#HiveSummit Day Seven - Sarah Thomas & Connecting with Educators

The seventh day of the Hive Summit has brought the shortest video so far (which is great because I was able to watch it during my lunch 'hour'). In this video we got to listen to Sarah Thomas discuss making connections with other educators. I really believe in this topic and, to be honest, feel like this is perhaps the most important idea shared in the Hive Summit, solely because this summit would not even be possible if not for these online collaborations and connections.

Most people reading this probably have twitter (I think most of my readers come from there) so I don't know if I need to talk about how amazing it is as a platform, but perhaps there are those who don't know much about twitter chats.

Twitter chats are probably one of my favourite forms of PD, and not because I get lots of good ideas - and I definitely get lots of those. They're one of the best experiences for me because of the connections with other educators and the relationships I've formed through them. If you've never felt the joy of meeting a twitter friend in real life for the first time, you're missing out on quite a bit.

Twitter chats, as Sarah points out, can be quite a scary thing if you've never been to one. She related a story of the first time she tried to join a chat. She asked permission to join. Well no one responded to her so she took that as she wasn't invited. Thankfully, she kept trying and soon found out that you don't need to ask for permission and joined in. Now she runs her own chat. She talked a bit about getting on to twitter and some of the mistakes to avoid. As a new person to twitter (and I found this as well) it's easy to think that you need to follow everything and read every tweet. While that may be possible when you have 50-100 people you're following, but it soon gets to be too much after a while. Other people are worried about following too many people or getting too many people to follow them. Michael Matera suggested that no one should "fear the follower." Twitter is all about connections and the more you have the more rich your PLN becomes. You never know what any connection could lead to. You could be working with someone in your network - many jobs do come out of twitter connections.

At the end of the day, it is all about finding your tribe - the people who are on the save wavelength as you. The people you can talk to and that will push you to be the best you. But they'll also be there to support you. Once you find your tribe, you'll know. Without twitter (or other connections) it's pretty hard to do this.

Sarah has also stated EduMatch whose goal is to help connect educators with similar interests from around the globe. They even have branched out to other social media platforms, such as Voxer. They've had so many people join, they've had to create more than one group (because they've reached the limit!).

She finished with giving us some advice on what next steps we could take: The first bit of advice is to take advantage of online learning opportunities (like the #HiveSummit!). Share your thoughts, reply to others and find other ways to participate. The more voices, the more ideas. The more ideas the better we can all become. The Hive Summit is not the only online summit; there are educamps online. The in-person educamps are amazing, but sometimes you just can't get to where they are. Find one online and join in.

The second bit of advice was that if there isn't this opportunity for you, why not create it for yourself and others? Make the spaces where people can collaborate. Organize a way for like-minded people to connect, whether it be online or in person. These things would not happen were it not for someone or a group of people who spent some time and effort to make it happen. (And on that note, a BIG thank you to the organizers of the Hive Summit!)

The last bit of advice Sarah gives is that you should be prepared to have everything change for you. If you start connecting online, you'll start to think in different ways and learn new things. You will change. Learn to embrace that change. Since I've joined twitter, it's changed me constantly and continues to do so. I've not looked back since!

Hosting a #digitaledchat for #MakerEdNZ

Recently, I was give the opportunity from Stuart Kelly to host a #digitaledchat on #MakerEdNZ. I was very nervous about this proposition, but was also excited about the chance to not only run a major, international chat, but also to learn from others and start the conversation.

It was very difficult to set the questions as I wanted to encourage lots of rich discussion, but I also wanted to make sure that the talk was accessible. I initially made a few too many questions, so that I could whittle them down to the best ones.

In the end, I settled with the following 6 questions. None were earth shattering, but I felt that they would direct the discussion and help bridge the gap between the early adopters and those who were just learning about maker spaces for the first time.

1. What is your experience with makerspaces?
2. How would you define a makerspace?
3. What barriers have you had or do you have in getting a makerspace in your school?
4. What are the benefits or disadvantages to letting learners make or create whatever they want?
5. How much direction do you think should be given in a makerspace?
6. What are you going to do to either add to your makerspace or start one?

I wanted to focus on building the base and getting people motivated to start trying these things, which is one of the main reasons I started #MakerEdNZ

The chat went fairly well, and we had some good discussion. A transcript of the whole thing can be found here.

One of the first things that came out of the discussion was actually what a maker space is. Many schools probably have such a space and do maker activities, but they wouldn't necessarily call it that. Perhaps this is one of the realizations that we need to encourage in NZ schools so that educators can start thinking in terms of building on what they already have, rather than having to start a new thing that they've not heard of before.

We even came up with a new word: Thinkering, which given the mix of thinking and tinkering gives a great description of what learners would do in a makerspace - both expanding their mind and using the materials they have to create something.

Many of the barriers to makerspaces starting up were ones that we have heard before: time, money, space, a dedicated staff member, leadership buy-in. These are all things that need to be addressed, though one of them was seemingly discussed as an easily solvable problem. Maker spaces do not need to be full of expensive equipment. Many schools get by with using completely recyclable things, which are very easy to get within the community. Other barriers will need to be given a bit more time, but another purpose of MakerEdNZ is to help get through these.

