It sounds so cool to say "We have/use iPad in our school/classroom".  Parents, community members and stakeholders might equal hearing such a statement with the assurance that the teacher/school is on the cutting edge of technology and their students are being prepared for a new world.  iPads (just as Smartboards used to) are a visual, easily counted and recognizable icon for such assurance.  Many schools around the globe are jumping on that proverbial "iPad bandwagon" iPads are being handed out to faculty. a small number of devices or a class iPad cart is made available for classrooms to checkout. students might be asked to bring, lease or use school owned devices to create a 1:1 environment You might be one of the teachers who is excited about the possibilities or apprehensive and fearful of the seemingly overwhelming task in front of you how to manage your classroom, students and the devices AND at the same time use them to improve student learning. You might be thinking… I HAVE iPADS IN THE CLASSROOM! NOW WHAT? Having the device in the classroom is NOT EVEN half the battle (not even close…).Understanding how the device will serve as a tool to help create a new learning environment for your students is the real objective. Chris Crouch, as a guest blogger on Scott McLeod’s Dangerously Irrelevant blog in a post titled We Have a BYOD porgram, but now what? expresses his concerns I’m concerned that educators are trying to adapt 20th century practices and experiences to the future we can’t even define yet. This phenomenon manifests itself typically by the rapid and ill-advised adoption of any and all technological products [...]  the instructional shift that must happen to fully capture the power of this movement is grossly behind the crest. As Chris points out the instructional shift in BYOD classrooms in general, I am trying to define and chisel around the concept of fluency/ workflow/learnflow as it pertains to iPads. It is about pedagogy, the art and science of education, that we must keep in the forefront of minds, not the apps, not a substitution of the way we have done things for years and decades. What are the considerations that must be present as we plan, explore and implement?  How does the "instructional shift" that Chris mentions above manifests itself in teachers’ lesson plans, "delivery" and assessment? Take a look at my slidedeck below, where I try to point to educational models that support an instructional shift classroom management considerations find a balance when to use the device and when to close it going beyond the bells and whistles at different constellations of iPads in the classroom examples from the classroom that try to model beyond the substitution of paper and pencil I don’t have the answers, but am willing to SHARE my thoughts and explorations. What can you contribute to the conversation? I have iPads in the Classroom. Now What? from Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano

Professional Learning Board just released a Self-study  iPads in the Classroom course I wrote. It is a  self-directed course to take in your own time and at your own speed. "You have an iPad in your classroom, now what?" The iPad helps us prepare today’s student for today’s world in more ways than we could ever do using traditional teaching strategies. However to achieve heights in teaching and learning, teachers need to understand much more than just how to use an iPad. This course has been specially designed for teachers who are just beginning to use iPads or those who are considering using them. Rather than a focus on learning to operate an iPad, this course will help teachers gain knowledge about different ways by which the iPad can be integrated into the process of learning. In addition to practical learning activites and ideas, it helps the teacher prepare the classroom environment and schedule for the introduction of iPads. It helps teachers to plan and organize iPad use, so that it is efficient and smooth. At the end of this course teachers will be able to: Learn to use an Ipad Find and use apps for teaching Organize iPad activities in the classroom Set up the classroom environment to encourage efficient iPad us Manage technical tasks related to iPad maintenance including charging, updating and storing. Use iPads to teach and practice 21st century skills including communicating, collaborating, connecting, creating and critical thinking. And so much more! If you are interested, I have a few promotional codes.  I will send a code for 50% off the course (regularly $39) to the first few readers who contact me . First come first serve.    

The following slidedeck was prepared for AdvancED Latin American Administrators‘ conference. The theme of the conference was Cultivating Learner Success Learning How To Learn: Let’s talk about LEARNING, not technology! from Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano Further Resources: A 21st Century Education Degrees based on what you can do, not how long you went Clarifying the Shifts in 21t Century Education 7 Most Powerful Idea Shifts in Learning Incoming Process

There is more to blogging with your students than simply creating a blog and starting to copy and paste work, that traditionally was done on a paper journal or worksheet in the classroom, into that digital space. Blogging is about quality and authentic writing in digital spaces with a global audience in mind, observing digital citizenship responsibilities and rights, as one documents, reflects, organizes and makes one’s learning and thinking visible and searchable. Not a small endevour… but worth it in the end…

