10x Feedback- • The music in the background of the video makes it sound very professional. I appreciated the visuals (pictures and reward chart), since I am a visual learner. Way to use UDL in your presentation! Do you think changing the title of the video “slide” would be useful? It says “trim 28BB04F7 5418 406B 8C05 EB2F0072205E” and is a bit confusing. • Check for authors for the articles in your references (for instance, the "Collaboration: Key to Innovation" article's author is Heather Wolpert-Gawron). Also, you might consider changing "Works Cited" to "References," to make it look more "APA." • To reach the redefinition stage of the SAMR model, you might want to consider suggesting opening collaboration with other teachers around the world. Consider reaching out to other exploratory/specials teachers, using Web 2.0 or blog sources, to challenge each other to “design think” creative solutions to work together with each other and with other classroom-based teachers. Maybe the current way students leave the class to go to exploratory classes doesn’t have to work that way. What if it were incorporated into other disciplines? How could we use technology with students in the classroom to teach the exploratory subjects? Seems like the possibilities are endless!
I love the idea. When I taught Personal Finance last year. I wanted to get with the writing teacher and art teacher to create a lesson were we incorporated a life skill in to three of the students exploratory classes. Unfortunately I do not teach Personal Finance anymore and some of the teachers weren't exactly on board.
Annotated Resources - I think this is a great list of resources that you can pull from for showing why and how elective classes are important to the students. Do you think that showing research like this will help to prove to admin at the school and district level that elective teachers should have a chance to plan together? I think that how you also provide collaboration tools (ex. Padlet) helps show that you are not asking for "time away" to plan. Planning can happen face-to-face or virtually. I think it also might be beneficial to have a LMS where you can host diverse forms of information to plan (Blogs, Discussion Boards, File Sharing, etc.). An LMS might provide a more focused location for teachers to be able to plan and meet together when face-to-face is not an option. Paper- Do teachers already know how to use these resources or is there also going to be tech training on the resources like EdPuzzle, Kahoot, etc. It maybe difficult for teachers to know how these tools will help if they do not understand the tools. If they do that is great! Video- I just realized that the core content teachers have a blended learning lesson plan. I think that this is a great idea! Are exploratory teachers also required to use this lesson plan? I love you use of multiple resources (Kahoot, Socrative, etc.). Is there training on these resources or is it mostly teacher exploration? I also, think it is really important that you mentioned how even the business world sees the importance of collaboration.
Once a month we have a technology person from the district come a speak to all teachers, even exploratory,about new technology ideas. Each teacher is trained on this new apps and programs.
Feedback Collaboration is needed in the classroom and sometimes it is not always done. In our school district we have meetings every Wednesday with our team to discuss how we can work together in teaching our students. The teachers that do not know how to use the tools that you have explained, will they have training with them or guidance to use them in their classroom? We have technology coaches in our school district to incorporate technology into the classroom. The tools that you suggested are great. The more tools that the teachers can pull from the better. They can test them out to find the tools that will fit into their classroom. I thought that EDpuzzle would be a good source to engage students. I have not used it and would like to try it in my classroom. I thought that your video was done very well. I also feel that as teachers we do need to prepare our students for the workplace. The workplaces are going toward collaboration. Students need to learn to work as teams to find solutions and that is what employers look for when they are hiring. I thought your Blendspace was done completely. Thank you for sharing.
Your paper and video make a compelling case for collaboration between exploratory teachers and between core subject teachers and exploratory teachers. Your Diigo list has good articles for sharing on those PD days. -Have you thought about using Padlet as a tool for the exploratory and core teachers to brainstorm together? It could be a PD day activity to get things moving...sort of like the sticky note wall in Design Thinking. -You could create a video about a cross-curricular project, like the colors and pigments idea, and rework it with EdPuzzle to present on a PD day and have teachers make their own. Getting those iPads into the hands of teachers might make for a really fun and engaging PD day, and it may lead to buy in for collaboration. Nice work on that video.
