Google Summits - Times Two!

This year I was fortunate enough to be accepted to present at both the Auckland AND the Wellington Google Summits put on by the Ed Tech Team.

Since the beginning of the year, as can be evidenced by my lack of posting regularly on here, I have been very busy and overwhelmed with the implementation of new ideas at Ormiston School where I was put into a habitat for the first time. So a lot of the drive that had previously been in me had slowly disappeared.

But these two Google Summits gave me my drive back. It's funny how you don't realize what's missing until you get it back, but I had mostly disconnected myself from my core online PLN and was suffering because of it. Coming back to these summits and spending four days with my tribe was extremely helpful in sparking my drive to make innovative change.

My four sessions went fairly well. Two were on how to use Mystery Hangouts (or Skype) in the classroom to connect with other classrooms globally and to promote critical thinking skills and problem solving, while the other two were on how to use Google Forms to make Choose Your Own Adventure stories. After some sessions last year that were more of me talking than of the participants actually, you know, participating, I made some changes and made sure that the majority of each session was a chance for my colleagues to try something new. For the Mystery Hangout session we ran a mock Mystery Hangout. For the Choose Your Own Adventure session we actually made our own Choose Your Own Adventures. Further to this, it gave me more ideas of what I could share in the future (and I'm going to keep some of that on the down low for now).

One tangent that these sessions sent me on was to create some sort of resource for teachers to connect with each other so that they can do a Mystery Hangout. I had used a padlet in my presentation to collect details of classrooms that might be interested, but on my long drive home from Wellington and after a suggestion from one of the attendees there, I am currently working on a small website for NZ teachers to find each other for these Mystery Chats (not trying to favour one over the other). So hopefully I'll find some time to complete that task soon and then share it with my PLN to get a global group of people who want to connect with NZ schools.

I also had the opportunity to attend several sessions at the summit which have led to some new thinking and tools for me to use in the classroom. Over the four days, I attended three (yes, 3) sessions related to Breakout EDU. Two which let me experience the game play (I've done it a few times before, admittedly) and once where we got the chance to brainstorm and look at the process of designing games. I'm actually quite interested in using this in the classroom (and we actually trialled it this week - but that's another blog post) so it was good to get my brain thinking about what we could do and how we could do it.

Another session I attended included using the G Suite Apps on iPads. This has long been an issue for me in the classroom/habitat. Often we say we have 40 some odd devices (for 90 learners, mind you) and 10 of those are iPads, which don't have the same functionality as chromebooks. However, we were given some tasks to try on the iPads and I managed to figure out how to do a variety of things on it that I had previously thought would be difficult to do.

There were also a few sessions on Computer Science and coding. One was a reiteration of the CS First session I attended last year, and this helped reaffirm the need for coding in the classroom. They have a variety of modules that learners can go through to practice coding. This got me thinking about the ways in which we can add coding to the curriculum and embed it through other subjects. I've made some tentative plans to work towards some practical, hands on coding in all areas. A second session I attended shared lots of resources for higher level coding. One resource that stood out in particular was the Khan Academy and Pixar joint venture: Pixar in a Box. Mainly geared towards older learners, there are certainly some aspects that can be used at the primary level. And don't think I haven't contemplated learning how to digitally animate and change careers! Probably not though...

I also finally attended a session put on by Angela Lee on Virtual Reality. Having worked with her for ages and ages, I've never actually gone to see her present. It was very helpful in that I now know how to use both Google Expeditions as well as another application that allows learners to make their own 3D virtual world: CoSpaces. These are two things that we're examining to add to our curriculum throughout as many areas as possible.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the four days at the summits - and I quite liked the drive as well (it's always nice to see the green of New Zealand). It's given me a new focus going forward and sparked that fire in me that has recently been in hiding.

The Case for MakerEdNZ

Since going to ISTE this year, it has become apparent that there is a gap in New Zealand education, at least from my perspective. That gap is makerspaces. Now, I know some of you will be reading this saying: "What are you going on about? I've got an awesome makerspace in my school! You don't know what you're talking about." And yes, you'd probably be right, I DON'T know what I'm talking about. Yes, there are lots of great and amazing makerspaces in New Zealand. However, when I asked the NZ Teachers (Primary) Facebook group about makerspaces, only 43% of the teachers had even HEARD of them and only 11% had one in their school. So I say to you people who have the makerspaces: "How can you help the rest of us?" (note: I'm actually in the 11%, so the question should be: "How can we help each other?")

