What “makes” a connected educator?

#cenz14 is wrapping up (actually this post is a few days late), and it's time to try describe just what I think being a connected educator is.

Something that I believe in is that 'the knowledge is in the room', the power of social constructivism. It's the idea that singularly I can have some ideas, some struggles, some solutions...but if I pair with another...together we may have more ideas, more struggles and more solutions, and if you harness 'the power of the crowd' the possibilities are endless. How often have you been stumped with something, only to have an answer or an idea come to you in a staffroom, or corridor conversation? Or had an idea you've shared with somebody only to see the idea grow legs, and really take off?

To me a connected educator is one who is brave enough to work with somebody else, to air your troubles and seek advice, to challenge your assumptions/beliefs/values by hanging them out for all to see...somebody who is willing to be a learner, to listen, to discuss and debate, to critique and accept critique...and to hunt for critique. Ultimately, someone who is willing reflect on their practice (or leadership) outside of their own head.

To me it isn't about Twitter, blogging, conferences (un- or otherwise)...these are all the tools of a connected educator, the things that can enable all the above to happen (and to happen to a massive degree...the twitter staffroom is much bigger than my own...), but unless combined with two things they are fairly useless:

1. Action: 'knowledge is just information until acted on'...not sure who said that, but very true. All the great ideas flying through the twittersphere are amazing, but need action by you to become your own knowledge, your PPK (Personal Practical Knowledge).

2. Reflection: Whether using a tool like a blog to reflect, or sharing f2f, reflection on practice with others is essential. Reflection with others allows perspective.

While I am new to the 'online' side of being connected, I have always worked best with others...and the month of #cenz14 may be drawing to a close, but that won't change. The new (and exciting) thing for me is now I can connect with people outside of my school, my town, my region, my country...

If the 'knowledge is in the room'...I now have a fairly large 'room' to draw from, and add to.

Oh, and being able to drink a beer while listening/watching/tweeting has been great...cheers #cenz14! 

Hour of Code...the learning inside the learning

As mentioned before, I'm at the beginning stages of learning more about 'making'...the whole maker movement is something I never knew about, but sits very well with what I believe about learning. Part of this learning has been around coding.

Prior to this month if you had mentioned coding, the visual image it drummed up was one of a slightly darkened room, banks of screens, pasty individuals looking at those screens and seeing 'matrix' like stuff on them. How wrong was I (once again)? People had mentioned in the news, at conferences etc about learning robotics, computer programming...but all this just washed right over me. I still don't really understand it all...hence this post.

In order to learn, I signed up to code.org, and completed the hour of code tutorial. I had angry birds chasing pigs, zombies eating sunflowers...if/else blocks, repeat blocks...Mark (FaceBook) and Bill (Microsoft) telling me what to do...such great learning. And that is what surprised me...I didn't learn to 'code' as such, but the problem-solving, logical thinking, and conversations (my wife helped towards the end) were so great. The LEARNING embedded into the act of learning to code, excellent. I'm excited about trying this with some of my learners, setting them up to work together.

I realise it was quite an easy set of activities I completed, but the satisfaction of learning was still the same (and I got a sweet certificate at the end...).

Somehow doing this led me to @AKeenReader 's blog...will blog about this later. 

Connect, Connecting, Connected

This is my #cenz14 reflective post. The starter kete has given me some prompts to write to:

How has your PLN grown?
- It has actually surprised me...I had never seen the power of Twitter before, and even when starting out this month I wasn't so sure. I (re)joined Twitter just as my wife and I headed to uLearn. On our road trip up (we left on the Friday prior to uLearn) she was giving me grief as I had 3 followers on Twitter, and wasn't really taking part in anything online. Before arriving in Rotorua I had taken part in a TeachMeetNZ session (loved @kasseylee11's session on Minecraft), joined the book club for the Key Comps for the Future, and had found a wealth of info about uLearn. By the time uLearn finished I had made new connections, been invited to a school (which I followed up in Week 2 of the new term), and had collated/curated a wealth of blog links/tweets to mull over. Now i'm following 79, and have 51 following me. I've used Twitter to arrange a school visit, and to engage a writing group with Kidsechatnz

Which tools do I like?
- Twitter, as mentioned above. This tool seems to be a great portal to further learning. My Blog...I've only just started posting, but it seems to be a great way to shape some of my thinking. VLN...I really only used this in the past to gather ideas, and solve technical issues (iPads)...but I can see the wealth within the site now. Pond...this was the surprise one. I hadn't seen or used it before...and after first logging in spent many hours cruising around, some fantastic ideas for learning!

