bradshreff
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#ISTE17 – 60in60 Edtech Game Show!
I caught the end of the 60in60 session last year, so I was excited to see it on the listing this year. The session is presented by Brandon Lutz and Scott Snyder. The basic premise of this session is that it is a March Madness-style bracket of EdTech tools. For example, the first round has Kahoot! pitted…
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#ISTE17 – Snapshot: Podcasting, Vodcasting & Vlogging
I came to this for obvious reasons, but also because I want to encourage my students to start creating podcasts next year. When I mentioned this, they were excited, so I thought my time here could be well used for that purpose. I’m also toying with the idea of creating a school-based podcast to replace…
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#ISTE17 – Ignite Round 2
Despite my disappointment with the lack of actionable tools or ideas in the first round, I’m back for round 2 of Ignite at ISTE. In my defense, I looked over the list of presentations for this round and they look like they will fulfill my desires. We opened with Sylvia Duckworth talking about the sketchnoting…
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#ISTE17 – How to Expand Learning into the Social Media Sphere
My first impression on this session was walking into “What Does the Clock Say?” an Ylvis spoof of the viral sensation. So yeah, that happened. Mister C (Kevin Cornell) seems like a really cool guy. I know, that sounds cheesy, but it’s kinda true. He is engaging and fun, he got the audience laughing (despite…
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#ISTE17 Opening Keynote – Jad Abumrad
After some interesting musical choices and a rousing speech from the new ISTE CEO, Richard Culatta about the vision of ISTE and upcoming surprises (maybe other events besides just the annual conference?!?!), we got an introduction of Jad Abumrad. Jad is the creator and host of Radiolab on Public Radio. He starts his talk by…
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#ISTE17 Ignite Round 1
The stage is set, I just enjoyed a delightful pineapple popsicle, and I’m ready for my favorite session: Ignite! For anyone that doesn’t know what Ignite is: I love these events at ISTE because you get a quick introduction to a bunch of ideas all in one session. Often when I sit in long-form sessions,…
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#ISTE17 Thoughts So Far
I landed in San Antonio on Saturday morning, and got to spend some time exploring the city. In short, not a fan. There just doesn’t seem to be much going on. Lots of chain restaurants (YUCK!) and touristy stops. Had some great tortillas at one place though, so not all is lost. I’m not alone…
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What We Can Learn as Teachers from Challenging Administrators
We all have said the words that relationships with students, especially relationships based on mutual respect, are critical to getting the best performance out of our students. Still, a great student will excel no matter what, right? Let me tell you a story of two school years, and the parts of the Venn Diagram of…
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Future of EdTech Coaches
Last night I participated in the #EdTechChat on Twitter, in which the topic was Ed Tech Coaches. As a full-time Digital Instructional Coach, the topic obviously intrigued me. Given the content of the chats, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about it a little on here. Huge thanks to Susan Bearden…
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Planning Period Podcast is Coming!
Followers of my blog, twitter, or just life in general, will know that I haven’t shut up for the last couple months about starting my own education podcast. This is a result of thoroughly enjoying the discussions I have with teachers, administrators, students, and parents, and thinking time and time again that other people would…
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What I’m Learning From Listening to Education Podcasts Part 2
My podcast listening is now officially bordering on obsession. In addition to #EdChat Radio and Cult of Pedagogy, I have now started listening to (and I’ve listened to at least 4 episodes of each of these), Always a Lesson’s Empowering Educators, Angela Watson’s Truth for Teachers, Dads In Ed, House of #EdTech, Pushing the Edge…
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What I’m Learning from Listening to Education Podcasts
I’m planning on starting my own podcast soon talking about education. I’ve been wanting to do this for a little over a year now, and my short time on the #EdChat podcast only made me more determined. In order to prepare for this, I’ve been listening to a bunch of other education podcasts to determine…
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Creating an Open Source Curriculum Instead of Textbooks #EdChat
A few weeks ago, I participated in #EdChat to discuss Open Source Curriculum (more specifically, the question posed was “Is it possible to create a modern, relevant curriculum using open sources from the Internet instead of textbooks?” I enjoyed the discussion, as I regularly encourage my teachers and students to look for outside sources to supplement…
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ISTE2016 Summary – Closing Keynote with Michelle Cordy
Michelle opened with the title slide: “Show Up and Refuse to Leave.” She explained the story of how she started a 1:1 pilot program, and being that she was the only teacher at her school doing so, she reached to books for support and ideas. She wrote a blog post about one of the books…
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ISTE2016 Summary – Genius Bar: Promoting Student Leadership
As a teacher of what is loosely based off the Genius Bar model (more tech assistants truthfully) I am excited to get to see how to potentially take that class a little further. So I sit, early and waiting eagerly, to see this session, presented by Alicia Johal and Mari Venturino. They run their Genius…
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ISTE2016 Summary – Ruha Benjamin Keynote
I wasn’t sure I was going to make the Tuesday keynote, mainly because I went to Denver Biscuit Company and ate myself into an unbelievably delicious and completely worth it food coma. However, as I arrived at ISTE this morning, I saw screens showing none other than THE LaVar Burton in the keynote hall. So,…
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IST2016 Summary – EdTekTalks
This is another multi-presenter session. In an hour and 45 minutes, you see 5 mini keynotes from distinguished EdTech leaders. First presenter is Amelia Rose Earhart. As you might guess, she’s an aviator. In 2014 she did a solo, single-engine, flight around the world. Amelia told us the story of her life, and how she…
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ISTE2016 Summary – Ed Tech Start Up Pitch Fest
My second session of the day is the Ed Tech Start-Up Pitch Fest. In this session, 6 startup companies will present on their new education technology products. There is a panel of judges, and at the end, the audience votes on their favorites. It is a structured pitch setting, with 5 minute presentation and 2…
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ISTE2016 Summary – Problem-Based Learning Extravaganza!
