To Give Credit Where Credit is Due... If You Can

This week as we were in the midst of preparing for our upcoming Indiana Middle Level Education Association conference, I remembered a few tips and tricks that people have shared with me that caused some, "Aha!" moments. The fact that I can convert a google doc to an active webpage that updates; utilizing Google Drawings for a variety of tasks, especially in Smore newsletters; color-coding things in Google Keep: all of these things I learned from somebody... but I can't remember who! Odds are, many of the tech things I use came via Eric Curts, Alice Keeler, Kasey Bell, Classroom 2.0 Live webinars, Voxer groups (especially EduMatch), ICE Conferences, ISTE, Indiana Summer of eLearning, AISLE, and others. I'm often one of those learners who needs to hear things several times to fully grasp them, so some things that I've learned probably came from combinations of people.

My point: the power of networks can be exponential. The fact that I've been exposed to such helpful advice through a variety of platforms, from people with different approaches has added so much to my "personal toolbox." I wish I could thank people and say, "Remember when you showed us how to ___. I used it today and it was the exact thing I needed." 

The same thing happens to me with books I read. I've tried many ways to track how I first heard of a book, whether it's a newspaper review, a blog post, Voxer friends (especially the #Read4Fun/Love to Read group), People Magazine, Parade Magazine, an email, a twitter chat, Facebook. I've tried Google Keep, Goodreads (but not easy to include before you read a book), a notebook, Google Docs and more. When I finish a book, often I'd like to thank the person who recommended it (or in some cases, say nothing and remember in the future that that person and I may not see eye-to-eye in books!)

Magazines, clippings, friend recommendations-how to track them?

So, if you've ever shared any idea or book suggestion with me... thank you! And, I hope in some way, I can return the favor.

GPS: Global Problem Solvers

As a geocacher, the term "GPS" usually reminds me of using a device to find a hidden treasure. Thus, I kept doing a double take when I encountered Cisco's GPS: Global Problem Solvers at ISTE 2018. This is part of Cisco's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, but is unique in that it is aimed primarily at middle schoolers. 

As a career middle level teacher, first in science and then as a librarian, I can see many ways this series could be integrated. At this point, there are two seasons of short videos, detailing stories of a group of international students with different talents tackling social problems; the first deals with access to water in Malawi, the second the aftermath of a hurricane in Florida. Each comes with a complete guide, suggested questions, and a useful bibliography of background materials. As a librarian, I could see collaborating with teachers from different disciplines to use this series as a springboard for groups of students to tackle a situation of their choice. The videos could be used in a blended learning environment, a whole-class structure, or a station-rotation situation, gradually rolled out or used consecutively. It would be ideal for a middle school team of teachers to use as an interdisciplinary project, or even a pair of teachers.

My husband and I attended the launch party for GPS: The Series, compete with the mascot, Huti.

Interestingly enough, this series is debuting just as our state, Indiana, had a new law going into effect, Senate Bill 297:

"..each school within a school corporation shall include interdisciplinary employability skills standards established by the department of education..."

GPS the series could be used to address this: it incorporates such skills as critical thinking, problem solving, social entrepreneurship, and collaboration. In fact, this is one of the things I liked about introducing it to students; rather than asking, "What are your talents? Are you good at math? writing? science," it does not pigeonhole students by subject. Rather, it asks, "Are you creative? A team leader? Digitally talented?" It encourages students to see their talents in a different light. I plan to share this widely with my fellow librarians and middle school teachers.

When attending an event like ISTE, you often want to hear from those "in the trenches." GPS had this with teachers Edgar Ochoa and Christa Tropin. They were among Arizona teachers who piloted the series and were indefatigable in their explanations and answering questions in a variety of formats. Their students indeed used GPS as a model and completed projects and presented them in a culminating science-fair type environment with community members present. During ISTE, when confronted with tech failures, raucous crowds at a nearby booth, room and schedule changes, they responded in true master teacher fashion: they didn't miss a beat. 

You can gain some different perspectives about the program from the other educators who were spreading awareness: blogs from Valerie Lewis, Marialice Curran, & Shelly Terrell, this podcast from Shawn McGirr (episode 395), and this review from EdTech.

How #NOTATISTE Helps People at #ISTE (and Vice Versa)

I attended my first ISTE (then NECC) in 2009 in Washington, D.C.  I was hooked & attended the next four in a row. When I couldn't go in 2014, I experienced true FOMO; when 2015 in Atlanta rolled around, I found #NOTatISTE.

One of the best things about ISTE is that it's not a conference that is over when it's over. The connections you make DO continue, even expand. I know that I'm still learning from some of the presenters I saw nine years ago. I even remember going to a "how to use twitter" session then; I'd had an account for a year, but wasn't quite sure what to do.