Many teachers saw providing maker spaces as a positive way to encourage creativity, problem solving and to provide open ended problems. Some worried about wasted time and wasted resources. I've certainly cringed when I've seen my students spending hours on something, using a whole roll of tape in something that won't likely turn out to be useful, but the process of this does hold some value in my opinion. Thought it is tough to see all that wasted tape. Some other teachers echoed this sentiment during the chat as well.

Most teachers agreed that as little direction as possible would be best, though there is a need for some up front direction so as to keep children safe and to provide them with a starting off point. This has shown to be key for me and my learners and after some initial difficulty with the freedom of choice, they were able to become independent and self-directed quite quickly and easily. It's that getting lost or stuck that promotes real, authentic learning.

The actions that teachers are going to take are varied. Some were going to start using the term maker space, while others were very specific in their ideas going forward. Several wanted to get donations of materials for their spaces and find ways for learners to start making.

All in all it was a great conversation, and one that I hope to help continue. It definitely clarified what a maker space is for some and it got others starting to share with each other - an activity that will be key to growing the movement here in NZ.

I look forward to the next chat that I'll be able to host, whether it takes the same format or it pushes a bit beyond. Either way, this was a valuable experience and an important step forward in the #MakerEdNZ journey.

Exploring Literacy and Coding

A while ago, I participated in a wonderful Twitter chat with #digitaledchat where we discussed what you could do with robots in class, such as Sphero. One of the things that came up was using them to create stories or videos by coding the robots as characters. I liked that idea so much, it got me to thinking quite a bit about how coding and literacy could be combined.

I've tried really hard to make my class a creative one, in which my learners are able to explore different ways of learning that are fun, creative and exciting. I want the children in my charge to wake up in the morning, excited to come to school and do their work (which they won't see as work). I have had many different ways of making stories and being creative (including Stop Motion and Digital Storybooks) so it wasn't a big step to try some new things. Here are three ways in which my learners used coding or computational thinking to create stories:

Choose Your Own Adventure Stories Using Google Forms

Many of us have read these books as children and this idea is definitely not a new one. You can use the "go to page based on answer" feature of multiple choice questions to direct readers to new pages based on their choices. When we first did this, I used Google Drawings to plan out the story (it can get very complicated if you have a lot of choices) but it isn't always necessary. A pair of my learners created this story earlier this year.

There are other ways of making stories like this, including Scratch.

Stories on Scratch

This idea came from CS-First.com where you can find a whole 8 lesson module on coding stories for code clubs, though if anyone has used Scratch Jr, that's basically what that app is for. The idea is simple: code the sprites to speak to each other and interact. As coding knowledge increases, so too does the complexity of the stories. This is definitely an area to explore for reluctant writers who happen to like coding (and I've noticed the majority of my learners are liking coding more and more everyday, some even attempting to code a Choose Your Own Adventure story).

Coding Robots to Tell a Story

This was the big idea from #digitaledchat that I have been waiting a while to try. We only have made one attempt at this, but it went, in my opinion really well. Some interested children joined me for a short brainstorming session. We came up with some characters and starting thinking about what their story was going to be about. Some other learners got interested and joined us at this point and the discussion started taking off. I backed off and let them sort things out. There were varying levels of coding abilities in the group and they were able to support each other. A lot of the story didn't really utilize coding knowledge, but it was a fantastic start. Again though, a little disappointed that these children won't get to try this again with me, but I'll keep on introducing these ideas to children and see how they develop.

The plan with this topic is to continue to explore it further, get children making more and more stories using their coding skills and then to share this in more depth next year (hopefully at GAFE & ISTE). So keep an eye out if you're interested as I think this is an exciting way to develop a plethora of skills amongst learners.

#edchatnz Conference

A week ago Friday and Saturday I was extremely lucky to be able to attend the second ever #edchatnz Conference, down at Rototuna Junior High School in Hamilton (New Zealand, not the one where I grew up and lived). It was a fantastic experience which allowed me the chance to meet so many people in person who I've been speaking with through twitter over the last year.

The big theme of the conference was Possibilities. What can we do to change the world, change education and change ourselves. We spent a lot of the time working within our tribes to come up a plan of action that we can take with us to help encourage change.

My tribe was Kotuku and included some people I knew (from twitter and some unconferences) as well as some new people. As one would expect from any of the tribes at the conference, it was an awesome group. We had many discussions and came up with a simple plan: encouraging minute changes. The idea is simple: none of us have gotten where we are by changing everything in an instant. We took small changes, day by day and the cumulative effect has been massive. To outsiders it seems like too big a change to make in one go, so they don't feel comfortable making it.

Our vision is that no two teachers will end up going down the same path (similar to the ideas expressed in Punk Learning by Tait Coles), but that we should all adopt the same guiding principle of changing in baby steps, which is essentially the same idea as growth mindset.  We've even set up a twitter hashtag (#WIDD - what I did differently) and a twitter account (@minutechange) to help us continue doing this.

