EdShift 2016

This past week, I was invited to attend EdShift 2016 by one of our middle school principals, Jeanette McNeely and the librarian on the campus, Marcia Riebe. Honestly, before their invitation, this event wasn't even on my radar. And why not, I wondered?! The keynotes looked amazing & you had the opportunity to talk about education transformation! Two days of workshops, keynotes & dialogue about education.


The opening keynote was being given by SIR KEN ROBINSON, who gave a TED Talk in 2006 called Do Schools Kill Creativity? that is the most watched TED Talk. My principal at the time, Racheal Rife, showed this to us and I can remember being inspired to do better after watching it. If you are not one of the more than 32 million people who have watched this talk, here it is:



During the keynote, Robinson talked a lot about changing the culture of our education system. That we should support a healthy ecosystem of learning, and not be focused on testing. Robinson shared how the testing industry made more money than either the NFL or the movie industry in 2013 and continues to be a huge money maker. He said that if we create a system of conformity and tedious testing, don't be surprised of the results you get (boredom & conformity.) For some, his message is one they have heard many times, but I believe there are still so many who are not tuned in to the need to shift education and hope this message also reaches them.

EdShift 2016 was promoted as an "Education Gabfest" for people who want to change the conversation about education. With experts in the field there to provide support as your team met, decided on a plan and then created a roadmap of how you would shift what you were doing to transform education in your classroom, on your campus, or within your school district. In addition, workshops were offered on topics such as learning spaces, redesigning PD, school culture and more. The information shared during these workshops helped to shift our thinking and provide resources that we could come back to. After the workshops we were able to work on our plan & roadmap, with help from these experts. It was great to be able to ask questions and brainstorm not only with our team, but others who have a different perspective. This process went on throughout the two days. 

The closing keynote was by Jaime Casap, the Chief Education Evangelist at Google and his wrap up was a perfect way to end these two days. He reminded us that there is a need for a culture shift. Jaime talked about how "collaboration" is how problems are solved, but that schools are set up as a solo event. Google is constantly updating apps, searches, tools etc, they are in a constant state of improvement. Are schools? He talked about how education models are created to support the economy and questioned whether we have the right education model for the economy today? And he encouraged us to create a culture of iteration & innovation, where we are always trying, experimenting, doing and redoing! Very inspiring way to end EdShift 2016!

Highlights of the two days:
Having Sir Ken Robinson sign my copy of his new book, Creative Schools. A takeaway from the keynote was that although it may seem overwhelming to change "the system" when we walk into our classroom or onto our campus, WE are the system. WE determine the impact we want to have on our students. We should focus on the culture of our school and not the testing output. 


Watching the very talented sketchnote artist create this visual of the keynote by Sir Ken Robinson. This is one of those jobs that you wouldn't have even thought would exist, but there was someone who created sketchnotes for not only the two keynotes, but also, the student panel discussion.



Learning more about rethinking professional development. Several different presenters talked about the difference between teacher training & teacher coaching. Just as we should personalize learning for our students, we should also personalize learning for our teachers. In the Engage 2 Learn session, I learned that there is a 95% implementation rate when teachers receive coaching instead of just training. Another great takeaway was that we could reach a tipping point by focusing on 16-20% of the teachers. 
During the session led by Michelle King from Learning Forward suggested that schools should clarify with teachers what are resources (Twitter, GAFE, Canvas LMS) and what are initiatives (Fundamental 5, Continuous Improvement.) Another takeaway was that to transform professional development, there should be less "episodic adult pull-out" and more collaborative learning. These two sessions made me even more anxious to get the new professional learning badging system going.

And three fabulous quotes.
Respectfully question everything. (From the Student Panel)

Education disrupts poverty. (Jaime Casap)

Nothing is more important than having a great teacher in the classroom. (Jaime Casap)

These two days were full of conversations, planning, learning and more conversations about how we could truly transform what we are doing in our district. It also reaffirmed the great things we are already working on through our Profile of a Graduate (Learner) and our Strategic Planning process. It is an exciting time to be in education!

Professional Learning Options

As the Future Ready Learning Coordinator for our district, I work with teachers across the district who would like to learn new approaches to using technology in the classroom, connect globally, or create "future ready" learning opportunities for their students. For some that has been rethinking classroom design, for others it has involved Skype or Google Hangout, a new app or web tool for students to use to present and for others it has been trying blended or flipped learning. My goal is to help teachers locate resources and offer support as they try new ways of teaching & learning, whatever that might be.

So why does it feel like I'm spitting on a forest fire sometimes??  How do I support learners efficiently & effectively, as well as empower them to take some ownership in their professional learning? One of the ideas that I am trying is offering a badging system, that will begin with physical badges to be placed outside the classroom. I first saw information about digital badging through Laura Fleming's Worlds of Learning website. I have looked at other districts (such as Denton ISD and Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD) and how they are using badging to recognize professional learning, and think this is something that might work for our district. As with most things, I am looking at what others are doing and then shaping it into something that will work for us. With a physical badge outside a classroom, teachers on the campus and across the district will know of a person who could be a resource for that skill or tool. 

To start the badging system, areas of focus had to be selected. Just this year we have become a GAFE district, as well as added Canvas as our learning management system (LMS) and so those two areas seemed like a great place to begin. In addition, being a connected educator is something our district encourages and supports, so a badge for this was also needed. Canva is the tool I chose to create the physical badges that we would print for classroom doors. It is so easy to use and I could quickly duplicate a badge to make the next one. Here are just a few that we will start with for this spring. 

For this to be ready to go for the spring semester, we also have to have a way for teachers to earn their badges. I liked how Denton ISD used Google Forms for teachers to request training and/or badges. Things must be easy for teachers to access and easy to manage, so Google Forms seem like a great way to manage everything.

As this continues to develop, I will post about it. Hopefully others will offer suggestions, and this will help hold me accountable for completing this goal. As we all know, other things quietly slip in and before we know it, we are off track! If you have ideas or suggestions, please share!