Ninja Skills of teaching online: Relationships #mlearning #k12online

Relationships:
The Myth: Kids online disappear. They go online and you never hear from them again.

What ninja online teacher knows:

• Those welcome phone calls began a relationship with the student that is personal. 
• Student will open up more on the phone than in front of 30 other peers. 
• Conversations between the online teacher and the student are 1:1 not 1:30. 
• There's always that kid in the back of the room that hid and did engage in the discussion. They used the herd to hid in. That's gone in the 1:1 conversations online. 

Reflections

• As an online teacher, I may not know each students' face as well but I know their brain better.
• Overall I know each student deeper because in the one on one relationship, you cannot hide in teh herd. 
• I know a greater number of my parents because they have a stronger role in their child's education when it happens at home.  
• Word of mouth and personal recommendations are the the strongest ways to increase enrollment. Teachers are the one that build those relationships. 
• Always remember your teachers are the greatest tech you have. 

Ninja Strategies

• Relationships are the key in online learning. Motivation and communication are personal. Discovery that students passions. Find that one thing about each student - their passion pr talent. Ask them about it again and again. 
• Make your avatar a picture of you. Encourage the students to do the same. 
• In your cell phone contacts, include a picture of the student, the phonetic pronunciation of their name, and their parents name. 
• Send random text or message just saying hi.
• Send message with good news. 

PD addressing the needs of your learners #michEd #edleadership

One of the interesting challenges of developing PD for teachers is meeting the needs of your leaners.

Let's remember back to when I was in a classroom. One year I taught second grade. While the learning styles of my students will vary all these students are about first to third grade developmentally. They are all being raised in the current year and in the same community. Planning lessons andlearning opportunities   for this group has a lot of commonalities. 

Now consider planning for a teaching staff. The staff I am thinking of has teachers born from 1960 to 1987. Their digital competencies vary greatly. They were raised in different states in different socioeconomic groups.

 Some of these teacher just need to be give a clue and they are off mastering the concept. These are the high flyers. Some teachers need step by step instructions that guide them through. They want a handout to refer to later. These are the lego learners. Some teachers are the elbow learners. They need you at their elbow giving them the information at their speed following their directions. 

All of these groups present challenges. The high flyers are ahead of the group, asking questions before the group gets there and sometimes misses important policy information. Often these high flyers get caught in their own gulf stream wind and land far off course. The lego group needs the directions emailed to them often. Putting them out on the Google Drive is not at hand enough for them. The elbow learner often try the hardest but are the most frustrated in the mixed group lelarning. 

All of these groups offer something to the team. The high flyers will often find new solutions to share with the group. The lego group asks for directions where the whole team is struggling. The elbow leaners are the detail catchers that will find ways to improve the instructions. 

Designing professional development for adult learners requires us to consider a greater range of learners' needs. A challenge I enjoy. 

how to force a copy of a google doc via a link. #gafe #edmch #google

I just followed a link to a google doc and got this:

Pretty Cool Huh?

Here's how make that happen:
Grab the link of the doc, sheet, slide or drawing–the one you see when you are editing. (Hint: this link has the word “edit” at the end.) Then simply replace the word EDIT with the word COPY! The user will then be prompted to make a copy of the file. Once they click the “Make a Copy,” button, it will make a copy of the file and add it to their Google Drive. AWESOME!
Source 

Links and treasure from #migooglefest 2015 #gafe #miched @macul

MiGooglefest was a great time learning. At the top of this post is a dump of all the links. My take-aways are listed at the bottom. Explore the links and make your own take-aways.

Conference site  

Disclaimer: These are not my presentations. I am sharing links the presenters shared. They were all great. I learned a lot.

Editing, Commenting, Suggesting, Oh My!
Storytelling with Google Maps
Expeditions - Google
Google Forms Basic documentation and advanced add ons.
GoogleFest2015: Chrome Apps, Extensions, and Add-ons to Rev Up Learning
2015 - GoogleFEST - The Mysterious Parts of Google
ABC's of Google Sheets
Chromebook Tips Your Mother Never Taught You
Pimp your Chrome Browser
Lesser Known Google Treasures
Google Photos
Add-Ons For Google Docs
Kicking Your Drive into Overdrive
secret door
custom search engine want student to use only the link you curated? Use this. 

Creative Comics with Google Tools

Game of Forms 

Take Aways The key note was a challenge to teacher to listen to the students.

My storify of quotes from the Keynote
My storify of the conference in general
Create your own storify by looking at the hashtag #migooglefest

I learned about a lot of great add on to forms. You can eliminate choices, great custom notification, and create certificates using document templates.

Google photos has some nice features beyond the assistant that I already love. Just click in the search bar and see how Google sorts your photos. Google using the data from the pictures and facial recognition to allow you to search without tagging. This means you can search for the all the pictures of one of your kids without ever tagging a photo. It will also group photos according to what you take photos of. I have a search pre-built of bird pictures ( I have parrots).

Google Trends is a great tool for starting conversations. Want to want a visual display of what people are searching for all over the world? Use Google Trend Visualizer. The bottom allow search by region. The upper left waffle allows you to set the grid.

