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isolation
Professional Learning

Ending the Isolation with TCEA

by Robert Bennett
written by Robert Bennett

When I was a few years out of college, my best friend became a line cook at a restaurant at a reasonably high-end hotel. And the second he did, he stopped being my best friend.

This wasn’t out of anger or anything he did, mind. Rather, it was because the hospitality industry is one of the weirdest industries to work in. Every second that normal people aren’t working, you are. When normal people have free time, you don’t. From 4:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., on all holidays, on all weekends – these are your peak hours.

When he made this jump, it was hard to stay friends with him, just because his schedule changed so dramatically. It was like he was living on another planet. And he made new friends – among the hospitality industry. Because they were the only other people who could really understand what his life was like now. They were his tribe.

Education Is Our Tribe

The hospitality industry is an extreme example of how a profession can make your life different from everyone else’s – but I think similar sentiments could be said of educators. Educators are, like the hospitality industry, somewhat forced to work around the hours of the “mainstream” working population. (A rule here at TCEA is, if you can’t get a newsletter sent out before 7:30 a.m., it’s probably better to wait for the next day. Educators simply won’t have time to read it.)

And though educators certainly work with other adults, like the “mainstream” population, they also work with young people in a state of rapid development, in environments that are very different from either home or work. Really, education is very much a “third place” among locations where we interact with one another: more inviting and comfortable than work, yet not as permissive and private as home. The rules are different – but the rules are very much present, far more so than in many other industries.

The Sense of Isolation

I have learned that if you labor in “outlier” professions for too long without support, it begins to feel lonely. Most other people do not have these responsibilities. Most other people do not make these choices or these sacrifices. They don’t know this level of stress.

This is why TCEA has always labored to be that “tribe” for educators, and provide the support you need to succeed not only technically – in advice, in tips, in suggestions, with tools – but also emotionally. Because I find there’s often a relief to be had when hearing others share the same concerns as you – not because you expect a solution to those concerns, but because it’s confirmation that such concerns aren’t unusual.

TCEA is here to be that tribe for educators of all roles and types: for elementary teachers, for tech administrators, for librarians, or even for entire campuses and districts that are looking to further their knowledge. We say “We are TCEA” quite a bit – but we mean it. For all of the people working in all their positions throughout the unusual profession of education, we’re here to be your tribe, to end the isolation, and to give you the support you need to succeed not just in the classroom and the office, but throughout your career.

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time
LeadershipProfessional Learning

Take Time for Innovation

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

As an educator who’s been “doing this” for a very long time now (my, how the years how flown!), I have learned the importance of stopping once and a while to simply think. We get so busy in our day-to-day lives, hurrying to get things done and to help our students and colleagues and parents and community members. It’s easy to get so caught up in that whirlwind of activity that we forget that we have to recharge, too.

So I’ll ask you this simple question: What have you done recently for your own growth and sanity? And while many of you will probably answer that you attended the TCEA 2020 Convention & Exposition recently, and that is certainly a growth event, you may not have taken the time to really sit and think about all that you learned there after you returned home.

Setting Aside Time

I attended a powerful workshop on leadership last week. While there, I took tons of notes and constantly found myself saying “Oh, that would be great to implement” or “What a fantastic idea! I know that can help our members.” But once I got back to my office, those notes were put aside as I dealt with a myriad of small fires and the needs of my board and staff. What was missing was scheduled time for me to sit, with my office door closed and my technology turned off, and think. I needed time to internalize all that I had learned, to see how the pieces fit together, and to process my next steps. I needed dedicated time to consider how those new ideas could best be used in my particular situation. I needed time to take that new learning and apply it to innovative approaches for the future. I needed time.

Putting Innovation on Your Calendar

Now I know that as overwhelmed, incredibly overworked educators, time is one commodity that we simply don’t have enough of. And I also know that there really are only 24 hours in a day with no way to get more added. But I still believe that setting aside some of that precious time to sit and think is an absolute requirement, regardless of our role or of how busy we are. So I’ve begun scheduling thinking time on my calendar. I’ve let my assistant know that, unless the building is on fire, I am not to be interrupted during those few moments. I shut my door, close out my email and turn off my phone. I pull out the notes from something that I learned recently and some blank paper and a pen and I think about its meaning, its relevance, and how it might fit in with everything else that I do. I doodle and scribble and, as I sit there, ideas begin flowing. My mind seems a little clearer and, by the end of the time I’ve set aside, I am calmer and recharged and ready to move ahead.

