Resources and Wrap Ups From #FETC 2017

I spent the last week in warm and sunny Orlando attending the 2017 FETC Conference. This is one my favorite conferences of the year because of the quality of the sessions, the people and, of course, the learning. While there I had the honor and pleasure of delivering several features sessions and workshops. All the resources can be found by clicking the link below. Here are brief descriptions of each.

Flipping Professional Learning Workshop-Flipping the classroom is gaining in popularity in the classroom, but are you ready to try to flip professional learning? Discover why flipped professional development has the potential to disrupt the way teachers learn and will accelerate innovation in education. We looked at the various ways you can apply the flipping methodology to meetings to provide more professional learning time in your school and district. We examined how to create a new model of professional development to make the greatest impact on improving teaching methods and implementation of curriculum and learning activities that are transformed by the integration of technology. We looked at how to apply the "flipped" methodology to professional learning and learn what technology tools can enhance the flipped professional learning model. Discover the components of flipped PD including personalization, collaborative projects, coaching, and utilizing the best practice of ongoing, embedded professional development. Download the session resources. 
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Owning Your Professional Development with Shaelynn Farnsworth-Educators today can no longer rely on schools and districts to meet their professional learning needs. Just as student learning needs to be individualized and personalized, professional learning does also. We explored the various ways educators around the globe are owning their professional development. Going beyond Twitter chats and webinars, we explored non-traditional PD and had a frank conversation on how to get districts to recognize the time you spend learning outside the classroom. Download the session resources. 
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Showing How Awesome You Are: Using Social Media To Connect-The digital age is making it easier for parents and the community to learn what happens inside the school building. Using social media, schools and districts can more deeply engage with those stakeholders, providing a more unified foundation for better relationships. It also makes it easier for professionals to tell their stories and take control of the message they want all to know about the great things happening in schools and districts. We examined the current social media landscape and described personal and school branding. We also showed how to accomplish it easily and simply with little or no funds but having maximum impact. Download the session resources.
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Improving The Technology Walkthrough Process-School leaders regularly conduct walkthroughs in classrooms to collect observational data to determine areas of focus and improvement for their schools. These small opportunities can provide valuable insights into the teaching and learning process. When new technologies or instructional practices are introduced into classrooms, it can be a challenge for leaders to communicate how everything fits together to create a richer learning environment. We examined the walkthrough process, specifically addressing technology and how to make overall improvements. Download the session resources.
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Also while at the conference I took over the @AcerEducation twitter account where I gave an inside look to the conference and some fun interviews with some pretty smart folks. Check out the archive for more.

If you couldn't be at the conference this year, don't worry #FETC is always available to look at all that was shared including session resources, thoughts and reflections. Take time to peruse and learn!

Following #FETC No Matter Where You Are

This week brings us another awesome gathering of educators from all over the U.S. and beyond. Descending on the Orange County Convention Center in sunny Orlando, Florida the FETC Conference kicks off with tons of opportunities for all of us to learn, share and grow. I am honored to be a Featured Presenter again this year and will be there all week sharing and presenting along with countless other wonderful educators.

Are you going to be there? Check out my Featured Sessions!

Wednesday Jan 25
Flipping For Professional Learning-What if we could take all the boring time we spend in meetings and in meaningless PD and flipped the script? We will talk about all the different ways to flip meetings and PD and what we can do with the time we get back. Hint, its deeper professional learning! Hyatt Bayhill Rm 22 | 11:00am-12:30pm

Taking Control Of Your Professional Development-Because of our access to smart people and endless resources it's time to take control of our own professional learning. Stop by this poster session and chat with the awesome Shaelynn Farnsworth as we talk about how we personalize our own PD and give you lots of resources to check out. FETC Exhibit Hall Booth 2305 | 3:30pm-4:00pm

Thursday Jan 25
Showing How Awesome You Are: Using Social Media To Connect-Using social media to reach our parents and communities is more than just Twitter and Facebook. And where to you start and what should you know? We will talk about all this and more! OCCC South 330FG | 10:00am-11:00am

Improving The Technology Walkthrough Process-What should administrators see in technology using classrooms. I've got the 5 things to look for along with how to improve the walkthrough process over all. OCCC South 331CD | 3:20-4:00pm

After all my sessions I will be posting all the resources to my website and sharing them on social media as well as the #FETC hashtag.

Can't make it to the conference? No worries! You can still follow along as if you were there. The #FETC hashtag will be going the entire week with folks sharing information from sessions, links to resources and thoughts they are having. Do a Twitter search or use your favorite client to set up a column so you don't miss any of the action.

There will be tons of great educators there too that you can follow:
@web20classroom
@shfarnsworth
@adambellow
@kylepace
@amandacdykes
@juliedavisEDU
@RafranzDavis
@lesliefisher

These are just a few. You can see the list of all Featured Speakers and remember, you can find folks on the hashtag too.