Thanks to Maggie Hos-McGrane, I learned about a MOOC (Massive Onine Open Course) on Coursera by Match Education titled Coaching Teachers- Promoting Changes That Stick. The course is taught by Orin Gutlerner I have never taken a MOOC and thought this might be a good opportunity to try in order to experience a new type of learning, observe and be aware of the different structure and framework of teaching in such a course and in the meanwhile actually learn about coaching teachers as well. I am also trying to hone my skills in sketchnoting and will take notes in forms of sketches throughout the 5 week course. My goal is to compare my recall and articulation of the information learned via sketches versus summarizing via my traditional blog post writing.   Week 1 (May 9th - 16th) This week’s content will introduce you to our big ideas about effective teacher coaching. In particular, we will draw a distinction between what is sometimes thought of as "good" coaching, and what we consider to be "effective" coaching that promotes meaningful change in the classroom and more student learning. You will also be introduced to our Effective Coaching Formula, the variables of which will be the topics for the subsequent three weeks. Week 1 (May 9th - 16th) This week’s content will introduce you to our big ideas about effective teacher coaching. In particular, we will draw a distinction between what is sometimes thought of as "good" coaching, and what we consider to be "effective" coaching that promotes meaningful change in the classroom and more student learning. You will also be introduced to our Effective Coaching Formula, the variables of which will be the topics for the subsequent three weeks. Week 2 (May 17th - 23rd) The Fixed Mindset Tax is the learning penalty a coach pays when working with a teacher who does not believe that they are capable of growing their practice or mastering a particular teacher skill. This week offers practical solutions for overcoming what Carol Dweck refers to as "fixed mindset" in a teacher coaching session, as well as tools for promoting a "growth mindset" that will allow teachers to be motivated and optimistic about improving their practice. Week 3 (May 24th - 30th) The Clarity of Instructional Vision is the extent to which coach and teacher agree and can communicate about what constitutes excellent instruction. This week will make the case for the importance of developing a common instructional language, and will also introduce you in great detail to the Match Teacher Residency vision for an optimal learning environment. Week 4 (May 31st - June 6th) Quality of Feedback is all about organizing an effective teacher coaching meeting. You will learn the Match Teacher Residency protocol for structuring your debrief cycle by watching examples of the protocol in action. Week 5 (June 7th - June 13th) Time to show what you know! This week is for completing the final assessment, the Coaching Debrief Annotation Assignment. The assignment will ask you to view a teacher coaching meeting and annotate the conversation by indicating the various best practices you have learned during the previous four weeks. After the assignment is due (6/13), you’ll have one week to review and grade the work of four of your peers.  

Following Week 1, I am continuing to sketchnote my take-aways from the MOOC: Coaching Teachers- Promoting Changes That Stick. This week was a continuation of looking deeper at characteristics exhibited by a fixed mindset and recommendations on how to help teachers move towards a growth mindset. The videos and support material suggest to make coachees aware of the different characteristics, develop a common language to be able to talk about them and to work towards overcoming them. The instructor, Orin Gutlerner, suggests to watch the sample videos together with coachees, in order to practice recognizing potential "Horesemen characteristics" in their own behaviors.

I am in week 3 of the MOOC Coaching Teachers- Promoting Changes that Stick. You can take a peek at my sketchnotes from Week 1  and Week 2. This week focused on the variable "Clarity of Instructional Vision". It was stressed that a "coach’s job is not just to get teachers to change behaviors but to promote changes that will have meaningful impact on student experiences. The student facing rubric called "the Kraken" was introduced.  I like the term "student facing", because we can’t forget that in the end the "greatest teacher" is not necessarily an effective teacher if their students are not learning. [ The same type of thinking needs to apply when using shiny, cutting edge technology tools. We need to be looking at students. Do the devices or tools impact student learning? ]

This is Week 4 of the MOOC-Coaching Teachers: Promoting Changes that Stick by Match Education. Week 4 talks about Quality of Feedback and follows Week 1:Big Ideas about Effective Teacher Coaching, Week 2: Fixed Mindset Tax and Week 3: Clarity of Instructional Vision See my sketchnotes below. I am seeing the benefits of organizing, summarizing, sketching the main points of my notes. The process of sketching, the time spent thinking about the content as I am sketching, seems to cement the content, the relationships and connections of the content at a different level than text note taking alone. I am wondering if 6 months down the road, I still will be able to recall more details of the information from the MOOC by simply looking at the sketchnote?