ISTE2016 is finally here, and I couldn’t be more excited! In the beautiful city of Denver, some of the worlds greatest teachers have come together to talk pedagogy and technology. It doesn’t get any more mind blowing than this. Ok, geek out session over (for now). The following are my impressions and some paraphrased quotes…
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Teachers – How You Turned Out is Irrelevant!
I have conversations regularly with people about the state of education. Some people want to understand the problems educators face, others want to hear my opinions about what we can do to fix things, others (and these are the most interesting) just want to have enlightened discussions about pedagogy. In my experience, one idea almost…
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Censorship: The Real Problem With Education
It has been a while since I have posted to my blog, and there is a reason for that. I hope, that as I write this post, I will be able to explain why that is. My most recent post, dealing with how to use OneNote Staff Notebook at the administrative level, was originally written…
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Organizing Administration Using OneNote Staff Notebook*
At my school, we have launched into OneNote as a school platform with both feet. At this point, just 9 weeks into our one-to-one program, we have roughly 80% of our teachers using Classroom Notebooks for their day-to-day activities, and 97% of our staff using the devices every period of every day. We believe that…
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My Life as an Instructional Technology Coach – 6 Weeks In
Week 7 of the school year starts tomorrow, so I thought now would be a good time to give a quick update on my job, and what it actually means to be an Instructional Technology Coach (or, Digital Instructional Coach as we call it at my school). Student Tech Support For the first 3 or…
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Observations at a High School Football Game
As part of my job description as an Instructional Technology Coordinator, falls the ever-dreaded “Other duties as assigned.” As part of my other duties for last night, I had to help with crowd control at the football game. I don’t really mind, especially since this was a high-profile game with attendance over 5,900 fans, and…
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ISTE2015 Wrap-Up
I’m home, and mostly recovered, from ISTE. Feels like a good time to take a minute and write about my thoughts on the conference. The simple summary is that I really enjoyed the conference and think it was totally worth while. That isn’t to say that the conference was perfect by any stretch, or even what…
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ISTE2015 Sessions – 1-in-3 Round 2
My last session of ISTE2015 (no! I don’t want it to be over!) is 1-in-3 Round 2. 1-in-3 is much like an Ignite talk, but only 3 minutes and not as restrictive on what can be on the slides (can have video and sound and don’t have to autoforward). I unfortunately showed up a couple…
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ISTE2015 Session – Managing a 1:1 Campus
My next (and final) session for today is Managing a 1:1 Campus for Principals and Technology Specialists. I’m not 100% sure this training is really meant for me, per se, but whatever. My focus next year will primarily be the coaching and instructional support stuff, but like anything else, I feel like the more I…
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ISTE2015 – Ignite Talks Round 3
For anyone who doesn’t know, an Ignite talk is a 5 minute, fast paced talk. Behind the presenter is a series of 20 slides with a 15 second timer. The slide auto-forwards every 15 seconds, meaning you must be on your game in terms of preparation and speed. My students did Ignite talks as the…
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ISTE2015 Session – Create a Technology Start-Up in Your School
I decided to attend this session because it just sounded really interesting. The idea of starting a company while in school is just fascinating to me. When I was in school, I made a couple bucks selling TI-86 programs (in BASIC), and I just think the idea of not only allowing, but encouraging, our students…
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ISTE2015 – Flipped PD Session
My first session at ISTE2015 is called Flipped PD: Creating Teacher Buy-In and Modeling Technology-Rich Professional Development. What a mouthful. Still, very interested in this topic, especially as I step into the Instructional Technology Coach roll. One of my primary responsibilities is Professional Development (PD), and getting that buy-in from the staff is going to be…
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Humor – A Double-Edged Sword in a Classroom
This is the first week of the summer. I’m spending it at a week-long training on Digital Curriculum and what we, as the school technology teacher leaders, are going to present to the rest of our staff one week this summer. There is a group of 7 of us from my school, many of whom…
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#TEDxWOHS Reflections
Well, the school year is over, and so is the TEDxWOHS project (or maybe it was more of an experiment?). Whatever I title it, I will call it a huge success. My students really crushed this project. Their presentations were so cool, and powerful. If you’ll remember, I started this presentation with my students when…
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5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Do the TEDx Project
Since I started the TEDx project, I have been amazed at the things my students are doing. They are learning about fascinating topics, writing truly awesome reflections, building a positive online presence, and just all around being great. I’ve posted lots on this blog and on my twitter about how much fun this project is…
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Technology is Not a Learning Outcome