I have not thtough about using Padlet as a communication tool between teachers. Great idea!! I have thought about a cross-curricular project. I teach a scripted program so I am limited. I did want to create that with the art teacher and writing teacher when I taught Personal Finance. I could do something with PSAT teacher. Thanks for the idea.
As a Specialist myself (that’s what we go by here in Boston), I know how it is to be on a team where you feel like no one is able to work together. We have one 48-minute period per week. This is dictated by our school’s status as historically low-performing. Even with this time though, with a 10 member team, we don’t accomplish much in terms of collaboration. It’s really more for checking in and addressing other school wide issues (e.g. shifting to an inclusion model).
It’s great that you’ve managed to connect with like-minded colleagues in your district and have found using technology as a common ground among some exploratory teachers.
Most, if not all, of your exploratory teachers probably also feel the need to work together. On the other hand, they’re probably also feeling pressure to use their time to cover their bases. In order to find the time to collaborate, it’s likely your team will need to have the time made for them. In order to actually get all the exploratory teachers in the same room though, it will probably have to come from your administration.
Is there is any way your school’s schedule to accommodate all of you having one extra common planning time per week, outside of everyone’s usual planning time? Perhaps pitching this vision to your administration will enable them to see the potential benefits for your students, the way academic teachers are able to use a blended lesson planning to facilitate their collaboration.
In my school we get a common planning time everyday of 45 minutes. I currently correspond during this time with two other schools that teach my same subject by email. They do not have the exact same time frame, but we are managing. With my current exploratory team we meet every Wednesday to discuss things that are going on around the school. We do not plan together except when meet for technology class with a district technology personal twice a month.
Working closely with many elective teachers, I empathize with the problems you've experienced trying to find time for collaboration and preparation. It definitely seems unfair; you have the same responsibility to educate students, but under different circumstances and with less resources (i.e. time to collaborate). You've definitely chosen a problem with clear relevance to your professional practice.
I didn't know about the three type of collaboration (aligned, cooperative, and conceptual), so your description was really useful, particularly in contextualizing your problem of finding conceptual collaboration time. It definitely makes sense to use tech tools like Skype or FaceTime to help make this collaboration possible. But I would be interested in hearing more specifics about the logistics of this plan. I know you've talked about the conversations/steps you hope to take, but when exactly will these online interactions happen? At least the synchronous ones (i.e. video chats like FaceTime) will require common free time, which seems to be the chronic issue. Will it have to be outside of school hours, like at night?
You may be interested in trying out asynchronous collaboration tools, like a discussion forum in your school's LMS or a similar platform. I know you mentioned email, but you may find that other tech tools are more effective at enabling online communication. Take a look at Google Groups, which I find really useful for back and forth conversation about different topics (each topic can became its own thread within your collaboration team's group). Google Groups also have some other features you may find useful, such as marking a topic as "solved" when there is a satisfying solution proposed in the conversation.
You've mentioned a number of great EdTech tools, like Padlet and Kahoot. I'm sure you'll find great ways to integrate these tools into your classes, as well as make them part of the discussion with your new exploratory collaboration group. However, I'm unclear as to the connection between your tools and your problem of practice's solution? I thought your problem was more about teacher collaboration time than use of technology in the curriculum? Perhaps it would be helpful to your solution's implementation to focus more on how technology - and models like SAMR - can improve teacher collaboration, such as by using Google Groups or something like that. I know it's not directly aligned with student learning (my Key Assignment is similar in that respect - it's about solving a problem on the teacher/teaching side), but maybe it would be helpful to you in your transformative journey.
You wrote that only 2/3 of the exploratory team participated in your testing so far, so I'll be interested to hear more about what happens when the entire team is there! Good luck as you continue implementing your plan!
10x Feedback-
ReplyDelete• The music in the background of the video makes it sound very professional. I appreciated the visuals (pictures and reward chart), since I am a visual learner. Way to use UDL in your presentation! Do you think changing the title of the video “slide” would be useful? It says “trim 28BB04F7 5418 406B 8C05 EB2F0072205E” and is a bit confusing.