The #NOTatISTE community has grown so much (in large part due to Jen Wagner and Peggy George) that it is now helpful to those who ARE at ISTE. It seems to be easier for people #NOTatISTE to be in two places at once (try that in a crowded convention hall; sometimes it's even hard to stay in one place, let alone move). Those #NOTatISTE are curating as many resources as possible, which is helpful to those in attendance too. Many people who ARE at #ISTE go out of their way to share with the people who are not. As I write this, I'm actually in my hotel room in Chicago checking the different twitter streams, including #passthescopeedu. Anyone, whether at ISTE or not, will be able to check out the #NOTatISTE18 livebinder 

The essence of these communities: educators willing to share, and these efforts can increase our learning exponentially!

What if the Classes at Our School were Like Great PD?

I've seen so many tweets and listened to many Voxes from people excited about their current and recent professional development. There have been numerous edcamps, school librarian conferences, technology events, meetups, and more. 

Fortunately, I've been at fantastic events myself recently, yet I've still experienced FOMO. There's nothing like being at a session and seeing tweets from the one you almost chose making you regret your decision. More and more, I'm seeing this as a scheduling conflict more than making a bad choice. There are many, many educators sharing fabulous ideas and experiences. 

This made me think: what if we were to go in the hallway during passing period and hear remarks like this, or see tweets these below? What if our students bragged about their classes like we share our enthusiasm for a great session? Has this ever happened to you? Feel free to share in the comments!

The #EduMatch Empire

I've been fairly active on Twitter for a few years, but two years ago, something happened that enhanced my professional learning exponentially. I joined Voxer. (I wrote about this previously.) At first I spent much of my time in the #BFC530 Voxer group (and I still belong), but now I spend the most time in #EduMatch. This is a community that is supportive, funny, thoughtful, and provocative. We mainly talk about education matters, but there are times.... Members truly are international, including "regular" contributors from Canada and Argentina, with occasional posts from countries such as Singapore, Greece, and more.

Why do I call EduMatch an empire? Because it can be just about anything for anyone. Check out the many ways you can be connected. (There is even a ThingLink by Rachel Pierson that will take you to the relevant sites.)

Not only Head #EduMatch Guru Sarah Thomas maintain these websites, she also manages a 6 pm ET "Tweet & Talk" almost every Sunday! Countless people have been involved, either as panelists, Google Hangout attendees, or tweeters.

#EduMatch has led me to smaller groups where I felt comfortable taking risks to learn about new tools; I'm in Voxer groups for Periscope, Snapchat, and several book clubs with people I "met" on #EduMatch. Many #EduMatch participants have been empowered to participate in several large scale events, such as #EdCampVoxer, #PasstheScope, #NotatISTE, and more. 

So, ultimately, the climate at #EduMatch is just like what we want for our students: a group that is varied in (tech) abilities and interests, yet can find common ground, be supportive, encourage risk-taking, not belittle anyone's questions (or criticize someone asking the same question that has already been asked numerous times before). There is pure joy when members meet each other F2F at various conferences. One feature of Voxer is that you can star an post to keep later. Here's a portion of one from Dan Kreiness 

  "EduMatch should have a banner, or something made: 'EduMatch, where you can have awesome conversations related to deep topics such as civil disobedience and social justice...and then switch to a conversation about printer ink, so seamlessly. I just think that's great.'"

If you have any questions about #EduMatch or any of the tools I've mentioned, don't hesitate to contact me!

Reflecting on 9-11 and Being Connected

Today it is natural to think back to that horrible day. I wrote this reflection on the school librarian listserv LMNet two years ago. Connections have changed since then, not always for the better, but they continue to serve an important role. ------------ I was a brand new media specialist on September 11, 2001. The events of the day were so shocking, and limited access to news during school and the many unanswered questions were so bewildering. I think back to one of my lines to the outside world that day, LMNet. There were so many questions: do you have your TV's on? Have you told the students anything? People reported that parents were showing up at school and taking their children home. Even at my own school, there were debates. Some teachers said, "Why do you have your TV on?", or "Why don't you have your TV on?" Some listserv members told of email as their only outlet to news. Some mentioned wanting to give students some background information before they would be going home alone. Some later told of students who were told what happened getting on the same bus with others who didn't know. And, we were all trying to make sense of what happened. To me, this illustrates the importance of LMNet as a community. LMNet helped me decide to become a library media specialist, and I will never forget the support and comfort I received on September 11, 2001. If you are interested, you can find the archives of that day beginning at http://lmnet-archive.iis.syr.edu/LM_NET-pre2003/2001/Sep_2001/mail5.html

#NOTatISTE? No problem? Not even #NOTatISTE??? It's Still not Over!

It is such a summer dilemma for library media specialists: attend ALA? ISTE?  Both? I considered all of these options this year (I am on the AASL Best Websites Committee), but decided to remain at home, take advantage of several of the wonderful options through Indiana DOE's Summer of eLearning, and follow as much virtually as possible.  Last year I participated in the #NOTatISTE community, and became thoroughly immersed.

Over 100 people made sample "#NOTatISTE" badges.