Found this on twitter and felt it was worth sharing. Good for all of us to remember as we merge technology and pedagogy. Source: https://twitter.com/CushGills/status/601399974820061185
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Bragging Time – Round 3
Running a little behind posting this, but better late than never. Students submitted their second round of reflections last week, and as before, I’ve pulled out some of the best to share with everyone. Please, be so kind as to share your appreciation of their work by commenting on their blogs. Thanks! Katie B –…
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Overheard at a Continental Breakfast
It never ceases to amaze me what you can learn from listening to people. I have this thing where I listen to all the conversations going on around me, whether I’m at a restaurant, in class, or at a continental breakfast. I like to believe that it is a “teacher thing;” something that we all…
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Teacher Appreciation Week – Just Say Thanks
As most of you should be aware, this week has been Teacher Appreciation Week. While I appreciate the nice little gifts that our administration gets us (we got new laptop sleeves this year) and the determination of PTSO and administration to make us all fat (doughnuts, bagels, and Honey Buns, oh my), these are not…
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Bragging Time – Again
With the first video reflection due this past Monday, I want to share with everyone some of the hard work my kids are doing. These kids are really crushing this project. It is an unbelievably powerful experience to see the excitement from them while they work on this. The following students did a great job…
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Standardized Testing – By Me and Others
It’s testing season, and so I’m thinking about testing a lot. Thankfully, in my state, we are done with English tests. However, I am missing student almost every day for End of Course exams in their various classes. This is very inconvenient for me as a teacher, but way more inconvenient for the students. Not…
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Working on #TEDxWOHS Outside
When I got back to my room from lunch today, a couple of my students point out how lovely the weather is, and say “We should work outside.” I thought about it, and there wasn’t any reason not to. The laptops are charged, and the WiFi extends outside of my classroom. And they’re right, the…
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Bragging Time
We are a week in to our TEDx project, and my students have made their first posts on their blogs. It has been so much fun for me to read their posts and learn a little more about my students and their passions. I have also noticed students who are usually quiet and timid have…
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Everything Wrong With Internet Filtering
Ran into my first major problem with my TEDx project today. Well, I say “major problem,” but I really mean “minor but recurring problem requiring a big change.” Anyways, the problem is that blog.com is awful. It clearly hasn’t had anybody coding on it for a couple of years at least, and even the blog…
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TEDxWOHS Parent Responses
Yesterday, as you probably already know, I introduced the TEDx project to my students.. In addition, I sent an email to their parents that included the link to the project details as well as a quick rundown of what the project entails. The parent responses have been awesome. I sent this out to about 60…
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Teacher’s Throwing Out Grades
Last weekend, I listened to Starr Sackstein (@mssackstein) talk with Nicholas Provenzano about the No Grades Movement. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard about this theory, but given my new outlook on my career and life, I gave it more thought than I had before. In the past, I have always dismissed the idea.…
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TED Talk Project – A Student Experiment
As I enter my final weeks in the classroom, I find myself wanting to make a splash. Thanks to inspiration from Nicholas Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher) and his #NerdyCast, I’ve really wanted to do a project based assignment, and with my new position as DCIC, I wanted it to be tech-centric. Then, during my 1st period class today, I…
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Cool Tool for School – EdPuzzle.com
Today, I spent some time using EdPuzzle, and I wanted to share my experience with it. EdPuzzle is a website that allows you to “Make any video your lesson.” In it’s simplest form, it allows you to give it a video (either by upload or link to web video) and add stopping points. At the…
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Social Media in School
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about social media being used in school and in the classroom. There is great benefit to student use of social media, but some very clear concerns as well. Having an online presence is becoming as important for people as a credit score. We, as a society, have become so…
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Harsh Conversations With Myself
It has been an interesting year for me. For a couple of personal reasons (the details of which I don’t really want to get into here), I have written nearly nothing in a year. I haven’t found myself in a writing mood. I didn’t even win NaNoWriMo this year, and for anyone that knows me,…
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Audiobooks: Are They Really Reading?
Despite what the title may imply, this post simply will not answer that question, partly because I don’t actually have an answer and mostly because I’m too lazy to research the answer in any way. I have had friends tell me before that they have “read that book,” and then proceed to talk about the…