Sparked and Idea for Teaching and Learning in a Pandemic

 I saw the image below in my news feed this morning and it made me pause.  This is truly what life for many of us looks like right now.  It is definitely they way my teaching and learning experience is going. I work at my computer, participate in virtual meetings, collaborate one-to-one with teachers virtually to do some troubleshooting or planning or lesson creating, visit with my extended family virtually, and check in with my friends that way as well. 

via

Ever the ELA teacher, I immediately thought about how it would make a great writing prompt for my students! I could ask them to identify which person represented them most, or of who does one of the images remind you most, or give three people a name and describe what they do each day, or describe the facial expression/features that you envision on one of these people, or so many other out-of-the-box ideas for students to pause, think, imagine, and write.  

Since I have made it a goal to create most of my own graphics for projects I create this year, I also took a moment to think about how I would create something similar and the time it might take to create such a large, in-depth graphic.

I also sent a challenge to one of my grands who is learning remote this week due to quarantining and being in contact with a fellow student who tested COVID positive.  I would love to have seen her face when I challenged her!  Unlike the folks pictured, I'm sure her eyes would be LARGE!  

Sometimes it is off-the-wall sorts of things that make the best lessons. I think this is one of those things that could make a good lesson.  I also think we have lots of people who are scrambling to come up with good virtual lessons using off-the-wall ideas like this that are tied to their own curriculum.  I wonder what other folks have paused in their scroll to think about ways to use something they see in a lesson?

Go Vote!

 

It's Election Day!

We Voted. (You Should, Too!)

As a young girl I recall my Daddy getting so frustrated with my Granddaddy when he would talk politics.  Granddaddy followed the party line and he preached it as well, as best I remember, anyway.  

He strongly influenced where my cousins and I attended school just because he disagreed with the county government over where they built a school.  The interesting thing is, the school for that area is now built right where Granddaddy thought it should stand way back when.

Even though my Daddy eventually became much like Granddaddy and followed a party line, early on he taught me to research and learn about each candidate. He taught me to look at years of service and how he/she had voted if they were incumbents. He taught me to look at which committees the incumbent had served as a member or leader. He taught me to become familiar with the issues and weigh the positives and negatives - not just blindly follow a candidate. And I always have.

As I reached adulthood - or what legally was considered adulthood, my Daddy stressed to me how important it is that I vote.  He always promoted the idea that as a woman I could do anything a man could do and when it came to voting, he stressed the importance of taking advantage of that right.  He talked to me about how people had fought and died to give me the privilege of voting.  He talked to me about how women fought to be granted the right to vote. He explained that it an obligation of mine as a citizen of this country to vote and let my voice be heard. He talked about how laws were made and that we relied on the people we elected to make those laws, see that those laws were upheld, and update the laws when needed.

As a result of the influence of these two men, probably, I have voted almost every single opportunity I was provided.  (There may have been a couple of times when I was younger that I didn't vote but I don't recall for certain.) At any rate, I usually participate in early voting or absentee voting.  I'm not a patient person and I don't like to wait in line for anything.  I do it at times out of necessity at the Post Office, the DMV, or the doctor's office or someplace like that but I really try to plan and work out ways that I don't have to wait in line.

This year I was determined to absentee vote by mail just because of all the hullabaloo that has arisen about it and because I wanted to keep my husband and family safe.  So, Mike and I sat down and requested the absentee ballot be mailed to us.  The day after it arrived in our mailbox, we sat down and filled it out and the day after that, we put it in the mailbox at the end of the driveway and lifted the flag to signal the postal carrier to pick it up.  After a few days, I began checking the website to see if they had received and posted our vote. Friday, I saw that they did.  

All of this to say that our government system may be broken in many ways.  We may be living in uncertain times by some measures.  However, if we want to make a difference, we all need to vote.  Early voting is happening right now in most places. Here in Tennessee, early voting is available until October 29.  If you can, I encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity.  If not, just be sure you get to the polls on election day.  

Voting is a privilege that everyone else in other countries might not enjoy. Voting is an obligation to help uphold this country of which you are fortunate enough to be a citizen. Voting is the most important thing we as citizens can do to make our wishes known and see that our lawmakers and leaders recognize that we support them and influence them.

Sign of the Times

I've been remiss at keeping track of my memories of this time.  I'll try to do better.  

Today is Memorial Day and, boy, is it a time to be thankful for those who gave all so that I may live free. Free to make the choice to wear my mask when I go to the grocery store to pick up my groceries that somebody else gathered for me, or to a restaurant to pick up take-out for dinner, or to the garden center to get flowers for my porch, or any other place I might need to go so that other people are protected from whatever I might encounter.  

Wearing a mask is annoying.  Wearing a mask is probably a bit overprotective in some ways when we are outside and six to ten feet apart.  However, I'd rather be overprotective than spread germs.  

It is a sacrifice I'm willing to make and it is quite a small one - especially in comparison to the ones that were made to provide me with the opportunity to make that choice.  

What is Memorial Day?

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

WHY IS THE POPPY A SYMBOL OF MEMORIAL DAY?

In the war-torn battlefields of Europe, the common red field poppy (Papaver rhoeas) was one of the first plants to reappear. Its seeds scattered in the wind and sat dormant in the ground, only germinating when the ground was disturbed—as it was by the very brutal fighting of World War 1.

John McCrae, a Canadian soldier and physician, witnessed the war first hand and was inspired to write the now-famous poem in 1915. He saw the poppies scattered throughout the battlefield surrounding his artillery position in Belgium.

WE HONOR THE FALLEN

We say thank you to those who paid the ultimate price. We will always remember the sacrifices of our nation’s heroes. We are deeply grateful. 

In remembering the fallen, we also honor their loved ones: spouses, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, friends. There really aren’t words to express our gratitude for their dedication, but we do live in gratitude each and every day for the precious gift that they have given to us - freedom.