#NOTatISTE was even more spectacular this year. Over 1100 educators joined in the private Google+ Community. I was able to connect quite a bit from June 25-27 (even being able to watch Michio Kaku's keynote the evening of the 26th), 

I ended up accompanying my sister on a long road trip and went "off the grid" a bit, but am still learning from all of the resources shared. Why was this year even better? Things I noticed:

-People who have been past #NOTatISTE participants made special efforts to include us (Prime example: Craig Yen). Many, many people in Denver included our hashtag in their tweets. Even people who have never experienced #NOTatISTE got in the habit of sharing with us.

-Jen Wagner outdid herself (how can that be possible?). Much preliminary work was done, including plans with Tony Vincent to Periscope many of the poster sessions (with a well-publicized schedule)

-Peggy George, Barbara Tallent, and others created a Livebinder to outdo all Livebinders, overflowing with resources.

-Sue Waters provided many tips on how to maximize your remote ISTE experience. This blog post is a prime example. She also took a lot of time to answer questions and make suggestions in the #NOTatISTE voxer group.

-The eduMatch community was very involved in #NOTatISTE16. eduMatch is a multi-platform community, and I spend quite a bit of time in the Voxer group alone.

eduMatch is a VERY active community with numerous ways to connect.
Many members were also in the #NOTatISTE groups.

-There are so many platforms to use in the learning and sharing: the Google+, Twitter, Voxer, Google Hangouts, Google Docs, Periscope, Participate Learn, Instagram, Snapchat, and more.

I'm still catching up; you can still participate, Check out the livebinder. (Warning: this could take days!) Search with the #ISTE2016 hashtag (or #NOTatISTE16); add specific hashtags in your area of interest (For example, for librarians, #ISTELib has many great shares)

The principles and practices that so many used to connect with ISTE can be continued for just about any conference. The connections and the culture of sharing have been unleashed, and continues to grow exponentially!

The Irony of Banned Books Week

While this is Banned Books Week, to me there's a much larger issue that is keeping engaging books out of students' hands. All too often I've seen students denied books they are interested in, even stripped out of their hands. Why? They weren't the right "level". This particularly bothers me when we hope to have students experience the pure enjoyment of reading for pleasure. We talk "voice and choice" but then restrict what they want to read for entertainment. While this is not happening at all schools, it appears that it is becoming more and more prevalent.

There are numerous programs with leveled text that can be used for instruction, and I see some value in that. For a student to reach frustration level because they cannot understand what they are reading is counterproductive.  But, I do not agree that a student will not learn or be challenged from reading a book that is "too low".  While lexiles take in such things as vocabulary and text complexity, there's no true way to measure the depth of emotion and meaning a book can bring to a student. I cringe when I hear of demands to "level a library".

I will never forget an avid reader, deeply empathetic toward others, very mature for a fifth grader, who came to our library and asked for suggestions. I booktalked Ruta Sepetys'  moving book Between Shades of Gray to her, only to have a teacher (no longer at our school) deny her the book.  Why? Not because it deals with a very serious subject, Stalin's genocide. No, it was "too low". Yes, we have students who like to carry around Harry Potter or other large books who will probably not finish them, but they should get to choose at least one book with no restrictions. Maze Runner, with a lexile level of 770,  Hunger Games at 810, and Wonder at 790 would be off limits for many of our students, but Diary of a Wimpy Kid, several of them at 1000+, are more acceptable. While Jeff Kinney's books have turned many into readers, books at lower levels can still provoke thoughtful dialogue and encourage students to read more.

As adults, do we always read "at our level"? Does my book club consult lexile levels? Do I ever push myself to read something that is a bit more complex if I like the topic? Girl on a Train comes in at 760, All the Light We Cannot See at 880.

We also must realize that for years, publishers were under pressure to publish many "Hi-Lo" books, meaning high interest, low vocabulary. Then, in particular, the Common Core Standards came around with the accompanying push for higher lexiles, especially in nonfiction. I have done numerous searches for books at higher lexiles, with many of them being dry as dust or not appropriate developmentally for middle school students. Yes, the publishers are now touting all kinds of correlations to CCSS and more books appear to have some higher levels, but they still do not appeal to many students.

The motto of Banned Books Week is "Celebrating the Freedom to Read". I'm all for letting students read what they are truly interested in. As with any skill, we improve with practice. Why not make that practice enjoyable, rather than a burden?

The Connections Have Multiplied!

Today I was honored to have my review of What Connected Educators Do Differently published on the MiddleWeb website. I was surprised to notice that several things have changed since I wrote the review, (almost) all for the good!

I'm a pink blur near the back.
Photo courtesy of @PrincipalStager

1. I traveled to #edcampLdr in Chicago on July 13. I was able to meet both Jeffrey Zoul and Jimmy Casas, two of the three authors. They could not have been more gracious and welcoming; the entire day was very empowering and inspiring. As a plus, I got them to autograph my book. It figures: the one author whose signature I'm missing, Todd Whitaker, is the one who lives in my state.

