Parent STEAM Day II

Chelsea and I had our second Parent STEAM Day on February 26, 2016 (CLICK HERE to read about our first Parent STEAM Day).  There are 23 students in Chelsea's 2nd/3rd grade multi-age class and 32 parents attended our STEAM Day from 12:30pm to 2:10pm.  It was a crowded classroom.  We spent the 2nd trimester focusing on Engineering during our weekly STEAM time.  We used LEGO WeDo and Chromebooks to code, BeeBots, and Spheros.  As an instructional coach, I have watched Chelsea grow as an educator and embrace a new and challenging teaching pedagogy.  Here are the resources SHE created for our big day:

CLICK HERE to view the Slidedeck Chelsea Created

CLICK HERE to view the Disneyland HyperDoc Chelsea Created

CLICK HERE  to view the Spinning Birds LEGO Activity HyperDoc

Here are some videos and pictures from the day:

Coding WeDo with Chromebooks and Parents

Coding WeDo with Chromebooks and Parents

Four Parent working with two students

The girls are working hard

Chelsea discussing STEAM with two board members

It was a great day and learning experience for all!

My Coaching Journey

I have been working to promote the things I am doing for my school district.  I do not sell myself well.  I like to be the behind the scenes person who riles everyone up and sits back to watch the mayhem.  So now, I am shifting to letting others know what I am doing and how I am doing it in a much more intentional way.  I created the slide below for my new superintendent who started in late December 2015.  I also selfishly wanted to track all of the coaching I had done so far this year:

Instructional Coaching Slide

If you click on the link it will take you to the Interactive Slide I created (a format I love to use to share information and/or curate information)

I began this school year adding an instructional coaching piece to my job as Curriculum Coordinator to get myself back into the classroom.  I started with three multi-age classrooms and we did/do STEAM time for around 100 minutes each week.  I am now on sites four days a week and only in the office on Wednesday (which I also sneak in a couple of classes I can't get to on the other days).  

To make sure I am not going crazy I have some specific focus areas as you can see above that fit into three categories:

• Maker Activities
• Coding
• Curating Content and Accessing Curriculum for All (Universal Design Learning Tools)

I am having an incredible time working with the classroom teachers in our district and watching them as they see their students engaged and teaching each other.  I remind them that the technology and other tools will never replace a teacher who can masterfully curate content and facilitate the learning environment of his/her classroom.

I am modeling "I don't know, let's try it!"  Just this week one of my STEAM teachers emailed me and told me she had created the Google Maps activity for her first and second graders during our STEAM time.  In 5 short months she has shifted her pedagogy and instruction!  In one of the other STEAM classes, the students reminded me that I was being "VERY ISH" as I was trying to get our Spheros going.  

We had a parent STEAM day in Chelsea's class on October 23 where 22 parent came and did STEAM time with us.  This trimester our parent STEAM day is February 26, we have 32 "parents" attending for 23 students and that is not counting the board members, superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal... 

I'll keep you posted on how that goes!

How Do You Provide PD for 100 Teachers?

For our district professional development day on January 4th, I went out on a limb and created differentiated tasks based on Wanda Terral's Amazing Google Race and Another Amazing Race.

Here is the link to my Google Folder of documents I created for our PD day: CLICK HERE

I will share some background on the why, what, and whatever else of my development of these activities.

Why:

• I wanted to create meaningful, collaborative, hands-on activities
• I wanted to create activities the teachers could potentially adapt and use with their students
• I wanted absolute choice for each teacher 
• I wanted to challenge and push their understanding of Google Apps for Education
• I wanted to spark a conversation
• I wanted the teachers to explore and play

What:

• I created 4 Tasks: Google My Maps, You Tube, Google Search, Google Hyper Docs
• Each of the 4 Tasks had 3 Challenges
• Challenges 1 and 3 are the same for each of the tasks so they are group collaborations
• Challenge 2 is differentiated or individualized based on the chosen task
• I wanted to make sure that the groups had two collaborative activities and an individual activity based on the specific interest of each teacher.
• I was deliberately not providing specific instructions and/or guidance, I wanted the teachers to tinker

I am going to share the feedback I received from the teachers because it is an incredible tool for me as an instructional coach.

CLICK HERE

I love that the teachers were comfortable and honest.  The feedback gave me great insight as to where some of my teachers are in the process of adopting Google Apps for Education as a teaching and learning tool. 

The feedback reinforces the fact that no matter how I tried to differentiate, one person cannot deliver effective professional development to 100 TK-8 teachers.  I shared the feedback with our leadership team and asked them to consider it as we develop a district-wide PD plan.

It was a blast for me to push myself to develop the activities.  The PD did provide enough for many teachers to consider or find ways to use similar activities with their students.  It was a great learning experience for me and many of the teachers of AUSD.

From Why to What If

About a month ago I asked why (http://bit.ly/WhyteachteKBeck) in regards to an interaction I had with my son Skyler.  I ended the post with this question:

Why do my son's most meaningful learning experiences occur outside of school?

I have been thinking about this for a number of reasons and I would like to shift my question from Why to What if?  

What if our interaction was the jumping point for his learning?
What if he entered his classroom after our car ride and informed his teacher that he would be researching and learning about fog in class today?
What if his teacher embraced his declaration of his learning path for the day or days or week and said "Go to it Skyler!"