There were also some sessions to attend at the conference. The first one was a rundown of how Rototuna School oraganizes everything. It was quite interesting to see how they have two areas in all of their modules and the variety of modules the students have to choose from. One of my favourites was "Science and Superheroes." Students have three modules each term - one of which must include literacy, one that must include numeracy and another that includes neither. They also get three times during the week where they can choose from a wide selection of Flight Times, subjects or topics that have been suggested by students or teachers.  We then had a tour of the school (while the students were present) led by two current students. Hearing the perspective of the students was extremely helpful. Both said that they would never want to go back to the old way. Both spoke at lengths of the better relationships they have with their teachers. The told me that the teachers were like their friends, before quickly correcting themselves and saying it wasn't quite a friend. They said they were much kinder and that they were more like your coach. Though every school like this (ILE) will have a different set of specifics, I feel that the guiding principles are quite similar and it was extremely beneficial to see it in action.

My Awesome Tour Guides

My second session was about using STEM (or STEAM) in the classroom. We were given a fun, hands-on activity to complete, which led into a discussion on the nature of science and how we can make science more relevant.

Here's a video of my creation. We had to make something that would keep the ball moving for as long as possible.

The second day of the conference began (after we shared our possibilities pitch) with my presentation. I was sharing ways in which coding (or, more specifically, Scratch) could be used throughout the curriculum. I had previously shared this idea at two educamps, so I had had some experience in what worked and what didn't. I tried to make my presentation less about me talking (because really, who wants to hear me talk for over an hour?) and more about people getting a chance to do something. So I just introduced Scratch and gave my attendees (all 9 of them!) some challenges to complete. With such a small group I was able to have lots of conversations and support a very diverse group of people - a couple of them had a lot of coding experience, while some had never coded before. It was a great session, I thought. I think in the future, I will always need to make sure to have my presentations as active, instead of passive.

My last session was with Andy Crowe who was sharing some things we can do as a Lone Nut in his Lone Nut Toolkit. He shared lots of design thinking and lean startup ideas and we worked through the Squid chart, which helps us get to the real questions we should be trying to fix in a problem. It was an interesting session, to say the least.  I'm personally not someone who sits down and maps things out in charts. I just tend to do stuff, which can be problematic for me at times. So now I have a way of being "accountable" (in quotes because I think it's a dirty word) and mapping out my thinking when I do something different.

Like all of the PD that I've been to recently, this one was most valuable for the connections. What people said wasn't necessarily valuable (though, much of it was), but just making those connections and finding others in my tribe is what makes all the time and effort worth it. I no longer feel like that lone nut. I am definitely looking forward to spending more time (online, but preferrably face to face) with my newfound tribe!

Educamp Auckland

This past Saturday, I attended Educamp Auckland at Aorere College. I was quite nervous because, though I had attended two Educamps previously, this was the first I was going to stand up and share (though, I guess I did share at Sparkshop, but that was slightly different).

The nervousness turned out to be unnecessary, as everyone was amazingly supportive of me and what I was sharing. I guess I have become accustomed to people shooting me down and trying to get me to stop sharing.

I ended up having two sessions out of the three, which was good, but it also meant that I missed out on what a lot of other people were sharing. Though, the conversations are the best part (for me, at least) and I had lots of those.

It was also the first time where I publicly talked about my pet project: #MakerEdNZ. No doubt I will be sharing more of this along the journey, but suffice it to say, I was also overwhelmed by the support I got from many of my twitter friends (I guess they are real-life friends now). If anyone is interested in what this might be (i.e. if you know or want to know about makerspaces) please follow @MakerEdNZ on twitter (or me) and information will be coming out soonish (and probably another post on here as well - when I get caught up).

I did get a number of takeaways from the unconference. The first is (and I can't say it's the first time I've realized this) that I can easily go a bit too fast when sharing what I know. This is something for me to work on (but hey, I'll likely get a chance each of the next three weekends, so there's that).

I also have a few twitter chats planned with other people. It's amazing how quickly things can happen when you're in the right company. I'm excited and a bit nervous for this, but looking forward to both of those opportunities.

It was also a really great experience (going back to #MakerEdNZ) to give others a chance to spend some time doing some STEAM activities. I brought some copper tape, LEDs and batteries to make paper circuits. This is part of what I want Maker Ed NZ to be doing, so it was a good first step (though I wish I would have gotten some more pictures for the twitter account.

Steaming ahead with #STEAM #educampAKL @mrs_hyde @DianaWilkes @michaelteacher pic.twitter.com/4j0oNmST0E

— Caroline Bush (@CaroBush) July 30, 2016

If anyone reading this has never heard of an educamp, I strongly urge you to go to one (educampBOP is this weekend). Thanks to Jackie Allen and Stuart Kelly for all their organization of the day. Was definitely a positive way to spend my Saturday!