Improving Summer Reading

Original Post 5/9/13

As I can see the finish line for the end of the year, I am beginning to think about summer reading.  In the past I have had some students who read lots of books and are eager to share what they read in the beginning of the year.  As an educator, I never seem to provide students with the platform the should have to take pride in all the work they did during the summer.  This is something I want to improve.  I also have students who do not read very much and one of their reasons is they don't know what books to choose at the library.  I wanted to develop a way to help these students as well.  Here is my three part plan:

Part 1:  Animoto Accounts

Before the last day of school I will set up Animoto accounts for all my new students.  I will not be able to teach them how to make the Animoto book trailers, but I will show them some examples and where they can go to watch how-to videos.  I am hoping this will give students who do read a sense of pride in their work.

Part 2:   Animoto Data-Base

This is the first year I have used Animoto in my classroom.  We do it so I can document a student has actually read a book, and as a way for students to to see if they are interested in a book another 5th-grader recommends.  Now that we seem to have solid collection of book-trailers some of my students are helping me to archive them in a Google Doc that can be seen here.  Now students over the summer can watch book trailers to find a book that might interest them.

Part 3:  Class Blog

Our class blog will be ready to go by the last day of school.  On the blog I will have a calendar with weekly topics for students to write about.  It will also allow students the opportunity to document what they have read, and a place where students can access the book trailer data-base.  I will leave some examples of former student's book trailers, and will allow former students to still access our blog.

Let's hope these changes make a difference in the reading students do over the summer.

Innovation Day, Part 1, the Introduction

Original Post 5/15/13

About a month ago I stumbled across some posts on Twitter by Karl Lindgren-Streicher (@LS_Karl) about Innovation Day.  His students were working on these fantastically original projects and I wanted to learn more.  Innovation Day is a day where the students come to school and for the entire day they learn about one specific topic of their choosing, and then they create a product to demonstrate their learning.  The students are in control of the subject matter, not the teachers.  After reading more about Innovation Day from Josh Stumpenhorst and Pernille Ripp I knew this was something I wanted to do.

Pernille Ripp's Innovation Day

I informed the five other 5th grade classes in my building about Innovation Day and asked if they would like to join my class in this process and every teacher said yes.  I knew I worked with amazing educators, but I was still surprised that everyone in my grade level saw the value in this opportunity.

Next, I went to the specialists in my building (the Physical Education, Art, Music, and Library teachers) to let them know on this day the students would not be coming to see them because they would be doing research and creating projects.  I asked if we could use their rooms for the periods they were not there and again I was met with tremendous enthusiasm.  The Art teacher told me she would set up a station where the students could come in and out to gather supplies, and the Gym teacher said if it was a nice day I could have the entire Gym and he would keep the other classes outside.  Unbelievable support.

We scheduled our Innovation Day for June 11th or 12th, depending on the weather, and I felt the students needed about a month to think about how they are going to spend this day, and to organize themselves.  So yesterday, the 5th-grade met with Karl Lindgren-Streicher and his 9th grade class via Google Hangout.  Over 130 of us gathered in the cafeteria to listen and learn from Karl's class.  His class had already completed their Innovation Day and my class was just beginning this process, so we had some of his students talk to the 5th grade at my school about their experiences.  Karl's students answered four questions:

1) What was your project?
2) How did you choose it?
3) How did you ensure success on Innovation Day?
4) What is something you would do differently?

His students provided many helpful hints to our 5th-Graders and our students were amazed at the work these students from California were able to complete.

After the G+ Hangout I brought my students back tot my room.  I expected tremendous excitement and enthusiasm, like I had received from the other 5th-grade teachers and specialists.  However the room was eerily quiet.  I asked the students what they were thinking and a brave student raised her hand and said she was nervous because she had never been given such an open-ended question.  All the students around the room nodded their heads in agreement.  I began to think about it and I could begin to understand.  My students have been given the opportunity to learn about anything they want, and they are taking this very seriously.  I can't wait to see what they produce.

