Pure Genius Chapter 7: Getting Started with Social Media

This week, we have the chapter that encourages you to get started with social media for either your own professional learning group or for student interaction.  Since we have spent the last few summer discussing the merits of Twitter...several of you have exhausted that route.  So...for this week, you can choose...either explore Twitter and report your findings. Tell us your Twitter handle, tell us who you are following and what you have learned OR explore the world of educational blogs. I have tried both and tend to get more out of blogs since they tend to be less of a "time hog" than Twitter.  Two of my favorites are http://www.weareteachers.com and http://www.edutopia.org (though these may qualify as blog catalogs rather than actual blogs).  You can take a look at these two or go to http://www.cybraryman.com/0_teachers1.htm and browse your grade level or subject area to find various blogs.  Choose one and start following.  Report back with the blog URL and let us know how you might benefit from following it in the future OR you may choose to start your own blog. If you start your own, share the URL and let us know how you are going to use it in the future.

Pure Genius Chapter 6: Social Media and Students

Sorry folks...I had internet issues yesterday and didn't get this one posted.

Social media use by students can be a slippery slope. Are you encouraging your students to utilize social media to enhance or expand their learning or to share things they are creating? How are you or how is your school helping students learn how to use social media safely?

For next week we will be reading the next chapter, titled "Getting Started with Social Media."  (Don't worry...the question next time will not be about Twitter:)

Pure Genius Chapter 5: Social Media and Teachers

This week we are reading about teachers' use of social media. How are you all using social media? To share what your students are doing? To ask questions of your PLN? To read about what other educators are doing and get ideas to use in your classroom? Also, what is your preferred social media tool and why? And if you're not utilizing social media, are you seeing reasons why you should jump in and try it?

Next week, we will read the chapter titled "Social Media and Students."

Pure Genius Chapter 4: Six Building Blocks of Innovative Learning

I'm a firm believer in "sharing the wealth".  So...how you will share your ideas with your colleagues? Was it helpful to read the three real-world examples of genius hour that Don shared? How have those changed or confirmed your thoughts about genius hour?

For next week we will read chapter 5, "Social Media and Teachers."

Pure Genius Chapter 3: There Is No Plan

Although Don says that there's no plan for an innovation class, he shares a great description of how a typical week in his classroom runs and the expectations he has for his students. After reading this chapter, do you have ideas of how you could implement an innovation project or genius hour into your classroom? Or maybe you have ideas of some baby steps to adding innovation to your classroom. Please share those.

For next week, please read "Six Building Blocks of Innovative Learning."

June 24th Conference on a Couch

Hi all...I attending an EdCamp yesterday and while I was there one of the participants told us about Danville Community High School's Conference on a Couch event taking place on Wednesday June 24th.  Several of the sessions address our topic of Innovation and the closing keynote speaker is Don Wettrick ... the author of "Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% Time to the Next Level."  I would love for a group of us to get together to attend the conference. I could get a school van for the trip and lunch is provided...so it would only cost you $15 each. 

Please take a look at their website http://couchconference.org/ and let me know if you are interested in attending. You will need to register on your own, but I can make arrangements for the school van. 

Since it takes a little over 2 hours to get to Danville, we would need to leave the school by 6:30 am to get there on time. 

Pure Genius Chapter 2: Creating a Culture of Innovation and Leadership

Could you relate to Don's story about giving his students freedom to decide what to study, but a majority of the students not knowing what to do? Have you given your students opportunities to have some freedom in your classroom? What about opportunities for students to be leaders? Or what ideas do you have for doing this in the future? Do you think freedom and leadership for students in your classroom will lead to innovation?

If you know of others who would like to participate in the book club, it's not too late. Just remind them to start with week one so we all have a chance to meet them.

For next week, please read the next chapter, "There Is No Plan."

Pure Genius Chapter 1: Why Innovate?

