Cow Tipping and Improving the PD Experience

Have you ever been cow tipping? How did it end up? Like Tommy? You don’t have to honestly answer that. 
What’s the purpose of cow tipping? Does it make a better steak? No, it doesn’t. But, generally, it wakes the cow up with quite the shock. 
What is your school climate like? How excited is the staff you work with for the next inservice day? Or early out? Are they going through the motions? Are there some cows that need to be tipped? 
This isn’t a post to question the weight of your staff. Nor is it permission to knock any of them over. In fact, I strongly suggest doing NEITHER of those. And I will not be held responsible for any injuries relating to that activity. Or any others. Nor do I condone actually trying to tip a live cow.

Original link

This post is, instead, a call for you who provide any sort of professional development for others to start doing things differently. Math, reading, science, whatever. If your staff moseys down the hallway (like a cattle chute) and plods into the training session, give them a little shock by stepping outside of your own box. Make them get up and move around during the session. Utilize videos. Make it interactive by modeling Kahoot or another tool to collect information. Heck - put blank pieces of paper on the wall and let them fill in what they want to learn more about (if you are not sure what that looks like, come see it live at EdCamp Omaha, March 21, 2015. Click here to register!). I'm not claiming to have all the answers - I need to do a better job of this, too! Maybe I should've started this post with "Hey, Josh!"
If you continually provide instruction for students the same way, day after day, regardless of the instructional method, most are going to eventually tune you out. Teachers are not much different than kids. You cannot provide professional development the same way over and over again. They will begin to tune you out. Every now and then, you need to model stepping out of the box and tipping them over. 
For those of you who don’t spend much time around cows, you can learn more about cow tipping here.

Reflections and Moving Forward with iPads

This year we had 9 iPads and 9 iPod Touches scattered throughout our district because of an Autism Grant (Read the past posts here). I think it was a very successful program and I'm excited to see it move forward next fall. I learned a whole lot about management of the devices that will be applied as we bring more of these devices into the district. We are currently gathering survey information from the staff involved. Many of the teachers have decided to go ahead and purchase devices so they can just have them to use them with a variety of students (all teachers have to re-apply in the fall and use must be tied to an autistic student, per grant rules). We are also going to be using them with Jump Start, a new summer program geared toward qualifying students starting kindergarten next fall. I'll try and get a blog post about that out later this fall.

We are also at a very exciting time in our elementary buildings. They are all getting brand new computers next year, thanks to our lease purchase cycle. They've put up with a lot the last few years with dying machines and no one wanting to pay much (understandably) to keep them up and running. One of the options for student computers at the elementary buildings was iPads. We have a building tech at each elementary, so our wonderful tech department paid for one iPad for each of them. Because of the timing of when they came in and our state conference, we asked them all to come down for a "mandatory meeting." None of them had any idea. Very fun :) What that means for the kids is all schools will at least have one iPad. Some of the iPads are going to be available for check out while others will be used as classroom computers. This was a building decision. We are going to have a summer workshop so that the devices can be used the first day kids come back. That summer workshop is voluntary and open to all of our K-6 staff. You can see a draft of the agenda here.The goal of the workshop is similar to training you do with any technology - give them training to use it effectively within their curriculum.
Another recent development is an iPad 1:1 pilot we are doing with our newly-created Leadership Academy. We have a 1:1 Hospital Academy, but with netbooks and off site (which creates whole new issues). The Leadership Academy students are going to also be participating in an online class using Moodle, so it's going to be interesting to gather feedback on their experiences. We will also have four iPads in two different AP classes at both high schools. At least at one high school will be giving them to a student full time for a quarter and gather before and after data. Those teachers will be putting their documents online as ePubs or PDFs for students to access.
A great resource for implementing and managing iOS devices is Lisa Pospishil at Norfolk Public Schools. Her iOS School website has tons of great ideas. We aren't deploying nearly as many as she has, but it's still a great place to start for tips and tricks.
I'm excited to see how this works. I agree with Dean Shareski - the iPad is different. And honestly, right now, I don't see a competitor for education. 