2. I got out of twitter "jail". I mentioned in the review that I was limited to following 2000 other twitter accounts. Apparently my following grew enough that I was able to break through that barrier. However, I still recommend using twitter lists, which is one of the things I did when following more was refused.  For example, if colleagues or friends started following me, I added them to a twitter list that I could check periodically and interact with them. I didn't anyone to think I was rude by not following them back.

3. I finished (completely finished) my participation in our wonderful state department of eLearning summer book club on Connected Educators. I found myself looking forward to Mondays to see what that week's questions would be. This was one case where I finished the entire book ahead of time.

4. With nine weeks of school complete, I still feel pretty connected, although I'm spending a great deal more time with my Voxer groups. My first experience with Voxer was through the #BFC530 group last November. Now I belong to more groups, and have even started two on my own. My daily commute is filled mainly with listening to the voxes, and today I even found myself slowing down at a yellow light so I'd have more time to listen. My liveliest Voxer group is edumatch (which now has far more than the 33 members mentioned on the website)

One thing that hasn't changed: my description as a sporadic blogger. Yikes! My last post before this was July 1.

Top Ten Things I Learned While #notatISTE

Being from Letterman's hometown, it feels only appropriate that I put my ISTE2015 reflections in the form of a top ten list.

I attended ISTE/NECC from 2009-2013, but did not this year (partly due to the mushrooming expense)  In recent weeks, I noticed increasing mentions of #NOTATISTE and investigated what that involved.  Little did I know it would mean I would spend hours on Google+ (the first I had really fully integrated it), hours in the "notatISTE" Voxer group with over 140 others, not to mention Google Hangouts, podcasts, twitter, periscope, email, diigo, Pinterest, and other websites-- all while having a fabulous time! The #notatISTE Google+ group has over 660 members.

10. It probably is a little easier to imagine what is going on if you have attended an ISTE in person. I was grateful that I had a great guide the first time I went (Washington, D.C. in 2009). I had even been to the Philadelphia ISTE in 2011. I can't imagine trying to picture an event with 20,000 people not having experienced it.

9. In this group, you were correct if you "Assumed Good Intentions". There really were no dumb questions. The atmosphere in the Voxer group was very open, non-judgmental, and patient. Many attendees mentioned that it was interesting to feel comfortable sharing so openly with complete strangers.

8. I knew this already, but the librarian network at ISTE (ISTElib) is fabulous! I watched two of their GHO; they are very organized and share many great resources. They have online opportunities throughout the year, and this was no exception. There are some excellent tweeters who readily share as well.

7. I will now be more equipped to encourage other educators to learn "off-site". When I was a beginning science teacher, it was attendance at events like NSTA and our state science convention (HASTI) that really added to my teaching repertoire. Today's teachers may not have as many in-person opportunities, but there are many resources available to everyone.

6. One of the #notatiste leaders, Jennifer Wagner, made a very creative challenge for us to perform different tasks to earn points. This led me to crowd source suggestions for the best Philly Cheesesteak in Indianapolis, do a photo walk of my neighborhood, and experiment with different tech tools. There was even a #notatiste karaoke group at the same time EdTechKaraoke was happening in Philadelphia. Did I win anything from this? No, just the satisfaction of learning and figuring things out.

From my neighborhood photowalk

5. I was willing to explore many new technological things with the support of our community. One of our leaders, Craig Yen, spontaneously offered a Google Hangout to teach us about... Google Hangouts! This community was the first time I used Google Draw, 81 Dash, and the most time I've spent on Periscope, Google+, Pocket and other sites.

4. You can empathize with people you've only "known" for a couple of days. One of our Voxer members had the adoption of her baby boy finalized on the final day of ISTE; she told us, posted a picture, and we all rejoiced!

3.  Quickly shorten URL's. Why didn't I know this before? When you see a long url, much of the time the end of it shows the path taken to reach the site (twitter, facebook, etc) Shorten the link by deleting everything from the '?' mark on! That takes you to the original post. May seem trivial, but I post a lot, and always try to find the source.

2. There were some advantages to being at home.  
Yes, there were times I had my phone, laptop, iPad, and chromebook in use. It would have been hard to juggle in person!  There is still the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) But, in a way, it was easier to be in more than one place at a time.

1. There is still an after-ISTE letdown.

I still encourage people to go to ISTE (Denver 2016, San Antonio 2017), but this experience was awesome!  I have made connections for years to come.

ADDENDUM: Check out this great post from Craig Yen, in which he details how he accomplished so much while #notatiste. It helps explain how he seemed to be everywhere!

Hosting edCamp Was Like My Wedding

It seems only appropriate that I write this on the Saturday of ISTE2015 in Philadelphia, for it was on June 25, 2011 that edCampIndy was "born". On what would become one of my "Top Ten Days of PD Ever"* I heard Kristen Swanson speak at TEDxPhillyEd 2011 on Penn's campus.

