A Place Where Everyone Knows Your Name

Last year in February, my district had a Teaching & Learning conference during one of our in-service days. It was a great event with sessions led by teachers as well sessions led by guest presenters. One of the sessions I attended was led by guest presenter, Jimmy Casas. In his session, Jimmy talked about teacher leadership, building community and culture, and so many other inspiring things. A few days after the conference, I was chatting with one of my coworkers, Steve Brown, who had been in Jimmy’s session as well, and we were both reflecting on it and talking about how all the things Jimmy had said really left an impact on us. He had really inspired us. So, we wanted to do something with this inspiration.

We decided what we wanted to do was a little something to help strengthen the climate and culture in our school. Life at work gets so busy, teachers can go days/weeks/months without seeing each other. And, everyone’s schedules are different, planning times are not the same, there just aren't enough opportunities for all of us to see each other, consistently. We wanted to find a way to help this. Just an extra way to supplement how and when we can all connect. We decided to turn to our friend technology, and start a Google+ community for our school. This wouldn't be the only way to communicate of course, because we also treasure opportunities for face-to-face interactions. Just an extra way so anyone can access it anytime from their phone, computer, tablet, wherever. We wanted this to be a place to share aspects about our lives that people may never hear about, otherwise. Our new online community would include every staff member in our school and we decided to name it: These are the Days of Our Shepard Lives.

We did a short presentation to announce our new online community at one of our staff meetings. Here is some of the info we shared during our presentation:

Why Are We Doing This:

• Connections -- Learning things about each other
• Community -- Where everyone knows your name, new staff & veteran staff
• Culture -- Everyone is included
• Family -- We are family here
• Changes -- Keeping it together
• Acknowledgement -- Your way of being recognized in your terms

Ideas For What To Share:

• Personal accomplishments (marathon, house projects, new pet, national boards, kids graduation...things that not everyone knows about, house repair help referrals/assistance/tips)
• Things you've done in class that worked, not worked, want to learn more about
• Outside of school events/conferences you hear about that maybe others don’t
• Anything you want basically!

Our online community is now an extra little way for us to stay connected. It's a place where everyone knows your name. :)

My Rewind

Recently, I compiled an artifact file as part of my school's teacher evaluation process. To add a little fun component to my professional learning journey, I decided to create a video that includes moments I've had over the past year, or so. I also added quotes and sayings to the video that are meaningful to me. Most of these moments, are ones that I have also shared along the way through Twitter. (On a side-note, before making this video, I looked to see if there was a tool out there that would take the photos from my Twitter account and make a slideshow. I couldn't find anything, so I made my own video. Most of the pictures I already had saved either on my phone, or computer. If anyone knows of something like this, let me know!) Honestly though, I do love making these kinds of videos and feel happy seeing the finished product. That's what's great about creating something you're passionate about.

There was something special seeing all of my moments come together. Looking through my video made me appreciate capturing moments that were important to me and ones that I have shared with others. It also reminded me that making time to look back, to reflect, learn, and grow is something that makes me better.

One of my greatest joys is capturing moments. I almost always have my phone on me, and when I have the chance, I take a picture. It’s my way of remembering things that are meaningful to me and of what I’m experiencing at the moment. My photos can include ones from attending conferences, presenting at conferences, learning moments happening in the classrooms with students and teachers, cool objects or items that I find inspiring and photo-worthy, photos that I think will make people smile when they see them, photos of learning moments, and I especially love capturing moments with all the people I've had the pleasure of being with, along the way.

Making a “rewind” video can be a wonderful, creative, addition to your professional learning journey. Make it for yourself to learn and reflect from, but also share with others. This can be something fun to add to your blog or digital portfolio. It’s a special way to journal the moments you've created along the way, see them come together, and remind you of the special experiences you've had so you can learn and grow from them.

Steps and Tips for Making a Video or Photo Montage

My One Little Word: Enjoy

If I have to choose one word I want to live by in 2015, it will be: ENJOY.

Life is busy. There's no denying that. I don't see it slowing down anytime soon. That's ok. We're all busy for different reasons. It's all relative. When I'm doing something, I want to get better at not thinking of the next thing I have to do, or the next place I have to be. There's a time and a place for that. We can still ENJOY and not let the demands take over the things we do and the moments we have. Something my colleague and I love doing is standing in the hallway during passing periods and ENJOY seeing students, share a smile with them, whatever. Sure we have emails to check and things to do, but ENJOYing these moments are worth more. Or making more time to ENJOY a chat on the phone with my mom instead of hurrying because I have a million other things I could do. 

I want to ENJOY moments more. Any moment. Moments at work, at home, with colleagues, family, friends, inside, outside, on vacation, at a meeting, running errands, sitting, taking a walk..any moment. Little moments, big moments.

Just ENJOY. 

Happy and Healthy 2015! 

My Top 5 Blog Posts of 2014

It's hard to believe 2014 is coming to a close. Although it had its share of ups and downs, like any year, i'd like to keep believing that there's always something to learn from everything that happens. I feel fortunate to have experienced another year. I'm hopeful, and excited, for what the new year will bring.

