Spring DL Conference #birdvillelearns

 This past Saturday, I teamed up with my colleague and friend, Mollie Sheridan, to present about digital goal setting and the impact it has had on the success of our learners, as well as our growth as educators.
Some background information on Mollie and I and how we got to where we are today....both of us were teaching 7th Accelerated math in GCISD, as well as implementing a digital classroom.  Because neither of us had a teacher to PLC with on our home campuses, we decided to create our own PLC.  We met several times throughout the year, as well as compiled our files on Google drive.  We too were digital citizens in the 21st century of education!

As our paths took different directions, I found myself teaching math in Birdville ISD and Mollie transferred to Grapevine Middle, as the Algebra STEM teacher.  With Mollie's transfer came the implementation of 1:1 at the middle school level.  I, in turn, was working with a classroom set of chromebooks.

Just as we stressed during our Saturday morning of learning, never let the number of devices determine the implementation and success of technology within your classrooms!

When I asked Mollie to present with me, of course she said yes!  That's how we operate, always sharing our experiences and learning from others :)

As I was setting up our Google classroom, I found myself refreshing my mind on various formative assessment tools I had previously used.  One of my favorites is Padlet!  After spending some time playing around with it, I found that I remembered why I liked it.  I began to using this tool as a digital form of 4 corners.  For Saturday's presentation, we started with the sentence stem, "Goal setting is like..."  Participants had to choose from a soccer ball, a pair of glasses, a mirror and a stoplight.

As we began planning our presentation and determining how we would go about reaching our ultimate goal of implementing digital goal setting, we realized we needed a platform to share our ideas.  Unanimously, we decided Google Classroom would be the tool we used, as we both use this on a daily basis within our own classrooms.  This would also allow participants to see Google Classroom from the student's perspective!

Facebook Live Footage:  Implementing Digital Goal Setting

Announcements and Assignments were posted as far as our TEKS Mastery Charts in Google Sheets, Goal Setting Conference Sign Ups & Written Reflections in Google Docs.  While making our presentation, I used the option to create a question for the first time.  Again, another example of how we are all lifelong learners!

As participants answered the question, "How are you tracking student success?" we showed the teacher view on the board.  Again, we wanted our learners to be able to see both sides of this learning opportunity!  I shared with our participants that the answer choices were actually based on the current practices that the learners of room 27 encounter.  Thankfully, nobody chose the last option of we don't have time to track student success!

As we moved throughout our time together, we had a special member of our team, share her experiences with digital goal setting.  Audrey, a learner of Room 27, explained how she was scared at first with the digital part of tracking her success, but now uses the tools in her other classes.  Audrey has taken goal setting to a new level, by changing her second semester classes to better utilize her time as she prepares to determine her field of study in college!  

To close out our morning of learning, we had the participants complete a questionnaire made with 

Go Formative  Again this was something new I learned and can't wait to implement it into our classroom!  

We encouraged our participants to follow us on Twitter and share their implementation of goal setting, as trying something new can be challenging, yet so rewarding!  One of our participants, Lindsey Barber, an English I teacher, gave us some Twitter love and reminded us both that we love growing with other educators!

Digital Learning Day 2017

You can learning more about the day here:  http://www.digitallearningday.org/

Thursday, February 23, the learners in Room 27 embarked on a new learning adventure...Digital Learning Day 2017!  I first heard about this learning opportunity as a I scrolled through my Twitter feed.  Following one of my favorite authors, Eric Sheninger, (@e_sheninger), I immediately reached out to my NRMS teachers, when I saw his tweet about Digital Learning Day!

With the help of our awesome librarian, Mrs. Pursley, learners embarked on a day of working with Spheroes and coding.  She had the library set up and ready for our learners with obstacles created out of painters tape and computers turned on ready for coding to begin once the 8:40 bell rang!

Students were given the option of continuing to work on computer coding or work with Spheroes.  Most chose to work with the Sphereos since they had never had an opportunity to do so. A Sphero is a robotic ball gaming device that you control with a tilt, touch or swing of your smartphone or tablet.

While most learners were working with Spheroes, some continued to explore coding, after our initial experience with coding during Hour of Code!  

Throughout the day, teachers would stop by the library to check out what we were working on.  Learners loved teaching the NRMS teachers how to use the various digital devices!    

Throughout the day, learners helped me learn about creating videos and photos using a green screen!  I made photo booth props for our day which added to the excitement of our day. 

 

Below is one of the videos that was created by the learners of Room 27! 

Learning about Opportunities at the BCTAL

Falcons Heading to the BCTAL

On Tuesday, November 29, our 8th grade Falcons boarded the buses and headed to the Birdville Center of Technology and Advanced Learning (@BISDBCTAL).  Through various conversations, students were unsure of the what they were about to experience during our time at the BCTAL.  A few had siblings who took classes there, but again, many were about to experience a first!  

As our 250 8th graders entered the Omni Room, I overheard many conversations.  Students were amazed that this was a "school."  They wondered if this is what our new campus, opening this coming fall, would look like.  They wondered how they could take classes here.  Within minutes, many would learn the answers to these questions, along with many more that were sparked, as students learned about the awesome opportunities that awaited them in high school!  

Current BCTAL students served as tour guides, which was awesome!  Student voice & student experience are huge when it comes to meeting the needs of our learners.  Our student leaders are both part of the criminal justice program.  The young men shared about their off campus learning opportunities, as well as the hands-on opportunities they encounter each day.  Both young men plan on pursuing a career in criminal justice and are looking ahead to what colleges offer these programs.  

One of our awesome tour guides

As we moved throughout the BCTAL, students were introduced to the various programs offered.  We began our tour by learning about the construction tech and automotive tech programs.  I love how students in these programs are able to have hands-on experiences, along with time in the classroom to learn.  Students were amazed at the playhouses that were student built, as well as the shop where students worked on actual cars.

  

Learning Vocational Trades such as Auto & Construction Tech

Building playhouses for area children

Our next stop on the tour was the agriculture program.  Students walked through the student-built green house, on our way to the cosmetology program.   Cosmetology is a popular interest amongst middle school girls!  Here students learned that they could graduate from high school with their license, at a reduced price.  What a huge incentive that is for our students!  

Students were introduced to the graphic design, audio visual and computer programming offerings as well!  Current projects were being worked on such as creating and adding sound effects into movies and determining how to move a car across the floor.  Knowing how intrigued students were so about computer programming and software engineering, I was thrilled we got to see these programs first hand!  

Computer Programming Opportunities

Our tour ended with a focus on computer networking and criminal justice programs.  Because our tour guides are part of the criminal justice program, their passion came alive at this stop!  Students were intrigued by what they did and had some great questions.  

Learning about CISCO, Computer Networking & Criminal Justice

The excitement and energy from our Falcons, as we exited the Birdville Center of Technology and Advanced Learning (@BISDBCTAL) was incredible, after our field trip! Many students said it was awesome that we had done our goal setting conferences before hand because now they better understood which classes would benefit their future plans.  Students weren't afraid to ask questions about pre-requisites or for advice from the students as what classes to take, so they could make the most of the BCTAL course offerings.   In fact, several students have already put schedule change requests into our counselor, after this learning experience!

The connections Falcons made between our digital goal setting and our visit reiterated once again why building relationships with our students is vital to their success, as well as igniting the passion of learning in all of us!