Week 1 - 1:1 Devices are out!

August 18th has been a day since last May that we has been marked on our calendar as the day the 1:1 devices would be handed out to all middle level students.  There are so many pieces to this puzzle that had to line up and unfortunately, we wouldn't know if all the pieces were in the correct place until the devices were out.  All the devices were tagged, bagged, boxed up, and delivered to each room slightly ahead of schedule.  Now we had to wait until Monday!

Monday arrived, the devices are out and..... speed bump.  Macbooks are connecting and working as planned.  The Chromebooks on the other hand were having some issues.  These issues were above my total understanding of what was not working, but in the end a fix was made by the end of the day.  The LPS staff felt the stress of things not working correctly, but in the end they stepped up and made the day work.  The students too dealt with the issues and worked on what they could do.  So in the end, the launch day didn't work out exactly like I had hoped, but it was a great day and Tuesday would be a great day to reset and begin watching great things happen.

Tuesday there were some on again off again network issues, but it was great seeing teachers showing their classroom Websites, establishing classroom procedures, and students asking how they can use their devices.  My favorite question from a student, "Can I use my computer to read a book during SSR?"

Thursday, I had the opportunity to visit a number of classrooms and it was great seeing the devices being used in a number of ways.  The students were using the devices in number of different ways for individual assignments.  I will have to say, the best quote came from a teacher.

Then on Friday, I was visiting with another teacher and she made a comment on how great it was seeing students helping other students troubleshoot and they are collaborating on a number of projects.

What will week 2 bring?  If my email is any indication, we have a number of teachers looking to modify a number of projects.  I can't wait to see what great things the staff and students create.

If I was still in the classroom...

There are many perks to this job and the one I like the most is getting into teacher's classrooms.  There are so many great things that I see, that I often say to myself, "If I was still in the classroom, I would definitely be doing this."

Awhile at the ISTE 2014 conference I had the opportunity to listen to Alan November's #1st5days presentation.  As I was reviewing my notes, I saw the idea of creating an intro video and sending it to the students and parents.  This is when I thought, "I would definitely do this if I was still in the classroom."

Since I couldn't do this in my classroom, I decided to send the idea out to my staff.  I sent this a couple examples, gave them some ideas on programs the could use, and a then how they would send it out to the parents/students.

I was very excited to see some of the videos that the teachers were going to send.  Here are a few examples:

My Summer School Example:

Wendy Danner's Introduction

Comment from parent: "THAT was AWESome!!!!!!  Makes me want to come to class!"

Laura Smith's Introduction

Gina Lange's Introduction

I thought all of these videos turned out great and I an guarantee connections were made or the stress of the parents may have decrease a little knowing they have a teacher opening the doors to their classroom.  

Fun idea and I can't wait to see more ideas as the year progresses.

LPS New Teachers

The start of year 15 and I had the honor of working with the new teachers of LPS.  This time of year is one of my favorite times.  Every year that I've been at LPS I've had the opportunity to work with the new teachers.  Even my first year of teaching I was asked to train our new teachers on how to use the grade book program. Every year after that, I worked with this new teacher group in some format.  It is a point in which I get to observe the new energy coming to LPS.

This year the task was a little different, but turned out to be a great adventure.  We decided to take our ML teachers on a 4 stop ML building tour, with a theme/question for each building.  The teachers discussed in small groups while touring the building each question and then we returned back to a larger group to discuss the highlights.  Our conversations were great, and it was confirmed LPS hires the best.

Our Questions:

Topic 1 - Traditional Learning vs Modern Learning

• What is the difference between the 2 types of learning?
• What type of learning do you primarily see happening in your classroom?

Topic 2 - Self Learner

• What does it mean to be a self-learner?
• What are you doing to be a self-learner?
• What can you do to encourage your students to be self-learners?

Topic 3 - Creative learning spaces

• What does “creative learning space” mean to you?
• As you look or think about your classroom, what can you do to make your classroom a creative learning space?

Topic 4 - Evidence of learning

• What does evidence of learning look like?
• What are you going to do show that learning is taking place in your classroom?

Topic 5 - 1:1 In your classroom

• How do you plan on using the 1:1 devices in the first week?
• What are some of your procedures going to be with the 1:1?

The new teachers had great discussions on each of these topics. I definitely look forward to seeing them put their thoughts to action.

Another great start with new teachers!