Before we start, I wanted to discuss the schedule with you. I looked at the chapters and our summer and we will have to double up some weeks to get finished before school starts. Here is the schedule I propose:

Discussion questions will be posted on the following dates:

Chapter	Date
Chapter 1: Why Innovate	June 8
Chapter 2: Creating a Culture of Innovation and Leadership	June 11
Chapter 3: There is No Plan	June 15
Chapter 4: Six Building Blocks of Innovative Learning	June 18
Chapter 5: Social Media and Teachers	June 22
Chapter 6: Social Media and Students	June 25
Chapter 7: Getting Started with Social Media	June 29
Chapter 8: Opportunities are Everywhere	July 6
Chapter 9: Student Voices	July 9
Chapter 10: Moving Forward	July 13
End notes and wrap up	July 16
All posts must be complete	July 27th

Let me know if these dates are agreeable. I am open to suggestions, but past experience has shown that trying to complete the discussions after school stars is never a good idea.

Also...I want to admit that I will be using several of the discussion questions posted by the IDOE when we used this book during their spring book discussion. I read this book and participated in the discussion and felt that it was a great book and had something to offer our community.

I know that some of you have out of town plans, so if you can’t post on a particular week, just catch up when you can.  All posts must be complete by July 27th.

Pure Genius Chapter 1: Why Innovate?

Let's get started with -- what is innovation to you? And why do you think it's important to innovate?

Please discuss the posted question and/or respond to a comment by another participant each week. The more interaction there is between participants, the richer and more beneficial the conversation will be.

If you are just entering the conversation this week, welcome! Be sure to scroll down to last week's post and introduce yourself. Remember….in order to get the PGPs, you must post a comment for each chapter of the book.

For next week, please read chapter 2, "Creating a Culture of Innovation & Leadership."

Summer 2015 Discussion Group

This summer we will be discussing: Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% Time to the Next Level by Don Wettrick 

Discussion of the book will begin the week of June 8th. 

Before we get started, please join this blog and introduce yourself to the group.  Let us know what you teach and what you expect from this group. Since our book is about "innovation teaching", share 2 your favorite "innovative teaching stories"  with us.  Also..include anything of interest you want to share with the group. (anything that will help us know you a little better). 

Please order your book now so that we are ready to start on June 8th. If you already have the book, you might read the introduction before you post your introduction.

If you know anyone who would like to join our group, please feel free to invite them to join. (They don't have to be Southwestern folks...everyone is welcome...as long as they join us before the week of June 8th). 

Please note...we won't have any weeks off this summer. Past summers have shown that folks want to work through the entire book before school starts. I will be sending out a specific schedule via email, but we will start discussing Chapter one on June 8th. 

If you have any trouble joining the group...let me know. We always have to work out glitches at the beginning of each summer. 
My contact information:
Angy Northern
812.866.6237 (W)
812.866.2149 (H)
anorthern@swjcs.us
angynorthern@gmail.com

Final Week

Think back to your investigations of Twitter or other PLNs.  In this weeks post, report on your experiences and give us your final thoughts...what are you taking away from this summers study?  What were your "keeper" moments?   (we are pretty flexible...if you want to talk about something, else feel free to do so...as long it pertains to our topic:)

Chapter 5: Empower Your Students

This week the IDOE question asks you how you empower your students in the classroom.   http://elearningbookclub.blogspot.com/2014/07/thrive-week-6-empower-your-students.html

If you are not posting on the IDOE book club, you can choose to answer this question in addition to our discussion question this week.

Our discussion question this week comes from page 93.

How do you embody one or both of the following quotes:

• Although the tools will come and go, how you model lifelong learning will stay with your students long after they leave your classroom.

• Standing still in these times is not an option.  Your teaching must change and respond to the evolving world around you.

We have one more week to finish up.  Next week, you will be asked to report on your twitter/PLN experiences and to comment on what you are taking away from this summers study. ( I will go ahead and post this question later this week so that you can go ahead and finish if you want - so please start thinking about your answer).

Chapter 4: Listen to Yourself

The IDOE discussion this week asks about whether you listen to yourself or are bombarded with the “noise” that surrounds you. Take a look at http://elearningbookclub.blogspot.com/2014/07/thrive-week-5-listen-to-yourself.html and post if you are interested.

Our discussion this week focuses on page 69.  Tell us about a time when you have gone through the 3 steps listed on page 69 in order to overcome resistance. What was the product? Was it successful? How did you feel at the end of the process/project??

Chapter 3: Keep Your Work Intellectually Challenging.

