an hour or a week.

Beyond the students' and teachers' enthusiasm for coding and programming, I saw some pretty awesome results during the Hour of Code at our school.  Here are a few of my favorites:

• students reflected on and persevered through failure to reach a goal
• students collaborated with one another to discuss ideas, challenges, and questions
• older students acted as coding and programming mentors to younger students to help them talk through ideas...without giving away the answers 

So, I'd like to take coding and programming to the next level in our school.  I am organizing a recess coding and programming group, and am working with teachers to incorporate coding and programming into lessons, units, and as options for student choice.  I am also working to connect with other educators who are expanding beyond the Hour of Code in their school through Twitter and Google +.


 A few informational / inspirational resources on taking coding and programming beyond the Hour of Code:

I came across an article on 3 ways to continue coding after the Hour of Code that discussed some great options, including the tons of resources and activities available through Code.org; a coding app through Edmodo called LearnStreet, and ideas for offering PD that focuses on the value of coding across curriculum.

Here's a great article by Kevin Hodgson on learning coding in writing class - he makes great points about the importance of understanding how technology works and actively gaining the skills that can help to bridge the gap between technology consumers to technology creators.  I also love the parallel he draws between coding and composition (I'm a language geek at heart, after all) -- great points for incorporating coding and programming into language arts, among other subject areas.

Lastly, I recently read a blog post by Rae Fearing about how her 5th graders used the Hopscotch app to create a game and share it with their 1st grade buddies - pretty awesome!  I'd love to try this out with my recess coding and programming group.

What are your favorite resources for coding and programming with students?

How are you continuing beyond the Hour of Code?

I'd love to hear your ideas - feel free to leave a comment below!

Blogging in the new year

Hey 2014, let's get blogging... A new year, a fresh perspective, a renewed vision.

The past couple of years, as an ELL teacher, I had a pretty clear sense of my blogging focus: ed tech tools and resources that enhanced English language teaching and learning.  It was a specific topic, and I found my blogging rhythm (fairly) quickly.  This year, in my new position as a technology integration specialist, it's been harder for me to focus in on one specific theme for my blog....and as a result, I haven't quite established my blogging routine...yet.

Over winter break, I had a chance to do some reflecting on my blog and the direction I'd like to take it in the new year.   I realized that there are basically three kinds of ed tech blog posts that I love to read, talk about, and write:

• content curation, reflection, and response
• successes and/or failures with an app, tool, or resource
• content generation, brainstorming, creative expression

So, I've decided to use those three categories as guides to help me focus my blogging in 2014.

And what better time to start...than the present.

http://sociallysorted.com.au/
wp-content/uploads/2013/08/
Canva-Image-.jpg

One of my favorite techie tools out there is a free graphic design website called Canva.  Although this site was not designed specifically for educators, I have loved using it to help me design and publish graphics for presentations, posters, websites, my blog, logos, and even my family holiday card.  I love graphic design, and have been on the look-out for an easy-to-use, free graphics resource.  It is currently in Beta and in order to use it, you sign up for an invite - I got mine in a day or two.











Pros:
Canva currently provides templates for 11 different design platforms / sizes:

• Business card
• Invitation
• Poster
• Photo collage
• Card 
• Social media
• Facebook cover image
• Blog graphic
• Presentation
• Document
• Christmas card

Once you choose a design type, you have over 1,000,000 images to choose from to build your design.  Most are free - those that aren't free cost $1.00.

You can customize your design by changing the color, text, size, layout, combination, and alignment of the different images.

You can share your design directly to Twitter and Facebook, you can email a link to it, or you can download it to your computer to print or share.

You can give your friends instant access to Canva once you sign up - sharing really is caring when you find an awesome resource.

Cons:

At this point, the only con I've discovered while using Canva is that it doesn't yet have an EDU version to make sure the graphics are filtered for student use.  Even so, I love it as a tool for my own teaching and graphic design, and highly recommend that you give Canva a try!

What are your blogging resolutions for 2014?  

How do you structure and focus your blog?  

Have you tried out Canva or another, similar tool?  

I'd love to hear from you - please share your comments below!

The Power of Connecting through Student Blogs

I am a people person.  I love to share, connect and collaborate on a daily (even hourly) basis - I find it energizing, inspiring and validating...and it helps me to learn and grow, both as a professional and as a person.  I am constantly amazed by the awesome things my colleagues are doing, and am grateful to have a PLN that is made up of people from various areas of expertise.

I was in a training about a month ago where the presenter mentioned a survey he had given to the leaders of various companies.  The survey asked about the top skills companies look for in new employees.  Any guesses about the responses?  The top answers given were... the ability to collaborate, and good communication skills.  These are skills we need to model, develop, and encourage in our students across content areas.

At the beginning of the school year, all of the staff members at my school are asked to share a hope and dream for the school year.  My hope centered around giving students opportunities to share their learning in meaningful ways (check out my video below to hear it first-hand).


When students share their learning with others, I find that they take ownership over what they know - and what they still don't know.  They are reflective and thoughtful about what to share and how to communicate it.  They collaborate on building a better understanding of the concept before, during, and after sharing.