I will be sharing on @web20classroom. You can also follow pictures on Instagram by searching for me (web20classroom) or #FETC. I will also have my Snapchat Spectacles. So if you want to follow along there you can add me on Snapchat. (web20classroom)

FETC is one of my favorite conferences of the year. And whether you can in person or from a far there's lot of learning to be had!

5 Resources To Make Your Next Presentation Pop

Perhaps you are like me and have to sit through presentations often. Sometimes they are great. You can tell the presenter put a lot of thought into what they want to talk about and it feels like they really know their stuff. The slides they use are engaging and help reinforce the story that’s being told.

But then there are those times that are the complete opposite...

The presentation seems disjointed and incomplete. The design of the slides leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe the spinning transition is just too much or the typewriter sound every time a new bullet appears is over board.

Or maybe the slides look like these...

A lot of the work I do has me creating presentations several times a week. I am far from perfect and actually spend a lot of time reflecting on each presentation I give trying to make sure I keep evolving what I do and to ensure the story I am trying to tell matches with the expectations of my audience.

There are some great resources to make your (or your students’) presentations really pop. Here are just a few of my favorites.

Presentation Zen-One of the first books I bought after I started doing presentations regularly was this one by Garr Reynolds. It is full of ideas for preparing, designing and delivering the best presentations ever. His site too has lots of suggestions like how to get to know your audience, the best way to outline a presentation, design ideas and tips for the perfect delivery. This is a resource I use all the time.

The TED Commandments-It you look at a previous post all about using TED Talks in the Classroom there are some common themes in the videos even though they are all different. Anyone that gives a TED Talk is strongly encouraged to follow the TED Commandments of giving a good talk. Mostly funny, they do encourage presenters to make sure they tell a story, focus on their curiosity and passion, and never read their talk among other things. These are great rules to follow for any presentation.

SlidesCarnival-One of my new favorite presentation tools isn’t really a tool at all. SlidesCarnival is a collection of some really awesome templates that you can use in Google Docs or PowerPoint. The template you choose for your presentation can really help to frame your conversation and make an impact. These templates are unlike anything you’ve probably seen. Very well designed, the templates come with lots of suggestions for design and even their own icons to use to callout elements in your talk. Best part they are all free!

The Noun Project-Speaking of icons, sometimes you need to find just the right one to fill out the design of your slides. The Noun Project has you covered. With 1000’s to choose from, pick the one you want to use and use it. Some come with a Creative Commons license (more on that in a minute) and many more are just free to use how you want. It the Noun Project doesn’t have it, it doesn’t exist!

Creative Commons License-One of the best things any presenter and educator can do is allow others to use their work freely and build upon it so others can share in the knowledge. The Creative Commons Licenses allow for just that. But answering a few easy questions you can license your work so others can use it. 

What's Your #OneWord2017?

As we begin a new year many folks have taken to Twitter to tell the world what their #OneWord2017 will be. The idea is you have this one word to use as your mantra to guide your work and focus to have a successful year. Many are also writing blog posts to explain why they picked that one word.

This post from Neil Gupta does a wonderful job of explaining the why and the how.

Here are just a few of my favorites.

New: #OneWord2017 EMBRACE. #JoyfulLeaders #txeduchat #edchat #EduGladiators #satchat @getoneword https://t.co/nLQIFXFX1g pic.twitter.com/zzO2FTEh5B

— Lindsey Bohler (@MrsBohlerSES) January 1, 2017

.@drneilgupta's #oneword2017 is INSPIRE. I enjoyed reading his why! Learn how to do/share YOUR word. (Not too late) https://t.co/xf9hiNArD1 pic.twitter.com/Ch174m1v9V

— Laura Gilchrist (@LauraGilchrist4) January 2, 2017

#OneWord2017 my one word for 2017 - Eunoia #edchat

— Shaelynn Farnsworth (@shfarnsworth) January 1, 2017

Now, if you are like me, Shaelynn challenged your thinking by picking Eunoia. In case you were wondering it's the goodwill a speaker cultivates with their audience.

My #OneWord2017 is Reflection.

I always try to take time to think about my work. The time I spend with teachers working on making classrooms more innovative or to help them think differently about how learning can be done. Or after I work with administrators and leaders on implementing technology initiatives or better understanding the role of technology in learning. And while I try to reflect often I don't do it often enough.

As 2016 came to a close I looked at several of my keynotes and presentations I had been doing over the past year and decided I was unhappy. I wasn't motivated by the content any longer and it all seemed routine. I sat down and reviewed them one at time thinking about how I had presented them, the content and how I could improve. Many hours were spent redoing just one presentation but in the end it was worth it! I was excited about the content again and I had so much fun again presenting it.