• Check for authors for the articles in your references (for instance, the "Collaboration: Key to Innovation" article's author is Heather Wolpert-Gawron). Also, you might consider changing "Works Cited" to "References," to make it look more "APA."
• To reach the redefinition stage of the SAMR model, you might want to consider suggesting opening collaboration with other teachers around the world. Consider reaching out to other exploratory/specials teachers, using Web 2.0 or blog sources, to challenge each other to “design think” creative solutions to work together with each other and with other classroom-based teachers. Maybe the current way students leave the class to go to exploratory classes doesn’t have to work that way. What if it were incorporated into other disciplines? How could we use technology with students in the classroom to teach the exploratory subjects? Seems like the possibilities are endless!
I love the idea. When I taught Personal Finance last year. I wanted to get with the writing teacher and art teacher to create a lesson were we incorporated a life skill in to three of the students exploratory classes. Unfortunately I do not teach Personal Finance anymore and some of the teachers weren't exactly on board.
DeleteThank you for all the feedback on my paper and corrections. I really appreciate your help.
DeleteAnnotated Resources - I think this is a great list of resources that you can pull from for showing why and how elective classes are important to the students. Do you think that showing research like this will help to prove to admin at the school and district level that elective teachers should have a chance to plan together? I think that how you also provide collaboration tools (ex. Padlet) helps show that you are not asking for "time away" to plan. Planning can happen face-to-face or virtually. I think it also might be beneficial to have a LMS where you can host diverse forms of information to plan (Blogs, Discussion Boards, File Sharing, etc.). An LMS might provide a more focused location for teachers to be able to plan and meet together when face-to-face is not an option.
ReplyDeletePaper- Do teachers already know how to use these resources or is there also going to be tech training on the resources like EdPuzzle, Kahoot, etc. It maybe difficult for teachers to know how these tools will help if they do not understand the tools. If they do that is great!
Video- I just realized that the core content teachers have a blended learning lesson plan. I think that this is a great idea! Are exploratory teachers also required to use this lesson plan? I love you use of multiple resources (Kahoot, Socrative, etc.). Is there training on these resources or is it mostly teacher exploration? I also, think it is really important that you mentioned how even the business world sees the importance of collaboration.
Once a month we have a technology person from the district come a speak to all teachers, even exploratory,about new technology ideas. Each teacher is trained on this new apps and programs.
DeleteFeedback
ReplyDeleteCollaboration is needed in the classroom and sometimes it is not always done. In our school district we have meetings every Wednesday with our team to discuss how we can work together in teaching our students. The teachers that do not know how to use the tools that you have explained, will they have training with them or guidance to use them in their classroom? We have technology coaches in our school district to incorporate technology into the classroom.
The tools that you suggested are great. The more tools that the teachers can pull from the better. They can test them out to find the tools that will fit into their classroom. I thought that EDpuzzle would be a good source to engage students. I have not used it and would like to try it in my classroom.
I thought that your video was done very well. I also feel that as teachers we do need to prepare our students for the workplace. The workplaces are going toward collaboration. Students need to learn to work as teams to find solutions and that is what employers look for when they are hiring.
I thought your Blendspace was done completely. Thank you for sharing.
Shari, thank you for your feedback.
DeleteYour paper and video make a compelling case for collaboration between exploratory teachers and between core subject teachers and exploratory teachers. Your Diigo list has good articles for sharing on those PD days.
ReplyDelete-Have you thought about using Padlet as a tool for the exploratory and core teachers to brainstorm together? It could be a PD day activity to get things moving...sort of like the sticky note wall in Design Thinking.
-You could create a video about a cross-curricular project, like the colors and pigments idea, and rework it with EdPuzzle to present on a PD day and have teachers make their own. Getting those iPads into the hands of teachers might make for a really fun and engaging PD day, and it may lead to buy in for collaboration.