What day is it, anyway?

I have been so busy and the days seem to run one into another.  I often lose track of what day of the week it is and I almost never know what date of the year it is.  Is anybody else so muddled?  

I thought today might be a rather light one since it is Friday and Mother's Day is this weekend.  I thought folks might be easing up and laying back a little bit.  Nope.  That's not the case.  I started off shortly after seven this morning and wound things up when the sky was beginning to darken.

I wonder what those folks who think testing holds teachers accountable are thinking now?  Do they realize what kind of dedication this group of people have to learning and children?

I have never been more pleased to be a part of the education world than I am right now.  The days might be hard but they are certainly more interesting than they have ever been!

Getting Up To Speed

How many times have we uttered that statement?  Getting up to speed means that you are well-informed about something or that you are moving, operating, or functioning at the expected rate or level.  Gosh! That is a hard goal for me!

I didn't get my usual start this morning.  I was later getting into bed last night and later getting out of bed this morning. That meant I was later being ready to work and later getting down to work and later getting work done and worked later to get things done. Not good.

So, now I'm asking myself if I'm needing the routine of work and interaction with co-workers or if I just had an off day.  Was it because it was rainy after several days of beautiful weather? Was it because it was cooler and I'd grown accustomed to the warm weather? Was it because I'd had some time off and getting back into the routine was not as simple?  Was it just A Monday, Tuesday, Friday?  What day is this exactly?

Why didn't I look at that notification and see that I was supposed to join a Zoom session at ten o'clock this morning?  Then, I wouldn't be scrambling to get all those questions that came in over the weekend answered so I could give the Zoom session my undivided attention.  How did I not know that I was supposed to facilitate the Zoom session at noon?  Why did I agree to participate in a summer PD planning session at one when I was hosting the noon session?  Why did I schedule two more one-to-one conferences after that?

At this point, I think I'd better hit the accelerator or I'm never going to get up to speed!

We're not feeding hogs...or are we?

I remember when I was a young girl that my Daddy often would say to me, "Remember now, we're not feeding hogs."  I had no idea what he was talking about.  I knew we were not feeding hogs.  We didn't have any swine on our farm.  We were operating a dairy farm.  We raised Holstein heifers and milked Holstein cows without a pig in sight.

So, finally one day I asked Daddy what he meant by that.  He said, "Have you ever been to a feed lot?"  I had not.  So, after the morning chores, followed by breakfast, we climbed into the pickup truck to go down to Nashville to get some minerals or a load of corn or some such and Daddy stopped off at a feed lot where they were feeding out pigs for slaughter. 

We got out of the truck and walked over to one of the barns where hundreds of pigs were kept in narrow pens leading down into a lot away from the shelter of the barn.  The smell was overwhelming.  Pigs creating a strong and pungent odor.  The guys working at the feed lot were putting a grain mix of corn and such out for those feeder pigs.  They drove by on a tractor with a mechanical wagon that spit out the grain mix into a trough for those pigs.  Some of the pigs would come running and would dash from place to place lapping up the grain mix.  Some of them would lumber slowly up to the trough and push other pigs out of the way to get a lot of the grain mix.  Some of the pigs came to the trough but didn't get a lot because the other two types kept pushing them away.  Yet others just stayed back until all the other pigs ate their fill and then they came up and licked up the few crumbs that were left. The guys feeding, however, just slowly drove down the long row of troughs and kept the wagon spitting the grain mix out till they got to the end of the barn.  Then, they turned and came back down the other side of the barn to feed the pens on the opposite side.  Once they had finished with that barn, they drove the tractor pulling the wagon on to the next barn and never looked back.

After watching a while, Daddy and I climbed back into the truck and he pointed it toward home.  Once we were settled in and on the highway headed south, Daddy asked me what I noticed.  In my youth, I simply said, "There were a lot of pigs and only a couple of guys feeding them."  Daddy said, "Yep.  What did you notice about those pigs?"  So, I sat and thought and described the way the pigs responded in four general categories.  I was asked, "How do you think each different group produced with that kind of atmosphere."  After thinking a bit, I explained, "Well, those who rushed up to the trough and dashed from place to place got a good bit to eat. Those who lumbered up there and pushed the others away got a lot to eat.  Those who simply came to the trough got a little to eat but not enough to really flourish and those who held back probably didn't gain much weight or grow at all."  Daddy said, "And what was the goal for the pigs?"  I just looked at him like he'd lost his mind and finally said, "I think they were all expected to grow and thrive and gain weight so they can produce a lot of ham and sausage and pork chops."  Daddy said, "Yes, and how do you think our cows and calves would do if we took care of them like those guys were feeding those hogs?" 

That is when the lesson really hit home to me.  We looked at each animal on our farm as an individual who was going to work hard to produce a lot of milk and provide us with a good living.  If one didn't come to the trough and eat well, we took a bucket over and fed her individually so she could continue to grow or so she could continue to produce as much milk as possible.  If one pushed the others away from the trough, we would move her to another place to eat alone so that the ones being pushed away could get more and the push-away cow would not get too much.  If one ran from place to place to eat, we made certain that there was grain in more than one place for her to eat.  We treated each individual like she was special because she was.  She was our livelihood and there were not hundreds more in the next pen to take her place.

Throughout my career as a teacher I have kept my Daddy's lesson in mind.  I haven't been just throwing corn out to the hogs and hoping they produced sausage and ham and porch chops.  I've tried so hard to meet teachers and students where they are and support them and nudge them and encourage them to grow to where the needed to be.

Yet things have changed since schools were closed and we began distance learning.  So very many people needed extra support and needed to quickly grow their digital skills that we have been working for the masses.  This week, especially, I feel like I've been feeding hogs - just taking a bucket and casting the corn into the trough and hoping for the best.