On the ride back from Philadelphia, AISLE President Denise Keogh and I made plans for the initial edCampIndy. AISLE (Association of Indiana School Library Educators) wanted to host a summer conference, but hosting a traditional conference was becoming very difficult financially, and we embraced the ideas of a participant-designed meeting.  Our summer workshops were already including educators outside the library realm, so edCamp fit that as well.

The fourth annual edcampIndy was held June 12, 2015, and as AISLE past president, I was the chair. We were able to hold it in my district at Raymond Park Middle School/Intermediate Academy. So many details ran in my head for months. For one reason or another, the things I lost the most sleep over:
1) Would we have enough sponsors? (I never worried about this until I was the chair this year.)
2) Would the wifi hold up? (Our tech department worked all of this out for us.)
3) Would enough people show up? (155 registered; about 90 attended.)
4) Would enough people volunteer when it was time to build the board?

The Fourth Annual #edCampIndy at Raymond Park Middle/Intermediate

As the people started to roll in, it really hit me: I knew most of the people coming, from several different walks of my life.  What a unique privilege to have co-workers, others in the district, librarians from across the state, friends, and others all in one place, meeting and interacting with one another. I even saw my daughter's second grade teacher for the first time in many years. As it would turn out, just like my wedding, I didn't begin to have as much time as I would have liked to talk to them. I also didn't get enough pictures (and why didn't I periscope?) I met several people face to face for the first time whom I've "known" on twitter for months, including some #BFC530 chatters. 

Fortunately, I have attended several other edCamps, including 3 in Chicago. At their most recent one on May 9, the organizers generously shared their google doc to organize just about everything in one place. All I had to do was make a copy. Our final document with links to our sessions can be found here. 

Of course, we had glitches, leading to recommendations we will make for next year. They include:
1) Somehow, in modifying the google doc to add session titles, some of our links to session notes disappeared.  I had qr codes plastered everywhere, but should have included the short url.
2) We should have had Tshirts to make it easy to find one of us. We had a session about google apps and extensions that ended up without a facilitator and attendees had trouble finding one of the organizers, scattered across sessions.
3) Although sessions are proposed by attendees, we had so many first time edcamp attendees that many were hesitant to come forward to propose a session. I had a few panicked moments where I was afraid our board would be half full.  Then some people stepped forward to get the ball rolling.  The same thing happened with our smackdown, which eventually turned out great! We could have "pre-arranged" a few more sessions that we knew would be of great interest since we had so many rookies.

4) Serendipitiously, I came across a video from Wes Fryer showing how to use google forms to email participation certificates using the autocrat addon.  Somehow the sharing permissions are still a bit muddled, so I need to figure that out. Although I thought everything was created in one google account, sharing permissions sometimes point to another, but overall, it was fun to use!
5) We should have included some students.

As with any special event, it took many hands stepping in, including MSD Warren teachers Becky Taylor, Krissy Carson, Jennifer Atkinson, and Roberta Kuonen. Krissy, as media specialist at Raymond Park, helped before and after with many setup details, including equipment. AISLE members Michelle Houser, Gigi Shook, and Denise Keogh jumped in several times to help during edCamp.

My overwhelming feeling when edcamp was over: gratitude that I had the opportunity to be among so many dedicated educators, many of them old friends, and all of them future connections.

*With ISTE in Philadelphia in 2011, I had the opportunity to do all of these in one day: ISTE Unplugged (for a little bit), Discovery Education at the Science Leadership Academy (a school I had wanted to see for some time), TEDxPhillyEd at Penn, and the ISTE Affiliate reception. The conference itself had not begun, and I had already learned enough to make the trip worthwhile!

You, Too, Can Moderate a Twitter Chat*

I have been continually inspired through my participation in the Breakfast Club 5:30 AM twitter chats (heretofore referred to as #BFC530 ET and MT). They truly are "spark chats" that take just 15 minutes of your time initially, with positive effects lasting much longer. I also joined the Voxer chat group, and frequently learn from my BFC Voxer friends as I listen to posts on the way home.

You can read more about #BFC530 here, but the best way is to just follow the hashtag #BFC530 (Did you know you can search twitter even if you do not have an account? ...although I can't imagine learning without twitter now. ) Because I had gained so much, I decided it was time for me to attempt to give back, so I volunteered to moderate for a day.

I had recently read a post about an ASCD book by Suzy Pepper Rollins called Learning in the Fast Lane: 8 Ways to Put All Students on the Road to Academic Success. The first chapter really resonated with me. Take the time to open the link above; does the first paragraph describe anything you've ever seen?

Book available from http://shop.ascd.org/

Topics on #BFC530 have been very thought-provoking, applicable to almost any educators' situation, sometimes philosophical, sometimes content-specific, sometimes serious, sometimes fun. Inspired by the book, I decided to submit the topic, "What are your best methods to assist struggling students?" and agreed to moderate both the 5:30 am ET and 5:30 MT (7:30 am for me). When I was booked into the schedule, I looked forward to it with eager anticipation for an entire week.

