Downtime for Learning

Sometimes the only time we have to catch our breath and take a step back is during our extended breaks. During this winter break, I took the opportunity to re-up my certification to remain a Certified Google Educator. When I first was certified in the summer of 2013, I didn't know that the certification only lasted eighteen months. It should not have been surprising though. Technology changes so fast that certifications should be renewed frequently. Google is smart that way. The requirements assure that certified educators are up on the latest changes to the technology.

The new certifications last two years. By then there will have been many changes that we will need to learn in order to stay current. During winter break this year, I took the certification exam for Level 1. In the next few months, I will probably attempt Level 2. After all, I use these tools in class everyday so I am very familiar with all of them. Even so, there were some new things I picked up in the training that preceded the exam. No matter how adept we think we are at something, there is always something new to learn. Now, for the next two years, I will be a Certified Google Educator. I'm interested to see what manifestation certification takes by the time I have to retake the exam.

Learning Opportunities

Every year, special learning opportunities come up during the school year. Any time we get the chance to incorporate these opportunities, we take them. Two months ago, we created EdCamp Harmony, our student edcamp. I have attended several edcamps and know that these events are powerful days of learning. We wanted our kids to experience that same thrill of learning from their peers. We structured the day so that kids could both teach and learn from each other. The kids loved it! Read more about that experience here. Since that first edcamp, we have conducted another one and plan a few more during second semester. This type of learning must expand in schools.

Last month, we participated in Adventure 15, a global initiative to connect classrooms from around the world. Because of our time zone, we were connected with a classroom in White City, Saskatchewan, Canada. The ability to connect with same-age kids in another country was so cool because our kids got to see how their lives were similar and different from ours. The kids did a little research on that area of Canada so they would have good questions for those kiddos. What a great, authentic learning experience it was. Read more about that event here.

This week, we have the opportunity to participate in a national student edcamp, #stucamp. This first annual event incorporates classrooms from around the United States using the app Unhangout. We are going into this event not knowing how it will work out but it seems like it will be awesome. When our kids have the opportunity to learn from middle and high school students from around the country, we take that opportunity. This is real, authentic, relevant learning for our kids. These are all experiences that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

And We're Off!

As any teacher knows, the beginning of the year is one of the busiest times of the school year. Getting to know the kids is paramount. In addition to setting a great tone for the year, we're constantly on the lookout for new and different things that will expand the learning of our kiddos. So far this year, we've managed to write a $21,100 grant to take the entire school to see the documentary film "He Named Me Malala", conducted our first Student EdCamp, kicked off our new year of 20% Time, and made great strides toward creating a classroom MakerSpace. All of these new things are in addition to creating the team climate that is best for kids, managing the regular project-based classroom learning experiences for kids, creating smaller team "events" that motivate kids to achieve and garnering parent support for the things we do in class and on team.

The first eight weeks of school have been hugely busy but so very rewarding. We thrive in an environment where change is constant and we introduce new and cool things all of the time. The kids learn that change is to be expected and that we are constantly learning by experiencing new things. Our kids are so much better prepared for life at the end of the year than they were when they came to us.

Back to School

If an educator ever tells you that they are not nervous the night before the first day of school, please know that they are lying. I enter my 28th year in education and I still have a restless night before the first day. Part of that is excitement for the new year and part of that is worry that things will go well and that I will set the right tone for the kids on the first day. I know that hooking the kids early and demonstrating to them that this year will be different from what they've had in the past are the two most important things I can do on the first day of school.

On the first day, I only want to learn the kids' names. I don't care about the rules, expectations, curriculum, school events or any other agenda items. We'll get to those. All I care about is learning, as quickly as possible, who they are and what they're about. I want the kids to know that I am buying into them and I want them to be open to buying into the class. Building relationships with our students is the single most important thing that we do. All else hinges on those relationships.

We are now two weeks in to the new school year. The last ten school days have been a blur, a good blur. The kids are relaxed, happy and learning. They are learning that our expectations on team are to treat everyone with respect and compassion, do the best they can and be open to both success and failure. As we live those expectations this year, kids will make leaps and bounds toward becoming lifelong learners, our ultimate goal for them.

