Are you part of the Dream Team?

Every teacher has his or her strengths. So I ask you…what are your strengths? Would your team members agree with you? At a recent LeadMeet I listened to Cameron Paterson @cpaterso and Lou Deibe @ldeibe share their journey and strategies when coaching for collaboration. Soon after, my school kindly sent me to Hawker Brownlow where coaching appeared to be a focus (or maybe I chose it to be?). Learning from others on Twitter has developed my interest and furthered my belief that coaching is an effective practice that develops teachers professionally.  

Thank goodness all teachers are not the same! While this is great in one aspect, at times it can be difficult, as teams needs to work collaboratively. These holidays I intend to focus on reading, discussing and learning more about coaching. As we know, we all have our strengths but are we aware of areas that need developing? Who can help us learn more about ourselves as teachers? Should it be our team members? Should it be our administrators? Should it be a professional coach/outsider?  I think the one element that is missing is whoever it is...there must be a strong level of trust. I believe trust needs to be established for one to truly be open to learning about themselves professionally.

To confirm my definitions - ‘Coach'-to transform thinking, ‘Collaborate'-to form ideas, ‘Consult/Mentor'-to inform & ‘Evaluate'-to conform.

If you watch Simon Breakspear How do the innovative learning environments get created? you may understand why I visited some members of my Professional Learning Network (PLN) in Canberra this week. I hope to provide a snapshot of my ‘take-aways’.

Richardson @Borto74 @gregt39 @bingobarney @benmwhite86 

• Developing life-long learners, not short-term outcomes
• Student growth is more than just data results
• Coaching is key! We need to invest in our teachers
• Invested teachers that are accountable drive school growth. 
• Collective accountability-Teachers working collaboratively to achieve school goals
• Trust takes time and needs to be a priority

Brindabella School @MelanieSSpencer

• Teaching is research in action! More educators should formally record what they are doing & share with all stakeholders
• Learning spaces are created to provide collaborative, flexible working environments for students and teachers
• Connect the school and activities to the real world.
• Question when people say, “it’s always been done that way”
• Change mindsets-this may include administrators, teachers, parents and students. This takes time.

Dickson College @betchau

• Classes are provided for refugee students-great way for students and teachers to develop empathy
• The subjects in the ACT provides a plethora of choice
• I learnt about their wonderful architecture and engineering programs - which included the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) program, robotics and I also saw 3D printers in action! 
• Passionate teachers inspire passionate students

Gungahlin College @CraigMEdwards_

• Learning spaces are flexible and designed to promote collaboration
• Staff rooms and learning spaces are all ‘open’
• The teachers, technologies, resources and spaces enable students to engage and develop their love of learning
• The college continues to evolve and adapt to suit the needs of their students and learning contexts

Ultimately being part of a team could mean your year level, stage, school, or #PLN. I don’t believe you can develop professionally on your own. You need someone you trust to help you identify where you need growth. But you also need a trusted someone to remind you of the awesome job you are doing. I think we, as educators always look at our inadequacies but we also need to celebrate our contributions to the education profession. 

Keep dreaming for yourself and your students.

Andrea

stringer_andrea 

So what's in it for YOU?

Why do YOU do that Twitter thing?

What are YOU hoping to gain from being involved in TeachMeets? 

How will 'YOU' benefit from all these connections you are making?

These are questions I’ve been asked recently. Let’s begin with that Twitter thing. Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables users to send and read short 140-character text messages, called "tweets". I believe many educators are apprehensive to go into the unknown and don’t see the benefits. Some may say they have enough to do without adding to their teaching load. If they only knew…

I view Twitter as an amalgamation of various resources. It’s a library overflowing with information (both relevant and irrelevant) that includes a plethora of books and reviews, journal articles and blogs. You choose what is relevant. It is also a meeting place where like-minded educators chat about their day, students, lessons, ideas, frustrations and successes. I have found educators on Twitter are supportive, generous, knowledgeable, and at times, they challenge your thinking. I believe Twitter has the ability to support and assist every educator. You can make Twitter suit you and your needs. You may not feel comfortable tweeting and you may lurk for a while or maybe forever! Just remember you reap what you sow. You have something of value to share and collaboration is not a solo event.

