Yesterday was my last after school flex training session. Over the past four or five years, I've facilitated over 150 of these training sessions, working with hundreds of my colleagues, and learned a ton along the way, both in preparing to train teachers, and learning from them during the workshops.
Today was my last in-service presentation... I think. I'm actually not sure if we have any more in-service days scheduled this year, and if we do, I'm sure I'll be presenting again. But this was the last one I know about, and if it is the final one, it was a great way to end. In three hour-long sessions, I worked with close to 90 teachers. The topic was "Everything You Wanted to Know About Your Computer... *But Were Afraid to Ask," and the entire agenda was based on the specific questions the participants submitted ahead of time in a survey, which we read, researched, and answered. A lot of new questions came up during the workshop, and we were able to find answers to these as well, often from other participants in the session who shared their knowledge in a backchannel discussion and out loud.
We might not have flex requirements in our budget for next year, so my days of offering 40 or so of these a year are over for now. And I'll be making a happy return to the classroom in the fall, so I won't be tapped to present at every in-service in our district. Instead I'll be able to actually attend some of these workshops and learn from my peers, which I am really looking forward to doing again, believe it or not.
I am looking forward to the change next year. Working with teachers is both challenging and rewarding, but I feel like I have had five years of intense, full-time professional development for myself. I've learned so much about technology integration and education in general that the only logical step at this time is to get back in the classroom and put it into practice myself!
So this was the end of the presenting to teachers part of my job, and it was a good ending. I still have almost two months of working 1:1 with teachers and providing on-demand assistance with tech integration before the end of the school year, but after today, the finish line is in sight and it feels good to be in the homestretch.
Scott's Profile Pic
Scott Swindells
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Innovation
Hello, and happy Tuesday to you all. :)
This week's post is a short one. I would like to remind everyone that an innovative presentation will be taking place online tomorrow evening on Twitter.
For our district’s second annual innovation celebration, a group led by Joe Mazza, Principal at Knapp Elementary School, will showcase the opportunities and potential for professional development on Twitter by hosting a live chat. Now that's some real innovation! Tune in to Twitter from 6 - 9 p.m. and check it out at #nped.
This week's post is a short one. I would like to remind everyone that an innovative presentation will be taking place online tomorrow evening on Twitter.
For our district’s second annual innovation celebration, a group led by Joe Mazza, Principal at Knapp Elementary School, will showcase the opportunities and potential for professional development on Twitter by hosting a live chat. Now that's some real innovation! Tune in to Twitter from 6 - 9 p.m. and check it out at #nped.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
A Wednesday with Swindy
Wait, today is Wednesday? It looks like I missed a Tuesday.
I blame it on all the sugar from the kids' Easter baskets... between that and all the requests pouring in for AIC help from my colleagues, the days are racing by quickly right now!
Here's what's going on today...
I am helping facilitate three iPad pull-out training days for elementary teachers and principals.
I am attempting to locate GPS devices for the science field trip at one elementary school.
I am tracking down microphones for a HS teacher who would like to record audio in a room without built-in mics.
I am working with teachers who will present eight workshops, three times each, during our Engagement in-service day.
I am helping a middle school teacher learn to use Prezi with her students.
I am investigating how a HS secretary could scan pictures without any access to a color scanner (take a smart phone or iPad picture? -- any suggestions out there?).
It is shaping up to be a very busy week, but that's OK. The busy weeks are much more fun!
I blame it on all the sugar from the kids' Easter baskets... between that and all the requests pouring in for AIC help from my colleagues, the days are racing by quickly right now!
Here's what's going on today...
I am helping facilitate three iPad pull-out training days for elementary teachers and principals.
I am attempting to locate GPS devices for the science field trip at one elementary school.
I am tracking down microphones for a HS teacher who would like to record audio in a room without built-in mics.
I am working with teachers who will present eight workshops, three times each, during our Engagement in-service day.
I am helping a middle school teacher learn to use Prezi with her students.
I am investigating how a HS secretary could scan pictures without any access to a color scanner (take a smart phone or iPad picture? -- any suggestions out there?).
It is shaping up to be a very busy week, but that's OK. The busy weeks are much more fun!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Looking Ahead
April is the coolest month. Take that, T.S. Eliot!
