#edcampphilly 2013 - Simply Wonderful!

Yesterday was a fantastic day of learning and connecting at #edcampphilly!  I went back to my edcamp roots and made sure that I was in attendance at this one.  Last year I went to edcampphilly 2012 and it sparked an interest in becoming more involved in the edcamp movement.  I subsequently attended #edcampleadership 2012 and then helped to organize  #edcampNJ 2012.  Now I am currently working with the same group of amazing educators to plan #edcampNJ 2013 which will take place at Linwood Middle School in North Brunswick, NJ on November 23rd.  But, I digress.

As is always the case when I attend an edcamp, I feel reinvigorated and connected by others who are passionate about education and the things that they are doing with children in their classrooms and schools.  Connecting with many of my PLN members from Twitter is also another great benefit of attending.  As @wkrakower tweeted yesterday in response to a tweet about conversations at edcamp:

There were so many amazing sessions to choose from that it was a shame that I could only pick four.  Check out the list of offerings that the participants facilitated throughout the day on the schedule document.  This year the #edcampphilly team added shared Google Docs for each session so that participants could take notes together during and after the sessions.  You can find those on the schedule, as well. (great idea!)  Here are some thoughts about the sessions that I attended.

Session 1: Taking Genius Global - facilitated by Angela Maiers

The conversation in @AngelaMaiers session "Taking Genius Global" was inspirational.  Her passion for giving children a place, a "global refrigerator," to post projects about which they have a passion is powerful.  I am awed by the stories of how the global connection that is afforded us by current technologies allows for students' visions of change in the world to become reality.  As I listened and participated in the conversation with Angela, it became clear to me that we have the opportunity to provide children with the connections that would normally only be found at $1000 a plate cocktail fundraisers.  The ability to connect with people who have the means to make projects and dreams a reality is right there in the palm of our hands (literally)!  Please take a moment to check out the Choose2Matter website and find out how you can get involved.  Here is the link to the Google Doc from the session.  There are a number of great resource links in it.  Thank you Angela, it was inspirational. You Matter!

Session 2: Preventing the Zombie Apocalypse - facilitated by Gerald Aungst

The presentation and conversation led by @geraldaungst was clever and apropos.  While there is a fascination with the fictional Zombie Apocalypse (The Walking Dead, etc.), it is clear that we can foster this same, very real, phenomenon in our schools and classrooms if we do not engage students.  When we as teachers cause/allow them to disengage, we are part of the virus that creates those zombies.  A strong discussion ensued around several key questions:

Should teachers be entertainers?
Who owns the engagement? Students? Teachers? Admins? etc.?

What is the difference between "instructors" and "teachers"?
Are those students engaged who are just chasing GPAs?

Gerald caused us to truly think about so many things surrounding the topic of engagement even beyond those questions.  The room was very lively with discussion.  We also learned about the "diseases" of Elementitis and Aboutitis which are discussed in David Perkins' book Making Learning Whole. If you want some additional insight into this session, check out the Google Doc with shared notes.

Lunch
I mention lunch because it is such a worthwhile time to spend with colleagues discussing the morning sessions and a whole host of other topics.  Enjoying food and conversation is a great way to learn and grow together.

Session 3: PBL in the K-5 Classroom (What does it look like? How does it happen? What are the tech tools to use?) - facilitated by Diana Potts

This discussion led by @pottsedtech helped to highlight the planning and thought processes needed to adapt Project Based Learning to elementary school content and students.  Diana highlighted the need to have a "driving question" to guide the work. Additionally, the discussion touched on Wiggins' UBD concepts and working with a backward design.  What is your desired outcome? --- How do we get there?  She shared a great resource for all things PBL, the Bucks Institute for Education.  One of my big takeaways from this session was the following:

Don't stand in the way of student learning.  Often we limit the students by our expectations. Students learn how to hide their learning for fear of failure, instead of risk-taking.

PBL requires risk-taking and failure is part of the process.  Students don't need to be ashamed if something does not work, they need to learn from it and redesign their project.  This is reality learning!  We also need to keep reminding ourselves and the children that when infusing technology into PBL, technology is anything that solves a problem and had to be designed.  Finally, it was clear the PBL is certainly not easy; however, the "Aha moments" are exciting and it brings out the creativity and the best in our students!  For more see the Google Doc of shared notes.