This week's discussion on the IDOE site (http://elearningbookclub.blogspot.com/2014/06/thrive-week-4-keep-your-work.html?showComment=1403981849122#c9055136367591420180) asks the generic question....what spoke to you in this chapter? The responses are pretty good. This simple question led to some pretty in-depth thinking/soul searching.  Take a look and think about how you would answer this question.

My question for you is a little simpler. Look at pages 46, 47 & 48. Choose one (or more) section Autonomy, Mastery and/or Purpose. How would you use/answer the questions listed in the sections to keep your work intellectually challenging?

*** The IDOE group is taking this week off...so they won't be commenting on Chapter 4 until the beginning of next week. I would like to make a little change next week so that we can read the IDOE discussion along with our discussion. So...I will wait until next Wednesday to post the chapter 4 question. If you need something to do earlier in the week....here is an alternative assignment:  I know that several of you have voiced your reluctance/dislike of Twitter....so find an alternative that works for you (blog, website, webinar...) Follow it for a while and when you report your Twitter chats in a couple weeks...report on your alternative as well.

Have a great and happy 4th of July!!

Chapter 2: Join and Build Networks

The IDOE conversation ( http://elearningbookclub.blogspot.com/2014/06/thrive-week-3-join-and-build-networks.html?showComment=1403103819703#c3641124683147233811) this week discussed our networks in school as well as online. If you haven't posted and read there, please take a few minutes to read some posts. I found them pretty interesting.

This week for our group, I want to explore one of the resources discussed in chapter 2. On page 39, Rami talks about "joining scheduled conversations with other teachers...".   This week, take a look at the full list of Twitter educational chat groups and choose one or two to join.  (Weekly Twitter Chat times ). If you haven't set up a Twitter account, do that now too.  You might also investigate an app called TweetDeck as a way to organize Twitter chats (I've used it and it is helpful).  This week, report back about your past Twitter experience and tell us about the groups you have chosen to join. Then in the  next few weeks, participate in the weekly chats - either just lurk or actually make some comments - keep notes and be prepared to report back on the chats during the week of July 21st.  

Chapter 1: Turn to Mentors

I'm pleased that some of you are participating in the IDOE online book club.  If  you are not participating, I think you would still benefit from reading the posts at http://goo.gl/TDl134.  I won't be repeating the discussion points from the IDOE, so if you want to join them, you still have time.

While the IDOE discussion focused on mentors (past, present and how you are a mentor), I was intrigued by a paragraph on pg 13: "If I could go back in time and offer my new-teacher self some advice, I might remind myself..."  So...your discussion assignment for this week is: read chapter one, take a look at the IDOE discussions of chapter 1 and then write the letter or statement that you would write if you could go back in time to visit your "new-teacher self" and offer advice or encouragements based on your years of experience.    

Schedule for the summer

Hi all....just wanted to give you the schedule for the summer. We will start discussing chapter one on Monday June 16...so if you haven't posted your introduction, do so now. (We want to make sure that everything is working before discussions actually start).

June 16 - Chapter 1
June 23 - Chapter 2
June 30 - Chapter 3
July 7 - Chapter 4
July 14 - Chapter 5
July 21 - TBA
July 28 - Closing and final thoughts

Welcome the Southwestern Jefferson Co School Corporation 4th annual Summer Reading group.

This summer we will be discussing: Thrive: 5 Ways to (Re)Invigorate Your Teaching by Meenoo Rami. 

Discussion of the book will begin the week of June 16th.

Before we get started, please join this blog and introduce yourself to the group Let us know what you teach and what you expect from this group. Since our book is about "teaching", share 2 your favorite "teaching stories"  with us.  Also..include anything of interest you want to share with the group. (anything that will help us know you a little better). 

Please order  your book now so that we are ready to start on June 16th. [if you already have the book, you might read the introduction (pg. xvii-xix before you post your introduction].

If you know anyone who would like to join our group, please feel free to invite them to join. (They don't have to be Southwestern folks...everyone is welcome...as long as they join us before the week of June 16th).

Please note...we won't have any weeks off this summer. Past summers have shown that folks want to work through the entire book before school starts. I will be sending out a specific schedule via email, but we will start discussing Chapter one on June 16th.

