Last week, our Tech & Media Team hosted our first Digital Learning Summit for administrators in the district.  We spent a day outside of the district participating in fun, meaningful activities and building a vision and plan for how technology use in each building.  Below is a list that highlights the activities as well as a little reflection.

Below is the presentation that we used for the day.  Some screenshots from the presentation are also included in this post.
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If you are unable to view the presentation below, please click here.

This was such an amazing activity and experience for our administrators that it got its own post!  Click on the button below to view a recap of the activity.

As a little bit of a flipped PD model, we asked our building administrators to complete a survey prior to the day of the Digital Learning Summit.  The information provided in this survey was used in various ways throughout the day.  For our second activity of the day, we showed the group of 7 administrators 4 different pie charts of their results (based on 4 areas of the survey - Planning & Preparation, The Building Environment, Instruction, and Professional Responsibilities).  Based on the pie charts alone (and the list of questions asked in front of them), we asked them to share their thoughts about what the charts represented.  We collected their thoughts and added them to the slides to create a snapshot of our discussion.

For this activity, we wanted to reinforce the 4 C's (Communication, Critical Thinking, Creativity, and Collaboration).  We found this activity online, but modified it a bit to fit the needs of our group and our intended outcome.  Some of the changes we made:

• We changed the names of the people in the story to the names of some of the administrators in the room.
• We selected pairs of administrators to work together based on our observations of their 4 C's strengths.  This put our admins in 4 different groups.
• Based on their 4 C strength, we created custom rules for their group, taking away the strength.  For example, the group with the strength of Critical Thinking was given the solution and told they just need to recite the facts and the solution to the group as their presentation.  The only exception was the group of 1 individual who had full reign and access to any resources to put together the solution.
• Each group needed to present their solution at the end of the allotted time.

It was interesting to see how each group worked to find a solution based on their customized rules.  Some groups became frustrated with how they could/could not give their presentation or work through their thoughts.  The look of shock on the faces of the group that was given the incorrect solution was priceless.  So, why would we subject our eager group to an activity that looks like it was setup for failure from the beginning?  Because that is how our students feel sometimes.  This is not a strike against teachers and all of the hard work they do for our students and the thought, time, and resources that go into planning on a daily basis.  This was meant for our administrators to be put in the shoes of our students to feel as the thoughts our students feel on a daily basis. Due to state constraints and district/building requirements, it is easy to get lost in assessments, data, and the daily struggle to make learning relevant for every student.  Again, why would we do this?  To show different learning options, differentiation, and to demonstrate how when you take away one of the 4 C's, you are left with a C that stands alone - CARING.  And what does caring look like if you don't have the other 4 C's?  You be the judge.  Because it truly can be whatever you make it to be for your students.

Listed below are the cards and information we used for our activity.

So what does it look like when you take verbal, written, and electronic communication away from a group?  Hand signals and charades (which were permitted)!

At the end of the allotted time, each group was asked to present their solutions to the whole group.  The group that was not allowed to communicate was allowed to verbalize their solution.  Somehow with utilizing non-verbals, they were able to present a picture solution that was pretty accurate!

We spent the last part of the day putting everything into action that we had been discovering and working on throughout the day.  Our goal was for each administrator to start thinking and developing an action plan for their building that states the administrator's vision for how technology will be utilized in their building, incorporate the 4 C's, and make sure that it is inline with the district's vision ("Godfrey-Lee Public Schools will provide the comprehensive, innovative and creative instructional programs that prepare each learner to succeed in a global society.").

As part of this action plan building, we delved further into the results of the pre-survey that each building administrator filled out prior to attending the Digital Learning Summit.  The questions that were asked were aligned and organized by the Four Domains of Danielson’s Framework for Teaching.  Each question was aligned with a change order and well as proficiency level.  A scoring guide was created to help provide administrators with suggestions for strengths and weaknesses as well as how to move forward.  How the administrator interpreted these results and used them for their building vision was unique and allowed them freedom to focus on areas that might not have been as strong as others.  It was meant to be a guide based on their own self-evaluation.

In constructing their plans, we asked each administrator to include the 4 "things" below to provide some continuity.  In a month, our group plans to meet again to continue the discussion we started at the Digital Learning Summit and refine their action plans.

Our building administrators will refine their action plans and work on the 4 "things" above.  We asked that they build an action plan that they will not only share with their staff, but also present to the Board of Education about how technology is currently being used in their buildings and their plan for moving forward.

We had a great day working with everyone and we can't wait to see what our administrators come up with!

