Smore!!

This week I wanted to share with you this flyer I made up using the website Smore.
Smore is a website that allows you to design and share newsletters and flyers digitally. 

Dr. Mausbach recommended this site to me in order to complete my project on Blended Learning.  My project was a flyer with information and Frequently Asked Questions from my research of Blended Learning.   The thought behind the flyer was to give the key stakeholders in my school more information of what integrating technology should or could look like.
Please click here to preview my flyer.

This website proved to be user friendly.  I was able to take templates and use those as examples to enter in my own information.  I could insert pictures, Google Docs and web links to sites that I would want my readers to click on to gain more information.  When I am ready to share the flyer, the website offers multiple sharing tools such as Facebook and Twitter.  I can even edit it again and again as I see fit.  This will be useful to me because this summer I have the opportunity to go to a Blended Learning Symposium in Santa Clara, California.  Six administrators and educators from the rural and metro schools in the Archdiocese are being afforded this experience.  I am looking forward to learning more about blended learning and all the benefits that can be gained from it.  After attending this symposium I will be able to add any new information that I acquire to my flyer and delete any that is not needed. 

I loved this site so much that I decided to create a newsletter for my Preschool class.  I usually do a mass email at the end of the week to let parents know what we are learning and to inform them of any upcoming events.  I found that by using Smore, my newsletters come to life!  They are colorful, engaging, informational, and fun!  I was able to put in a link to a song that we did that week.  This way preschoolers can sing the song at home with their family.  I added pictures- the parents love pictures!  I inserted a Google Form link for our End of the Year Picnic.  Parents were able to click on the link and immediately complete the form and I have it in real time.  Here is the link to my Preschool newsletter if you would like to take a peek.  :)

Final Thoughts- I have learned so much these past 7 weeks and have realized three important concepts.
1)  It is so important to create a PLN for yourself.  So much is said about having a digital footprint in this world.  If you don't have any- that says a lot.  I am thoroughly enjoying my Twitter account and have gained so much information from following key people and learning from them. 
2)  Every school needs to develop a Technology Integration Plan.  Without a plan or a focus, great things might be happening at your school, however these great things are not being worked on cooperatively or collaboratively.  When the teacher that is doing these great things leaves, so do the "great things". 
3)  Building relationships.  Even with the integration of technology, that face-to-face contact with the teachers and other students is incredibly important.  It is important for the guidance, feedback, and project collaboration.    We still need to create that bond with our students because you can't get care, concern, and love from a computer.   These are gifts of the heart.

Too Much?

And then this happened....

On Fridays, our parish has Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.  The students go to mass on Fridays and after mass Father prepares the Eucharist by placing it in the monstrance all while we are kneeling and singing.  This last Friday, one Kindergarten boy was intently watching Father do this.  Father carefully opened the little latch to on the back of the monstrance to place the Blessed Sacrament for prayers and adoration.  The little boy was not at an angle that he was able to see what Father was placing in the monstrance so with his background knowledge and prior experience, he quietly turned around to me and asked, "Is Father putting batteries in that thing?" :)  Ahhh....#teachable moment

This gave me a smile but also led me to reflect on everything digital.  This little boy with all of 5 years on this earth knew that when a little latch was opened that's where the batteries go and most things have or need batteries to work.  Technology is a part of the little boy's life, but how much is too much?

This week I explored and researched blended learning.  Blended learning does just what it says -it blends online learning with face-to-face instruction.  It has different looks to it in different classrooms  and schools but the outcomes in most situations include increased engagement, increased achievement and increased student performance. This is what we all want, right????

When I first heard of blended learning I was fearful that it was a push to diminish greatly the role of a teacher.  With everything technology driven and the push toward a digital world, do we even need a teacher in the classroom?  Will blended learning be the model of learning that we integrate to help us stay financially afloat by decreasing staff?  If it is, I'm not liking this idea at all...  I see students in classrooms, headphones on, hooked up and linked into the techie world.  The adult in the room, merely a supervisor, is walking around helping with technical issues, giving permissions to use the restroom, or is the official "clock-watcher".  This is not a pretty picture- dull, drab, gray....Communication, group discussions and collaborations, project-based learning, inquiry, questioning- where is it?  It is all missing...

Thankfully through the research that I read this week, taking the teacher out of the equation is not what the experts recommend.  Whew....  As a matter of fact they suggest and encourage just the opposite.  With any new model or concept proposed to increase student learning, actual teaching can NEVER be omitted from the equation.   The face to face contact with teachers and peers is something that students crave (whether they admit it or not!) and allows students to build relationships in order

to collaborate, communicate, and create.  We cannot shift from a teacher focused classroom to a computer focused classroom and expect student learning to increase.  We need to gear toward a student focused classroom that uses the best blend of teacher and technology.  With blended learning, teachers can be more accessible to students beyond the walls of the school and timeframe of the school day.  This builds that relationship even further and engages students even more. Relationships are what matters and that face-to-face contact of group learning, discussions with asking and answering questions, giving and getting feedback, and a general care and concern cannot be replaced.  

Professional Growth Period

While developing my Professional Development project this week, I was intrigued by a concept laid out in Sheninger's (2014) Digital Leadership of a model of professional development called Professional Growth Period (PGP) This PGP allows staff the autonomy to learn about anything that interests or motivates them as long as it has the impact of potentially impacting student learning.  This Professional Growth Period is time (one 48 minute period)  given to teachers/staff members during contract time 2-3 times a week.  This PGP time is to be used specifically for learning, innovating, and pursuing ways to become a better educator and learner as well as to follow passions and acquire new knowledge.  In essence this is a individualized and differentiated learning plan for educators. 

Some sample activities were given:

• Develop and engage in a PLN
• Research Best Practices
• Develop Learning Activities
• Engage in Real time PD
• Learn to use Tech tools
• Collaborate with Colleagues

There were also guidelines developed that this time was to be used for professional growth and not time to make copies, get coffee/food, or socialize in the office.   To give accountability to this process, teachers were expected to submit a learning portfolio and the end of the year that demonstrated how the PGP time was used to improve professional practice.

Here is Sheninger's blog on PGP.  Within this blog, Sheninger gives specific and imp

ressive examples of how his staff demonstrated professional learning.  It is worth it to take a look at these examples.

This model is genius and worth using as a model to integrate into our professional development plan.  One of my biggest concerns about professional development has always been -TIME!  It is so typical of places that I have been that educators are not given the time or are expected to use their own time to process, develop, and integrate best practices and learning.  I don't know another profession that expects the employees to use their own time to become a master at their craft.

Differentiating learning for teachers- what a concept!  We do this all the time for students and it only makes sense to do it for teachers.  Although I would love to schedule this PGP time 2-3 times a week for our staff, in reality I know that would not be possible with our current schedule and resources.  I think this is something that we could implement slowly, possibly 2-4 times a semester, and then evaluate to determine the success and how it is impacting student learning.

Embrace Change??- Yes, I am.