My initial thoughts: the 530 ET chat will be very nerve-wracking because there are so many people. The MT chat will be really easy, because not as many people participate. Was I ever wrong!!

The 530 ET chat generally begins a few minutes early with lots of hellos from around the world (lately including many laments about weather and snow day and delay announcements, as well as comments about the heat from our Floridian, SW US and Down Under friends) When I have tweetdeck open, it is a fast and furious conversation that reminds me of spinning fruit on a slot machine.

The surprising, wonderful thing about the MT chat was that while there were fewer participants, the conversation was much richer, deeper, and challenging.  There was actually time to think through a response and interact with the participants. I felt that my role as moderator was more important. There was more time to ask more questions to keep things moving, and more time to formulate a reply.

I've noticed that many of the valuable chats I've participated in have moderators who move things along (believe it or not, sometimes we get off topic!), and have carefully thought out questions that build upon previous ones.  However, they are also not averse to capitalizing on a good question or comment shared by a participant.  If you like leading class discussions, you'll be a natural, and if not, you can learn (growth mindset noted).  Before I give myself too much credit, it should be noted that yes, this was just a 15-minute chat. Many chats are an hour long, although I am starting to notice more 30-minute chats as well.

Please consider joining the #BFC530 chat sometime, no matter what your time zone. There are some storify posts available as well, and you will have a treasure chest of favorite and reply tweets. It's also a good idea to have a method to curate much of the information you receive, because you will learn a lot! Better yet, the feelings of inspiration and camaraderie with other educators throughout the world will often last until you recharge the next week day.

*Yes, I looked up the proper use of commas in this instance; most responses said it depends upon the emphasis desired, and I wanted to emphasize you!

My One Word: Time

Let it be known that I didn't jump on the #OneWord bandwagon this year; I did that last year. Of course, as 2015 approached, I had to search to find what my 2014 word was (pride). At first I was leaning toward something in the "no excuses" vein for this year. I have a problem with procrastinating, so I've actually held some "no excuses" days in the past; when something came up that I needed to do, I promptly did it!  It was fun and strangely satisfying.

Image courtesy of http://www.freerangekids.com/free-ranging-under-the-clock-of-fate/

While there are many trite sayings and platitudes about time, what is true is that I do have the same amount as everyone else. Eric Sheninger's blog post of 12-21-14 had a graphic that really stuck with me: 

Image courtesy of http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/blissblog/files/2014/02/whatmattersmost.jpg

Then, as I started to work on my word, I serendipitously heard a sermon by our youth minister, Jenni Crowley Cartee, about the "fullness of time". She cited a book by Daniel Stern called The Present Moment. (When I investigated later, I discovered that the complete title is The Present Moment in Psychotherapy and Everyday Life.  Whew!  I'm glad I had Jenni's sermon to explain it.)

What struck me most about Jenni's sermon was the description of Chronos time vs. Kairos time.  How do we reconcile the precise, objective measurement of time, Chronos, with the importance of Kairos?  Kairos reminds me of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of "flow " when you become completely absorbed in what you are doing.  Steve Chapman says, "The way I understand it, the difference between the two is that chronos time is informed by the passing of seconds, whereas kairos time is informed by the emergence of meaning." What's fascinating is that as you may lose track of time, you may find insight.

During my time working with a dozen outstanding educators to write Teaching 2030: What We Must Do for Our Public School Students--Now and in the Future, we frequently discussed the concept of "seat time" vs. "learning time".  I always think of 2030 colleague Renee Moore for her views on using seat time (Chronos) as a measure of accomplishment.  Is, "Congratulations! You're spent 13 years with us; you're done," the best way to measure K-12 education?  Should students be assigned work by their age?

Archived Webinar from Indiana DOE

Even as I worked on this post today, the Indiana State Board of Education was debating the definition of an "instructional day" at the same time school districts were holding eLearning days due to frigid temperatures.  


With the advent of the net and easy access, I spend a lot of time on social media. I'm not sure how often I experience Kairos, especially while jumping from platform to platform. We can connect to more information than ever before, and, if we are deliberate in our practice, much of it can prove to be useful.  My goal for 2015 is to be more mindful of my Chronos time while obtaining more meaningful results. And, what does this mean for students?  How do we guide them toward experiencing Kairos time, or flow, while adhering to the implications of the typical Chronos school time?

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Shake it Up: #BFC530 and Voxer

Sometimes in the past, I would check twitter right after I woke up. Gradually, I noticed an increase in the hashtag #BFC530; eventually I figured out it's the "Breakfast Club 5:30 am" (There's actually a MT group too, which is 7:30 am ET) How many times have you googled a hashtag?  Joining this chat and then Voxer have changed my whole daily routine! I set my alarm for 5:25 am and only occasionally hit 'Snooze'; I don't want to miss the chat.