With that in mind, here is my vision for my school district and my path as the Coordinator of Curriculum and Instructional Technology:

My vision is to create a 3 - 5 year plan of changing pedagogy by backward planning from the conversation Skyler and I had in the car in November of 2015.  

You are welcome to share insights, resources and information!

Is It a Chain?

Today (12/04/2015), during Chelsea's STEAM time, our maker activity/challenge was for the students to make the longest "chain" using one piece of printer paper (8.5 x 11 inches).  The students were in groups of three and immediately went to work to create the longest paper chain.

Now, I am thinking that you have a mental picture of what you think a chain looks like as do I.  As Chelsea and I walked around watching the students make their chains I came upon a chain that did not fit MY definition or picture or understanding.  I asked the groups making this chain if what they were making was a chain or a strip.  They replied emphatically - it's a chain and I thought to myself that these students did not know what a chain is.  My pre-conceived notion of a chain had temporarily blocked my acceptance of what others might think a chain is.  Luckily, instead of dismissing their understanding or idea of a chain, I decided to throw the question out to the class once the challenge was completed.

When time was up, the students laid out the chains next to each other.  We started off the discussion by asking what is a chain.  Here is a picture of the chains the students created:



As the students grappled with what constitutes a chain, We (Chelsea and I) decided to Google the definition and this is what we found:

chain

CHān/

noun

1. 1.

   a connected flexible series of metal links used for fastening or securing objects and pulling or supporting loads.
2. 2.

   a sequence of items of the same type forming a line.

   "he kept the chain of buckets supplied with water"

   synonyms:

   series, succession, string, sequence, train, course "a chain of events"

verb

1. 1.

   fasten or secure with a chain.

   "she chained her bicycle to the railing"

   synonyms:

   secure, fasten, tie, tether, hitch; More

We did not share these definitions until we allowed the students to ponder the question did you make a chain?  Interestingly, all of the groups believed that what they created was a chain.  

When this activity started I believed that only the groups that had followed the first definition had created chains.  Fortunately I was able to let go of what I thought was RIGHT and chose to model seeking UNDERSTANDING.  

I projected the definitions for all to see and let the students take in the definitions.  These are 2nd and 3rd grade students so I asked for a volunteer to read the definitions out loud and then let the room think and ponder.  after a couple of minutes of letting the students discuss amongst themselves, we asked for a thumbs up if the students thought that all of the creations were chains.  All students put their thumbs up.  Then we asked put your thumbs up if your understanding of what a chain is has broadened.  All students put their thumbs up.

The final part of our discussion was the celebration of others teaching us to have an open mind.  Each group did not consider the others chain as a possibility.  We all acknowledged that we need each others perspectives to create and innovate.

The discussion included many other rich topics like the group who made the very small chains but had a pile of stripes of paper left over when time was called.  The students wondered if that group had had more time, would their chain have ended up longer than all the rest?  

As educators we have to let go of what we think is right and let our students discover as we support and provide resources.  And ultimately we need to let the students decide if something is a chain or not. 

Why?

A venture capitalist searches for the purpose of school. Here’s what he found.
The Wonderful:
Yesterday, as I drove Skyler to school we came upon incredible fog formations.  We had had two glorious days of rain here in Northern California.  When we left our house, it was crystal clear but as we meandered up and down and twisted we drove into pockets of fog which sparked Skyler's inquisitive fourth grade mind.  As he picked the songs for our morning playlist, he began his stream of questions which I dutifully answered with a question or an "I don't know - we better find out." Here is a brief example of our exchange:
Skyler - "Why wasn't it foggy at our house?"
Me - "Hmm, I'm not sure."
Skyler - "Why is it foggy in some places and clear in others?"
Me - "Well, what do you notice about the areas that are foggy and the areas that are not?"
Skyler - "The canyons are full of fog, why is that?"
Me - "It sounds like we need to do some research on fog, why don't you start our search of resources by asking Google?"
Skyler - "Okay Google, why does fog form in canyons?"  (he often absconds with my phone and asks Google questions...)

We bantered about fog and hypothesized during our 25 minute drive to school.  It was one of the many inquisitive conversations that we have that has lead to further exploration, curation, creation and sharing.  Later, we whip out our dueling Chromebooks and gather resources; read, discuss, and process the information; decide on a platform to create a place to curate our resources; share our creation with others.  These are the real-life, meaningful learning experiences that Skyler is passionate about and they only occur outside of school (until he shares his creation at school when allowed).

Why do my son's most meaningful learning experiences occur outside of school?

... And I Only Died 32 Times - Lessons from a Video Game

Just a quick pondering as I watch my son play a video game.

Skyler - "I'm stuck, I'm stuck, I'm stuck...

Dad - "What are you going to do?"

Skyler - "I'm going to figure it out - Mom says it's okay if something is hard because I need to be challenged.  I'm unstuck!  I made it to the next level!"  he exclaimed with confidence.

... and I only died 32 times.

I have a few questions:

1. When is education going to stop putting a time limit on learning?
2. When will mistakes and failure truly be embraced as learning experiences and growth opportunities?
3. When will we look for the little incremental successes within the mistakes and/or failures to help students persevere and keep doing (remember according to Yoda there is no try)?
4. How do we provide learning experiences that allow for multiple redos?
5. How do we as educators support the students where they are to help move their thinking and understanding forward?

I could go on and on...