Simply Amazing - My Thoughts on EdCamp Omaha

This past weekend was amazing. In a number of ways. First of all, it snowed. Which isn't terribly abnormal, except we had tornados in the area three days before that. That sequence fits into the old (read: I'm tired of it) saying about Nebraska: "If you don't like the weather, stick around for a while."

But this weekend was really amazing because I got to be in the same building with seventy highly intelligent people who were able to give up their Saturday, brave the weather, and share all the cool stuff they know. It was sometimes difficult to tell the difference between who'd been an educator for 30 years or 30 weeks. Everyone contributed. Everyone made a difference. 
Since last weekend, I've seen that difference being taken back to the classrooms. Through Twitter and a few other meetings I've attended this week, I see and hear people sharing what was shared. It's the exact reason we did EdCamp. We wanted people to come and share and learn. And they did. We ALL did. From the 70 people in person to the 15-20 that were regularly online to those checking out the #edcampomaha hashtag to the who knows how many more who've been watching our recorded sessions, we are sharing the great things that we learned. Why? Because we care about the kids that we teach. We want to do a better job. We are good at what we do, but we can still learn from others and others can learn from us. It's amazing. I mentioned at the end of EdCamp that EdCamps are important places because it's where rich, meaningful conversations begin. But it's all for not if you don't continue those conversations when you get back to your classrooms. There is often a hangover when you get back to the "real world" and find that not everyone is as like-minded as those that you spent your Saturday with. But that's when you turn back to the EdCamp Community - the Twitter feed, the blog posts, the recorded sessions - and recharge your "edubattery" (hat tip to Dale Holt).
On Saturday night a group of us went out for supper and someone (my apologies for not remembering who) made the observation how positive the vibe at EdCamp was. I hadn't thought about that until then. It wasn't all cupcakes and sunshine, but the focus was less on what's being done to us and more on what we can do to make our learning environments better. I really think that's when change happens. When you stop complaining and start the process of moving forward. But Becky Goerend said it best at the end of her blog recap - "Where's the action? Where do I go from here?" That's not easy to answer. Hopefully we can turn our conversations into actions. 
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made the day such an amazing event. 


There have already been talks about similar events in Nebraska and we will definitely be getting the word out about EdCamp Omaha 2012 in the future. Check out the EdCamp wiki for the upcoming EdCamps in your area. We will be adding more reflections of EdCamp Omaha to our wikispace.


Again, thanks to the EdCamp Omaha planning crew, the College of Ed at UNO, and, most importantly, even who had a part in making the day simply amazing.

Why EdCamp Is Important To Me

EdCamp Omaha has been on my mind a lot lately. It's little things. Like making sure we have some coin for some sort of breakfast/snack. I wanted to do it in our district because I have the cell phone numbers of people when I'd need them (like IT). But we aren't. And that's perfectly fine. I trust the people we are working with. The hands on (read: control freak) in me struggles with it some days.
So last weekend I got together with Jason Schmidt, Michelle Baldwin, Kristina Peters, and Barb Gilman at Goodnights to chat about EdCamp Omaha and life in general. Jason had never met any of us in person. Kristina and I, while we hung out a bit at EdCamp KC, really didn't know each other. So we just sat and chatted about a variety of things and got to know everyone better.
You wouldn't have known it was our first time hanging out. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. And all because of the interactions on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. I think it's really hard to compare online vs face to face relationships. I think in this age there is a place for both. There are things that Paul, Andy, and Ryan - guys I've known since high school and college - know about me and experiences we've shared that won't ever happen with people online. They are a business owner, banker, and optometrist. Highly intelligent, but not embedded in education like Jason, Michelle, Kristina, and Barb.  Because of the latter's shared interest in education and Twitter, we've been able to develop a friendship online that easily transitioned to face to face.
Which brings me to EdCamp. EdCamp is not a technology conference. It is not a Twitter conference. EdCamp is face to face social learning. Think interactive professional development. You are not talked at, you're talked with. Don't be surprised if you see at EdCamp Omaha, like you've seen at other EdCamps and conferences, people who have started relationships online will carry them in to the face to face environment. EdCamps are designed for sharing from all attendees and the relationships developed prior to the event make that come quickly and naturally. Does that mean you need to be on Twitter prior to EdCamp? Absolutely not. We don't know everything. We need good ideas. We need YOUR experiences. We need them because we want to do what's best for kids.
As we wrapped up our gathering last week, the stress of how many granola bars we are going to be able to provide lifted off my shoulders. I was stoked to get back together with them and have similar experiences with the rest of the EdCamp Omaha attendees. A wise man emailed me a couple weeks ago and said "if 80 people show up, we'll have a great event with 80 educators" (for the record, we're dang close to 100). He's right. We want everyone to be there, but family takes priority and life gets in the way. And I'd never argue against that. Whoever is there, in person or online, will contribute to what is going to be a great event. And you can bet, when we get home, we'll share what we learned from you. We can't wait to meet you in person.