Times

As a team, instructional technology coaches in my district have been responsible for teaching, training, and supporting teachers as they learn, grow, and improve their skills at integrating technology into their classroom. We were tasked to help them understand that technology is simply another tool in their toolbox to support good teaching and learning.

We were taught to offer a high quality product that is a model of the ideal for teaching and learning.  Every I should be dotted and every T should be crossed with precision and as near to perfection as we could get. Most of us have worked hard to set the bar high and uphold those expected standards.

We felt as if we were shouting from the mountain-tops at times and it was simply echoing back at us.  Why? Because the very next classroom that we would walk into to offer support would still be needing so much support, so much teaching, so much training. 

Our job is one where there is never a dull moment.  Tools we use are always evolving, changing, and moving forward.  Keeping up with the newest technology is a daunting task that keeps us scrambling and running at full speed. 

Just when we think we have made a little headway and most everybody has been informed, somebody or some tool comes along to present a new challenge.  Those we have worked with closely have grown and are leading the way for others and reaching out a supporting hand to lift their colleagues up along the way.  Those who chose not to work closely with us continued forward but might not be at the cutting edge.

Then, school was closed and students were told to stay at home.  Teachers were told to provide online learning resources and opportunities for students to continue learning.  All of a sudden, integrating technology and using technology as a tool for instruction is a Big Deal. 

Those who worked closely with us hardly had a bobble.  Those who had not - bobbled a bit.  I have felt like I was shouting from the mountain-tops and there is no echo this week.  There is no echo because there are so many out there who are absorbing bits and pieces.  I'm not shouting anything new.  I just have a new audience who is really listening this time.  Not just allowing me to share information, ideas, and tips this time.  Really wanting to know the information, to apply the ideas, and to use the tips to make things go better.

Times.  They are a changing!

Equality and Equity

There is such a difference between equality and equity.

Equality is when everybody gets the same thing.  Yet, equity is hen everybody gets what he/she needs.

Today we were in meetings where grades and grading were being discussed.  It is hard to justify grades in the situation we are currently living.  Everyone doesn't have the same opportunities.  Everyone doesn't have the same environment.  Everyone doesn't have the same support.  Things are not equitable.

We don't want to have to justify the assignment of a grade when we don't have the ability to provide equity.  So, there is a struggle.  It sort of feels like we are conducting a science experiment and there are too many variables.

This causes me worries.  I fear that the powers-that-be - our governmental guidelines - don't really see the components of the big picture - the variables - and are making decisions based upon that broad overview instead of  the component pieces.

If one has never been a part of the minutia, it is hard to take that into consideration.  So, I wonder about concepts like equality and equity.  I wonder about how it is going to impact our students.  I wonder if we are becoming more a part of the haves and have-nots.

I always look at the faces of students and try to think, this might be the one person who comes along and has the opportunity to save my life.  I sure hope I teach him/her what is needed so that they are prepared to do it!

It is all in the details

I've been working on putting materials together for this week's training webinars and I find that I could get bogged down in the details if I'm not really careful.  I'm a very visual person and I have a hard time understanding why some people don't have the same sensibilities that I do about some things. 

I'm sure they wonder similarly about me in some respect.

I want to be sure that we are teaching enough but not too much.  I map and plan with the end result in mind.  Sort of that idea of creating the test and then creating the lessons to teach the skills and knowledge so that the students do well on the test.  However, everybody doesn't seem to have that same mindset. 

I will get going on something and realize that I also need this piece and this piece and that piece so that the entire puzzle is complete for me.  So, I get bogged down a little bit and things seem to take a bit more time.  The details.

I want the end result to be meaningful.  I want the experience to be impactful.  I want the activity to be satisfying.  I want to meet folks where they are and move them nearer to where I think they need to be. I persevere and buckle down and hone in and focus more in hopes that what I'm sharing will meet the needs and expectations of the masses.  Then, in the end, I find that my expectations are far headier than the masses.

Where does that vision come from?  Is is a matter of focus?  Is it a matter of experience? Is it a matter of tradition?  Does it matter?

I get going with something and then somebody will bring it to my attention that it might be too much for some people.  So, I put on the brakes and I wonder.  Did I skim over the real details?

Good Friday!

Ah!  Good Friday morning to you on this Good Friday!  No expectations of working from home for me today but I probably will do a bit anyway.  Only today I will probably work from my front porch.  It is a little cooler than the past couple of days but I can put on a sweatshirt and sit out there and do a little summer professional development workshop prep, I think.

I checked in with my grandchildren at various times this week to find out if they were still participating in their online learning.  Most of them are doing a bit on some level.  Some of their learning has been expanded a bit.  Lydia was learning about sewing, health care, and benevolence a couple of days this week.  She was helping her mother to make cloth masks for local medical facilities.  That is certainly something she wouldn't have learned in middle school in the past!

They've also had a bit of social time in a distancing sort of way.  Harris had Facetime with one of his dear friends.  Lillie and Lydia had Google Hangouts with some of their friends.  Luci had a Hangout with me.  I watched her jump on the trampoline, ride on a turtle racer, climb on their home playground, hide in the little plastic playhouse, and numerous other adventures.  She chatted the entire time filling me full of valuable informational tidbits!

We saw Levi, Easton, Abby Lee and their mother getting a little exercise one day this week.  They walked down the driveway in their colorful boots.  One fellow had on a left green boot and a right blue one and the other had on a left blue boot and a right green one.  They were cute bee-bopping down the hill and back up.  I'm sure mom was grateful for the energy that was spent up doing that1

We've seen photos of Cassie and Evie pulling weeds as they tag along with their parents doing landscaping jobs.  They are smiling and enjoying the sunshine and the finished products their mother posts really look nice!

