Thinking Inside the Box

In today’s world, employers look for those who can use their knowledge to do something that hasn’t been done before that allows the business to move forward, in other words, they want their employees to be innovative. In a similar fashion, it is essential that educators use what they know about teaching and learning and provide new and improved opportunities for their students. Unfortunately, schools have budget constraints that businesses may not have. As George Couros states in his book, The Innovator’s Mindset, “Innovating in our schools requires a different type of thinking, one that doesn’t focus on ideas that are “outside of the box” but those that allow us to be innovative despite budgetary constraints. In other words, we need to learn to innovate inside the box.” [p.36]. So what does that look like?

An example of “inside the box” innovation would be our Freshman English reading requirement change. Students still need to read and analyze text, build vocabulary and other skills previously expected but rather than all freshman reading the same book, they are now allowed to choose a book they are interested in. The teachers built up a library of books that students can choose from using funds already budgeted for, books they donated from their own shelves and garage sale finds. After the student’s initial shock that they were given a choice, they are reading more, writing book recommendations, creating video book talks, and sharing their excitement about their books. Students who come into the program as struggling readers are completing books and many students are reading far more than the requirement. It’s exciting to witness. Teachers took a problem, student disinterest in the assigned book, and designed an improved program within the constraints they were given which improved student outcomes.

So what is your “inside the box” thinking?

A Culture of Innovation

I discovered the second session of the Innovator’s Mindset Massive Open Online Course (#IMMOOC on Twitter) while reading George Couros’ The Principal of Change blog recently.  I’d been wanting to read his book, The Innovator’s Mindset, for a while now and it seemed like a great way to both read the book and connect with others while doing so. The book discusses what innovation is and isn’t. It also explores what it takes to build a culture of innovation. Bonus: one of the tasks assigned in the course is to blog each week. That ties into one of my personal goals so here we go!

I’ll begin by admitting that I had a concept of what it meant to be innovative but I actually looked up the definition of the word to be sure. Innovative: having new ideas about how something can be done. Thank you Merriam-Webster. George defines innovation “as a way of thinking that creates something new and better.” So to have an innovator’s mindset one is willing to think about and test out new methods for doing something and making it better.

During this past summer, I attended a workshop in Human Centered Design, a process that involves observing and learning from the people that you are designing for, identifying opportunities and prototyping possible solutions, and then bringing those prototypes back to those people to try out and give feedback on. The cycle of iteration. The entire process of human-centered design always keeps those that you are designing for in the forefront of the process. There are no bad ideas in the design process just opportunities to improve on and/or combine ideas to discover the best possible solution. One is always looking for ways to improve and do it better but always with people at the center. Sounds much like innovation!

So how do we support our innovative educators and build on what they’re doing and spread the enthusiasm for what they are doing throughout the school? Those in leadership positions must model the very innovation that they want to see. For example, if there was a collective decision to become a G-Suite for Education school because of the many ways it allows for collaboration and sharing, then use the Google tools in your work as an administrator. Don’t keep using the very tools that you’ve asked your educators to move away from. Get in the trenches and work through the sometimes painful process of change with them. So what if you share a Google Doc only to discover you gave everyone editing rights instead of view only rights and someone made a change when you weren’t looking. Consider it a great opportunity to learn about the revision history!

Take risks with teachers so they know it’s ok to take risks in their classroom. Be in the classroom with them to see the process and when something fails, help them brainstorm ways to move forward. It’s about listening more than talking, it’s about being empathic and understanding. It’s about relationships. It’s about change. It’s about serving teachers and students and providing them the tools to grow.

Makerspace Expansion - Yes Please!

So what exactly is a makerspace and why expand it? A makerspace is any space where people can gather to wonder, tinker, try things out, create and learn with and from each other. They're fun, engaging and promote many of the skills and habits of mind that we want our students to take with them when they graduate.

Our makerspace opened during the 15-16 school year thanks to Mr. Chris Jones, our French language instructor. Working together with a few other teachers that shared the same 5th hour (lunch time) prep hour, he started with various cooking and art projects once a week (chocolate truffles were a big favorite!) Students would gather, create, design, have fun and socialize together. Now fast forward to the current school year. Over the summer we hired a S.T.E.M. director, Dr. Catherine Molloseau. We also, with student assistance, re-designed the layout of our library which opened up a much larger space which is perfect for students to gather before, during and after school for various activities.

So... Existing makerspace with limited meeting
times meets newly opened library space. Sprinkle in a little S.T.E.M., add a location move to the library desk for the Instructional Technology Specialist (me) and there you have it! The perfect recipe for a Makerspace Expansion!