Moving Mobile: Month 3

You learn very early in your life that January in Nebraska holds many opportunities for snow days! Since coming back from Winter Break, we still haven't had a full week of classes. That can make rescheduling meetings just as long as the meeting would've been.
However, our Special Education staff is continuing to implement their iPads and iPod Touches (previous posts here and here). One thing that we are excited to see is that the search for apps is moving from reinforcement to skill development. Reinforcement is great, and it's a continual part of engaging the students, but the device isn't being fully leveraged if that's the only thing you are using it for. One app that we are very excited about are iWriteWords (there is a free version). iWriteWords lines up fairly well with our Handwriting Without Tears curriculum and "forces" students to practice writing letters correctly before moving on to the next task. 
Our next big step is going to be creating our own videos for students. These videos will be focused on telling a story or cues that a student would normally use paper for (On a somewhat separate thought, we have discussed creating movies to demonstrate math processes...something that could be put on these devices as well). Our February monthly meeting will be a hands on training on using power point slides to create movies. I'm very excited about this because of the customization it will bring to each device for students. I'm hoping that we can jointly create a library of videos for teachers to access both on the device and on their computers. 

The Sunnyside of PLN

As the father of 2 kids, you can imagine my excitement for Winter Break. Any chance I get to experience new things inside and outside of the house with them is a refreshing break from "real life." One new thing for this break was letting our oldest (almost 3) watch his first full length movie, Toy Story 3. And, miraculously, he sat through the majority of it.

If you haven't seen Toy Story 3, here's a quick summary: The toys, led by Woody and Buzz Lightyear, end up going to Sunnyside Daycare after their owner, Andy, cleans his room before moving to college. Woody, who has long been Andy's favorite toy (see the original Toy Story), would rather the toys stay at the house they've come to know as home and move up to the attic. He tries to convince the others of how horrible a place daycares are for toys. But when the toys get to the daycare, the toys who are already there, and have experienced what daycare life is like, welcome them with open arms and give them a tour of the place.

Lotso (pic to the right, courtesy of Alan/Falcon), the leader of the daycare toys, describes himself as a "hugger" and introduces Andy's toys to other toys who have their specific jobs in the daycare. He introduces them to Ken (yes, that Ken) who gives them a tour and shows them where the essentials are located. Another toy, Big Baby, helps you with other needs you might have. Andy's toys become very excited about their new surroundings, but Woody leaves them there to go back to the familiarity of Andy's house.

Now, I could tell you the ending of the movie, but A) I'm not that kind of guy and B) It doesn't fit with the analogy.

Who are the daycare toys? Those of us who work and grow from our Personal Learning Network (PLN).

Who are Andy's toys? Educators just stepping into the online PLN arena. They've been told to stay away. They've been told they aren't going to like it.

But we know that's not true.

