5 Leadership Questions To Finish (And Start) The School Year With

In many places, the end of the school year is upon us. Students are eagerly waiting for that final bell to ring, and teachers are busy making those final preparations to finish things out. And while our thoughts may turn to summer vacation, this time of year is ripe for reflection, especially for the school-technology leader.

Recently, I spent some time talking with the administrators in my district about technology, our vision for where we want to go and how they play a key role in the development of technology practices that can have a huge impact on student learning. We asked them several questions which I think are some of the most important. These questions are adapted from the Principals Technology Leadership Assessment from CASTLE. These by no means are the only questions to consider, but by answering these you can get a feel for the direction that technology integration will take/does take in a school or district.

So as we close out the school year, think about these questions for this and the next school year:

1. To what extent do you compare and align your school technology plan with other plans such as your school improvement plan? Are there clear goals for the use or integration of technology that are integrated into your school improvement plan? Perhaps there is a component to address digital safety or cyberbullying but should their be more? What should be addressed? Is technology even addressed at all? What successes did you have this year that you want to build upon. And what challenges did you face that you need to work on for next year?

2. To what extent do you promote participation of your school’s stakeholders in the technology planning process of your school or district? Who is involved in your planning process? Is it just the technology leadership? Are teachers involved? What about students? Did you listen to the perspective of parents or the community? Planning for technology is an ongoing process that needs evaluation and reflection. And it is important to involve all stakeholders in that process.

3. To what extent did you disseminate or model best practices in learning and teaching with technology to faculty and staff? Even in my position as director, I take every opportunity I can to get out in front of teachers (and sometimes students). I am a teacher and enjoy teaching. But I also know how important it is for me to model the best use of technology. That is also a value we are instilling in our administrators as well. We started an administrator boot camp that worked with school principals to help them better understand their role in the technology leading process but to help them feel more comfortable with technology so that they can model its use with their faculty.

4. To what extent do you include the effective use of technology as a criterion for assessing the performance of faculty? This one, I believe, is the hardest to answer and hardest to assess. What does “effective use of technology” look like? Many administrators simply don’t know. So what are they doing to make sure they have a clear understanding of effective use and how is it being assessed? In North Carolina, that is a large part of our teacher evaluation system. Even if it isn’t a part of yours, can you find a way to supplement what you are doing to make sure it is part of the conversation?

5. To what extent do you participate in professional development activities meant to improve and expand your use of technology? Along with No. 4, this is another important question to ponder. I know I can do a better job of offering targeted PD specific to my administrators in my district. And I am going to do better. But what opportunities are administrators seeking outside of traditional PD? Are they engaged in Twitter or other social networks? Do they know about #cpchat? Do they read leadership blogs? Are they going to conferences or Edcamps to expand their horizons or see what conversations teachers are having?

Even in the busyness that is the end of the year, take time to reflect on these questions. Examine past successes and changes for the future.

photo credit: Stéfan via photopin cc

Going Global-Tips And Resources For Global Collaborations

I had a wonderful conversation this morning on Twitter with a teacher from New Zealand that commented on a tweet about using Skype Classroom to go global. She mentioned how her students were going to Skype and talk to kids in Iowa.

How awesome is that!

I just love the fact that the world gets so much smaller when we use technology like that. There really are endless learning opportunities for students (and teachers as well).

During the North African uprisings a high school teacher here in my district was struggling to get her students to understand the whys of those events. It was easy to read about them in a magazine or watch a news report but she knew there had to be a better way. We talked and I suggested we try to Skype someone in. It was a long shot to get someone from that region but worth it so the students could hear first hand what was happening and why it was happening.

I took to Twitter and through some connections was put in touch with a teacher in southern Egypt. We arranged a brief Skype chat where he was able to describe what was happening and, most importantly, the why.

We knew it was important to connect the students to their content. And we did so by going global.

You know it's important too. But where do you start? And what sorts of global projects are out there?

First, what tools will you need?