Twitter has helped me meet many of my teaching standards.

1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students 1.2 Understand how students learn

Recently I was fortunate my school sent me to Hawker-Brownlow in Melbourne and upon arrival learnt that we were going to present or write an article later. I began tweeting from the start and connected with an educator that I had been conversing with for months. As there were very few tweeting, I tweeted out how #ISTE and #PBL had given prizes or incentives to tweet. Next minute prizes were offered and my friend won that day. I won two days later and received $150 worth of educational texts. Not bad for sharing the presenters information and book recommendations. But what made me happier was receiving tweets and direct messages (DMs) from educators all around the globe thanking me for tweeting. You can't possibly attend every PD available. I learnt this week that this is the next best thing to attending, as I followed the EduTech hashtag. Being allowed only 140 characters forces your tweets to be succinct. After the four days of tweeting at Hawker-Brownlow, I did storify the tweets, which summarised all my information.  It's the 21st Century way of note taking. By adding more educators to my Professional Learning Network (PLN) my support and knowledge develops.

1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds 1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students 2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

Edutweetoz has had various Aboriginal educators and educators who are teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote areas. You could read about this topic in books or you can tweet questions and learn about their experiences in real time. I have learnt more and developed a better understanding about Indigenous students from reading various tweeted questions and comments. When I implemented Design Thinking with my students, it was an educator from Twitter, Wes Heberlein that connected my students with his Aboriginal students in Rockhampton. This was an authentic connection. On #edutweetoz this year, the Indigenous moderators have been @liz_loveslife, @bensonsaulo, @peterradoll, @wesheberlein, @chrissarra, @jessa_rogersX, @chrisvella2, @nicburrows. Moderators that are working in Indigenous communities are @jarvis001 and @nicburrows.  Authentic educators, authentic context, authentic time.

2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) 4.5 Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically

Over a year ago, I was kindly asked to moderate a global education chat group every Saturday morning. #Satchatoc is an hour-long chat and focuses on an educational topic each week.  One of our guest moderators will be Eric Sheninger who recently wrote Digital Leadership. Before Eric guests, I will read his book to extend my ICT knowledge. I have access to education specialists from all over the world. People tweet out questions, advice, resources that others may find valuable. People post questions and while I may not be able to answer their questions about technology, I retweet (RT) them out to my Professional Learning Network (PLN), which consists of many experienced technology specialists. I am constantly learning about apps, programs and new technology information. Twitter also enables me to use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically and this experience provides a model for my students.

6.1 Identify and plan professional learning needs

It was through Twitter that I learnt about the ELLA app. This will be available very soon. I've be privileged to provide feedback to the ELLA team. It is a simple and powerful app designed to assist Professional Learning for teachers.YOU plan your personal professional development goals. Check out the ELLA website. http://www.ellaapp.com

6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice 6.3 Engage with colleagues and improve practice 7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities

Tweeps share relevant research constantly on Twitter. I can easily engage in high quality opportunities to improve my practice by attending TeachMeets. I believe my colleagues are not just those educators within my building but all of my PLN. By attending TeachMeets, my professional knowledge and practice improves, which results in improved student outcomes. I am constantly engaged in professional discussions and learning to improve my practice and student achievement all thanks to TeachMeets, #satchatoc and Twitter in general. By being part of #satchatoc and TeachMeets, I contribute to professional networks and make connections with other professionals, schools and agencies to improve teaching and learning. Some of the outstanding educators I have connected with and learnt from are- David Price OBE (UK), Julie Lindsay (USA & Aus), Dave Burgess (USA), Cameron Paterson (Aus), Matt Esterman (Aus), Jon Andrews (Aus), Yong Zhao (USA), Stephen Heppell (UK), Andy Varsily (China), Cathy Hunt (Aus), Louiza Hebhardt (Aus) and Lisa Hayman (Aus). One of my personal and professional goals is to help initiate #edcamps in Australia. Over the last two holiday periods I have visited various interstate schools and educators that I have met through Twitter. You can read about these experiences on my other blogs. While Twitter is said to be a microblogging experience, it was my PLN who pushed me out of my comfort zone to begin blogging. For this I am truly grateful (HT-Jon & Matt). Tweeting and blogging is an effective reflective practice.  Twitter engages you in professional discussions that can develop your Professional Learning Network and improve your practice.

