Tuesday, March 22, 2022

The Hurdler in action today

 I wrote about being a Hurdler in a previous blog post. 

Defined as a tireless problem-solver who gets a charge out of tackling something that's never been done before. When confronted with a challenge, the Hurdler gracefully sidesteps the obstacle while maintaining a quiet, positive determination. This optimism and perseverance can help big ideas upend the status quo as well as turn setbacks into an organization's greatest successes—despite doomsday forecasting by shortsighted experts. 

Today I had a coaching meeting with a teacher. When I showed up for the meeting 

KG: I have something to ask you that is not about what we are meeting about. 

Me: Sure, What? 

KG: I'm having this issue with a pie graph in Numbers (Apple app). 

Me: Show me. 

KG: Opens computer and shows me what she did, and then explains that she would like to add labels or a legend in each segment of the pie. 

Me: Ok, can work on your computer? 

KG: Yes. 

Me: I click on lots of things on the screen while KG says yes, I tried that, yes I tried that. 

Needless to say after clicking on many things, searching Google, and watching two YouTube videos we couldn't figure it out. I will be "hurdling" tomorrow till I get it figured out and can send her a screencast of how I solved it. 

I love being a tech coach! 

Monday, March 21, 2022

Sunday, March 20, 2022

Life Gets in the Way

 I haven't written in 4 days! 

I don't consider myself a good writer, to begin with. I never did well in English class when I was in elementary school. I started a blog in 2013 to share all the cool things we were doing with technology integration as coaches. I blogged when there was something to say, or when I finished a big project. It was a good way to reflect and put a bow on the coaching cycle. When my colleague Michelle Brezek over at Hello Good Good Life reminded me about Slice of Life (as she does every year) I decided I needed to start writing again. I blogged for 16 days in a row! I feel really good about that. 

Then life got in the way! In a good way, though! 

My son is currently serving our country in the US Army. He was home on leave for 6 days. This may not seem like a big deal and probably wouldn't have been at another time in recent history. But he is going to be going to Eastern Europe for a year to support US/NATO efforts and the Ukrainian refugees/ 

We spent the last 4 days seeing friends and family, going out for meals, running errands, and taking care of all the loose ends before he leaves. I need some more time off just to recover. LOL! It was great to spend time with him and the ones we love. I don't do that enough! I really tried to be in the moment and enjoy what was going on around me.

He leaves in a few weeks. They can't tell you when they are leaving because even they don't know when. I don't know exactly where he is going. Although I'm told some of this information can be found online if you know where to look. Once he gets there he can send us his address, so we can send cards and letters. 

Whatever you believe in - Please send positive intentions to all our servicemen and servicewomen around the world! 

Hopefully, I can get back on track and finish the next 10 days!

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

The Hurdler

 Inspired by the Ten Faces of Innovation and my most recent team meeting. 


The Ten Faces of Innovation is a book by Thomas Kelly. It is noted as a book that is a "guide to nurturing and sustaining a culture of continuous innovation and renewal." It describes 10 personas necessary in an organization to drive innovation. In my time as an instructional coach, or a better description might be technology integration coach, I feel like I have cycled through all 10 of these personas at one point or another in the last 9 years. 

The personas are: 

Anthropologist

Experimenter

Cross-Pollinator

Hurdler

Collaborator

Director

Experience Architect

Set Designer

Storyteller

Caregiver


Right now the one that speaks to me most is - The Hurdler. Defined as a tireless problem-solver who gets a charge out of tackling something that's never been done before. When confronted with a challenge, the Hurdler gracefully sidesteps the obstacle while maintaining a quiet, positive determination. This optimism and perseverance can help big ideas upend the status quo as well as turn setbacks into an organization's greatest successes—despite doomsday forecasting by shortsighted experts. I don't know that I'm doing a lot of things that have NEVER been done before. I am trying to solve teachers' and administrators' issues or problems with technology. I really like crafting or co-crafting solutions with them. Just in the last 3 days, I have 4 different staff members come to me with 5 different issues or problems - "Here is the issue or problem. What tool(s) can I use to solve it?" Then lots of questions follow in order to make sure I have clarity on what they want the outcome to be for kids. It is so fun for me to choose an app and then test it to see if it really does what I want it to do. I love supporting teachers in this way. 

What persona are you? 

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Apple Elements of Learning - Real World Engagement

This post is as much informational as it is for me to synthesize my own understanding of the Elements of Learning. Plus if I do it every day that's 5 days of writing that I don't have to brainstorm a new idea. 

The 5 Elements of Learning are: 

Teamwork

Communication and Creation

Personalized Learning

Critical Thinking

Real-World Engagement


A note about the Elements of Learning. Apple's research shows that students that come from classrooms with the 5 Elements of Learning are highly effective learners and the technology just amplifies that learning. 



Element # 5 - Real-World Engagement


I feel like a lot of educators gravitate towards this one. They may think that a virtual field trip fits the bill. That actually isn't correct. It is a good use of the technology that we have, but it's not real-world engagement by Apple's standards. Real-world engagement consists of a number of components. One is realistic example - it is what it sounds like. If students are graphing severe weather they should be using real-life data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) or the like. The data should not be made up by the teacher.  Second, it should include immersion in the real world. This is where the virtual field trip might come in or students might visit a place or interview someone in the community. Next component is realistic task(s), an example would be doing something a professional or citizen might do outside of a school setting. The highest level of implementation is when it is immersive and realistic. This forms authentic engagement. Student work serves a. real-world purpose AND it has an impact outside of the 4 walls of the classroom. 


I have an example of real-world engagement that we've done in our district. It was an amazing experience for everyone involved. This was from about 6-7 years ago. Our summer school enrichment students were doing a unit on environmentalism and recycling. They studied the garbage patch in the Pacific. They took water samples from the biggest park in our city. While at the park one of the students had to throw away some plastic. He realized there were no recycle garbage bins in the park. The students went to the park district board to get more information. They spoke at public comment at a meeting. They worked with the park district to get bins ordered. The bins were ordered, delivered, and placed in all of our city parks.  That was all student-led. Everyone involved learned a lot about environmentalism and the inner workings of local government.