Instead of getting worked up about it and saying that either: a) it's not fair, I want some cool stuff, or b) what's the point, someone else will fix it, I've decided to do something about it. And thus: MakerEdNZ was born. What is it, you ask? I'm not entirely sure. It's just an idea right now (ok, well actually, it's more than just an idea - but more on that later). But the idea is that we (the keen makers out there, those with makerspaces, and those who just want to bring them to NZ schools) can work together, share what is working for us and get those makerspaces into every New Zealand school. Ambitious? Check.

How this plays out is anyone's guess right now, but I believe that there is the desire to make this change, and that desire will increase as more and more teachers, schools and BOTs see what can happen in a makerspace and the real, authentic learning it can create.

I am currently in the process of applying to two separate programs to help me along in this journey. After being unsuccessful in my first application to the Google for Education Innovator Academy, I was speaking to an Innovator friend of mine about this very idea and it was suggested that this be the project I use in my application. And that's when things got real. When I started thinking about MakerEdNZ in those terms, I got a little more into it and have started work on a variety of angles of it (sneak peek: there's a website in the works, videos being planned, as well as twitter chats and many other ways of sharing) and have started thinking of it on a grander scale. I've literally just sent my application in for that. I'll know in a week (and so will you) whether or not I'll get the support of the amazing innovators at Google to help realize this vision of mine.

The second application I am working on (though mostly completed) is for the CORE education efellows. This will allow me to undertake some action research which will help me make the case for Makerspaces in New Zealand schools (something that would be amazingly helpful in convincing schools and BOTs to help find the space and resources for makerspaces). That application is due next week.

Whether or not I get into both or neither of these amazing programs, this initiative is going ahead full steam (But if you're reading this at Google or CORE right now, don't think that I don't want your help. I think being supported by both of you would really make this idea fly).  So if you're reading this thinking "I'd love to help, but I don't know how I can" leave a message on this post, follow me on twitter (@michaelteacher, @MakerEdNZ or our hashtag #MakerEdNZ), or get ahold of me in another way. We need knowledge, skills and experience, but more importantly we need people who want to make a change and be a part of something amazing. We'll work on the knowledge, skills and experience together. 

So why do this? What's the point of makerspaces. New Zealand education is fine you say. I have to disagree. Not to be disrespectful, but in my experience, way too many students have become disengaged with their education, right from the beginning. The looks on their faces when they are forced to sit still and listen is painful to me as a teacher (and yes, I know this is not the case everywhere, but it is in a lot of places). The lack of a chance for students to be creative and to make things is scary. Busy work and worksheets reign supreme in some schools and many students are left feeling like school is a prison, waiting excitedly for the end of the day and the weekends. Incidentally, as my students have been given more opportunities to make and create, the "Is it lunch yet?" questions have since been replaced with me trying to kick my students out of the classroom at playtimes. Is this not what we should all aspire to: students who actually want to be in school. 

It is absolutely imperative in 2016 that we listen to the voices of our students. What do they want to learn? What skills do they want to try? We need to provide opportunities for students to learn a variety of skills (or just learn how to learn new skills) and expose them to technologies - old and new - that they wouldn't normally get exposed to. We can do better for our students. Would we want to be a student in our own classrooms?

MakerEdNZ has the practical goal of making makerspaces available to all New Zealand students, but the aspirational goal of making every student wake up in the morning and want to go to school to work on their projects. 

In writing this, I've also come up with a great new slogan for MakerEdNZ:

MakerEdNZ. Making students want to stay in class during play time, since 2016

ISTE 2016!

It has taken me a few weeks (almost a month, in fact) to fully come to grips with my ISTE 2016 experience. To sum it up in word: Amazing! But obviously there were some really good takeaways that came from the experience. I'll try my best to share all of what I learned, but no doubt some good stuff will get left out.

edit: Now it's almost two whole months after ISTE! But still thinking lots about it. Some of this may be repetitive because of the time between when I started writing and when I finished, but I think the tone that will likely be consistent throughout will convince you of the value this experience had for me and could have for you in the future.

People, People, People

The first place you need to start when dealing with ISTE is the people. I'm not talking about the sheer number (though that is staggering on its own). What I'm talking about is the people you meet. The biggest draw for something like ISTE is to meet lots and lots of like-minded and incredible people. And don't get me wrong, EVERYONE at ISTE is incredible. When I told one of the people I met that "I'm just a classroom teacher," she responded by saying that nobody is "Just" anything. We all have something to offer, no matter the title or experience. Though I did realize this before, it was interesting to see how our language can affect our perceptions (and the perceptions we create in others). Later on that day, I met someone who said pretty much the same thing about being "just" something. I was spurred on to share my new perspective.

