I'm so excited for #DEPLA 2016!!! DEPLA (Digital Educator and Personalized Learning Academy) is a wonderful summer learning opportunity for all educators taking place on June 16th and 17th. It is a great place to come and be inspired by a variety of amazing people. This week, I have had the pleasure of collaborating with Jessica Raleigh on one of the two #DEPLA2016 Keynotes. We have each had the pleasure of knowing and inviting two high school students to share their experience as a student with teachers from around the district. We we able to meet (in person!) to discuss the format, logistics, and some thoughtful guiding questions to help students meaningfully share their stories. Below is a tweet that accurately captures how great this meeting was for each of us.
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While I have always been a very reflective person, this year has me looking back in my entire experience as a classroom teacher. There have been many struggles and many tears, but there has also been overwhelming joy. I am incredibly proud of the work I've done and the difference I've made. My students are incredible people who have helped me to grow not only professionally, but also personally. After graduation on Wednesday, I will finish transitioning to the role of Professional Development Partner in the Student Services department of Denver Public Schools. I believe this work will push me use my skills to create materials that better honor the precious commodity of time so many teachers desperately fight to preserve. Above all, I am excited to use my expertise to help the many amazing teachers and students throughout the district. Below is a video reflection I recorded for an online community called Project Cam Opener #ProjCO. No words can fully capture all of the thinking and emotions I am feeling right now but it provides a start. Regardless of where my future takes me, I will always be a Lincoln Lancer. Thank you so much for all of your support and for following my reflections as a classroom teacher. I plan to continue reflecting on my work in my new role and bring additional insights into how I am working to improve teacher PD. Have a great summer!
Today, as I opened my beloved Sunrise App, I saw a notification stating the Sunrise was acquired by Outlook and will therefore no longer exist after August 31st. I was initially devastated, as Sunrise solved my paper calendar dilemma. I love the app so much I wrote a blog post about it. I immediately started searching for a replacement. Many articles like this one came up in my search with two alternatives - the iCalendar app that comes with your iOS device and Fantastical 2. Fantastical 2, however, has a very high cost. Personally, I'm not sure iCalendar won't meet my needs enough make another app worth the extra cost. What calendar app do you love? Please share in the comments below!
Yesterday and today, I have had the pleasure of attending the first two days of the cognitive coaching professional development course taught by Sarah Baird and Amy McCarthy. Before attending the course, I had hear about this professional development opportunities and heard that it was one of the most valuable learning experience offered by my district. I could not agree more. While it is easy to get wrapped up in the content itself (which is incredibly valuable for anyone who engages in coaching conversations), I wanted to highlight some incredible strengths of the presentation itself that could and should be replicated whenever possible. This by no means constitutes an exhaustive list.
Each element reminded me of my infographic on Knowles’ Andragogy. It is clear that this course has been planned with incredible craftsmanship. This brings me to my learning from the course. While I have had the pleasure of interviewing many teachers for teacher-coaching positions, I lacked the academic background necessary to articulate what made a mock feedback conversation effective or ineffective. This course not only allowed me to put words to my observations, it also enhanced my understanding of what good coaching looks like. Cognitive Coaching is a coaching methodology that focuses on the reflection and thinking of the coachee. Coaches serve as mediators of thinking, allowing teachers to engage in deep reflection that allows them to work thought their goals for themselves and their students. This is grounded in the idea that people must change their perceptions before truly transformative change can occur. The goal is to support people in becoming self-sustaining learners capable of continuing the work after the coaching conversation has ended. It’s an ambitious goal, but one Cognitive Coaching makes entirely attainable with the guiding supports and structured practice provided. It is impossible to share everything I have learned in just the first two days of this training, but there were a couple of takeaways that I have found myself wanting to explore more deeply and practice with others. First, is the 5 States of Mind that provide coaches with the context needed about coachee strengths and opportunities for support. Below is a gallery of the posters we created about the 5 States of Mind: Consciousness, Flexibilty, Efficacy, Craftsmanship, and Interdependence. Next, I would summarize the entire approach to Cognitive Coaching to be one of spotlighting the coachee. It is difficult for a problem-solver to take a step back and guide another person to their own solution instead of simply providing their own expertise. The course makes a clear distinction between these two kinds of conversations. Once you move to giving advice, you are either working in collaboration with a colleague or you are moving to a consulting role. While this may have a place in a conversation with a colleague, it is important to make this shift very clear to all parties involved and invite for this change to occur instead of forcing it on a person. Most importantly, the default mode of a coach should be one of facilitating ideas, avoiding a shift of focus whenever possible.
