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I met with a lot of my co-workers over the past couple of weeks, and
…. well that’s where it ended. That’s as far as I got in June… exams hit, summer school came and went, and then the prep for our new year and technology plan roll-out came into my life. As soon as the August PD days were done, I did a back-dive into a brand-new set of new-to-me, super-interesting courses.
And so here I sit. Well into the 2015-16 academic year. Typing this follow-up to the follow-up for the second time today – either a WordPress glitch or a Gelleny glitch… could be either!!! 😉
Moral #1: save as you go!
Moral #2: bite off more than you can chew–just be prepared to spit some of it out, if needed!
And, let’s not forget a healthy dose of irony once in a while… as if any of us Cohortees (or forward-thinking, facilitation-driven educators, for that matter) would ever, EVER Â think that we were having our ‘final’ reflection or moment in the initiation of any action plan. And so, the title of this entry is ironic… but I’m not changing it. Call it sentiment, a yearning for nostalgia, whatever you want — the title stays. Maybe it stays mostly as a reminder – a reminder of how far I feel I’ve come, and maybe others can relate to this – and also how much further I plan and hope to travel in my drive to be a meaningful facilitator with a super-awesome growth mindset.
Last year I did have some very successful student-driven moments that centered around Symbaloo, and I’m happy to report to anyone interested, that thanks to newly enrolled Cohortee, Tanya Catallo (@tcatallo) many members of our Humanities departments, and other teachers alike, are using this fun and powerful tool with their students – if you haven’t checked it out – check out my other post on my action plan, and try it out. I love it for simple uses like research cataloguing for an essay or project. As well as a project interface (and it can be embedded, so that’s cool too!) for portfolio-type work. It could also be a collection of resources for a Math/Sci course that complements the teaching. It could be a Youtube video that students create — point is, from simple to more complex uses, it’s a neat tool. 🙂
Now, I also continued my push for meaningful, growth-mindset oriented PD. I did a couple of sessions in the spring, and they were overwhelmingly successful. Not perfect, but successful. As the new school year dawned, I found myself again ready to continue my action plan and add to my PD repertoire, all in the effort to improve teaching mindset, both in and out of the classroom. And as a small school, extra simple yet meaningful opportunities to get PD are always helpful.
So, during our August PD days, I trained the entire staff and faculty on our new mark-entry system called Gradebook (part of the Edsby platform). I focused on creating an environment that promoted the thought ‘this is useful; this is helpful; this is simple and doable’ over one of ‘this is useless busy-work and I’m just going to have to go and re-learn this later’ — and I think it was a swimming success. I got positive feedback from teachers and admin alike, and have had follow-up conversations with staff members since the training session that push the envelope of what the software can do – and the coolest part? These questions and discussions actually showcased a hidden skill other members of the faculty had developed in previous mark-entry programs that we are hoping to institute in our new system later this year. The ‘It Takes a Village’ Effect. Always inspiring! (If @ddoucet happens to include my short reflection video for the new cohort of Cohort 21ers, it will be clear that this is not my first taste of the intra-school benefits of having some of the 21st-century toolkit under my belt!)
This experience also connected me with our school’s new Principal. He was more than willing to chat about future PD sessions I might run after being a part of the August PD. This kind of discussion and productive conversation cannot be undersold. It is how we network when we are networking that can often yield exciting results.
This situation landed me with a gig at our September faculty meeting. Scheduled for the last Friday in the month, this session, during which I was to have 45min-1hr to PD-it-up, was scheduled from 1-3pm. Sound’s great, no?
Sure does!
Except
(and there’s always an except… so I’m going out on a tangent to a related but different circle for a minute… as I recall what the Cohort 21 Gurus, Garth (@gnichols) and Justin (@jmedved), used to say about PD sessions even for Cohort… which was basically that you always have to be able to think on your feet, and I’d argue that is true regardless of what the topic is and if it involves technology as a communication means or tool in your session.)
So back to my except.
