This week I have been spending time with teachers discussing the use of Twitter for professional learning and as a teaching and learning tool.  We have been discussing ways to be connected learners, educators and classrooms.

A connected classroom is a learning environment that is open to the outside world. In such a classroom, students are engaged in real life authentic learning that opens the walls of the classroom and extends to reach globally, to other learners, classrooms, experts, professionals, organizations, and parents. Connectivity allows for a window into a living classroom, one which allows stakeholders and other global learners a view of learning in progress.

Twitter is one tool you can use to build a connected classroom. Before we delve into the web tools to use to open windows to your classroom for a global audience, let me first share with you some of the academic pluses of using a connected classroom approach.

A connected classroom can help students:

• Connect with experts in the field and let students question and learn from them
• Students get to be exposed to other cultures and develop a sense of global awareness
• Take virtual field trips
• Share to an authentic audience
• Collaborate with each other in the classroom
• Improve communication skills
• Creates partners for future projects
• Teaches to collaborate globally
• Create a global community of learners
• Develop Critical Thinking skills
• Improve Listening, Writing, and Speaking skills
• Improve their leadership skills

Three ways to be a Connected Educator and Classroom:

1. Twitter:  Has huge potential for your students and for you as an educator.  Twitter helps us create PLNs (Professional Learning Networks), connect with other educators, classrooms, and experts.  By learning to effectively use hashtags you can create and follow topics, book studies, and discussion that will support student learning and help others find your classroom.

2. Mystery Skype: Mystery Skype is an educational game in which students from different classes get to meet on Skype and exchange questions about each other's locations. The purpose of the game is to help students guess the location of the other class and in so doing students get to practice a variety of academic skills including speaking, web searching, writing, note taking, map reading, geography and many more. You can use the Twitter hashtag #mysteryskype and Tweet for a connection, or check out Skype in the Classroom to make connections.

3. Blogging: Blog is short for web log. Blogs are a bit like an online diary or journal, except blogs are created for an audience. Blogs are written on all kinds of topics and readers can usually leave comments, which lead to discussions about the blog’s content. Blogs can be used to publish assignments, resources, to help students’ master content and improve their writing skills.

All these methods are great ways to build a connected classroom and to become a connected educator. Consider using all three in your classroom! Together, the possibilities are limitless and Connected Classroom learning can become an extremely rich and rewarding experience for you and your students.

Critical Thinkning

Education is not the learning of facts, 

but the training of the mind to think.    

 –Albert Einstein

The students came into class and saw boxes out on the desks and were immediately curious about them and the multiple locks attached to them.  After an introduction to the Menacing Math Mobster game, students jumped in and worked to solve the clues that would allow them to unlock the box and retrieve the loot.    

It was clear that these students were working on thinking critically.

Critical thinking happens when students analyze and evaluate evidence to draw conclusions.  By looking at the evidence in the case file, students were able to solve problems and use evidence to unlock locks and “breakout”.  Of course, they collaborated and communicated with each other as they solved problems… all the time having fun!

Breakout Edu games are a great way to encourage critical thinking.  In what other ways do teachers foster critical thinking skills?

The first is Collaboration.  Student-centered learning environments need to provide varied and flexible in order to provide ongoing opportunities to build a collaborative community.  When students collaborate, they learn how to communicate with others effectively, work as a team, practice self-discipline, and improve social and interpersonal skills. 

A second way to foster critical thinking is through Inquiry.  Use of inquiry can foster deep learning through the focus of an essential question.  As students investigate, they background knowledge, develop questioning skills, improve their ability to search for new information, synthesize information, demonstrate an understanding and share their new learning with others.

Third, Questioning plays a critical role in cultivating critical thinking skills and deep learning. When teachers use open-ended questions they encourage discussion and active learning in the classroom.  Teachers can model questioning and listening skills in the classroom to enhance thinking in the classroom.

Finally Problem Solving allows students to use inquiry, questioning and collaboration skills to develop solutions to the problems they face.  This skill allows students think for themselves and apply the critical thinking strategies.  As students use critical thinking in the classroom, they prepare for future application of these skills.

Critical thinking is a key skill that our students need to have in order to become life-long learners and self-advocates for themselves.  It is a skill that will serve them well in school, the work place and in daily life.

Voice and Choice

As a classroom teacher, I highly valued and saw importance in student voice and choice in the learning environment. Now, as a Curriculum-Technology Partner,  I hope to work with teachers to design projects with a level of voice and choice for students, while addressing content goals and standards.

