My EdCamp Global Experience

When I explained EdCamp Global to some colleagues in June and invited them to join me, they looked at me as though I was crazy.
It wasn't in my mind, a couple even told me they thought I was crazy! Staying up for 24 hours to do online sessions? Not one of them wanted to join me.


Well, it was most definitely their loss! Here is some of the learning I have done over the past 24 hours.

I joined a Voxer chat about the importance of finding your people. The conversation was meaningful and, best of all, I added several new people to my PLN. Have you tried Voxer? It is such a nice way to have a conversation that is synchronous, but that keeps going into the asynchronous once time runs out. You can leave a voice message, so the conversation feels very personal, but you can share taxt and images too to convey what isn't easy out loud. I highly recommend that you check out Voxer.

The first challenge that participants completed was to each make a slide to introduce themselves in a shared Google Slides deck. I was asked to use the slides to create a collaborative EdCamp Global 2016 movie, something I have done for previous events. Here is the result:

I participated in more challenges and listened to more sessions, all the while connecting with fantastic educators from all over the US and Canada. I confess that I did not stay up all night, but I did stay up until 3:30 and start again at 7:00. Being tired, but motivated to keep up the intensive learning is part of the EdCamp Global fun.

One of my main goals during this event was to being broadcasting on Periscope.  I have been exploring the possibility of using Periscope for about three weeks since EdCamp Voxer. I decided that I needed some motivation to just start, and EdCamp Global was it. I participated in a session on the Power of Periscope with Heather Marrs (@hmarrs24) and Cassie Reeder (@reeder_cassie). The session was great because it included tips about how to do a good scope and how to get followers. We also shared our handles and followed each other. Now I feel like I have a group of buddies who are just starting out with Periscope too as well as some mentors to answer questions. I had a ball completing the scavenger hunt scopes for this session. I will definitely be using this tool to connect with teachers during the school year.

Here is one of my very first scopes. It is about my summer reading.

I need to go back and re-watch the #BookSmash and #AppSmash sessions to be sure that I remember all the great tools and ideas that were shared. That's the beauty of these session - you can go back! I added some of the Hangouts on Air that I wanted to check out again, or that conflicted with other sessions to a YouTube Playlist. I also added plenty of shared files to a folder in Google Drive. The EdCamp Global learning doesn't end this weekend because I can go back anytime during the year and access the information and tools when I need them. I watched scopes about Augmented reality and virtual reality, and generally dreamed of possibilities.

One of the last scopes I attended was about developing your PLN on social media. This session brought everything together. I need to promote social media and development of PLNs for our teachers this coming year.

Thanks for a great 24 hours, EdCamp Global. I think I'm fired up enough to get to Christmas!!

Brainstorming at ISTE

There is no shortage of new ideas to consider and explore at ISTE. From attending sessions to
exploring the exhibit hall to chatting with friends and new acquaintances, we leave the conference each day with tired brains.

Tasked with gathering information about Maker Spaces to bring back to our school board, Cheryl (@ETSBMathSci) and I have attended several sessions touching the Maker movement and explored various tools in the exhibit hall. We have also had substantial time to discuss our respective understandings of  what Making entails. Today we brainstormed a bit about our vision for what we would like to create next year in our school board.

We would like to create a Learning Commons space at the school board office. This space would include comfortable seating for reading and researching with chart paper and markers handy for planning and recording discussions. Ideally, we would like to have some adjustable standing/sitting desks or work stations.

Once we create this space and make it welcoming with the right furniture, we will need to add some maker materials. Teachers in the Eastern Townships School Board are issued their own laptops and iPads (depending on the grade level they teach), so we will not need to provide this type of machine. It might be useful to provide some speakers, earbuds, and of course, power bars to plug into. It would be great to have a green screen as well as some kind of tripod that will hold an iPad. Eventually, a Swivl would be fantastic! It is important to us that we not stop with the technology side of things. We would stock the space with materials, but we have not yet made the list of these.

Now comes the fun part...how do we see this space being used? The Learning Commons could be used by Pedagogical Services team members as needed. It would also serve as a breakout space for small groups of administrators during principals' meetings. While these might be the immediate function of the space, the intention is that this Model Learning Commons would be a space to teach principals about the kinds of spaces they can create in their schools. Principals would even be able to reserve the Learning Commons for a Pedagogical day and bring their teachers to the central office for a full-day of whole-staff professional development. This training would include information about learning commons and maker spaces, as well as some hands-on experience with Making.

Cheryl and I are both excited to see what kind of space we can create and how we can share the idea of learning commons and fitting Making into teachers' lessons. We are hoping that some ISTE participants will help us out with some suggestions for technology and non-technology materials that we should include. Please let us know what you think will be essential. We can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Getting Ready for ISTE 2015

We are now into the final countdown of hours before leaving for Philadelphia to attend ISTE 2015. I have started to explore the session, but still don't feel like I am getting anywhere. While I have been to ISTE before, I have a feeling that things might have changed a bit since 2008! I carefully read the tweets and blog posts containing advice for getting ready for your first trip to ISTE, but there doesn't seem to be enough time!