Nice work on that video.
I have not thtough about using Padlet as a communication tool between teachers. Great idea!! I have thought about a cross-curricular project. I teach a scripted program so I am limited. I did want to create that with the art teacher and writing teacher when I taught Personal Finance. I could do something with PSAT teacher. Thanks for the idea.
DeleteAs a Specialist myself (that’s what we go by here in Boston), I know how it is to be on a team where you feel like no one is able to work together. We have one 48-minute period per week. This is dictated by our school’s status as historically low-performing. Even with this time though, with a 10 member team, we don’t accomplish much in terms of collaboration. It’s really more for checking in and addressing other school wide issues (e.g. shifting to an inclusion model).
ReplyDeleteIt’s great that you’ve managed to connect with like-minded colleagues in your district and have found using technology as a common ground among some exploratory teachers.
Most, if not all, of your exploratory teachers probably also feel the need to work together. On the other hand, they’re probably also feeling pressure to use their time to cover their bases. In order to find the time to collaborate, it’s likely your team will need to have the time made for them. In order to actually get all the exploratory teachers in the same room though, it will probably have to come from your administration.
Is there is any way your school’s schedule to accommodate all of you having one extra common planning time per week, outside of everyone’s usual planning time? Perhaps pitching this vision to your administration will enable them to see the potential benefits for your students, the way academic teachers are able to use a blended lesson planning to facilitate their collaboration.
In my school we get a common planning time everyday of 45 minutes. I currently correspond during this time with two other schools that teach my same subject by email. They do not have the exact same time frame, but we are managing. With my current exploratory team we meet every Wednesday to discuss things that are going on around the school. We do not plan together except when meet for technology class with a district technology personal twice a month.
DeleteHi Yvonne,
ReplyDeleteWorking closely with many elective teachers, I empathize with the problems you've experienced trying to find time for collaboration and preparation. It definitely seems unfair; you have the same responsibility to educate students, but under different circumstances and with less resources (i.e. time to collaborate). You've definitely chosen a problem with clear relevance to your professional practice.
I didn't know about the three type of collaboration (aligned, cooperative, and conceptual), so your description was really useful, particularly in contextualizing your problem of finding conceptual collaboration time. It definitely makes sense to use tech tools like Skype or FaceTime to help make this collaboration possible. But I would be interested in hearing more specifics about the logistics of this plan. I know you've talked about the conversations/steps you hope to take, but when exactly will these online interactions happen? At least the synchronous ones (i.e. video chats like FaceTime) will require common free time, which seems to be the chronic issue. Will it have to be outside of school hours, like at night?
You may be interested in trying out asynchronous collaboration tools, like a discussion forum in your school's LMS or a similar platform. I know you mentioned email, but you may find that other tech tools are more effective at enabling online communication. Take a look at Google Groups, which I find really useful for back and forth conversation about different topics (each topic can became its own thread within your collaboration team's group). Google Groups also have some other features you may find useful, such as marking a topic as "solved" when there is a satisfying solution proposed in the conversation.
You've mentioned a number of great EdTech tools, like Padlet and Kahoot. I'm sure you'll find great ways to integrate these tools into your classes, as well as make them part of the discussion with your new exploratory collaboration group. However, I'm unclear as to the connection between your tools and your problem of practice's solution? I thought your problem was more about teacher collaboration time than use of technology in the curriculum? Perhaps it would be helpful to your solution's implementation to focus more on how technology - and models like SAMR - can improve teacher collaboration, such as by using Google Groups or something like that. I know it's not directly aligned with student learning (my Key Assignment is similar in that respect - it's about solving a problem on the teacher/teaching side), but maybe it would be helpful to you in your transformative journey.
You wrote that only 2/3 of the exploratory team participated in your testing so far, so I'll be interested to hear more about what happens when the entire team is there! Good luck as you continue implementing your plan!
Best,
Jason