There are lots of good events involving educational technology integration coming up in the month of April. Here are some things to look forward to this month in the world of Academic Integration coaching:
April 18 – For our district’s second annual innovation celebration, a group led by Joe Mazza, Principal at Knapp Elementary School, will showcase the opportunities and potential for professional development on Twitter by hosting a live chat. Now that's some real innovation! Tune in to Twitter from 6 - 9 p.m. and check it out at #nped.
April 10 and April 18 – a group led by Academic Technology Coordinator Dr. Kristen Kozloski, will train teachers in elementary schools with new iPads. The training days will focus on everything from basic operation and proper care of the devices, to sharing of tips and tricks, finding and using the best apps for education, and moving beyond the apps to other educational uses of the iPads. There will also be a strong connection between the iPads and Response to Instruction and Intervention Implementation, as RTII Coach Amber Molloy is also presenting the workshops. I will be happy to assist these two excellent professionals in their endeavors by helping teachers who are new to the iPads navigate and use the devices.
April 12 – Everything You Wanted to Know About Your Computer… *But Were Afraid to Ask. This after-school flex training workshop is a popular session intended for those who feel a little bit like technology in the classroom has passed them by. Teachers can get a foothold in some of the basics, and pick up a few tips and tricks for using the programs on our classroom computers, particularly the Microsoft Office applications - Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook. What makes this session unique, however, is that it will largely be directed by the participants’ individual questions. Those who sign up will receive an email a few weeks prior to the session asking for questions and topics they would most like to see covered, and facilitators will work to research and provide answers during the workshop.
I will also be offering flex training sessions on using our Schoolwires Teacher Web pages this month. The basic session will be held April 18, and the advanced session will be held April 23.
April 24 – The Engagement In-Service Day will feature eight technology integration workshops. In the staff survey following the last in-service day, teachers asked, by overwhelming margin, for more training on technology integration. We were happy to help answer this call by enlisting the help of ten expert teachers, who will present sessions with their firsthand knowledge of programs they use in their own classrooms. The technology workshops for this day will include the following exciting topics:
Blogging with Students
Then and Now: Motivating Students Through the Use of Technology
The Student-Centered Classroom: Using Video and Standards-Based Grading
Student-made Video Projects
Integrating Technology in the Classroom: Ideas for Getting Started
Look back, See Further – An Introduction to Teaching with Primary Sources
Everything You Wanted to Know About Technology… *But Were Afraid to Ask
Edmodo in the Classroom
Finally, the weekly video podcast, Tech Tip of the Week, which has been by posted every week for the past two school years by the Academic Integration Coaches, will continue every Friday in April, with exciting new ideas for integrating technology into our classrooms.
Happy April, everyone! Don’t forget to contact your Academic Integration Coach to help you get your tech on!
Until next week, be well.
There are lots of good events involving educational technology integration coming up in the month of April. Here are some things to look forward to this month in the world of Academic Integration coaching:
April 18 – For our district’s second annual innovation celebration, a group led by Joe Mazza, Principal at Knapp Elementary School, will showcase the opportunities and potential for professional development on Twitter by hosting a live chat. Now that's some real innovation! Tune in to Twitter from 6 - 9 p.m. and check it out at #nped.
April 10 and April 18 – a group led by Academic Technology Coordinator Dr. Kristen Kozloski, will train teachers in elementary schools with new iPads. The training days will focus on everything from basic operation and proper care of the devices, to sharing of tips and tricks, finding and using the best apps for education, and moving beyond the apps to other educational uses of the iPads. There will also be a strong connection between the iPads and Response to Instruction and Intervention Implementation, as RTII Coach Amber Molloy is also presenting the workshops. I will be happy to assist these two excellent professionals in their endeavors by helping teachers who are new to the iPads navigate and use the devices.
April 12 – Everything You Wanted to Know About Your Computer… *But Were Afraid to Ask. This after-school flex training workshop is a popular session intended for those who feel a little bit like technology in the classroom has passed them by. Teachers can get a foothold in some of the basics, and pick up a few tips and tricks for using the programs on our classroom computers, particularly the Microsoft Office applications - Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook. What makes this session unique, however, is that it will largely be directed by the participants’ individual questions. Those who sign up will receive an email a few weeks prior to the session asking for questions and topics they would most like to see covered, and facilitators will work to research and provide answers during the workshop.
I will also be offering flex training sessions on using our Schoolwires Teacher Web pages this month. The basic session will be held April 18, and the advanced session will be held April 23.