Next time I get asked these questions I will promptly answer -“How can you not be on Twitter?” 

Twitter provides you with the opportunity to- 

• receive 'free', flexible, 24/7 professional development
• connect with a world of educators
• be challenged and inspired by others
• collaborate and learn from world-renowned educators.
• meet the AITSL standards

So what's in it for me? 

Connecting with educators via TeachMeets and Twitter builds my Professional Learning Network. Twitter can be more than aspirational talk when laced with resources, links & exposure to thought-provoking leaders via this 'new generosity'. Ultimately, it's all about the students and their learning. 

Andrea

stringer_andrea

"Be prepared to fail, take risks and innovate". Jon Andrews

The school holidays were approaching and it was time to visit my family in Brisbane. Although I am from Brisbane I haven’t lived there for many years. I decided that it would be a missed opportunity if I didn't meet up with some of the people I've connected with on twitter. Amalgamate professionally and socially. Of course I had big plans of visiting four schools yet I only managed to visit two. Honestly, those two days of meeting, observing and talking with educators and directors of learning provided me a plethora of information to reflect upon. I don't know about you but I need time… time to process, time to think of how to apply this new learning to improve my students' learning. These two very different visits also encouraged me to question my role as a teacher, and more importantly a learner. If innovation refers to renewing, changing or creating more effective processes, products or ways of doing things, then I am an innovator.

I spent about six hours visiting St Paul’s and this experience was humbling and inspiring. The numerous heads of learning Jon had organized for me to meet were generous with their time and candid about their journey. When I met each leader of learning, Jon openly shared how their contributions have deepened students’ learning and wellbeing. Their experience, knowledge and skills were visibly appreciated. My morning began visiting and conversing with Marianne Connolly (Director of JS) and Cheryl Wegener (Head of Curriculum Development JS) about their process of curriculum mapping and Immersion Studies Time (IST). IST is their sustained commitment to Heutagogy (student-determined/driven learning). By placing students in the driving seat, they achieve deeper engagement and authorship of learning. They have been working with the Australian Curriculum for over three years and I probably could have chatted with those forward thinking ladies for hours. We then observed a prep class where Andrea’s students performed their own Opera. Through their creativity and collaborative skills, the students enjoyed performing for an audience.

Julie Bryce
(Manager of Teaching & Learning) shared her vast amount of knowledge of Professional Learning Communities and St Paul’s appraisal system, explaining how customization was required to suit their context. It was at this point of the day I realized these leaders had a transparent and united vision. They also had permission to take risks…well-researched risks. “If you are going to fail, fail fast!”

 Before lunch, I met with Greg Lang. Watching him with his pre-prep students, revealed his calming nature. Previously a principal of three schools on 2 continents and a lead University lecturer, Greg came to St Paul’s to shape Reggio from the ground up. Sharing his passion and knowledge of Reggio Emilia was inspiring and sparked my interest. Talking and listening to Greg reminded me that education has so many diverse elements that each educator uniquely pieces together to make learning happen. One size does not fit all.

Meeting with Heads of Learning to talk about pedagogical coaching was insightful and thought-provoking. This unique team consists of Des Hylton - Inquiry, Terese Reese - Global Sustainability, Gabrielle Kempton - Creativity, Tim Osborne - Design and Cathy Smith - Entrepreneurial. This team of five, work on a K-12, transdisciplinary remit and support all colleagues with learning design, innovation and critical reflection. They work at the frontiers of Heutagogy and operate with an open philosophy. I appreciated how they shared that they were there to support the teachers to integrate their knowledge and skills. We discussed how the element of trust was vital especially with appraisal and risk taking with learning innovations. Two things that resonated with me was the complimentary manner in which each educator was introduced and how open they were for feedback. 

