This last week I had the pleasure of attending and presenting at the #IDEAcon conference (Illinois Digital Educators Alliance) up in Schaumburg, IL. My district took our curriculum department, three high school teachers, two middle school teachers, and 4 elementary teachers. It was a great week filled amazing opportunities, connections, and inspirations. As an instructional coach, I think it is extremely beneficial to be able to attend these conferences. Not only are we attending and fostering those relationships with teachers within our district but we are connecting and continuing to foster relationships with people outside of our district. I think it is important for us to have that lens. We can see all of these different ideas, see what other districts are doing, and making positive connections elsewhere so that we can come back and share the amazing things with teachers back home.

I also love that when I’m sitting at a keynote and/or a session with a teacher from our district, right afterwards there is a debriefing opportunity. Within that debriefing moment is where the magic happens. Something they say to us will light a spark and remind us that we will need to make sure to touch base with that teacher when we return. They might even say something they want to do but are a little apprehensive to try. Right there in the moment, an instructional coach can offer support, a different lens, reassurance, and set up times to help them upon returning when and if they are ready. Sometimes just knowing I was there and heard the same information they heard is enough to foster that environment of learning to continue once the conference is over. Not everyone likes that or is ready for that but some are. Being on the scene is a perfect way to build trust and respect.

I am also always on the lookout for particular ideas that a teacher back home will love. I make sure to send them an email right then and there to let them know I found a resource or an idea at this conference that made me think of them. I send the resources and offer support when I return. We also can stay up to date on best educational practices and what’s trending. This impacts the PD that we can then offer staff throughout the rest of the year.

#IDEAcon did not disappoint and I look forward to next year!

5 Things that Made Me Smile this Week
-presenting 4 different sessions on topics I’m passionate about
-connecting with fellow colleagues about how their new ideas could become a reality back home
-conversations by the fireplace with teachers outside my district
-powerful keynotes that made me think, smile, laugh, and want to be better
-meeting a soon to be instructional technology coach and sharing resources together

4 Words to Describe My Week
action-packed, fun, thought-provoking, wiped

3 Things I Plan to Do This Weekend
-spend time with my family
-catch up on sleep
-prep for 1st and 4th grade model writing lessons next week

2 Things I Learned This Week
-how to step outside my comfort zone
-the power of in the moment instructional coaching

1 Goal I Have For Next Week
-establish two new writing communities with first and fourth graders

It is no secret that I am a huge fan of The Food Network.  Not only do I learn a ton about food but I LIVE for the competition shows. I can’t wait to see whose dish will come out on top and how will they accomplish what appears to be impossible. How in the world can you combine broccoli, cake, and wild boar into a dish that tastes good? I seriously don’t know how they do it.

Imagine my utter delight when at the #FutureReady conference in Indianapolis, my love of Food Network and education combined forces! Along with my fellow instructional coaches, we participated in an educational version of the TV show Chopped. We had digital baskets of mystery ingredients. Each basket had a content standard, must have ingredients, a digital pantry, and a speed bump.  The pantry was filled with digital tools and the speed bumps were scenarios that we might run into while coaching teachers.  We had to transform these ingredients into a lesson involving the 4C’s: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. It was awesome! It got my brain thinking of how I could use this with teachers.

Thus the ChoppED Faculty Meeting was born. An elementary administrator had reached out to me about wanting a tech focused meeting and wondered if I would be interested in leading it. My opportunity had arrived to bring ChoppED to my district. I immediately begin brainstorming how to make this work. I wanted teachers to be able to do the following:

1.) Get hands on experience using a tech tool (I chose Google Slides)
2.) Collaborate with their grade level teams on something they could then immediately turn around and use in their classroom
3.) Have access to other grade level’s lesson ideas
4.) Realize that Googles Slides can be used for so much more than just presenting. It can be interactive and collaborative.
5.) Discuss how they could use this activity with students

I then set to work creating my Slide Deck and planning out the costume hook I could use too. 🙂

Once assigned a mystery basket of ingredients, teachers could click on their basket that was linked to their slide within the slide deck. I also created a slide with our pantry of tools. They had to use at least two items from the pantry.

I tried to select tools that weren’t necessarily device specific. I also included a wild card.  This item allowed teachers to chose the tool they wanted which would hopefully open the door for them to share their expertise in using it.

Each grade level then had a recipe card with the content standard, must have items (two pantry items of their choice and 1 non digital item I threw in), and a speed bump. I chose an ELA focus standard that was in the same strand across grade levels.  This way teachers could see the build within the standard. The speed bump were scenarios that teachers potentially encounter every day and ranged from limited devices in the classroom, last minute assemblies, the need for more digital citizenship practice, and exit tickets revealing a reteach was necessary.

Teachers then had 20 minutes to transform these ingredients into an experience for their students. I absolutely couldn’t WAIT! I used Twitter to incorporate a teaser hook and had my costume and props already for the big day.

It was an absolute blast. My favorite part was watching teachers collaborate together. They were accessing new tech tools, discussing how to best meet the needs of all learners, communicating with art/ESL/special educators, AND running to classrooms to get their supplies to actually create what they wanted their students to create. While teachers were mastering the art of transforming their ingredients, I was able to float around to different groups and share features of Google Slides in the moment. They could then turn around and immediately try it.

At the end of the 20 minutes, teachers were able to look at everyone else’s ideas and celebrate strengths! They also had 6 complete lesson plans that they could use and/or tweak to fit their grade level.  Finally we wrapped up with a great discussion on how they could use this Chopped activity with their students. Oh my goodness it was so much fun. Here is the link to my Slide Deck: http://bit.ly/2JO76DS

As I reflect on how it went, there are a few things I would tweak. I want to make sure to tighten up my introduction to the activity, make sure to highlight something from each grade level group, and encourage them to dig deeper in terms how how they could use this with students.  I also realized that I now have a great insight to strengths of the staff and ideas for how I can support them in moving forward with technology. A big shout out to the Future Ready conference for inspiring this activity!

It just goes to show that sometimes 20 minutes, a few tech tools, and a collaborative team is all you need to transform a good lesson into a great one!

When you have known for a couple of months that Matt Miller, author of Ditch that Textbook, will be presenting at your teacher’s in-service AND giving a keynote….this day can’t come soon enough! My school district had the pleasure of having Matt Miller visit our school district, and I’m still jazzed from this amazing day of PD. One of the things that I enjoyed the most was having the opportunity to select the sessions that were most interesting to me. It just goes to show, that like students, teachers want to feel that ownership in their own learning too.

The day started by making sure to get their early to meet this amazing author!

Next up an amazing keynote and a day of presentations.  The staff was able to choose one of Matt Miller’s sessions and then the rest of the day was spent learning from other teachers in our district.  I attended:
1.) Google Genius: Practical Google Activities to Use Tomorrow
2.) Real Tech Real Talk: Moving Beyond the Basics (I presented w/ my sister on Google                 Docs, Screencastify, Google Slides, HyperDocs, and Padlet.)
3.) SAMR Model & Blooms
4.) Power Up: Personalize Your Own PD

WOW! There were so many amazing things I learned I felt the need to Storify the day:
https://storify.com/StefaniePitzer/323learns-tech-summit-highlights

I left this teacher’s institute re-energized, pumped up, and in an amazing mood. It was positively refreshing to see teachers sharing their areas of expertise and learn new things at the same time. Not to mention meeting an author whose message is inspiring! I am hoping there can be more PD in our district like this and more opportunities for us to continue down the path of becoming connected educators.