It doesn’t seem to matter how short this time is. While I obviously process more given more time, even just 15 minutes seems to make a difference. So I would encourage you, actually beg you, to try setting aside just a little time on your calendar to sit and think. I believe you will see a profound difference in your mental state, in how you approach new problems, and how you grow intellectually. Then drop me a line at lgracey@tcea.org and let me know how this innovation time (or whatever name you give it) is working for you.

Happy thinking!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that one of the best ways to schedule a good block of thinking time is to attend the Elementary Technology Conference. Held June 14-16 in beautiful Galveston, TX, this event provides not just innovative learning experiences, but a fabulous on-the-beach location that is perfect for thinking. Register now and join me as we sit and learn and think together.

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flipgrid
Educational TrendsGood TeachingProfessional Learning

Four Features to Make Better Use of Flipgrid

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

You have probably already heard of Flipgrid and perhaps even started using it, at least to some degree. It definitely seems to be the perfect tool to support students in many ways, not to mention using it as a way to provide peer- and content-support to teachers.

As I have worked with teachers and administrators, though, it seems that most folks using Flipgrid aren’t making the most of some great features it offers. I usually hear from educators, after sharing Flipgrid as part of a larger training, that they wish they knew about the features sooner and are stoked to start using it in even more engaging ways. You could say that they caught #flipgridFever!

Update Your Profile

Begin by making sure that your profile is updated. Don’t be shy. This will allow others to better connect with you. Click on your image in the top right and select Profile. Select a photo or avatar for your profile picture. If you have a picture that has a busy background or you want to use a quick editing tool to remove the background (as I did on my bitmoji image), go to remove.bg, upload, and edit your image as needed.

Once done editing, download your image and upload it for your profile by clicking on your current Flipgrid profile image. For your account information, be sure to choose all the grades and subjects that you have experience with. Complete the most current bio description of who you are and what you do within the 256-character limit. Lastly, share how you would like to connect by providing any social media information or links. When done, click the Update Profile button. Now, let’s jump into some useful tools.

1. GridPals

GridPals is, as you may have deduced, Flipgrid’s version of pen pals. It’s a super easy way to connect with other educators and enthusiasts to further learning and improve education.

Begin by clicking on the #GridPals link at the top of your Flipgrid screen (assuming you are on a computer). Change your status from Hidden to Active so that you and others can find each other and connect. A window will pop up allowing you to edit your profile and add the location where you are. For mine, I entered Austin, Texas, United States. Click the Next button to continue. You are now able to give permission for other GridPals to contact you. Plus, Flipgrid never shares your contact email with them until you reply, so you have complete control. Edit/add any social connections if you would like and then click the Join GridPals! button. Woohoo! You are now in the GridPals group!

So, what do you do if you don’t have students? Why would you want to be a part of GridPals? Even if you don’t have students, you might be asked to share with a group of students because of your job or area of expertise. It also helps you stay up-to-date on how others are using Flipgrid in the classroom, from early childhood up through college!

2. Disco Library

Yep, Flipgrid has a disco library. Well, in layman’s terms, it might better be called a template gallery, but “disco library” is so much more hip and exciting!

In the Disco Library, you can access templates that other educators have created to spark new ideas of interacting with your students, as well as jump start your process. No need to start a topic from scratch if someone else has already created it for you. Flipgrid also lets you know the following when you enter the Disco Library:

  • No student videos will be shared when a Topic is added to the Disco Library.
  • You can edit Topic information before or after you share. Topics can be removed at any time.
  • Other Flipgrid educators will not see that you’ve added their Topic template and vice versa.

Using Weekly Hits

The #FlipgridWeeklyHits shares 50 topic templates that you might be interested in. You can scroll (left-to-right) through the list of thumbnails or click on the View All link to jump down to the list as a set of search results. Scrolling through the list, I have found several that spark creative ideas of how I can support students that I haven’t thought of before using a specific student standard, or support teachers with a unique area to share on a particular topic that is meaningful to those like-minded teachers. It’s almost like a PLN (professional leaning network) in Flipgrid!

After clicking on the View All link, you will drop down to the list and be able to see who the topic template creator identified as the audience, the subject area, how many times it has been used, and how many favorites it has. Just click on the topic template to get more information about the topic. If you want to use it, just select which of your grids you want to add it to.

Featured Disco Playlists are sets of topic templates provided by various organizations such as code.org, Wonderopolis, Hacking for STEM, and more. When you find topic templates that you like, either as part of a playlist, a weekly hit, or ones that you find by using the search feature, click the Add to Favs at the top of the descriptive window about the template. This will allow you to begin creating your own playlist of favorites to share with others.