The open culture of St Paul’s was evident. I asked many questions, went off on many tangents (as always) and thoroughly enjoyed the conversations that took place. Jon continually gave me opportunities to think and reflect. I met the Principal, Paul Browning who came across as down to earth, humble and very welcoming. Neuroscience, trust, intrinsic motivation, failing and leadership were all topics of conversation. I must admit I was delighted to learn that in addition to being a Principal, Paul is also a primary teacher. While Jon joined his Big History class, I sat on the verandah reflecting on my day. “You learn so much if you just listen”. I’m going to take Greg’s advice and not just listen to students but also to other educators. I will seek their knowledge, experience and wisdom. Thank you Jon and St Paul’s for reminding me to be prepared to fall and fail, take risks and innovate.

The following day I visited Mount Alvernia, after connecting with @debraway on twitter. But that’s another story!

Thank you-

Jon Andrew @jca_1975

Paul Browning @PaulDBrowning

Des Hylton @des_hylton

Tim Osborne @TimOsborne71

Julie Bryce @JulieBryce4

Terese Reese @TereseMReese

Cheryl Wegener @CherylWegener

Gabrielle Kempton @ga_kempton

Cathy Smith @ CMSmithAUS
Marianne Connolly @66Connolly

Broadening our Perceptions, Building our Connections.

My US school provided complementary food for all the staff, which included a soup & salad bar, hot lunch and dessert. With this came a school tradition: Gain 20 lbs (approx. 10 kg) in your first year educating there. But the dining hall provided more than just free food... something way more valuable. It was free PD! Because it was a Pre-K - 12 school, the faculty and staff were diverse yet we all had a common bond. The love of learning! The learning of the students and our own learning that took place collaboratively and independently. I find myself drawn to others who are passionate learners whether they are middle school history teachers, high school math teachers or Pre-K art teachers. I remember sitting with the Head of School, chatting about linguistics one day. The conversations that took place over lunch with the faculty members were valuable and memorable.

I have previously blogged about my experience with the California Beginning Teacher Support & Assessment program. My allocated and paid mentor was Chris, an experienced teacher, mentor, coach and consultant. I was a beginning teacher, whereas Chris had years of experience. I was teaching at a private school, she had more than 20 years in the public system. Chris never saw me as a private school teacher, or herself as a public school teacher. We were both educators wanting the best for our students.

So what have these two experiences got to do with broadening our perceptions and building up connections? The lunchtime context enabled teachers to share their learning. My mentor, Chris, viewed us not as public or private school teachers but as educators with a common goal. And here it is: my aspiration is for all educators to learn from each other, no matter your title, your position, your experience, your system or even your country of residence. Education is changing and we need to be involved and part of that change.

                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqDtR8XdpXc

Last week I watched an AITSL clip, System Leadership, Collaboration & Innovation which supports the intention of this blog. As a co-moderator of #satchatoc I connect with insightful educators. David Price, Julie Lindsay, Dave Burgess and all our other guests have been so generous with their time and knowledge. Recently on Twitter, educators expressed their disappointment about not being able to attend various PDs. So I wondered how could I make it possible for all educators to receive the PD they desire. So I emailed two educators I respect and admire. To be honest, I wasn’t optimistic but I was encouraged to 'shoot for the stars'.

This week I've learnt that educators are approachable and generous with their time and knowledge. From the pre-service teachers who run Twitter chat groups to Stephen Heppell and Yong Zhao who have agreed to be guest moderators on #SatChatOC in May. This enables others to have the opportunity to connect, collaborate and communicate with those who inspire. Broadening your perceptions means exactly that. View people first as an educator and learn from each other, regardless of title, position, experience, system or residing country. Twitter has enabled me to do just this. Build your connections by attending a TeachMeet, recommend Twitter to colleagues or organise a dinner with some of your educator friends.

Please don't limit yourself to your inner circle. Look for diversity, be the change and embrace change!

Andrea

stringer_andrea

The Benefits of Connecting~Investing your Time.