There are also countless opportunities to meet and connect with educators around the world (well, mostly the US). There is so much value in this for all of us and our students who will benefit from these connections. I made a concerted and deliberate effort to seek out new people and talk to some who I wouldn't have otherwise spoken with - including the CEO of ISTE! I made several great connections which will help me make further connections in the future. It's all about the people. If that were the only result of the week in Denver it would have been worth it completely.

On top of meeting people at official conference events (probably the best source of that was the Global Ed Day - a great group of people to connect with, if you're looking), there were several social events which turned out to be just as valuable. I had made it my mission to find the "seedy underbelly of ISTE" this year, and while it definitely wasn't seedy, it made the conference that much more impactful. My only regret is that I didn't find more events to go to. In all, I attended events put on by Wonder Workshop (happy hour at a restaurant), the Ed Tech Team & Symbaloo (Karaoke), Gaggle (a party) and OSMO (a Sneak Peak event). All of those events, helping to strengthen my PLN (personal learning network for the uninitiated). I was able to build on some of the connections I made a year prior and hopefully will be able to build on these ones in 2017 (because yes, I'm going).

New Things and Old Things with More Pizazz

Having been at ISTE last year, I found that there were a lot of things repeated, but with more development. There were literally tons of resources (if you weighed them all together, there is no doubt of this) showing how makerspaces and making can be used in the classroom. Many people were sharing how they've been using their robots (many of which I bought last year after ISTE) and other cool gadgets in the classroom. For example, there were many people sharing what they've done with paper circuits (a shout out to Chibitronics & Spark Fun who both gave me some free samples to use in my classroom) as well as robots (guess who won a free kit from Hummingbird?) One really cool startup that was sharing in the expo was Hyperduino which had some really simple applications with their custom built arduino boards. They ran out of free samples by the time I got to their booth, but I may pony up the dough to get one.

It seemed like everyone had a Dash & Dot, Sphero & Ollie and Ozobots. Not to mention Makersaces. Perhaps this, too, was one of my big takeaways from the conference, and (since it's taking me forever to write this reflection) one of the things I've been most active promoting since I've returned. While I'm fully trying to gear up my classroom's Makerspace, ISTE this year has planted the seed of a big idea in my head. I'm working now to start #MakerEdNZ, a community of schools and teachers who are using Makerspaces in their classrooms. I'll write a long post about it later, but for now, just know that ISTE inspired me.

Global Connections

The only actual planned event I went to at ISTE was the Global Ed Day 2016. What a great group of people. Again, this is something I want to explore in much greater detail. Yes, we've done Twitter chats and Mystery Hangouts, but those connections are only on the surface (but again, much, much better than no connections at all). A lot of the talk around the Global Ed Day was starting collaborative projects between schools on different continents. This is another area for leadership within New Zealand, I feel, and something that is many people are primed for. We'll see what comes out of this, but perhaps someone reading this will take the call to arms and run with it. I only ask that you please include me.

Things I've Been Using

So it has taken me 2 months to get this far in my reflection. But that provides a great opportunity to reflect upon how those new things are going. Probably the most immediate thing I tried was Seesaw. For anyone who hasn't heard of this before, I urge you to have a look at it. I was lucky enough to have it explained to me by a teacher at the Seesaw booth in the expo. It's basically like Facebook for schools. Using the app (on tablets, phones or chromebooks) my students can take pictures or videos of their work, record an explanation over top of it, tag themselves in it and just generally share their amazing ideas. They can like each others' work and make comments - both written and oral! And I've only scratched the surface of what I can do with it. So far my students have found it super easy and have enjoyed sharing.

I also re-met my good friends at Kiva, which got me back to teaching the Kiva U curriculum (in the small amount of time that I can fit it in).'

I've also given my students focus with the Student Blogging Challenge. Though we may have been a few months late, meeting some of the people who have set this up, got me intrigued. My students have had some ups and downs with it (some of them spent a whole week or writing time making an avatar, not saving it, then making a new one), but overall it has helped teach them about blogging a bit more.

Another, practical thing I saw at ISTE and brought back to use were all the paper circuits that were being shown. I was extremely lucky to have been given those starter kits from Chibitronics AND Sparkfun, so I had a go with that at school AND at some educamps. It was interesting to say the least and something I want to look more into.  I was also given the chance to make a wearable circuit with some Lilypad Arduino components:

One of the sessions I went to was actually done as a walk around Downtown Denver. The presenter was telling us that we should be getting our students more active in class, and building movement into every activity. I had previously had swiss balls in my class but had given them up because of some behaviour issues. However, he inspired me to pump them back up and get my students moving more often. A small thing, but I think it's something that's important.

