My #ISTE2015 Learning Plan

PA_Convention_Center_1993_Highsmith via Wikimedia Commons

I’m getting ready to head out to one of my favorite conferences, ISTE. I have to admit, having it so close to home in Philadelphia makes me less stressed about getting around and more able to focus on WHAT and WHO I am going to see!

What helped me get ready quickly was the ISTE Mobile app.  Having the schedule, presenters, sessions and event information in one place made planning my learning so easy!  This use of mobile technology is a great model for schools. Imagine students being able to access content about their school via an app on their smartphone….

Here are some of the sessions I plan on attending. Note, I reserve the right to change my mind at any time! Once I start talking to my colleagues or others in my PLN, I am bound to readjust.  Over many years of attending conferences that afford so much choice at the same time (i.e. “There are so many awesome things to attend, I cannot decide!”), I’ve learned the technique of Divide and Conquer.  To maximize your learning at these events, get together with your colleagues and make a plan to each attend different interesting sessions. Then report what you have learned back to everyone after the event is over!  The sharing feature of Google Docs makes it extremely easy these days!  Anyway, here is my initial list:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday

I hope to learn some great tips that I will share here later on this blog. Follow me at @ezundel throughout the conference tonight, June 28, through July 1 for my aha moments.

All (well, some of what) I needed to know about Professional Learning I learned from my Mom

110810-N-UB993-034My mother fell last week in her apartment by her most beloved piece of furniture, the couch.  When I went in to check in on her, she was still on the ground, lying on her side. She was awake, blinking, and a little out of sorts but thankfully, not hurt.

When I asked her why she was laying on the ground, she couldn’t really answer me.

The backstory is that she has been living on her own for about ten years since my father passed away. She occupies herself with taking care of her cat, Spunky, and watching old television shows.

So when I saw her laying there, many thoughts went through my head. What if she broke her leg? She can’t possibly live by herself anymore! Do I call an ambulance now? What I didn’t mention was that everyone was in a frenzy about the weather. The dire weather predictions told us that we were going to get a foot of snow with high winds – blizzard conditions. Thankfully, the storm changed at the last minute that night and we received about 3 inches of snow.  But I didn’t know that as my mother deposited herself back onto the couch and told me that she was FINE and that I didn’t need to do anything more for her.

Well, I didn’t take her word for it and I dialed 911. She was taken to the nearby hospital and evaluated. Good news was that she didn’t break anything or have a head injury. But the prognosis was that she needed physical therapy to regain some of her strength from not walking enough in her apartment.

So what does that have to do with Professional Learning?

When you don’t stretch yourself, you can become rusty and atrophied

Sometimes when I speak to staff about learning new technology or skills, I often hear, “I don’t have the time”. While every person’s situation is different, I often wonder,”How can you NOT have the time to nurture yourself and grow?”  After all, I work with educators who encourage students to learn daily!

About a week later, she was admitted to a nursing home to get physical therapy. I had the opportunity to attend one of her first PT sessions with her.

Start small, think big

My mother has definite goals for her physical therapy. She eventually wants to walk with minimal supports (i.e. no wheelchair!) up a flight of stairs!  Without those goals, it would be tough to plan her physical therapy exercises. As educators, we need to set goals for ourselves for our learning.

And just like the physical therapist doesn’t have the patient going up stairs on the first day, we can start small with our learning. There’s no shame in it!

Taking that first step is the hardest

My mother had some trepidation about the exercises in her first session. But she took the chances and tried them!  They become a little easier as she went.

Taking that first step in investing in your professional learning may be a little scary at first. But it is so worth it!

Lean on your coach if you need some support

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the wonderful physical therapists at the nursing home. They are trained professionals that know how to diagnose the patients adeptly and accurately. They understand the necessary exercises needed to build up the patient so they may advance to the next level. And they are there to catch my mother if she falls.

If you have a technology or curriculum coach to help you, please make use of them! They are there to help you through the transformation in your classroom. And they are there to catch you if you fall.  If you don’t have a coach available, contact your principal or supervisor to find out who can help you.

Your PLN (Personal Learning Network) is also a source of support. Check out how to start your own PLN here. I encourage every professional on the planet to create their own PLN!

Also, I want to put a plug in for a book about professional learning that a colleague of mine put out just last month!

Leading Professional Learning: Tools to Connect and Empower Teachers by @Thomascmurray and @Jeff_Zoul.

I highly recommend it for anyone interested in making professional learning more meaningful in your school or district.

Nothing Truer Has Been Said…

Energized and breathless, I am catching up from last week’s Bucks Lehigh Edusummit at Southern Lehigh High School. It was a great two day affair where local educational leaders gathered to discuss teaching and learning with an educational technology flair. If you look up the hashtag, #bles14, you’ll find some gems to take back to your school this year.

Although the first day of the conference had some pretty good sessions and presentations, I was more pleased with the opportunity to connect with fellow educators and leaders I have befriended over the last several years. To be honest, that’s what happens when members of your PLN attend a conference…you are more interested in connecting with them than attending the conference activities! An additional bonus was seeing some fellow Bethlehem educators attend #bles14 this year!

The keynote presentations at this year’s Edusummit were particularly thought provoking. In fact, they distilled a few concepts that have been rolling around in my head this past year as I have eased back into working with teachers at Bethlehem ASD.

The first keynote was Ted Hasselbring‘s talk about how kids learn. Since his research has been instrumental in the development of the Read180 and System 44 computer intervention programs,  he has a lot of data to back up his claims. His talk infused the science of learning with tips on how to “do it right” in the classroom. I gleaned some basics including the 7+- 2 rule and chunking of information. But the takeaway for me from his keynote was:

Realtime corrective feedback has a profound effect on learning.

How are we as educators giving students feedback? Are we losing this opportunity to make learning activities MEANINGFUL because we can’t get it together on HOW we want to give students feedback? This is where many teachers who use educational tools in their classroom get themselves in a tizzy. They want to use the tool of the week to give some type of feedback to kids. But it isn’t the same thing twice and more like a shot in the dark. In addition, we often stick with the same level and type of feedback instead of digging deeper into what will provide meaningful experiences.  We need to choose corrective feedback tools that do the most for our kids and develop them as we start to understand how the instrument works and it is affecting performance. In addition, we need to coordinate on said tools as a learning community so we can learn from each other on how to effectively use them.

Now, if that wasn’t enough, the Dean Shareski’s keynote on the second day totally blew my mind. Check out my blog next week to see why!