Educational Technology

As many of you know, I attended my first Google Summit in Charlottesville, VA in the spring of 2015 and I was hooked. That spring I also learned of the Google Level 1 exam and prestige that went with the badge. I wanted it. No one told me I had to do it. I was motivated by the excitement and learning Google had to offer and soon after I passed both the Level 1 & 2 exams. Three years later I still love EdtechTeam Google Summits and I am Google Certified Trainer. But, things have changed a bit. Across the United States, schools have started to adopt the policy that every teacher become Google Level 1 certified. In several areas, leadership has also decided to attach the level 1 exam to teacher re-certification. Therefore, this policy has effectively taken away the joy and intrinsic motivation for which I saw the test represent. It is November and the first nine weeks has come to a close. For the most part, the training we offer to help with Google Level 1 has gone well....

#HowWillYouLead (EdTechTeam Series) I haven't blogged in awhile because I have been focusing on a new job: graduate school (Oh, yes...again). I recently became a student at James Madison University to pursue my Masters of School Administration licensure. One of the assignments was to learn about leadership and discover my leadership style. As a Google trainer and technology resource for my school, I have grown to where I believe I am ready for another opportunity: To lead. How I view my leadership style: Build trust Build relationships Collaborate Listen more, talk less. Challenge my own assumptions Because of my past experiences with leadership teams, such as School Improvement Teams, Positive Behavior Intervention teams, and instructional technology collaborative teams, I see myself as a “big picture” person or a “Systems Thinking” leader. I believe I have a collaborative style of leadership and I strive to get people to work together because I see collaboration as a gr...

This past weekend, I traveled to the NCCAT conference center in Cullowhee, North Carolina to experience my first EdCamp ( #EdCampWNC ).  Edcamp  is a form of "unconference" designed specifically for teachers and their needs. Unlike traditional conferences which have schedules set months in advance by the people running the conference,  Edcamp  has an agenda that's created by the participants at the start of the event.  The dual purpose of my visit was to experience an EdCamp and to see if I could organize an EdCamp in Central Virginia.  This is what I learned... As a participant:   1. Have a mindset of being a part of a discussion rather than the center. I can be an impatient person. I also want my views heard. So, learning to listen - truly listen - is a skill I really worked and focused on. My experience was much better for it.  2. Tweet, Tweet, and Retweet !! I LOVED the opportunities to connect with other educators that cam...

This summer, my school district is moving toward 1:1 Chromebook classrooms. Therefore, it is asking teachers to get Google Level 1 certified within the next school year. To kickoff the summer,  +Kathy Brisentine , +Lisa T Elliott , Kerrie Sarvey, and I held two 1-day Google Level 1 certification boot camps for "go-getters" who wanted help. Both days were very productive and intense. All people learned a lot!  We created a brisk pace and rotated through leading different parts of the session. We split the session into: Gmail & Groups Drive/Docs/Slides Calendar/Tasks Forms/ Sheets Classroom Sites Hangouts Youtube Digital literacy overview  Q & A I just want to acknowledge the great trainers including: Donna Teuber, Simone Gessler, Eric Curts, Anna Baldwin, Stewart Lee, Nancy Minicozzi, Misty Wilson, Kelly Fitzgeral d, Jeffrey Welch, Kasey Bell, and Katie Christie. I collected and used (borrowed/stole) most of my materials from them. Thank ...

I have to start by saying that  +Kathy Brisentine  is the mastermind behind this activity - so I just needed a SHOUT OUT! With that said, I learned a lot and had a blast being part of the first ever Jefferson Forest High School Speed Dating with Google professional development last week. As a part of introducing a 1:1 Chromebook program, Kathy decided to have a "get-to-know-your-app" session. The speed dating was inside a larger half day session mixed with the SAMR model, 1:1 rollout of Chromebooks, and Google Certified Educator Level 1 requirements. So, there was a lot to soak up. With the help of other instructional technology specialists, such as myself, she divided up the participants into four groups, based on the amount of tech help we had, and established stations with "G Suite dates." Each station focused on one item or set of items: Slides/Docs/Sheets Calendar Groups/Gmail Classroom Forms Extensions/Apps.   Very Important Tip: Be very c...