Using the Disco Library

The easiest way to add one of your topics to the Disco Library is to go to the list of topics within the grid you want to share. If you want to share multiple topics to the Disco Library, you’ll need to share each one individually. And remember, no student videos currently in your topic will be included in the template.

Right-click on the Actions button of the topic you want to share and select Add to Disco Library. Your topic will be submitted to the Flipgrid team to review for appropriateness and value. You will notice your stats near the top letting you know how many topics you’ve added (once they are accepted and added), how many times they have been used, and how much video engagement (hours/minutes/seconds) has been generated.

3. MixTapes

No, this isn’t creating mixtapes on cassettes like we might have done back in the ’80s and ’90s to give to someone special. This is a whole new way of sharing — but based on the same principle.

A mixtape is a compilation of any videos that are in any of your topics, in any of your grids. Begin by adding a new mixtape, which really means creating a folder for the videos you want to add.

Once a mixtape is created, go into the various topics and locate the videos you want to add. Right-click on the Actions button of the video to add and select Add to MixTapes. Select the specific mixtape to add it to and click the Add button. Voilà! You are now on the way to being a mixtape master. Now all you need to do is go to the specific mixtape and click on the blue Share button. You can easily share you a specific mixtape via url, QR code, embed code, Google Classroom, and via Remind.

Using MixTapes

Consider making a mixtape as a study aid or glossary for your students as they review information for a major test. If you work with teachers, then consider creating a mixtape of them sharing ideas of how they are making a difference in their classroom or how they are implementing a particular strategy in their classroom that the whole campus (or district) is working on.

For example, if I’m working with ELA teachers across the district, I may create a topic in which they share how they are implementing the new ELA standards, tips or tricks they have to share for other teachers, or ways they are implementing something they learned while in our district professional development time. I could then make a mixtape of several of the videos to create a synopsis of great things that are going on, and I might share this mixtape with principals so they can get an idea of how ELA teachers at other campuses are setting an example.

4. Shorts

Shorts are brief videos, no longer than three minutes, that you (as the teacher) can create to share how-to’s, introduce a lesson, provide a video note to parents, or just share an update.

Once created, you can share in a variety of ways: by url, embed code, QR code, Google Classroom, via Remind, or download and share via Google Drive or YouTube as you might normally share a video. As when students are creating a video, you can add a filter, stickers, text, draw on the video, and even make use of Live Inking on a whiteboard or blackboard.

Live Inking is great when you have a digital pen or slate (so your writing is more legible) to use and need to create a quick tutorial video on something such as how to solve a binomial equation, explain in a simple manner what cloud computing is, or some other situation where it is helpful for the person to see you illustrate the concept or skill while hearing you talk; in this instance the video isn’t on you but just the white/blackboard is being recorded. And if you right-click on the More icon (the three dots just to the right of the record icon), you can upload a sticker, which could signal to the students the topic or subject area or could be used as simple branding of your videos.

How Do You Use Flipgrid?

So how do you use Flipgrid? Which feature(s) have you found to be the most impactful? Even if you haven’t had a chance to use Flipgrid, have you come across an innovative way to incorporate it in the teaching and learning process or in professional development? We’d love to hear from you!

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adult learners
Professional Learning

Providing Opportunities for Adult Learners

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Over the past 40 years, the way we provide professional development for educators has changed. From one-shot, sit-and-get sessions based on what we wanted to offer to individualized learning experiences based on what each teacher or administrator wants or needs to learn, we’ve come a long way! But the latest data on adult learners may show that we need to go even further.

The Pressures on Adult Learners

The infographic below from Bersin by Deloitte has a number of interesting and relevant findings. While the information is gathered from all types of adult workers, it applies equally to school folks. Let’s take a look at the data to see how it should impact the way we provide professional learning for educators.

adult learner

Key Points about Professional Development for Today’s Adult Learner

Make Sure to Address WIIFM (What’s In It For Me): Ensure that the learning content is focused on driving behaviors and impacting work performance. The thing that matters most to today’s learners is that we answer their question, “How’s this going to help me perform better and faster on the job?” We can’t take time to teach them a “cool tool” or show them a “great website” unless it can really affect learning in the classroom.

