Not too long ago, I sat and watched a friend in Kansas connect with my friends in Montgomery, TX. As I was sitting there I started to reflect on the importance of connecting with others. The importance of knowing that we aren't the experts at everything and that reaching out for guidance and inspiration is more about growth than it is about deficit.
It took me a while, as an educator, to come to this realization. To completely understand the Power of the PLN. What is a PLN? To me, a PLN is a group of professionals that thrive on the concept of "sharing is caring." The more that I think about the term PLN, it makes me think of a Kindergarten classroom or any classroom for that matter. When learners first enter elementary school, what is one of the first things that we teach them to do? Share. We foster a learning environment that encourages and inspires students to collaborate, share, and bounce ideas off one another. Isn't that exactly what a PLN is to us today as lead learners? So why, as educators, is it sometimes so hard for us to ask for help? Why does that fear sometimes win?
I didn't realize the power of connectivity until about 3 years ago, when I finally decided to start a classroom Twitter account. I was inspired by Kayla Delzer, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions that I have ever made as an educator-the decision to make my classroom more than the four walls that contained it. During that school year and the next, my kids connected with Ryan Davidson, a meteorologist from the weather channel (check out his story here), a Martian soil expert from Kansas (check out her story here), a college professor and her students from South Carolina, and so many more. Little did I know that meeting this college professor would mean so much to me and my profession!
Dr. Julie P. Jones was one of the first educators that I met on Twitter, and it was all because we (my 4th grade classroom) thanked her for being our 200th follower. She quickly responded, but not just with a "thank you". She sent my kids some challenges about #make200. It was one of the first instances where I recognized the power that Twitter had, especially for my kids. Dr. Julie P. Jones is a professor at Converse College in South Carolina, and she works with educator prep students. Because of our initial connection, our classes soon connected for other reasons! My 4th grade students visited with her college age students about classroom management, technology tools, and classroom jobs. They loved being able to voice their thoughts about the classroom and education with future teachers.
A year later, we finally met in real life! We presented about Twitter at a conference in Orlando, FL called ATE about the magic that is social media. It was such a surreal experience to meet one of my Twitter heroes!!
This past summer, I read a book that quickly became one of my favorite books that I have ever read, The Book of What If by Matt Murrie and Andrew McHugh. This book is full of activities and questions for curious readers of ANY age! A group of us decided to start a What If Book Study in Voxer over the summer after being inspired by the wonderful Marialice Curran, and it was awesome! We were able to share and converse about all things "What If"! Matt Murrie even joined in on the conversation! I especially loved reading the book when I was with my niece, Nancy. One of the first questions that I asked her from the book was "What If Dinosaurs Never Went Extinct?". She thought about it for a little bit, and then the curiosity conversation began! We decided to share her thoughts on that topic by including her in the Voxer chat! We added her thoughts first, and then the author, Matt Murrie, asked her another question as well as my friend, Jennifer Griffin, about what they should eat to keep the dinosaurs away!. Check out the dialogue below!
She loved being involved, and couldn't wait for the next What If question! Another question I gave her was "What If There Were No Books?" This question bothered her a bit! I used her response as inspiration to create the Buncee below! I love using Buncee for creation, and used it throughout the book study to design and illustrate my curiosity!!
The point of sharing all of this with you is to paint a picture of pure curiosity! George Couros recently posted about the topic of What If, and included this question:
What if schools always focused on the notion that we should all be “learners” as opposed to “students”?
This question made me think about a part in his book, The Innovator's Mindset, that said, "Kids walk into schools full of wonder and questions, yet we often ask them to save their questions for later, so we can "get through" the curriculum." What a powerful statement! Why are we not embracing a kid's wonder and curiosity each and every day! These are the types of conversations that I want to be a part of with my kids! Please don't let them leave school less curious than when they started!
This past week, all of the elementary schools in Montgomery ISD started a "What If of the Week" based on and with the support of Matt's book. At the beginning of each week, the What If is announced on the morning announcements and also shared on social media. We are encouraging students and teachers to share their thoughts in any way that they choose throughout the week on social media! Check out some of the #MISDWhatIf Week 1 posts below!
We all make a choice as educators on how we choose to impact the life of a child. This child is someone's entire world, and our job is an important one. In the words of my buddy, Kayla Delzer, "If it's right for kids, it's right." Words to teach and learn by!
I recently attended TCEA, in Austin, Texas. Each time that I attend this conference, I leave rejuvenated and inspired. This year did not disappoint! I wanted to share some of the highlights of this trip, and to also shine a light on educators and innovators who inspire me daily!
We arrived in Austin on a Tuesday, and started our day at Le Cafe Crepe. It was the perfect place to start our day!
I attended a few sessions on that day, but one session stood out for me! The session was titled "The New, The Old, the NOT-so-Obselete", and it was led by Lauren Kallail and Brandon Hunter. In this session, they introduced a tool called Touchcast. With Touchcast, teachers are able to use broadcasting tools to present information. It also fosters creativity and collaboration amongst the students. Check out this video about Touchcast! Can't wait to use it with my kids!
Wednesday brought an abundance of information and inspiration! The first session that I attended was about project-based learning. It was led by Wendy Dickerson. I am in my second year as PBL facilitator, and this session gave me so many great ideas on organizing and supporting these lessons! Here is the presentation link. My biggest take-aways from this session, were the additions of workshops into the PBL topics/units and the "hook"! We are starting a new PBL project tomorrow, and it is all about soil. I will post the hook soon! Kevin Honeycutt was a huge help in developing an idea for this topic!