April 24 – The Engagement In-Service Day will feature eight technology integration workshops. In the staff survey following the last in-service day, teachers asked, by overwhelming margin, for more training on technology integration. We were happy to help answer this call by enlisting the help of ten expert teachers, who will present sessions with their firsthand knowledge of programs they use in their own classrooms. The technology workshops for this day will include the following exciting topics:
Blogging with Students
Then and Now: Motivating Students Through the Use of Technology
The Student-Centered Classroom: Using Video and Standards-Based Grading
Student-made Video Projects
Integrating Technology in the Classroom: Ideas for Getting Started
Look back, See Further – An Introduction to Teaching with Primary Sources
Everything You Wanted to Know About Technology… *But Were Afraid to Ask
Edmodo in the Classroom
Finally, the weekly video podcast, Tech Tip of the Week, which has been by posted every week for the past two school years by the Academic Integration Coaches, will continue every Friday in April, with exciting new ideas for integrating technology into our classrooms.
Happy April, everyone! Don’t forget to contact your Academic Integration Coach to help you get your tech on!
Until next week, be well.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Sharing is Caring
Today, I would like to share a few links to things I’ve been reading today.
A quick glance at Google reminds us that today is the 126th birthday of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, an architect whose influence, it turns out, was unavoidable in what I saw every day in the classroom buildings from my days at Penn State. Seeing the Google doodle this morning instantly reminded me of many buildings on PSU’s campus, particularly those of the engineering classes like the Hammond Building, located near the Daily Collegian, where I wrote. In some Pavlovian way, just seeing the building in the doodle instantly put me in a writing mood.
I know next to nothing about architecture, so I had to read a little to confirm my suspicion that this is the architect who had been the influence for all those campus buildings. During my surfing, I found a blog post from another Penn State alum writing about the same experience today, except he seems to have been a student of architecture or engineering, and has a completely different perspective than I on the architect and his influence on the those Penn State edifices.
Mies is often associated with the aphorism "less is more," which brings me to another piece of writing I’d like to share today, the poem by Robert Browning, “Andrea del Sarto,” which was, interestingly enough, penned in the same year as Penn State was founded, 1855. Read the poem here.
Mies is also often associated with the idiom, "God is in the details," which was attributed to his architectural style in his 1969 NY Times obituary.
An example that represents the idea that whatever one does should be done thoroughly, with great attention to detail, is the music of Phish. I’ve been reading the band’s biography, written by Parke Puterbaugh, this week, and his Rolling Stone article from 1997 is a great read about four musicians who are passionate about the details. If you can get your hands on the February 20, 1997, issue, check it out. It is not available online unless you are a Rolling Stone subscriber, but excerpts from Puterbaugh's Phish: The Biography can be found here.
Finally, in honor of the opening weekend of The Hunger Games movie, with its domestic box office making it the third-highest opening weekend of all time, here is a blog from Edmodo that discusses and links to a few sites about teaching with The Hunger Games that teachers have been most frequently sharing on Edmodo.
Happy reading! May the architecture, music, and odds be ever in your favor.
A quick glance at Google reminds us that today is the 126th birthday of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, an architect whose influence, it turns out, was unavoidable in what I saw every day in the classroom buildings from my days at Penn State. Seeing the Google doodle this morning instantly reminded me of many buildings on PSU’s campus, particularly those of the engineering classes like the Hammond Building, located near the Daily Collegian, where I wrote. In some Pavlovian way, just seeing the building in the doodle instantly put me in a writing mood.
I know next to nothing about architecture, so I had to read a little to confirm my suspicion that this is the architect who had been the influence for all those campus buildings. During my surfing, I found a blog post from another Penn State alum writing about the same experience today, except he seems to have been a student of architecture or engineering, and has a completely different perspective than I on the architect and his influence on the those Penn State edifices.
Mies is often associated with the aphorism "less is more," which brings me to another piece of writing I’d like to share today, the poem by Robert Browning, “Andrea del Sarto,” which was, interestingly enough, penned in the same year as Penn State was founded, 1855. Read the poem here.
Mies is also often associated with the idiom, "God is in the details," which was attributed to his architectural style in his 1969 NY Times obituary.
An example that represents the idea that whatever one does should be done thoroughly, with great attention to detail, is the music of Phish. I’ve been reading the band’s biography, written by Parke Puterbaugh, this week, and his Rolling Stone article from 1997 is a great read about four musicians who are passionate about the details. If you can get your hands on the February 20, 1997, issue, check it out. It is not available online unless you are a Rolling Stone subscriber, but excerpts from Puterbaugh's Phish: The Biography can be found here.