In 2013 I was fortunate to be part of the Design Thinking (DT) team where projects were implemented throughout my school. I felt very fortunate to be given this opportunity and appreciate the innovative projects my school implements. I was encouraged to learn from David Price (@DavidPriceOBE) on engaging students and Project Based Learning (PBL) by attending an informative two-day workshop. While I had some knowledge of DT, I felt I needed to learn more. So I read journal articles, got on Twitter and also contacted Diane (@dianedarrow). An innovative educator, Diane had taught my daughter in kindergarten (USA).

A few phone calls and inspiring discussions later, (Aus-USA) Diane and I had put together some ideas. Then I had the opportunity to go to ISTE13 in San Antonio. I would say it was one of my best educational experiences. Before I left for the US, Brad (@bcurrie5) & Scott (@scottRRocco) kindly asked me to co-moderate an extension of #satchat with Holly (@MrsHollyEnglish) and Jason (@jaysongraham99). #SatchatOC has been an incredible experience and I've connected with many innovative educators from around the world. While at ISTE13, I met many more including Jimmy (@casas_jimmy), Daisy (@daisydyerduerr) and Jerry (@cybraryman1). Talk about supportive resourceful educators!

The first day of ISTE13 I walked into the key note presentation-Jane McGonigal (@avantgame) with a Canadian I had just met. He sits down and comments about how he's surrounded by Aussies. There, sitting next to him was Cameron (@cpaterso) whose knowledge and experience is something to admire. Cameron has since connected me with TeachMeet Australia (www.teachmeet.net) where I have met many dedicated educators such as Matt (@mesterman) and Jeannette (@7Mrsjames), who I now call friends.

ISTE13 clarified my thoughts that teaching and student learning had ventured onto an exciting path. Some educators had already taken that path, others were looking for directions to it and some didn't know this path even existed. I attended Diane's DT workshops and in one sat with Julie Lindsay (@julielindsay) who is a global and innovative educator (Flat Connections Projects). I can honestly say that ISTE13, those who presented and those I met, inspired me to take that path with more conviction. Diane suggested a book to help explicitly teach the process of Design Thinking. It is designEd http://www.lulu.com/shop/maureen-carroll/designed/ebook/product-20497202.html. She also recommended a Stanford MOOC where I spent my Sunday mornings learning about DT (8 Weeks). This provided the framework and confidence I needed to implement DT into my classroom.

In Term 3, I integrated DT into an established HSIE unit, People and their beliefs, while also explicitly teaching the process. I believe it's important to introduce the concepts such as interviewing skills and working collaboratively through mini-lessons. Throughout this unit, student engagement was evident and skills such as designing, collaborating, creative thinking, questioning and their ability to reflect significantly developed. I believe you need to front load and establish the process before applying DT to a unit. The most important and significant thing I learnt was that my students generated the 'Needs Statement' not from their interview questions but by a simple comment one girl made while playing with my students. Her comment generated a wonderful insightful discussion and I have to thank my friend, Helen (@MrsMorgani) for connecting our students. It was amazing to hear one student explain the meaning of 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. The needs statement they generated was applied to their chosen topic-Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or Indigenous Beliefs. Best of all, EMPATHY was the basis of this unit.

Thanks to John (@johnqgoh), I've since attended #PLSM13 run by Bianca @biancaH80 & Lee @waginski who continue to introduce PBL to many classrooms. I have asked others about the difference between Genius Hour, Design Thinking and PBL and from my understanding, in PBL, teachers design the driving question. In DT, students create a 'Needs Statement' by interviewing the stakeholders or researching a teacher-given topic. In Genius Hour, students have the freedom to choose the topic and generate their own questions.

I am eager to be journeying further down this path and if I can, lead others to this path. The time I've invested in connecting, whether it be on Twitter or at TeachMeets, motivates me professionally. On a personal note, I've meet some great people who share my passion. I have included twitter names because these people have inspired and influenced my teaching. For this, I sincerely thank them!

Appreciatively,
Andrea



Feedback is very much appreciated.