Conclusions

I could go on for pages and pages talking about how ISTE has changed me and my practice, but my biggest advice is: Go next year to San Antonio! It will change so many things about how you see teaching and give you so many ideas to help you do so. It will give you connections that will change your idea of teacher-teacher relationships and the way our profession should interact. It was honestly the best four days of the last year for me. Unlike a lot of the New Zealand based conferences that I've been to, ISTE has made me feel that we lone nuts are much stronger in numbers. It's nice to have our smallish group here, but expanding beyond our shores, in my opinion, is never a bad thing. Being part of something so big, is truly empowering. Meeting so many genuine people who only want the best for their students is inspiring. So, I urge all of you Kiwi teachers (and why not all my Canadian teacher friends as well, I belong to two countries), come with me next year! Come join my tribe!

Code Club Week 4: Girl Power Rising

Code Club keeps chugging along. Most of the issues that are coming up are minor - and related to my (mis)management of time. That being said, the majority of the students in the club are just coming in, doing the activities and then leaving. It's a bit like herding cats at times, but I'm not too worried. I wanted to give students an opportunity to code and LEARN some coding. I feel like I'm achieving that. I don't need to limit them by stopping. I will be trying to share a bit more.

One thing I want to talk about is girls in coding.

A common theme today is the lack of women in coding/computer based jobs and being represented in university Computer Science programs. I could cite many different articles (ok, I will: here, here and here for starters). Without going into the various reasons behind this, I feel like as a teacher I should try to do something to correct this balance. Why can't my girls gain these skills and enjoy doing it?

Will one Code Club at a school in New Zealand make a dent in the statistics? Probably not. But the message, once spread might. I've always thought that as a male teacher, I brought some value that my female colleagues could not bring (that's not to say they don't add anything that I can't, but there are far fewer males teaching young girls and having a positive non-relative male role model is quite rare for girls) - namely that I could encourage them, as a male and show them that it is a valued skill in them. I'm hoping that my job is one of keeping the flame lit, rather than re-igniting it.

Have I done anything out of the ordinary for the girls in my club? Not particularly, except I've encouraged them (which, I guess, could be more encouragement than they're getting from other sources). I was quite pleased with the number of girls I had this week. On Tuesday, I had about 3 times as many girls as boys. And honestly, I don't see any difference in their ability to code. One of the stars of my club is a girl in my class. I don't think she has a lot of experience, but she is enjoying it and has been eating up every new thing she can - she even comes both days I hold the club. That's dedication.

In my search to find information about this, I also found some resources for anyone interested in encouraging girls to code. Here are some of them:

• Girls Who Code
• Code.org
• 100 Girls of Code

I feel this is a very relevant area in all things STEAM. I'm not sure what direction this will lead me at my school this year and beyond, but I do have some plans. If you've got some girls who are really good at coding, there is always Lilypad Arduino as well that can be used to make wearable technology and clothing - though boys can play with those too. I've ordered some and am in the process of trying to figure out how it works (because as much as I may know about coding, it's not really that much.

If anyone has actively gone out and promoted girls in Coding or STEAM, I'd love to hear from you. I may not start implementing new ideas in the coming weeks, but every idea is a spark that is very hard to extinguish in my head.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Sharing is Caring: Digital Storybooks

This term I've been trying some new ways of doing writing. To make things interesting for my students and to give them a chance to see different ways to use writing. One of the things I did was have them make digital storybooks, using Google Slides.

I have a lot of Lego in my classroom and I've seen it used to tell stories before (and I've seen my students make up stories when they're building/playing with the Lego), so I thought, why not make some stories using the Lego.

I made a sample, which is included below and several of my students have made their own stories. It took a while to get what they have (about 3 weeks of our writing time - mostly spent on building sets).  We used SOLO to make a rubric to evaluate our stories. Find all of this below:

My Sample

SOLO Rubric

Student Work

GEGNZ Sparkshop!

This past Saturday, I attended the first (I think) ever GEGNZ Sparkshop at Ormiston Primary School. Over the last few weeks and months, I've slowly started becoming someone who shares a lot, and it seemed like a good idea to come to this prepared to share.

Smorgasbord
The conference (or rather, unconference) started with a smorgasbord of ideas that people voted on. I put two ideas in. The first was sharing mystery hangouts (or skypes, depending on where your loyalty lies) by myself. The second was a collaboration with Angela Lee on makerspaces and robots.

I was pretty much the first person to share and it was quite nerve-racking to go up first, especially since I was trying to sell what I was sharing. I spoke quickly and tried not to be too imposing. I think I do give off a very nervous air, but that's ok.  It was then a lot of sitting and listening to other people share their ideas before we voted.

