Everyday Learning

As the title of my blog states, I strongly believe that we learn something each and every day. This may be learning about something personally: a hobby, about yourself, or about people you care about.  You may also learn things on a more professional perspective.

Today I am going to talk about some things I learned yesterday: on a more personal level.

We spent the day together as a family in and around Stanley Park. What a lovely day it was!  We’ve spent each of the days of the Celebration of Light fireworks performances downtown. We just love it down there!

Here are a few of the things I learned yesterday:

1.  My kids are so precious!  Now, I already knew this, of course, but just look at them:

Aren’t they sweet?

2.  Pauli may be dealing with some jealousy issues. I noticed this when I went through some of my photos from yesterday.  Hmmmmm…  I’ve noticed this in a couple other photos as well.  He loves his big sister so much, and really looks up to her.  He loves playing with her and basically loves to do everything with her.  He follows her around constantly.  Well, since Carson was born 7 months ago, Trista has really shown great interest in her baby brother.  I am thinking, by looking at the photo below that Pauli’s nose might be getting a little out of shape.  We really need to be aware of this in the future and make a consistent effort to dote on Pauli a little more. We are also going to have to try to foster more of a relationship between Pauli and Carson.

Continue reading “Everyday Learning”

Thanks, Leadership Day 2011

Leadership Day 2011 has become very inspiring!  So far, there are 76 blog posts listed that talk about Technology and Leadership in one way or another. I have read a few, but look forward to read many, many more.

One blog post that I read tonight really spoke to what I wrote in my own Leadership Day 2011 post.  Kipp Rogers wrote a blog post entitled,  “Five Web 2.0 Tools Principals Can’t Live Without”.  The five tools he wrote about included:

Flickr photo by Daniel F. Pigatto

1. Twitter

2. Today’s Meet

3.  Glogster

4.  Blogger

5. Photobucket

You can visit Kipp’s blogpost if you want a direct link to each of the 2.0 Web tools listed above.

It wasn’t those 5 tools thought that caught my attention.

Kipp wrote about the Principals’ Digital Playground (PDP) Workshops that he helped to implement in his district.  Kipp writes,Continue reading “Thanks, Leadership Day 2011”

Being a Tech-Change Agent

Scott McLeod of bigthink: Dangerously Irrelevant has put out a challenge for the past 4 years in an effort to educate our fellow administrators in the area of digital technologies.  He is calling on all educational bloggers to post a blog on August 5th, 2011 (Leadership Day 2011) –  that is related to the implementation of digital technologies. He is hoping that those who are more technologically savvy will help those of us who are not as savvy.

When I read about this challenge, I thought it was a great idea.  Then I started reflecting on my own tech-savvy-ness (yes, I am aware that isn’t a word).  The truth is, I have not been so savvy over the past 6 years, since becoming an administrator.  I think that is because I have not been in the classroom much. My teaching assignment for 5 of the last 6 years has been working as a Learning Support teacher for those students who need extra assistance learning to read, for instance.  Much of my focus in this role has been working with the youngest students in our school.  While I understand that there are many resources I could have been using with these children online, I feel I had a very balanced dynamic approach to working with these students without using technology.

The more I think about this, the more I realize that, as a Learning Support Teacher, I could have done more to support the classroom teachers in the area of technology – especially for those students who are having learning struggles.  Perhaps I didn’t need to use the technology while students worked with me in small groups, but I could have provided teachers with strategies and/or technologies which they could have used with their students in their classrooms.

I’m not going to beat myself up about this fact.  When you know better, you do better.

I have a confession to make…. Continue reading “Being a Tech-Change Agent”

Celebration of Light

I thought I would post something different today, something related to a passion of mine: photography. While I have always enjoyed taking photos, my love for photography grew even more when I purchased my first dSLR camera in May, 2008 (a Nikon d40X).  I loved this little camera!  Last year, I decided to purchase a new camera to give me more flexibility and options.  So, in the middle of December, 2010, I purchased my Nikon d7000.  I love this camera!  There is sooooo much to learn on it though.

I take a lot of photos each day.  Last year, I completed my first 365 Challenge (a photo a day for 365 days).  This year, I am completing my second 365 Challenge.  It’s going well, and I haven’t missed a day, but I am behind on getting my photos uploaded to the web (darn Twitter).

Every summer, Vancouver hosts a fireworks show called the Celebration of Light. Each year, countries come together in a competition to see who puts on the best fireworks show of the summer.  In the past, this has taken place over three days: each of the three countries got their own evening of fireworks and on the final day, they put on a show together. After the final show, a winner is announced.  This year, they are still three countries presenting, but they will do this over three evenings.  There will not be a final show where they come together as a group.  It’s always a great time and we look forward to it every year. This is the 21st year of this event and I think my husband and I have been to many of the shows, almost every year. We missed the year our daughter (our first born) was 7 months old because we didn’t think she’d handle it too well).  We’ve since learned that kids can sleep through anything – including fireworks.  Really!

On Saturday, July 30, we watched a fabulous show put on by China.  I thought I would share some of the photos I took last night of the fireworks show presented by Spain.  I hope you enjoy them! Click on the photo if you’d like to see it larger.

I feel so fortunate to live in such a wonderful city!  Canada will be performing on Saturday, April 6. Looking forward to another wonderful show!

Administrators: What Teachers Want

I attended my first #edchat chat today.  It wasn’t even on purpose. I just happened to be at the computer, on Twitter, when the chat started before my eyes, just after I asked what time the chat was scheduled to begin. I was energized, excited by, and grateful for all the wonderful, insightful comments made by everyone. While I can not do the chat justice here, I wanted to re-tweet some of the great ideas and common themes that occurred in the chat tonight.