I've seen Twitter and Facebook posts where local schools are highlighting senior students and turning on the athletic field lights to honor 2020 graduates.  I saw a video post of a couple of school choir collaborations where students each sang his/her part and all of the recordings were mixed together to make a performance and I was amazed at the beauty of the voices and the talent involved.  Small gestures like that have got to make a difference in times like these.  My heart goes out to them at what experiences they are giving up in order to preserve health and well-being of themselves and others!

I've interacted with teachers all week who have been learning something new and taking risks to try new things in order to step up and try to meet the needs of their students.  Distance learning is definitely not as easy as one might think and distance teaching is a whole different animal than classroom teaching.  I applaud those who are taking those risks and reaching out to students and working to try to help educate those who will be our future leaders, caregivers, service providers, and fellow citizens!

I've also seen folks making an effort to learn new things like gardening.  Many questions and responding suggestions have been popping up about growing vegetables in a back yard.  I also saw a teacher post a math problem that involved four cracked eggs.  One had a dark yellow yolk and the others had a lighter yellow yolk,  The teacher was asking students things like:

• Identify which came from the farm and which from the store and explain why you think that
• Express that as a fraction
• Express that as a decimal
• How many ways can you represent this relationship?
• Research to find out why the eggs might look different
• Create a graphic of the life-cycle of an egg
• Use 3-4 adjectives to describe each egg
• What is the ratio of yolk to white?
• If you double the number of farm eggs, how many eggs would there be altogether?
• If a chicken lays one egg per day, how many eggs would you have in two weeks?
• What is your best recipe using eggs?
• Is there a line of symmetry in this picture?

This certainly has been a different week!  It has been a good one, though.  Still, I'm glad it is Friday.  And, even better, it is Good Friday!

Wanting a Drink of Water

You know, we never appreciated meeting together as a team so much as we do right now!  At one time we all shared a classroom as an office.  Each person had a desk and they were scattered round the room.  Then, we were moved out to a school building that was in a remote area and shared a classroom as an office there.  The drive was a killer but when we all were there together, we could collaborate face-to-face and quickly make plans.

Now, we are are all working from home and we exchange group emails and text messages and hold Zoom meetings.  Then, it seems that only a few minutes after these meetings are closed out I have questions or good ideas that I wish I had shared. 

My grandmother used to say, "You never appreciate a drink of water till the well goes dry."

Isn't that what we all are living right now?

Looking at the Basics

When I started this aspect of my blogging life, I decided that I wanted to post images that were of my own creation.  At work I feel obligated to cite image resources because, well, it is the right thing to do.  I've always done that on my personal blog as well.  If I borrow an image, I cite it's origin.  So, that led me to creating my own simple graphics. 

This has certainly made me look at the basics of how things are made.  I look at shapes.  I look at colors.  I look at layers.  When Tony Vincent first started with Shapegrams, I thought it was a wonderful idea and that sort of spurred me to create my own graphics for my work icons and graphic needs.  Google Drawings is probably my favorite app anyway, well, at least for creating things for teachers and students.  So, one thing kind of led to another.

I use Google Drawings to create the clip art type graphics.  I just add shapes and manipulate them and layer them to get the general concept of what I want.  A simple example is the wrench and screwdriver that I used in a recent post:

When that drawing is deconstructed, it is just a bunch of shapes like this:

The shapes forming the screwdriver are on the right of the canvas and the shapes for the wrench are on the left. 

I think that is what teachers are wanting in our district right now.  Nothing complex - just the basics.  So, we are trying to provide basic support for them and their students.  We have offered Zoom sessions that last an hour on Tuesday and Wednesday for the past couple of weeks.  We show some basics, share basic, introductory information, and field questions related to what we are sharing in a Chat window. 

There is nothing exciting and extraordinary about what we are doing to help teachers but many of them are grateful for what we are sharing.  There is also nothing exciting and extraordinary about creating your own graphics either it but it is a fun adventure to see what I can create.  I would encourage you to do some creating yourself!

Good Teachers!

Everywhere I look educators are sharing ideas for ways to communicate clearly, visually, and digitally.  They are reaching out to their peers.  They are reaching out to their students.  They are seeking support and they are providing support. 

Times like these just prove that good teachers are the key to learning.  Good teachers are going to do what it takes no matter what obstacle comes their way. Good teachers get the job done.

I was so grateful to get a message from a young woman who I consider to be one of those Good Teachers.  She and I have worked collaboratively for several years and she said:

"No help needed at the moment, but just wanted to say thank you.  Your guidance and help over the last few years has given me the confidence to easily tackle all the new things coming my way these days."

I think the 'good' teachers are rising to the top right now more than ever before.  I see those who are strong, well prepared, versatile, risk-takers excelling even in this unusual situation of distance learning and staying at home.

I am really interested to see how this time impacts the future of teaching and learning!

Grasping the Tools

We got responses from folks who participated in our Zoom sessions last week.  For the most part they are positive.  There were also quite a few requests from folks who needed a bit of clarification or needed a bit more support.  Because we had 'sold-out' crowds last week, we decided to offer the exact same thing this week.  So, tomorrow we will be hosting another Zoom session for teachers in the district.

One of the responses sort of set me back. 

Now, this year I have been working as a support for a school which was piloting a rather in-depth 1:1 initiative.  It involved the introduction to the use of a learning management system, integrating new touch-screen Chromebooks, etc.  So, there was a LOT of new for this school this year.  The administration has been quite flexible and allowed teachers to keep doing what was working for them without trying to embrace too much newness and we just nudged them ever so slightly week-by-week to integrate something new.  Then, suddenly, school was dismissed and we are staying at home.