Learning Together

During the past month, Melissa and I went to RCET to conduct some professional development for teachers in the southwest Missouri area. We had attended the RCET conference in March and this PD opportunity grew out of that conference. One of the things we love most about attending conferences and giving PD is the shared learning that occurs during the sessions. We know that we bring some new things to the teachers who attend, but we also learn a great deal during those sessions as well.

During our time at RCET, we conducted three PD sessions: Integrating Innovative Technology into the Classroom, Harmonized Learning: A 20% Time Learning Environment, and PBL: Learning Through Doing! All of the sessions were well-attended and rather than a "sit-n-git" environment, we try to create a session around discussion and collaboration. Indeed, we have information to impart, but we hope that by engaging the teachers in a conversation about how they can implement things in their own classrooms, we can all learn from each other.

Then it was on to the Fox School District for Curriculum Campus. This day of professional development for the teachers of the Fox School District was a very well-attended event. During our time there, we conducted two sessions of Integrating Innovative Technology into the Classroom and one session of Harmonized Learning: A 20% Time Learning Environment. While teachers were curious about 20% Time and what it entails, they seemed more interested in the technology ideas that they could use in their classrooms. We realize that not everyone is ready to implement 20% Time but we had a good group of teachers who wanted to know more, even if implementation was not imminent.

Now we are in the planning stages of our long-term in-district PD program. We will be training some of our own Webster Groves School District teachers in creating and implementing a 20% Time program in their own classes during our fall semester. We are looking forward to the sharing, collaborating and learning.

Summer PD

This summer is a very busy one. In addition to working on our book about 20% Time, Melissa and I will be travelling the state a bit, giving PD sessions about a variety of topics: 20% Time, PBL, and Innovative Technology in the Classroom. In early July we travel to RCET Southwest in Nixa, MO to give three sessions on these topics. So far, dozens of educators have signed up to be in attendance. Later in July, we are giving three sessions in the Fox School District, focusing primarily on 20% Time. In August, we start our long-term PD opportunity in our own school district, Webster Groves. It is an eight-week class to help others in the district plan and implement their own 20% Time programs.

Today we worked on our presentations a bit. We have always been critical of PD sessions that preach "doing" while being "sit n git" sessions. We want the sessions to be focused on conversation and planning. Like in our classes, we want the class members to do the bulk of the work. We will guide and facilitate, but each individual will have to plan out their own program. We will share what we do and help troubleshoot based on the class members' advantages and disadvantages.

We are looking forward to joining these learning communities this summer.

Harmonized Learning, LLC

"Every good thing comes to an end." 

"When one door closes, another one opens." 

Yes, we've all heard these platitudes but when something is working so well, you really don't want that door to close. My teaching partner, Melissa, and I have been working together for nine years. Together we make up a half-team at Hixson Middle School. She teaches math and science while I teach English and social studies. We are of the same mind educationally. We both believe strongly in problem-based learning, student-centered classrooms, 20% Time, and building relationships with the students in order to create a wonderful culture of learning. 

Melissa and I probably have one year left together, next year. After that, she will probably move on to an assistant principal position somewhere and I am due to retire from our current school district and begin a new phase of my teaching career in a school in South Florida. So, our daily work together will come to an end. 

Because we wanted to continue working together and because we both feel so strongly about 20% Time, problem-based learning, integrating technology into the classroom and building a student-centered culture of learning based on relationships, we formed a consulting firm, Harmonized Learning, LLC. It is through this vehicle that we can help other teachers discover and implement so many of the things that have been so successful for us. We feel like we have been on an amazing run and we want to share those "secrets" with other teachers and administrators. 

For the last two years, we have been presenting at conferences and have always received very enthusiastic responses to our presentations. Harmonized Learning, LLC will allow us to build on those presentations and get into districts to train teachers. This summer, we have a few dates lined up. Our summer dates include training sessions through RCET in southwest Missouri and another date in a local school district. In addition, we will be training teachers in our own district in the fall of the coming school year. To learn more about Harmonized Learning, LLC, please visit harmonizedlearning.com.