Session 4: Creating the schools we need vs maintaining the schools we have - A brainstorm on professional learning - facilitated by Mike Ritzius

This discussion was unique in that @mritzius was leading a discussion while working to highlight both the form and content of the session.  We were immediately focused on the participant driven nature of Mike's session and how our personal experience and knowledge made up the "value" of the session.  We wrestled with the ideas of balancing the "have to's" of professional learning (new teacher eval systems, common core, state mandates, technology mandates, etc.) and the "want to's" or participant interest topics.  The questions that we discussed can be found in the Google Doc.  Some of my musings during the session included:

I think it is important to note the fact that I (and many other folks) tweet our ideas and questions and thoughts during the sessions because one of the things this session covered was the different ways that people participate in professional learning.  I am not sure that I could fully benefit from pd anymore if I was not "back channeling" or communicating with others in a focused, related, "side conversation."  However, that is not for everybody.

This session capped off a day of exhausting, rewarding, exciting professional learning.  To top it all off, I learned about some new apps and tools with which I was not familiar during the closing Smackdown!  Before we headed home we also joined the organizers and other participants for a Tweetup afterward at a local restaurant.

Thank you to all of the organizers and attendees this past Saturday for a great experience.  Specifically, thanks to my #njed tweeps for connecting and learning together.  Even more specifically, thanks to @wkrakower, @sirotiak02, and @MissCass22 for two great car rides there and back!

As I have said before, if you have a chance to go to an #edcamp, you should jump at it.   The worst possible thing is that you may spend a Saturday and learn with some great people. The best thing that could happen is you find a whole new model for professional learning that feeds your mind and your passion for teaching and learning!

I hope to see everyone at #edcampNJ on November 23, 2013 in North Brunswick.

Related articles

• My First EdCamp: #edcampPhilly Reflections (drstaub.wordpress.com)
• Hot Pocket Leadership: The Edcamp Movement as a Case Study (educationismylife.com)
• My First EdCamp (primarytechblog.com)
• Knapp Elementary Hosting ParentCamp To Help Parents, Teachers Connect (ptotoday.com)
• EDcamp experience (educatorsforabetterbuffalo.wordpress.com)
• My First EdCamp in Boston! (karenmahon.com)
• My First Edcamp Experience (teachthrutech.com)
• How to Make PD Better (mrerichills.wordpress.com)
• #YouMatter Movement with Angela Maiers (educationismylife.com)

I Need that Watch!!

I remember a TV movie from 1980 called The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything. It starred Robert Hays (Ted Styker from Airplane) and Pam Dawber (Mindy from Mork and Mindy).  To be clear, it was a hokey movie at best and really wasn't very memorable except for the premise, which involved the main character inheriting a watch that allowed him to stop time for everyone but himself!

WHAT I NEED IS THAT WATCH!

Have you ever felt like you had so many things going on at once that you would never get them all done?  I have been a Principal for over a decade so I am very familiar with juggling numerous things and managing many deadlines, but I have to say that I have never really found the right formula for getting it all done efficiently.  It all gets finished and usually finished pretty well, but not without angst and stress.

WHAT I NEED IS THAT WATCH!

I know I'll never get it, but I have to dream.  Don't get me wrong I have employed many different types of

systems.  Before the higher tech ones I used notebooks, binders, color coding, white boards, etc.  Now that we have mobile devices I use things like Evernote, Wunderlist, email, Google Apps, etc.  But, I want something more magical!

WHAT I NEED IS THAT WATCH!

Since I understand that I will likely not get one of those watches, I ask you: What do you do to keep organized and stay on track?  Do you have a system?  Do you have a program?  Do you have a plan?  Do you have any good advice?  This post is mainly for venting about the many things that are going on right now including a 50th Anniversary Celebration for my school, NJ State Testing, and all of the normal things that go along with school administration in the Spring (Annual Evals, budget, staffing, etc. etc. etc.)  All of this stuff is part of the gig and I love it, but this is my space for writing about this stuff.  Teachers and administrators all feel the heat during the last month and a half of the school year, and I am sure that I am preaching to the choir.

So, as I mentioned:

WHAT I NEED IS THAT WATCH!

