I have love-hate relationship with social media. I hate how much time I waste scrolling and how people can be so rude in social situations because of their attachment to their phones/social media. I love how I can keep up with friends who I don't get to talk to often and how much I can learn from others. While I didn't get to be in lots of classrooms this week, I got to peek into what's happening in some classrooms on my campuses via Twitter. I enjoyed seeing Ms. Hon teaching #BookSnaps to 6th grade ILA students and 7th grade TX History students acting as real estate agents with Ms. Coldiron and Ms. Sears. I learned about a variation of the game Spoons for learning vocabulary from Ms. Owen, argument-driven inquiry in Science from Ms. Harrison, and individualized field trips from Ms. Conklin via a retweet. It's unfortunate that education is one of the easiest professions to stay stagnant. There are teachers who literally and figuratively laminate their lesson plans, never changing on account of the differences in the students they welcome into the classroom from year to year. If stagnant is not where you want to be, then Twitter will surely challenge and inspire you. My new role of Digital Learning Coach has me following teachers and leaders in all disciplines. I'm also especially interested in those with similar roles as me. There are so many people willing to share their stories and resources. Likewise, there are plenty of people, like me, looking to learn from them. Comparison and thoughts like 'I'm not the best writer,' or 'what can others learn from me,' or 'no one will read my blog' could hinder me from sharing, but I won't let it. I'm challenging myself to share my story this year through blogging and social media. I encourage you to share your story too!
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I know the saying goes the other way around, but I feel like this perfectly sums up my first weeks as a Digital Learning Coach. The Storm I hit the ground running. We had a bootcamp to learn the role and I was training new teachers two business days later. This was followed by inventory and preparing devices for teacher and student use, math teacher training, meeting two new staffs, updating websites and workflows, maintaining distribution lists, resetting passwords, formatting lesson planners, and a never ending list of emails in my inbox. Did you notice that none of that involved integrating technology in the classroom? The Calm Then, it happened. The students came to school. It was weird for me to not have to greet students or have a getting to know you activity for building my classroom culture. Instead, I worked on my growing to-do list and popped into the hallway during passing periods to help students find their way around campus. I peeked in a few classrooms to see if teachers needed any help with technology. I met with a few teachers about lesson ideas and apps. I even got to help an Algebra I teacher take a functions assessment digital with Wizer and create a School Tour Goosechase for 6th grade Study Skills. Keeping Up through The Calm & The Storm Google Keep has helped me to stay organized through the calm and the storm. I'm that teacher whose desk is usually littered with sticky notes (I wish I had a picture). My desks (two of them) were starting to get a collection. I realized though, that as I moved from one campus to the other, those sticky notes didn't move with me. In walks the need for traveling sticky notes, and Google Keep is just that for me. Whether on my desktop or my phone, all of my notes are travelling with me. I can tag, color code, set reminders, and prioritize notes by pinning them to the top. With the Google Keep Chrome extension, I can take notes directly from a website and have the link saved in my note. I can also copy my notes directly into Google Docs. I have the ability to filter my notes with labels and customize my notes with images. I often get stopped in the hallway and have something from that conversation to add to my to-do list. With the Google Keep app on my phone, I can easily add the notes while on the go. It is just the tool I need to stay organized during the periods of calm and storm. What are your go-to tools for staying organized and prioritizing tasks? |
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