Are there any communities you want to delve further into?
- VLN, I need to start to add my voice, ask my questions, and share my ideas here. Also further use of Twitter, especially engaging in some of the rich chats like #edchatnz

Do you have a hobby or interest that you could see yourself using your connected educator skills to get deeper into?
- Something I knew nothing about, but now can't stop reading about, is coding/robotoics. It started with a tweet from +Stephen Lethbridge about his new Kano build it yourself computer. I had no idea what it was, but after furiously researching...I decided it was awesome! This led to Hour of Code blogs, Code.org, Hopscotch App...and looking into Romo the robot and Lego Mindstorm! I talked to my wife about the coding, and she did some of the code.org work with her New Entrants for Position and Orientation, and the kids loved it.

Did you discover anything about your journey as a connected educator that surprised you?
- How un-connected I was. I'm relatively tech-savvy, worked with the Google environment for awhile now, and considered myself to be 'well read' professionally (certainly within my school). But how wrong I was...Twitter has really opened my eyes, and given me access to 'in the moment' readings/thoughts/ideas from leading educators. I can really see the potential of being connected, and the world it has opened up.

The challenge to myself now is to carry it on. The Connected Educator Month has allowed me to challenge myself and the way that I work for 31 days, but I can't drop the ball now. I've promoted it at school, and the ongoing use via #edchatnz and #kidsedchatnz should hopefully make me keep on keeping on.

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Teacher Only Day - The WHAT

Our last session was an idea generation one. 'Given what you have seen in schools, read in your readings, been in discussions about, and what you may have been trialling...what could these areas look like next year?'

We had areas like Learner Agency, e-Learning, Assessment Capable Children, Workshops, Timetabling, and Learning Environments.

For each area we shared some videos or images, then opened the discussion up for teachers to add more ideas, then we headed into our potential 2015 teams. The team had a chance to discuss, then start to draft 'the dream'...what would be the ultimate in Learner Agency??? Once that was fleshed out a little, the team then decided on some potential starting points for next year.

An example of this is the NE/Year 1 team. Their 'dream' in e-Learning is for children to be able to share their learning via the blog. Their starting point is for the teachers to carry on blogging, modelling to the children and to start to scaffold the children into being able to do it themselves,

We met the aim of generating ideas...lots shown, and lots shared. These were all captured in Google Docs so we can return to them.

Teacher Only Day - Student Agency

Our second session was around Student Agency. We shared a video from Core's Ten Trends, and discussed some of the key ideas from it...collecting this into a Google Doc. One of the comments I quite liked was:

"its not abdicating power to the learner, it's much more intentional...let's create an environment where learners are, and want to be, involved"

This seemed to sum up the message quite nicely, especially creating an environment where learners want to be involved...I'm excited by what that might look like for us.

We shared stories from the different schools we have been visiting. Some of the images/videos were from an excellent uLearn session I went to...the Russell St MLE journey. A colleague and I had also been to visit the school a couple of days previously, so the images etc could be backed up by our own observations.

We also completed a great activity where we had to learn 4 new skills...2 'workshops' were being offered on 2 of these skills, experts in the others were identified...and we were off! Some teachers worked solely by themselves, others in groups. The two workshops were well attended (and well run!). Technology played a role...YouTube lessons in the recorder, knot tying and origami were rustled up, and shared around. The idea behind the session was to show that there are many different pathways to travel when learning...and one size does not fit all. The way we could 'hack' the learning, to make the learning accessible to each other (with and without the teacher), and the different modes of learning...we all worked quite differently, but got to similar places with the learning...all good lessons for us.

I will say...hearing 15+ teachers on the recorders is not a sound you want to hear often!

Teacher Only Day - The WHY?