When all was said and done, both of my ideas were booked into places to share. I figured they might be. I'm not being full of myself, but they were interesting things. Luckily I was in the last two sessions, so I had a chance to go check out another session while I fretted away.

Forms (Sarah Allen, from Riverhills)

My one and only session that I participated in the audience was based around using Google Forms. This is something that I've done a lot lately, so I figured I might get some new pointers (there's always something new to learn) or at the very minimum be able to contribute something.

Among other new ideas, we were introduced to Poll Everywhere, a very quick way to get feedback from students and to get them to share. Like other tools (padlet comes to mind) it has some specific uses, but it was also extremely useful in that it can embed into slides (unlike so many other things).

We discussed reasons for gathering student voice (none of which were really earth shattering, but it's important to note that I do think it's important for a variety of reasons - I wouldn't be focusing changing my practice towards increasing this if I didn't), and also wondered whether or not Kahoot! can do similar things (I'm going to try this at some point in the near future).

We discussed various other uses of forms and some add-ons to use. I particularly liked the add-ons Choice Eliminator and Email Confirmation (it may be called something else).

A random idea that came up in the discussion (I actually brought it up) was to use a form to make a choose your own adventure story. I actually got so excited about this that on Sunday I went home and started making an example so we can do it as a class in the upcoming weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to write about that.

MakerSpaces

Next up was my joint presentation with Angela. We shared a few makerspace ideas, but in the end, it was the robots that were the most popular. Several other attendees loved playing with my Dash and Dot (I may, in fact, be one of the only - if not the only - classrooms in New Zealand that have these robots). I think Wonder Workshop may owe me a bit because I'm pretty sure I've convinced some people to buy them. I'd like some more myself.

We did have a lot more out - Squishy Circuits and Makey Makeys. The circuits got some attention, but I was naturally drawn to the robots and I think a lot of people followed me. I guess people can easily get overwhelmed.

Mystery Hangouts

The crowd for my second presentation was much smaller (6 people) but it was nice to have an intimate setting. I briefly talked about how a mystery hangout works and then we practiced it. I quite enjoyed watching adults have a go at figuring out different strategies for guessing. I think I sold the idea to them though as at least one had already booked a call for the week coming up!

Here's the slideshow I shared during that presentation (in case anyone else wants to try it).

All in all it was a good day. I had lots of interesting conversations about coding and got to know some more people (though to be honest, it's getting to the point where a lot of people know and remember me, but I can't remember them - at least I'm pretty good with faces, but it could make for an awkward meeting in the future. If you're reading this, I have't forgotten you on purpose, I'm sorry).

I do enjoy this presenting thing, though I do sometimes feel like I don't actually know what I'm talking about (ok, I don't actually know) but I think that's part of it. I don't ever want to feel like the expert, but rather I want to constantly be learning an improving.

That being said, apparently I've been included on a proposal for part of the pre-conference things (I think?) at ULearn this year. Should be fun.

Code Club: Week 3 - Starting to Get the Hang of It

It's week three for my school's Code Club, though we're only up to Activity 2 after our tech issues in week 1. After getting an email from cs-first telling me I haven't been using the showcase selector, I thought I had better get onto it. Trying to fit an hour's worth of activities into 50 minutes (more like 45 when you count the transition time) is difficult and sharing was one of the many casualties in the first week. Many students didn't really get it and having some success stories to share might help.  So I made a point of getting students to share their work at the end. The selector wasn't actually working, but by playing around with the site, I was able to find a way to find the students' work (provided they had pressed "share") and put it up on the board. Though as I type this I realize that my projector has just been taken out of my room (we're moving classrooms this week) and I won't actually be able to share with my second lot of students.

I've also noticed that several children have come to me and said they want to quit (with a few more just quitting and not telling me). I'm OK with this. I don't want to force anything on anyone. I want to have students who want to code. I'll let them come back if they want (and perhaps some of them left due to my unpreparedness), but for now, I'm happy with some smaller numbers.

This week there were a larger number of students who weren't lost in scratch, so I did actually have a few examples I could share. Here's one from one of my own students. She was really focused on the videos, and asked lots of good questions (she figured out, before the video told her, that the words were being said at the same time, and then watched the next video to figure out how to do it). This is her project (she has asked to come back today for the second session to finish it - gotta love the enthusiasm!):

Passion Projects v2.0

What is it?
Passion Projects (also know as Genius Hour or 20% Time) is a concept where students (or employees at a company) are given a sizeable chunk of their time to explore ideas and learn about things that interest them. Many tech companies do this and some amazing innovations have come out of this. Schools have also been doing this a lot lately, allowing students more choice in what they learn (which, if you haven't figured out by now, is one of main themes driving the transformation of my teaching practice). Most are underpinned by three main rules, or ideas: 1) Everything must be driven by a question or questions, 2) Research must be involved and 3) Results must be shared.