Except that this Friday afternoon came to us after we hosted our school’s Terry Fox Run half-day.
And this Terry Fox Run came to us after the earlier in the week Monday-night Meet the Teacher Event.
And the Meet the Teacher Event happened to be two days after our school’s weekend Homecoming extravaganza.
This ‘except’ trail caused a system effect: We were Tired. (with a capital T)
Too tired. Falling asleep (almost) during the Terry Fox Awards… 😉
Too tired for ‘new-and-exciting-but-also-potentially-anxiety-provoking-because-in-general-we-are-nervous-about-adding-anything-to-our-already-totally-and-completely-full-schedules’ PD?
Maybe.
Worth the risk?
Maybe. Maybe not?
It is at points like this that I feel we do have to think on our feet. I went to our Admin, to the Principal specifically, and I mentioned my concern. He got it. He said, “Would it be better if you went first and then the technology update and review could happen after?”
I said, “Yes, but only if the whole meeting will be done in under and hour. If the technology piece needs to be an hour, maybe this is better done another time.”
However, they did not want to cut me out, and so I ended up at the front of the agenda, but I knew I had at most a 15-20 minute window of attention from my colleagues. I chopped my plans into 4 quarters and picked the quarter I thought was most worthwhile, the easiest to uptake at that point in the month, and came with easy and concrete follow-up options. I did this on the fly in about 5-10 minutes.
It was short.
But, it was surprisingly effective. I had multiple people (in fact, as many as initially followed up from my larger and potentially from an onlooker’s perspective more engaging session last spring) approach me in person or virtually to thank me for the intro to the resources. (And, of course, a great many more who were grateful it was not a long endeavour).
What did I do in that time?
ONE: I introduced the concept of an infographic. While it is maybe innate to those already through the Cohort 21 experience, I’d be lying if I didn’t have to Google it myself last year, when the first Twitter-chat question hit my screen. Many gifted educators were not aware of this resource, what it was or how it could be used, so this proved more fruitful than I had initially expected.
TWO: I introduced the concept of a #hashtag. Both of what it is and how you can follow one WITHOUT joining the Twittersphere. We looked at The 10 Twitter Hashtags All Teachers Should Follow. This was a hit. Many gifted educators are nervous about their online profiles – this was a great workaround that I strongly recommend for any educators attempting to revitalize their PD and online presence/sense of connectedness.
THREE: I reiterated for returning staff, and introduced for new staff, the hashtag I started for our staff last year, #vc_learns, and showed how that was also followable without signing up for Twitter. I also showed how it looked in Tweetdeck.
FOUR: I left them with a hook, indicating how if they wanted to contribute to #vc_learns themselves, they could sign-up for Twitter, or if they have it, start using Tweetdeck and/or start posting to it. And encouraged them to let me know if they needed help setting-up Twitter or Tweetdeck. I did not leave non-believers hanging though – I also uploaded the resources to our virtual Staff Room on Edsby minutes after the presentation.
FIVE: Finally, I promised that I would be hosting a Twitter-chat for interested parties before Christmas. Hopefully that will be after another short or longer session I am fortunate enough to lead!
From start to finish, including more than one technological glitch, it took under 20 minutes.
Things I want to work on for next time?
- Not doubting that a short session might be unimportant. Just like exercise – something CAN BE better than nothing. This was just that, but I did second-guess myself,. And while I’m hoping that didn’t show through too much, I also encourage anyone else trying a short session to believe it can work, and believe it fully.
- Not feeling like I need an excuse for why it’s a short session. (Ties into point #1.)
- Following point #2, I’m now considering a flipped-classroom session for next time – perhaps staff members watch a short (and this would have to be under 4 minutes, I think) video about a tool, and we then have break-out groups and/or discussions about it… let me know if anyone has suggestions about this – I’m always looking for feedback to help me improve my facilitation abilities.
Well that’s my un-final reflection on my path toward enlightened facilitating via growth mindset… if you made it this far… well kudos to you! Until next time… 😀