Each classroom and teacher is different, making it safe to say that there is no one-size-fits-all method to inviting voice and choice in the classroom.  Many factors play into the culture and climate of a school and classroom, and this affects the classroom community, the teacher, and students’ experiences.  One way to allow students to express voice and choice; is giving choice in product to show learning.  In this week’s blog post, we will consider the five “Ws” as opportunities to create engagement and student-centered learning.

The first “W” is "Who"

Who are you going to work with?

Who is the best person for you to work with on this assignment?

Who do you need to help?

Who can help you?

Who is your audience?

Who are you presenting to?

Who are you trying to inform, persuade or entertain?

Students should have some choice in who they work with.  However, we hope they become more reflective and critical in selecting who they work best with.  Prompts like those above can help students make intentional decisions in the learning partners they choose. In addition, many times students create work for a variety of audiences.  It is important to remember “who” you are presenting to and hope to reach.

Next, we need to ask “What?”

Allow choice in how students show us what they have learned   about the content is common.  Have we considered how to offer more choice in the content?  We need to think creatively about our standards and determine what topics fit under their broad umbrella. Consider that we might have more flexibility than we think in the content that students learn. 

How can we allow students voice and choice in “What” they learn while still meeting our content area standards?  On area that comes to mind as a teacher, is reading.  Allowing students to choose “what” they read with out confining them to reading levels or Lexile scores, can free students to read more and be more engaged in what they read.  We all know that the more we practice reading, the more fluent we become and better our skills become.  As Penny Kittle reminds us, choice and voice in “what” we read increases motivation as “Teenagers want to read - if we let them.” 

Considering "When"

When we personalizing student learning, we need to become flexible about when students are creating work, when they are learning certain concepts, and even when they might turn work in. Teachers can guide students as they select tasks for learning, encourage them to practice skills in a way that students want, and help them plan effective deadlines for work. By allowing to have students control over when they learn, we can create an environment where time is no longer the most important variable, and instead learning becomes the driving force.

Allowing voice and choice of "Where"

Do students always have to learn in the same place?  Are they always at desks?  Can they sit on the floor?  Do you use the hallway?  Can they learn at home?  Are they using learning space in the library?  How about outside, in the commons, or in another classroom?  Consider experimenting with your space.  Try creating and incorporating quiet corners, sitting and standing desks, conference-style areas, Maker Space and more.

We can offer more voice and choice to students by allowing them to decide “where” they want to learn. In offering choice of “where” we support student tsocial-emotional needs, foster engagement in learning, and create a space where learning is physically dynamic.

"Why" and Purpose

We know that students need to have a learning goal and know “why” they are learning.  As teachers, we state learning goals at the beginning of a lesson for our students.  Consider asking students to identify the "why." Ask them why they want to learn this material, or help them brainstorm ideas and then let them decide why they want to learn something.

Students can also become the driving force in the purpose of their learning: "I will learn this in order to _______" is a great sentence starter to give them more of a voice in the "why" of learning.  We can also incorporate Genius Hour or Passion Project time in our week given students the power to choose “what” they learn and “why” they want to learn it.

Not only can voice and choice create more engagement in learning, it allows them to be more self-directed learners. Voice and choice can allow students to explore their passions and interests, building energy and passion to the classroom community.

How might you provide more voice and choice to your students?

Collaborative Learning

Critical thinking is a skill that young minds will undeniably need and use well beyond their school years.  Educational leaders agree that in keeping up with the ever-changing technological advances, students will need to obtain, understand, and analyze information on a much more efficient scale.

It is our job to equip our students with the strategies and skills they need to think critically in order to cope with these tech problems and obstacles they face elsewhere.

Traditionally, teachers have prepared templates, samples, art models, or step-by-step instructions for student projects art lessons, and other tasks that lend themselves to creative problem solving. 

It has been suggested that not having everything prepped in advance is a good thing. Give students all of the supplies needed to create and let them do it on their own. This will allow students to become critical thinkers because they will have to tinker and use their problem solving skills to create.

As we continue to lead our students and model innovative thinking, I encourage us to consider the following:

Think About How You Help

It’s too easy to always find a solution for a student who needs your help.  Consider asking some thinking questions like, “How would you start to solve the problem?” or “What do you thin the best starting point is?”  Then, you can assist the student in figuring out the best possible solutions.