My concerns for those teachers at 'my' school were great but I was pretty confident that they were going to be alright and could continue using the tools and materials they had been using.  After all, we started with a small core team in training back last May.  Then, in July we did a bit of training with all of the faculty.  Then, we have provided ongoing training and support daily at the school.  We had plan and learn sessions where teachers could work with me in small groups to learn new things, build on what they already knew and were using, and get tips to make things simpler for them and their students.  We had a couple of faculty meeting sessions where we worked as a whole group and I followed up with visits to teachers' classrooms as requested.  I shared step-by-step tutorials, videos, and did a few co-teaches to support them and their students.  I even made little newsletters with QR codes and short URLs that I posted as bathroom graffiti.  Plus, I was always there every single day to answer questions, share tips and ideas, and work elbow-to-elbow with teachers and students. 

So, when the one response came in, I paused and did some thinking.  The response was this: "I would like to request that at least one Zoom session be paced so that I can follow along with my laptop and set it up for Screencastify."  There was more in the response but this was the key statement. 

At first, I rolled my eyes.  Did this teacher not realize that we had 300 people following along in that Zoom session?  Did this teacher not realize that we only had an hour to share info about using this tool?  Did this teacher not listen when we said we could not do an actual step-by-step modeling session because our computer's system was already using the camera and microphone for the Zoom application and could not also be used for Screencastify?

Next, I laughed.  To me this was the perfect example of how each of us will personalize something instead of recognizing that our personal need is not what is most important.  The needs of the group as a whole are what is being targeted.  I get it.  I sometimes do that, too.

Then, I got angry.  How dare this teacher make such a request.  Where had this teacher been all year long?  All.  Year.  Long.  Why hadn't this teacher requested a one-to-one with me back last October when this tool was first introduced to the staff?  Why hadn't this teacher sought me out in November when I set up plan and learn sessions?  Why hadn't this teacher requested a follow-up after I posted the February newsletter with a big ole blurb about this tool on it?

Finally, it hit me and I just sighed.  I think I talked about it HERE.  This teacher has finally begun to feel it. 

Maybe.

BTW: Screencastify is one of my most favorite tech tools!  It is a Chrome Extension that anybody and everybody can use to make short videos.  If you cannot have a live face-to-face moment with others, make a quick video and share it.  Check it out! Screencastify in the Chrome Web Store

What Kind of Amazing?

I think this experience of staying home is sort of like a roller coaster ride.  In my profession we often experience elation of learners reaching a new level of understanding.  We also sometimes feel frustration that learning and understanding were not achieved.  Every single day is something new and amazing in this profession of education.

I thought about the distance learning experience I had with my mother yesterday.  She was a willing and eager pupil because she needed to know and needed to advance beyond where she was.  That is just like how some students in the classroom are everyday.  Then, there are some students who are not so eager and really don't value what we are trying to teach and that is where the educator's frustration sets in most of the time.  Then, sometimes, though, there are students who start out eager and feeling the need and desire to know but get bogged down because learning is not easy. 

When you know your students well and recognize how they learn best, teaching becomes easier and learning for them becomes easier.  Even when you have a classroom full of learners who have different needs, teaching can sometimes be easy.  As educators, we just adapt and offer options and teach the same thing in different ways.  We will set up stations where students can perform a hands-on learning activity or we will have something for auditory learners or have a visual for those who need to see something to understand it better.  I maintain that all learners are smart, we just have to find their strengths and build upon them.

Maybe my experience as being a part of a school's special education department helped me to develop that mindset.  I know that it helped me to better understand that we need to meet students where they are and that sometimes some students need something more or something different than what the majority needs in order to move from where they are closer to where they will find more success.

I pondered the situation with my mother and wondered how many folks are out there who don't have a daughter who is an educator to do a little distance learning via text message.  I wonder how many folks don't understand all of what is going on in our society today and don't have a close, trusted person they can call on to help them better navigate this journey.  I went to sleep thinking about that.

Then, as I always do, I looked at the headlines and caught up on what the news blurbs for the morning were before I ever really started my day.  The first headline that seemed to hit me in the gut was this one: Coronavirus Bill allows DeVos to waive parts of special education law.  Then, another source reported the same thing.  Then, I saw this: Toward a New and Better Normal. 

In times like these it is so easy to become self-centered and think poor-pitiful-me.  It is easy to get angry because others don't do exactly what we want them to do.  Yet, when we take a moment and pause and think about all we have to be grateful for, things generally seem to feel better.  We seem to feel less pitiful.  We seem to have a better outlook. 

I'm trying so hard to do that right now - that pausing and being grateful. 

I'm also thinking about those who might not be as fortunate as me.  I'm thinking about how distance learning is going for lots of different learners.  I'm trying to think that we are all "growing through this" together as author, Couros, said in his post.  I'm asking myself, "How do we ensure that we honor the different situations of every one of our families?"  I hope that our country's leaders are asking themselves this question as well. 

I think about what might be happening for those who are going through this instead of growing through this.  I'm thinking about those who might be growing through this but it is not a positive kind of growth.  And when I do think about some of those things like I read in the headlines, I break down and cry.  It's an ugly cry like I did this morning.

I'm trying to convince myself that this "change is an opportunity to do something amazing," and we certainly are doing something amazing.  I am just hoping that it is amazingly good!

Distance Learning

We are all coming to know what distance learning looks like in these days of staying home.

Oh, I took online classes way back twenty years ago when I went to graduate school as a 'non-traditional student.'  I would log on to my school course site from my home office and complete my work and submit it to my professor at the university and wait for a response from my professor.

I have facilitated professional development as online courses which last for six weeks and teachers will complete a project each week to earn their professional development credit. They might be at home in their PJs on a Saturday morning and I had posted the instructions and checklist for their project earlier in the week from a district school.

This week, however, distance learning took on a new dimension for me.

I got a text message from my mother who lives across the county.  She asked about logging on to a Facebook Live event that was a virtual tour of a historical spot nearby.  I had been trying to join it myself and was having poor results.