I read fellow metro-area educator Kristina Peters' blog post the other night, "When Two Worlds Collide," about how difficult it can be to articulate how important a PLN and events like EdCamps are to those who haven't seen the value of the hours spent communicating online. I'm not a very articulate in person. With this blog, I can type, rethink, retype, rethink, etc. Even after I submitted my comment to her blog, I was kept awake, nervous about whether or not I said what I wanted to, and then in the "right way" - who did I offend? Did I properly state my passion? Did I misspell words? You get the idea.

But in the global PLN that I participate in, my own Sunnyside, I don't want or need to take on the role of first greeter. I'm highly supportive of what you all do and will be your biggest cheerleader (sans skirt, of course). We all have our roles. We have to have our roles to make what we do successful. I'm watching college basketball right now - you have to know your role to make the team successful. It certainly doesn't mean those roles will always be the same - some may change day to day, project to project. But we have to have all the roles filled to make our PLN complete. (Click here for great blog post from Cathy Davidson on roles in a PLN...H/T to Stephen Ransom for tweeting it)

So as you think about your PLN, and bringing others into that PLN, be a "hugger" like Latos. Or the tour guide, like Ken. Or the worker, like Big Baby. Find others in your PLN so that when you do bring new people to our Sunnyside, you know where to send them so they can be successful in their new "home."

And if you're interested in the movie, check out this great synopsis of the Toy Story 3 characters by their voices.

Our First Month of Becoming More Mobile

This week we (virtually) brought our SPED teachers back together to see how things are going with their iPads and iPods (read here for the back story). As with anything new, there are still a couple people who haven't coordinated the schedules of students and paras, but the majority of the teachers have taken off. Most of the use we are seeing is for concept reinforcement, which wasn't surprising. One thing that has helped me tremendously is the building visits we've been taking. I've learned a lot more about what teachers (and students) want from the device by being able to watch. And I've tried to take those visits with one of our Inclusion Facilitators. We both are very comfortable with our area of expertise, so it's been a great partnership.

As we told the teachers, we won't know what you want the iPad or iPod to do unless you ask. For example, many of our teachers use Boardmaker to create social stories for our students. One teacher we were with had a large binder with many social stories and other documents. Through their observation, I threw out the suggestion to use Boardmaker to create social stories on PowerPoint slides and export as pictures. We haven't tried it yet, but it's on the table for January. Another idea that one of our inclusion facilitators had was to use Voice Memos to create "switches" (new terminology for me - audio to help students transition to a new activity). Through some brainstorming, we talked about using PowerPoint to create a picture with text or picture examples, narrate over the picture in iMovie, then create a movie that could be on the iPod/iPad. We talk so much about find this app, find that app, but we also need to think about how we can quickly and easily create our own material, especially for these students who have so much individualized for them.

So that's where we are at. We are currently evaluating apps to purchase. We don't want to buy a bunch of apps that do the same thing, but that's easier said then done when teachers all come with their own ideas and backgrounds. We'll meet again in mid-January and keep doing some building visits.

Here's a link to the PowerPoint we used for Adobe Connect that has our questions and free app recommendations on it.

Becoming More Mobile

Next week we will hand out 9 iPads and 8 iPod Touches to some of our district's Special Education staff. The devices were purchased through a grant received by the SPED department. These aren't the first devices of their kind in our district, but they are the first that will be supported with specific training (both face to face and online) and will be exclusively in the hands of students. iPod use has always been sporadic and we've never offered training specific to them. We have only a few iPads in the district, mainly concentrated at one high school with their administrators. We see this group of SPED teachers as our "guinea pigs" in many senses - from the management with students to how Apple's Volume Purchasing Program works. We are very fortunate that they've been able to contain their excitement while the SPED, Curriculum, and Technology departments get their ducks in a row.

We definitely see a future for these devices, and other similar ones, in our district. We feel that devices like the iPad could replace a cart (or two) of laptops in our elementary buildings. Through our lease purchasing process, all elementary computers will be replaced by next fall, so it's been good timing for all of this. We still have lots of questions, but many won't be answered until we start moving forward.