Offer Learning in Short Bursts: The average adult learner today can only spend 24 minutes a week focusing on training and development due to the demands of his job. In addition, he will only watch a video that’s four minutes in length or less. Add to that the fact that we have only five to 10 seconds to get someone’s attention in an online web page like a Google Site. All of those facts together mean that the learning we provide must be in short chunks. We should take our old six-hour workshop and break it down into many, many, many, MANY small pieces. Think micro. Think active learning (and that doesn’t mean just getting up and walking around). Think collaborative. Think reflective. (By the way, this same approach works perfectly with students today as well.)

Eliminate Distractions: With so little time and available mind space for learning new things, we need to make sure that we have eliminated any distractions in the work environment that are not useful. Too many meetings? Give your adult learners information via email or short video clips instead. Ditto for morning announcements that take up too much time. When they are able to attend a PD event, make sure to streamline everything so that critical learning is front and center. This may include introducing ourselves and our background (they don’t really care) and those fun icebreakers we love to do (not needed as much if the learning is individualized).

Think Outside the School Building/Day: Provide ways for your adult learners to learn 24/7 when they want and can do so. Online courses, video clips, recorded webinars, infographics, how-to handouts are all excellent ways to provide information while allowing participants the freedom to decide when and where they are ready to learn.

Put the Learning in a Mobile Format: Adult learners today check their cell phones an average of nine times an hour. We are glue to these devices. So provide your professional development in a format that works on a cell phone screen. Ways to do this include:

  • Have one idea/topic per screen.
  • Start with existing slides or a PDF, if you already have them in your content files, and break them down into smaller pieces.
  • Have modules that take less than 10 minutes to complete.
  • Include lots of visuals.
  • Ensure that the content is formatted to load faster, i.e. no large graphics or videos.
  • Have easy navigation like large buttons and obvious directions of what should be done next.

Provide an Online Place for Collaboration: 80% of learning now happens via on-the-job interactions with peers and 70% of employees access answers to on-the-job questions through search engines. Your educators are looking for solutions. So give them a way to get those solutions from people who really know what they are talking about: other educators. Whether you have a district Facebook group or you provide membership in TCEA for all of your staff so that they can collaborate and learn from others in the Community, it’s important for you to do something that facilitates their conversations about teaching and learning. Google may be great for answering many questions, but it doesn’t often contain true solutions that work in our classrooms.

If we keep these important points in mind, our adult learners will be empowered to learn at each of them needs to, which will help to ensure that the learning is transferred and continued in the classroom.

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professional learning network
Professional Learning

Building Your Professional Learning Network in Three Steps

by Matthew Lincheck, Guest Author
written by Matthew Lincheck, Guest Author

We have all heard someone somewhere say, “The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other.” With all the information that one educator receives from students, parents, co-workers — and yeah, don’t forget about that .9463 pounds of iPad goodness that you have in your hand all day, you need a way to keep up. We all have our way of organizing the information that we receive, but there is simply not enough time to try out every idea that comes our way. 

This is where our PLN could not be more valuable to use. PLN, or Professional Learning Network, is a model developed to avoid the perpetual confusion that swells after the introduction of new ideas. 

What confusion, you may ask? More times than not, when we stumble upon a new idea, app, or activity on our favorite idea generator, i.e Twitter, Facebook, Teachers Pay Teachers, Pinterest, we are faced with a very real question: How might this work in my classroom? The very best way that I have found to answer this question is to run it by your PLN. 

So what do you do when you don’t have a PLN or don’t know where to begin? To get started, it’s as easy as one, two, three. 

First: Get a Professional learning Network Group 

Whatever your favorite social media source is, start by searching the grade level you teach. Twitter is a great resource for this. There’s no stronger instant bond than a group of educators who go through the same challenges and successes each year. Once you find like-minded educators, follow them and then message them when you like an idea or post, and repeat.

Next, read a Twitter chat. This is a great way of fast-forwarding to the “ah-ha” moments that happen in the chats. Not only is it faster, but it is great way to learn about ideas before you’re ready to contribute. Whenever you have that “How do I…” question, that’s when you join in the Twitter chat. Make sure to go back to the same chat again and again, and you will be well on your way to developing your PLN.  

Second: Collect Your Ideas 

Find one place to collect your links, screenshots, and notes of ideas that you want to try, have tried, or simply find interesting. Find this one place to store them and stick to it. Use it when you take that screenshot or jot down that note in a meeting. Don’t get up until you send it to your storage capsule.

Some great places to store include Pinterest, Flicker, Instagram, a Facebook page, Wakelet, or OneDrive and Google Drive. Choose one and stick to it. Once you do, go ahead and invite your partner teacher on campus to your storage space and invite them to add ideas when they see something. Your collection will grow and grow.  

