Discussion Board #1

Prompt #1 for discussion

My First Edcamp

The GISD Ready 1:1 Coaches
From left to right: Jason Mood (SGHS), Anne Kamper (NGHS), Tyra Clayton (SHS), Mason (NFHS), Martine Brown (RHS), Crag Klement (GHS), Melissa Torrence (LCHS)

This past Saturyday (March 4, 2017) I took part in my first EdCamp ever. Not only was it my first experience as a participant but as an organizer as well. I have to say that it was one of, if not the best PD experiences of my career.

Last semester, Mason, the Ready 1:1 Coach from Naaman, came to the rest of the 1:1 coaches with the idea of hosting Garland's first EdCamp. We all thought the idea was cool so we decided to go for it. Creating a logo, getting sponsors, procuring swag to give away to teachers, and getting the message out to our teachers were our main tasks. 

Melissa and I putting the schedule together
(and acting like we weren't stressed out!)

The morning of the event, Melissa and I were put in charge of creating the sessions for the day. All in all, we had to create 28 based on participant feedback on what they wanted to learn about. Neither of us was quite sure how the process went or what to expect. 

Our finished session board 

When 8 am rolled around teachers started showing up but suggestions did not. Luckily, after an announcement, the suggestions started pouring in and the sessions fell into place. Things went by so quickly and an hour flew by in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, we didn't get every session filled but we had 26/28. That's still an A. I can only imagine that putting the schedule together felt like an NFL General Manager on draft day.

Me facilitating a session on using tech for STAAR review.

During the first round of sessions, I volunteer to facilitate a session on using tech for STAAR review. The room was packed! Luckily the teachers in the session were involved and willing to share. We got some really great review ideas and a first-year teacher walked away with some really great ideas of what he could do this year. Here is a link to the notes from the session.
Several months of planning and a lot of work (especially by Mason) made this event happen. Thank you to all of our sponsors, the amazing teachers that showed up, Naaman Forest High School for hosting, and especially to my fellow 1:1 coaches. You guys make this job fun.

My Big Takeaway from TCEA 2017

This year I had the privilege of attending the TCEA Conference in Austin, Texas with my fellow Ready 1:1 Coaches. I was excited to go because I've never actually been to the city of Austin and from what I had heard, TCEA was an invigorating experience. 

I didn't know what to expect my first day of the conference. There wasn't many session available but the Google Academy caught my attention. There were a few interesting ideas but, in general, the first day was a bust. I left my first day with low expectations. 

I decided to attend the Leadership Academy on the second day where I attended a session called "Creating PD That Teachers Would Actually Attend" by Nathaniel Holt from Royse City ISD. This was the big ah-ha moment I was looking for. Before I get into what I learned, let me give you some back story.

As an instructional coach, a major component of my job is to train teachers. While I am making headway with some, the vast majority of teachers are still hesitant to attend my sessions. I've provided learning opportunities before school, during conference periods, during lunch, and after school and only a handful of teachers show up. I've even tried bribes! I've given away jeans passes and free food vouchers. I didn't know what more I could do. I was at a point where I was frustrated and somewhat defeated. I didn't want to make anything mandatory because teachers already have enough on their plates, but I wanted to inspire teachers to want to learn.


So back to Mr. Holt's session. I was totally inspired by Royse City's professional development framework. Royse City is on track to have each secondary teacher participate in over 50 hours of voluntary professional development. That's impressive!  

They have a system that employs game theory. There are five elements of game theory. Not all of them have to be present for successful gamification. 

1. There has to be a plot with characters. The plot does not have to be intricate. (story dynamic)
2. People should be able to fail. You don't want it to be too easy. Make the process a struggle. (failure dynamic)
3. There should be multiple pathways to achieve the same goal. (flexibility dynamic)
4. People need to feel like they are going somewhere. It helps if progress is visible. (progression dynamic)
5. I didn't get the description of the last dynamic but I know that it's the construction dynamic.

Teachers are presented with challenges for which they earn badges. Outside their doors, teachers have a physical game board marking their progress towards the next level. 

There are three levels of challenges that teachers can earn. There is also an optional fourth level of achievements that are time sensitive. To progress to the next level on the game board, a teacher must complete 6 badges in a Tier and complete 6 training sessions in their content area. Not all challenges are tied to technology. Some are tied to collaborative, student-centered teaching strategies like Kagan cooperative learning.

Upon leveling up, teachers are given prizes and presented with their badge to place on their game boards. 

One of my favorite aspects of their process is that a student technology team manages the whole process from creating challenges to managing and assigning badges. 

Seeing how Royse City structures their PD has inspired me to develop a system like this for my campus, and hopefully my entire district. I hope to have it up and running by the end of the school year for teachers to start earning badges over the summer. 

Here is a link to Royse City's badging site.

On a personal note, I now understand what "keep Austin weird" and "Austin traffic" really mean.

Our first Apple Coaching Session

On November 14th through 16th, South Garland HS had the privilege of working with a great Apple Specialist, Nia Ujamaa. This was the first of four coaching sessions with Nia. The purpose of the sessions is to have Nia assist teachers in integrating technology into their instruction. 

On the first day of this session, Nia and I met with four educators (Tim Atwood, Shanika McGaughey, Isis Carrington,  and Cristina Perez) to plan a lesson for the following day that included student technology use into what had already been planned.

Mr. Atwood and Mrs. Carrington were both reviewing for tests they would be giving later that week. Nia and I showed them a quick formative assessment tool called GoFormative. GoFormative is a tool that allows teachers to get live feedback from students so they can intervene on the spot. GoFormative allows students to answer both multiple choice and open-ended questions. A feature that is really cool is the drawing feature where students can show their work and submit it to their teacher. 

Here is a link to the GoFormative site. Teachers log in through Google using our email addresses and email password. 

Ms. Perez was having students write thank you letters to teachers and other individuals that have helped them. Instead of students writing a letter, we decided to have students use Tellagami or ChatterPix to record their thank you letter, import it into a Pages document, and send it to their teachers. Tellagami allows the user to create a customization avatar which will present a message for them. Here is an example of a Tellagami video.

ChatterPix is an app that allows the user to make pictures talk. Here is a video explaining ChatterPix and another that is an example of a ChatterPix video.

Students then created a thank you letter using Pages and inserted the video they created to make the letter interactive.