Last Friday was TOD at school, looking further into our ideas around Modern Learning and what it could be like at our school.
We spent the first part of the day grappling with the WHY. Teachers have been trialling things, visiting schools and doing some professional readings, but we wanted to start to explore the WHY today. Simon Sinek's 'Golden Circle' gives us a model for powerful change.  A consistent message from uLearn was to develop the WHY with staff, students and community so this was a first step.

Mark Osborne's video on 'Education 3.0' provided us with a provocation to think about 'what could learning look like for us at DPS' if we were to make change? WHY do we need to consider making changes in the ways that we teach, and organise learning for our students. The discussion was excellent, and is forming the basis of some statements about what we believe is important for teaching/learning.

Following this we started to describe a 'graduate profile'...what could a learner look like if we built our school around these shared beliefs? Again, excellent discussion about creating assessment capable, connected learners, who have a high degree of student agency. We then 'flipped' this discussion...in order to meet the needs of this learner, what would a teacher have to be doing?

The first session flew by, much more time could have been spent describing both the teacher and the learner, but we had to move on. If I was running this part of the day again I think it would have been great to Skype in a teacher from a MLE, or even better some students. Let's bring some reality to all the discussion and hear from people currently operating in a new way.

More reflections on the day to come.

Connected Educator Month

Past the halfway mark now of #CENZ14, and I'm really starting to see the power of becoming connected. Prior to this month I wasn't on Twitter (I had joined in 2009, tweeted once...and that was it), and now I'm on daily, and looking forward to the next KidsEd chat, and the following Ed Chat. I hadn't joined or viewed Pond, used Bundlr, joined a Google community or even posted to a blog.

Getting ready for our TOD on Friday, looking at Modern Learning. Lots of the learning from the team that went to uLearn14 will be shared, ideas generated, and the starting point for next year fleshed out. Look forward to it. 

Big and Little Twitter Sessions

Two great Twitter sessions today...my students first Kidsedchatnz, and my own first go at #edchatnz tonight.

After a rapid intro to Twitter this week, my learners and I took part in the 'Goal Setting' Kidsedchat. The work the children had to do prior was amazing...getting to the Kidsedchat Blog, reading through the post (including an embedded YouTube clip), copying the questions to their Google Drive, then the discussions...and what great discussions they were! I would have been stoked with just that...but then the interaction via Twitter with other students, and my learners seeing the thoughts of their peers from across the country, and hearing their voice in our discussions...very powerful indeed.

I felt later that I needed to walk-the-talk a bit, so joined Edchatnz...for their 2nd birthday of all days. Rachel Bolstad, from NZCER Key Comps for the Future, moderated the chat, and asked some very challenging questions. She seemed most pleased when Q5 "broke everyone's brains for a microsecond"...her words.

Also followed the #cenz14 starter kete into Pond today...and after dipping my toes in, I know a further explore is needed.

KidsEdChatnz and #CENZ14

Took part in a great tweet session about KidsEdChatnz tonight. Although the children and I have not taken part yet, it was great to hear the successes and benefits from other NZ teachers about its use. Interesting thoughts around using the Twitter chat as a part of ongoing assessment. Children not only showing their literacy skills through the prep work of reading/constructing the tweets, but more excitingly...the ability to reflect the Key Competencies in action.

Connected Educator Month is what led me to KidsEdChat...as well as Twitter, and even starting this Blog. So far I have completed all of the tasks, even if some were familiar such as the Google Apps suite of tools. My biggest learning thus far has been the impact that being connected can have. The blogs I have been linked to, the new technologies (@TeamKano), the reflective tweets during uLearn14, and the ability to connect/chat with other educators. I've even arranged a visit to Russell Street School to visit their Poutama MLE...all through Twitter, and all because of the new connections started during #CENZ14.

Where to next? First KidsEdChat tomorrow, my first go at using Social Media with students.

Welcome to #learning!

My first steps at maintaining a professional blog about my learning journey at Douglas Park School. I am the Assistant Principal, and we are headed down the Modern Learning Path at our school. I have been upskilling myself by following the Connected Educator Starter Kete by Core Education.