Monday, April 27, 2015
Reflection
I have truly enjoyed blogging. I have to say that this is my first time blogging also. I have started blogging as a form of communication with my parents and students. I also allowed my students an opportunity to blog in class. In this what Mark Barnes says "iStudent" age we all should consider different methods to integrate technology.
Shooting from the hip!
This is a great article that I shared with my peers after a interesting conversation we had!http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb15/vol72/num05/How-Do-We-Get-There-from-Here%C2%A2.aspx
Get your schools story out!!!
This is an interesting article hope you enjoy it as much as I did?http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr15/vol72/num07/Getting-Your-Message-Out-(and-Why-It's-Not-Enough).aspx
Flipping leadership
Flipping the classroom is
an interesting topic to me. It’s very close to my heart because it gives the
responsibility of learning to the students. I believe that flipping the
classroom is an equalizer for disadvantage students. What I mean by that is that
no matter what background a student comes from, if that student takes
responsibility for his or her learning she or he will improve. I am still in
the beginning stages of flipping my classroom, however I have had students to
tell me how that wanted to show me that they have meet the learning targets. By
flipping the classroom I have only been concerned with teaching process instead
of products, and teaching the learning targets. Student take responsibility to
meet the learning target and the process to achieve the learning target. After
reading Flipping Leadership Doesn’t Mean Reinventing the Wheel by Peter M.
DeWitt it made sense to me to teach the process and the learning target. DeWitt
mentioned that “in an effective flipped classroom model, learning intentions
are clear, students can see where they are going, and the learning process is
clear to everyone involved.” When students are able to anticipate the next step
I observed the desired learning outcome is more achievable. In our school we
talk about frontloading information, so that we can have the high expectations.
Peter DeWitt says that leaders and teachers should use technology as a tool to
frontload information for the staff meeting so that teachers are not wasting so
much time with side bar conversations. When the information in front loaded now
it’s realistic for leaders to have higher expectation. Prior to our last staff
meeting our principal sent some research for the staff to read about school
improvement. When we got to the staff meeting we had rich conversation about
the research.
Empowering the school!
I have to say that this
book was just what I needed to support some of my ideas. One year ago my school
with through an evaluation process from the state of Georgia. As one of our
campus leaders I was one of the people that had to meet with state personal in
a collaborative setting with personal from the state. One of the comments that
I made was that a school should be set up in such manner that any school should
be able to call upon staff from within the school to teach best practices. I
was asked to elaborate on my comment and as Pernille Ripp referred to as
“Cultivating the Expert Within” is the very idea that I expressed. One of the
instructional strategies that is written in our school improvement plan is
small groups. During one staff meeting our principal gave a shot out to one of
our teachers for the way the used small groups in the classroom. Well the very
next week we had a district coach come in and teach us about small group. I
felt as though it was perfect time for the teacher to share with us exactly
what she was doing in her classroom to be successful using small groups. With
all that being said the two common themes that helps summarize Pernille Ripp’s
book is trusting you co-works, and overcoming your professional fears. Trust
and fear were the two common reasons that the author mentioned about the school
leaders empowering teachers, and teachers empower students. The author writes
that to implement the change leaders have to assume that each staff member will
share the common believe that students come first. I am a firm believer in
shared power. I believe this is important because I think that “one monkey
should not stop the show.” Ripp mentioned empowering students by giving the
students a voice. I feel this is equally as important as teachers having a
voice. I remember just a few months back I was in a committee meeting about
positive behavior. We were trying to figure out how to celebrate the students
who had demonstrated good behavior. My recommendation was that lets allow the
students to tell us what they would like especially sense all of the committee
members seemed to be bored and not wanting to be there.
PLN Reflection
The following is my thoughts of my most recent PLN. I really hope you enjoy reading. Happy reading!
I have to say that blog
spot and twitter have been the two most effective tools for me. They both are
user friendly and effective communication tools. I am able to update them both
from my phone in an instant. I have enjoyed sharing these tools.
Blog spot has engaged me more than any of the other
tools. I have shared this with many of my peers. I have incorporated blogging
within my class. My students are able to share their ideas and thoughts about
the particular topic. One of my student informs me when we have missed an
opportunity to blog. One interesting part of blogging is that it allows me to
assess what my students know in a short amount of time. It allows me opportunities
to clear up on any misconceptions on an individual bases. I have also started a
communication blog on my school wires page. This allows my parents to see what
the students are learning, homework, and other important events that are coming
up. Blogging has also allowed me to communicate with my peers. I am able to
post a blog or one of my peers post the blog to begin a discussion.