I'm so thankful to everyone for being a part of my 2014, for helping me learn and grow. Wishing a healthy, peaceful, and happy 2015 to all.

My Top 5 Blog Posts of 2014

• EdCafe - "Students in Charge of Their Corner of the Universe"
• Find Your Voice With Blogging
• Hosting A Twitter Party At Your School
• Learning Along With & From Our Students
• Letting Go...

Hosting A Twitter Party At Your School

Yesterday my colleague, Jen Adams and I, hosted a Twitter party for our staff. Our inspiration came from a blog post that Jennifer Hogan wrote about hosting a Twitter party at her own school. With winter break nearing us, we thought what a great way to kick it off by having something fun and educational at the same time. Maybe our teachers may want to dabble in it over their time-off, if they wanted to. We invited newbies and seasoned Twitter vets to join us. 

Our goal for our Twitter party was to do a little professional development with our teachers on Twitter, because we find so much value in using it in education. It ended up being that, and more though. It ended up being about teachers having a chance to be with one another, having friendly conversations, AND at the same time learning. We loved what we saw. 

Twitter in education is something that has so much value in so many ways; building a PLN to learn and share ideas and resources with other like-minded people, sharing what’s happening in your class and school (#engagesms #engage109), exploring hashtags to connect to a wealth of topic-specific information, joining chats to have real-time conversations on topics that you are interested in to contribute and learn more about (#educoach, #iledchat, #iaedchat, #geniushous, #sblchat, etc.), and making some quality connections with people. There are so many things I'm sure I've missed something. Having a fun, light-hearted party was a perfect way to gather with our teachers and learn at the same time.

We sent this invite to all staff: 

The party took place in a section of our school's library where there were some tables and smart board. We chose four one-hour time slots, so that all teachers had a chance to stop by when it was convenient for them. Our library director and library assistant were so gracious for letting us host our party there. So, we had a few decorations, snacks (cookies, brownies, crackers, cheese) and a "Twitter Challenge" the teachers took, so we had prizes for that (Starbucks or Target gift cards with some chocolates). For each session, after teachers completed the Twitter challenge, we put their name in a bag and if their name was picked, they won the prize! 

When the guests arrived, we had them pick up four handouts:

• Twitter Challenge
• How Teachers Can Stop Being Scared Of Twitter
• Who To Follow On Twitter Suggestions
• Twitter Cheatsheet 

Jen and I worked one-on-one with the teachers, as well as presented some basic how-to’s about Twitter. Teachers worked through the Twitter Challenge, had conversations with each other, and had fun! The overall experience was so positive and well-received. We found it to be a great way for us all to connect and learn together.

More Resources: 

• Rules For Twitter via Alice Keeler 
• Twitter Party Invite 
• Weekly Education Twitter Chats

Find Your Voice With Blogging

Blogging has so many benefits. One of my favorite benefits though, is that blogging gives you "a voice". This goes for both adults, as well as students. One of my favorite examples of this is from within the classroom. We had a native Spanish-speaking student who came to our school part-way through the year as an 8th grader. Starting a new school is scary enough, let alone when you have a language barrier. This young girl knew almost no English at all. This language barrier lent to the her being extremely shy as well, so participation in class was a challenge.

One of her teachers decided she wanted to have students start blogging. To get blogging started, the teacher would post a prompt and students would write and reflect on it. All students had a chance to participate and comment to each other. The teacher asked her Spanish-speaking student if she wanted to try blogging, and the student said she would try. She asked the teacher if she could write her response in Spanish. Without any hesitation at all because she was thrilled the student wanted to participate, the teacher said "Yes!". So the student participated and wrote her entire response in Spanish. 

This was a great moment. 

She could participate, just like the other students. 

This student finally found her voice. 

This awesome moment had a ripple effect in the classroom. What happened next was so cool. Without any direction from the teacher, the classmates (who were all English-speaking), responded to her and they wrote their responses entirely in Spanish. They did the best they could using the knowledge they had from their Spanish classes as well as from asking other students who spoke Spanish. Her classmates embraced this opportunity to support and encourage. They replied to her, she replied back to them. There was finally an ongoing conversation between all students in class. It was such a great moment and blogging was the reason behind it.  

Blogging in the classroom can be used in different ways and at different levels. 

A teacher can have a class blog where:

• The teacher adds posts, and students reply
• The students have access to add their own posts
• Students create their own blogs

Blogging offers all learners a chance to have a voice. Those who have a language barrier, those who are shy and may not participate in class as often as others, those who don't think of the answer right away and want a little more time to process, those who have so much to say and there isn't enough time in class to share it all...all type of learners. Blogging "levels the playing field" and offers a place where a writer can be heard, be a part of something bigger, and be able to find a "voice". 

We never know the awesome outcomes a learning experience will have until we create the opportunities. 

Blogging Links:
Ideas for Student Blogging
Kids Learn To Blog

Video: Blogging In Education

My colleague and I, Jen Adams, presented a session on "Blogging in Education" at a recent in-service. We wanted to add a video about blogging to our presentation, but couldn't find one online that fit our vision. So, we decided to use PowToon and we create our own!

Here is our video on "Blogging in Education":