Third: Take the Initiative 

The last way to expand your professional learning network is to put yourself out there. Present or broadcast your ideas and questions. This may not be the most comfortable thing to do for most educators, as we are typically the ones who hold the knowledge. However, you will not learn more about the content that you are interested in than when you present at a conference or join an online discussion to have an open dialogue on the topic. 

Don’t have a conference to go to or to join online? Not to worry. Go back to the first step, go to your Twitter or social media group, and advertise that you will host a Google Hangout or Skype discussion on the topic. Have the online video discussion for 20 minutes and start to prepare a list of questions to ask the group that joins.

You’ll be shocked how much you’ll learn so quickly from the participants’ experiences. Before you end the discussion, ask them what time and day is best to meet up again. Before you know it, you have a PLN group that you can bounce ideas off of and organize the next big thing for your classroom. 

unsplash-logoPhoto: Thomas Drouault
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TCEA convention
Professional Learning

Maximizing Your TCEA Convention Experience

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

The 2020 TCEA Convention & Exposition is almost here and it’s time to get serious about planning out your experience. With more than 1,000 sessions and a wide variety of learning activities, you can’t just walk in without some preparation. So here are a few tips to make sure that you get every ounce of personal learning you can during the week.

Your Focus

First-timers to the convention are always overwhelmed by the sheer volume of choices that are available. So I recommend that you make a plan before you go. Now is the time to decide on your learning goals for the event.

What two or three main topics do you want to focus on? What are the biggest needs that your classroom or district is facing? What is the latest ed tech trend that you want to get up to speed on? What new teaching strategy or tool do you need? If you can articulate the answers to these questions, then you have a direction to focus on during the convention.

Your TCEA Convention Planner Tool

TCEA Convention

Download the free TCEA Convention app (available for Android and iOS). Log in to the app using your attendee service center log in (included in your convention email confirmation) and you’ll be able to create your personal calendar of learning events during the week. The app will also have the most updated sessions and any changes made.

Find the Topics You Need at the TCEA Convention

Once you know your focus, it’s time to take a look at the learning opportunities being offered and create your schedule. (By the way, we recommend that you do this on the convention website instead of the app as the search feature there is more robust. Then you can simply access your schedule on the app.)

  • Is there a keynote or featured speaker that you simply don’t want to miss? Add that to your schedule first.
  • Curated session lists on a variety of topics have been created to help you narrow down the offerings. Whether you are looking for Future Ready, Google, STEAM, or other topics or you want to browse sessions by job role (like CTO, principal, teacher, librarian, etc.), there’s a list for you. In addition, each of our SIGs (Special Interest Groups) has hand-selected sessions that you don’t want to miss.
  • Do you need hands-on practice with a new tool? If so, you might want to attend a workshop or a playground (go to the Session List and select “playground” in the Time/Format box). (By the way, if you want to make sure that you get a seat in a workshop, you should volunteer to be a hands-on workshop facilitator. It’s a very simple job, just checking people in, and you get the only guaranteed seat in the workshop.)
  • Are there specific exhibitors that you want to talk with? Locate their booth and make a plan on when you will visit them. (Note: This year, we will have dedicated exhibitor time when there will be no other sessions going on. That will happen on Wednesday, February 4 and Thursday, February 5 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Central.)

New this year, we also have another great way to design your learning. After picking up your badge at registration, step across the aisle and visit the “Design Your Experience” booth. Here, veteran TCEA convention attendees will help you create the perfect, personalized schedule to maximize your time.

Your “Free” Time at the TCEA Convention

Learning can continue during your non-session time at the convention as well. As you’re standing in line for a coffee or a presentation, be sure to put away your phone and talk with those around you. You can grow your personal learning community and pick up another ed tech tidbit or two. Here are a few situational questions to get you started.

Waiting for a Session to Start

  • It took me (however long) to get over here. I just came from (insert session here). Where are you coming from?
  • My session ran long because ….. (or short because). I wish they would have explored _____ more. How did your session go? What did they talk about?
  • What are you hoping to learn in this session?
  • How has your district implemented (whatever the session topic is about)?
  • I’m always looking for the next great web tool. Have you learned about a new one this week that you could share with me?

Waiting in a Concession Line or at a Restaurant

  • I’m glad they have ____ available. Usually, I just have _____ at work (or where I’m from). Are you from here?
  • What’s been your favorite session so far?
  • I was thinking of heading to ____ session, but ___ session is a little closer. What sessions have you attended already?

