Classroom Connections

#empower17, step out of your lane! Initiate conversations!

March 25, 2017 by Amber 3 Comments

I have the benefit of being at the annual ASCD conference, #EMPOWER17, this weekend, and as always, there are so many incredible things to learn and to see.

But the best thing that happened today? Completely random and happened because I just have no social fear. We were walking back and forth down one of the hallways deciding where we were going to next and noticed a passionate conversation that I finally just couldn’t help but just jump into. Like literally, stopped and said, “Hey, what are ya’ll talking about because it looks incredibly interesting.”

It was real talk, ya’ll. It was about impacting parents, impacting students…it was about changing the world when the target of change keeps moving. We talked about how very hard leadership is, no matter what your population looks like. We talked about the dangers of vulnerability, in evaluative settings. Of the inherent dangers of having a plan, sharing that plan…and the bravery it takes to make that plan happen. It was intense, and it was amazing. And all because I’m bouncey and random.

Be brave, edufriends. If you’re at #empower17, step out of the comfort zone of the people who you know. If you’re at a conference, MAKE CONNECTIONS. Be willing to initiate conversations, regardless of the lane you find yourself in today. You never know when you might develop a relationship, learn a lesson, or get a burst of inspiration. Angela was so impressed (Do you know Angela? She is pretty darn amazing.) that she’s going to meet back up with Ms. Hairston this weekend and have her on her “Truth for Teachers” podcast.

I hope you’re following along the hashtag, #empower17, there is greatness being shared! And if you’re feeling brave? Share something too!

tweetingly,

Amber

Connected Educator Month, 2015 #CEM15

October 1, 2015 by Amber 1 Comment

Even though it looks different for each learner, being a connected educator simply means leveraging technology to expand one’s personal learning network. Doing so not only provides you with a network of like-minded people, but also inspires you to try new activities and strategies to create the most effective learning environment for your students.

No one has time to be alone on their educator island!

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Jump in this month and try something new!

There is a calendar through ASCD & the USDOE and that gives a multitude of activities that you can partake in. From tweeting to blogging to an online book club, there’s an activity for every type of learner. Defining what being what a connected educator looks like for you is step one!

I know right now, at this point in your year you’re thinking nuh uh, I can’t handle ANYTHING else. Trust me, we get that. These activities were intentionally easy, applicable, and designed to help get you CONNECTED…which in turn should make your life easier.

Angela Watson, from The Cornerstone for Teachers, who is just a little slice of heaven, puts it like this “Has teaching gotten a little monotonous? Are your students driving you nuts? Are you bogged down by all the demands of teaching and losing sight of the big picture? Do you often dread or feel ambivalent about going to work each day? If the answer to any of those questions is YES, then becoming a connected educator is necessary.”

But wait, Amber, how does this all translate to helping students learn?

Educators are models of learning for kids.

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As educators’ learning shifts from the “sit and get” model to the collaboration model, that shift hopefully transfers to their teaching as well. If an educator controls his or her learning through self-direction, that learning becomes more meaningful. Authentic self-directed learning becomes self-motivating. That does more than translate to a better-educated educator — it also creates a teacher advocate for collaborative learning. AND that, quite simply, is where we are going! It’s easier to differentiate, assess, and KNOW our students using this form of pedagogy, vs again, that traditional sit & get model.

We’re challenging our teachers to complete a “connected bingo” this month, knowing that if do they’ll have changed the dynamics of their classroom, and the mindsets of their teaching!

Connectedly,

Amber

Culture & Leadership Connections: Are you #FutureReady?

February 23, 2015 by Amber 1 Comment

Confession: I’m not that great with technology.

I know, I know…”Technically Teamann” and all that jazz. But really, I’m not great with technology.

I can’t code. I couldn’t reroute an access point. I don’t build computers. I don’t develop software. I don’t build apps. Or teach people how to do ANY of those things. I can troubleshoot (via the Google) any technical problems, but I can’t take apart a machine. I can’t write HTML or Flash. I can’t talk shop with the IT department. I’m just not that great with technology.

You know what I am good at?

I am good at making technology work for me.

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I am able to use tools that are readily available to accomplish my personal and professional goals and to develop relationships. I am good at connecting and seeing how much this benefits all of those around me. If I have a teacher who is struggling, I can connect them with an expert in just the area they need help with. If I have a student with a particular passion, I know how to find amazing resources to help them. If I need my bucket filled, I have made connections, made friends, with like-minded people who lift me up and inspire me from all over the world. I have found a way to share my experiences & my voice with anyone who cares to listen.