One mistake I've already made (in my opinion), is that our resources are stored on our Intranet. It takes an extra step for us to share with the rest of the world. I'm always more than welcome to share, it just isn't as convenient because you have to ask :)

On our Intranet, we've created a FAQ section (from what the buttons do to purchase process), an editable spreadsheet of all of our purchased apps in the district, and a page with links to a variety of resources.

Here are some links that we are starting our teachers out with (thanks to Richard Byrne for sharing bit.ly bundles yesterday!):

• For both the iPad and iPod Touch
• iPad Resources
• iPod Touch Resources

SMART Board Class - What's the Point?

I'm starting a SMART Board class for our district teachers. I think the class is a great idea, but I'm struggling with what direction to take. Should it be more on how to create? Focus more on where to find information? It's only a one credit hour class, so time is limited. It appears I'll have a wide variety of knowledge levels and backgrounds, so what do you think? What has worked for you in the past?

I don't have all of the pages filled in on the website, but you get a general idea of what each session will discuss. We will meet about every two weeks (3 weeks between one of the sessions). Really would love some feedback. Thanks in advance!

Leadership Day 2009 - A Stiff Condiment from the Fridge

I wanted to make a contribution to Leadership Day 2009 started by Dr. Scott McLeod. According to Dr. McLeod's blog, Dangerously Irrelevant, the reason for the day is "Many of our school leaders need help when it comes to digital technologies." Bloggers are supposed to share their insights, best practices, etc., to help pass them along to others. For more information, check out his blog post "Calling all bloggers! - Leadership Day 2009."

Dr. McLeod provided a couple of prompts that I'll found ripe for a good tangent/rant. The first one that struck a cord with me was the very first sentence:

What do effective K-12 technology leaders do?

Each district is different, but the districts that have a strong, positive, professional relationship between the curriculum and technology departments generally seem to function most efficiently. Technology leaders, for better or worse, sometimes have to be salespeople when it comes to working with the curriculum department. I still contend that the reason why most districts don't have integrated technology is that technology has been viewed as an extra and, many times, it's the technology leader that hasn't done a good enough job of showing the benefit (ease of use, engagement, etc.) of proper technology integration. There are always a variety of reasons as to why the technology leader hasn't. Too many that I won't get into, not all of which are their fault. Every teacher survey conducted in the last 30 years has concluded that teachers don't have enough time. So why are we continually presenting technology separately? I would love to have our curriculum writers do more of the teacher training in their building on how to use technology to enhance their curriculum area. As a wise person once said, sometimes it helps for someone else to say the exact same thing you said. The curriculum writers would be expected to learn from the technology leader how to use the tool most effectively, but then the curriculum writer trains the rest of the building with the technology leader in the room and available for support.

There is another, sometimes more influential, issue that effects the process: ego. It's also the one people are least likely to admit they need to fix. Technology isn't used in a lot of districts because administrators don't understand it, which means they don't have experience with it, which means they won't encourage or recommend that it gets used in the district. Too many are afraid to look ignorant in front of their staff, so they pass technology off as something "costly" and "extra." It's the exact same reason that teachers don't use it, only they don't want to look ignorant in front of their students. Technology leaders, on the other hand, sometimes feed into the scared feeling and make technology sound just a little more difficult than what it really is. I'm always amazed when I sit down with a teacher to show them how to use something and they say, "That's it? I thought it was much more difficult." More than once they thought it was difficult because another technology leader either said it was or implied that the teacher couldn't do it. The egos need to be put aside. Technology changes so much that leaders shouldn't be worried about job security. To keep their job, they need to continue exploring how technology will make the administrators and the teachers job easier. And demonstrating it as such. Staff members who don't check their egos at the door end up hurting only the students in the end. It's more than imperative that technology staff and curriculum staff work very closely everyday to ensure things work smoothly.

Do administrators have to be technology-savvy themselves in order to be effective technology leaders in their organizations?