This is just a tiny sliver of the knowledge and skills I have gained from this impressive training. Hopefully, I have provided just enough insight to convince you that you need to take the course for yourself. I believe that all people would find the information useful and directly applicable to their context - almost all of us are in situations where we need to work with other people. In addition, you may find yourself being a total nerd like me and taking notes on what PD done right looks like. Cognitive Coaching definitely sets the bar high.
For the most recent episode of I am DCTA, I was able to interview Margarita Gomez, who teaches kindergarten in Spanish at Cowell Elementary. As a high school teacher, it was very interesting to hear that the abundant assessments start from the first year of school. I also learned a great deal about the unique challenges that come with teaching in Spanish. Listen to the full episode below to learn more for yourself! Enjoy!
Spring is the time of year when people often take time to do a deep clean of their homes, cars, and classrooms. I may have found a stack of finals from 2013... It is also a good time to do some digital cleaning. Even though our digital files don't take up space, it does mean that they don't get cluttered. Below are some ideas for organizing your tech and getting a fresh start!
Clean up your Phone
What digital spring cleaning ideas do you have? Please share them in the comments below!
Last Tuesday, I am DCTA released a new episode featuring Josh Morris, a teacher at Henry World Middle School. It is a truly touching story that I think everyone should check out. Southwest Denver has a very special place in my heart and I hope that after you hear this episode, you will see how wonderful and truly special students are in this area. You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or wherever you get podcasts. Enjoy!
If you've read my previous post on Keeping Up With #edtech, you know that I listen to the Edsurge Podcast. This week, they had Barnett Berry, CEO of the Center for Teaching Quality, interview and talk about his ideas around teacher development. It's not very often that I find myself still thinking about a podcast episodes days after I've listened to it. I found his interview particularly interesting and his perspective very refreshing. Below are my "bullet point" takeaways from the episode.
The language we use to describe the teaching profession and teacher development plays a huge role in the way teaching is viewed by both the public and prospective teachers. I appreciate the way Berry was very conscious of the way many pieces of legislation come across as methods for 'fixing' teachers. I also really appreciated the way he compared the teaching work load of a teacher in the US compared to other countries. I used to tutor English for teachers in South Korea, and the way they descried the day of a teacher aligns with Berry's characterization - a much larger portion of the day is spent on professional development and teacher leadership. I believe these two changes would have a HUGE impact on the teaching profession.
When Berry was talking about the importance of sharing best practices, I immediately thought of the goals of Project Cam Opener - a community of DPS teachers focused on sharing their teaching practice. Teachers are encourage to record both classroom practices and reflections and share them with others. I'm believe more communities like this will and should be created to help teachers engage in this valuable process. You can hear more about all of these topics in the episode below.
What do you think? What other underlying assumptions about teachers are preventing the elevation and progress of the teaching profession? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
This week, I have been working on converting all of the professional development materials that are currently listed under my own JDO account to a generic professional development account for the JDO Foundation. While this task sounds incredibly daunting, I was able to accomplish this task MUCH more easily thanks to some great tools (and their collaborative features :) Below are some ways I saved time in completing this transfer. 1. Google Drive
2. Canvas
3. BlendspaceI had created quite a few Blendspace experiences for my course and was really worried that I would have to re-create all of them. Through the collaborative feature, I was able to add the generic account as a collaborator. From the generic account, I could then make a new copy of the Blendspace experiences. Now that the generic account had its own copy of the materials, I didn't have to worry about any ties to my own account. 4. Padlet
5. ChromeI LOVE CHROME!!! If you've never used Chrome, you can check out a previous post on One Browser to Rule Them All. Anyway, I was able to create a Chrome profile for the generic account and install any extensions necessary to work on professional development materials, along with all necessary bookmarks (in the case that I am not the person checking the materials any more). This also made it super easy to switch between all of my accounts without needing to log in and log out all of the time. It also made it super easy to make any new accounts, since I just used the Google + sign-up option for all new accounts. Seriously, if you've never used Chrome you should check it out. If you are interested in learning more about the professional development offered through the JDO Foundation, or about the foundation's mission, please visit jdofoundation.org. How do you save time using collaborative tools? Please share in the comments below!
This week, I had the opportunity to create some fun infographics on Piktochart based upon Knowles' Andragogy. For people who work with adult learners, this theory provides some helpful reminders about how adults learning experiences should be shaped. Too often, I think we forget the importance of learner autonomy and the great deal of valuable experience adult learners bring with them. These infographics serve as a great reminder.
If you're interested in using these infographics for yourself or for teaching other about adult learning, feel fee to email me at [email protected] so I can send you a downloaded pdf copy. If you have any resources to share related to adult learning, please feel free to leave the link(s) in a comment below!
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AuthorMattea Garcia is a human-centered problem-solver dedicated to improving learning and technology experiences. This blog is dedicated to reflections on leadership, educational technology, instructional coaching, educational equity, and more. Archives
June 2022
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