Good afternoon everyone. I wanted to start again with a big thank you to everyone in helping the deployment of devices go smoothly. Like a producer at an awards show, Mr. Hubbuch limits the amount of space (time) I have thank everyone. So thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your hard work and patience this week as we distributed devices.
Unfortunately I did not get to make it into many classes this week, but I was very impressed with what the students were already completing and producing with their devices. It has been evident in each class that I have visited that the instruction and classroom activities had been planned out well in advanced and the level of student engagement was at an optimal level. I have had multiple teachers talk to me about how excited the students have been about the devices. And while we have hit a few minor speed bumps along the way, for the most part, students seem to be acclimating to the change extremely well.
As of me typing this column, 92% of the students have a device of their own. Our goal is that we are at 100% by the end of next Wednesday. Tomorrow we all have an opportunity to participate in professional development that will be delivered using a variety of methods. To start the morning, we have a speaker talking about global collaboration and a panel that will address staff developed questions about transforming teaching and learning. The rest of the morning will offer sessions of
challenged-based learning or choice based sessions in which teachers can attend sessions led by the speakers that were on the above mentioned panel. These sessions will include how to connect and flip
your classrooms as well as how to give your students an audience outside of your four walls.
The unique thing about tomorrow’s PD is that all of the speakers that have volunteered to participate were connections that were made through twitter and other forms of social media. Tomorrow morning will be a terrific example of the importance of creating and constantly developing a PLN. After lunch, teachers will have a chance to share how they are transforming the learning in their classroom. If there is something that you observe that you are really interested in, feel free to spend more time at that table or meet up with that teacher later to get additional information. The key to tomorrow is remembering that it is about you. What do you want to learn? How are you going to take the information you learn and apply it to your classroom?
Once again, thanks everyone for a great week and remember to break up your OODA!!!!
Unfortunately I did not get to make it into many classes this week, but I was very impressed with what the students were already completing and producing with their devices. It has been evident in each class that I have visited that the instruction and classroom activities had been planned out well in advanced and the level of student engagement was at an optimal level. I have had multiple teachers talk to me about how excited the students have been about the devices. And while we have hit a few minor speed bumps along the way, for the most part, students seem to be acclimating to the change extremely well.
As of me typing this column, 92% of the students have a device of their own. Our goal is that we are at 100% by the end of next Wednesday. Tomorrow we all have an opportunity to participate in professional development that will be delivered using a variety of methods. To start the morning, we have a speaker talking about global collaboration and a panel that will address staff developed questions about transforming teaching and learning. The rest of the morning will offer sessions of
challenged-based learning or choice based sessions in which teachers can attend sessions led by the speakers that were on the above mentioned panel. These sessions will include how to connect and flip
your classrooms as well as how to give your students an audience outside of your four walls.
The unique thing about tomorrow’s PD is that all of the speakers that have volunteered to participate were connections that were made through twitter and other forms of social media. Tomorrow morning will be a terrific example of the importance of creating and constantly developing a PLN. After lunch, teachers will have a chance to share how they are transforming the learning in their classroom. If there is something that you observe that you are really interested in, feel free to spend more time at that table or meet up with that teacher later to get additional information. The key to tomorrow is remembering that it is about you. What do you want to learn? How are you going to take the information you learn and apply it to your classroom?
Once again, thanks everyone for a great week and remember to break up your OODA!!!!