My contact information:
Angy Northern
812.866.6237 (W)
812.866.2149 (H)
anorthern@swjcs.us
angynorthern@gmail.com

Chapter 9: What the Future Holds

As we finish our summer of studying The Connected Educator I hope that each of you have learned things that will be useful as you build your personal learning networks. I debated what question to post for this last chapter because there are so many areas that we could address in this chapter. Ultimately, I decided to just throw it out to the group. You decide what to post for the last chapter.

You can summarize what you have learned - what you will use - what you will choose to NOT use,

OR you can address the changes you will make in relation to the section titled Learning 2.0: Four Core Components

OR you can answer the Questions for the Change Agent in You (pg 143 print)

OR you can on page 144 (print) after the last change agent question - it starts with "Although we have done this work, we are continuing to learn."

OR you can choose your own unique topic. Just let the group know what you are choosing to do.

Since we are so close to the end of summer, let's try to finish all posts before August 1st. Some folks are behind in posting, so if you need more time, just let me know.

Chapter 8: Transforming Leadership for a Connected World

Hi all...I just realized that I should have posted this chapeter's question yesterday. I have been really busy for the last couple days so..please bear with me. I will post the question by tomorrow morning.


Again..l am sorry for forgetting to post the question on time, I will try to be better next time.

This chapter talks about school (teacher/student/principal) leaders and how more schools are moving from traditional to transitional leadership where everyone takes a role in moving the school forward.

I am interested in 3 lines on page 132 (print). "Teacher leaders are first expert teacher learners..." "Teacher leadership is not about power itself but about mobilizing other teachers' potential to improve performance." And "Teacher leadership occurs when a teacher shares with other teachers what works (or hasn't worked) in her or his own classroom in an effort to improve performance for all the students in the school."

So...let's practice being expert learners by setting up blogs to talk about what works or doesn't work in the classroom (or to talk about any topic you want). If you already have a blog - make a blog post about a topic of your choice, tweet and share it with the group. (Also...feel free to share any tips for blogging with the group). [My first tip is use a URL shortener to make blog URLs more manageable in tweets and posts. You can use google to find one.]

Sandy...you might investigate doing a video blog since you are our resident "video expert"

MaryRose...please share your experiences using blogs.

There are many blogs that you can use. Here are two that you might want to try.

We have been using Blogger all summer and I really like it. Here is the website and the support page for the information about getting started.
http://www.blogger.com/home https://support.google.com/blogger/

MaryRose has been using Edublogs. You might want to investigate this one. Again...I have included the support information.
http://edublogs.org/. http://help.edublogs.org/getting-started-with-edublogs/

Chapter 7: Sustaining the Momentum

This chapter talks about setting up and maintaining a group or professional learning community. While I think that some of us may be ready to move to this level, many of us are still in the explore/learn mode. We have spent 2 chapters exploring tools and sharing them with our group. Now it is time to explore one more tool. Let's all look at Twitter this week. For an intro, take a look at http://www.teachhub.com/why-every-teacher-should-join-twitter for some very good reasons why all teachers should be on Twitter and for links to articles on how to use Twitter in the classroom. If you unfamiliar with Twitter, take a look at https://support.twitter.com/ for all you need to know about Twitter and how to get started.  If you do not have a Twitter account, go ahead and set up an account. Once you have an account, you need to choose some folks to follow. There are many ways to do this, but I think the best way to find quality folks to follow is to look at hashtags that interest you and choose others that post to these hashtags. Here is a list of 300+ hashtags to look at: http://www.cybraryman.com/edhashtags.html . Choose a few and go to the "discover" page on Twitter and search...you will see the people/groups who post to this tag and you can choose a few to follow. (My policy is that I will follow someone, but if they spend a lot of time tweeting about things that are not educationally interesting to me I will drop them without apology. For example...I heard Kevin Honeycutt speak earlier this summer. He was an excellent speaker, but he tweets about everything from what he is having for dinner, to where he is located every minute of the day. This is a waste of time, so I stopped following him pretty quickly).

Once you have chosen at least 5 people/groups to follow, start reading and learning. If you are already on Twitter, just report on the folks you already following. At the end of the week, report back to the group. What is your twitter handle? (mine is @angynorthern). Who did you choose to follow? What have you learned? How can you use this tool both professionally and in the classroom?

As we have seen during the last couple chapters, it takes a while to learn a new tool and to become comfortable using it. So...don't give up as you learn this one. Keep exploring and "lurking"...just reading posts for now. We will dive a little deeper in the next chapter.