Twitter has to be my favorite even though I have not
learned to use this tool for learning. I have been able to learn personal and
share with my peers things that I have learned from Twitter, but my goal is to
incorporate Twitter into my class. What I really like about Twitter is that I
am able to create a list of friends and hashtags, and share information with
that group. I have learned the effectiveness of the hashtags and I absolutely
love to use hashtags.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
The Power of Branding
The Power of Branding was a well written book by Tony Sinanis. I really enjoyed reading this book and I hope you find this summary helpful.
I have to say that the Power of Branding has been the most
personal of the books that I have read thus far. Author Tony Sinanis talked
about many tips and ideas for school to brand itself. Three of the ways or very
important to me. One Tony mentioned is telling your schools story to from the
perception of your school. Another is leading by example. The last tip that
stood out to me was during things heartedly. On the other day we had a major
issue to take place outside of our school. Because of the toxic perception of
our school the incident was chalked up as an expected outcome. Tony Sinanis
that school’s should use the many resources available to share the learning
experiences that are taking place within the school on a daily basis. Tony also
mentioned that he ensures that he is visible in the classroom, lunchroom,
recess, gym, and hallways. He talks about how he try to know each of the
students by name and know something about each of the staff members personally.
It is my opinion that Tony is modeling for his teachers exactly what differentiated
instructions should look like. That why he is able to say he try to lead by
example. He talked about how it is an expectation that each teacher use small
groups as often as possible within they’re classroom. In my opinion he has
already laid the ground work for what differentiated instructions should look
like. The last point is about doing thing heartedly. Giving that I am a man of
faith and whatever I do I try and to it as if I was doing it for my lord. Tony
mentioned that most of his idea about doing things heartedly is theoretical
opposed to quantitative data, meaning that he does not have lots of research to
back him up. That was shocking for me to hear with our data driven profession
that someone is actual living exactly what they are teaching.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Blog Presentation
This is information about the technology resource that I have found to be most helpful to me. It is an easy to read presentation about blogging. My 4th graders have really enjoyed blogging. When they go to long without blog they let me know. I really hope that you find this presentation useful.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
All hands on deck!!!
I just read an amazing piece of literature. Read this post to learn about my personal experiences as it relates to this awesome read.
Just a few weeks ago I received an unsatisfactory evaluation. On my TKES evaluation I received a score that was below proficient for communication. My school principal came into my room during planning and ask me was my school wires page up to date. I quickly responded that it was not up to date. After reviewing my rating I begin to update my school wires page. After some of my parents commented about the information, I quickly realize the important of real time communications. This like Brad Currie mentioned gives me the opportunity to tell my classroom story. Brad Currie is the author of All Hands on Deck and tells up how social media has and can help connect the 21st community to the local schools. Currie speaks on how old school and new school methodology have integrated to give schools a plethora of ways to communicate with parents, community members, and most importantly the students. Currie says that “ Today’s 21st century parents and other school stakeholders look to social media, websites, blogs, and other forms of innovative communications to stay current and informed.” Currie also mentions how face-to-face, voice-to-voice (phone), and email are all still effective ways of communicating with stakeholders. I agree with how this portion of the book was written because the author did not try and say that old school ways of communicating with stakeholders should be replaced by 21st century methodology of communication. With so many stories in the media about public school cheating scandals, and failing grades, Currie says that Social Media gives schools leaders the opportunity to tell the story before someone else does. One of the most meaning parts of the book is how Currie not only talks about how schools can become more effective communicators, but also how parents can become connected. To list a few suggestions on how Currie says parents can get involved, are following the social media feeds of your school or district. Volunteer to become a committee or board member in order to impact policy. In conclusion I think that this was a well written piece of literature.
Just a few weeks ago I received an unsatisfactory evaluation. On my TKES evaluation I received a score that was below proficient for communication. My school principal came into my room during planning and ask me was my school wires page up to date. I quickly responded that it was not up to date. After reviewing my rating I begin to update my school wires page. After some of my parents commented about the information, I quickly realize the important of real time communications. This like Brad Currie mentioned gives me the opportunity to tell my classroom story. Brad Currie is the author of All Hands on Deck and tells up how social media has and can help connect the 21st community to the local schools. Currie speaks on how old school and new school methodology have integrated to give schools a plethora of ways to communicate with parents, community members, and most importantly the students. Currie says that “ Today’s 21st century parents and other school stakeholders look to social media, websites, blogs, and other forms of innovative communications to stay current and informed.” Currie also mentions how face-to-face, voice-to-voice (phone), and email are all still effective ways of communicating with stakeholders. I agree with how this portion of the book was written because the author did not try and say that old school ways of communicating with stakeholders should be replaced by 21st century methodology of communication. With so many stories in the media about public school cheating scandals, and failing grades, Currie says that Social Media gives schools leaders the opportunity to tell the story before someone else does. One of the most meaning parts of the book is how Currie not only talks about how schools can become more effective communicators, but also how parents can become connected. To list a few suggestions on how Currie says parents can get involved, are following the social media feeds of your school or district. Volunteer to become a committee or board member in order to impact policy. In conclusion I think that this was a well written piece of literature.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Gaming in the Class
In my opinion it is a
fine line for educators to walk when it comes to allowing games into the
classroom. I say that with an understanding of the mere mentioning of the word
game engages most students. I also understand that there are very important
skills that students learn while engaging in some of the games. What makes it a
fine line is when educators try to keep up with the technology instead of the
skill. I like to say “if it is not broken, don’t break it.” The article “Future
Proof Your Learning Environment” the author gives tips on what educators should
think about when implementing games into the classroom, and of the most
important tip is what skills the students are trying to learn. I do believe that
it is easy for some educators and spectators to say that school should be fun.