Courtesy of @ScottCapro, #BFC530 Co-Founder

Now, I've participated in lots of twitter chats, but some don't seem to accomplish much. Plus, this one is a mere 15 minutes, a "spark chat'. Another thing that distinguishes #BFC530 is that it is very organized, has high quality topics, and encourages participants to lead the chat and suggest themes. I can honestly say that starting off the day with #BFC530 has given me a more positive outlook. Frequently during the day I will remember something said in the chat and draw some inspiration from it.


I moved slowly at first, but the group convinced me to try Voxer. What a revelation! Voxer is a sort of walkie-talkie phone app, with messages that can be shared with individuals or anyone in a particular group.  First I joined the #BFC Voxer group, then #INeLearn, and then started a group for AISLE (Association of Indiana Library Educators).  Yes, the tweets are still valuable, but Voxer gives you an opportunity to extend the learning and interaction beyond 140 characters.  Frequently I listen to Voxer on my way home from school, although then I have to scramble to remember some of the ideas or resources I learn about while driving.

Courtesy of @ScottCapro

Some reflections from chat/Voxer members:
1) You can use this to support a Critical Friends Group (CFG). You can easily share ideas, reflections... now or later
2) One member is using Voxer for a book club (Love that idea)
3) This extends your PD time without necessarily taking up extra time.
4) It takes even less time if you play the voxes at 2x or even 3x the normal talking speed.

Sometimes I think it's almost better than most of us do not know each other. We have been amazingly open and honest, with several individuals sharing successes, failures, get betters and requests for assistance. By trying these new technologies and interactions, we're modeling in a way what we would like our students to experience.

When I was working with some students one day after school this week, the Voxer signal on my phone went off; they asked me what it was, and I explained that it was my "Voxer friends". They were intrigued with the premise that these friends were from around the world-- and that we concentrated on education.  Hopefully, they too will come to see learning as something it's easy to do 24/7 in a meaningful way.

Please check out the #BFC530 chat and the website if you haven't already. (You can also get the Voxer details from the site.) Many have gone from lurkdom to total participation almost instantly.  Thanks to @ScottCapro and Jessica Raleigh for a fabulous idea!

What's in a Name? ICE was Right to Change Theirs. Day Two Review

After the second and final day of the ICE Conference, I've taken some time to reflect on the overall experience.  It was an outstanding event! What really struck me is that the most moving, inspiring sessions really had little to do with computers or technology.  The keynotes from Dave Burgess (AKA Talk Like a Pirate) and Kevin Honeycutt truly were more about relationships than technology. Thus, the name change from 'Indiana Computer Educators' to 'Indiana Connected Educators' seems to make a lot of sense.

Yes, there were great ideas to be gained from the speeches and sessions, but things have moved more from the "things" to the 'why'.  It's not how you get there, it's just that you get there. And, students should share in some of the decisions on the path to take... even the destination.

Danielle Darnell &Amy Schmidt from MSD Wabash County shared their successes in coding with all students. 
Here we practiced with moving cups to simulate the moves of a robot.

We heard quite a bit about coding, and the session I attended was great at giving some of the nuts and bolts, as well as resources,  In addition to their emaze presentation, and a Pinterest page, they shared specific ideas for different grade levels and answered many questions. I really liked the fact that their entire district participated in an hour of code last December. Could my district do this?  Even just the two schools in the same building? 

Any time Leslie Fisher is presenting, I have to go to at least one of her sessions.  From the clever videos she plays as you wait for a session, to her content and comments, she is always entertaining. This time I attended her gadget presentation, although I heard that the twitter session was very illuminating, too.  And then there was evernote and others.... too hard to choose!

Whenever I hear Kevin Honeycutt speak, I have to tell people about the stories he relates. Even though I had been to two sessions of his before, he had lots of new material. As I mentioned on my twitter stream, he has so much that is "quotable and tweetworthy" that it's hard to keep up. Listening to him makes you feel empowered, important, and inspired; now for the follow-through.

At a later session (wisely moved to the auditorium to accommodate a larger crowd and keep his equipment intact), he gave some rapid-fire ideas for incorporating digital literacy into research. By using us as a class, he showed how he would have students answer the question, "What was the first submarine to sink a ship?" Then he asked many, many follow-up questions, asked us what websites we were using, alerted us to false information, and told us we always had to cite sources.  Have 15 minutes left at the end of a period/day?  Divide a class in two; half the room researches to support     A: Black widow spiders are the worst  OR B. Brown recluse spiders are the worst.  Put your links and citations into a shared google doc (which can even be shared with parents)  Or choose things such as dogs/cats, standard/automatic, text/email/chat. He encouraged us to use one of his ready-made PBL lessons dealing with an asteroid hurtling toward earth. He has worked with many students to find ways to turn their talents into money, even careers.  

Our great Indiana DOE Office of eLearning has several events for October, Connected Educator Month.  One of these is the #INeLearn Challenge, designed for you to use with your staff.  You can even earn PGP's for completing it, all as you learn about different aspects of the Google Online Communities of Practice. There are communities by discipline and grade level.

Sherry Gick &Addie Matteson demonstrate their enthusiasm in the Maker Space photo booth.