That's a tough one to answer. It will all depend on the type of collaboration and project you want to undertake. Internet is a must. But if you want to do video chatting, a good webcam and external mic is necessary. I always recommend external devices for that sort of thing. Built-in stuff can be a challenge to manipulate and get the image or the sound just right. Spend a little bit of money and get something good.

You will also want a Skype account. Skype to Skype calls are free and include video. You can use your Skype account to call cell or landline numbers for a fee but for collaboration voice and video are always great and free. Google Hangouts can be a great alternative. If you have a Google account you can start a video hangout with up to 10 people which is great for multiple rooms participating or multiple locations. And Hangouts make it easy to record your sessions and post them to Youtube later.

So, with the software and hardware out of the way we can focus in on where to find people and projects.

Hashtags-Yep, Twitter. Ok, I know. You've heard me ramble on about Twitter. But seriously. If you want to make global connections, you've got to be on Twitter. I mean, where else can I have a conversation with a teacher in New Zealand at 4am? Hashtags make it easier and easier to narrow your focus on who to collaborate with. And with the number of state and national chats and hashtags it might only take a matter of moments to find someone. Check out my post on using Hashtags and visit this page to see all the current educational hashtags being used.

Teacher's Guide To International Collaboration On The Internet-From the U.S. Dept. of Education, this handy resource is full of ideas and projects for collaborating internationally. Everything from email exchanges to video chatting to global challenges can be found here. And it's broken down by subject area so you can easily find a project to fit your needs.

QuadBlogging-This is one of my favorite projects. The idea here is you and your students blog and comment with other students in another country. One week your class does the writing and the other classes comment and the next week it switches. It can be very insightful to see what other students are writing about. I have seen some pretty powerful posts come from this project. Check out their website to learn more.

Skype Classroom-As I mentioned before, Skype Classroom can be a powerful resource to connect your classroom to the world. Registering for free with your Skype account gives you access to message boards that allow you to look for someone to collaborate with or post looking to collaborate with someone else. You can direct your posts for specific countries or regions too. And the projects here are pretty neat. Definitely a place not to miss.

Guide To Management-Getting involved in all this can be overwelming. My friend Shelly has a simple Prezi that can help you better understand the management side of this and offers some tips on how to keep everything going.

Have you made a global connection? What tips to do you have for others getting started? Leave your comments below.

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Google Tools To Check Out

Most folks are familiar with the most common Google tools. Search, Hangouts, Docs, Mail, Drive all are used by countless folks around the world. In fact this blog is written with Google Blogger. I use Google and live there most days.

But did you know there are some under used features outside of the typical ones that have great value?

Here is just a handful of some of the Google Tools to check out for your classroom.

Google Custom Search Engine-This tool is one of my favorites. Doing a simple search for "world war II" or "dolphins" will return you millions upon millions of results. And when trying to teach kids how to vet resources (especially our younger Googlers) it can be helpful to make that list smaller. Google Custom Search allows you to decide what sites you want to include. You can even control whether you want to search the entire domain or just a portion of it. Then you publish it and share. You can even embed it on your blog or website. One of the activities I like to see teachers do is start the search engine for students but then let the kids add to it through the course of a unit or year, justifying why the site should be added and explaining how they know the information is reliable.

Google Keep-Keep is new to the Google tool lineup. Out since March, this is the Evernote alternative. The idea is to keep notes, lists, etc and do it from anywhere. Since it sits in Drive you can access your notes anywhere and insert photos on  the file. While it does not appear the ability to share or make notes public is there yet, I have no doubt it's coming. Still, a tool to keep an eye on.

Google Mars-Always wanted to visit Mars but thought it would take to long? Google has you covered. With Google Mars you can explore the red planet in all it's glory. Toggle elevation and infrared layers and even show where all landing sites of spacecraft that have pioneered there.

Public Data-This one is one of my favorites. As a science teacher I was always looking for data that was relevant or a visualization to help make a point. Public data is both of these. I will admit, some of the data is abstract and some it is way over my head. But the population and health data is worth exploring. And the ability to create some pretty striking visualization is of benefit as well.

