Technology and Revival iTSummit14 -Keynote Day2

Technology and Revival 

R.Hurley iT Summit - Keynote Day 2 - May 6/14

What really matters is the nature of conversations. What types of conversations are you having in your staff room? People need to focus on positive things, and find common ground. That is how revival will happen.

Find the fun.
If you didn't think you need fun, then you definitely NEED fun!
Use your imagination. We always remember the teachers from our own years in school, who had fun. We need to inspire kids with our joy.

If school is predictable, then it CAN be boring. If we change things, it CAN be different. It can be better and more inspiring.

Neat Video
LEARN by Rick Mereki on Vimeo 
Learning comes from risk taking
You don't need to be in a school to learn
Powerful learning can be from doing something physical
Self-direction and authenticity

GENIUS - Google Search
filetype: ppt 
All results will be a powerpoint
filetype: pdf
All results will be a pdf

nextvista.org/resources

If you think about the moments of learning you remember. What was happening? Change the way you are teaching. Instead of 'more time', we need more 'good' time.

Caine's Arcade 
A cardboard arcade made by a 9 year old boy.
Try the cool ideas. Get in the space and try it!

Every teacher should do one good PR assignment for your school each year. When kids have an audience for their work, they do better. Have them get into their community and make a difference, and reach their potential.

Will Richardson - Book:Why School?

My Name is Michael - Video about a child with Autism - from his perspective. Inspiring, touching.

Get Interested!!! iTSummit14 R.Hurley-Keynote May 5

R. Hurley - Keynote iT Summit 2014 - May 5

Don't let the steps stop you from following and finding the broader process. Everyone likes to follow steps with tools but it doesn't help students.

AUDIO
Audacity Ideas - From todaysmeet.com/RHSK

Podcasts for teaching persuasive writing- creating 'hot topic' radio style talk shows

Audacity-fractured fairy tales picture book. Record voice parts and change for each character. Use PowerPoint to display.

Made news articles about Macbeth/R+J/Hamlet

Used audacity for Foley recording (record sound effects for video production)

Soundation is free online software where students can create their own songs. We then imported the songs into audacity

I have been using Mobile devices to collect sound files with the kids. Then editing using audacity.

Storyrobe is a great app for using audio with a digital photo story.

Use Audacity to record a seasonal poem or song and add sound effects for interest. 

Ex. "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"

Audacity linked to Inspiration webs

Radio Advertisements

IMAGES
Flickr
Not always wanting to hear the 'right' answer, make sure students are given the chance to share without consequence and keep them asking questions to be engaged, and not worried about other students' reactions.
Images are a way to connect without words. Show them INTERESTING things to think about - i.e. bicycle herding camels. It is as simple as choosing a topic like bicycles and finding neat/unique images to create a neat dialogue.
Find legal images: search.creativecommons.org
Cite sources with images as well as their information
tinyurl.com/NVcitingsources
From Today's Meet Participants: 
Key concepts of intellectual property: http://mediasmarts.ca/intellectual-property/intellectual-property-key-concepts
Grabbing copyright friendly 
images.http://nextvista.org/projects/Project-Citing_Copyright-Friendly_Media_from_Online.pdf
Fair Dealing for media education: http://mediasmarts.ca/intellectual-property/fair-dealing-media-education

SLIDESHOW VIDEOS
Narrable.com
VERY COOL--call to record - the kids can enter their phone number, it calls them and they can record their voice through their phone
"Narrable ... to engage students and to draw out important higher order thinking skills." It's not the tool, it's the application.-Alan Stange(from today's meet)
ex: voiceover of sports commentating, kidsnippits, record a conversation from a photo of historical figures in a meeting possibly discussing world decision (ex: Winston Churchill, Stalin, etc), narrate students critiques, "Bad lip reading" - http://bit.ly/1mvdEF5 watch this video later! a sample of bad lip reading videos! Very entertaining!
Teachers want the video to be good, but students want it to be "good enough". If you tell them that others will be watching it (audience), then students typically put in more effort.
Give them a 45 second time limit. If they want more, tell them to show you the script. Up it to a minute and a half. Go from there.
Implementing a Video Project
-time frame
-script
-audience
-poster option (they won't want to)
-partners
-time limits
-other rules (no violence!)
-links
Fostering Quality
-Look at other student projects ex) tinyurl.com/NVcareers No matter what your project is about, show them some other student examples and they will know what they like and what they don't like (strengths and areas for improvement) - how can these things be fixed - different approaches

"Am I done yet?" - want to hear "How can I make it better?" Make it a contest!!!Send feeback to the students

Great presentation - lots to learn no matter how long you've been teaching, what you teach, how old you are, how young you are, or a number of other factors. Keep trying new things!!!