If you stop and reflect on our students entering the workplace, becoming grown-ups, and functioning in this world that we live in, we can all agree on a few things. We know being a good test taker is not a sought after characteristic by today’s, and most likely not future, employers. They have to know how to collaborate, how to develop relationships, how to CONNECT with others. They need to know how to be responsible for their digital footprints, how to own the data that is collected from them and about them.

These are the skills our students need, and being future-ready means we as educators have got to figure out a way to add those skills to the already overflowing plate we have in front of us.

One important facet in my role as an administrator is to empower my staff and our students to be the very best versions of themselves, knowing that our future will be about the advantage of the opportunities available. If we are increasingly moving to become a digitally competitive society, we need our students to be able to function, and function well.

Introducing these generations to their digital responsibilities and abilities is crucial!

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Leveraging technologies to partner with parents to help them understand the importance of what their child can do and the GREAT things that are happening with their students each and every day should be always be on our list of best practices. Today there are too many available options to share and connect with our families and stakeholders to not utilize them!

I’m not that good with technology, but I am passionate about using it to accomplish my goals. We only have so many hours in a day to impact the life of a child, and if by intentionally applying what we have available to model the collaboration, communication, and creation, we can get our students off on the #futureready foot!

Click here to learn more about the 2015 Digital Learning Day. I’ll be in Washington on March 13th at #DLDay with my session, “Who’s the Boss: Take Charge When it Comes To Your Professional Learning”. You can also see a complete list of presenters here.

Charge taking,

Amber

Collaboration…who doesn’t have time?

January 14, 2015 by Amber 4 Comments

There is clearly not enough time in the day. I have a never ending to do list that seems to grow more than it shrinks. Recognizing that I don’t have enough time to do all the things that I have to do, much less what I want to do, I still feel like this post needed to shared.

Collaboration isn’t an option, it is now a necessity.

Knowing that we can get bogged down in our buildings, or in our classrooms, can make us feel like taking an extra step to communicate and collaborate with other teachers may push us over the edge. But sometimes? It can lead to the most organic of discoveries!

Last week, I was scrolling through Instagram, I came across a post from another educator friend talking about the website Popplet. Popplet is a visual mind mapping tool that students can use to organize facts and thoughts and learn to create relationships between them. I took a screenshot and sent it to two of my teachers whom I thought would enjoy teaching with it.

The next week, one of them, a second grade teacher, had her students use popplet to write word problems. They had to roll a dice and get three numbers. They then used those three numbers to create a math word problem and had to show different ways to solve it on a popplet.

The other, a fourth grade teacher, used it to illustrate all the different forms of numbers they had been studying. The students wrote one form of the number in the middle and then connected all of the different ways it could be written around it.

His comment? “You never know what a students doesn’t know until you ask them to create something.” It began very clear, and very easy, to see which students were struggling.

I couldn’t have required such an epiphany!!

The point here is that I didn’t pay to go to a conference. I didn’t sit through a webinar. I didn’t read a book. I simply saw a picture on a form of social media and shared it. Something that quick and easy allowed these teachers to add another tool in their toolbox to gather formative assessment data from their students. Sharing doesn’t require a tremendous amount of effort, you just have to do it!

Resources for National Writing Day….errrr…Week!

October 20, 2014 by Amber Leave a Comment

Happy Monday! We have some amazing learning specialists that work with our campus who are practically mind readers. I had a writing day post ready to go and then I received more resources so I’ve added hers below as well. (Thanks, Laura Moore!)

We all know writing is a life-long skill. Students are writing in all content areas and sharing their ideas through writing. As a former fourth grade writing teacher, I know the struggle to include as much writing as possible. Even if you’re not a writing teacher, you have the opportunity to add writing…as well as increase a students vocabulary. Take advantage of that academic vocabulary and get creative!

Here are some ideas to celebrate National Day on Writing:

Roll a story! During your literacy centers, have your students get creative with this writing freebie. It would be easy to turn this into a science or math center as well!
Create a writer’s checklist! As a class develop a checklist of all the attributes you want to see in each piece of writing. Have it available in a “writing center” with fun paper, colored pens, stickers, etc .
Let the “best” writers do a guest post on your classroom blog. Want to see some kids care about their writing? Give them a global audience.
Collaborative writing. Have a journal that can used for a class story…you begin with one sentence and then pass it around throughout the day and have the student create the story, line by line. Share at the end of the day!

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/happy-national-day-on-writing-2014/

write on!

Amber