But, unless you have one of those, can you share with me what you use to keep it all straight.  If you have never commented on my blog before, this is the time I ask you to consider commenting.



I leave you with one of my favorite exchanges from one of my favorite films; Shakespeare in Love.

Philip Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. 
Hugh Fennyman: So what do we do? 
Philip Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well. 
Hugh Fennyman: How? 
Philip Henslowe: I don't know. It's a mystery. 

It will all get done. Thanks!

#TCRWP - Cornelius Minor Session on the BYOT Movement

This is another post with my notes from a session I attended at the March 9th Teachers College Readers and Writers Project Saturday Reunion.  This session took place in the afternoon and was conducted by Cornelius Minor.  It was entitled, "That's the Way of the World: The Bring-Your-Own-Technology Movement and What It Means for Reading and Writing Workshops."

First let me say that Cornelius Minor is a fascinating guy and you can get more insight into his work and passions on his blog: Kass&Corn.  As I mentioned in my last post on #TCRWP, I am fond of the bullet point when I take notes. The notes begin with some background and information regarding the movement and then some practical ideas for implementing, starting, and fostering use of technology in Workshop and beyond.  I have cleaned up the notes a bit, but they are mainly in their raw form.  My comments are at the end.  If you
have any questions or would like to discuss further, please leave a comment.

Cornelius Minor

• What is the BYOT Movement?
• The movement has always been around
• Socrates had a stick and that was high tech at the time
• Movement has begun to shift from legislating what comes into the classroom to building teaching around it
• Modern BYOT has been around for about 5 years
• The Digital Divide has been changed by mobile devices
• There are more ways to have access
• It is important that kids know how to leverage the technology they have (xbox?, etc.)
• Those who know how to use tech tools well are the most economically successful in our current economy
• Who you are as an economic being is cemented by age 14
• Producer
• Consumer
• We need to invite technology into our classrooms so we can help teach kids how to use it so they can go out and feed their families
• We need policy to shift  to relieve teachers of the legal responsibility for student devices if brought in for BYOT
• Resources and steps
• Get smart on using various items
• cell phones
• tablets
• Google Suite of applications
• blogging
• Do schools have a point person for all of this stuff?
• We should be thinking about hiring people who know how to "speak the digital language."
• We have to have a decent classroom culture in place
• We have to have high expectations in place
• We need to welcome kids to our classes with their devices

• How do I get the devices out of pockets and onto desks and back?
• This is basic classroom management - but updated!
• Should take 3-4 days to teach
• Make sure you have a way to reach each child
• Many districts have student email addresses
• If not, collect them.
• Make sure kids know how to check email
• mini-lesson
• assignment
• Make sure kids understand that the work of tech in the classroom has wider implications in the outside world
• The idea is not for everyone to have "one of those" devices
• It is to know how to get access to "one of those"
• "Part of teaching technology is teaching the hustle"
• Curricular Stuff
• 1st 5-8 days are more procedural and cultural than curricular in a BYOT program
• How does tech find its way into the workshops we discuss each day?
• Writing
• In the traditional analog version, the process is thus:
• collecting - 4-6 days
• rehearsal/draft - 1-2 days
• revision - 4-6 days
• editing - 4-6 days
• publish/share - 1 day
• In the technological version:
• publishing/sharing is the most important thing
• How can i position that published piece in the world so that people this kid cares about have access to it? (younger kids = teacher, older kids = peers, etc.)
• Teacher blog?
• post student work
• get it in the world
• parents need to sign a form
• C. Minor feels that the best thing he has done is to publish his kids to the world.
• Don't "select the best work" to go online
• There is no community in that
• Publish 3 pieces per month
• provides consistency for student and readers
• 3 imperfect attempts is better than one perfect attempt
• Learning is in the attempts
• Use pseudonyms for writing
• then only those who know the pseudonym (classmates, families, etc.) know who wrote the piece
• greater safety
• targeted audience

Time ran out on the session; I could have participated for several more hours in this discussion.  Cornelius Minor helped me to see that BYOT is not simply a high school idea that does not translate to elementary schools.  As an elementary principal I am seeing more and more children come to school with some sort of device (eReader, smartphone, iPod touch, handheld games with wifi, etc.) and I hear stories of their game systems, computers, and devices at home.  With all of this technology at their fingertips, it seems almost wasteful to ignore the potential of using them for greater learning opportunities.

