There's no place I'd rather be

This article in the Des Moines Register made my day. I came to Storm Lake seven and a half years ago, and I am extremely happy and proud to be a part of this vibrant community and our exciting schools.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2014/10/22/changing-face-iowa-follow-storm-lake-lead/17703097/

Get to know your co-workers, classmates, and neighbors. We have far more in common than we have differences.

Conferences, Twitter, and PD

I attended the ITEC Conference in Des Moines earlier this week where teachers, administrators, some students, and experts in the field of educational technology came together to learn. It's always revitalizing to me to rub elbows with others who care so much about students and education that they are willing to learn more and to "imagine if."

Conference website

Conference session resources

My notes from Jamie Fath's Classrooms Gone Google Workshop

My conference session resources

Twitter as individualized, just in time PD Research Articles:

• #TwitterforTeachers: The Implications of Twitter as a Self-Directed Professional Development Tool for K-12 Teachers (full text) - Ryan D. Visser, Lea Calvert Evering, David E. Barrett
• How and Why Educators Us Twitter: A Survey of the Field (abstract only) - Jeffrey P. Carpenter and Daniel G. Krutka

Not being able to attend a conference is not really an excuse anymore. There were sessions available remotely. Twitter was lit up with #itec14 posts, including lots of information and links. And, the above links keep much of the information available now. The question to me is:

"How do we motivate educators to continue to learn on their own, to continue to perfect their craft of teaching or administrating, and to be brave enough to try new things and learn from failing on occasion?"

We no longer live in an age when a finite amount of information learned in school will prepare us for our careers. Everything is in flux and changing, and the only way to keep up is to constantly learn. We owe it to our students to feed their creativity, their inquisitive natures, and their ability to continue to learn on their own. It's the only way to survive in our information-rich, ever changing world. Are we as adults modeling this kind of learning? And if not, why?

Warm Welcome to Josh

Just want to post a warm SLCSD welcome to the newest member of our Tech Team, Josh Hayden, who comes from Bode, IA. He's been here a week and unboxed, asset tagged, imaged and deployed almost 140 devices already. In addition, he's making himself at home in an office I'm ashamed to say needed some tender loving care and sorting. (This is what happens when the Tech Dept. gets behind!)

We look forward to offering students, teachers, and other staff members the very best support we possible can as they use technology for learning, creating, communicating, and just plain getting work done.

Welcome aboard, Josh. Justin, Kim and I are so excited to have you as a part of our team!

Go, Tornadoes!

It's Homecoming week here at the Storm Lake Community School District, and if that doesn't make you proud that you are a Tornado, I don't know what will. From a home Cross Country meet, to a home Volleyball game, to a super fired up crowd at Coronation last night, excitement is everywhere. Old and young alike are enjoying themed dress days. Students are building floats and preparing to ride in the parade. The band is rocking the house and the field every chance they get. Cheerleaders are jumping and cheering and visiting every school to fire the students up. Dancers are dancing, and teachers are singing.

I've always believed that the most important way to increase learning of both our students and our staff members is to build relationships of all kinds. Friendships between students. Mentor/student relationships between teachers and students. Coaching/athlete relationships. Staff member relationships with one another. Parent relationships with the school community. The Storm Lake community involved in and taking personal responsibility for the success of the schools.

It's a huge team effort that requires each and every one of us to invest our energies in being productive, caring members of the Storm Lake Community Schools family. I'm feeling that connection this week, and there's honestly nowhere I'd rather be. I hope our students can say the same thing, because that sense of belonging is so very important to the learning process.

Go, Tornadoes!

What Are Our Priorities?

I've been re-reading the Harry Potter books this summer. (I feel like my children are peers of the Harry Potter characters - having grown up with the books!) Each time I read these books I have a different revelation. This time I am fixated on the words to the Hogwarts School Song:

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."

How many of us can boast of a school song that emphasizes learning? The learning of old and young together? Life-long learning?

How about our mission statements and goals? Do they emphasize learning?

And how do we measure that learning? Merely scores in a spreadsheet? Or should we temper that with other indicators of learning? Participation, community involvement, curiosity, relationships, interests? Do we all need to learn the same things?

I don't have the answers, but I do know we better be thinking about it. What are our priorities? What should they be?

Students Learning with Technology

Summers are always busy times in the technology department at the Storm Lake Schools. From expanding and replacing wireless, brand new copiers district-wide, hundreds of new Chromebooks, dozens of new laptops, relocating and adding classrooms and offices, a new firewall, updating the devices we already have, and so on, we get very caught up in the techie side of our jobs.

However, I must post a few things about our students and teachers before early summer gets away from me.

First, under the direction of Abbey Green, some of the High School ELL students created Storm Lake High School welcome videos. Abbey reports:

Students chose things in the school that they thought were important or especially useful to new students. They also chose things that they think make Storm Lake unique or awesome. They did some self-directed learning of how to use Movie Maker, and during their reflections, they said that this project was one of the most fun! They had to form their own groups; we made lists of filming locations as a class brainstorming activity; and they had to make storyboards of their plans before filming. Then, they worked as a group to create their own videos with editing, captions, music, voice overs, etc. I gave them the option to choose their language(s) in the video, and I was really impressed at how many chose to use English in their video. It shows a lot of confidence in the language on their part.

Here's the link to the page with the student videos. Just click the link on the webpage. The videos are truly remarkable!

https://sites.google.com/a/slcsd.org/student-site/Blog/welcomevideos

Second, the Middle School piloted a form of Genius Hour for some of their students this spring. They called it Passion Projects, and when I heard teacher Erin Nguyen and two of her students report on their projects at the May School Board meeting I was so impressed by the . . . well, passion that all of them showed for their learning! Erin says:

Passion Projects is taught during WIN (What I Need) during 9th period at the Middle School. Passion Projects gives students the oppotunity to choose what they want to learn. It is based on Google's 20% Time where employees get to choose one day of the week to work on whatever they want. Rudy Wieck and I have piloted the program in which students get to choose their project. Student were taught how to develop essential questions, research their topic, and then present giving a TED Talk style presentation. Examples of the projects included an anti-bullying website, a website reviewing video games, learning to play guitar, written scripts for a film, and a research project on Tae Kwon Do, just to name a few.

Erin reports that the projects have been phenomenal!

Here is a link to Pang Xiong's Manga website where she drew Manga:

http://pachia10.wix.com/tokamanga#!b-bio/cy2g

And, here is Beatriz Espino who studied graphic design and created her own t-shirt:

Finally, Abbey Green and Iris Hernandez are teaching summer school for ELL students. Their class is working on a class blog. Here is what Abbey says:

This year we decided to add a larger writing component to our ESL summer program. We also wanted the students to have an authentic audience for their writing, so we're having them write a daily blog about their different trips and activities.

Here is the link to the brand new blog:

http://greensummerschool.blogspot.com/

I am just so impressed with the work these teachers and students are doing. Technology for technology's sake should not be the focus. Technology as a way to ignite passion, to learn, to collaborate, and to create - Now we're talking!

I can now put my techie hat back on for the summer. Our teachers and students need us!

Students Learning from Students

Our after school programs here at SLCSD are fantastic. Here is Lynn Redenbaugh, the director of the after school program at the elementary school, talking about a part of that program, math mentorship.



Just so happy to see so many of our students learning from each other!