Train Twitter to Help Network for You

Twitter can be a powerful ally for any convention attendee. But it can work even harder and smarter for you if you combine it with IFTTT (IF This Then That). All you have to do is create an “if this happens – then that happens” scenario between Twitter and IFTTT. From there, the tool will make sure that every “this” action triggers a “that” action to happen. Here are a few that you might find useful at convention:

And, of course, be sure to follow the official convention hashtag of #TCEA. That way, you won’t miss out on any of the great learning posted online.

Share the Wealth by Sharing Your Notes

There is so much going on at a TCEA convention that you cannot possibly attend all of the sessions you want to. That’s why it’s so important for attendees to share their notes with others.

Take notes from each session you attend using a Google Doc; be sure to include the session title and presenter’s name, email, and Twitter handle. Then share your notes publicly for anyone to view. You can notify people via Twitter that your notes are available. Besides just being a nice thing to do, it will also increase your visibility and position you as a thought leader. You can even consolidate all of your Tweets that contain session recaps by saving them as a Twitter Moment. You can share this moment at the end of the conference so attendees won’t have to scour through dozens of tweets to find your notes.

Finally, to make your TCEA 2020 convention experience the very best it can possibly be, be sure to stop by the TCEA Lounge on the fourth floor. Here you can listen to live discussions, discover ways to extend your learning 365 days a year at no additional cost to you, and grab some cool TCEA swag. Happy learning!

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professional development
Announcements/Important DatesProfessional Learning

Weave Together Perfect Professional Development

by Kristy Breaux
written by Kristy Breaux

TCEA is more than just an event, it’s a community. That’s why our annual TCEA Convention & Exposition is designed to create a professional development experience that meets the needs of a variety of dedicated educators, all sharing a vision for the future.

Every educator, from administrators to classroom teachers, faces a diverse array of challenges, and each deploys their own knowledge and skills in different ways. Put simply, no two teachers are alike. So when we planned our 2020 TCEA Convention & Exposition, we worked to ensure that a variety of different specialities and topics in education were addressed. We call these strands.

It’s our hope that over the five days of world-class presentations and conversations, you find resources from all the strands that touch on your work and professional learning. Here’s how you can weave together these strands to reflect your personal approach to education.

Step 1: Make Sure You’re Registered

You can’t jump into all that content if you’re not registered. Choose the badge type that’s right for you or your group and submit your registration here. Don’t forget, registration comes with a one-year membership or renewal in TCEA, so you can be a part of a vibrant education community year-round and continue the learning.

And remember: Registration prices will increase on January 10, so don’t delay!

Step 2: Explore the Strands

With over 1,000 expert-led presentations, it can be hard to narrow down the sessions that meet your requirements, interests, and needs. So check out the strands below, and find the ones that fit you for a customized convention experience.

  • Application Immersion: Deep dives into the use of a software or application so you can use the apps that increase learning with ease and confidence.
  • Leadership and CTO: Sessions designed to help decision makers find the best products, services, and purchasing practices, along with big-picture ideas for training and coaching, as well as district and campus visioning and leadership.
  • Library Media: Discover the latest and best in multimedia learning, including ways to engage students in the learning process, conduct research, and become responsible consumers of information and good digital citizens.
  • Online and Blended Learning: Insights to help you flip your classroom or augment your in-class work with the most effective virtual classroom technologies. Find the tech that helps keep learning going beyond the classroom.
  • Pedagogy and Instructional Design: Boost creativity and productivity, explore open educational resources, and find the tools and techniques for lesson planning, technology integration, and more.
  • Professional Development: Find new, effective ways to connect with peers, staff, and colleagues through technology, from strategies and models for making connections to the smartest means for measuring outcomes.
  • Special Populations: Best practices, new technologies, and proven strategies for supporting learning with ELL and bilingual students, GT and gifted students, and students with special needs.
  • Technology Applications and CTE Courses: Create computational thinking in the classroom and pick up the newest and most useful strategies and tools for teaching coding and CTE, as well integrating STEM/STEAM into teaching and learning.
  • Technology Support and IT: Upgrade the ways you keep faculty, staff, students, and parents safe online. Find the latest trends, tech, and techniques for securing network infrastructure, managing hardware and software, and providing technical support.

Step 3: Find Your Professional Development Sessions

Now that you’re excited, jump into the sessions that fit you. You can find all the sessions for TCEA 2020 online. Even better, you can search by strand or keyword and explore everything the convention has to offer.