The new expansion opened on the first day of second semester and students began dropping in throughout the day.  In the makerspace expansion they discovered 3D printing (both the full-size version and a hand-held 3D Doodler), Wacom drawing tablet, Arduino boards, Little Bits kits, Snap Circuits, access to coding resources, puzzles, duct tape, art supplies, clay, an iPad with stop-motion apps installed, button making, paper bead making, books that help spark the imagination or guide one through a project, yarn, fabric, glue guns, ink and stamps for making greeting cards, and the list goes on. Each Thursday students and staff can drop in during lunch to learn about coding, arduinos, or other maker topics. These might be led by Dr. Molloseau or it might be one of our many talented students. Our iPad help desk, manned by Mr. Josh Friederichs who is our 3D printing expert, is also located here so there is usually someone available to ask for assistance if it's needed.

It's been a busy few weeks since opening and we are looking forward to what our students can design and create in this new space. Oh, and just in case you're wondering... Yes, they still make chocolate truffles!

Tell Your Learning Story!

Who doesn’t like a good story? Many students, yes, even high school students, enjoy gathering around their teacher or a guest reader, listening to a story being read to them. How many of us spend an evening, relaxing either at a movie theater or in the comfort of our own home, watching a movie? How often are teens online viewing YouTube videos? Fire up your laptop, or mobile device and whether you enjoy a drama, a comedy, a tragedy, or history, you can find something that appeals to the story lover inside. Storytelling is an ancient art and before the written word was the only means of conveying knowledge and entertainment. Storytellers were sought out and highly respected. So what does this have to do with educational technology and today’s students? Rather than be only the “listeners”, why not let them be the storytellers? Sure, they may be writing some stories in their English classes but let’s take it further. In our 1:1 iPad environment, students have an entire video creation studio at their fingertips. Download iMovie and start putting that built-in camera and microphone to use to tell the story of their learning. Want some ideas for what is possible? Visit Rushton Hurley’s Next Vista for Learning website. Search for almost any topic and you’ll find a student created video about it. There’s even a Lightbulbs section that breaks the videos down by subject. Want to know what subject has the most student created videos? Math! Well now… there went that excuse!

Here are some tips (thanks to Matt Miller for these) that might help make video creation projects go more smoothly:

• Storyboard - map out what you want to say and draw out what scenes you want to shoot before beginning to shoot video. This will speed up the process measurably.
• Remember it doesn’t have to be perfect - Think YouTube not Universal Studios!
• Give yourself a little leeway - start your recording and then don't speak for about 4-5 seconds and then leave a few seconds of silence when you're finished talking. This will give you some room to add titles, transitions, etc. You can always crop what you don't need out later.
• If your video includes interviews it might be worthwhile investing in a low-cost lavalier microphone similar to this one available from Amazon to enhance the audio quality.
• Bring in other elements - still photos, news clips, personal interviews, and music will add depth to the story.
• Share with a larger audience - don’t save these videos for just your eyes! With student permission, show them at open houses and community forums, post a link to the website, even have students submit to one of Next Vista for Learning’s contests!

So put on that director's hat, grab your portable video recording studio and let your students tell us a story!

Augmented Reality for Classroom

I always learn a lot while attending the AssisTechKnow conference that Kent ISD puts on every Oct. This year was no exception. One of my biggest take aways this year was Augmented Reality in the classroom. The two teachers that presented, Karrie Martin and Melanie McFadden did a great job walking us through the possible uses of several different AR apps such as Daqri 3D Elements and Anatomy 4D, Quiver and various AR Flashcard apps that all bring chemistry, anatomy, coloring pages, and earlier elementary concepts to life. My favorite was Aurasma, an AR platform that allows one to easily create AR auras. With this tool, teachers and students alike can truly add value to their classroom reality. The tool is available via a browser as well as apps for both iOS and Android so platform isn’t a problem and the process of creating an Aura is pretty straight forward. You need the app, something for the trigger and a video for the "live" portion of the aura. Open the app, create a new aura, select or take a photo of your trigger, overlay your video and finalize the aura. Use the same app to scan the trigger and view the aura after you finish.

You’ve all walked through a high school hallway and admired student work displayed on the bulletin board. Now imagine having this student work come to life! Point your mobile device with the Aurasma app installed at the student work and listen and watch the student explain why and how they accomplished the work and what they learned from it.

Ideas for how an educator can utilize an app like this are endless. Here are a just a few examples:

Take your teacher home with you: How often to you discover that students have forgotten the instructions for a worksheet by the time they get home? Create a how-to video and make the worksheet the trigger. The student uses Aurasma and suddenly you’re there with them at home explaining what they need to do.