This is part 2of the blog post series: Building an online Professional Development Hub for your School Building a Professional Development Hub for your School- Part 1: Why? Building a Professional Development Hub for your School- Part 2: Characteristics Building a Professional Development Hub for your School- Part 3: Challenges Building a Professional Development Hub for your School- Part 4: Steps Characteristics of an Online PD Hub for Schools. A hub is: shared Sharing of resources is the beginning, sharing of successes and failures in our professional practices to receive feedback is the next. documented By documenting (taking the time to writing down  reflecting on teaching and learning) and sharing the documentation provides evidence of a process and created artifacts. searchable The documentation is not scattered, nor available to just a few members of the school community, but is collected in one place that is searchable for all for future evidence and connections. archived Resources, artifacts and reflection of learning do not disappear after a project, a book study, a webinar or a workshop is over, but are being archived for later retrieval to be searched, built upon and connected to future professional development learning. open for feedback Sharing openly and transparently online (even on a closed school PD hub) adds the component of being able to receive feedback for your contributions from other members of the hub. The feedback cycle becomes an important component in the school PD hub for motivation, continuously extending your thinking and work. an aid in the process of writing and reflection Every teacher is a writing teacher. Every teacher strives to help their students reflect on their learning. John Dewey said: "We don’t learn from experiences, but from reflecting on the experience".  Teachers have little opportunity or take the time to continue to write and reflect on their own. A PD hub gives teachers the platform and the "excuse" to practice and hone their writing and reflection skills to then be able to take these skills and translate them into their classroom and teaching. Take a look at the other sections of the series: Building an online Professional Development Hub for your School Building a Professional Development Hub for your School- Part 1: Why? Building a Professional Development Hub for your School- Part 2: Characteristics Building a Professional Development Hub for your School- Part 3: Challenges Building a Professional Development Hub for your School- Part 4: Steps

The GIN (Global Issues Network) conference brought together an amazing group of young people, all united in their desire to change the world for the better and collaboratively find solutions to the world’s problems. The Global Issues Network (GIN) empowers young people to collaborate locally, regionally and globally to create solutions for global issues. Each year, thousands of students worldwide engage in GIN-related activities. I had the opportunity to work directly with students during two breakout sessions about the use of Social Media (Thank you Lisa Goochee for your support and participation) Students had been researching, planning and working together on a solution under a chosen topic listed in the twenty global problems identified by Jean-François Rischard in his book High Noon: Twenty Global Problems, Twenty Years to Solve Them (2002). They had created video trailers showcasing their projects and prepared presentations to share with their fellow GIN conference attendees from International schools all over Central and South America. How could these students: reach an audience beyond the conference attendees? strategically build a network to connect with other students interested in global issues? disseminate their challenges, solutions and ideas to receive feedback and gain support? make contact with NGOs, experts in their field of interest or potential funding partners? continue working with other teams and schools to continue to grow their projects beyond the physical dates of a face to face conference? The answer: Building a social media network. While there are many different social media platforms that anyone can use to build a network in order to affect social change, the basic idea behind the potential of connecting, collaborating, communicating, crowdsourcing or crowdfunding is similar to all platforms. Create a "storefront", a profile or bio to let others know who you are and what you stand for Build a network by strategically choosing people/organizations/companies to follow Encourage the "right" people to follow you back Contribute quality content Participate in conversations (give feedback, ask questions, add perspectives, add value) Build a brand (document your work, share , interact, inspire, present, showcase, etc.) Grow, weed and maintain your network I challenged the group of teens in my session to take another look at a Twitter . Most had an account, but we encouraged the ones who did not to create one. How could they use the account to connect and promote their project? How could social media help them build a positive digital footprint and become part of their portfolio? How could they build a network of peers and experts? The rest of the session was hands-on. create a Twitter account (if you didn’t have one) choose a username create a profile description Tweet1:INFORM: share something with follow GIN attendees (use the hashtag) Tweet2: CONNECT: mention a keynote speaker (give feedback, ask a question, connect….) Tweet3:REFLECT: share your aha moment harvest usernames of other GIN attendees to add to your network Here are a few examples of students sharing a tweet with their network. Who else is teaching social media skills, techniques and strategies for students to start building their own learning/professional network? How are we supporting students to harness the power of social media? How do we encourage students to add their voices about the issues they are passionate about to the conversation? Can you share your strategies as a teacher with the rest of us? [View the story "GIN Conference: Student Voices" on Storify]