Brainstorm

Brainstorming is a great way to get students ready for exploring solutions and strategies.  Regardless of subject, have students think about what they’ll be doing, creating, building, learning, or reading, before starting.  This gives students time to activate prior knowledge and reflect on other learning experiences that required critical thinking.  Students will begin to identify successes in their critical thinking history.

Classify and Categorize or Compare and Contrast

As students learn and explore through problem solving, Maker Space, navigation of technology, creating, building, etc.  They begin to see patterns or rules for related problems or concepts.  Students will also be able to compare and contrast learning experiences or new learning over time.  These abilities to categorize, classify, compare and contrast will help students retrieve new understandings and learning in future problem solving situations.

Make Connections

As students problem solve, encourage connections to a real-life situations.  Help students look for these connections, and invite them to look at the world’s problems as issues they hold the solutions for.

Collaborative Learning

Cooperative and collaborative groups are a perfect way to get students thinking.  When classmates are working together, they are exposed to the thought processes of their peers. They learn how to understand how other people think and that there is more than one way to approach and solve a problem.

Critical thinking is a valuable skill that students need to develop during their educational career.  As students become skilled critical thinkers, they will become resilient and persevere when presented with difficult problems.
I am excited about the prospect of helping students obtain critical thinking skills that will support their growth mindset and innovative thinking!  Let’s team up and create some technology rich, critical thinking experiences for your students soon!

Reflections on Learning

Wow!  What an awesome collaborative learning opportunity!  I left our professional development day exhausted, thankful, and energized all at the same time!  I appreciate the energy George Couros brought to his two days with us!

Both Thursday and Friday were affirmation that relationships, collaborative teams, putting learners first, and giving learners voice, choice, and opportunities to lead will be a WIN - every single time!

I saw so many smiles, tears and laughter as we learned and shared together Friday.  There was a vibe to the day that could be felt – an energy and excitement about what we can do for learners.  Learners embracing choice, voice and innovator's mindset.

Please know, that when I say learners I mean the children and the adults that work together every single day.  Everyone is important!  Everyone is a learner!  Everyone is a teacher!  Everyone should be given the opportunity to learn in ways that work best for them and have some voice and choice in their learning.

I was humbled, (to tears), by my former students as they taught teachers about Mystery Skype and Genius Hour.  They spoke so well, shared their knowledge, passions, and growth, and said more than I could ever say about the power of learning experiences that give them voice, choice, collaborative experiences and the freedom to have some fun.  Simply said, they ROCKED it!

Amazing!  I am privileged to work with children that will change our world, colleagues that are eager to assist them in this pursuit, and a team and learning partners above no other. 

As a final reflection, I have revisited my dusty blog.  It has had a facelift, been given a new name, and I will be posting again!  I look forward to building more collaborative relationships and supporting teachers and students as they learn and teach each other.

Together we can!  Change is contagious, a little unnerving, and so energizing!  Let's be the change we want to see in our world!

I am so excited about the upcoming learning opportunity for all district employees on September 30th called "Innovations in Learning." The day will be hosted at Red River High School and will feature keynote speaker George Couros, author of the book The Innovator's Mindset.  

I can not begin to tell you how excited I am to meet George and hear his message!

Teachers will have choice in their learning as George and your other educators will be offering breakout sessions throughout the day.  Here is the schedule for the day:

8:00-9:30 am - Opening Keynote - RRHS Performance Hall

10:00-11:00 - Breakout Session #1

11:15-12:15 - Breakout Session #2

12:15-1:15 - Lunch

1:15-2:15 - Breakout Session #3

2:30-4:00 - Elementary Grade Level and Middle & High School Curriculum Area Session

Take a sneak peak into a quick overview of the day: Innovations in Learning

Another learning opportunity will be offered at the building level throughout the year.  "Innovate with Secondary Curriculum Technology Partners" is coming soon and will offer teachers PRISM credit hours as well.  This course features five learning sessions that extend our September learning.  Sneak peak here: "Innovate with Secondary Curriculum Technology Partners"

A New Year - New Adventure!

Here it is, the first day of school!  Another year, another school, another adventure!  I have been anticipating my new role all summer and started my position as a Secondary Curriculum Technology Partner three weeks ago.  I have been learning a great deal and anticipate an awesome year!

Along with the new adventure, I leave behind my 5^th grade classroom.  I didn’t decorate a classroom, will not be greeting a room full of eager learners and innovators, or establishing class routines, procedures and jobs for the student leaders.  I always love the first week of school!  This year, the first week will look different.

Set the sails for a new adventure filled with learning, growth and fun!