680 Course Reflection

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About 18 months ago, I started the Teaching with Technology endorsement program through the University of St. Francis. My first course was EEND 675: Foundations of Educational Technology. My final reflection today marks the last day of the last course in the endorsement sequence, EEND 680: 21st Century Educational Leadership, and my last hurrah in this program.

The ISTE standards have been the common thread throughout every course and each USF adjunct instructor has done a respectable job reminding course participants of their importance in education today. My goal is to continue to incorporate the student, teacher, and teacher-leader standards in my curriculum and be a resource in my school building.

Speaking of instructors...Michelle Nevin, Kristin Beeler, Scott Hagedorn, and Kim Darche were phenomenal leaders in their own right as they helped many of us along this path. I've also had the pleasure of meeting some great educators from all across the DuPage area who have participated in these courses with me. I've enjoyed the countless face-to-face and virtual encounters with many of you and have learned a great deal from your experiences.

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It's fitting that I end the program with this course because leadership has taken on a new meaning for me as I've progressed through the course sequence. Educational technology programs, applications, and platforms will continue to improve, and newer, better things will come along to enhance curriculum and guide student learning. Compared to 18 months ago, I can clearly see the importance of developing better digital citizens in my classroom, maintaining/modeling a positive and ethical presence online, and using technology to address the 4 Cs - communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. Part of my job as an educator is preparing 21st-century learners to be successful, contributing members of society.

I doubt I will every move into an administrative role as I'm quite happy being a science teacher, department head and ed tech leader in my building. I endeavor to redefine my leadership role and be a lifelong learner in fulfilling this quote by John Quincy Adams: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader."

680 Artifact Reflection #1

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Professional Development. It's a very interesting word.

A word that conjures this notion that information, discussion, and practice improves our profession.

Educational PD topics are broad and limitless; usually tied to school improvement goals, established by administrators, or (hopefully) shaped by teacher input. As I approach another school year, no doubt chockfull of PD opportunities, I reflect in this post about my opportunity to design a day of professional development and reflection.

In Module 6, I developed a full-day PD opportunity designed around the Edcamp model which

• allows educators to take charge of their own PD and attend sessions that most pertain to their needs or goals
• allows educators to collaboratively determine session topics
• encourages educators to facilitate sessions by sharing experiences and conversations, not a planned presentation

Edcamps were “born” to include sessions about using technology in the classroom but don’t always; many times it’s related to general education topics.

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I’ve attended a few edcamps through conferences I’ve attended and was pleased by the overall outcome. I walked out feeling better educated on topics than if I had attended an individual conference session with one main presenter talking to me. Edcamps are hard to implement if the school climate isn’t receptive to this sort of idea. Some teachers are comfortable being told what to do and where to go. Those teachers sit through sessions and (usually) don’t pay attention but are perfectly content to waste a half-day sitting there. But, there are other colleagues I work with who would like to see more personalized PD that relate to topics in education or technology that we grapple with day after day, year after year. Why not experience PD together and be expert presenters together?

With these ideas in mind, I developed a professional development day for the CTE, Science and Math Departments at my school. The design of the agenda allowed for teacher choice, personal reflection, and small group work that would continue throughout the year during PLC meetings. I was pleased with the outcome and hope to present my ideas to the building administrators at my school.

680 Artifact Reflection #2

Robert Marzano said, “when professionals share their talents and skills, they help the whole school develop a collective wisdom.” Why is this the case? Because we are proud, hard-working teachers who collaborate in a school building with other talented professionals and we can all learn from each other and be the best teachers for our students. But how can we do this when we feel stuck in our classroom? The answer is a learning walk.

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I think it's important for teachers to have the opportunity to visit other teacher's classrooms. The walkthrough model allows for a short 5-15 minute visit in another teacher's classroom, and depending on bell schedules, a teacher could possibly visit 3 teachers in one period. As technology becomes more commonplace in the classroom, it's imperative that teachers acknowledge technology standards alongside their content standards to ensure that they are molding the brightest 21st-century digital citizens. The best way to see these standards being addressed is witnessing the skills being developed in our colleague's classrooms.

My first artifact comes from Module 3 where I created a Learning Walk Google form to record information during a classroom observation. Here is the form if you'd like to take a look. This new and improved form is a modification of one I have used in the past for science classroom observations. The original science form included the Next Generation Science Standards. The form created for Module 3 incorporated some of the ISTE standards. Content standards are just as important as technology standards, but I only chose a few ISTE substandards to be used in my form. If there are specific student or teacher outcomes related to technology, I can easily add or subtract ISTE standards to my Google form. This activity was fun to create and emphasized the importance of observing and learning from others to compare their practices with other knowledgeable professionals in the building.

#ISTE2018 - Things I Learned, Things I Love, Things You Should Know About...

The International Society for Technology in Education held a massive conference this summer in Chicago, bringing together teachers, administrators, and tech specialists to learn about the most effective and innovative ways to integrate technology in the classroom. The ISTE conference offered sessions on a wide range of topics, where presenters shared ideas, strategies, and tools for using technology to enhance learning.

Apart from the scheduled sessions, the conference brought together 18,500 people from all across the U.S. and 87 other countries. Connecting with other like-minded educators had a whole host of benefits:

• strengthened my resolve to keep getting better with teaching and technology
• established connections that will last well beyond the conference
• provided effective and exciting teaching practices

So how did I, a science teacher from a small high school west of Chicago, find out about this conference and burst onto the scene? TWITTER. Twitter has really been a turning point in my 16-year teaching career. It has become a go-to resource to connect to awesome people who broaden my horizons and inspire me to take risks and be innovative.

I attended the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) conference when it was in Chicago three years ago. Same location, same setup, lots of walking and LOTS of sessions. My experience three years ago definitely prepared me for ISTE’s conference. Except maybe for the walking tech zombie part...many of us were walking around with our devices, hoping to avoid others who were also looking at their device getting to or from somewhere in our quest to get in line for a session, show up on time for an amazing raffle prize in expo hall, or just find a bathroom!

#ISTE2018 took it to the next level when it came to useful (but sometimes overwhelming) amounts of information. I did my best to stay organized and pull together resources from my sessions that I could use and could also share with my colleagues. My experience was stimulating, productive, and engaging. This graphic (created using one of my new tech tools, Adobe Spark!) offers some buzzwords that summarize my 4-day experience.

Based on this list, an outsider might think I didn’t actually attend a technology conference! But it wasn’t really about technology - it was about how to use technology tools to enhance what teachers are already doing in their classrooms! Sure, the big guys...Google, Microsoft and LEGO, were in attendance but it wasn’t about them. It was about teachers helping teachers be better teachers as they use technology to educate their students.

Innovation, creation, and curiosity were mentioned in the bulleted list above. These words were echoed over and over throughout the four days. Young students traveling from all parts of the nation and even internationally were in attendance to share with attendees their passion for learning. They were excited to share how they were using technology in their classroom to any stranger who approached their table. Andy Weir, the author of The Martian, referred to the problem-solving main character, Mark Watney, in his keynote speech. Kids need to tinker and figure things out (with or without technology). And @TheTechRabbi, Michael Cohen, shared a moving and powerful message to all who sat before him, reminding the audience that “innovation is not achieved by knowledge and skill alone. It’s through having belief in yourself, belief in others and belief in something bigger than us. We need to give our students the courage to believe that they can create incredible things in the world.” The ability to challenge and engage students was a common theme throughout the conference and renewed my spirit in preparation for the coming school year.

When #TeachersBecomeStudents, amazing things happen in our quest to be lifelong learners. A little professional development goes a long way in rekindling our passion and love of learning.