URL Shortner-Long URLs are ugly and not to mention hard to type in. So Google makes a handy tool to shorten those URLs. Simply input the URL you want to make shorter and bingo bango, a short URL is created. But that isn't all. You can look at the analytics of your shortened URL and track the number of clicks. And you even get a QR code that could be scanned via a mobile device or desktop QR reader for easy access.

Google For Teachers-There are so many more resources specifically for teachers that Google has curated. Lesson plans, ideas for using their tools, and even courses you can take to be a better searcher. It all starts with a visit to Google For Teachers.

What about you? Besides Hangouts, Docs, Mail and the stuff listed here. What are your favorite Google Tools you like to use in the classroom? Leave some comments below. 

The New @eduClipper

I have been a big fan of eduClipper and an even bigger fan of the their founder, Adam Bellow. Adam is a great friend of mine and I have seen, first-hand, the dedication, countless hours, and sweat he has put into eduClipper.

And it definitely shows in this latest round of updates.

What is eduClipper?

Think of it as Pinterest, only more awesome and with an educational focus. You browse the web for content for teaching, resources for learning, or just stuff you want to save and share. When you find something you clip it.

Make sense?

This video might help.

Pretty awesome huh? 

So what about these new features?

Teacher and Student Accounts : Teachers can easily set up classes of students and create eduClipboards of content to share with whole classes or groups of learners.

Teachers can also change settings to make eduClipper more or less restrictive for the whole class or individual learners based on school or classroom policies. There’s a lot there - and we really want to put you in the driver’s seat when it comes to how you wish to use a powerful tool like eduClipper with your kids.

New Bookmarking Tool : This bookmarking tool lets you clip literally any type of content and bring it into eduClipper as an eduClip. It is smooth and fun to use!

Collaborative Clipboards : Sharing resources is great - but creating collaborative clipboards with users on a topic is an even better way to offer real-time collaboration in classes for students or teachers. Great for educators connecting with colleagues to create the ultimate resource board as well as for students to join each other and curate the best resources for academic or interest-based learning. Citations : Being a “good digital citizen” starts with citing sources and we have worked with EasyBib to generate citations for all eduClipped web content. A quick and painless way to annotate your eduClips. Those are just a few quick things - but in short... everything is 100% more awesome and we are excited to tell you that this is just the tip of the iceberg. We have a lot more up our sleeve and you should be on the lookout for more cool news soon. Knowing Adam, I know this isn't the end of the great things he has planned. So head over to eduClipper and check out all these great new features! eduClipper

Common Core Academy Learning Opportunities From Discovery Education

A long time ago, Francis Bacon said that knowledge is power … 

This summer, teachers can empower their teaching with meaningful and actionable knowledge about the Common Core Standards at Discovery Education's Academies!

As a trusted educational partner, Discovery Education has worked with thousands of educational leaders to transform teaching and learning.  Educators are invited to join their peers for Common Core Academies that are:

• Research-based: Our professional development integrates proven curriculum, instruction, and

assessment practices from expert practitioners and thought leaders

• Personalized: Each Academy addresses educator-identified needs related to the transition to more rigorous standards

• Actionable: We provide classroom applications that support long-term action planning with strategies for immediate classroom integration

Educators can choose the academy that meets their needs in a variety of locations across the US: 

ELA Academy

This two-day, hands-on Academy will engage K-12 educators in an intense focus on research-based English Language Arts (ELA) instructional practices to successfully implement the rigors of text complexity, evidence-based writing, and vocabulary development in their ELA and content area classrooms. Specifically, this Academy will dive into what these practices look like and how to build them into the curriculum to maximize student engagement and achievement. Educators will then utilize this knowledge to develop CCSS lesson plans and assessment tasks for immediate use in their ELA or content area classroom.

Math Academy

The CCSS not only require shifts in what we teach, but most importantly, in how we teach. During this two-day Academy, K-12 educators will dive into each of the Standards for Mathematical Practice and analyze the types of instruction these standards warrant. Practical strategies as well as options for balanced assessment of the content standards will be explored and discussed. Educators will leave with tools, including lessons and assessment tasks for immediate use.