Chapter 6 -- Building Your Connected Learning Community

Let's continue our exploration of online tools. Choose one of these two options:

1. Choose one of the tools we didn't get to in the last chapter, explore and report back to the group.  OR
2. Continue your exploration of the tool you explored in the last chapter. Learn more and report back to the group.  

We will save Twitter for Chapter 7. (If you have a Twitter account please tell me your twitter handle in your post this time).

Chapter 5: Using Tools to Support Connected Learning

I will be out of town on the 30th, so I am posting this one early. Feel free to start now...or wait until the 30th.

The beginning of this chapter gives us a lot to think about. I highlighted 2 lines from Sheryl  "I am a project- problem-, passion-based teacher who believes students need both hands-on and visceral learning." "However, I feel it is a disservice to children when educators become so enthralled with the tools that they lose sight of what is most important --- the learning." We need to focus on thinking and not thinging when we look at tools.  We also have to balance our study and PLN with the time we have, so please do not feel that you have to sign up for everything.

We all have tools we use in the classroom and in our PLN. Now, let's investigate some new tools that can be used to connect to others or use in our classroom. Choose one of the following tools (or suggest one of your own), investigate it and then report back to the group. Add instructions, links, articles...anything that might be useful to help the group understand the new tool.  (you may be asked to share a tool that you already use later but right now try something new).


To start...please sign up for the tool you will report on, then investigate and post your findings.

   Diigo
           Delicious
   Twitter/ Twitter Chat /Hootsuite 
   Blog (ex. Blogster or Edublogs)
   Wikispaces
   Flickr
   Podcast
   Skype
   VoiceThread
   PadLet
    Ning
           Evernote
           My Big Campus social networks.     Sue...will you do this one as a "visiting scholar"
           Simplek12 social network
           Pinterest.      Angy will do this one
           Suggest your own:

Chapter 4: Building a Collaborative Culture

This chapter gives us much to think about in relation to our learning networks (both face-to-face and online). I think we all have congenial relationships with our fellow teachers but do we have collegial relationships where we create real change? Page 63 (print) states that "collegial relationships are characterized by conversations about practice, problems, and solutions to learning challenges for all students, and about ways to improve the school overall."  Think about your learning networks...are they congenial or collegial? How can we move from the first to the second?   Look at the google sideshow at http://bit.ly/hxsC5y - how do you answer the questions listed at the end of the chapter? 1. What are our guiding principles for how we should operate and work together? 2. Why do they exist? 3. What do we want to create? 4. What should school look like to support the needs of today's learners? (Feel free to add a slide to the document and just submit the slide number in place of the answer if you want). 

Chapter 3: Learning to Learn

I will close out Chapter 2 this weekend, but I wanted to go ahead today and post the question for Chapter 3.

In this chapter about "Learning to Learn" we see 3 steps/stages of constructing knowledge. First, we gain knowledge for practice in "sit and get" traditional PD. In knowledge in practice, we take what we have learned and try it out and see if it works and then knowledge of practice where we reflect on successes and failures. I think we are all good in the knowledge for practice part of the scenario, but most of us fall down when it comes to the other two stages.

When we talk about Unlearning to Relearn, I agree - we must leave a lot behind in order to progress toward 21st century skills.  Have you thought much about this idea of unlearning in terms of your teaching? As an educator, what do you need to unlearn and relearn? Take a look at the conversation on https://www.facebook.com/edutopia/posts/146746198731330. How would you contribute to this conversation? What do you need to unlearn? What is your strategy in doing this, if you have one? Share your thoughts on unlearning here.

Chapter Two: Developing a Connected Learning Model

In chapter 2 the authors define and discuss the three prongs of connected learning communities: professional learning communities, personal learning networks, and communities of practice. They also talked about how important it is to have a diverse network. They provided a lot of data that supports our growth through connecting with others.

We are going to use the final question in this chapter for our discussion (print pg 44). Feel free to go to the voicethread listed in #1, but post your answer here too.

“Our schools need to change. We need to make the classroom a place that is tailored to the way connected learners learn. Can we accomplish that through collaboration and community? Do you believe that to remain effective for today’s learner, we must change the way we teach and the way we learn to provide time for deep conversations and reflection? Why or Why not? And if so, how?”