Thanks to BSS for hosting the second F2F! What a great campus!! The second session was yet again an awesome experience which gave me so many ideas and a chance to reconnect with others from last time and find out what they have been up to.
We started off with writing down what we make time for during the week on a sheet and crinkling it into a ball to toss across the room. We then attempted to catch someone else’s snowball and read how they relax. It was a great exercise to use in the classroom to get the students active. Maybe doing a review with this or a recap of terms? I’m ‘tossing’ a few ideas around. 🙂
We then went into launching our action plan! We learned a little more about wordpress and the various templates as well as the awesome google+ and the hangout tool. The one nice thing about this Pro-D is that it demonstrates what it teaches within the session. So we looked at the collection of data and why we collect data, we tried a google hangout and trouble shot a few hiccups and dove into our kits which enabled us to ask more  enriched questions which arose as we chipped away.
It was great seeing other action plans and hearing how these were ‘stepping stones’ for the individuals rather than a final step. As a teacher, I am always looking to further myself and deepen my understanding and this is exactly what the action plan will do.  One concept which stood out in my head was that we should look at the larger picture and then focus on one aspect which falls under it… very similar to the understanding by design model. I am looking at Pedagogy and narrowing specifically into flipping the classroom. I encourage you to checkout the Action Plan category  of my blog “Organizing the Awesome Ideas”
Image – The Book of Awesome
to read about the questions which I am currently working through during the preliminary phase (Fingers crossed that the link works…). As silly as it sounds, I think the hardest part will be deciding which method to use to present my action plan.
We didn’t get a chance to look at Google Moderator as Garth and Justin adjusted the afternoon to better suit our needs based on the socrative and poll everywhere responses. Much appreciated! I enjoyed being able to chat longer with others who are looking at pedagogy and how to integrate various concepts into the classroom. Specifically, hearing what others have done to flip a classroom or bring in various tools was great! Gave me a starting point to look further into for my action plan.
During this session, I was able to connect with others and share a few ideas while being inspired by their stories and what they are doing. My goal prior to the next session is to post 4 more blogs geared towards science and my action plan, tweet a little more and integrate Diigo into the classroom. I’d love to hear how you’ve been using Diigo in the classroom. Share your thoughts/suggestions as a comment!
Chris,
We are really looking forward to your action plan post and the area of teaching and learning you would like to explore. Remember that before publishing your post be sure to add an action plan category and tag to your post.
Refresher How-To Video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3QG8WcSPoU
Also
* Be sure to read at least one other blog and comment on it.
* Don’t Stress… Your Action Plan post can be in the form of a question, musings, or concrete task. It can be short, it can be long………it just has to be meaningful to YOU!
Justin