Taking that time to reflect and realize I wasn't happy with what I was doing and I could do a better job made all the difference in the world. I want to bring that same mantra into other aspects of my work besides presentations and keynotes. So Reflection is my #OneWord2017

This would be a great exercise when kids head back to the classroom after a winter break. Get them to think about what drives them and what word do they want to be their focus and help them realize their potential.

What will drive you this year? What do you want to accomplish to make this the best year ever? What will your #OneWord2017 be?

How TED Talks Make Tough Conversations Easy

We've all been there.

We are sitting in a group of peers or strangers ready to discuss a topic but no one wants to take the lead and get things going.

You need that one focal point for everyone to rally around to get things moving.

Videos and images are a great way to jumpstart creative thought and to get folks talking. The same is true in the classroom. It can be helpful to start a unit or a topic off with some kind of visual stimulant that gets those creative thoughts moving. Or maybe there are topics that emerge in the course of classroom discussion that need some context or a great understanding to make the conversation more rich.

That is why I love the TED Talks. These videos are great, snapshots of what could be longer conversations in short bursts. They come in loads of topics that could start a class discussion around that unit or topic. But where I see TED Talks being really useful are for those concepts that are hard to teach. Relationship building, self control, data manipulation, leadership and more. These are the conversations students really need to have but many teachers find them hard to discuss.

Below are just a few of my favorite conversation starters or videos to help students tackle these tough conversations.

Derek Sievers: How To Start A Movement-This is hands-down my favorite one. I use this video to talk about leadership, obviously, but also the perils of the movement as well. It's important for students to understand how things go viral and what that means for them.

Rob Reid: The $8 Billion Dollar iPod-In this age of fake news and a real lack of understanding of where information comes from this talk from Rob shows how easily data can be manipulated to make a point. This could be a great jumping off point in a digital literacy lesson or a science classroom. 



Renny Gleeson: 404, The Story Of A Page Not Found-Through something simple like a 404 page relationships can be built. This is a great talk for kids all about relationship building, and the need to consider the thoughts and feelings of others. 



Joachim de Pasada: Don’t Eat the Marshmallow-Joachim tells the story of the famous Marshmallow experiment and how self control is developed. For kids this could be great at understanding impulse control and how that leads to success later in life. 


Logan LaPlante: Hackschooling Makes Me Happy-Told by a 13 year old, Logan describes how he hacked his education to get the most out of it. Another great video for kids to understand how they are in control of their own path and to make the most of their learning experience. 



Evelyn Glennie: How To Truly Listen-This is a powerful video in which Evelyn, a deaf percussionist explains how we can listen to music without ever hearing it and why all our senses are important to our interpretation of the world. 



JK Rowling: The Fringe Benefits of Failure-Most wouldn't consider JK a failure. Far from it actually. But in this talk she talks about how she failed many times and how that encouraged her to keep trying. A wonderful talk for kids to discuss failure and its place in learning. 



The TED-Ed website is also full of videos, lesson plans, talking points and more for most of the TED talks in the series. You can build your own lesson or look at what others have created for any of these videos. And it doesn't have to be TED Talks either. You can build them around any video on YouTube. 

Combating Fake News And Teaching Digital Literacy

If the most recent U.S. Election has taught us anything it's that we live in an era of fake news and sites. With accusations flying of manipulation of stories, the media and voters, it’s truly hard to know if what we read on blogs, social media and other sites is actually the truth or a tale spun to generate clicks.

To further compound the problem a recent study from Stanford shows that the vast majority of students can’t determine it what they read on websites is true or baloney. The study showed More than two out of three middle-schoolers couldn’t see any valid reason to mistrust a post written by a bank executive arguing that young adults need more financial-planning help. And nearly four in 10 high-school students believed, based on the headline, that a photo of deformed daisies on a photo-sharing site provided strong evidence of toxic conditions near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, even though no source or location was given for the photo.

With many schools and districts rolling out 1:1 initiatives and a push to digitize learning, helping students understand where their information comes from, and if it is reliable and accurate are critical skills, not just for learning for but life as well.

When I was teaching digital literacy to students in my 8th grade science classroom we would examine current event articles for reliability and truthfulness. Loosely we used the following criteria:

• Where was the information published? Was it a .com/.edu/.org site? Anyone can create a webpage? Was the source someone we could trust? 
• When was the information posted? Or, how long ago was it updated? How can you tell? 
• What do you know about the author? What else have they written? 
• Can you verify the information posted on another website you’ve already determined to be accurate and reliable? 

While we can still use many of these same “look-for’s” a deeper understanding of where information comes from and judging it for accuracy and reliability is crucial. As teachers we need to have an understanding ourselves where information comes from so we can help guide students through their own understanding.

Here are several resources to use for professional learning as well as some to use in the classroom. These span all grade levels and subject areas.