Melissa and I are happy to be able to continue our work together even if we are not in the same building. We have so much to share with others and hope to do so for a long time.

TLR Radio - Creating Student Podcasts

A couple of years ago, we created the Teen Lit Review (@teenlitreview), a way for students to review YA Lit for other students, teachers, librarians and other interested parties. We have posted hundreds of student reviews. The key difference between our review and many others is that the kids are the ones offering opinions about books. Too often, adults are the ones recommending books to kids that they "should" be reading. Often those books are the very ones that turn kids off to reading. The success of the Teen Lit Review demonstrates that there is a market for the kids' ideas and views.

We have tried to expand and publicize so that we can showcase the kids' work to a larger audience. We tweet out every review multiple times, have had some nice response comments on the blog and have even had authors contact us and send us their books to review. The kids get a kick out of the responses but I try to remind them that it's a big deal that their work has gone global. That fact hits home when they hear from someone who lives far away.

A while ago, I got the idea to do a podcast of students chatting about books. I wanted the podcast to be as if a few kids were in a room talking and the listener was just eavesdropping. Nothing stilted with questions and answers but rather a free-flowing conversation about the books the kids were reading was the goal.

Yesterday, we launched TLR Radio. Earlier in the week, I told the kids that we were going to have a name contest and a logo contest. Kids designed logos and invented names. The winners of each contest are the things we use. TLR Radio is the name of our podcast and our logo is below.

Everything has been student-created: the logo, the name, the podcasts...everything. I do the technical stuff like recording, publishing to Podbean (our podcast host), and getting the podcast on iTunes. The content and design, however, is all done by the kiddos. Each part of the process is owned by the students. They truly are finding their voice.

What the Heck! Let's Just Do It!

This week, we had our first district Twitter education chat, #wgsdchat. It just so happened to run concurrently to our iDEA (district PD) committee meeting. The confluence of these two events made for a rich and robust online PD experience. The iDEA folks joined our edchat from their meeting and continued to meet after the chat ended. This being our first district Twitter chat, we intended to chat for only a half hour but as the time went by, it was obvious that enough people had joined in and had so much to share that we were going to go overtime. The educators involved included teachers from all levels, principals, our superintendent, assistant superintendent and technology specialists. When this many educators with these different backgrounds get together to share, only great things can come from it.

Melissa (@melissahellwig4) and I had discussed launching a Twitter edchat for our district a while ago. We were busy with other things at the time and let the idea go with the intention of revisiting it later. About a month ago, Jason (@thetechspec) and I were in a Twitter edchat (#sunchat) and threw the idea back and forth a few times until we finally decided that the three of us would launch this baby. We figured, "What the heck. Let's just do it!" That Monday, Jason, Melissa and I planned out the details, brainstormed the first three week's worth of questions, and publicized the chat.

We had immediate buy-in. John (@jdsnwg), our assistant superintendent, was pumped from the beginning. He saw it as another way for teachers to share and learn together. We all did. With a good number of us talking it up, we had some Twitter newbies in the chat as well as some Twitter veterans. Our focus for this first chat was "getting to know you" but the conversation quickly escalated into what amazing things teachers are doing in their classrooms, how we can support each other, and the beginnings of some collaborative projects both between schools and grade levels. In just forty five minutes in a Twitter chat, some formed new educational partnerships, we cemented an online venue for sharing, and we have created a weekly sharing session for district educators. I would say that we accomplished our goals!

I feel very fortunate to work in a district where this kind of thinking and initiative is supported and encouraged. We will continue to create, innovate and risk because we have such a great network of support both from our colleagues and from our administration. We could not ask for a better environment in which to grow as educators and as people.

The RCET Conference

Melissa and I traveled to Springfield, MO for the RCET (Regional Consortium for Educational Technology) confernece. During our time at the MORENet conference in Columbia, MO, we were invited to present at RCET. We took the opportunity. Whenever some expresses an interest in 20% Time, we make an effort to champion it.

Experiencing the ice and snow of an early March day in Springfield was not as fun as we had hoped. The conference, however, was very good. We first took in a couple of sessions about Google Apps and MORENet resources. While watching the presentations, we thought of dozens of ways to use these new tools in our classes.