Finally, in honor of the opening weekend of The Hunger Games movie, with its domestic box office making it the third-highest opening weekend of all time, here is a blog from Edmodo that discusses and links to a few sites about teaching with The Hunger Games that teachers have been most frequently sharing on Edmodo.
Happy reading! May the architecture, music, and odds be ever in your favor.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
The Ideas of March
March seems to be a time for ideas.
Daylight Savings Time kicks in and we feel like we have more time to do things we want to get done. Spring is in the air, so our minds naturally turn toward springtime projects and we think of things we need to do (and we haven't been able to do these chores for months, so they actually seem exciting, or a change of pace).
We spend more time outside, and the fresh air probably stimulates our thoughts a little.
There's also the standardized testing going on in many states, so many teachers find themselves with a lot of time to sit and think about upcoming units and lessons.
There is something about this time of year which energizes and gets us looking forward. My help requests, which had tapered off throughout February, have seen a resurgence this week as teachers look ahead and plan new tech integration projects in their classrooms.
It's a busy, optimistic, energetic time of year.
As many of us in education know, "April is the cruelest month," so let's take this time to plan ahead, dream big, and jump right in with both feet to the ideas of March.
Daylight Savings Time kicks in and we feel like we have more time to do things we want to get done. Spring is in the air, so our minds naturally turn toward springtime projects and we think of things we need to do (and we haven't been able to do these chores for months, so they actually seem exciting, or a change of pace).
We spend more time outside, and the fresh air probably stimulates our thoughts a little.
There's also the standardized testing going on in many states, so many teachers find themselves with a lot of time to sit and think about upcoming units and lessons.
There is something about this time of year which energizes and gets us looking forward. My help requests, which had tapered off throughout February, have seen a resurgence this week as teachers look ahead and plan new tech integration projects in their classrooms.
It's a busy, optimistic, energetic time of year.
As many of us in education know, "April is the cruelest month," so let's take this time to plan ahead, dream big, and jump right in with both feet to the ideas of March.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
"So What is it You'd Say You Do Here...?"
When I set out to write a weekly blog as part of my position as a K-12 technology coach a few years back, I intended to write regular updates about specific projects, activities and classroom co-teaching I would be doing. However, I find myself usually writing more abstractly about educational technology ideas and methods than actual lessons.
Two days into this busy week, I'd like to give a snapshot into what I am doing as a coach:
* Working with teacher leaders who will facilitate eight excellent training sessions during the April 24th Engagement In-Service day. Planned sessions include blogging, making video podcasts, using Google Apps for Education, and many more topics that enable teachers to engage their students while preparing them with 21st Century skills they will need for college and the workplace.
* Facilitating an online flex session I designed to help teachers learn how to use Wikispaces. The flex session takes place entirely online, at the teachers' own pace, schedule, and location, during a two-week window. Teachers watch videos, read articles, and participate in discussions to earn two hours' flex, and can earn a third hour by creating and sharing a link to their own educational wiki. The conversations we've been having in our online discussions have been great, and I am proud to offer this cost-saving (more participants enrolled, no building/energy costs) and engaging (teachers get to design their own wikis for classroom use and have their individual questions answered on their own time) method of professional development.
* Helping 6th grade students put the finishing touches on their weekly news broadcast at Walton Farm elementary school. The news team rotates every week, and this week's broadcast had a particularly strong group of students writing, recording, and editing. As the editor puts the final transitions between the anchors, the field reporters, and the special segments, I can tell their hard work is paying off and an excellent edition of the school news is shaping up!
* Co-teaching a 12th grade English class as they begin a multi-faceted project based on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. One component of the group project is performance-based, and I am helping students collaborate on writing their scripts, then record, edit, and share their final performances.
* Working with an 11th grade teacher to develop her class wiki project based on duality in Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Students will collaborate to fill in multiple pages of information in T-chart form, sharing concrete examples they find in the text and exploring many themes of duality in the novel.
* Working with a Kindergarten teacher to help me make the specific connections between technology competencies and the Kindergarten curriculum. Our goal is to have K-12 tech competencies aligned with specific lessons and activities already in the curriculum, to give our teachers a place to go to see exactly how technology can be seamlessly integrated with the content we already teach.
* Helping the director of activities at the high school create a new web page for the school's activities and clubs.
