Wednesday, April 18, 2018

A year of listening...


At #Aste17, I started a list of all the Alaska Educators I could find on twitter. (Bill had a great list, which he had started on #Aste16, which I borrowed greatly from) At the end of the 2016-2017 school year, I tried to map out who was tweeting and what they were tweeting about.



2016-2017: There were about 15 districts that I consistently saw tweets from*

I followed some new Alaskan Educators who were attending #ISTE and as the 2017-2018 school year started up, the Alaska Cross Culture Conference revealed some new educators, the Alaska Principals Conference, #EDET628 and #SEACCR chat, RTI Conference, #Northtothefuture, #Akedchallenge and finally #ASTE18 and the #AKLA Conference. My list swelled from around 400 to almost 700.

Every day, I would check this list and so I was able to read almost every tweet that was sent out by Alaskan educators this year… I dedicated my feed to retweeting the great things that were going on across the state. I started to add sublists with a group for just librarians, ECE... one day when I have time, I'd love to organize into a group of admins too... 

It became clear that we weren’t twitter shy, there were several of us who were sharing the amazing things that were going on in Alaska Classrooms. It was getting people organized, interacting, and collaborating…I tried to engage people through feedback and inviting them to the #Akedchat, but it seemed people would show up here and there without any real consistency. Others just blocked me from tagging them in my photo invitations. I met up with the groups of educators in person, trying to build that face-to-face and online connection.

Twitter has become an invaluable resource to me because it shows me what is going on in the classrooms. The hopes, the fears, and the excitement… People constantly share what they think are good ideas and so, I learned to listen. The more people post, the more I see what they value or are interested in. I try to connect and share resources based on what they share. It has shaped me immensely. Being connected is amazing. 

I’m excited for the 2018-2019 School Year, Alaska is just getting started!

2017-2018: There were about 21 districts that I consistently saw tweets from**This isn't scientific. Some Alaskan tweeters, don't have their location. In a nutshell, what did I learn this year? I am so excited about the things around student edcamps that are coming out of Valdez and Nikiski.... 
  • I love the care and passion that comes out of Brevig Mission in the Bering Strait School Distict... 
  • If I were to take math, I'd want to do it in Kodiak with all the amazing math teachers sharing their incredible and innovative lessons.... 
  • I love the amazing culturally responsive things that are coming out of North Slope... 
  • I love the blend of place-based learning and #mysteryskype coming from Wrangell...
  • #MinecraftEdu in Dillingham and Petersburg...
  • I love wonderful positive culture that exudes from the Copper River district... 
  • I love All the exciting things around personalized learning from Kenai... 
  • I love that the STEM expert in Anchorage loves her robots and gardening!
  • I LOVE that Yukon Kuskokwim developed wonderful flex books...
  • I now know digital orchestra exists thanks to the wonderful music teacher out of Kodiak... 
  • I love that a teacher out of Denali who got to be a fulbright to Finland and shares her wonderful insights...
  • I love the passionate librarians who have set-up makerspaces, such as the one at Tanana... 
  • I love the work of the tudor librarian who is setting up global activities... 
  • Did you know we have 2 amazing PBS digital innovative teachers? There are also 2 MIE and countless other Apple certified educators...
  • We have an incredible principal out of Tanana who does an amzing podcast where he interviews amazing educators from all over the world... 
The 
  • We have a wonderful organization (ASTE!) where its incredible volunteers put together an amazing yearly conference to showcase innovative and disruptive ideas! 
  • The passionately positive principal out of Whaley...

    The joy coming out of the Joy School...
  • ...and Esports are coming to Alaska! 
My life is made better from knowing all of this is out there and I really encourage you to take the challenge and listen... and then share! We have so many amazing things happening, let others know!! 



Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Asking Good Questions

I am taking an online class and one of the things that our latest module was about was about how to ask students good questions during read-alouds.


This got me thinking that these same rules also apply to adults asking questions during twitter chat:
- Questions should help people understand their feelings and promote critical thinking
-Questions should help people develop their language & communication skills on their stance
 -Questions need to help make connections to past and future events or share experiences
-Questions need to introduce new ideas, events, and possibilities
-Each question should lead to multiple turns for each speaker

So, I decided to help create a little one-pager to help those as they think of questions when hosting a chat.

1)      Decide the increments between questions: This will determine the number of questions you should plan on. (I recommend either 10 or 15 minute increments)
2)      ICEBREAKER: Your first question should be something easy and catchy, you want people to respond. I generally ask for location (So cool that we can have global cohorts!) and ask them a fun question related to the theme of the chat (What is your favorite _insert theme_?)
3)      Last Question: I always plan my first & last questions first. The last Question should generally be a REFLECTION (Where people can share a take-away) or an ACTION PLAN (What will you do this week?)
4)      After the Icebreaker: Ask something open-ended (How do you define…? What is…? What do you remember about…? )
5)      Ask for examples: Encourage sharing of a pic, quote, or something that happened in class. Use tweetdeck, so that you have an example ready to go to MODEL for others what they can share.