Fake News and What We Can Do About It-The folks over at the ADL have a great HS lesson plan for looking at fake news and learn specific skills to determine it what they read, especially on social media (where 90% of Millennials get their news) can be trusted.

How To Spot Fake News (And Teach Kids To Be Media Savvy)-I lean on Common Sense Education for a lot of great resources when it comes to Digital Literacy and this post from them is no different. They have expanded on the “look-for’s” I used in my classroom and added questions to ask like who is paying for this content and more. There are loads of great ideas here and a resource not to be missed.

Snopes-This site has been around on the internet for a really long time and their mission is to help readers determine it what they read or hear is true or not. Everything from urban legends, to posts on Facebook that promise money it you share it to, current events. They have everything. And they can help students see how to vet stories because everything is linked to proof.

How To Teach Students To Evaluate The Quality Of Online Information-This article has more tips on ways to help students evaluate the information they read online.

Crap Detection-From Howard Rheingold this video and related resources is worth a watch for any educator. Howard explains how we can hone our built in filters when we are evaluating information and how we can help students do the same.

Real News vs. Fake News: Determining The Reliability of Sources-This from the New York Times Learning Network is a full lesson plan to help students look at information in ways they might not be doing already. What’s great is the plan can be adapted to any grade level so even younger students can start learning about reliability of information.

What Are You Doing To Help Students Spot Fake News Stories? Bill Ferriter is someone I’ve followed for a long time because he helps push my thinking. This blog post asks some tough questions of educators and offers many suggestions and ideas for helping students look for fake news and information in their learning.

Depending on the news or information you may or may not want to use current events or actual news articles, especially with younger students. But there are still sites you can use to help students look for fake information and teach them these important skills. My friend Shaelynn Farnsworth has a curated list of websites that contain no real information but students will encounter if they are doing research on a wide variety of topics.

These skills of evaluating fake news and information for reliability and validity are part of a wider and more comprehensive Digital Literacy program. It you don’t have one or don’t know where to start, Common Sense Education has a K-12 program that is full of additional resources, lesson plans and more.

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Celebrating Hour Of Code

When I was a senior in high school my school got their first computer lab. There had been computers here and there throughout the school but this was the first dedicated space for computing. For many teachers (and students too) the room was off limits. Either self-imposed isolation because they were scared they would break something or for most students they were not allowed to touch them because, you guessed it, they might break something.

I was one of the first students in the school to use the new lab because I joined the newly formed Computer Club. We learned about all the history of computing, the various parts of the computer and, my favorite part, learning BASIC to code flowers and move objects around the screen. I had so much fun! I wish I had kept up with it and continued learning coding.

Fast forward to today and now kids all over the globe celebrate Computer Science Education Week (CSEW) and, more importantly, Hour of Code the first week of December.

Hour of Code started as a way to demystify coding and give every kid the chance to see what coding is all about and how easy and fun it can be. While any hour can be taken at any point in the year, the Hour Of Code during CSEW aims to bring together every kid on the planet and for one hour, code something.

Hour of Code can be done in any classroom. You don’t even need a computer to code! All you need is an hour of time and some resources and anyone can code.

Here are several resources to celebrate Hour of Code:

Hour of Code-This is the main website to learn all about Hour of Code. You can sign your class up and add your pin to the growing map of other classrooms that are joining as well. There are tons of additional resources like websites and lesson plans. The coding activities target kids with themes like Star Wars, Frozen and Mona.

A Beginners Guide To Bringing Coding Into The Classroom-The article has several suggestions and resources to start coding in any classroom. It also lays out the importance of learning coding and how it can reinforce things like math skills.

Comparison of 50 Coding Tools-The list to end all lists. It you are thinking about coding in your classroom this is the list to look at. Lots of choices for every classroom.

Never Too Young To Code-Think coding is for older kids? Think again. Here is why kids as young as 4 and 5 can learn to code.

Hour of Code Suggestions By Grade Level-Here is a great list of all sorts of ways to integrate coding K-12.

15 Ways To Teach Coding (Even Without Technology)-No access to computers? No problem! Here are some suggestions on how you can do it with pencil and paper.

Edweb Coding and Robtics Community-Newly launched this community on Edweb will have webinars and conversations on the integration of coding and robtics into the classroom.

Coding doesn’t have to take place on computers either. Do you have iPads? There are great apps that are highly engaging and fun to support coding in the classroom.

Swift Playgrounds
Swifty
Human Resource Machine
Minecraft
ScratchJr.
Tynker

Remember, Hour of Code, while celebrated next week can take place any time. And it doesn’t have to be an hour only. Coding can build creativity, problem solving and math skills amongst other things. And it doesn’t have to happen in the computer lab. Coding can happen in any grade level and in any subject!

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