The topic of today’s chat was: How Can Administrator’s Support Their Teachers.

There were many contributors to this chat including teachers, administrators, and others. One of the first tweets was by one of my favourite people: Todd Whitaker (@ToddWhitaker).  If you have never read any of Todd’s books, I highly recommend you do!  He has written many books and something for everyone, really. Here is a list of his books.  I see there are new titles here and many here that I have not read, but would love to. Maybe one day.

Anyways, Todd tweeted: “Keep in mind, teachers do not just want to be supported, they want to feel supported! Two very different things.”  This is so very true. Again, as I have blogged about before, it’s not always about your words, but your actions.  It is your actions that really speak more to people. These actions really impact how others feel and help to create a positive learning climate, with students, parents, teachers, and other staff members.

So, how do you go about making teachers feel supported?Continue reading “Administrators: What Teachers Want”

Differentiated Instruction or Personalized/Customized Learning – That is the Question

I attended John T. Spencer‘s session entitled, Customized Learning, at the Reform Symposium on the weekend.  It is quite amazing how inspiring a person can be in 30 minutes!  But, he was, just that, inspiring.

He talked about “empowering the students to take ownership over their own learning.” I discussed his session in a previous blog post.

John made Personalized Learning sound so easy – that’s what made him so inspiring, I think.

Then I heard @mrsbiology (Terie Engelbrecht). She talked about Differentiating Instruction for Today’s Learners.  She was fabulous and so generous!  I got a ton of ideas from her as well. She has a fabulous blog: Crazyteacherlady.com that includes a ton of resources for all teachers.  Take a look.

But, I am now at a bit of a standstill as I’m trying to prepare for the two new classes I will be teaching …

How to get started?

Does it have to be either Personalized Learning or Differentiated Instruction?

Can it be a mix of each?

Is Personalized Learning even possible or realistic only being with the students for 100 minutes each week – 2 – 50minute blocks?

Is this possible to do in isolation – not knowing the classroom teacher’s teaching/learning approach.

Where to from here?

On Becoming a Teacher/Administrator 2.0

Over the next few days/weeks, I will be blogging about some of the Reform Symposium. I will write about some of the talks, keynotes, and panel discussions.  It was truly a wonderful experience and I am hoping to get some of my thoughts down about some of what I saw/heard.  I will include some of my notes – which will be great because they won’t get “lost” here!

I loved the Action List that was presented by Steve Hargadon at his Keynote address on Sunday morning entitled Teacher 2.0.  I missed the first 30 minutes, but was impressed by what I heard for the last 30 minutes.  I will definitely be listening to his keynote again once the archives are available.

Action List for Being a Lead LearnerContinue reading “On Becoming a Teacher/Administrator 2.0”

Inspirational

If I were to use one word to describe my experience with the Reform Symposium – RSCON3 (so far, there are still a couple of sessions left), it would be Inspirational!

The presentations/keynotes/panel discussions which I was able to attend were absolutely amazing!  I only wish I could have attended more.  One of the best things about RSCON3 is that all the sessions will be archived so that I can go back to re-listen to sessions I attended, or listen to sessions I missed.  So excited about that!

There were so many new people I was introduced to this weekend!  I can not wait to stalk follow them on Twitter!  I was also introduced to great blogs, websites, wikis, webinars, and the list goes on.

Here are some words I would use to describe the presenters at the RSCON3:Continue reading “Inspirational”

RSCon3!

What a great experience it has been so far with the Reform Symposium!

While it is difficult to attend a lot of sessions with my three kids, but it has been great to be able to have the sessions going on in the background.  I have also had the opportunity to save the conversation that was happening while the session was happening, so I can go back to it later, to review what was said, to retrieve important links, and fill in the gaps of things I may have missed as I was being a mom.  It was so nice to be able to come and go as I pleased and still not miss everything. It is exciting to know that all the workshops will be archived for later use.

Here are the conferences I attended today (all or part of):

John T. Spencer – It’s Personal – from Differentiating to Customized Learning – 71+ participants  http://educationrethink.com

During his presentation, John talked about his frustration with differentiated instruction and how he feels he ultimately failed at being able to effectively differentiate for all the learners in his classes.  Instead, he discussed how he empowers his students to take ownership over their own learning.  To do this, he wondered, “What am I doing for the students that they could be doing on their own?”

Here are the shifts that John made in his thinking and in his teaching (LOVE these)

  • From a process to a relationship (where he engaged in real conversations with his students)
  • From a monologue to a dialogue
  • From choice to freedom
  • From rigid and specific to flexible and vague
  • From a tiered approach to a web approach

The result (goal), according to John,

  • students are self-directed learners
  • teacher gets to lead students in their own learning
  • teacher is a leader, not a manager

Planning

 

Deposits and Withdrawls

My last post talked about the importance of building relationships and taking time need to really set things up before moving forward. It is this time and care that will enhance learning, achievement, and allow change to occur. Without this time and care,  change could be faced with animosity and dissention and, will likely not be sustainable.

Marci Laevens made a comment on my last post about Stephen Covey and how he calls this “filling the emotional bank account” by making deposits of trust, caring, kindness and then when you make withdrawals, by asking someone to change something, that you aren’t depleting the account too much.  It is important to make deposits first – build relationships, etc… before making any withdrawals.

As I continued to read A Framework for Understanding Poverty, by Ruby Payne, this was brought up again.  Payne talks about how the deposits and withdrawals are different for those who live in poverty, as compared to those who live in the middle or upper classes.  I found this to be quite interesting.

I thought I would share a couple of charts in Ruby Payne’s book to demonstrate the difference between the classes.

The first chart by Payne, was adapted from the work of Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.Continue reading “Deposits and Withdrawls”