Book Talks: Students looking for a good book to read for class? A book cover can become the trigger for a student’s video explaining why someone should read the book. Print out labels of the Aurasma app icon to tape to the book so students know which ones are triggers.

Virtual Meet the Teacher: Parents waiting in line for conferences? Why not have a trigger posted outside your classroom door or near your conference station that parents can scan with Aurasma and find out what inspires you, what goes on in your classroom and why you love teaching!

Explain Math Problem Solutions: Post the solution to a complex math problem and it becomes the trigger for the student’s explanation and demonstration of how they accomplished the solution.

Give Aurasma a try and I'm sure you'll find several uses for Aurasma! Oh, and did I mention it's FREE! The awesome just keeps coming!

My sketchnote of Karrie & Melanie's session at AssisTechKnow16

Just take a moment...

School gets busy. Works gets busy. Life gets busy. I mean, it’s October people! What happened to August and September?! With all that busyness we get tired and often don’t take those moments that we all need to slow down, analyze and reflect. While reading the various blog updates that get sent to my inbox there seemed to be two common themes; reflection and sharing.

Change, information overload, and daily “noise” from all of our various screens (I have 3 on my desk right now) and media are constants in today’s world. We need to take the time to analyze all of that information to make good decisions about what is good information, what will work well for us now, what we want to consider at a later date and what we can just say, “Eh, that isn’t for me!” So how does one find the time to reflect? Don’t find it, schedule it! Whether it’s fifteen minutes or a couple of hours, open up that calendar app and make an appointment with yourself. Set a reminder that will pop up on your phone, iPad, and computer. When that reminder pops up, shut the laptop, put your phone and iPad on silent or Do Not Disturb (swipe up from the bottom of your iPad screen and hit that little crescent moon symbol), and enter your quiet place. As John Dewey said, “We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience.” So, take a breath and then just think about how your day went. What went well, what didn’t go well and what could you change to make it go better? Jot down some notes if you wish so that when you get busy again tomorrow your thoughts don’t get lost in the shuffle. Those notes will also help with the next step, sharing. Yup, reflecting just isn’t enough. You need to share with others. Whether it’s bouncing ideas off of your colleagues in the lunchroom or writing a blog post for the world to read, we all have a story to tell. So tell yours and by doing so you may spark others to share their thoughts and then all can move forward.

Hmmm… guess I need to take a look at my calendar and set up a few appointments with myself! See you at lunch!

SPRING BREAKOUT!

Some of the CCHS teachers who saved
the world at their April PD session

It's spring (or at least the calendar says it is) and time for something different for our April delayed start PD. After attending the ½ day MACUL workshop on BreakoutEDU, lead by Kelly Kermode from Forest Hills Public Schools, I was excited to try a BreakoutEDU activity with our teachers. I decided to run the Dr. Johnson’s Lab game for the PD. Boxes, locks, and other equipment were purchased, clues were printed out, and mixed curricular groups were organized. I had a couple teachers and our technology specialist try out the game to make sure everything flowed well and that all the locks worked correctly. They then assisted as facilitators in the rooms where we hid the clues. On PD day, the concept of BreakoutEDU was presented to teachers using the facilitator’s presentation available on the BreakoutEDU website. The scenario for the Dr. Johnson’s Lab game was laid out and… It was a hit! Teachers enjoyed the game and all groups were able to breakout and saved the world! After consuming their antidote we met briefly to review this new activity.

And then... I had a “Doh!” moment. I didn’t have them sit down with their department groups to discuss how they could use BreakoutEDU to facilitate learning in their subject area. Instead, I let them go a few minutes early. Granted there wasn’t a lot of time remaining before classes began for the day and who doesn't like getting out a bit early but it was a missed opportunity! Even with limited time we could have begun the conversation. It was the one comment that was repeated in the feedback survey. “We would have liked to discuss the use of BreakoutEDU in our subject area.” Sigh… I felt like holding up the EPIC FAIL! sign from the breakout games, having someone take a photo and posting it on the bulletin board in the teacher lounge. Or, maybe not...

Moodle to the rescue! I created a discussion forum and posed the question, “How could you use a BreakoutEDU activity in your classroom?” Now, not only can the teachers discuss but we’ll have a resource to refer back to and can continue the discussion. I was also able to add some of the content that I didn’t include in the presentation such as digital breakouts, the searchable site for games, and other resources. Several of our teachers have used or are planning a BreakoutEDU activity in their classrooms in the near future.

So a “Doh! Moment” can become a great resource. I think that’s called learning from failure or at least that’s what I’m going with!