I'd never joined a Facebook Live live.  I mean, I had watched the videos of a broadcast hours after it had taken place but never joined one while it was actually taking place.  I could see what looked like a video but it wasn't playing and no matter how many times I tapped the start arrow, it just sat there or I got the circling wheel of death.  So, I called my daughter to see what I was doing incorrectly.

Do you see the circle of life happening here?  Anyway, she assured me that I was probably doing the right thing but the broadcast was glitchy and not going well.  The broadcast was just jerky, intermittent, and not going well at all. So, I passed this info along to my mother.

Then, she texted me back that she had a problem with her phone.  She was not receiving calls and didn't think she could call out either.  So, began a distance learning experience - all in text messages.

 I probably did a big eye-roll at that point.  So, I told her to go to her computer and was going to do a Google Hangout or Zoom session with her.  She asked if she could use her iPad.  So, I said, sure.  After a few minutes, she lets me know that she needed to add an app but didn't know her Apple password.  I KNOW I did a big eye-roll at that point.  I also know that she has all her passwords written down on some scrap of paper in a higgledy-piggledy fashion and stashed that scrap somewhere.  So, we continued to text message - her via the iPad, I guess, and me on my phone.  I sent her this screeenshot with my drawing atop it:

At this point, I was looking into my phone's settings, making a screenshot and drawing, opening text message stream, and pasting before sending.  So, I was back and forth.  But, mother was just looking at both screens at the same time and not giving me time to send both text and photos.

I thought for a bit and pondered what might be lost if she just reset everything.  Then, decided I'd better go for it because she really needed the phone to communicate with the outside world beyond just text messaging.  So...

I don't know what the semi-colon message was about but I do know there was a l-o-n-g pause.  So, I decided that I'd take a bit of a break and went into another room.

Then, I came back to this:

I gave her a call and could just hear the relief in her voice.  What is so funny to me is that it sounded just like countless teachers and students who I work with every single day.  They encounter a problem that is a pretty simple one but they cannot figure out what on earth they should do.  Sometimes they try several options just like my mother and I did and sometimes they are just crippled and reach out for support.  Sometimes I'm not sure what to do and we just troubleshoot together till we figure it out.  These encounters are just run-of-the-mill happenstances for me and I don't consider them breakthroughs.  I'm going for the big cheese.  I want to see that light switch go on that true learning has taken place.  I want to see a revelation or epiphany that someone has moved to a new place of knowledge.  I want to see an evolution in practice.  I want to see a new level of wisdom.  I want to see dawning of understanding of new and difficult information. I want to see transformation.

However, sometimes it is just the little things like clicking reset that make all the difference.

Videos! Everybody Loves a Video!

When you want to learn how to do something, what is one of the first things you do?

I'd be willing to bet you look at 'the YouTube' to find a How-To video.  My son repaired their clothes dryer after watching several videos.  My husband learns about cooking different cuts of meat on the grill in new and delicious ways by watching videos.  When I want to learn about a new tech tool or program, I watch a video.

If you enter a search into Google, chances are you are going to get a link to a video relating to that search.  In this time of staying at home, I'd bet more videos have been watched than ever before.

I've been encouraging teachers for the past couple of years to create mini lessons using a video platform.  I have loads of tips and suggestions for how to make them effective.  I have a multiplicity of resources which offer suggestions for ways to have students show what they know after learning about a topic by creating videos.

So, today, our tech coach team offered webinars to teachers showing them how to use a simple video maker and providing links to those resources that I've been curating for the past couple of years.  The first webinar was mid-morning today and the spaces allowed were maxed out as soon as the webinar began.  Requests started coming in asking why they couldn't access the live webinar link.  Over 300 people suddenly saw the reasons for creating a simple video to help students learn - and that was just in the first session!

During the second webinar session at mid-day, I was watching the numbers grow for participants to join the webinar and they were growing by leaps and bounds beginning thirty minutes before the webinar even opened up to accept participants.  There were over a hundred in the waiting room when I clicked the Admit All button a couple of minutes before it started!  I kept noticing more and more being added as we were giving the welcome information.  By ten minutes in to the second webinar, I glanced at the numbers and we had admitted 283 and I stopped counting and just accepted requests as I continued to talk.  There was a mid-afternoon webinar but I didn't get a report on it before I logged off for the day.  I'm sure it was quite busy as well.

What is it about video that has us intrigued?  What is it about video that appeals to all of us?  Is it the fact that we crave that visual connection?  Is it that no other means besides face-to-face really suffices when it comes to providing information and teaching different concepts?  Is it because we know that when we see something we quickly learn how-to.

I remember when our first granddaughter was younger.  She came to her mother one day and said she needed to borrow her tablet or phone.  My daughter asked why she couldn't use her own tablet.  She was told that it wouldn't work.  Soon Mom discovered why.

It was filled to the max with videos.  Lillie hadn't downloaded so many videos.  She had created them!  There were videos for how to style your little pony's hair. There were videos for how to line up your little pony's for a parade. Loads and loads of how-to videos!

Today, I shared resources such as a Storyboard Template, ways to app-smash with videos, and several blog posts which provide suggestions for student video creation - ways for students to put their own creative spin on a video much like Lillie did for her little pony how-tos.  I am anxious to see how teachers and students will put this information into practice and intrigued to learn whether the fascination with video creation will continue to grow even after we are not staying home.

Do you feel it?

Like most school districts across the land, we are closed and our government has encouraged staying at home.  In my job as instructional technology coach, there is always more to learn than I have hours in the day.

Or week.

Or month.

Or year.

I feel a need. 

I feel an urgency.

For the past year, I have felt such a sense of urgency to try and get people to know some of the things I've got the capacity to teach them.  I want to share things I know that can make their work more streamlined, organized, easier.  I want to share things that can help their students be more creative, engaged, and challenged.  It has been a far greater sense of urgency on my part than most have felt the need to learn.