It’s that easy! Although, if there were a step four, it would be: Start planning now — February will come sooner than you think. So get ready! We’re excited to see you there.

unsplash-logoPhoto: Sergio Gonzalez
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coaching
Good TeachingProfessional Learning

Coaching for Results, Part 2: The Impact Cycle

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“We’re getting started with coaching in our district,” said the technology director. “We thought that for the first year, we would build relationships on campuses. After that, we could look at coaching models to adopt. What are your thoughts?” I have to admit that the question with the long lead-up caught me off guard. How would I go about selecting a coaching model for my school district?

Ed Tech Coach Visioning

Back in March, 2016, I had spent some serious time researching coaching models. My goal was to offer suggestions that were more ed tech friendly. My curriculum and instruction counterparts were eyeing Jim Knight and Karen Anderson’s Results Coaching.  Having attended training for the latter, I was a bit leery. It involved crying and digging into personal feelings and thoughts. While there was a lot to like, you had to mind your vocabulary choices, and neither version or hybridization of models offered ed tech support.

My proposal had the following suggested purpose:

The purpose of district ed tech coaches is to put in place a coaching model. This models seeks to provide a professional helping relationship and process. The coach, possessing expertise and experience, aids the teacher. The teacher, with support, will learn and get new skills by a colleague.

To make the proposal irresistible, I included four must-have aspects. Let’s take a quick look at those.

Four Aspects of Ed Tech Coaches

The proposal described coaches as having four aspects to the work of coaching:

  • Instruction and Technology Coach. This aspect of the coach focuses on the how of instruction. It also seeks to ease staff’s use of technology-enhanced processes. This means putting in place new processes that redefine current teaching, learning, and leading tasks.
  • Data Coach. These strategies focus on staff examination of student achievement data, making it easier to design instruction and to make curricular decisions.
  • Resource Coach.  This component focuses on coaches maintaining resources for each other and staff. This includes management of a variety of digital tools and resources for teachers and students to use in a technology-rich learning environment.
  • Classroom Supporter.  This involves working side-by-side with a teacher to model effective teaching. Co-planning, co-teaching, and engaging in reflective conversations are critical to teaching and learning.

As you might imagine, the proposal was not accepted. At the time, instructional coaching was a bit nebulous. And the proposal failed to articulate key components of any coaching model. You can read the complete proposal online. As my first effort, it was worthwhile because it does set the coach up as a superhero.

Coaching Model #2: Jim Knight’s Instructional Coaching

All coaching models lead back to the seminal work of Jim Knight. Even the collegial coaching model which I recommended for use by ed tech coaches hearkens back to his work. Jim Knight points out that any new coaching program must address seven success factors.

  1. Do you have a coaching cycle with student-focused goals?
  2. How do you work with adults? Teachers as partners?
  3. Do you have a set of teaching practices or instructional playbook?
  4. How do you gather data?
  5. Do you have communication skills?
  6. Are you a leader in the way coaches need to be a leader?
  7. Are you supported by the principal?

It would take too long to go into each of the seven success factors. You can read a bit about each in Jim Knight’s Instructional Coaching blog. This four minute video also does an excellent job of capturing the essence of the seven factors.

Overcoming Professional Development Woes

“You are doing anchor charts all wrong,” said one session facilitator to an elementary school teacher. “When she said that,” reported the teacher, “I lost all confidence in her. Since she did it in front of the entire grade level team, everyone turned her off. We went to see the principal later.” This real life situation occurred in the midst of a professional development session. As you might imagine, that workshop facilitator is now persona non grata in our school. It’s easy to mess up in a professional development session. Someone can ask a challenging question and the next thing you know, you’re on the defensive and saying something wrong.

In a recent article, Jim Knight points out that in the past, teachers:

  • Had low expectations for professional development
  • Did not find that professional development met their needs
  • Complained that professional developers failed to recognize expertise teachers had
  • Seldom implemented what they heard about in workshops
  • Perceived professional development facilitator’s approach as a barrier to implementation

He suggests an instructional coaching model that makes partners of teachers. In this coaching model, teachers rely on what they know and their own experience. This ensures that teachers work to determine the best practices for their classroom. To do that, Jim Knight recommends the three-stage Impact Cycle (view the Impact Cycle Checklist).

The Impact Cycle consists of the steps of Identify, Learn, and Improve. As you might imagine, this particular model differs from Diane Sweeney’s student-centered coaching. Yet it is flexible enough to use in a variety of ways.

Coaching for Results: The Impact Cycle

Finding the right coaching model can be tough. In the next portion of this series, we’ll take a look at some other coaching models. Be sure to check out other coaching blog entries.