A couple of months ago, I learned about Breakout EDU from one of the most awesome EdTechies I know - Ron Houtman.  I was totally intrigued with the concept and knew I wanted to find a way to work it in to a professional learning opportunity.  The door opened itself when our Tech & Media Team was provided a full day to work with administrators to work on identifying ways technology is currently being used in buildings, building a vision for moving forward, and developing an action plan for success.  Our team works hard to provide relevant learning opportunities in all of our professional development opportunities, and Breakout EDU fit the mold in driving home our point of how the content should drive the learning, not technology (and how the 5 C's - Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity, and Caring are also driving forces in student learning and success).

As our Activator/Introductory Activity for the day, we had our 7 administrators (5 building Principals, Superintendent, and Assistant Superintendent) participate in the Time Warp activity.  Our team was nervous about facilitating our first Breakout EDU activity and we really weren't sure what to expect.  In hindsight, I don't think that any amount of pre-planning could have fully prepared us for how the the activity would play out.

As we had a whole day to work with administrators, we decided to put their lunch menu inside the Breakout box.  We wanted to provide them with a meaningful incentive for the activity (we were still planning on providing them with lunch, but it made for a nice competitive environment!).  It was interesting to see adults struggle through an activity (that was designed for students as young as 14), struggle, fail, demonstrate perseverance, and achieve success.  The great thing the the concept of Breakout EDU or other escape games provide is that in order to achieve success, you need to not only have some prior knowledge, but more importantly, problem solving and and critical thinking skills.  I believe those are two very important skills that can be best be "taught" through experience.  This activity cannot be completed through a simple Google search, nor was it designed to be...which begs the question - "Do we want to provide our students with Google-able learning experiences?".

In the end, our administrative team broke out with 11 seconds left (they may or may not have received a hint towards the end!).  Did they understand what it meant to work collaboratively towards a goal?  Were they forced to communicate with one another to achieve success?  Did they experience frustration?  Did they employ the 5 C's to ultimately earn their lunch?  Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

In our discussion after the activity, we had a great conversation about what they learned from the activity and how this translates to what we want to see in teacher exploration and student learning in our district.  It was fascinating to hear their feedback, thoughts, and experience reflection.  Our Superintendent shared some of the group discussion thoughts on Twitter (shared below).

So, would we do Breakout EDU again?  WITHOUT A DOUBT!  Within days of sharing our experience with some teachers, we already have a PD for Breakout EDU on the calendar!

Here is your chance to weigh in!  Do you think Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow on February 2 (and we will have 6 more weeks of winter)?  Take the survey below (or visit ​http://j.mp/phil2016)!

Note: You may need to refresh your screen to see the updated survey results below.

You may see this image when you try to download the file.

No worries!  Just go ahead and click the Download button.  It is just a big file and Google Drive cannot provide a preview for the document.  There are many book resources after all! 
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Please leave any comments below on how you use these in your classroom or any other ways you use QR codes in the classroom.  I always love hearing new ideas!

I just recently shared some Winter QR Codes with the teachers I work with and received some great feedback.  One third-grade teacher informed me that she was working on teaching spiders, so I put together a little QR Code listening center activity for her.  One thing I have noticed as I am working on putting together QR code listening center activities for specific topics is that it is sometimes difficult to find a lot of books about a topic.  So the topic-specific QR code printables are often smaller that the bigger holiday-themed ones.  This did give me an opportunity to work on another teacher suggestion for these in that I included the AR quiz number right on the book card.  Hopefully this will make accessing the AR quizzes easier if they are already using these book cards.

I hope these teachers and students find these fun and useful!

​You may see this image when you try to download the file.

​No worries!  Just go ahead and click the Download button.  It is just a big file and Google Drive cannot provide a preview for the document.  There are many book resources after all! 
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Please leave any comments below on how you use these in your classroom or any other ways you use QR codes in the classroom.  I always love hearing new ideas!

What time is it?  Winter QR Code time!

Below is a file that will take you to the Winter QR Codes that can be used for listening centers in your classroom or in any other way you feel is beneficial.

I haven't started putting together the QR Codes for Valentine's Day yet, so now is your time to tell me your favorite Valentine's Day book!  If you are lucky, you might see it show up in the QR codes next month.  Simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post with your favorite Valentine's book(s)!

​You may see this image when you try to download the file.

​No worries!  Just go ahead and click the Download button.  It is just a big file and Google Drive cannot provide a preview for the document.  There are many book resources after all! 
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Please leave any comments below on how you use these in your classroom or any other ways you use QR codes in the classroom.  I always love hearing new ideas!