Innovation Day Part 2, the Set-Up

About a month ago my students were introduced to Innovation Day by Skyping with Karl Lindgren-Streicher.  Without having Karl as a resource and guide, I doubt this day would have been possible for my students.  After that Skype my students were eager to begin planning their Innovation Day projects.   My students then spent the next few days Brainstorming ideas.  They spoke to friends, to family members, former teachers, coaches, and music instructors.  The students were excited about the opportunity to formulate their own project about a topic they were passionate about.  They were required to make at least four different project proposals in the document below and then meet with a teacher to discuss which would be the best fit for them.  The students and teachers discussed materials, time-frames, strengths of the student, and why the topic was considered a passion for them.  We discussed what they expected the final outcome to look like and how they thought they would get there.  This template, again produced by Karl, was helpful for our students to stay organized and on task.

CMS -- Innovation Day Project Brainstorm by fritzky

Once the students had chosen their topic we used the chart below to keep students informed about what they should be doing during the days and weeks before Innovation Day. Because we are at the end of the school year it provided students with a structure that is sometimes lacking at the end of the year.  

Cms Innovation Day Schedule

The students then completed the final proposal document and it was sent home for parents to sign.  We needed to make sure parents were aware of what we were doing for several reasons.  First, we wanted them to further the discussion about what the students are learning.  The students were excited and we wanted the excitement to continue at home.  We also wanted to inform parents about what some students wanted to bring in from home. We tried to keep an open line of communication and we think it worked to our advantage.

CMS Final Project Proposal by fritzky

The day before our actual Innovation Day the students put together a schedule for how they would spend the entire day.  If you look at the document below, we tried to chunk it into 50 minute periods where the students checked in and determined if they were ahead of schedule or behind schedule.  This document also needed to be approved by the teacher.

Innovation Day Schedule by fritzky

Now that the students have prepared a plan, they are ready to start Innovation Day...let's see what happens.

Innovation Day Part 3 --> The Students Arrive

Original Post 7/11/13

The day finally arrived, Innovation Day.  You could feel the energy in the students, they were so excited to get started.  Students quickly divided up into their rooms based on their activities.  We have six 5th grade classrooms for the students to use and we organized them by category.  We had two rooms dedicated to technology.  Things like creating screencasts, coding video games and creating Prezis were in these two rooms. We had another room for larger construction projocts, a collaboration room where students worked together in groups of 2-3, an art room, and a quiet room where students could study and focus.  We had equal numbers of students in each room.

Students went to their rooms and got started.  I was impressed with how much work some students did before Innovation Day on their own.  One student wanted to make a model of the Statue of Liberty and he said he already built it at home once just to make sure he could it and it took him about three hours.  As I talked to him some more I realized he was worried if he would have enough time to research his project as well.  What occurred to me was this student actually gave himself homework.  He was so interested in the subject material, and so driven to be successful he did homework for three hours without a teacher telling him to.  As I walked around to other students I quickly realized he wasn't the only one.  Many students had already done research, drawings, sketches, rough drafts etc to help ensure their success on Innovation Day.

As we reached lunch it appeared most of the students were in good shape, some were a little behind, but with 30 minutes to clean up at the end I knew they could use some of that time to finish their project if they needed to.  After lunch the students got back to their projects but they were so excited about what they heard others had produced in other rooms, students were distracted.  They didn't have the same focus they did at the beginning of the day mostly because they wanted to see each other's work.  They were in awe of each other, and I really can't complain about that.

With about an hour left in the day a frenzy started to set in.  Some students were finishing early and were then able to help other students who were falling behind.  Student focus reached its zenith at this point and all but 4 students out of 129 finished their Innovation Day project by the end of the day.  Not only did they finish but what they produced was amazing.  

After we finished our Innovation Day we had the students complete a survey so we could better understand how they felt about it.  The teachers all agreed they wanted to do it again next year, but we still felt as though we needed to hear from the students first.  Below are the results of that survey.

Before conducting this survey, I was concerned that introducing the idea of Innovation Day about a month in advance may have given the students too much, and they might loose their focus.  After reading these surveys however, it seemed as though all the time was time well spent by the students, as they thought through their project ideas.  Next up, the presentation to parents.