Smiling and Education

When I started my career, it was very clear to me why I wanted to be a teacher. I really enjoyed showing people how to complete things, and loved to see the joy on their faces when they "got it" or when they completed a goal, whether that goal was a shop project, an essay 'finally', or just a concept that they had been having difficulty with. Above all else, I am a social person and truly found that getting to know the kids and seeing them everyday was the BEST part of my job.
You probably think I am leading up to saying something like, "it is not like that for me anymore". But you would be wrong. It IS like that for me, every day. Obviously it goes without saying that if it weren't for the kids, I wouldn't have a job. But it also should go without saying that it is the kids that can help make or break a teacher (in part). I have been fortunate enough to have been in 3 great schools and feel like I have seen some ups and downs but for the most part I can say that I still love the work I do. 

Things start to get a bit irritating when I start to think or focus on the more difficult parts of my job, and that being the curriculum and some of the mandates that have come down on teachers lately. I am not saying kids are perfect 100% of the time, by far they are not, but that should be an expected understanding when you are a teacher. They have bad days (or weeks!), and so do I. It is being a problem-solver and knowing when to pick your battles that helps to work through those times. Back to my concern of mandates and teacher expectations, I foresee many teachers jumping ship into different career paths, and sooner than they should if they are new teachers, because of what is happening in the teaching profession. The unrealistic expectations being placed on teachers some days is really overwhelming for someone like me who has been teaching for 7 years, let alone a brand new teacher who has a new curriculum that doesn't have resources yet! How can you teach from a curriculum with no textbooks, or resources besides a list of 50 websites to sift through? Who has time for that? I sure don't! I can only imagine a new teacher who has just finished university, ready to take on the task at hand and feeling very incompetent because of the lack of support and/or resources to teach from. I sound like I am being harsh but I'm scared. I am worried and scared for my colleagues and myself. I am worried and scared for the kids we are teaching. What would happen if we said no? Of course most of us would never dream of doing that, but the question is there - what

if? I can be a "debbie downer" (wah wah) and I know others can too, but I'm trying to say that how that can make you feel, isn't healthy. There can be a better way if you try. You can be scared, it is allowed. It is all in how you deal with that fear or anxiety or frustration, that is all your choice. And I'm telling you to choose happiness. 

Let me stay positive, because the last 6 months of my life has taught me a few things. What I've learned is that you need to take situations and change in stride. It can be the single most difficult thing when that change is unexpected, painful, annoying, challenging, confusing, frustrating or sad, but IF you don't take it all in stride, IF you don't choose to fight every battle, IF you choose to let it make your mood swing deeply one way or the other, you WILL sink. And sinking can be hard to deal with. The range of emotions that change brings in one's life is astounding, and when you're faced with daily issues in your work, it compounds on you often and easily transfers those bad emotions into the other aspects of your life such as your family, friends, recreation/hobbies and to your soul. Don't let it be you.
I will say something in closing that I'm sure you teachers can understand, and those of you that aren't teachers would probably be able to relate to in some fashion:
I am making a choice, daily, to come to school and be the best I can for the kids I see. I am making a choice to smile, to try and keep those kids smiling, and to encourage happiness in my classroom. I will not let "the man" get me down, although I will admit I have bad days like anyone about what's happening around me in education. I live for these kids in my job. I truly love seeing them and enjoy having conversations with them; they are like my own kids, or my own family. In a small school the culture is everything, and if I let things sink in too deep, I will drown. And you know what? You know who I am taking with me? Everyone who is in my life and everyone I see in a day, including those kids. Sounds like a lot of pressure; to keep everyone else from sinking. It really isn't when you think about it; do you care? If you do, you will keep smiling for yourself, and for your circle. I think I will teach a little longer this way.... 

"Start every day off with a smile, and get it over with" - W.C. Fields

I'm Back!!!