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gt and cte
Professional LearningSpecial NeedsTechnology Applications

Earn Your GT Hours at TCEA 2020

by Kristy Breaux
written by Kristy Breaux

Educators know that each student learns differently. And today, many teachers specialize in a number of important areas, like providing enriched learning experiences to gifted students (GT). 

The 2020 TCEA Convention & Exposition is an event for all educators. That’s why TCEA is helping meet the needs of dedicated educators like you. Not only can attendance at TCEA provide critical professional development in your specialty, but you can also experience a world of informative sessions on all things education. Here’s why TCEA 2020 is right for you.

How TCEA Helps GT Educators

Teachers who have received the initial 30 hours of training in gifted education are required to receive six (6) hours of training yearly to maintain their eligibility to teach GT. Technology is a major component of the education of gifted and talented learners, and TCEA has identified sessions at our annual convention that are targeted for GT teachers and meet the six-hour requirement. 

Below are a sampling of the sessions that have been identified for GT teachers. You can view the full session list, and search by topic and audience, here.

  • Student Choice and Voice for the GT Student
  • Gifted and Talented Showcase with Makerspace Creations
  • Poster Sessions: Special Populations (SPED, ESL/ELL, GT)
  • A More Perfect Union: American History, Silent Sustained Reading, and Blended Learning
  • Growing the Workforce of Tomorrow: Business Plans, Shark Tank Survival, and Entrepreneurial Thinking
  • The GT Student Today
  • Fostering Student Agency with Flipgrid, ScreenCastify, and Twisted Wave
  • Whisper Courses: Micro-Learning Opportunities for Differentiation, Extension, and Management
  • Digital Choice Boards for the Win!
  • The Board Game Design Project, The Ultimate Interdisciplinary Project
  • Blended Learning/Personalized Learning/Student Voice, Now What?
  • Solution Circles: The GT Student Today

Intrigued? Find the professional learning you need — and much, much more — at TCEA 2020.

unsplash-logoPhoto: jose aljovin

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LeadershipProfessional Learning

Relationship-Building Tips for Instructional Coaches

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

Building strong relationships with those you coach is one of the most important things an instructional coach can do. In this blog, I mentioned how relationship building in coaching is one of the first things you want to do. While this can be a difficult task, there are some things you can do to help strengthen the bond with your coachee. Here are a few that I’d like to share with you.

Really Get to Know the Person You’re Coaching

At the heart of making a strong connection is understanding who you are coaching. Get to know them as a person. Move beyond the basic facts that you might already know and find out what is important to them, what their values and beliefs are, and what motivates them. You don’t have to be their best friend, but you do want to try to find common ground or that one thing you can connect on that goes beyond the content.

Share Your Story

You became an instructional coach for a reason. Share your story and your goals with those you coach. Let them know you care about them and want to help them grow as educators. This will help create a mutual understanding from the onset. Teachers might have different views as to what a coach is and what a coach does.  Sharing your story will help clear up any misconceptions and will help shape a trusting relationship.

Listen Patiently

As a coach, you might feel pressure to have the right answers all the time. It’s okay, and, in fact, really important to just listen to the teachers you coach and not immediately offer solutions. It is important to listen fully and completely understand the context of what is being said. If an idea pops into your head, write it down and don’t interrupt.

Problem Solve Together

It’s vital that you work together with teachers to problem solve. Instead of always providing the answers, try asking questions to help teachers solve their own challenges. Ask questions such as, “What have you tried?” or “What do you think?” Problem solving together will help create that true partnership. Remember that it is not your job to be the know-it-all. It is your job to help the teacher develop his/her own problem-solving strategies.

Get Feedback

One of main jobs that you have as an instructional coach is to give feedback. However, it is just as important that you receive feedback from the teachers you are working with. Create a survey or be open during your coaching conversations about receiving feedback. Ask those you coach how the relationship is going and how you can support them better. This type of two-way feedback is essential to building trust. In addition, you are modeling the openness you are hoping to see in your teachers.

building relationships

Provide Praise

When giving feedback, make sure you mention some of the strengths you are observing. Sometimes, we cannot see our own good qualities and are focused on the things we do wrong. It helps to build your relationship if you can identify some good things you are seeing.

Keep Working on Building Relationships

Know that building relationships takes time, so it might not happen right away. Relationship building works both ways. Both you and the person you coach must be invested in developing the relationship and this might take some time. Continue to find ways to keep working on the relationship if it doesn’t happen right away.

Use these tips to help you establish a solid relationship with those you coach. In addition, if you have some tips that have worked for you, please share them with us in the comments below.

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