Innovation Day Part 4 --> Here Come the Parents

Original Post 7/11/13

While planning for Innovation Day, we built into our schedule a night for the parents to come and see not only the work of their students , but the work of all the students throughout the grade level.   The presentation for the parents was scheduled from 7:00-8:00 and the students needed to arrive 20 minutes early to set up their projects.  This 20 minutes of preparation time is always awkward for parents and teachers.  It isn't enough time for the parents to really do anything else and if we allowed them to help their son or daughter set up it would be way too crowded in the rooms.   I discussed this problem with one of my colleagues, Dani Marangon, and she suggested we play a slide show of pictures she had taken of Innovation Day for the parents in the cafeteria as they waited to see the final product.   The photographs show the students at the early and middle stages of their work, but never a finished product.  We also then created a Parent Program created by the students and Dani.   I made a Google Form asking the kids to input their name, classroom, title of their project and a brief description.  Dani then copied and pasted this information into Microsoft Publisher to make it a bit more eye-appealing.  As the parents watched the slideshow they were able to look in their program and start different exhibits they wanted to see.

In the back of the cafeteria we set up eight computers with a survey already loaded on to it.  We asked the parents to stop by and answer a few questions before they left.  I also recruited our School Community Association President to help us steer parents back into the cafeteria after they had seen their son's or daughter's project.  The verbal feedback from the parents was tremendous; they really were impressed by the work the students were able to produce.  The mayor was so impressed he sent in Ice-Pops for the students the next day.  

I was a little nervous about the feedback I would receive on the survey though.  It is easy for parents who found Innovation Day to be a great idea to come and tell me.  Those who might not have had the same opinion would go to the survey.  We asked the parents four questions about the project and then asked them to comment on anything they really liked, or suggestions to improve it for next year.  Out of 129 students we had 63, almost half, of the parents answer the survey.  I am still trying to figure out a way to have more parents complete the survey next year.  If anyone has ideas, I'm all ears.  Below are the results of the four survey questions.

The question I was most interested in the parent response was: My student's motivation to create a great innovation day project was... .  Because this project was done at the end of the year, I was nervous that it would be difficult to motivate students to put forth their best effort.  It was great to see 97% of parents said their student were either highly, or extremely highly motivated to create an Innovation Day project.  

This is a project I look forward to working on and improving next year.  If anyone has any comments or suggestions on how we might improve I would love to hear from you.  

Again I would like to thank @pernilleripp and @stumpteacher for blogging about their experiences with Innovation Day so I could learn from them.  I would like to send out a big thanks to @kls4711 whose class Skyped with mine and provided me with a blue print to follow and build upon.  I consider myself lucky to have educators like these in my Personal Learning Network.  

Chromebook Roll-Out

Our school district is very excited to be going 1:1 with Chromebooks this year.  Below is the plan we have developed by looking at many other districts and what their roll-out process was.  With so many other districts involved in 1:1 programs I would love to have your feedback, feel free to use any pieces that you feel may be beneficial to your district.

Roll Out : One to One

Week 1:  Discussion on Technology with Students and start of Parent Meetings

Students will discuss the following questions in their interdisciplinary classes.

• How does technology change our world for the better and/or worse?
• Is technology good or bad?

Goal:   When used correctly technology can make life more efficient, productive and rewarding.

When use improperly technology can make life more difficult, hurtful, and frustrating.

Parents will be invited in on Tuesday  (4:00 PM) and Thursday (7:00 PM) after school to discuss acceptable use policy, care for devices, warranty/insurance information, etc.  See chart below for dates.

Week 2:

Assignments will be completed without access to the desired technology, highlighting our dependence on technology.  In the classroom there is a spot to for students to post their comments of how they could use technology to enhance learning in class.

Weeks 3-4:

Devices will be used in core subject area classes but they are not allowed to leave a classroom.  Teachers coordinate to provide lessons that played to Chromebook features.  Devices can be used to: collaborate on Docs, locate informational resources, create digital presentations, practice new concepts, gain feedback from teachers more quickly/effectively, etc.

Weeks 5-6:

Students will now be able to pick up their device in homeroom and take it with them to every class.  Before lunch they will be carefully returned to lockers, and then picked up again after recess.  Chromebooks are returned to homerooms so they can charge over night.  

Week 7:

Students who were responsible with their Chromebook, had a parent attend an after-school learning session, and have demonstrated mastery of proper use by completing an online G-form with 100% accuracy may take the it home.  The Chromebooks will checked every morning by their 1st period teacher to ensure it is fully charged and in proper working condition.  

Week 8:

Students use the Chromebooks as they see fit in any class.  Teams will arrange periodic checks on the Chromebooks to ensure students are taking proper care of them.  