HELLO EVERYONE!
Here I sit at my teacher desk after a year's maternity leave, and I think to myself what has changed in a year? The answer is.....a lot. The students grow taller, many mature (a bit at least), and the coursework is changing as new curricula is introduced as well as being given some new teaching assignments for this year. Change can be good as well as bad, I'm sure you all know that, but in terms of teaching - change is constant and therefore needs to be taken in stride.
I will say that not all change in education is great, but teaching is a profession that requires you to think on your feet. And let me tell you something, after a year's absence - and I mean absence (I didn't read a thing related to school until a month before coming back), thinking on your feet and adapting to change can be painful and confusing. I love my new family, my little boy William is just the best thing I've ever done, but after a year of one-ended conversation with him, I was ready to have some adult interactions. I played a scrabble game in the summer and my head hurt all evening! It was time to come back. 
I started looking at the new curricula that I was going to be teaching, I was reading new novels, creating lessons and units and I was suffering from some of the worst migraines I've ever had. My brain literally hurt. I've talked to other teachers, to gain some resources and some 'heads up" on ideas for teaching this new curricula but I was hit with a lot of "I am just as confused and frustrated as you are", which begs the question, what are we supposed to do as a teaching community to help out each other, if no one else is going to help us from the top-down? The answer? Technology. 
Now technology has changed in a year, but not a lot. Not to an extent that a person couldn't catch up easily enough. We got some different computers in our school, and our marks now need to be done using a specific program but all in all, (at least at the school level), not much has changed. Technology though, is that island of hope we are all looking for when it comes to sharing resources. Of course face-to-face is great, and I'm still a firm believer in it, but technology is that enhancement, made to make our lives that much less hectic and simpler. I can hear some of you yelling "wait a minute!! Isn't technology the devil that makes us slaves to our computers and phones?" My response is this: technology is here. It is not going away. Join it, use it, or you will be left in the dust. With the ever growing social media, availability of smartphones, and inclusion of technology into our curricula, how else do you expect to be relevant to your students? I've kept up what I've needed to, now the next step is sharing. I need resources, these new curricula are empty of resources! Even the website dedicated to it, has no resources listed for many of the curriculum out there! So the task is to us teachers, to create, share and use technology to enhance our teaching. I'm back and I'm ready, are you???

iT Summit 2012 - My Notes; Go Ahead, Use It!

iT Summit Conference 2012 Saskatoon, Sk
May 7th, 2012

Keynote Address
The Power of Networks: Why it Matters to Education 
Alec Couros
My Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12i690Hn1eltdnI5StTFANmGzF9vRaMIjjCocHGPdRt0/edit

Breakout Session
Classroom Instruction and Technology: Tools to Support Research-Based Strategies
L. Forrest, D. Benko
http://technoteaching.weebly.com/
Teaching With Technology - Website for teachers, looking at teaching strategies and tools to help support classrooms with technology integration

Breakout Session
Welcome to the Inquiry, Flipped, Tech-Embedded Classroom
Shelley Wright
My Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XRIck6fqCGHUgLqKoGGiXP1rwzFW75pFbTuwhBVpgjY/edit
Very inspirational!
@wrightsroom
shelleywright.wordpress.com
wright.shelley@ prairiesouth.ca

Breakout Session 
Breaking Down Walls: Collaboration Across the Planet
Lori Zbaraschuk
https://mp.srsd119.ca/ITSummit/Collaboration - view her powerpoint here!

May 8th, 2012

Breakout Session
SMART Notebook 11
Trish Shynkaruk and Jason Orbaugh
My Notes: Including a lot of the new features that are coming out in Notebook 11 - AWESOME!!!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MUC_w7qZ8MyMWLlaScEmN60oU5pzrksBI0UOTKcfb6g/edit


Breakout Session In The Zone: Using Technology to Differentiate
W. James, C. Walter, J. Byershttp://schools.spsd.sk.ca/curriculum/techyteacher -Find the PPT here!

Student Song-writing Experience with Little Miss Higgins

Today we had a visit from the band Little Miss Higgins, who actually live in the community where I teach. Click on the song title if you want to hear a few of their songs such as "Bargain Shop Panties" or "Middle of Nowhere". They were here today sharing with us the song that was inspired and partially created by the students from my school! Jolene Higgins from Little Miss Higgins came out in December to work with the students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 about song-writing. She spent some time talking about her creative process and how she and her partner and guitar player Foy Taylor (David Mark), write songs. She wanted to write a song about the school and include the perspectives of the students themselves, so when she came to work with the kids we all were very excited. 

Jolene gave the students 5 prompts, a few of them being 'what did you learn in school this week' and 'what is your favorite thing about the school' - they were told to just write down the first thing that came into their heads because that means the most to them and not to worry about sounding 'good' or being 'right'. It was the ultimate in free-writing because the students were making a connection to their lives without even realizing it! Jolene compiled all of the answers from all of the students in the school and took them with here to start her journey of writing this song. 

She came to us explaining that she was done writing the song and that almost all of the lyrics (with exception of making it flow), were from the students' responses in the song-writing exercise. Jolene and David, along with Irv Fines on bass (another local musician, member of the party band Men Without Shame) and one of our own grade 11 students Cory Bart on drums, performed the song for the staff and students today in the gymnasium. In addition to just performing the song, Little Miss Higgins also had the students get involved and we all helped sing the chorus along with her. Her idea is to maybe use some of the process we did today with some students in the music recording and also in the video creation later on! How cool is that?!? I hope to get at least one of the videos put up here for you to see in the near future so stay tuned!

The kids were so inspired and excited to be part of such an amazing team of fun musicians. Thank you for sharing your talents with our future!