For the past several months I've been quietly telling teachers with whom I work that I won't always be there to support their teaching and learning and they really need to take more risks and learn more.  Yet, I think those teachers have sort of swept that concept under the rug thinking that even if I am not there, somebody will be there to teach them or show them or help them or just provide support as they are working through.

This week, however, we have entered our third week at home.  We are supporting and encouraging distance learning like people have never experienced before.  Now there seems to be an urgency.

This morning our instructional technology team offered virtual learning for teachers.  When we have hosted these events in the past, participation has seen a dozen or so people log on and take part.  Once, I had a group of thirty-eight.  At this time of year, participants were generally just trying to check a box and earn professional development hours.  Today, we had record numbers log on and learn.  There was no extrinsic incentive like earning credit hours. There was no requirement by an administrator to get on board and embrace an initiative.  There was a personal urgency. 

If nothing else, this unusual time in our world has helped many recognize that our world has changed and we are being forced to change along with it in order to rise to the needs and expectations that are present.  We cannot cling to the old just because it has worked for us in the past.  We have to embrace the new as well.  We have to adapt ourselves to the newness that keeps surrounding us.  There is an urgency.

I could feel it all day today as I fielded questions and requests for support from teachers.  I could feel it as my partner and I shared the basics of a different means of sharing opportunities for students to learn.  I could feel it when I chatted with my children and grandchildren in the early evening.  Please let us hold on to that urgency and enfold it into our natural being so that we continue to grow and learn and make this world a more positive and better place. 

I feel a sense of urgency like never before.  Do you?

Visiting With Old Friends While In Self Isolation

As time goes by, it seems people are settling in and teachers are wanting to post more for their students and students are wanting more to do.  Could it be that there is still excitement in learning?

As I peruse through social media posts, I see funny memes but I also see lots of posts where folks are asking for book recommendations. Sometimes they are asking for themselves and sometimes they are asking for the students in their households. 

The other day I saw where somebody had posted, "Looking for book recommendations for my sophomore and 7th grader?  Thanks 😊" 

Here was my response:

What are their interests? Do they play ball or fish or hunt? Do they play video games or draw or paint? That is a good place to start.  What did they enjoy reading or listening to when they were younger? My philosophy is that everybody can be a reader, we just need to know what they like and enjoy digging deeper into!

(By the way, that is the same thing I always used to ask my students when I was a classroom teacher.)

I think the most fun I had as an educator was when my first 7th grade class of students moved on to high school.  I'd taught them all in 7th grade and then most of them again in 8th grade.  Right before spring break I asked them all to write the title of their favorite book on an index card and give to me and why they liked that book.  Then, my intention was to share it with my next year's class. 

Well, later that year I was approached by our administration and told that it was customary to recognize students for having an outstanding year.  We recognized highest average, all As, and things like that like most places do.  We also had an award to recognized folks for most improved or other accomplishments. 

I decided that I would use those index cards and bought each of my awardees his or her favorite book in a hardback edition.  I had the most fun surfing the net or haunting book stores to find each of those books.  The look on the faces of those students when I handed them their book and said a wee bit about them was priceless.  I doubt they treasured that nearly as much as I did!

So, while we are staying at home and there are no sports to watch on TV, I am revisiting lots of my old friends - books I've collected over the years.  I hope other people are doing the same.

First Official Week Wrap-Up

Well, we have officially spent a week supporting teachers from a distance and using online resources.  Here is a little of what I learned this week (listed in no particular order):

• Virtual meetings are exhausting.
• Virtual learning is so very different from face-to-face learning and people don't realize that, yet.
• I really like creating visuals more than I do most anything else that relates to my job.
• There's a lot more to a How-To video than meets the eye.
• Teachers really love their students.
• Students like regular school more than they realized they did.
• Students really ought to be journaling about their experiences right now.
• It is hard for me to stop working.
• I get a LOT of email in my personal account and don't have the energy to read it when I've worked from home all day.
• There are so many online opportunities to learn that it is mind-boggling.
• My idea of professionalism is not the same as lots of other people's ideas.
• Learning and education is really evolving during this time.
• My long-time vision of the power of online learning is coming to fruition.
• The instructional technology department in my district consists of a lot of rock stars!

I have read so many powerful things written by educators, journalists, and students this week.  The written word is alive and well in 2020!  

P.S. I have to give a huge shout out to Pearson for sharing his journal with me this week.  I feel blessed and enriched by reading his writing. He truly has a gift and I am inspired to become a better writer.

Gritting Your Teeth or Smiling?

Do you hate sitting in meetings?  Would you rather go to the dentist than be a meeting participant?  

Oh, good!  Come sit by me!

Today was a day for virtual meetings.  

I had a couple of one-to-one Google Hangouts with a couple of teachers and that was fun.  We could just be ourselves and it was almost like sitting in my office with the teacher across the desk and we were just chatting.  

Then, the entire afternoon was filled with Zoom meetings.  This was more the kind of meeting that makes me wish I was in that dentist chair with some instrument going drrrrrrrrrring and making my head vibrate a little bit.

You see, the only thing worse than a big group meeting of teachers held in the library where everybody is scattered here and there at tables with their friends and a stack of papers and pens or a computer in front of them and somebody talking like the Charlie Brown teacher about some sort of topic you've heard about countless times and you could really lead the group in a much more exciting sharing time about the topic - the only thing worse than that is a virtual meeting with a lot of people like that.

You may be asking me why I think that.  Well, let me tell you.  It is worse because you never know who is looking at you and you are right there covering the little square that is the screen with nothing else to look at - no big slide projected on the wall behind you or anything.  So, if you don't sit there looking like you are eagerly learning about whatever is being shared, it could come back to haunt you.  