Eighth Grade:

Week	Date	Goal
One	9/8-9/12	Discuss technology  in school with students / Parent Meeting Sept. 9 at 4 PM & Sept. 11 at 7 PM
Two	9/15-9/19	Developing a felt need
Three-Four	9/22-10/3	Devices will be used in core classrooms, but cannot leave
Five-Six	10/6-10/17	Devices can be used in all classrooms, will travel with students, but will return to 1st period by the end of the day
Seven	10/20-10/27	Students demonstrate proper care of devices - charge!
Eight	10/27	Students use chromebooks ubiquitously

Seventh Grade:

Week	Date	Goal
One	9/15-9/19	Discuss technology  in school with students / Parent Meeting Sept. 16 at 4 PM & Sept. 18 at 7 PM
Two	9/22-9/26	Developing a felt need
Three-Four	9/29-10-10	Devices will be used in core classrooms, but cannot leave
Five-Six	10/4-10/24	Devices can be used in all classrooms, will travel with students, but will return to 1st period by the end of the day
Seven	10/27-11/3	Students demonstrate proper care of devices - charge!
Eight	11/3	Students use chromebooks ubiquitously

Sixth Grade:

Week	Date	Goal
One	9/22-9/26	Discuss technology  in school with students / Parent Meeting Sept. 23 at 4 PM & Sept. 25 at 7 PM
Two	9/29-10/3	Developing a felt need
Three-Four	10/6-10/17	Devices will be used in core classrooms, but cannot leave
Five-Six	10/20-10/31	Devices can be used in all classrooms, will travel with students, but will return to 1st period by the end of the day
Seven	11/3-11/10	Students demonstrate proper care of devices - charge!
Eight	11/10	Students use chromebooks ubiquitously

Fifth Grade:

Week	Date	Goal
One	9/29-10/3	Discuss technology  in school with students / Parent Meeting Sept. 30 at 4 PM & Oct. 2 at 7 PM
Two	10/6-10/10	Developing a felt need
Three-Four	10/14-10/24	Devices will be used in core classrooms, but cannot leave
Five-Six	10/27-11/7	Devices can be used in all classrooms, will travel with students, but will return to 1st period by the end of the day
Seven	11/10-11/17	Students demonstrate proper care of devices - charge!
Eight	11/17	Students use chromebooks ubiquitously

#SAVMP: Our Perspectives

I wanted to post some collective thoughts on the School Administrator Virtual Mentoring Program I have been a part of for the past year. #SAVMP connects current and aspiring administrators from around the world and I was so lucky to even participate in the program. My fellow mentee (@AndrewSharosAP) and my mentor (@TonySinanis) wanted to contribute a collaborative blog post that summarized our experience learning from each other. 

You will find similar posts to mine on Andrew's blog.

And on Tony's blog here.

I am looking forward to expanding #savmp within my own school district and am so grateful to the work of George Couros and Amber Teamann to connect us. This was an awesome example of how a PLN can really help us grow together.

 1. Why did I sign up for #SAVMP?

Andrew: I was an Assistant Dean and Social Studies teacher in a high school setting looking for an administrative position when I first heard about #SAVMP. I knew it was a great opportunity for me to learn and grow as a school leader. I was interested in connecting with people from outside my PLN and outside my district. I think the perspective that the program offered afforded me a great opportunity to learn more about leadership. I did not know what to expect when we first started but I knew that I had absolutely nothing to lose by signing up.

John: I saw a post on Twitter from George Couros about developing a mentorship program for new administrators. At the time I was finishing up my Educational Leadership program and wanted to continue to learn from others, I knew this would be a great way to continue my learning.
 

Tony: I was entering my ninth year as an elementary level building administrator and for the first time in my career, I genuinely felt like I might have something to offer a new or aspiring educational leader. The possibility of mentoring someone was of interest to me because as an educator I feel it is my responsibility to support and encourage those new to the field - to possibly help them avoid some of the landmines I hit during the early stages of my career and meet with greater levels of success. Also, it was clear to me that being paired with people through a mentoring program meant that I would do a lot of learning myself and that is always a priority for me. The appeal of #SAVMP was that it was using Twitter as the platform for the mentoring experience and that definitely spoke to my interests and made me feel like it would be much more manageable.