My F(irst)A(ttempt)I(n)L(earning)ure
Last year, after seeing a lot of people discuss and share how Genius Hour worked in their classroom while at ISTE, I decided that I would try this with my year 2 students. I took a lot of the advice from the teachers that I heard and found a lot of resources. We made an attempt. My students came up with some topics that they wanted to learn about and then they chose groups to be in. We thought about what we already knew about those things and then tried to find out new things. But the enthusiasm died out. The children didn't seem to get anywhere and due to lots of other things going on, the projects were all forgotten and abandoned. I didn't give up, but at the time, I was unsure of how to move forward.

GAFE Summit
At the GAFE summit in Auckland this year, one of the first presentations was about Genius Hour, or 20% Time. Seeing as I had tried this before I thought I should go along. I'm glad I did. It helped me see some of the mistakes I made in my first iteration: not properly setting up driving questions, overly planning things, allowing students to be less accountable/responsible for their learning. So I made some changes before I tried it the second time.

Version 2.0
This time around, we discussed questions a lot more in depth. We didn't start with a topic, but rather, I had students ask lots and lots of questions. We worked on phrasing these as open ended questions. I also stole may ideas from Simon Ashby's presentation at GAFE: having children display their questions in class, on their blog, etc, having students fill out a slide to keep track of their weekly progress and the aforementioned time spent on what he called ideation. I have also been trying to not give templates or much direction to students beyond telling them they need to record what they do and keep track of what they learn. A further addition from the presentation was that a fourth thing was needed for all of the projects: A purpose. So why are the students wanting to answer this question.

So far, I have had a lot of success with the initial stages for my students. They have spent a good amount of time making questions that are big and that need to be researched. Here are some of their driving questions:

There is already quite a lot of buy in and the students all seem genuinely excited. I've had some interesting conversations with some students and it has actually led to real-world applications of things they need to learn (for example, one group wants to test which car shape is the best and that has led to a discussion of what a fair test is, and no doubt, we will be discussing whether or not their test was fair as they progress). So I'm quite pleased. This has also opened up the door for some other types of learning (for example, some students will be contacting some experts and I will work with them on their letter writing skills).

More Information
I'm obviously not the only one advocating for student choice. I've done some very quick digging and found some other articles online that discuss the benefits and give some advice. There are many more and I'll share them as I share how this process goes. Try these for starters, but if you know any others, please share).

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/04/14/how-giving-students-choice-during-the-day-can-create-unstoppable-learning/

http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/genius-hour-design-cycle-process-planning/

On Not Being Selected...

For a while now, I've been wanting to find a way to get to the Google Innovator Academy. A few years ago, a colleague of mine was selected to be a part of one of the cohorts in Sydney. I was intrigued about the whole thing and over time I got into the mindset that I wanted to be an Innovator (since I feel like an innovator anyway). I did my Google Level 1 and 2 certifications and waited. I tried new things, and continue to try new things. I'm not satisfied when anyone tells me: "This is the best way to do it." I believe we live in a constantly changing world, which requires constantly changing attitudes and ideas.

I didn't apply for the first academy (in California, in February) because I was just starting at a new school (though in retrospect, perhaps the experience would have helped), but when the second one was announced for Colorado at the end of ISTE 2016 (where I am presenting) I thought, why not? I almost didn't apply and left the actual application until the last weekend.

I didn't really think much of my chances, since there would likely be a lot of applicants (apparently there were 900 videos on YouTube) and lots of people who, like me, had been waiting for a long while for this.

So it wasn't a massive surprise when I woke up this morning to find that I had indeed, not been selected. Looking at the map of selected individuals, I'm not really that dismayed. There were only four people selected outside of North America. I'm glad that I at least tried. Seeing some reactions of the people selected on twitter, did make me feel better (it's hard not to be disappointed when you put yourself out there and are rejected). At least two tweeters referenced the fact that they had gotten in on their third application. AND there will be another academy announced in July.

On one hand, I can look at this rejection as a good thing. It gives me time to innovate more in my class (directives from above notwithstanding), it gives me more time to work out what I actually want to change and accomplish (admittedly, it's still pretty rough, and maybe not the most clear vision at the moment), but it also (and, yes, this is important) allows me to take a little break after ISTE on my way back to New Zealand - I don't have to cancel my mini 2 day/1 night vacation in San Francisco. So lots of positives.