What if you had classes where no one gave a sheet?   Going paperless is great if there is a reason behind it. Substituting paper for a computer is just the start. It saves on paper, but does it improve learning?  My school district has rolled out the SAMR model concurrently, while continuing to expand is 1:1 Chromebook program across the district.  What is SAMR and how does learning this help with the Chromebook program? According to Kathy Schrock , " SAMR  is a model designed to help educators infuse technology into teaching and learning. Popularized by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, the model supports and enables teachers to design, develop, and infuse digital learning experiences that utilize technology."  My biggest challenge is two-fold and this is where I need your help!  How do I get teachers to become confident enough to stretch their learning; to feel comfortable to move across the SAMR model beyond substitution? How do...

Dear @ Twitter  #PLN : I just want to say thanks to a great start to 2017. My account just hit 1000 followers this weekend. I follow about the same amount and I am humbled that somebody would follow me back. In reality, it's an arbitrary number that doesn't mean much, but it gets me thinking about why I joined Twitter. W hen I started in late January 2017, I never thought Twitter would be my go-to for learning or have such an effect on my view of education. I created a Twitter account as a way to grow my personal learning network (#PLN) and to learn from those already established on Twitter ( See blog ). I have to say, I learned a lot from you (my Twitter family). George Couros, Alice Keeler , Eric Curts, Casey Bell , all need to be thanked by name because I basically re-tweet everything they do. After I became a Google trainer, I joined Twitter but didn't really become fascinated with it as a learning tool until I went to the #MACPL17 conference in Baltimore a...

This past week I was tasked with coming up with a way for students to create a short 30-second video project for reviewing some math concepts for end-of-year testing. We previously completed projects using Flipgrid, ReCap, Screencastify and Google Slide in a traditional presentation mode. I decided that stop-motion may be a fun alternative presentation project. I played around a bit with a stop-motion animation app on the Chromebook and then remembered + Eric Curts presentation about Google Slides being used as Stop-Motion. I made a tutorial for the students by focusing on basic transportation, thinking the movement of transportation would be good to show the students. I started with a storyboard concept and duplicated the background in all the slides 30 times first. I picked thirty slides knowing that my default will be one second per slide when I publish. UPDATE: May 22, 2017 - After speaking with several colleagues, I have been told that copying one slide at a time (...

This week is Spring Break for my school system. Before my thoughts get too far away from school and toward a honey-do list and fishing, I shall  discuss my first true teaching  experience with Kindergartners.   As a former high school teacher for 16 years,  I have no preparation for Kindergarten. But, as an i nstructional technology resource teacher, I am assigned several different schools including Moneta Elementary  in Moneta VA  about once a week, every week. And, I have to be honest, I could've avoided Kindergarten if I wanted to. Fortunately for me, I met Mrs. Haywood early in the year and we hit it off.  Due to the willingness to have me in her classroom, Mrs. Terri Haywood and I have formed a wonderful team the one day per week I get to interact with her students. Due to her openness,  I have had the pleasure of getting to know her class of Kindergartners  this year like I have no other.  We have created "This week with...

Good day:  This week I will discuss BreakoutEdu student innovators and  experimentation with Flipgrid. Two 8th grade students at my middle school tackled making a Breakoutedu game for their peers and we introduced Flipgrid afterward to reflect on the experience.  Several weeks ago, I introduced a Breakoutedu to several 8th-grade students in an exploratory science class. Two of these students convinced Mrs. Blake, their English 8 teacher, to allow them to work on a breakout activity with me in their extra time. The boys worked diligently for two weeks whenever they got the opportunity. Lots of work went into the 8th grade English VA SOL review Breakout. Mrs. Blake, the two boys, and I contributed and we are all very proud of the outcome.  We came out with a nine-question SOL review game with locks embedded every couple questions. We used all 3 English classes to play throughout the day. We set up 4 duplicate boxes and ran 4 groups simultaneou...

Good day:  This week I will discuss how two weeks of Breakoutedu Digital has changed project-based learning/gaming in our school.  So today... BreakoutEdu Digital craziness. In April 2015, +John Larmer    wrote an article, Gold Standard PBL: Essential Project Design Elements . In it, he discussed what he considered the gold standard for productive, essential project-based learning. This model is used to  "help teachers, schools, and organizations to measure, calibrate, and improve their practice." He outlined why teachers should use PBL to improve student learning of content, concepts, and depth of understanding. According to Mr. Larmer, Students need a challenging problem/question, with sustained ininquiry, authenticity (real-world learning), student voice/choice, reflection time, critique & revision time, and publicity. I agree. Project-based learning is neither new or controversial. Many great academics have proven i...