Recently, I listened to my daughter and her friends at her 7th birthday party discussing how I should put the video I was taking on YouTube.  They commented that it would probably get 100 hits or 1000 hits and they would be famous!  This idea of "being out there" on the Internet is the modern version of mom and dad posting our work on the refrigerator for all who visit the house to see our accomplishments when we were kids.  The suggestions that Cornelius Minor provided in this session were practical and safe ways to do this.  

As educators we need to use the tools at our disposal to continually improve the way that we meet our educational goals while connecting with the modern child.  This is not to say that at times Socrates writing in the dirt with his stick is not effective; however, I believe that if Socrates had access to what we do, he would have taken his questioning digital.

Once again, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.

Related articles

• #TCRWP Saturday Reunion - March 2013 - Laurie Pessah's Workshop (principalarc.blogspot.com)
• #TCRWP Saturday Reunion - A New Can't Miss for Me! (principalarc.blogspot.com)
• New Units of Study (twowritingteachers.wordpress.com)
• Embracing Bring Your Own Technology #byotchat #byod @mysa @ectechhornet (mguhlin.org)
• BYOT Bring your own technology to work? (dealarchitect.typepad.com)
• BYOT with Fotobabble/Educreations (lgb06.wordpress.com)
• Byot (thesmallstreetjournal.wordpress.com)

#TCRWP Saturday Reunion - March 2013 - Laurie Pessah's Workshop

It has been several weeks since the Teacher College Reading and Writing Project Saturday Reunion at Columbia University; however, I am just getting a chance to sit down and write some of my reflections on the sessions I attended that day.  This first post is about a session by Laurie Pessah.  The full title of the session was Systems and Structures that Administrators and Literacy Leaders Can Put in Place to Create School-Wide Change: Learning Walks, Feedback, and Other Supports.  It is quite a mouthful and the session was full of practical ideas that can be implemented immediately.

Laurie Pessah

Laurie began with a focus on walkthroughs indicating that traditional ones have been used by administrators for evaluation and supervision purposes.

• Walkthroughs should be done by a teamTeams should consisted of teachers, administrators, and coaches
• There should be a teacher from every grade level
• More people=Better Conversation
• They should not be about supervision, but about Vision

She talked about three types of walkthroughs: Common Core Curriculum Walkthroughs, Bottom Lines Walkthroughs, and Environmental Walkthroughs.  I have summarized my notes below.  In case you were wondering, I am fond of bullet points in my note-taking.

Common Core Curriculum Walkthroughs

• CCSS are meant to push students and teachers higher
• Guiding Question: "Is our school teaching high enough to the CCSS?"
• Walkthrough observers walk around with common core sheets/rubrics
• Administrators need to learn the standards by grade level
• The same lessons often occur in 1st grade and 4th grade
• We need to look at how the 4th grade lesson deepens the learning.

Bottom Lines Walkthroughs

• These walkthroughs are designed to see where professional development needs to be directed.
• The walkthrough team is looking to see that foundational Writers Workshop skills are in place
• Is it happening every day?
• Is conferring occurring?
• Are conferring records being kept?
• Is there a place for meeting to confer? as a group?
• Looking at the classroom through this lens will assist in seeing what essential Workshop skills need to be reinforced through PD.

Environmental Walkthroughs

• These walkthroughs are about the patterns seen in the rooms throughout a school
• The entire staff can/should participate in these walkthroughs
• The group goes into different classrooms and walks the rooms
• The group looks at the things that go into each room
• Is there a writing center?
• Are desks arranged to support conversation?
• What do kids leave outside?
• It is surprising what teachers learn from each other's rooms

The next portion of the session focused on Learning Walks.  These are a bit different than the various walkthroughs discussed above.

Learning Walks

• These walks can be done twice per year for maximum goal setting

• Sept/Oct and May/June
• Teams should be inclusive
• 8-10 people
• Member roles
• Each person has a focused "look for"
• The areas of focus depend upon what the school is working on
• The members only look at that one thing with "tunnel vision"
• sped modifications
• teacher language
• cooperative structures
• etc.
• The team decides upon topics for the walk and assigns each member's focus before the walk
• These walks are non-critical
• Having members from different grade levels gives more perspectives in the discussion

The final major structure that Laurie Pessah discussed during this session was Feedback.  Her contention was that feedback is the most important component to student success in the classroom; more important than class size, student-teacher relationship, explicit instruction, socio-economics, and inquiry instruction.  She showed a video of Lucy Calkins giving feedback to a child and then discussed the following principles of feedback.