It does sting a bit, because I was in the need of a pick-me-up at the moment, but at least I know and I have 35 successful videos and projects that I can check. It gives me time to improve. If I would hazard a bet, I'd say I was in the younger range of applicants, so there is time.

What this rejection will NOT do is stop me from wanting to change. My efforts have been cast in doubt lately (and this has lead to a lot of self doubt), but at the end of the day, I am doing all of this for my students and to give them an opportunity to control their destinies.

This tweet was particularly relevant to me today:

New #GoogleEI? It means nothing if you don't make your world better.

Didn't get accepted? It means nothing if you make your world better.

— John Stevens (@Jstevens009) May 20, 2016

Find my slide deck and video below. I'm open to any constructive criticism (though I have my own thoughts about what I need to fix) to help me get there next time.

So here's to second chances and that the next academy will be a bit closer to New Zealand (Sydney anyone?)

Code Club: Week 2 - Blast off!

After sorting out all of our problems (the videos were being blocked by something or other) we were finally able to have a genuine code club this week.

I was feeling a lot less stressed about the club this week as the attempted club last week helped me wrap my head around how the day works. That being said, I realized that there was no way I could talk in front of everyone as much as the script said and still get through everything.

Over two days we had about 40 or 50 students (it was tough to find time to count, as you'll see below) coming from Years 3-6 and with a varying degrees of coding experience. Generally, I was pleased with how things went (how could it not be an improvement from last week?), though there were still some issues that will require some ironing out (or at the very least, perseverance).

One thing that was obvious from the get go was the level of independence that some students had (or rather, lacked). Most of the year 3s were constantly asking questions about what to do next (even though there was a button on the screen that literally said "next"). This learned helplessness is one of the things I'm battling (I should give myself a superhero name: Captain Independence, helping children become independent learners), so this is a fantastic opportunity let children have a go at it alone. So if you're doing a code club, be prepared for this potential time eater if you've got younger children. I'm not saying don't have them - far from it, they need to learn these skills and this should help them.

The second issue is a bit more worrying. Many students (both experienced and inexperienced) would put up their hand and tell me: "I'm finished watching the videos," as if to say that they were done. None of them had actually listened to the videos and done the activities. Others would watch the video, start the project and play around with things without trying the actual activity. I guess this is two sides to the same coin, but both are essentially the same problem: they don't follow instructions. They want to play (or just know how to do something) without the knowledge that will help them. It's about instant gratification vs delayed (by something like 2 or 3 minutes) gratification. I need to help teach the students about using the resources they have to learn something AND THEN having a play and discovering.

These are thoughts I will be pondering over the weekend. Do I want them to play? Yes. But not at the expense of learning a skill. Perhaps that will one day be the focus of my code club, but right now, they're not experts (is anyone, really ever an expert?) and they could benefit from learning how some of the blocks work, rather than just doing the same thing (usually just changing the avatar of the character) over and over.

Code Club: Week 1 - Technical Disaster

As part of my role as eLearning Leader (though, to be perfectly honest, I would do this regardless of roles or responsibilities) I have attempted to start a Code Club at school this past week. I sent out a form to get students to enrol and got about 60 students who were interested! With such a huge number I decided to split them into two days.

This has been a thing I've wanted to start for a while, but until recently I have not been sure how to go about it. Then, with the help of a presentation at the GAFE summit, I was introduced to cs-first.com, a google resource. I had heard of this before but never really gave it a chance (so many other things going on, and Code.org was pretty awesome for me at the time - still is, in fact). So when we tried a sample lesson a few weeks ago, I was blown away by how simple it was to a) run the club and b) learn new concepts. Google has really done a great job at preparing these coding sessions.

So I went through the process of setting up two clubs, sorting out the children (which still, will need to be changed) and getting everything ready. When we initially checked that the site was working, we did get most of the videos to play. I assumed (does this phrase ever end good?) that that meant that all the videos would work. The morning of the club, I was checking out the day's plan and couldn't get the needed videos to play. We tried on other computers in the class. No dice. So frantically, I emailed our tech support. They looked into it. They fixed something. No change. They fixed something else. Still no change.

The one bonus was though, that most of the children came late on the day. I had 7 students. I was able to help them through a part of the lessons to work on their code. But the next day, things still weren't working, so the second session was postponed.

It took almost a week, but the tech guys figured out the problem (by that time, I was interested in what it was, I was just super relieved that it was fixed. So code club will be on next week. Which is good, because the small group I had helped me get a trial run of what it's supposed to look like. We'll still be crunched for time, but that's better than nothing, I think.