New Year Resolutions from a teacher #michEd

As teachers this is our New Year's Day. The school year starts tomorrow.  This is the first year in ten years, I will start without students. I am starting the year as an administrator but my position is blended so I maybe the mentor teacher for students as the year progresses. It's important to be intentional about our new starts so here are my resolutions.

1. Blog! Check that one off as started. The purpose of my blogging is to reflect on my leadership and growth. And micro blogging counts!!
2. Focus on language of leading a group through change. Our language frames our disposition towards the topic of conversation. Using language of growth mindset and culture of thinking can frame challenges as positive growth opportunities.
3. Take care of myself. Work cannot be the excuse not to exercise. Stress cannot be the excuse to eat poorly. You are entitled to take time out of work for your passions and your healthy habits.

Overall my resolution is self improvement, it my leadership, language, and personal health.

@Storify as a reflection tool from #OCEP15

Storify 
Is a great way to collect your thoughts from a conference - and others. The embed button has templates to allow choices on the display in your blog or website. Below is a sample of the options. The grid displays a long post so go to the bottom to see the story option.

Here are some storify resources:
How to Create a Storify Story

Storify Tutorial.pdf - ScholarSpace @ JCCC

Sharing options 

 Slideshow Template 

Grid Template 

Story Template 

Teaching the problem not the tools #michEd #edleadership

Elon Musk talks about a new type of school he created for his kids (2015) 

26:00 "It's important to teach to the problem not to the tools. A traditional approach to teaching about engines is here's a course on screwdrivers and a course on another tool. A much better approach is to start with here's an engine. Not let's take it apart and see how it works. A screwdriver is a tool for that. Start with the problem not the tools. The relevance of the tools is in how they solve the problem."

This is the clearest explanation of problem solving based teaching I have hear. What if we started math with the real life problems where you will USE the formulas they are teaching. This would eliminate the question "When am I ever going to use this?" by giving it the relevance up front. The older the student the more the important it is to connect the why to the learning. This is true for adults even more so.

Our students will face problems we cannot image in their careers. Teaching the tools is like teaching them the only way to write a paper is to use a typewriter. That tools, once a critical staple of education and professional life, is extinct. WPM or word per minute for you youngsters is a dead skill. However we are still writing. And WPM has evolved into keyboarding which is still a skill we need.

Teach the student to think. To solve. Foster that growth mindset.



Other important side notes
learning from mistakes 20:00
"There's going to be mistakes and it's important to recognize those mistakes acknowledge them and take corrective actions. A success company is very much more about how quick are you to fix the mistakes. You will make mistakes. All startup make mistakes successful ones fixes them quickly"

About the school he started. 25:00. There's aren't any grades. Students do not move through grades like a factory line.

New photo created on May 23, 2015 at 06:35PM

New photo created on May 23, 2015 at 06:35PM http://ift.tt/1BiV5uw

Marzano & Dumbledore agree on #teacherleadership scale #harrypotter #MichEd

In researching teacher leadership, I have been looking at other leadership evaluation models. This morning I am reviewing The Marzano School Leader Evaluation domains, elements, scales and evidence. Marzano has five domain with elements in each domain. There are a total of 24 elements across all domains.
What stuck me was the scale. There is no highly effective. It is replaced with innovating. Innovating is what true leaders do. They improve practice. They move the ball and change the game.

I also love the lowest level, not using. Compare to other models that label our lowest level as minimally effective or not effective, this scale correlates to evaluation as a growth model. The lowest is choosing not to use the domain or element being evaluated. This returns me to one of my favorite quotes by Dumbledore, "Now is the time we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy." I truly believe few of us choose to be wrong, lacking, minimally effective. It's a place we land when w choose not to attend to something. Anyone choosing to attend to an element can be beginning to improve. The scale defines beginning as attempting.

source: http://www.marzanocenter.com/Leadership-Evaluation/Leadership-Model-Domains/

Teaching as a profession - the world is FLAT #teacherleadership

In researching my latest paper on Teacher Leadership Standards, I have had some insights on teaching as a profession. We are a flat profession. Take two teachers, one is new it's their first day, and the other has been teaching for 30 years. On the first day of school, they both have the same job duties.
Without the role of Teacher Leadership there is no growth for teachers beyond the mastery of instruction that allows them to continue work with students on a daily basis.
This is the important role of Teacher Leadership in the health and maintaining our master teachers. Teacher Leadership allows teachers to maintain that daily instruction and connection to students but also allows a teacher to grow as a professional, leader, and collaborate with others.

Good Bye Explorer Program Messages from @GoogleGlass #google #throughglass #gafe

Good Bye Explorer Program 1/15/2015

So we just got word that Google is closing the Google Glass Explorer Program. Not sure what this all means get but below is the messages we got from Google Being an Explorer was a great experience. If it would have costed only $500, I would have no regrets.Which might be a sign of a larger problem.

Presenting with Google Glass got me into places that I would not have been without it. The experience of being part of the closed beta taught me a lot about customer services and engaging your user community. Google did all that very well. As a teacher in virtual pilot pilot program, I observed how they treated close beta uses and applied some of that to our program.

