TEDxBurnsvilleED Only One Week Away

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With only a little over a week to go until my TED Talk, I'm rehearsing constantly in preparation for my time on the stage at the Minnesota History Center.

I'm looking forward to hearing the other speakers and am humbled to have been chosen for such an honor. I'm also excited to share some of the same concepts that have been driving the work in my district to empower students and to ensure that we are providing the access to devices and other technology that they need in order to be well-prepared for life and studies after leaving my school district.

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In my opinion, it's imperative that we as educators are providing the access to devices and support needed for how to use them for educational purposes in order to ensure that all of our students are real world ready and can navigate through life after high school and be successful, no matter where that path may lead them.

#Leadershipday14 - The SAMR Model Is A Self-Reflective Tool Not An Evaluation Tool

It can be tempting to try to repurpose the SAMR model to be used for evaluation purposes in terms of teacher technology use in the classroom. The SAMR model is designed to be a self-reflective model of technology use though and should not be used as an evaluative tool.

This past summer, I had the pleasure of getting to chat with Dr. Ruben Puentedura at ISTE about the SAMR model and which graphic representation he felt was easiest for teachers to understand.

Watch the video below to learn more about why the swimming pool model helps teachers to understand SAMR.

Due to the spiraling nature of technology use in the classroom, using the SAMR model would not be a fair evaluative tool because teachers may have students using technology in a substitution manner directly after using it at the redefinition level due to the changing needs of each classroom task.

Maybe having a teacher document their technology integration use throughout the year in connection with the academic projects or tasks would be a more reflective and equitable measure.

EdCampMN Reflections

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Today was a great day of informal sharing at EdCampMN at the Anderson Student Center on the Hamline University campus.

I participated in sessions on Voxer, edtech coaching, 1:1 Chromebooks, iPads in the classroom, standards-based grading, literacy resources, Twitter, and flexible learning spaces. The EdCamp model of informal group discussion and resource sharing instead of formal presentations offered plenty of opportunities to share work going on in my district and professional interests of my own.

I also had a chance to practice a little sketchnoting and uploaded my sketch here to share. I definitely see the value in visual note-taking and the connections between doodling and summarizing and how it can help students remember content better in the classroom. Sketchnoting also helps teachers document major takeaways from professional development conferences.

TED - Simon Sinek - Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe

Revisiting a TED Talk by Simon Sinek today about how good leaders make employees feel safe.

Looking forward to continuing my courses for administrative leadership license this summer and further developing my own leadership skills.