Enter 6th grade math class.  A 6th grade teacher, +Mary R Moran, and I began co-teaching math last year, and together decided to be very intentional about teaching the academic language associated with the math concepts we were teaching, as we had many English learners in our class (I was the ELL teacher), as well as other students who seemed to have gaps in their understanding of basic math concepts.  We wanted to provide our students with an authentic audience for practicing the vocabulary they were learning, and we wanted to find a way to archive and share all that each student was doing.  So, we had each student create a math blog.  Students posted math reflections and work samples on their blogs, and then commented on one another's blog posts to ask questions, share information or make connections with what they read.  It was a great experience.  The students took pride in what they posted to their own blogs, and really enjoyed commenting on each others' blogs.  In addition, they had meaningful, authentic opportunities to share and practice their developing math vocabulary and understanding of mathematical concepts, and we could see their confidence in themselves and their math abilities grow as the year went on.

When this year began, Mary and I knew we definitely wanted the students to create math blogs.  But this year, we wanted to take connecting to the next level.  We started searching for other classes that were doing math blogs in an effort to encourage students to connect beyond the walls of the classroom.  On Twitter, I came across an awesome site called Mathleteblogs.com - a site by @MathletePearce where student math bloggers can connect and share their math learning.

Image from Mathleteblogs.com

The students are so excited to connect with other students from around the world on Mathleteblogs.com!  They've already started exploring and leaving comments on the other students' math blogs.  (We discussed the blogging golden rule:  You have to give comments to get comments.)  They also discovered their blogs' stats and audience tracking feature and are really excited to see that people from around the world are checking out their math learning -- talk about an authentic audience!

The power of connecting has been very evident already this year with this group of 6th grade math students.  They work hard to master 6th grade math concepts, they reflect on their learning, including strengths and challenges, they archive and share their learning on math blogs, and they deepen their understanding and increase their confidence by connecting and collaborating with students around the world through blogging.

How do students in your school connect and share their learning?  

Leave a comment below!

Would you like to connect with our math bloggers?  

Check them out here: http://d279.us/math6blogs

Balance is Key

It's hard to believe it's almost November -- the first few months of school have flown by, and at times, I feel like I've hit a stride in my new position as a technology integration specialist.  At the same time, there are definitely days when I feel I am still just beginning to figure out my new role.

As I transition and adapt to my new job, I am learning and realizing more about myself than I had realized I would - for example, I have always been an idea person.  I love to brainstorm and collaborate on new ideas and I love to be a part of putting the ideas into practice.  The flip side of this is that I'm not fond of missing out on opportunities to collaborate, and I don't like to say no.  It only took a week straight of not having time to eat lunch for me to realize I need to carve out time to eat each day...or it might not happen (lunch and prep are great times to meet and collaborate with classroom teachers!).  Did I mention I'm an extrovert?!

So, I'm striving to find balance.

http://www.seemsartless.com/photos/full/rock-balance.jpg

A balance between time to collaborate and time to work, create, and complete tasks on my own.  A balance between saying yes and saying no -- or, maybe, I can't at that time.

Balance between learning and reflecting;
           gathering new ideas and implementing;
                                          big ideas and the details.


The hardest area for me to find balance has been in setting limits with work after hours to honor the time I want to dedicate to my home life  (I love to cook, but haven't been able to during the week for a while....and there's been a mounting pile of laundry staring me down for the past several days...).  I am striving to find balance.

How do you find balance?  How to you maintain it?  Is there an app for that?

Thanks for sharing your ideas and comments below!

Failing in Public

Tonight during a livesession conversation on "Using Connectivism" as a part of #ooe13, another participant, +Greg McVerry @jgmac1106, talked about publishing blog posts and then editing and revising them continuously after publishing.  He mentioned that blogging sometimes acts as his life's rough draft, which I think holds a lot of truth for many bloggers out there. As he was sharing this, I reflected on my own blogging practices and realized that, more often than not, I take too long to filter through, edit, and revise my ideas before publishing them. The end result is often that I reach my historical "one blog post per month" limit.

I am determined to change this practice. I'm shifting my blogging mindset so that my blog writing  better reflects my thinking as it evolves.  This means getting comfortable with the idea of "failing in public" and "failing out loud".  I'm not always going to be on the right track or know the right answer, but I'll definitely be doing a lot of thinking along the way.  Our #ooe13 chat spent quite a bit of time discussing the value of taking risks through blogging and Tweeting to share and question our thinking, and to co-construct an understanding of a topic with our PLNs.  Far too often, failure is seen as a negative thing instead of a chance to create meaning through developing understanding.  

image: http://www.quotesonimages.com/109993/fail-first-attempt-in-learning-2

Failing has been on my mind a lot lately... I recently pinned a poster on Pinterest that said FAIL: first attempt at learning. I'm going to put it up in my office to help remind myself of the value of failure (I'll bet it might lead to some good conversations, too).  As a teacher at a STEM school, we teach our students that failure is a very necessary part of the engineering and design process.  Why shy away from failure as teachers?  Or from sharing our experiences with failure?  After all, the reflection that happens after failure often leads to great learning!

I am excited to embrace failure in public by using my blog as a sounding board instead of a final product. I'd love to hear your take on the idea of failing in public-- feel free to post a comment below!

iPads and Screencasts: Authentic Practice, Sharing and Assessment