I guess the moral of this story is: When you assume....

GAFE Summit 2016: First Presentation, Eek!

During the first two days of the school holidays (well, 3rd and 4th) I went with 4 Pak Heights Colleagues to the GAFE Summit at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. It was a very busy two days for me: not only was I going there to learn some new things, but I was also going there to present - twice!

It had been a year since I first went to a summit like this, and it was very different this year. It felt like I was on the other side. Since I went last year I've attended ISTE 2015 in Philadelphia, completed my Google Certified Educator Level 1 and Level 2 course and have tried so many new things I can't even remember all of them. Though I definitely don't consider myself an expert, I do feel like I've moved closer to the cutting edge of what is happening in schools. I'm not quite on the tip, but definitely getting there.

So most of the things being presented were not new things to me. I chose the presentations I did not because I wanted to learn fresh things, but because I wanted more detail on them. The first presentation was all about Genius Hour (20% time, Passion Projects). I heard this idea last year and got some good tips at ISTE and absolutely fell in love with the idea. In practice, it kind of fizzled and there was no end to projects (probably the result of me trying to do too much, too soon). But I was able to get some good ideas through this presentation and will be bringing it back to my students for next term. It's absolutely imperative that my students get to try this in term 2. That way when we fail, we can do it the right way in terms 3 and 4 :D

I later went to a presentation on Google Cardboard and using Street View in the classroom to see different things. At this point, I'm storing this info in the back of my brain. It has potential, but at the moment I'll let it go. I do have two cardboards and my phone, so no doubt it will make an appearance in my classroom this term (I'm thinking I can show them my house back in Canada).

During the last session of the first day all of the PHS teachers went to a workshop on using stop motion on chromebooks. It was fantastic. I've always been a fan of stop motion and have used it as a learning tool previously. Now that I know how to do this without the iPads, I'm sure I'll be using this for a few different things. I just need to make some playdough (or get the students to do it!) so that we have some more things we can use.

The next day started with a talk about using CS First to do coding. I've already started setting that up. I went to a Code Club Aotearoa meeting last term, so this is something of a priority. I'm going to start in week 2, to give me some time to sort the details out and get students interested (which also helps me earn my money as eLearning Leader). There's not much else to say here, but the lessons are super easy to follow - you don't need to be a coding expert. There will definitely be more on my blog about this.

The next session I went to was all about the things you could do with Google Drawings. There were several of these at the conference. Funny enough, I have started using these a bit more recently. So the timing is good. We were given a lot of examples of ways to use Google Drawings. Very impressive list, though a bit fast. I'll definitely be trying to use some of these ideas in class (I've been having some fun with my own lately - see my last post).

The final session I went to was about BreakoutEDU (LINK!!!). Having done some escape rooms in the past, I really like this concept. The actual session was difficult because we had too many people, but I would be interested to see it in class. And guess what? A friend of mine has bought and put some kits together (It's all open source) and has offered to come to my class next week to give it a go - so exciting!

The biggest change for me this year, though, was actually presenting. I was very nervous about this. I guess it's hard for me to think that anyone actually wants to listen to what I've got to say or try my ideas in their own classrooms (hmmm, I wonder where I got that idea from?). The first presentation I did was on spreadsheets. I may have gone a bit fast through some things, but the audience was very polite to me. I got some good questions and some good feedback. I tried pretty hard to give attendees something to do and it wasn't a complete disaster, so that's good.

The next day I was presenting on my Math Problem Solving with Google Slides. Wow! There were probably about 80 people there. I definitely improved my delivery, but I get nervous easily still. I got a bit muddled in the order I shared stuff (forgot to talk about the context of how I do the lessons), but for the most part this went well. No one wanted to share when they did their problem solving, but I was alright. I was smarter this time and prepared a form for feedback, some of which was helpful (never thought I'd be told I was too quiet!), so I can improve next time.

I think the biggest thing I got out of presenting was that I need to keep the participants active. My favourite presentations were the ones where I got to do something (Coding, Stop Motion, BreakoutEDU). It made me think of what I would do for next year. Not sure who is reading this so I'm not going to spill the beans, but I've got a fantastic idea. Will have a go at practicing that at some other events in the near future.

Another, subtle thing that happened here was that, as a presenter, I got to go to the presenters dinner. It was very good to get out there and meet some people who are the ones shaking things up at a bigger level. I think I hope to be among them one day - maybe not doing exactly what they do, but being on their level. Again, big plans, but keeping some of those to myself.