I don’t think that school should always be fun. For some students school is the
only formal setting they are a part of, and for that reasons it’s difficult to
having games in the class all the time. With all that said games should be used
in class. For all the reasoning I mentioned in the beginning and a few more. One
more reason for having games is how long the games keep the students attention.
That would teach patients, durability, and perseverance. The author of “How
Minecraft teaches kids real work skill” mentioned that students participate in
some game and have to come up with plan and see the plan through. This also
allows students to reflect to see if the plan work. Some students talked about
trying new things. I believe that there is a place for games in the classroom
but it is up to the educator to remember the underline goal is the skill are
concepts that students should be learning.
Monday, March 9, 2015
The Relevant Educator
Out of the three books
that we have read so far this book has been the hardest read. I don’t know why.
In the being of the year in my department we didn’t have common planning, or
collaborative planning. My administrators believed that we could or should be
able to stay after work or come in early so that we could plan. I did not
support that idea, however it did cause for us to be more creative in the
design or format of our meetings. Often times we would group text, or email.
Steven W. Anderson (2014) writes that it does not matter the time, and distance
between two or more individuals, because technology has allowed people to meet
and collaborate without being in the same room. Anderson also talks about how
creations such as blogs allow teachers to share their thoughts and ideas. I
really like that idea because as he mentioned some people are afraid to share
their ideas in open or face to face, however blogs allow teachers to remain
anonymous. I have recently started a class blog with my 4th grade
students. We mostly share our thoughts on science and social studies related
topics. This has been informative for me to gain background knowledge of particular
topics about my students. In my opinion this would serve our staff vital in
that we don’t have to always sit in the media center and listen to the same
people talk. With the use of blogs teachers within the building can share their
thoughts and ideas with each other. Anderson talks about Professional Learning
Networks. I believe this is a great way for our district to share ideas and
thoughts about teaching our students within this district. It is also helpful
within our school, but with such a high transit population in our district it
allows teachers to share best practices so that students are less likely to
fall through the gap with they transition.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Professional Development
The name of the session was "Featured Teacher Mary Beth Hertz. The host of the session was Peggy George, Lorie Moffat, and Tammy Moore. The date and time of the session was February 21, 2015 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern.
This session really hit home with me mainly because with the rolling out of the newly assessment ( the Georgia Milestone) my students have been selected as part of the 30 percent of our school that has to take the assessment online. Within the near future all students will be taking the assessment online. In this session Mary Beth Hertz talks about how she is using technology at both elementary and high school levels. Mary Beth Hertz shared rubrics, and software programs that she has used within her classroom. I will say that Mary taught from a computer lab. For most of us as educators that do not have access to a computer lab I highly recommend that you read " Teaching the iStudents" by Mark Barnes. In the book Mr. Barnes shares was to implement the use of technology within a classroom when the is minimal access to technology. I have recently started to use technology in my classroom on a daily basis in all subjects. I only have four computers and twenty students. Mr. Barnes refers to the model that I use as the rotation model.
This session really hit home with me mainly because with the rolling out of the newly assessment ( the Georgia Milestone) my students have been selected as part of the 30 percent of our school that has to take the assessment online. Within the near future all students will be taking the assessment online. In this session Mary Beth Hertz talks about how she is using technology at both elementary and high school levels. Mary Beth Hertz shared rubrics, and software programs that she has used within her classroom. I will say that Mary taught from a computer lab. For most of us as educators that do not have access to a computer lab I highly recommend that you read " Teaching the iStudents" by Mark Barnes. In the book Mr. Barnes shares was to implement the use of technology within a classroom when the is minimal access to technology. I have recently started to use technology in my classroom on a daily basis in all subjects. I only have four computers and twenty students. Mr. Barnes refers to the model that I use as the rotation model.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Starting Classes
I am really looking forward to starting class. What is most exiting about this class is that I am looking to learn how to implement some of technology with my current students.
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