#HiveSummit Day Five - Matt Miller & Using Technology Better

It seems that every time I get to listen to one of the amazing Hive Summit talks, two more have been added. I'm falling further and further behind, but the content continues to amaze!

The fifth talk was by Matt Miller, and it touched on a lot of things that I like already - but still somehow managed to expand my ideas and thoughts on everything. It just goes to show how we're all still learning.

The first part of the talk centred around what technology really is and how it is used in the class. Essentially technology is a tool that is meant to make our lives easier and more efficient so that we have time to do other things. We have gone a bit off course in a few different ways when it comes to this. All too often, digital technology is used a pretty much 1:1 substitution for textbooks or workbooks. Other times we teach only with the tech, thinking about what we can do with a new tool. We often forget that we don't just equip ourselves with one tool (a hammer, for example) and try to do lots of different things with it. We use a variety of tools to do a job. But also, sometimes we get what a previous session identified as functional fixedness with some tools and apps. We often think that we need loads of apps to do each different job. But sometimes we need to start thinking about how we can use one tool to do a lot of different jobs. The two previous ideas seem to contradict each other, but I think that the ideal is to find something in the middle: find a variety of tools, all of which have multiple uses.

Which brings me a very relevant part of the conversation for me: Google Slides. I've actually been asked to do a 30 minute talk tomorrow on all the different things I could do with Slides, so this is something I have been thinking about lately. Slides is an extremely versatile app. You can make stories with it (and include my other favourite resource - Lego):

You can do animations with them (just press play to start it): 

There are also a variety of other things you can do (hmm, maybe this is something I should do as a presentation somewhere). The point is that they are versatile. The other point is that even if you can't get a specific app (for example Instagram) you can mirror the experience in another app. You could use Google Slides (and have a page for each learner) and they could make an Instagram story on their page to show a moment in a book they've read, as an example. I really like this idea, and it sounds like something I'll be doing in the near future with the children that I work with - and maybe even the adults!)

The last part of the talk was devoted to discussing how to and why you should connect with classrooms around the globe. This is also something I have done a lot in the past, so I completely see where he's coming from. Matt and Michael Matera discussed to side effect benefits of doing these. Not only do children get a chance to see that they have similarities to children around the globe (Matt told of a story where on a call one child started doing the floss, which led to all the children doing the floss), but they also see that there are differences between them and others and that there are other ways of doing things or other ways of thinking. It opens children's minds and allows them to gain empathy. Plus they learn a lot when they're on the calls.

I obviously already drink the cool-aid that Matt is selling, so I'll echo what he has said (though he says it more concisely than I do). I think he's spot on that we need to find ways to leverage technology to make our practice better - to make things run more smoothly so we, and our learners, have more opportunities to learn and create and do.

I'll leave you with the advice he gave at the end of the talk: 

Safe teaching (not taking a risk, doing what has always been done) is actually risky teaching, because it's so easy for children to turn their attention switch off. When we're not sure what will happen, we get kids' full attention @jmattmiller #HiveSummit

— Michael Davidson (@michaelteacher) August 7, 2018

Be a maverick teacher. Take risks and change things up. There is so much value in trying something different, we'd be silly not to!

#HiveSummit Day Four - Tara Martin & Being Real

Every time I watch a Hive Summit video this week, I think: "This is interesting, I know a bit about this topic," and every time I'm blown away by the insights provided by the speaker and host. If you haven't signed up by now, I urge you to do so and to watch the videos of the talks, or even just follow along with the twitter chat.

The most recent video I've watched (because I'm slowly getting behind and I want to make sure I can fully focus on the videos), featured Tara Martin, where she spoke about Being Real and how to be relatable so that you can affect positive change everywhere in your life. I honestly thought I knew a lot about this idea and topic, but the conversation between Tara and Michael Matera has helped me frame ideas and thoughts a little bit better.

Let me first give a plug for Tara's book: Be Real. If the book is only 10% as good as the talk I listened to earlier today, it's worth every penny you'll spend on it. You can find info about the book HERE.

There is no way I can relate everything from this talk, but I'll try to sum it up as best as I can. 

Basically, the idea is that we, as educators or as human beings, need to be authentic and to recognize the things that make us real and unique (which is essentially the sum of our experiences, which is different from person to person) and acknowledge all of those things, rather than try to put on appearances or be something we're not. That's the first step to being relatable.

The next step is to listen to everyone around you, especially those that you've been tasked with supporting in any sort of educational way (students, your own children, other teachers you're working with). But it's not just about listening It's also about asking the right questions. The advice given is to ask questions that are non-judgemental so that when you listen you can listen to learn - and that the person you're speaking with feels that. We don't want children (or adults) to say what they think we want them to say, but we want to actually find something out about them. We can call this humbly listening.

Later, both Tara and Michael talked about the idea of cannonballing. To explain the metaphor quite quickly, cannonballing is something you do that's a new thing. Like jumping into a pool, it's both scary and makes others stand up and take notice. It's not the same thing over and over. They spoke at length about how difficult it can be to cannonball and how you can support people with cannonballing. I think I summed it up quite nicely in the following tweets:

What do you want to do? How will you do it and how can I support you? Let's check back in a couple of weeks - A good way to help someone achieve something #HiveSummit @TaraMartinEDU

— Michael Davidson (@michaelteacher) August 5, 2018

There are times when you just have to run on the diving board and you just have to jump, even though you have no clue what's going to happen - but you know you know how to swim, so you just have to do it. @TaraMartinEDU #HiveSummit

— Michael Davidson (@michaelteacher) August 5, 2018

There are times when you have to jump with them, and then later empower them to jump on their own - loving this metaphor of the cannonball! @TaraMartinEDU #HiveSummit

— Michael Davidson (@michaelteacher) August 5, 2018

Another important and vital point that is brought up is that you shouldn't listen to the critics who aren't in the pool with you. No matter what you are trying to do, there will always be those people on the side of the pool - the critics and the dabblers - who are too afraid or proud to get in, but who will tell you all the mistakes you made and try to convince you not to cannonball anymore. Her advice: keep going with what you do, try to make big splashes so they get wet a little bit at a time. Eventually they will get soaked and want to come and join you in the pool. It's all about inspiring people to change, NOT forcing them. I think that's something relevant for everyone, especially myself going into a new role at a school that is due to open next year.

The final part of the talk delved into one of Tara's cannonball ideas: Booksnaps. When trying to understand why her son was always on Snap Chat and other things, she had an idea. She put the picture of the book on a Snap Chat (I think that's how it works, I've never actually used the app myself) and then annotated it with various things. At the time she had two twitter followers but still shared it there. The author commented on what she did, shared it himself and then everything just kind of snowballed from there. This is an amazing example of everything she had just talked about. She had a new idea, she jumped in with it, splashed the right person and now lots and lots of people are doing it - because it's a great idea!

And what's happened now? Thousands of other educators around the globe have started using them and adapting them, modifying them and increasing their utility. A lot of good has come from someone taking what seemed like a small idea and just throwing it out there. Does every idea grow like this? Of course not, but Michael asked a very pertinent question near the end of the talk:

Think about all the ideas we don't cannonball in on? @mrmatera @TaraMartinEDU #HiveSummit A very good point and one we need to share!

— Michael Davidson (@michaelteacher) August 5, 2018 

And he's absolutely right! Could you imagine how quickly we would innovate if all of us were sharing our ideas and listening to each others' voices? There is a lot from this talk that can be related to the earlier talk from Michael Cohen. The more we share, the more we can be creative.