I have met great innovative people. I have learned how to embrace the new technology. There is  value in moonshots. I have learned  through mistakes and testing. Being part of this program inspired me to take some personal moonshots.

There's no statement about the future of Glass in the messages. No statement they are killing Glass overall. Just the end of the beta program.

Hi there,

It’s been an exciting ride. Since we first met, interest in wearables has exploded and today it’s one of the most exciting areas in technology. We asked you to be pioneers, and you took Glass further than we ever expected. We’ve learned a ton, we’ve "graduated" from Google[x] labs, and now we’re hard at work and you’ll see future versions of Glass when they’re ready.

Since we’re focusing all our efforts on the future, we’ll be closing the Explorer Program on January 19. We realize you might have questions about what this means for you. New feature development on the Explorer Edition will stop while we work on the next version of Glass, but you can still call or email us anytime with questions, thoughts or feedback.

In the meantime, we’ve created Glass Vol 001 to honor the Glass Explorer Program. It’s a collection of photos and stories from the early days of Glass. You were one of the most active participants in the Explorer Program, so as a special thank you, we’ll be mailing you a collector’s edition as a gift. If you’ve moved recently, or think we might not have your address, please give us a call at 1-844-GLASS84 so we send your gift to the right place.

For now, we welcome you to preview the digital version. From Google Glass on Google + We’re graduating from Google[x] labs It’s hard to believe that Glass started as little more than a scuba mask attached to a laptop. We kept on it, and when it started to come together, we began the Glass Explorer Program as a kind of “open beta” to hear what people had to say. Explorers, we asked you to be pioneers, and you took what we started and went further than we ever could have dreamed: from the large hadron collider at CERN, to the hospital operating table; the grass of your backyard to the courts of Wimbledon; in fire stations, recording studios, kitchens, mountain tops and more. Glass was in its infancy, and you took those very first steps and taught us how to walk. Well, we still have some work to do, but now we’re ready to put on our big kid shoes and learn how to run. Since we first met, interest in wearables has exploded and today it’s one of the most exciting areas in technology. Glass at Work has been growing and we’re seeing incredible developments with Glass in the workplace. As we look to the road ahead, we realize that we’ve outgrown the lab and so we’re officially “graduating” from Google[x] to be our own team here at Google. We’re thrilled to be moving even more from concept to reality. As part of this transition, we’re closing the Explorer Program so we can focus on what’s coming next. January 19 will be the last day to get the Glass Explorer Edition. In the meantime, we’re continuing to build for the future, and you’ll start to see future versions of Glass when they’re ready. (For now, no peeking.) Thanks to all of you for believing in us and making all of this possible. Hang tight—it’s going to be an exciting ride

Facing the Truth with Google Inbox #gafe @googledevs

I have recently been given an invite to inbox. There are not that hard to get. You can request one at http://www.google.com/inbox/ or if you know some one that it - they can invite you. It's the "and they tell two friends" roll out. (See old cultural reference that follows. Use YouTube if you are too young)


So far it's an adjustment but a truer use of email. Emails are task or informational. They all have a purpose at least to the person sending it. Inbox handles those task messages very well. Inbox bundles your incoming messages much like Gmail does with social and promotional tabs. But there are more bundles then tabs. It bundles the type of messages. Personally the promotional message, I only read if I am looking for something from that store. It's nice to have they in their own bundle and out of the way. I feel like I get so much less junk email.

When a message comes in, you can

• pin it - to  keep it in your inbox. 
• Plan it by setting a reminder. Cool note reminders have actions attached to them such as call Mom 
• Procrastinate it by setting a snooze. Snooze can be time or date. Cool thing, they can be location based too. 

Things I like

• The Snooze by location. 
• The "do this always" option when I move something from a sender to a different bundle. 
• I can still access the same account with Gmail and everything looks the same. 
• The iOS app on my iphone. 

Inbox visual layout is more like Google+ then Gmail. The menu is a left side fly out. Help is way at the bottom of the menu. Setting

From the Help: Some features work just the same in Gmail and Inbox, like archive and done. For some other Gmail actions, there's an Inbox feature that does something similar, but works a bit differently.

Common actions that are the same
Gmail	Inbox
Archive	Done
Delete	Move to Trash
Report spam	Move to Spam
Compose	Compose
Common actions that are similar
Gmail	Inbox
Star	Pin
Read later (mark as unread)	Snooze
Email yourself	Create a reminder
Organize with inbox categories	Bundle labels in your inbox
Create labels & filters	Create custom labels & automatically add emails

Things I am struggling with.

• I starred many messages because they are To Do items. I think this would translate into pinning them. 
• Deleting is more buried then I would like. 
• I am translating my Gmail skills to the new inbox. 
• Some functions are still only in Gmail. So you cannot completely cut Gmail out of your life.
• The iOS app is iphone. There is not a iPad version. 

Overall This is a an email that functions with what emails are better. The organization will take some getting used to. I'll post again as I keep playing. It's more complex than Gmail but I am leaning towards more productive.

LOLZ