Administrators don't need to be tech-savvy. They need to only understand the benefit of technology and hire quality staff to facilitate the integration for them. A great administrator is a great facilitator and delegator. They guide others to become strong leaders in their area. They have their strengths and they use those to help the facilitation, but many times administrators have to be a jack of multiple trades, making it difficult to be a master of the latest and greatest (again, more job security if you show proper integration techniques!). It's unrealistic for me, someone who does technology professional development, but reports to the Director of Curriculum, to be the curriculum expert. My expertise is how technology enhances the curriculum and make a teacher's life easier. I rely on many others to help me help them and our staff. So should administrators.

If I had only one thing to say to district administrators - "Try something new this year." You don't have to master it. And to your tech leader - "Make it easy and effective." Don't tip the boat over on your first trip, but make sure that the waves are noticeable (If that doesn't work, then follow Dean's advice).

Technology leaders can't show administrators every single piece of technology. It doesn't make sense. They need to be the filter and strategically suggest new tools. But administrators need to not lock their doors and/or ears when the technology leader walks in the room. If you can't work as a team, and check the egos at the door, the students suffer.

Examining my PLN

As I get ready to present here at METC on how to enhance your personal learning network (PLN), I started to do some thinking about my own network and how it has exponentially grown in the past 18 months. On a semi-side note, I've been reading the book "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell, so that will explain how the mothership got to this point.
As a classroom teacher, I didn't have much of a pln. I had our district instructional technology facilitator (who's job I have now after she moved to ESU), but being the one person in a large district isn't easy (as I'm currently finding out). When she decided to move on, I thought I'd put in my application and see what happened...and wa-la! After getting the job I felt the need to start this little page of wisdom, which has reconnected me with old friends and helped to make new ones. My wife and I were fortunate enough to have very happy and healthy baby almost a year ago. Life has moved quickly in 18 months, and all for the better. The one thing that is lacking in my job is..another me. I was joking the other day that I'm not smart enough for the curriculum department and not geeky enough for the tech department. So I turned to an online personal learning network. What I've found in the online world is Twitter, Diigo, Google Reader and Nings. More than anything else, those four things keep me in touch with the outside world and push the limits of my knowledge and force me to question and justify my beliefs in education and technology. Because of Twitter, I met Michelle, who talked me into coming to METC. Because of Diigo, I have a vast array of websites, both mine and others, accessible from any Internet-connected computer. Because of Google Reader....I spend a lot of time questioning my beliefs and those of others, as well as learning about the latest in cool technology. Nings connect me with many people of common interests, a type of online cafe for us to meet and chat.



The opening of our presentation talks about the Stages of PLN that we stole from Jeff Utech's Flickr page. As I look back over the last 18 months, I see myself on that roller coaster. Last year I tried to immerse myself in all things pln, which boggled my mind more than you'll ever know. There are too many tools online for enhancing your pln. It's amazing. Which led me into step 2, evaluating my networks. At the time, I was "narrowed down" to more the four listed above. The quotes obviously mean that narrowing down translates to "I didn't sign up for EVERY networking tool or opportunity." Once I made it through step 3 of "knowing it all," I would like to think, especially since the little one came around, that I am in step 4 working toward step 5. I still have a hard time putting down the computer (or sometimes picking it up). I'm still a little "all or nothing" when it comes to either family life or work life, something I don't think is fair to my family or my work. But I'm not discouraged. In fact, I'm very encouraged with what I'm doing and how life is progressing. I have built and will continue to build my pln, changing as the tools change (it's the only thing that's stays the same, right?).
As I read back over this post, I see it's not as much for you as it is for me. It shows the steps that I've taken, both voluntary and otherwise, to get to where I'm at today (see, Outliers-style). As with most presentations, our planning was good, but I hadn't done much reflecting on it (man I sound like I'm back in grad school...ugh). Thanks for sharing this time with me. I'd also love if you'd share how your pln is changing you. If you type well and use good grammar, you may even get included in our presentation on Tuesday.