And, I would be remiss without another mention of the extensive Maker Space available to us.  A lot of effort went into affording us the opportunity to experience several possibilities. All in all, the conference was an ideal experience, and will definitely go on my calendar for next year!

Pirates, Vacation, and Makey Makey

The first day of the Indiana Connected Educators (ICE) conference was a fabulous experience! Several districts and the Indiana Department of Education Office of eLearning have combined to make our state a leader in education technology, with many inexpensive opportunities for teachers and other educators to learn from nationally-renowned tech stars.

Consider the line up for this year's conference:
-Sylvia Martinez
-Leslie Fisher
-Dave Burgess, AKA Talk Like a Pirate
-Kevin Honeycutt

Throw in two breakfasts, two lunches, free wireless and parking--- all for $100? (and presenters attend for free)  No wonder more than 400 people registered. My primary reasons to attend: ICE helps you experience the same joy of learning that you hope students will, and I get to see lots of friends!

Some of my media specialist friends at ICE. AISLE had great representation 
Photo courtesy of Michelle Green

Although I participated in the eLearning book club with Sylvia Martinez's Invent to Learn and have been in webinars where she presented, seeing her in person really helped me realize more of the impetus and reach of the "Maker Movement".

Buzz saw?  Whirlwind?  Psycho?  No-- it's Dave Burgess!

I've read the book, been in multiple chats... but nothing can compare to seeing Dave Burgess in person. My main take away when I read his book was that teachers should not be afraid to be different, to "go out on a limb" to be memorable, and entertaining to students.  The level of engagement in his presentations was phenomenal, and you could sense teachers thinking of ways they could adapt lessons.  I was so excited to see Dr. Nancy Steffel of the University of Indianapolis, who brought all of her junior and senior preservice teachers to this conference, and had them sitting in the front row for Burgess's keynote.  What better way for future teachers to prepare!

One of the best things about attending: the learning and connections continue. There are so many opportunities through ICE and the IDOE Office of eLearning. Whether it's the Thursday night twitter chats http://inelearnchat.blogspot.com/ or other programs, it is easy to find encouragement and support.  ICE has been during my fall break the past few years, and fits nicely with what I want to experience on a vacation: enjoyment, time with friends, learning new things.  I rarely go anywhere over break, but if I do, I plan around being able to attend ICE.  It's disappointing to me that some educators think of it as "giving up" their vacation.  There's no hassle of lesson plans, having a sub, and I think districts might more easily be able to come up with a mere $100 for this wonderful experience. It could also be that many classroom teachers don't realize this exists, as they are rarely sent outside their districts for PD anymore.

And best yet-- I get to come back today!

This year's ICE includes an extensive Maker Space.
As with students, it seemed like the 3D printers drew the largest crowds.

Teacherpreneurs, Revisited: We're Getting There!

I had the unique opportunity to be part of a group of classroom teachers from across the country who collaboratively wrote a book Teaching 2030: What We Must Do for Our Students and Our Public Schools... Now and in the Future  (The linked video by graphic recorder Sunni Brown does a nice job of explaining "teacherpreneurs".) Barnett Berry wrote the bulk of the manuscript, and incorporated parts of our writing (truth be told, I have all of about three paragraphs in it).

Notice how I mentioned classroom teachers? Part of the idea behind teacherpreneurship is that you shouldn't have to leave the classroom completely to be involved in teacher leadership. Who better to collaborate with other teachers and implement new ideas that someone familiar with the classroom? A true teacherpreneur has the opportunity to remain in the classroom at least part of the time, while also taking on additional roles for the district or organization. To our minds, teacherpreneurship is NOT leaving the teaching profession to become a full-time consultant, nor is it becoming fabulously wealthy by selling copious materials on websites such as Teachers Pay Teachers.

Tonight, September 3, I have the privilege of being on a panel at the University of Indianapolis for their Kappa Delta Pi chapter on the topic of teacherpreneurs.  Karen Van Duyn and I presented at Kappa Delta Pi's Centennial Convocation in Indianapolis on this topic in 2011.  I decided to revisit the livebinder that we used for the presentation, which lent itself to some analysis of how things have changed in the past few years.  What has happened in the educational landscape since we wrote the book? (Other than CCSS) There do seem to be many more opportunities for educators to take on hybrid roles, and organizations of teacher leaders are giving voice to efforts to resist or promote various education reforms.  The exponential explosion of technology has made it easier for educators to network and find professional learning most suited to their needs.

The Teacher Leader Network, affiliated with Barnett Berry and the Center for Teaching Quality, has now become the CTQ Collaboratory, "a virtual community for connecting, learning, and innovating with teachers to transform education".  All educators can become a part of the Collaboratory, and there are smaller groups, called labs, as well.

What about my fellow Teaching 2030 authors?  Most of us are still doing much the same thing, although some now have advanced degrees, have changed schools, or have published additional books.

Please feel free to add examples of teacherpreneurs and teacher leader organizations in the comments below.