2. How did #SAVMP help you learn and grow as an administrator?

Andrew: I am one of those people who claim, “I have never won anything in my life”... until now. I won the lottery by getting Tony Sinanis as my mentor. He immediately reached out to me through twitter and we began learning together right away. He gave me feedback on my blog posts and encouraged me to stretch my thinking as a school leader. I think more than anything, #SAVMP exposed me to a different type of school leader than I have observed in my career. There’s power in learning from someone across the country who works with a different population. There’s agency in a process that encourages sharing of ideas and leadership styles. My interaction with my mentor provided all of that, and more. As I began to interview for different administrative jobs, I scheduled Google Hangouts and phone calls with my mentor. Tony was an amazing asset to have in my corner- always coaching me on the logistics of answering questions but also giving me the confidence I needed to be successful.

John: By taking on a mentor who is completely outside of my own school, district, and state I knew it would allow me a chance to look at education, and leadership through a completely different lens. When I was partnered with Tony Sinanis, I knew I was extremely fortunate. Tony reached out to me and immediately began to develop a relationship with me that went beyond the world of Twitter. Tony invited me to his school to see how his school functions and what a typical day looks like for him. I was immediately blown away. It is easy for someone to state what they believe on Twitter or in a blog post, but it another thing completely to turn those beliefs into reality. That is what Tony Sinanis has done at Cantiague Elementary school in Jericho, New York. We spent the entire day in classrooms and I was treated like a celebrity by the student just because I knew Mr. Sinanis. The students at his school absolutely love him because Tony sees them as children, not test scores. He knows EVERY student’s name and can talk to them about their individual interests. I left Cantiague knowing I had a great of work to do to build these types of relationships at my own school. However, I was comforted by the fact that I had seen a great school in action and if Tony could do it, so could I. Throughout the year I would throw questions at Tony about how he would handle different situations and no matter how busy he was, he was always able to get back to me and give me a piece of advice.

Tony: From my vantage point, it is clear that I learned so much more from Andrew and John than they did from me. Their enthusiasm, passion and willingness to take risks in their current roles was an incredible inspiration for me. They provided me opportunities to dialogue about leadership, the current landscape of public education, pedagogy and a bunch of other topics that I am incredibly passionate about and love discussing. Through our conversations and exchanges - whether through email, Voxer, text, in person, through a GHO, I was able to deliberate with them and broaden my point of view and perspectives, which helped me become a better leader and educator. I have done a lot of research about the idea of social learning and the power of learning through social interactions with other like-minded people and the #SAVMP became just that for me - I was learning something through every interaction I had with John and Andrew and was fortunate to be associated with them. Being that I technically had the title of mentor in this relationship, the highlights for me were the successes that Andrew and John experienced this year - John successfully completing his first year as a building administrator; Andrew securing his first administrative position; John pushing me to participate in national podcasts with our kids; and Andrew becoming a father. These are just some of the highlights and in the end, it is an honor to be associated with these incredible educators who have become friends and mentors for me.   
 

3. What will this program mean for you going forward?

Andrew: I am so thankful to Amber and George for helping me connect to some great leaders in our field. I would love to continue on as a #SAVMP mentor or mentee to continue learning and blogging. I was not able to answer all of the blog topics every week so I am excited to double back to some of them in the future. I would also like to start a mini-admin mentoring program in my own school district using #SAVMP as a model.

John: I am grateful for the opportunity Amber Teamann and George Courus provided me with, to connect and learn from Tony. I feel as though we have developed a stronger relationship than I could have ever expected when I started this program. Moving forward I feel like I am just as lucky to be connected with Andrew. I was lucky to have Tony as a mentor and hear his words of wisdom, but having Andrew to learn with will be an added bonus that I did not foresee when I started #SAVMP. I can’t wait to schedule an #Edcamp where the three of us can get together face to face for the first time.

Tony: There is no doubt that going forward the #SAVMP experience has left an indelible mark on me - both personally and professionally. First off, a special thank you to George Couros and Amber Teamann for facilitating this experience because once again, they helped push me out of my comfort zone and gave me access to experiences that helped me learn and grow. Second of all, I now have access to two awesome educators from different parts of the country who I can rely on for support, perspective and ideas and that is definitely a critical part of the PLN. Finally, participating in #SAVMP has given me two new friends who make my world a better place - I cannot wait until the next time I get to collaborate with John and Andrew! ROCK ON!