Principles of Feedback

• It doesn't allways need to be about something new
  
• • can continue something old
• We should do research to know the bigger picture
• • what is teacher working on?
  • stay longer to figure out
• We should give direct and honest feedback
• • it is not negative to redirect in the moment
  • it should be based in evidence
• Always compliment
• • this makes conferree more open and receptive
  • make a practice-focused compliment

At the end of the session, Laurie briefly discussed several other structures and practices.  These included Lead Teachers, Professional Learning Communities, Reciprocal Classroom Visits, Common Planning time, and the two below that I will be starting on this Spring.

• June Visits
• every teacher goes down one grade level for a visit
• teachers can see what the students know in June
• eliminates September's preconceived notions of what students DON'T know
• "Quote Study"
• Instead of doing book studies at faculty meetings
• Choose 4 quotes to discuss.
• Can be given in advance or not
• Eliminates asking already stressed staff to do homework for faculty meeting.

Hopefully, these notes are somewhat clear and provide a glimpse into what was an excellent session.  As I have said in previous posts, the Saturday Reunion is an amazing day of learning about all things Reading and Writing.  I have a couple more posts to come regarding our March 9th visit to Columbia University.  Stay Tuned.

If you are confused by anything in my notes or if you want to discuss anything, please leave a comment!

Related articles

#TCRWP Saturday Reunion - A New Can't Miss for Me! (principalarc.blogspot.com)

Slice 2013 9 of 31 My Day at Teachers College Saturday Reunion(readingtothecore.wordpress.com)

#Slice 2013: 10 of 31- The TCWRP Saturday Reunion (tworeflectiveteachers.blogspot.com)

#Slice 2013: 12 of 31 - Two More Saturday Reunion Workshops (tworeflectiveteachers.blogspot.com)

#Slice 2013: 13 or 31 - Kate Roberts Workshop (tworeflectiveteachers.blogspot.com)

#TCRWP Saturday Reunion - A New Can't Miss for Me!

 This is the first post of three or four that I will be writing about the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Saturday Reunion that took place on Saturday, March 9th.  There are so many wonderful things to write about the day, but in this post I wanted to start with what I see as inspirational.

There are some teachers and administrators in my district who have attended #TCRWP Saturday Reunion in the past.  I had the pleasure of attending the one in the fall of 2012.  I met up with several other administrators and teachers from the district; there were a handful, maybe 10 or 12.  I have to say that I was intrigued when I found out that I could go to Columbia University for a day and listen to keynote speeches by famous authors and progressive minds in the fields of teaching reading and writing (wait for it.....) FOR FREE!  The impressive selection of workshops numbers over 100 and the conversation is phenomenal.

After attending last fall, several administrators discussed getting a group together to go in the spring.  Our Coordinator of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction approached the Superintendent about supplying a coach bus for the trip.  In true Hopewell fashion our Superintendent basically said if you can fill it, we'll supply it!  So, over the next couple of weeks several emails went out to solicit participation in the Saturday Reunion.  After a couple of emails, the message changed from, "come on, it will be a great day" to "hurry up, seats on the bus are almost full!"  Soon we even had a waiting list for the bus.  I don't have the exact number but I know that we had around 50 Hopewell Valley participants!

I mentioned that I was going to tackle what I found inspirational in this post.  It goes without saying that the following things are inspirational:

• A day devoted to concepts related to teaching reading and writing
• Several thousand people from around the country (and world) descending upon Teachers College for this day
• Hearing Catherine Paterson speak about creativity
• Hearing Lucy Calkins speak about the state of education
• Having 50 members of Hopewell Valley spend an unpaid Saturday at Teachers College to improve their craft and learn about the most up-to-date strategies, concepts, and ideas for teaching reading and writing!

