EdCamp

       EdCamp is sweeping the nation!  Have you heard about EdCamp? Check out this quick (1 minute) video:

       EdCamp is like a huge faculty room with teachers from all over your school district (or state) coming to one place to talk about whatever education topic they want to talk about; and to do so with other teachers who are interested in sharing ideas and hearing from others on the same topic.

       I often tell our new teachers that an important way to grow and to improve professionally is to talk with and hear from other teachers.  Everyone has ideas; everyone has something to contribute.  Different teachers have different experiences; different teachers hear about and use different resources.  One teacher uses Desmos (for example) to demonstrate attributes of graphs and equations; another teacher uses PearDeck to gather quick formative information from students (and to enhance student engagement); a third teachers uses TenMarks to determine the level of understanding her Algebra 1 have of a particular standard.  (And so on.)  The teachers using these resources may feel like they don't have anything special to share, but these resources that they use everyday might be completing new to someone else.  Everyone gets better at what they do when they hear from other teachers.

       EdCamp brings together teachers to talk about teaching.  And the teachers that come to EdCamp are the teachers that want to share their knowledge and want to hear from others.  Contact your state education office or your district's Office of Professional Learning.  See if there is an EdCamp being planned near you.  Or host your own EdCamp.

       Better teachers make better students; and EdCamp makes teachers better.

Getting Technology, Learning Technology, Using Technology

     I am so excited about the upcoming school year!

     For the first time ever, all of our school buildings will be wireless enabled.  This is the first step in our efforts to build a 1-to-1 learning environment for all of our students.  This is such an exciting time to be in education.  We have had a couple of schools pilot a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) system and we have learned from their experiences.

     In less than a month, I will meet with 250 teachers in a wireless-enable high school auditorium.  I can't wait.  During this meeting we will use Google Hangout to hear from four different companies that offer four great products for use in the classroom.  Some parts of these products are free to all teachers for use in the classroom and some have a fee.  All of these products have embraced the 21st century learning model of encouraging students to discover information and to ask more questions about what they see and learn.

   
     None of the four presenters will be physically present in the auditorium.  This is how we learn in the 21st century.  One presenter will be 3000 miles and three time zones away from us.  The four companies presenting on this day will be: Desmos, Ten Marks, Discovery Education, and Learn Zillion.  The teachers in the auditorium will bring their own devices and will be able to access the website of each company as the presenter is talking.

     It will be a great learning experience for our teachers and an excellent example of the possibilities that (now) exist in our classrooms as the 1-to-1 learning environment begins.

     At 50 years old, I am constantly learning about different websites and various learning products that provide resources to students and teachers.  The P-12 education landscape is (indeed) changing to mirror the lives of our students.  We must change to keep up with the changes that are happening all around us.

     So get ready to bring your device to school.  It is lighter than a textbook and infinitely more valuable as a learning tool.

Great Learning Products in Public Schools

     Let's face it, for some people, public schools are Big Business.  Sixteen thousand school districts; 100,000 schools; 3 million teachers; and 50 million students.  The U.S. is a big country and we have a lot of public schools and public school students.  When you throw in parents and relatives and neighbors and siblings you get a large percentage of the U.S. population that has a connection to our public schools.

     This leads to great competition among makers of educational products; which (in turn) leads to great learning products for our students.  I work in the field of middle and high school math and practically every day I get an email or a tweet or some communication about some new educational product.

     Just as a quick example of such a product, I really like Desmos which is a free graphing calculator that is great for class presentations to students.  It was created with middle and high schools in mind.  It is a great tool for teachers and students.  Another product is Moving With Math which is targeted toward students who are below grade level in mathematics.  Again, this product is purposely made for middle and high school students.

     Public school students get the benefit of lots of great education products and tools that are created just for them.  One more thing that makes our public schools great!