@kevinhoneycutt
Another session I attended, was lead by Janet Corder and Joan Gore, J2! I never miss a session led by these two wonderfully hilarious educators! This session was titled "BYOD Activities That Work". One tool that was shared was Quizizz. As soon as they introduced it, I emailed my staff, and shared it! It is that good! Quizizz is pretty similar to Kahoot, with a couple of exceptions. Students can work at their own pace, and the questions appear on their devices. It is awesome! Another cool one was Bingo Baker! Check it out here!
Tammy Worcester Tang is another leader that I never miss! She always shares the coolest tips and tricks! She shared how you can use your lightening cable and Quicktime to share your iPad or iPhone screen! Crazy how I never knew that you could do that! Here is a quick tutorial on it!
Thursday was a day at TCEA that I was totally looking forward to! I was finally going to get to meet and listen to George Couros. I have been following him on Twitter since I met and connected with Kayla Delzer. He truly is an inspiring and innovative educator with a heart for students and authentic learning experiences!
Every word...every single word inspired me! Here are some of the quotes from that session that have stuck with me since.
"If students leave school less curious than when they started, we have failed them." @gcouros
"What would you want to spend the whole day learning in your own classroom?" @gcouros
"Are kids doing this because of school or in spite of school?" @gcouros
"Innovation often begins and ends with empathy." @gcouros
"We need to make the positives so loud that the negatives are almost impossible to hear." WOW, right!? @gcouros
And my absolute favorite-"Kids often defy expectations when you give them the opportunity." @gcouros
Doesn't all of that just make you want to change the world!? Check out his book, The Innovator's Mindset. I can't wait to read it!!
Another person that I could not wait to meet on this day was Jaime Donally. I recently participated in #digcitathon and Edcamp Global, and she was a huge part in both!
Her session was about virtual reality! VR is something that I have been excited about since Google Cardboard came out! I have a class set, and the students love to take virtual field trips!
I had no idea that Nearpod had virtual experiences that you can add into the lessons! So exciting! She also talked about Augthat and Google Spotlight Stories. I have plans to GH (Google Hangout) with the creator of Augthat this upcoming week! So many great things shared in this session, and I was so excited to finally meet her! Can't wait to reconnect soon!
TCEA is a conference that I look forward to each and every school year! I hope to one day be able to present at it!!! You should make plans to be there on February 6-10 next year!!
This past week, my kids worked with a couple of technology tools to foster the idea that it is time for our students to take more ownership in their learning! I was motivated by Kayla Delzer to begin this movement in my classroom. She truly is an visionary when it comes to education and student driven learning! We worked with a couple of apps this week that aided in giving my students more control in their learning. We began our week with a mini-lesson on the app, Explain Everything. Explain Everything is an interactive whiteboard that allows students and educators to animate their thinking. My goal with this is started as a simple idea. My plan was to teach the students about a skill, and then give them the tools to dive deeper into that knowledge through the use of an interactive whiteboard and QR codes. At the end of the lesson, they were challenged to create a how-to video about the skill that day, distributive property of multiplication, that could potentially be posted on YouTube for other students to use. Their excitement was palpable, and one of my students said, "This is the best idea ever!". I could not agree more! I created a video using the ShowMe app, and then created a QR code with a link to that video. I then glued the QR code to one desk within the table groups, and titled it a "Help Desk". My plan is to create "Help Desks" throughout the year for students to access when they require reteaching.
The students then created their own interactive videos within the app, Explain Everything. I loved how this app, very effortlessly, lent itself to collaboration and creation. The videos were great, and the students grasped the concept of distributive property without me ever having to pass out a piece of paper! Imagine that! Up next is Aurasma and TinyTap!! More to come soon once my students explore these awesome tools!
One of my students, Denton, wanted to share Explain Everything with my partner teacher to see if she could start using it in her class. He took it upon himself to show her the app, and he even brainstormed ideas with her about how she could use. And do you know what happened? She loved everything about their conversations, and used it the very next day! Below is a picture of Denton talking to Mrs. Serrill about his ideas. We posted this image on Twitter, and Explain Everything retweeted it! I wish I could have bottled his reaction to this when I told him. He was so proud! That is what it is all about!!
Today was a half day for students and staff, and we decided to begin our unit about Changes in Matter with a fun and yummy science experiment...homemade ice cream! We (my team) found a file with these instructions, and I wish I could credit someone with it! Please let me know if you are responsible for this fun experiment. I recreated the file using PrintShop, and added detailed instructions for the lab groups to follow. You can grab it for FREE in my TpT store! My student teacher, who is fabulous, took charge with this lesson, and she did great! I had a moment where I must have looked like I was panicking, because my room was a mess! Don't let that stop you, though! The kids loved it, and totally approved! I would suggest taking it outside, and I would also suggest using tubs for the students to shake it in. Ms. Cooley and I quickly located a variety of tubs in my room for the students to use. The second go around went a bit more smoothly! Check out the images and video below. As Kayla Delzer says, if it's good for the students it is good for me! It was most definitely good for my kids!! I know that I promised in a recent post to talk about Plickers...blog post is coming soon! #happyclassrooms
I am so excited about blogging again this year. Last year, I decided to start a blog titled "Surfing into PBL" using a blogging platform called Weebly. This blog highlighted my first year as a PBL (Project-Based Learning) teacher. It was a wonderful experience being able to reflect on those projects, as well as to share them with my parents and the community. This year, I decided that I wanted to blog about all of the wonderful things that are happening in my classroom. I reached out to Kayla Delzer, and she put in me in touch with Christi! I am so in love with my blog design. If you are looking for someone to create a wonderful blog design, check out her website. You will not be disappointed! Why "Converse in the Classroom"? I am a teacher who loves her converse sneakers! If I could wear them every day, I would!! My goal for this blog is to inspire and motivate my fellow lead learners by sharing my kids and my classroom.