The following day, it was our turn to present. Overnight the ice and snow came into the region. The keynote presentation was done by video rather than live because the presenters could not make it to the conference. Many breakout sessions were cancelled and ours was scheduled to be in the afternoon. We didn't know if anyone would still be at the conference to attend. When our session began, our room was half-full (a victory) and, as our hour progressed, the teachers in the audience became more curious about the theory behind the program and the process we use throughout the year. There was a lot of give-and-take and even a request to connect a couple of our elementary school teachers who are toying with the idea of 20% Time with a couple of teachers who were in the audience. Making connections and sharing is a huge part of what we do so this made our day.

Needless to say, the conference was a rewarding experience for us. We made a few new connections and got to talk with a lot of dedicated teachers about how to do 20% Time in their classrooms. We left the conference pumped up and ready to return to our kiddos.

The EdCampSTL Experience

After six months of planning, EdCampSTL took place yesterday at the beautiful Grand Center Arts Academy, a charter school in the arts district of the city of St. Louis. It was the first EdCampSTL to be held in the city of St. Louis and that, in itself, is a big deal. This day of PD was an amazing experience. To see over 500 educators sharing the best practices in teaching on a beautiful Saturday was very satisfying. These educators are the cutting-edge teachers and administrators that others should be following. These are the trail blazers, the outliers, the pioneers, the innovators and the progressives.

I went to EdCampSTL last year at Affton High School. It was my first experience with an EdCamp and I was blown away by the wisdom, creativity and genius of those around me. I've said for years that no district needs to bring in outside experts to "teach" the district staff. There are always teachers on staff who have amazing expertise in just about any area and those teachers should be highlighted as the experts that they are. Yesterday was another reminder of how much genius is walking the halls of America's schools. After my experience last year, I wanted to be involved in creating this event. By no stretch of the imagination did I contribute as much as other volunteers, but I did contribute some and I learned a great deal about what it takes to put on a first-class education conference. Believe me, there is a tremendous amount of work that goes into an EdCamp. EdCampSTL was no exception. 

Last year, my teaching partner and I presented our 20% Time program even though we were in the early stages of the process. We talked, we listened, we shared and we learned. We did two sessions last year and had an overflow crowd both times. It was shocking to us that others would be so interested in this program but it is relatively new and so many were curious. This year, we were both on the EdCampSTL planning committee, the Orange Hoodie Brigade, and again presented two sessions of our 20% Time program, Harmonized Learning. Again, both sessions were full. This time around, we talked with a little more confidence because we had gone through the entire process once and are half-way through the process for a second time. We thought we could answer questions a little better based on our classroom experience with the program. 

Our sessions were validating experiences. One teacher came to our session last year and returned this year for more. She told us that she implemented a 20% Time program at her school and it's going beautifully. She had both questions and answers for the others in the room. There was so much sharing among all of us that the sessions took on lives of their own. That is the best learning and the learning that should be taking place in classrooms across the country. We heard so many positive comments about the presentation and have made connections with other teachers who want to collaborate across districts. The EdCamp model allows for these kinds of connections.

The entire EdCamp experience was amazing. I attended sessions by other amazing educators, checked out the Maker Space, had lots of conversations with progressive teachers and tried to help out in making the day run as smoothly as possible. Days like these make me want to do more to spread the word about EdCamps in general and EdCampSTL in particular. After such great experiences, we are now thinking of attending other EdCamps in the area (southern Illinois, Kansas City, Springfield, etc.). EdCamps are completely energizing learning experiences that every educator should experience at least once.

Upcoming Conference Presentations

The school year is as busy as ever but every once in a while, it is important to take some time for quality professional development. Not only do I enjoy learning all kinds of new things that others are doing in their classrooms, but Melissa and I enjoy presenting our 20% Time program at conferences as well. To that point, we have a couple of conferences coming up where we will be presenting. You can catch our presentation at these events.

February 7 - EdCampSTL (edcampstl.org) - St. Louis, MO
March 3-4 - RCET (rcet.net) - Springfield, MO