* Surveying participants in my upcoming flex session called "Everything You Wanted to Know About Your Computer ... *But Were Afraid to Ask." The session takes place in a few weeks, and the agenda is designed to answer the specific questions of the teachers who enroll in the flex session. To my knowledge, this is the only flex session of its kind in our district, where the agenda is built to answer the specific needs of the participants. I look forward to hearing from them what I will be learning and teaching in a few weeks' time.
* Answering the emails and requests that come in to our online Help Request every day, researching the answers and responding to teachers' specific technology needs in a timely "on-demand" fashion.
With a difficult budget looming ahead for next year, it looks like my position will not exist in our district next year. While I am personally excited to teach English again and looking forward to bringing the ideas I've developed over the last five years into an actual classroom of my own, I do wonder how all the needs that coaches fill will be met. Schools are surviving difficult times and doing the best they can with limited budgets, but I don't suppose they will be met as well. We, like most districts in our state, will suffer from the lack of coaching until better budget days return and these positions can be restored. More than ever, teachers will have to rely on the resources that coaches and others have created. We will adapt, and we will make do, but I hope, for our students' sake, that we can get through these "lean years" quickly, and return to the proven and effective coaching model soon.
Two days into this busy week, I'd like to give a snapshot into what I am doing as a coach:
* Working with teacher leaders who will facilitate eight excellent training sessions during the April 24th Engagement In-Service day. Planned sessions include blogging, making video podcasts, using Google Apps for Education, and many more topics that enable teachers to engage their students while preparing them with 21st Century skills they will need for college and the workplace.
* Facilitating an online flex session I designed to help teachers learn how to use Wikispaces. The flex session takes place entirely online, at the teachers' own pace, schedule, and location, during a two-week window. Teachers watch videos, read articles, and participate in discussions to earn two hours' flex, and can earn a third hour by creating and sharing a link to their own educational wiki. The conversations we've been having in our online discussions have been great, and I am proud to offer this cost-saving (more participants enrolled, no building/energy costs) and engaging (teachers get to design their own wikis for classroom use and have their individual questions answered on their own time) method of professional development.
* Helping 6th grade students put the finishing touches on their weekly news broadcast at Walton Farm elementary school. The news team rotates every week, and this week's broadcast had a particularly strong group of students writing, recording, and editing. As the editor puts the final transitions between the anchors, the field reporters, and the special segments, I can tell their hard work is paying off and an excellent edition of the school news is shaping up!
* Co-teaching a 12th grade English class as they begin a multi-faceted project based on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. One component of the group project is performance-based, and I am helping students collaborate on writing their scripts, then record, edit, and share their final performances.
* Working with an 11th grade teacher to develop her class wiki project based on duality in Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Students will collaborate to fill in multiple pages of information in T-chart form, sharing concrete examples they find in the text and exploring many themes of duality in the novel.
* Working with a Kindergarten teacher to help me make the specific connections between technology competencies and the Kindergarten curriculum. Our goal is to have K-12 tech competencies aligned with specific lessons and activities already in the curriculum, to give our teachers a place to go to see exactly how technology can be seamlessly integrated with the content we already teach.
* Helping the director of activities at the high school create a new web page for the school's activities and clubs.
* Surveying participants in my upcoming flex session called "Everything You Wanted to Know About Your Computer ... *But Were Afraid to Ask." The session takes place in a few weeks, and the agenda is designed to answer the specific questions of the teachers who enroll in the flex session. To my knowledge, this is the only flex session of its kind in our district, where the agenda is built to answer the specific needs of the participants. I look forward to hearing from them what I will be learning and teaching in a few weeks' time.
* Answering the emails and requests that come in to our online Help Request every day, researching the answers and responding to teachers' specific technology needs in a timely "on-demand" fashion.
With a difficult budget looming ahead for next year, it looks like my position will not exist in our district next year. While I am personally excited to teach English again and looking forward to bringing the ideas I've developed over the last five years into an actual classroom of my own, I do wonder how all the needs that coaches fill will be met. Schools are surviving difficult times and doing the best they can with limited budgets, but I don't suppose they will be met as well. We, like most districts in our state, will suffer from the lack of coaching until better budget days return and these positions can be restored. More than ever, teachers will have to rely on the resources that coaches and others have created. We will adapt, and we will make do, but I hope, for our students' sake, that we can get through these "lean years" quickly, and return to the proven and effective coaching model soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)