You see, somebody could be just as zombie-like as you and they could see you nodding off and take a screenshot of you to share later and giggle about it with their friends.  Somebody could see you leaning on your palm with your cheek all smushed up just trying to hold your head upright.  Somebody could be watching you scratching your ear.  Somebody could zoom in and see that you have a drop of salad dressing from lunch smeared across your shirt.  Any number of things could be showing up and somebody could take a screenshot of that unpleasantness and post it on social media or put it in a presentation and project it on the big screen when you are sitting in a really boring in-person meeting in the library and the entire faculty would burst out laughing and you would have no idea where that came from.  

Can you tell that after my second or third virtual meeting I was pretty much a waste and useless?

Can you imagine the look on my face as I'm sitting here thinking about the three meetings I have tomorrow?

When I closed my laptop for the day and strolled all the way from my bedroom into the kitchen to start scrounging something up for dinner, my jaws were hurting.  I think I was following my Granny's advice.  "Grit your teeth, honey.  People will think you are smiling." 

Quarantined and Working From Home

Do you remember that song from the movie, Grease, when John Travolta starts off singing the words, "Stranded at the Drive-In..." 

Well, today I kind of wanted to write new lyrics for that number.

How do you think it would sound to sing, "Quarantined here at home, following all the rules..."

That is kind of how I'm feeling this morning.  I have loads of work to do but I cannot seem to focus on anything enough to get it going, get in the groove, and get it done.  I've got video scripts to write and videos to record for one of my summer professional development workshops.  I've got visuals to create and examples to update for another PD workshop.  I've got ideas for materials that I could be collaborating with teachers to create for students to continue their learning while they are isolated and at home.  Yet, I cannot seem to settle on any of that.

I'm sort of like a butterfly, fluttering here and there and pausing at first one flower and then another.  I will find an example that needs updating and moving from one folder to another in preparation for being included in a workshop and then I'll get an email notification bing-bonging and I click over to see what it is about.  I will enter a few words that relate to the slide for one of my videos and I'll get a notification on my phone that the Governor is going to give an update about the state of our state and Covid-19.  I will add a catchy graphic to a slide and draw a text box and while my fingers are resting on the keys and my brain is trying to come up with a good heading, a pop-up notification will slide onto the bottom of my screen giving me notice that somebody has a question and might need me to show them how to do something to make their online lesson more interactive.

I'm wondering if I was at a REAL office would I be able to focus and get my work done or am I just using my location and the fact that I've been here in this place for over two weeks as an excuse for not getting things done.

Things to Remember

Today I felt like I'm sure some of our students must feel from time to time.  I think it could best be described as boxed in and semi-struggling.

My team and I have been tasked with creating short videos which can serve as tutorials to guide parents and students through accessing and using the resources we are posting so that students can learn on their own at home.

We aren't really providing instructional lessons, just resources and materials.  So, often, parents might not know how to use the online textbook or the math practice site or create a Google Drawing.  Plus, they may be overwhelmed at searching the web to find support materials to do that.  Short, simple videos to the rescue!

Now, I'm not struggling with showing how to use the tool.  I am learning to use a tool to create the visuals that I don't customarily use.  One of our goals is to create all the videos to have a similar look.  Just like people have favorite brands of paper towels or toilet paper or peanut butter, we have favorite tools for creating and we each have our own style of design.  Yet, this time, we all needed to have a cohesive look and feel to the products and we needed to have the products done on a short timeline. We even had a checklist and got peer feedback. I get all that and I wholeheartedly support it when putting a product out for the masses.  It is sort of like quality control.

However, I also felt a little bit like the teacher had told me to create a set of slides.  Each slide should have three bullet points and two pictures.  If you put a tulip on the slide, the petals should be yellow #F8C202, the stem should be green #0D3F01, the leaves should be green #ABCE5F but I wanted my petals to be red #E3401B! Most of the time as collaborators and team members, we have more choices and more options.  This time was just a little different because we are in different circumstances.

I know that in the classroom with good teachers students almost always have choices and options for how to report what they know.  They are provided with resources and asked to apply their learning to show what they know and how they understand.  However, I also know that there are times when this isn't possible.  So, as an educator, I certainly want to keep in mind how I felt today working on this project and try to be one who opens the door to learning and creating more often than giving students a box and asking them to place certain items into it in a certain order and way.

Teaching and Learning - From Home

On March 6 it was announced that our school would be taking a couple of days off for deep cleaning due to the Corona Virus impact.  We were told that school would be closed the next day and on the following Monday.  We have not returned to school and the impact of the virus has been growing.

Today, I started officially working from home as an educator.  We began the morning with a virtual meeting of the district Teaching, Learning, and Assessment department.  We learned that our ideas were reality and we are working through this one day at a time.  We also learned what is expected of us for the next few weeks as we do navigate this new path.

Following that virtual meeting with the large group of district folks, we had our own online meeting of instructional technology team.  We got further instruction of what is needed from us right away and what we could be spending the next few days working toward.  We learned how to support as many learners as possible but support them remotely.  We were told to keep it professional and follow the guidelines set up at this time.

So, I spent my afternoon working on a couple of professional development workshops that I'm planning to facilitate this summer.  Now, instead of creating them to be blended virtual learning, I am leaning more toward online learning with virtual support.  My workshops will be delivered online with videos offering instruction and me available via chat and online broadcast. 

I also had a Google Hangout with one of the teachers I have worked closely with at the school where I'm assigned this year and we offered one another support in the coming days.  We will be curating resources for students and parents to access and grow with as they are staying home.

While we are not pioneers or doing anything new and different, it feels a bit that way to us.  We are learning as we go more so than ever!  We are developing a new way.  I hope you will join me as I share what we are teaching and how we are learning.