From last time, I know that I want to spend some time in the Blogger Café. In 2008, this was a great place for informal conversations and I did a lot of connecting and learning there. I have not been very successful at regular blogging, but I do value the reflective practice and sharing of ideas in this way. I am also hoping that with my new position and renaming this blog I will be able to manage more frequent posts.

I also know that I want to meet up with friends from Twitter and am planning on attending the live #4thchat on Monday evening. I will try to connect with a few others as well.

Last time, I more-or-less ignored the poster sessions in favour of the more formal sessions. I only discovered what a goldmine these sessions were on the afternoon of the very last day. I definitely plan to work the poster sessions into the schedule of things to see at some point.

So tomorrow I will be packing and Sunday heading to ISTE. If you see me wandering around (possibly looking lost) or sitting at the Blogger Café, please say hello!

A New Name...

Today I received the official confirmation that I am changing jobs! I have been lucky to be the replacement Math, Science and Technology, and Early Intervention Consultant during @MsEnright's full-year leave of absence. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. As it turns out, an exciting new opportunity has presented itself and I will not be returning to my grade 4 classroom as I had planned at the end of my year. Instead, I will move to the board office on a permanent basis as the Educational Consultant for Information Technologies.

Since 2011, this blog has been called "Blogging Fourth" and I blogged about teaching in grade 4. I did not really want to archive these posts and change blog addresses, but the old name no longer describes what I will be posting about. The decision to simply re-name my blog is helped by the fact that, thus far, I have not really promoted my blog and do not really have followers. Maybe now is the time for me to change that.
So welcome to Meacher's Meanderings where I will post about teaching and supporting teachers in teaching with technology.

I'm Going to ISTE 2015!

When I first got the approval to go to ISTE in Philadelphia this year, it didn't seem quite real. I kept feeling like something would happen and I would not be able to go. Now that June is here and ISTE is right around the corner, I am starting to believe.

I am very lucky that a number of people are coming together to make this possible for me by driving my son to summer camp, looking after my daughter while my husband works overnight, and more.

I am very much looking forward to a whirlwind few days with incredible amounts of information. I am also looking forward to kick-starting me blogging again and spending some time building up my Twitter PLN. Best of all, I get to share the whole experience with a colleague and I couldn't ask for better than @ETSBMathSci.

Now, back to a very busy last month of the year!

Authentic Audience

On Monday, I will be presenting to a small group of teachers about Authentic Audience and Genuine Connections. The process of preparing my presentation got me thinking about my sporadic blogging.

I have written posts on and off for my blog, but very seldom get comments on it. This is not a great mystery as I have not done as much as I could to publicize my blog. I sometimes tweet or post to google+ about a new post, but not in a consistent, energetic way. As such, I am not overly disappointed by the last of traffic.

So here is the question: does this lack of traffic mean that I do not have an authentic audience? I don't think that's true.  If I wrote in a paper journal that I kept tucked in my desk drawer, or even a digital journal kept safe on my hard drive, then I would not have an audience. I don't think that the important thing is the size of the audience, it is the potential for audience.

The fact that my posts are public and I have put them out there means that someone could read them and maybe even comment on them. I might contribute to someone else's thinking. Then again, I might not. As I write, I do not know which it will be. I will take the same care to ensure that I have written clearly and communicated my thoughts in a logical way for a potential audience as for an actual one because there is always possibility. My thinking and my writing must be better because it is more public than just for myself.

This translates very well to my classroom blogging. Students know that there is the possibility that classmates, or even people beyond the class could read what they have written. They step up their game because the potential for comments is there. Even if those comments only materialize occasionally, the potential is there. The authenticity of what they are doing, putting their work out there, is a great motivator for many of them.

This also applies to my presentation on Monday. The conference has lower attendance than expected and several sessions are being cancelled for low registration. Even though only a few people have signed up for my session, I intend to give it anyways. Those teachers are an authentic audience, if a small one. They are interested in what I have to say. I intend to put together a session that is every bit as good and perhaps better than I would have for a full house. They are my audience and I do not need large numbers for them to be a real audience. They deserve the best I can offer.

Show Your Talent

I am proud of my class today.

I just got home from the gala for the "Show Your Talent" contest for the Eastern Townships School Board. Several of my students performed live with the school Glee club. Overall, our school was very well represented.

My class submitted an anti-bullying video for the video-technology part of the competition. They cut two songs together and planned actions for the who thing. They taught the necessary actions to students in the other classes. We filmed it all on Pink Shirt Day on February 26th and edited it that afternoon. Here is the link to Be Brave, Be Stronger.

Our video certainly seemed polished compared to the others we saw. I am proud of my students for working together and pulling this off.