Week 7  

Part 2

How does technology improve teaching and learning in your school?

Technology improves teaching in my school by allowing students to learn at different speeds.  For example, in my computer classes, students use computer programs online to facilitate their learning.  One of these online tools is a website called typing.com.  This is a great website that monitors students' typing skills and provides valuable information to me as a teacher.  This improves learning because the students can see the results of their typing speeds and the gamification portion of earning stars and points help them "grow up" within the platform. Sometimes though, technology can be a lot of work-if you don't have the content prepared for you and you have to create it yourself.

What are some areas in which this could be improved?
As stated previously, adding technology into your lessons can be a lot of additional work. To create a lesson for example using Nearpod, lesson preparation is exhausting versus just assigning a paper assignment or direction from the teacher for the students of where to go to watch a video. But, once the lesson is prepared then it can be used year after year.

How do you go about making decisions about what technology to use in your classroom or school?

Usually, I learn about new technology first.  Then, I start to think of ways that I can use it in my classroom to be beneficial for students.  Then I take lessons that I have been using and incorporate the technology in some way.  An example of this would be using powerpoints in my lessons.  Sometimes I will create lessons with powerpoints and then have access for students so that they can look back on it for later.  

Week 6

This week we were to either present for Leadership or make an innovative change in a lesson.  I chose to do a presentation for my leadership project.  I sent out an invitation to my colleagues.

 My leadership project represents a good example of leadership and innovation because it is a short workshop telling others about fixed, growth and the innovator’s mindset. It is an exceptional way to create a true learning community.  It is a great way to tap into other’s expertise and share it with others. I presented the workshop for my fellow colleagues, which shows leadership, and it is innovative because we rarely have meetings to share what we know or have learned.  This leadership project relates to the 8 characteristics of the Innovator’s Mindset-empathy, problem-finder, risk-taker, networked, observant, creators, resilient and reflection.  Each of these characteristics is essential to the innovator’s mindset.  Knowledge is important, it is what we can do with that knowledge that helps us become innovators.

Number 1 of the 8 characteristics of the Innovator’s Mindset is empathy.  Empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and truly experience their senses.   My project shows empathy, because I understand my fellow teachers need for professional development and learning opportunities.  I understand their environments and learning opportunities from their point of view.  Relationships play a key role in this project.  My coworkers know that I am a great source of information so they can trust that this will not be a waste of their time.  Years ago, I was the Curriculum Director for them and would present and help my colleagues with various curriculum resources.  This relationship that has been established allowed a successful completion of the project. The teachers were appreciative of the opportunity to attend and learn about some new ideas.  Number two of the 8 characteristics is being a problem-finder.  One problem at our school is a need for quality professional development opportunities.  The school does not fund professional development opportunities.  Teachers must provide the funds for this on their own, so many choose not to take the opportunity to attend workshops.  “Finding the problem is an essential part of learning,” notes George Couros.  So many times schools focus only on finding the answer.  Number 3 of the 8 characteristics is being a risk-taker.  Risk taking is something I struggle with the most out of all the characteristics.  It is important to challenge and question our teaching practices so we can find the “best” practice. I am taking a risk by presenting a workshop to my fellow colleagues.  It is easier, in my opinion to teach to students rather then fellow colleagues.  You tend to feel judged for your performance. I also am taking a risk that these teachers do not already know the topic of my discussion!  Number 4 of the characteristics is networked.  According to George Couros, “Being in spaces where people actively share ideas makes us smarter.”  Every idea that I am using for my presentation is based on a network of ideas from other people.  By presenting on this topic I am also branching out with my network.  Number 5 is Observant.  This has to do with locating ideas within other ideas. I utilized ideas from George Couros from his book, “The Innovator’s Mindset” and other presentations that he has provided.  This helps expand the learning opportunities for my fellow colleagues.  Number 6 of the 8 characteristics of the innovator’s mindset is Creators.  Learning happens by creating.  I discussed in my presentation the importance of students creating.  Creating builds deeper learning.  Number 7 of the characteristics deals with being resilient.  Being resilient was definitely within my presentation.  There are teachers that I have worked with that have trouble with change and see mindset as just another gimmicky “feel good” words to try to get students to persevere.  I’m sure there are teachers and administrators that questioned my wisdom of presenting and worried that I might disrupt the normal conventions of our school.  George Couros notes, “It is important to keep pushing forward, even with the risk of rejection.”  With number 8 as the final characteristic of the Innovator’s mindset it is appropriate that it is last-reflection.  We should consistently reflect on what we are doing in the classroom, in life etc.  These are crucial to innovation. 

I ended my presentation with ideas that teachers could provide to students to help them develop the innovator’s mindset.  One of those ideas was to include reflection time for students.   The presentation went well by focusing on the 8 characteristics of the Innovator’s Mindset.  If I planted one seed of curiosity with my fellow teachers, it will have been a success!

I then created a video presentation about my Leadership project.

Week 5 

Visual Created using the tool Piktochart

This week we were to include a visual in our blog that represents our summarization of key ideas from the book by George Couros, "The Innovator's Mindset."  My thought process while creating the visual was to keep the infographic clean with pictures that represent the words from the 8 characteristics of an Innovator's Mindset.  I also felt that the top should reflect on fixed mindset, growth mindset and then a continuation into the Innovator's Mindset.  I centered the book in the middle of the infographic because that is the focus of where these 8 characteristics come from.  Then, emanating from the book are the 8 characteristics in a clocklike order. I included the 8 characteristics because to have the mindset of an innovator you must have empathy for the other person, you must be a problem finder and risk-taker.  You must have a network of other professionals to lean on and learn from.  You must be observant and then able to create by being a creator.  An innovator's mindset must be resilient-to keep on keeping on even when you are frustrated and possibly fail.  Then finally, you must reflect on your journey and where it will lead you next. 

Week 4

Being a Global teacher and impact the world with one small step

What did you learn from the book this week?  I learned that in order to unleash the talent by empowering educators, you need to develop trust and collaboration.  Innovation is not a command- “you there-you-go innovate now!!”  Instead, as a leader, it is something you are willing to do as a team. I also learned that exploring our strengths and passions-along with sharing and learning provided innovative professional development for George Couros.  So, I began thinking-I have no control over what professional development looks like at my school but I do in my classroom.  What if I took this idea and used it in my classroom?  I could have students think about something they are passionate about and share it with others or something that they want to learn about and share it with others. Then they could comment on others and then reflect on their own learning. 

What did you learn from the videos this week?

This week I learned from the videos three interesting things.  First, I want to work at a place where you can never get fired for performance issues!  I love that the company will support and offer lifetime employment.  Just like a family, you don’t get kicked out of the family for doing something wrong; you are embraced and loved and supported to get through it.  Second, sharing digitally has transformed innovation.  I have never understood why others have watched hours of online videos.  My daughter, for instance, has watched videos on makeup and a few of my other children watch gaming videos.  I ask them, "why don’t you just game instead?"  They would rather watch others play and learn from them.  But the idea of openness, using online video to spread ideas to the world and learning from others is a great concept.  Finally, I really enjoyed the last video.  She talks about releasing the power of our students.  Lately, I have begun not to ban my students from their cell phones-but I find myself telling them if admin comes in-they need to put it away.  She also talked about don’t feed the fears-I am afraid that I will get in trouble for breaking the policy of no use of phones in the classroom.  I agree that we need to focus on real-world environments.  I loved her comment that technology is the language students speak.

I thought also about that they could use some different apps and learn about them and teach them to us-with using their passion/or want to learn something but, then I think, "whoa, Nellie"-one small step at a time.