Archive
More Than a Smart Goal: Staying Focused on Student Learning
The newest book on my bookshelf is More Than a Smart Goal: Staying Focused on Student Learning by Anne Conzemlus and Terry Morganti-Fisher. I have tweeted and reflected on several principles in this book already
I [heart] Evernote!
I started this blog primarily to document my doctoral journey, so I wanted to share how critical Evernote has been on this journey. I will admit that I was a huge fan of Microsoft OneNote. In fact, I installed Parallel on my Mac, just to use OneNote. However, OneNote did not have a successful web application, or iPad application. Syncing and accessing my notes between devices was extremely difficult. I decided to transition to Evernote and I have never looked back.
I am an visual person, especially when in comes to quantitative research design. I have spent a great deal of time recreating charts and diagrams in my current course. I found that there were many other visual learners in my class and I was able to share my resources with them. I was able to share my entire resources notebook with the entire class! Hooray for shared notebooks!! I am hoping to start a note-sharing revolution as we move on to qualitative research design.
Shared Notebook: https://www.evernote.com/pub/lsqualls/resources
STEM Summer School
My team has a unique opportunity this year to provide a STEM summer school for elementary and middle school students. Today we constructed our robots and began to start programming. I will post video of my robot soon!
Using Twitter to Build Your PLN #shiftingthemonkey
Twitter is an exceptional tool for the self-directed learner, especially educators. This has proven to be a valuable tool for networking with educators around the globe. This week I will be starting a new book study with other educational leaders. Last year, I participated in a book study of What Great Principals Do Differently by Todd Whitaker with principals and assistant principals in my school district. This was an excellent learning opportunity and we met several times throughout the school year. Whitaker’s newest book, Shifting the Monkey, provides another opportunity for a book study! This will be a virtual book study via Twitter! @PrincipalJ is organizing this event. I read chapter one and I am very excited about chatting with my fellow educators that offer different perspectives and experiences. You can join us! Follow me on Twitter and track the #shiftingthemonkey hashtag for more information! This will be a great opportunity to read a great book, help grow yourself as a leader, build your personal and professional learning network, and participate in some lively discussions.
ISTE Resources: NETS for All
I had the opportunity to network with some instructional leaders from districts in the metroplex today. We began talking about professional development and sharing some of our best practices. Project Share has been the portal for many of the elementary professional development sessions I created this year and I would like to start aligning the Technology Applications Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and the National Educational Technology Standards to my professional development sessions. I think this well help teachers make the connection that the Tech Apps TEKS and NETS can be integrated into their curriculum. Looking forward on alignment and making connections!! Check out the NETS Family! (The NETS for Coaches and CSE are new to me!)
NETS for Students NETS for Teachers NETS for Administrators NETS for Coaches NETS for Computer Science Educators
Teaching Media Literacy
New resources have been added to my Teaching Media Literacy Google Site!
This site was orginally created in 2010 as a part of a series of professional development sessions offered to familiarize teachers with the new Media Literacy Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Model lessons for K-5 are now posted to the site as well as some new web-based resources.
Change
Process change requires change in the flow of information, getting people to access information they have never had before, changing the relationships of how people work together, and empowering people to do more than they have before.
-Dr. Alan November
“Keyes” to Collaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal.[1] It is a recursive[2] process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen in co-operative ventures, but a deep, collective, determination to reach an identical objective— for example, an intriguing, endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. (from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration)
Today I had the opportunity to see the result of collaboration. The classroom teacher, Instructional Technology Specialist, and Librarian collaboratively planned a lesson that was engaging, relevant, and focused on student writing about personal experiences. Students created digital postcards using the Bill Atkinson PhotoCard app for the iPad to send to Jerry Jones. Their postcards were about their field trip experience to Cowboy Stadium. They also shared thoughts on how to make the field trip a better experience for future students. The ITS created and shared a Google Presentation with all students. Students reviewed field trip photos and and used the comment feature to simultaneously comment on their favorite photos. I asked students to analyze the comments on the photos and draw conclusions about the quality and quantity of comments. I enjoyed seeing the “Keyes” to collaboration in action today!
Goodreads
Digital Gallery
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