I am sure the math that I am about to do is fuzzy, but if Hopewell Valley has approximately 400 teachers K-12 and 50 of them went to the Saturday Reunion, that is about 1/8 of the entire staff!  Imagine if we had another bus and we had pushed it at the secondary level like we did at the elementary!

I am humbled and honored to be a lead learner in the Hopewell Valley Regional School District.  Working with dedicated professionals who want only the best for our children is inspiring.  Veteran and new teachers alike spending a Saturday of learning together is my idea of a great learning community.  Edcamps and Saturday Reunions have taught me over the past year or so that the joy of learning is still alive in education and truly alive in New Jersey!

My next several posts will be about some of the wonderful sessions that I attended on March 9th.

Related articles

• Teacher's Center Reading and Writing Project Saturday Reunion

Odyssey of the Mind, 21st Century Skills, and "That" Teacher

Why would I spend an entire Saturday, 7:15am - 8:00pm, at a middle school that is 40 minutes from where I live and and hour from the district within which I work? Must be an edcamp, right? No. Maybe a sporting event? No. Hmmm..... then why? Let me explain.

Last year and this year my daughter has had the great fortune of learning with a truly amazing teacher. One of those teachers who inspires you; one of those teachers who sees the best in you and makes it her mission to bring that out; one of those teachers that you truly love; one of those teachers who is the one you use as a security question online when you are asked, "who was your favorite teacher?" For my daughter Madalyn, that teacher is Mrs. Melissa Stager. I have had the pleasure of interacting with her on many occasions over the past two years because she is the teacher who encouraged Madalyn to try putting together a team to participate in Odyssey of the Mind (OotM).

OotM has been an amazing experience for our whole family.  My daughter has found an amazing group of friends with similar interests.  My wife has now coached the team for the past two years.  My younger daughter and I have had the pleasure of taking part in numerous meetings, competitions, and events with the families.

OotM is basically a creativity competition with a long portion that is researched, created and presented at the competitions, and a Spontaneous portion, which is practiced prior; however, no one knows what these questions will be until they are given to the students with a few minutes to prepare.  That description does not do justice to the amazing learning and growing experience that Odyssey of the Mind provides to students.  The Regional and State Competitions take place all day on two Saturdays and the World Finals take place at a large University over several days (last year it was at Iowa State University).

My daughter receiving her 1st place medal at Regionals

My daughter, after trying many sports, came to the conclusion that organized sports was not the path for her.  When Mrs. Stager suggested this avenue, it was like a whole world had been opened to her.  I am proud to say that last year my daughter was a member of the state champion team in her division and question.  They went to the World Finals and placed 25th out of over 50 teams from around the country and the world.  This year we just went to the Regional competition on Saturday and her team took first place once again.  Next month is the State finals.  (Please note that I am fully aware that the last several sentences are a shameless proud dad brag, but I am okay with that.)

The work students do to prepare for and perform in this competition is a perfect example of the 21st century skills that we talk about every day in education.  According to the 21st Century Fluency Project, the 21st Century Fluencies include:

An investigation of the skills encompassed in this diagram (and I encourage you to click the links to the 21st Century Fluency Project) shows a wonderful connection to this competition that fosters creative thinking, problem solving, using your resources to develop answers, discriminating between what works and what does not, working as a team, perseverance, and the list goes on.

Without belaboring the point, I would encourage anyone to check out the Odyssey of the Mind competition. I am going to investigate starting a team at my school in conjunction with the PTO.  I am hoping that we can bring this great opportunity to the children in our elementary school!!

So, hopefully I've answered my initial question. Why would I spend an entire Saturday, 7:15am - 8:00pm at a middle school that is 40 minutes from where I live and and hour from the district within which I work? 

Please leave a comment below if you are so inclined.

Related articles

• OM challenges students to be creative

Bear Tavern - iPads in Kindergarten

Bear Tavern Kindergarten teachers and students were highlighted on the front page of the Trenton Times on Saturday March 2nd for the use of iPads in the classroom to augment instruction.  I am very proud of the work our school community is doing to use technology as a tool for learning.  Please check out the article at:

Hopewell Valley school district experiments with iPads in the classroom

Please leave comments below.  I would love to share them with the teachers.

Related articles

• Hopewell Valley school district experiments with iPads in the classroom
• Custom iPad Cases for Teachers and Students Make a Splash in Schools