And just some general things to be mindful of:

-You may have a mixed audience (Teacher, Admin, Coaches), so try to keep it open-ended. You don’t want to exclude people.
- Start with some simple questions to get people initially engaged and then dig deeper. Don’t scare people off! 

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

6 Tips for hosting a Twitter Chat



I think as a leader, the most important job you have is to build the capacity of those around you...

Our state is a little twitter-shy, so I created this to-do list to help others who want to rise up and start these awesome conversation.



So you want to host a twitter chat?

  1. TOPIC: Pick something that you are CURIOUS about or are PASSIONATE about!
  2. SHARE:

  • Think of a Fun Title
  • Tag People who you think will be interested in the topic
  • Add # of other groups that might be interested in the topic

  1. ADVERTISE:

  • Share: Date, Time, Location, Brief Description, and the # Hashtag
  • Find an eye-catching graphic
  • Tease Questions
  • Share graphic during other chats or in replies (WHEN ON TOPIC!)

  1. PREP

  • Prepare your TweetDeck with Questions and YOUR RESPONSE (You want your fingers to be free to reply to participants)
  • Continue to Advertise: 1 hour till… 30 minutes till… Use hashtags of active chats

  1. CHAT

  • Welcome and reply to participants
  • Retweet great responses or quote tweet to other hashtags
  • Like tweets and respond to others
  • Thank everyone for coming
  • Encourage others to lead!

  1. BONUS

  • Create a moment to immortalize your chat for future reference
  • Blog about the chat and the great ideas that you got from it!


Saturday, January 6, 2018

AK Twitter Top 10 Teacher Leaders



I love the rise of the “teacher leaders” who can inspire from the classroom. This blog will be the first in a series of #followfriday tweets to help others see some amazing things that are happening and hopefully inspire them to try something! 

@MGundersonAK (Dillingham) One of 2 #MIEExpert in Alaska, she has also been doing some innovative things with #minecraftedu 

@SyrahPetersen (Anchorage) She got to go to #ISTE this year and has been tweeting great reflections and questions since! 

@joerobison907 (Valdez) If you want to see some amazing things in student lead learning, check out #studentedcamp tweets out of Valdez! They have been able to integrate student edcamps into their Middle School routine. https://www.edcamp.org/

@rownbey (Valdez) After seeing @alicekeeler at #Aste17, she was a quick adopted of #GAFE and has tweeted out some amazing things 

@MrEru2001 (Fairbanks) He was a finalist for AK Teacher of the year and was named the BP teacher of excellence!  Read more about his personalized learning approach here: https://www.Edelements.com/blog/10-personalized-learning-superhero-snapshots or visit his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6ZUXz_6HCA

@lc_davies (Wrangell) 5th grade teacher who has been doing some great things on #mysteryskype and even got to visit the class she Skyped with on her vacation! https://ldavies5.blogspot.com

@AlexandraOtto (Kodiak) #mtbos Middle school math teacher who keeps a great blog of her students work https://ottographblog.wordpress.com

@AkGlobalTeacher (Anchorage)  BP Teacher of Excellence,  Fellow, and founder of Global Education Alaska. globaleducationak.org

@tchlrn_ak (Nikolaevsk)  Early adopter of #mysteryskype, #GRA, and got the #TLAP crew to Alaska! https://teachlearnak.com 

I keep a running list of Alaskan Educators that I can across. Subscribe to that list here:

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Steering a ferry?



When you work looking at things from a larger perspective, analogies can really help.

One of the first ones my current supervisor introduced me to was that we are "Steering a ferry boat"...

What does this mean? If you are in a row boat , its really easy to do lots of quick turns...

...But if you are on a ferry boat, you have to make lots of small turns to get into your new direction. It can take a long time to change direction.

I like that ferry boat analogy, but even thinking about it on a ferry boat level doesn't seem to work...

We are more like admirals of a fleet of ships. Each captain is responsible for all the daily operations on your boat, but you are also leading all the other rowboats boats to follow your direction. Each of their own daily operations might look a little different, but you all have that same destination in mind.... 

Having at least a common goal can help unite everyone, but what happens when everyone has different goals/different destinations?

Maybe a better analogy would be like a light house. The programs are all their own ships, but we are there as a lighthouse in the dark to help give guidance.

We want those row boats to feel empowered because that’s where change can happen on the quickest scale.... Those captains have to be able to create the conditions for those row boats to have a common destination, but allowed to chart their own course.

The captain has to be able to stay in communication with all those ships to make sure none get lost. The lighthouse can’t look out for just one lost row boat because they are focused on those bigger ships. Communication is so important because there is a sweeping undercurrent that can send ripples along everything.

One of the first lessons I learned came as I was crafting materials for a training, which included instruction manuals and updating websites... I had been going off an incorrect date and suddenly, I was having to go back and revise everything. That one small detail set off such a large chain reaction, just imagine how bigger changes would be...

Understanding this important difference has been so helpful for me to understand how my changing role is:
1) Things have to be thought through at every single perspective to understand how the change will affect everyone involved
2) Communication needs to be concise or you can cause confusion which can cause people to get lost or abandon your fleet altogether

Admiral... Captain... or Lighthouse? One thing is very clear: I'm not in a row boat anymore...