Leadership Academy

The CCSS require a number of shifts that need to be made in current curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices. As leaders, we need to think, plan, and act differently. What changes have you made as an instructional leader? In this two-day, hands-on Academy, central office, building, and teacher leaders will discuss implications for curriculum, instruction, and assessment as a result of the CCSS shifts and share practices that work. In particular, leaders will focus on the CCSS classroom and what it looks like. Participants will explore research-based strategies and tools to monitor teachers’ use of best practices to effectively teach the new standards so all students can meet them. Participants will also explore and develop strategies to use with students and parents to prepare them for more rigorous standards.

Specialized Instruction

The CCSS are for all students, including those who receive special education services. These rigorous expectations require that students have a deep level of understanding in ELA and Mathematics. This two-day, hands-on Academy will provide K-12 educators with research-based practices to connect the demands of the CCSS to instruction that supports students with special needs. Specifically, participants will closely examine the ELA and Mathematics CCSS to investigate strategies for students to access, respond to, engage in, and ultimately, meet their learning targets.

Visit the Discovery Education Common Core site to learn more!

So...You Wanna Use Blogs In The Classroom

Blogging is an important part of who I am as a professional. I can use this space to share resources with you, reflect on my own practice and try to figure out how to be a better educator. It is my public reflection on technology, leadership and learning.

Think about when you were in school. You write an essay. Who read it? Most likely the teacher and that is where it ended. You pour hours and hours into reflections on Shakespear, the economic and political effects of wars on society or how plants have evolved over time, yet the only person who read your thoughts are the teacher. Maybe you shared with a close friend or even the class. But generally the world was unaware of your thoughts and feelings.

Blogging changes that for kids. Now the audience is global and anyone can read, and in some cases respond and comment. Kids can post their writing, projects, thoughts and reflections. Teachers can provide prompts or starters and kids can pick up and run with it.

More and more teachers and classrooms are embracing blogging in the classroom. You're thinking about it, but are unsure where to even start or how to get started. Lets take a look at some classroom blogging resources to get started with.

There are lots of platforms to use. And the one you pick will depend on your district (blocked or not, policies, etc.) and how you want to manage them. Two very popular platforms are Edublogs and Kidblog. Both are very teacher friendly and ofter lots of features that make management easy. Edublogs has a great Getting Started section that will walk you through creation of your blogs and how to use them in the classroom.

Five Steps To Starting A Classroom Blog-Ms. Morris offers some great and personal advice on classroom blogging, learned from her own trial and error.

Two Critical Tips For Blogging Projects-From my good friend Bill, this post offers some more great advice on blogging in the classroom and how to make it successful.

Collection Of Blogging Resources-When I think of classroom blogging I think of Silvia Tolisano. She has been blogging, on, well blogging for a while. Her resources for classroom blogs are extensive and worth spending lots of time with.

Tips For Blogging With Students-Sue Waters (from Edublogs) also has written a lot about blogging with kids. This collection of tips are definitely not to be missed.

Student Blogging Guidelines-Some teachers will want some guidance in place when they undertake blogs with kids. Kim lays out some easy to follow guidelines that might make implementation easier.

So you can get started. You can manage your blogs. But what will you do with them. More over, what will kids do with these spaces. In addition to the ideas I laid out earlier, there are a couple more to consider.

The Student Blogging Challenge is a great way to get into blogging and get kids into their blogs. The challenge is hosted by Edublogs but you don't have to use Edublogs to take part. The challenges range from helping kids understand the mechanics of the blog to learning about digital footprints. Each challenge has prompts the kids can use as starters for posts too. And while the challenge goes on for a specific time, you can certain jump in any time and start.

