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. 

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.   

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.

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 21^st 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 21^st 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 21^st 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.     

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.