Personalized PD with a Twist of Pineapple

Improving our craft, learning new skills, staying current on trends, modeling "life-long learning" -- these are all things teachers want to do, but finding the time is a whole other story. The days are long, the work-load never ending, the expectations are high, and then to add professional learning in the mix, well, many teachers feel that there are just not enough hours in the day. To meet this need, we must get creative. The professional learning must be relevant, personalized and timely. 

One way to accomplish this is through some version of the "Pineapple Chart", which I learned about last spring from Cult of Pedagogy's Jennifer Gonzalez. (I am thankful people re-post popular blog posts, as timing is everything!) Jennifer shares the idea of teachers opening up their classroom to visitors to observe specific things. Teachers write on a chart, located in a prominent place in the school, something they are teaching that other teachers might be interested in seeing in action. 

While learning about the Pineapple Chart, I also came across #observeme on Twitter. Teachers place a sign outside their classroom, listing a few goals that they want feedback on and inviting others into their classroom. Robert Kaplinsky wrote a post about #observeme and the benefits of opening your classroom to others for feedback.

Both of these ideas were shared with teachers and administrators in our district, as one of our goals is to create "model classrooms" where teachers can see innovative ideas in action.

As Austin Kleon has said in his book, Steal Like an Artist, "Nothing is completely original." He explains that we take ideas and "remix" them to find something that works for us. 

In this spirit, one of our elementary campuses, who was interested in trying this out this school year, decided to merge the two ideas. Teachers at Austin Elementary have boards with pineapples on them (a sign of welcome) with an #observeme sign. It was suggested that teachers make this a "team" effort in the classroom, making goals with their students. In discussing this with the administrators on the campus, they felt this would be a way to make it a goal for all learners in the classroom to grow each day. As I visited the campus one day recently, I snapped some pictures of #observeme signs and goals.

One of the teachers on the campus said that she likes the concept, but they are finding it a challenge to get teachers to come in, as conference periods are packed full of other responsibilities. To help with this, campus administrators will have classrooms covered for teachers who want to visit another classroom to learn. They are hopeful that this will get the ball rolling and feedback will come in to help them all learn and grow. 

Twitter, always a go-to for quick learning, provided another option for teachers who are not quite ready to jump on a Pineapple chart or are a little intimidated by #observeme. Teacher2Teacher saw the pictures above that I tweeted out and reached out to me. They teamed up with Melissa White and Lacey Snyder  who are inviting teachers to participate in #onesmallthing. Read this post about #OneSmallThing and decide if starting small might just be the best fit for you. Not sure where to begin with your #OneSmallThing? Check out the #OneSmallThing generator at the end of the post!

All of this ties in nicely with my reading of  Students at the Center: Personalized Learning with Habits of Mind by Bena Kallick and Allison Zmuda. Through this book, I became familiar with  The 16 Habits of Mind by Arthur Costa and Bena Kallick. As I read through the habits, I reflected on how each of these relates to learners of ALL ages, not just our students in the classroom. An important one for educators is to remember to be a learner. You've heard it before, no longer are we the keepers of the knowledge but are more facilitators of learning. To make this shift, we must first be learners and so importantly, "resist complacency". 

Making time for learning is as important for adults as it is for our young learners!  Whether it is a 15 minute visit to a classroom, a 30 minute Twitter chat in your PJs, or a weekend edcamp, finding the learning that is just right for you has never been easier or more accessible. And for a quick way to grow your #PLN (personal learning network) follow the people mentioned above!

TCEA 16 Takeaways

I just returned home from a week FULL of learning, connecting, sharing & growing at TCEA in Austin. The connections I made, both new and old, made the week a great experience! 

My focus for the week was on learning more about creating personalized professional learning opportunities for our teachers and supporting a 1:1 initiative. Google tools and tips are always on my radar, so I planned to work that in also! Thankfully, my TLBFF, Tina Berumen, created a collaborative Google Doc for session notes, so that we could all share & learn! 

The Google Academy was a great day of learning all things Google! From the Keynote Panel to all of the breakout sessions, I learned so much. The session on Google sites by Christy Fennewald gave me helpful information on how to make my WISD Professional Badges site better. I was cautioned to not have too many tabs, and to work on eliminating drop-downs. 

By Tuesday, we had about 35 people from WISD at TCEA to learn! One of our assistant principals, Leslie Ackmann, had create a Google+ Community for all of us to share our notes and presentation information. We also established a district hashtag for TCEA, #WISDtcea16, which enabled us to share learning quickly. It was awesome to see the excitement as they went from session to session, tweeted & posted! We even had one campus, our Ninth Grade Center, that would meet each evening to debrief.  The best part- the teachers organized this! 

As I was gathering information on badging for professional learning, I met so many helpful people! It is so funny how things will transpire, but I mentioned to my friend, Michelle Cooper about the badge system. She introduced me to Scott Floyd who had created a system for White Oak ISD, who introduced me to Dr. Roland Rios, from Fort Sam Houston ISD. Scott also told me that I need to meet Kelly Fitzgerald. What is amazing is how each of these people spent time and shared resources with me, someone they had just met, to help me create a successful badging system for our teachers. Coincidentally, Kasey Bell of ShakeUpLearning also updated a blog post on Badging, which was sent to me no less than four times! Guess what I am working on this weekend?!

I was also reminded that some of the best learning happens outside sessions, in hallways, at tables at the back of the exhibit hall, at dinner, anywhere you are able to have conversations with others. I'm so appreciative of the time Brandi Rosales took to help me with features for the badge site! We truly have some AMAZING people in education in North Texas!!

There were no shortage of sessions offered for 1:1 rollouts, initiatives, PD and support! A couple of the best were Chad Jones from Lamar CISD who went step by step on how to rollout devices or programs. It was so thorough, from starting with the end result and working backwards, to developing a detailed planning document to make sure all stakeholders are involved and informed. Their instructional technology website, iCafe, is amazing and helps teachers find the help they need at any time of day! 

Another great session was by Temple ISD's Instructional Technology team, Jessica Mays & Jacki Wright. What I liked best about this session is they shared how they worked through issues they had when implementing 1:1 at their high school. It is always helpful when people share their failures, along with their successes! Our high school will soon have a student tech team, so it was great to hear about their TechCats & how they work with teachers & students, along side the instructional technology specialists!

Other cool things that happened:
I presented with two out of my three #TLBFFs, Nancy Jo Lambert & Tina Berumen! We presented on Knocking Down Your Library Walls during the Librarian Academy. 

I met Eric Sheninger, author of Digital Leadership and Uncommon Learning. I have recently read both of his books, so it was nice to be able to meet him in person. Hopefully we can get him to our district soon! And that is Matt Arend photo-bombing! He is an elementary principal in Plano and doing great things in education! I've followed his journey on Twitter and enjoy reading his blog.

Being able to see the excitement & engagement of our teachers was awesome! We had two teachers present on Knocking Down the Walls in Your Classroom. Amanda Rogers & Jacqueline Rose connect their students as a normal part of their classroom environment. They even had students join in the presentation! 

And I found two of our teachers, Jessi Medlin & Shelly Stout, being interviewed in the TCEA Radio booth! I know they will be taking their new learning back to their classrooms, teams & campus!



It was a great week and there were many more connections that happened that inspired me to keep learning & growing! I finally was able to meet Jess Malloy & Ryan Steele, who have created an amazing learning commons on their campus! My #oneword for 2016 is ACTION, so I will be immediately putting into action my new learning about badging systems for professional learning. 


** To grow your #PLN on Twitter, be sure to click on names. They are all linked to the individual Twitter accounts**