And lastly, one of the great communities out there that supports student blogging is Comments4Kids. Remember before when we talked about reflection beyond the teacher? Comments4Kids aims to extend the reach of student blogs and provide feedback on posts and show kids the world is reading what they are writing. There is a Twitter hashtag too (#Comments4Kids) that you can use to post blog links or ask questions. Join the Comments4Kids blog and share your posts with the world!

Do you have a favorite resource for blogging in the classroom? Or some advice? Leave your comments below.

photo credit: Kristina B via photopin cc

Professional Development On Your Time, Your Way

As someone who helps develop and deliver professional development to teachers, I've heard lots of reasons why some of the PD schools offer to teachers might not be a good fit.

It's not relevant to me.

It's a waste of time.

Boring.

I am sure if you ask, most teachers can recall some PD they've suffered through with great detail.

PD should be something that we look forward to. It should be something that we are excited about. It should be something we are in control of.

Yep. In control of.

Did you know there are tons of ways to learn new concepts, techniques and ideas for both in the classroom and for you as an educator?

Simple K12 Webinar Series (http://simplek12.com/webinars) The girls over at Simple K12 have been offering free webinars on a wide variety of topics for a while now. Everything from going Google Apps, formative assessments, iPads, administrator specific stuff, you name it, they probably have an upcoming webinar on it. The webinars range from 30 mins to 1 hr and are completely free to watch live. (If you want the recordings you have to be a member of the Community which comes at a fee.) Check out the upcoming calendar for all they have to offer.

Classroom 2.0 Live! (http://live.classroom20.com/) Classroom 2.0, one of the largest member communities for educators anywhere on the Internet, has been doing these Saturday live webinars since 2009. Again, the topics vary week-to-week. But no matter the topic, you will find yourself having lots of fun and learning too. The sessions take place every Saturday at 12 noon Eastern. Miss a show? Not to worry! They archive every session and tag them so they are easy to search. This archive is a place I regularly go to find information on tools, trends in instructional practices and just to learn something new. You can also subscribe to the audio feed in iTunesU.

Bam Radio Network (http://www.bamradionetwork.com/) Bam Radio has grown into the place to visit for educational podcasts. With so many topics to choose from, my iPod is about to bust with all shows I've downloaded. You may already know 2 of the shows there, Edchat Radio and my show, Edtech Radio but those are just 2 of over 50 with hosts of every caliber. Oh, and all the shows are free and short too (about 10-20 mins) which makes them perfect for listening while riding to work or going for a stroll.

School Leadership Summit Recordings (http://admin20.org/page/summit-recordings) The School Leadership Summit was a 1-day, completely virtual conference aimed at school administrators but the topics reached much further than the school principal. With a keynote from Yong Zhao and over 100 sessions, you are sure to find something that you didn't know before. I am certainly going to spend time going through all the sessions over the next couple of weeks.

TED Talks (http://www.ted.com/) By now most have heard of TED Talks but in case you haven't, TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) are talks given by some of the world's best thinkers and doers. Whenever I watch one, no matter if its on the designs of 404 pages on websites to a talk given on monkeys and game theory, I always learn something. There are over 1400 to choose from, and while not all are education related there are several that are. And even the ones that are not, there are still takeaways that you can use in your teaching.

Open Courses (Various) In just the past year there has been an explosion in the number of higher ed institutions providing open courses to the world, meaning you can take a course on Physics from MIT or economics from USC. From MIT Open Courseware to edX (which is a combined effort of over 10 universities) there is so much out there to choose from, all for free. These can be great places to beef up your content knowledge or just learn something new.

Twitter Hashtags (http://bit.ly/hashtagsedu) A list like this wouldn't be complete without mentioning the great learning that happens on Twitter 24/7. And hashtags are a great way to organize and follow that learning. (Want to learn more about hashtags? Read this post I wrote a while back.) The spreadsheet linked above is one of the best I've seen. Organized by day, it has most all of the Educational Hashtag chats and their times, along with hashtags that might not have a chat but folks still share using them.

Now, take control of your professional development. Use these as a starting point and go learn!

Do you have other places, webinar series, podcasts or courses that have helped you take control of your PD? Leave some comments below.

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